Wubbadubbadub izzat true?
Nintendo has filed a DMCA takedown against fan-made software ‘Heaven Studio’, a tool which enabled people to upload their own music and pair it with one of the rhythm-based minigames from the Rhythm Heaven series.
As reported by TorrentFreak (thanks, VGC), the Heaven Studio GitHub repository has been removed following Nintendo’s request, which cites copyright on the assets included with the software.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Welcome to Next Week on Xbox! This weekly feature highlights all the games arriving soon on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, and Game Pass. Explore more about these upcoming titles below and click on their profiles for additional information (note that release dates are subject to change). Let’s dive in!
Top Hat Studios, Inc.
Frogun Encore – June 25
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
Join Renata on a brand new Frogun adventure in this fast-paced classic 3D platformer! Building off the original gameplay, Frogun Encore features a slew of new movements, like the double jump, sling catapult and toss jump!
Feardemic
Garten of Banban 2 – June 25
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
Continue the eerie story of Banban’s Kindergarten in Garten of Banban 2. Delve deeper into the bizarre, suspiciously abandoned underground facility and uncover the truth behind it with the help of your trusty drone… if you can survive meeting its eccentric residents.
Feardemic
Garten of Banban 3 – June 25
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
Delve even deeper into Banban’s Kindergarten in Garten of Banban 3. Explore the bizarre, suspiciously abandoned underground facility and continue the search for your child. Can you find them before the facility’s unexpected residents find you?
Feardemic
Garten of Banban 4 – June 25
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
Explore the bandoned underground levels of Banban’s Kindergarten in Garten of Banban 4. Delve deep into the bizarre, suspiciously abandoned underground facility and continue the search for your missing child. Can you find them before the facility’s residents find you?
Fulqrum Publishing Ltd.
Graven – June 25
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
Go forth, pious priest, alleviate suffering, uncover deceptions, and smash the eldritch perversions encroaching upon reality with a stark late 90s aesthetic that brings the first-person action-adventure Graven to life. Featuring character designs by Chuck Jones (Duke Nukem 3D, Half-Life) and the voice talent of Stephan Weyte (Blood, Fire Emblem, Dusk) in a dark yet distinct medieval fantasy experience.
Volcano Bean
BattleCakes: a snack-sized RPG – June 26
Indulge in a delicious adventure as you choose to battle or befriend your enemies to save the day your way! Personalize your cupcake hero and meet charming friends along the way. Leave the world better off than you found it in this turn-based RPG.
Innominatum Digital
Dash & Swing – June 26
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S
A fast-paced action platformer where you’ll use your acrobatic skills to navigate through challenging levels. Swing and dash through a variety of obstacles to reach the end of each stage. With intuitive controls and thrilling gameplay, Dash & Swing offers an exciting experience for players who love platformers.
Eastasiasoft Limited
Go Go Jump!!! – June 26
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
Platforming adventure gets a survival twist in Go Go Jump!!! Take on all the Jump masters as you earn badges in story mode or compete in various survival scenarios against your friends. Go Go Jump!!! is a side-scrolling action extravaganza presented in a mix of 3D environments, hand-drawn HD sprites, and fully voiced hilarity.
QUByte Interactive
A stylish turn-based action platformer with bits of roguelite, bullet hell and time manipulation. Dash through your enemies, freeze time and throw your sword to solve every situation in your way.
Atari
NeoSprint – June 27
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
NeoSprint zooms back to life as a single screen arcade racer for up to 8 players, paired with a robust track builder and intuitive sharing tools, ensuring a racing experience that satisfies speed demons and architects alike. Campaign mode, Grand Prix, Obstacle Courses and Time Trials provide tons of pulse-pounding race content, and multiplayer modes make for chaotic fun.
Afil Games
Wild Seas – June 27
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
In this 2D tower defense game, you play as a friendly crocodile who possesses a jewel that has been passed down through generations, protecting the nearby islands. Now, you need all the help you can get to combat the pirates who want to conquer everything in their path and steal the great jewel.
