The 3DS title soars onto Switch next month.
The original Monster Hunter Stories game is returning on the Switch next month and if you weren’t already interested, this new gameplay footage might be worth a look.
Capcom has showcased the opening gameplay and cinematic (which has some “dark” moments, as noted by the team). Although it’s not Switch footage, it’s perhaps the most footage we’ve seen of this remastered version so far.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
A brand new update for the Mario mobile game.
Nintendo’s mobile game Super Mario Run will be hosting a new Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door crossover event.
It runs from now until 27th June 2024 and requires you to unlock statues of Paper Mario and other cast members in the latest Switch release, which you can then place in your kingdom. Here’s a quick look, courtesy of ‘OatmealDome’ on social media:
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Over the past 10 years, The Sims 4 has certainly struggled under the technical weight of years of updates and DLC releases, much to the annoyance of fans. But today, the team’s pledged to put more resources into the “core game experience.”
The Sims released a statement on the matter earlier today, in which the team acknowledged that “technical issues with The Sims 4 have interrupted your gameplay over time and we recognize that this has caused you much frustration.”
“Today,” the statement continued, “we can share that we have assembled a team to invest in the core game experience, including tackling your reported concerns. This newly formed and focused team means we’ll be able to increase both the number of fixes and the frequency with which we ship these batched updates.”
A message to our loyal community 💚
Link to the Laundry List: https://t.co/GrYvp8Si0k pic.twitter.com/u4IhIDLbW8
— The Sims (@TheSims) May 23, 2024
The plan moving forward, according to the statement, is to release a patch roughly every two months, with the first coming later this month. EA published the details of this first patch in a “Laundry List” on its website. And, true to the “Laundry List” title, it mostly is a litany of fixes for small (albeit frustrating) bugs, ranging in everything from a “trash can is required” message appearing on lots that already have one to traversal issues with puppies and kitties.
But, behind the bug fixes, the team promises to “continue making core improvements to the performance of The Sims 4.” To that end, the statement says the next patch will include some optimizations across platforms so The Sims 4 uses less memory.
“As a result, you may experience fewer crashes, a better frame rate, and/or a more responsive simulation,” it adds.
As the devs acknowledge, bugs and performance have long been points of consternation among fans, so the community’s reaction to today’s news was largely positive on the game’s subreddit, if a little cautious in their optimism.
“They did an in game survey about [DLC] for rent that seemed to ask a lot about how unplayable it was, I wonder if that had anything to do with this,” wrote one user. “Glad EA is letting them have more people, hopefully they’re able to actually start fixing stuff (but probably not lol)”
Other were a little surprised about the seeming reinvestment into the decade-old title, especially as EA gears up for its next Sims game, codenamed “Project Rene.” It’s been months, however, since we got any updates on that, and EA said last September that it was still in the “early stages” of development.
In the meantime, the team has vowed to continue supporting The Sims 4, both in today’s statement and in prior ones.
“Our team is more dedicated than ever to developing great The Sims 4 gameplay experiences into the foreseeable future,” the statement concludes, “and we appreciate your support as these critical improvements roll out.”
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
Even though I was a fan of the tabletop RPGs that inspired Wizardry, I had a lot to learn about the franchise when I joined the team here in 2022. The more I played, the more I understood its importance, and the more I appreciated what a huge task bringing this game to a modern audience would be.
Originally released for the Apple II in 1981, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord literally defined the video role-playing game. The dungeon-crawling, monster-slaying, level-upping gameplay would inspire nearly every designer of every role-playing game that followed.
Ian Sherman, our lead engineer, understands the importance of this game more than most. He’s leading Digital Eclipse’s all-new remaster of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, which is now available on Xbox.
“Designers like Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy) and Yuji Horii (Dragon Quest) have said, ‘Wizardry was an influence for our game,’” Ian said. “When you get to play it, it’s just so clear how directly elements of Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy or Pokemon were inspired by features in Wizardry. I understand why everybody is trying to recapture that feeling.”