State Space Labs
Aimlabs – June 28
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S
Aimlabs is a training platform to help sharpen up your core FPS aiming skills, with a comprehensive set of tools to improve your aim, regardless of which FPS you play. Dive into specifically designed training exercises to master the art of flicking, tracking, and switching with detailed feedback that gives you valuable insights and guides you towards rapid improvement.
Outright Games Ltd.
Gigantosaruus: Dino Sports – June 28
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
On your marks for The Giganto Games, a roar-some sports party for one to four dinos! Play as Mazu, Rocky, Bill and Tiny and compete in eight chomp-sized games. You’ll fly across deserts, race across glaciers, blast targets with berrys and more. But look out – Giganto himself might just stomp into the action!
ROSEVERTE
How to Sing to Open Your Heart Remastered – June 28
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S
Princess Myana loves to sing and believes she can make her people happy with her song. This time, she visits the human’s country Eroolia as the leader of Laarz, the country of cat people. Relations between humans and luccretias have never been good, and Princess Myana experiences it herself in Eroolia. Will her song be able to unite the hearts between humans and luccretias?
Samustai LTD
Kingdom’s Dungeon Rage – June 28
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
The king has been taken hostage and locked inside a dungeon that changes each time you die or complete a level. Complete in challenges from becoming invisible, turning the world upside down, and a lot more. Are you up for the impossible task?
Red Art Games
Last Night of Winter – June 28
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
The story takes place in an old stronghold, at the last days of a great battle. You died, but your will was stronger than your body, so you woke up again, to continue the siege in a never-ending night. Remembering little more than your purpose, you’ll have to leave the dungeons, advance through the stronghold’s outskirts, and reach the highest tower. To find the Heir and finally end your curse.
Dolores Entertainment
Local News with Cliff Rockslide – June 28
You’re the cameraperson of Butterfly Valley’s #1 influencer: Cliff Rockslide. Frame every shot like you were a professional and follow the stories to make Cliff famous. Local News with Cliff Rockslide is a first-person visual novel with an amazingly funny story to laugh for days.
Entity3 Limited
Test your skills in Mr Trials. Compete in 50 amazing levels over five different worlds. Beat the stunt score to receive the Golden Helmets. Have you got what it takes?
8floor ltd
See what it’s like to be a farmer and maker of sweet treats. Grow cocoa trees, build mills, make squirrel houses, and decorate your own farmhouse. Work your new lands and become the best maker of sweet treats around in new time management game New Lands 2!
Ratalaika Games S.L.
One ordinary November night, Jamie witnesses a paranormal event. Shortly afterwards, he is transported to Aliorbis, a mysterious alternate version of Earth where magic and science coexist in almost perfect harmony. He quickly becomes part of SEEK, an organization that investigates crimes that are a threat to both worlds. Play as Jamie and other characters with unique personalities and explore otherworldly scenarios, solve puzzles, and investigate gory crime scenes.
OverGamez
A long time ago, all the animals lived in peace in their vast city, the Citadel. But then, evil Cats took over, exiled dogs beyond the city walls and sent others to work in factories and mines. Now, dissenters have united to form the Resistance — it’s time to overthrow the tyranny of cats!
The post Next Week on Xbox: New Games for June 24 to 28 appeared first on Xbox Wire.
The developer of Witcher 3 has congratulated the developer of Elden Ring after the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion overtook Blood and Wine to become the best-reviewed expansion ever.
At the time of this article’s publication, Shadow of the Erdtree has a Metascore of 95, whereas Witcher 3 expansion Blood and Wine currently sits on a Metascore of 92.
IGN’s Shadow of the Erdtree review returned a 10/10. We said: “Like the base game did before it, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree raises the bar for single-player DLC expansions. It takes everything that made the base game such a landmark RPG, condenses it into a relatively compact 20-25 hour campaign, and provides fantastic new challenges for heavily invested fans to chew on.”
Blood and Wine, which came out in 2016, got a 9/10. We said: “Geralt gets a fitting sendoff in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine, courtesy of a strong cast and new items.”
In a tweet, CD Projekt congratulated Elden Ring developer FromSoftware for the release of Shadow of the Erdtree, and even pointed to its own staff preparing for its release today, June 21.
“For the last eight years, The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine had the honor of being the best reviewed expansion for a role-playing game,” CD Projekt said, “but @ELDENRING gets to wear that crown now. Congratulations to the entire team at @fromsoftware_pr on their stellar work!”
Here’s a live view of REDs this week trying to prepare for Shadow of the Erdtree. pic.twitter.com/Ixb3rxrpyZ
— The Witcher (@witchergame) June 21, 2024
The tweet about CD Projekt staff preparing for the release of Shadow of the Erdtree is of course in relation to the requirements that must be met in order to access the expansion within the base game — players must tick off a handful of obscure feats beforehand, including beating an optional boss.
IGN’s guide on how to prepare for the Shadow of Erdtree is fully up to date with everything you need, however, and make sure to check out our Elden Ring interactive map to ensure you’re not missing any important collectibles.
As for The Witcher 3, CD Projekt is working on another game set within the fantasy universe, codenamed Polaris, but it won’t arrive until 2025 at the absolute earliest, and probably later. There are two other Witcher games on the horizon too, including a remake of the original Witcher and a multiplayer spin-off.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Someone has made a mod for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt which replaces beloved horse companion Roach with a vicious fiend for Geralt to ride around The Continent.
Nexus Mods user apokryphos created the Rideable Fiend Mount mod, which does exactly what it says on the tin, letting monster and monster hunter team up to take on the world. What’s more, the fiend even mimics Roach’s behaviour by backing Geralt up when not being ridden, and its savage swipes are a touch more effective than a horse kick.
Only a handful of Fiends exist in The Witcher 3 naturally, and the massive monsters are always a threat. “Fiends are walking mountains of muscle capped with horned, tooth-filled heads,” reads the in-game bestiary entry. “When possible they avoid humans, but when not possible, they kill them, and without much difficulty.”
The Witcher 3 has enjoyed an influx of creative mods like this thanks to developer CD Projekt Red releasing official modding software for the role-playing game. REDkit is available for free on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GOG to anyone who owns The Witcher 3 but will remain a PC exclusive despite fellow role-playing game makers Bethesda bringing mod support to the likes of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and Larian Studios bringing it to Baldur’s Gate 3.
CD Projekt Red announced REDkit in November 2023, saying “it will allow you to create your own experiences in the game by making something completely new or editing existing quests and content.” Fans are still getting to grips with the new tools, and while full expansion-like mods are likely on the way, smaller projects have so far seen the likes of this and a miniature remake of the original Witcher game release.
Mods will be the only new content coming to The Witcher 3 going forward, of course, as while the game received a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X update in December 2022, it otherwise won’t get any more official content as CD Projekt focuses on its wealth of other incoming projects.
The highly anticipated next mainline Witcher game, codenamed Polaris, is currently in development but won’t arrive until 2025 at the absolute earliest, and probably later. There are two other Witcher games on the horizon too, including a remake of the original Witcher and a multiplayer spin-off.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Sometimes I have proper critical thoughts about games and sometimes I am Marge Simpson giving her opinion on a potato. Take LXD Red Honey, a free 2D metroidvania created in just 18 days for the Metroidvania Month 24 jam by sarn and OvergrownRobot, with playtesting by Oroshibu. I just think it’s neat. So neat.
A Red Faction sequel was in the works at the Embracer-owned developer of Galaxy On Fire and Chorus before it was hit by layoffs, according to a new report.
Rock, Paper Shotgun reported that Fishlabs, bought by controversial video game group Embracer in 2018, was working on a sci-fi Metroidvania and had built a “visual prototype” for a brand new Red Faction game before both projects were canceled and their developers laid off in 2023.
Embracer had already shut down the original creator of the cult classic Red Faction, Volition, by the time Fishlabs put together its Red Faction pitch. According to RPS, a team at Fishlabs built a “fake trailer” with Unreal Engine 5 to present to Embracer-owned publisher Plaion, with the hope of creating a game similar to 2009’s well-received Red Faction: Guerrilla.