This is the first time in decades that a version of the first Wizardry has been available. A new initiative between Digital Eclipse, Wizardry’s original publisher SirTech, and current trademark owner Drecom (which publishes new Wizardry games made in Japan) untangled the web of legal permissions required to make this remaster possible. It features all-new graphics and sounds and a variety of quality-of-life enhancements – but it’s all based on the original 1981 game’s source code.
“At Digital Eclipse, we’re historians and preservationists,” Ian said. “We had access to the Pascal source code for the original Wizardry, so our goal was to get that code running on modern hardware.” Since Pascal is a programming language created in 1970 that’s no longer in regular use, this itself was a challenge.
Fortunately, Ian is a DigiPen graduate who is no stranger to remasters – his journey with Digital Eclipse began in 2005. He enjoys what he calls the “code forensics” of bringing back classic games.
What began as a research exercise ended up in the final product. “Ultimately, we ported the Apple II game to Unreal Engine,” he said.“The game that you play in our Wizardry is the Apple II version of Wizardry – that’s where we started, and we built up from there.”
That means all the decisions, difficulty, and dice rolls in our remaster come straight from the original code, recreating the original dungeon-crawling experience. Want proof? Even while you slay gas dragons and frost giants with the all-new 3D visuals, you can view the Apple II graphics at any time during gameplay.
“We also wanted to preserve the brutality of the original game, because it is what inspired games like Dark Souls – their difficulty and the permanence of their progress is inspired by Wizardry,” Ian said. “So, we added some quality-of-life features in a way where, if you absolutely wanted the original experience, you could just turn them off.”
Creating an authentic yet accessible version of Wizardry for modern players required a deep level of digital archaeology. “As an engineer, you can see the flow of the original creative decisions just by looking at the code,” Ian said. “Wizardry’s code was authored well, which made it easy to read and understand. So, you can see things like a half-implemented feature, or something that was a feature that they removed.”
Looking into Wizardry’s original code, Ian could see all the information that the original game hides from players’ prying eyes. As RPGs have evolved over the last 40 years, players have grown to expect to be able to see this data up front, so we decided to reveal it.
“In the Apple II Wizardry, when you encounter an enemy, it’s unidentified, so you roll to try to identify it,” Ian said. “We thought: is there a way we can expand on that without interfering with the way the original system works?”
What resulted from those discussions was the all-new Bestiary, a detailed visual guide to the hundred and one creatures, monsters, and enemies encountered in the maze. The Bestiary also features exclusive lore for each creature, written by Benny Matsuyma, a novelist and game writer who was a noted contributor to Japan’s Wizardry games.
This greater revelation of details hiding in the original game’s code extends to combat as well, which Ian points out could be particularly obscured in the original Wizardry.
“What is a longsword? Well, it’s more expensive than a short sword or a dagger. That’s literally all the information the Apple II version gave you,” he said. “You don’t know how much damage something does, how many times it can hit, or its likelihood of hitting – but that information is invaluable to players.”
In our remaster of Wizardry, you can see percentages during combat, which will help you make smarter choices. Before you attempt to disarm a booby-trapped treasure chest, you can see your chances of success.
But as any adventurer will tell you, knowing the odds and surviving the maze are two very different things. Even if you’re more informed, venturing too far into the maze before your party is ready will still be met with a tragic ending!
Ultimately, our goal with Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is to deliver a modern experience while preserving a legacy 40 years in the making – a game that inspired an entire genre, available now on Xbox.
Digital Eclipse
The first party-based RPG video game ever released, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord was a direct inspiration to series like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Digital Eclipse’s revival preserves the appeal of the classic, with many upgrades for modern role-playing game fans.
Dungeon Crawling, Deluxe
Craft your own party of adventurers and head into the labyrinth at the behest of the mad overlord Trebor, in search of the amulet stolen by the evil wizard Werdna. Battle groups of challenging enemies, avoid hidden traps, and make your way deeper into the dungeon as you prepare for the ultimate battle: Facing Werdna himself.
Commitment to Accuracy
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is built directly on top of the original 1981 game’s code. Although it looks all new, underneath the hood is the authentic game. You can even view the original Apple II interface as you play.
Challenge Without Hassle
While the well-known difficulty of the enemies has not been altered, quality-of-life improvements have been added in every area. Party management, navigation, spellcasting, and combat have all been significantly enhanced.