Critics praised that game for its huge open world and, in particular, impressive destruction-based gameplay that saw players smash up buildings with a sledgehammer. A sequel, Red Faction: Armageddon, followed in 2011, but sales were poor and then-publisher THQ canceled further follow-ups. Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered, a remaster of Guerrilla, launched in 2019.
Unfortunately, despite the pitches to Plaion, this new Red Faction was not greenlit, and in November last year it was canceled outright. According to RPS, Fishlabs studio leadership were told to lay off almost everyone not attached to an active game project, resulting in 50 job losses. The RPS article is well worth a read if you want some insight into what it was like working at an Embracer-owned studio in 2023.
In April, Embracer announced its intent to split into three separate companies: Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends. The move came after a brutal period of restructuring that over a thousand staff lose their jobs, multiple games canceled and studios shut down, and the sale of developers including Borderlands maker Gearbox and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic remake maker Saber Interactive.
Embracer Group’s financial struggles began following the collapse of a $2 billion deal, reportedly with Saudi government funded company Savvy Games Group. The Swedish firm has since come under fire for the sweeping cuts that followed its ill-fated acquisition spree. In January it emerged that Embracer had canceled a new Deus Ex game that was two years in development and laid off some staff at Eidos Montreal. Most recently, Embracer shut down Pieces Interactive after the Alone in the Dark reboot flopped.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
When the makers of Cloudpunk revealed their next game would be set in the same cyberpunk city as their sci-fi delivery sim, my ears were pricked. When they showed you’d be running a noodle bar and fishing in the slums instead of flying a hovercar around, I went into full wishlisty mode. Nivalis (named for the cyberpunk city in question) was due to come to PC some time this year. But plans have changed. If, like me, you’re intrigued by the promise of a life under a neon canopy, you might have to wait. The release date has been pushed into next year. As compensation, here, the creators have put out another trailer to remind you what’s coming.
Suck it, Bond.
This review was originally published in March 2010. We’re updating and republishing it to mark the game’s arrival in the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack N64 library.
From its debut in 1997, developer Rare and the terrifying digital avatar of Pierce Brosnan ruled over the console shooter space with the Nintendo 64 tie-in of a then-two-year-old Bond movie, GoldenEye 007. Not only did it justify the genre on consoles while proving that movie games didn’t have to suck, it became one of the defining multiplayer experiences of its generation.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Ubisoft has insisted it’s committed to the Beyond Good & Evil franchise and even mentioned its long in development sequel as part of the reveal of Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition.
Beyond Good & Evil 2 is considered vaporware by many fans after an incredible 16 years since it was announced back in 2008. Despite Ubisoft’s many vague references to it being still alive, no video game has materialized thus far.
But this week’s announcement of Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition has sparked renewed hope that Beyond Good & Evil 2 is real and may even be re-revealed sooner rather than later. This remaster includes a brand new mission in which players can discover mode about Jade’s past and collective exclusive cosmetic rewards.
Crucially, Ubisoft included a note to press that this new mission “also reveals more about the narrative link to Beyond Good & Evil 2, showing Ubisoft’s enduring commitment to the franchise.”
That line strongly suggests Beyond Good & Evil 2 is not just still alive but closer than ever to launch. The question of course will be what form the game takes, given how many times development has stopped and started over the years. At E3 2017, Ubisoft revealed what looked like an incredibly ambitious project, promising a multi-planet world populated by dynamically-generated characters.
In the meantime, Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition launches June 25 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Amazon Luna and PC through the Ubisoft Store, Epic Games Store and Steam, with a physical version courtest of Limited Run Games out July 12. It features the aforementioned new mission, an anniversary gallery, a re-orchestrated soundtrack, support of up to 60FPS, and other “exclusive new content.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
PVKK: Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant – yeah, let’s circle back to the title – is described in the first sentence of its Steam bio as a “cozy” game. I entertain suspicions of cozy or cosy games, inasmuch as they are increasingly framed as a kind of antidepressant in the face of a darkening world, but that’s OK, because the remaining 17 words in the sentence are: “Operate your planetary defense cannon to fend off an interplanetary invasion from the comfort of your [cozy] bunker.”