A Legend Reborn
If you’re just discovering the legendary Wizardry franchise, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is the perfect jumping-in point for new players. Series veterans will love the gorgeous new graphics and sound, and the streamlined interface.
The post Revealing the Secrets of Wizardry 43 Years Later appeared first on Xbox Wire.
If you’re an IGN Plus member, a new free game is available to claim now from IGN Rewards! For a limited time, any IGN Plus member can now claim a free Project Winter Steam key. Developed by Other Ocean, Project Winter is a multiplayer experience you do not want to miss out on. The game has a focus on survival, which requires you to team up with others to explore the wilderness and survive.
Project Winter is playable with up to eight people in online multiplayer, with cross-platform play available. There are two different roles available in the game: Survivors and Traitors. As a Survivor, you’ll need to carefully pay attention to your teammates and communicate with them to survive. This involves cooperating on objectives, completing tasks, and, in the end, escaping with your life. The path there won’t be easy, however. Two Traitors will attempt to deceive and steer Survivors to the wrong path. By sabotaging and killing off the survivors, the Traitors can prevent an escape.
You can customize your character’s outfit with loads of costume options in the game. After each match, you will unlock new items so you can continue to grow your wardrobe! Project Winter is still getting updates almost every month, with the team at Other Ocean hard at work to provide fun, new ways to experience the game. Claim your key with IGN Plus now before it’s too late!
If you’re unfamiliar with IGN Plus, it’s the ultimate subscription to get the most out of your IGN experience! Some of the perks include no ads across IGN, unlimited maps and checklists for games, free games each month, and even discounts at IGN Store! Learn more and try IGN Plus today.
Owlcat Games has revealed the first DLC expansion for its well-received role-playing game Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader at the Warhammer Skulls showcase.
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader launched in December 2023 on PC via Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store, together with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S and X, and was met with positive reviews from players and critics. IGN’s Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader review returned an 8/10. We said: “Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is an ultra crunchy, 130-hour space epic with excellent writing and combat, but unfortunately, also a lot of bugs.”
Now, half a year later, Owlcat has announced Void Shadows, Rogue Trader’s first DLC. According to the developer, the expansion adds 15 hours of new content, and launches across all platforms on August 8, 2024.
Void Shadows adds a new romanceable companion, fully integrated into the game’s main story. Here’s the official blurb:
The DLC allows the players to personally delve into the depths of their voidship in an enthralling story that will pit them against an entirely new enemy who is trying to bring ruin to the von Valancius dynasty from the inside.
There are two new archetypes with unique abilities, and new lore content added to the main campaign. The new companion is Kibellah, a Death Cult Assassin “ready to pledge her life in service of the von Valancius dynasty just as her predecessors did for generations before her.” This new companion will have romance options as part of the new story, Owlcat confirmed.
Meanwhile, there are new crew members to interact with. These high-level officers play a “significant” role in the new story. The new threat is the Genestealer Cult, the Tyranid-obsessed faction Warhammer 40,000 fans will know well. Here’s Owlcat’s line on the Genestealer Cult:
Arising from within the deepest and darkest bowels of the player’s very own voidship is the malignant Genestealer Cult – a horrific breed of xenos who work from the shadows and infect your crew with their genetic code to convert them and slowly twist their loyalties for their wretched goals.
New quests of course mean new nooks and crannies hidden around the voidship “where no Lord Captain has explored before, until now.” You can upgrade your voidship with a new hangar, able to launch groups of fighters and bombers “to succeed in desperate, massive space battles or even bigger threats.”
Ahead of the DLC launch, Owlcat confirmed Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader now has full Steam Deck support. Multiplayer co-op is live now on the Windows PC version and is coming in a future patch for Mac and console versions.
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.
Super ‘master ‘maker.
With official word that a Nintendo Switch “successor” will be announced before April 2025, there’s really no debating that Switch is in the twilight of its years. We’re well into Year 8 now, and we’re being served up a series of remakes and remasters of old favourites while Nintendo’s premier teams focus on brand-new games for the brand-new system.
First-party-wise, in the last six months we’ve had Super Mario RPG, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, and the Nintendo-published Another Code: Recollection — and we also got Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe, Advance Wars 1+2, and Metroid Prime Remastered last year. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is launching today, with Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD arriving next month. If you’re a sucker for new versions of old classics, you’ve been like a pig in mud on Switch and elsewhere over the last couple of years.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
The beauty of the Warhammer 40,000 universe is that nothing is simple, nothing is clear cut, and it’s made the production of Space Marine 2 an exciting and rewarding experience. How do you make two-and-half-meter tall psycho-indoctrinated killers into relatable characters that an audience will root for? This is the type of fascinating question you’re faced with when you involve yourself in the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, and I’m here to tell you more about this exciting endeavour!
Our core intention from the outset has been to give you a taste of what it’s like to be a Space Marine. To achieve this, we need gameplay that makes you feel empowered to a level far beyond your average shooter. Everything, from weapons, abilities, and combat mechanics, to sounds and visuals, needs to be infused with the immense power of a Primaris Space Marine. An example of how we’ve handled this is the lack of a cover system in the game. Space Marines rarely use cover because their armour is so good. Typically, forward is the only direction that matters.
Our second core pillar has been to convey the sense of scale that you find in all Warhammer 40,000 literature – you’ll find yourself equipped with devastating weapons, but also at the center of a brutal battle for supremacy. The carnage you witness must embody the epic scale of Warhammer 40,000 warfare. We’re talking about conflicts that take place on a galactic level; whole solar systems consumed by war. You can already get a glimpse of this in the trailers we’ve released so far, with shots showing the sheer number of enemies, the allied forces holding them back, the massive artillery bombardments and the battles raging in all three dimensions.
Finally, we’re committed to making Space Marine 2 feel like a Warhammer 40,000 story. This means working very closely with Games Workshop, along with some of their Black Library authors, to ensure that the story is faithful to the universe from which it is born.
The architectural style of the Imperium of Man in the world of Warhammer 40,000 is iconic. Even reading about it in the Black Library novels gives a clear sense of the extraordinary approach that Games Workshop have taken to this feature of their IP. In the ten thousand years of human history since the betrayal of the Emperor by his corrupted son, Horus, the Imperium has fiercely resisted change. The densely populated hive-cities of the Imperium are populated by huge, ancient, cathedral-like buildings, inhabited by creatures that carry the signature mix of brutal injuries and crude surgeries that you find throughout the Warhammer 40,000 galaxy. Towering monuments to heroes that long ago fell in battle, only to have their true identities lost in the vast expanse of time that followed.
Hive cities in particular are a fascinating concept. How do billions of people all occupy the same area of land? By rising up in towering adamantium spires that penetrate the clouds. Ornate termite mounds, adorned with a plentiful number of human skulls, the hive cities make mountains look like molehills.
In order to render these structures, these cities, as they were intended to be seen, we spent months soaking up as much official artwork as we could get our hands on. We met with Warhammer artists who specialise in creating these gothic vistas and then worked closely with the Warhammer licensing team at Games Workshop to go over every design with a fine tooth comb. We believe that the result is one of the best renderings of Warhammer 40,000 architecture in any 3D production.
Any epic moment must be earned. A crescendo is reached, rather than created in isolation. We were careful to weave a variety of narrative and visual threads together to produce these very special moments over time.
There are different ways to get there. Sometimes, it is a case of containing the player within a smaller environment, through dimly lit, narrow corridors, before opening a set of doors to reveal an immense vista with an enormous battle taking place as far as the eye can see. Other times, it’s a case of using visual and narrative cues to build up the importance of a giant bell that hangs ominously above our allied forces, before bringing it crashing down. Building up to these crescendos in a way that feels very satisfying requires every tool at our disposal. Imagery, sound, camera, narrative, and gameplay all do their part.
In a game about being a Space Marine, you must be able to experience the essence of their condition. For them, warfare is not a job, nor a commitment. It is the only thing they know. They are humans who are surgically and genetically optimised for warfare. The level of devotion they feel is of a very different order. They’re functionally immortal, at least as far as anyone can tell, but they operate in such hostile warzones they rarely live more than a few hundred years at best. They are immortal, and yet their destiny is to die in battle, a paradox you should be able sense as you take on the role of Titus.
Some features are crucial to understanding what it means to be a Space Marine. Brotherhood, loyalty, devotion, the inability to feel fear and duty are all critical aspects. Space Marine 2 looks at the strength of brotherhood, especially from our main character, Titus’ perspective. It also explores the unwavering devotion possessed by every single Space Marine, and how far they will go to fulfil their task.
Titus was presented as unique from the very beginning. In the first game, it was his uniqueness that got him in trouble. He is not your average Space Marine, but nor is he equipped with any unique powers or abilities. It is his mind, the way he thinks, that makes him stand out.
Titus endows Space Marine 2 with fascinating themes. We know that a great deal of time has passed since the first game. So much has changed, with the return of the Ultramarines’ Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, and the emergence of the Primaris Space Marines. The story of Titus gives us the opportunity to look at how a Space Marine adapts to his circumstances, particularly when he has a unique way of understanding his world. Will he be able to overcome his past, his decisions, and his mistakes? Will he be able to adapt to a new environment? This is the story we can explore with our game.
Cutscenes can go a long way by using the language of cinema. The 3D medium makes anything possible with a camera, but that’s not always a good thing. It doesn’t matter how clever or how impressive a camera move can be; if it is detrimental to storytelling, it’s useless. Movies have spent more than a century refining visual storytelling and I’ve learned valuable lessons from Steven Spielberg, Terrence Malick, Emmanuel Lubezki, Paul Thomas Anderson, Andrei Tarkovsky, J.J. Abrams, and Ridley Scott. They’ve all shown that cameras can be used to great effect beyond simply framing characters in a scene.
Creating a story set in an epic universe runs the risk of having the characters disappear against the grand scale of the environment. Denis Villeneuve handled this very well in the new “Dune.” Director John Dower and I have been working closely on Space Marine 2 to tackle this challenge. Thanks to a solid background in film and TV, John always places character and story center stage, steering away from flashy sequences and show pieces. Every tool at your disposal should be used to keep the characters in focus when all hell is breaking loose around them. Lens choice, composition, movement, pacing… it all contributed to rooting our approach in the methods of the physical realm. And that’s how we grounded scenes to give the viewer a sense of really being present.
Going down a conventional route with the score for Space Marine 2 would have been easy, but it would have been a terrible mistake. Just because our story takes place in the distant future, it doesn’t mean the music should sound futuristic. It’s a very interesting and tricky balancing act, for which we’ve had to consider the setting of Space Marine 2.
The Imperium of Man has passed through an Age of Technology so advanced that it afforded mankind faster-than-light travel, teleportation and the Standard Template Construct machine, an artificially intelligent computer database… yet all that progress has since slipped into a forgotten history for tens of thousands of years. Now, the Imperium is a civilization that seems to abhor progress, that roots itself in tradition and dogma. You will not find the towering glass buildings and ubiquitous holographic projectors of “Blade Runner,” nor the slick, clean promenades of “Star Trek.” Instead, gothic architecture, millions of human skulls built into walls, stained glass windows and candle wax covered altars are the staple of the 41st millennium.
With all of this in mind, we worked to find a musical style that features both the accepted technology of the Imperium and the traditional instruments that have served humanity for millennia. The Warhammer 40,000 IP also has many established musical conventions that we wanted to build on. The result is something that feels very familiar but that has been touched by the movement of time. Technology may have changed and shaped the galaxy, but humans are still very much human.
Thanks for reading this deep dive into what makes the Warhammer 40,000 universe such a rich and exciting setting to work. I hope it has left you hungry for more! We can’t wait for you to jump into the action yourself on September 9, 2024, when Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 releases on Xbox Series X|S!
The post How Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Will Forge You into a Soldier in the 41st Millennium appeared first on Xbox Wire.
Greetings! Patch 1.003 for Stellar Blade goes live today. Eve’s mission is far from over, and we at Shift Up are working to make Stellar Blade shine even brighter. We’re happy to present to you the new Boss Challenge, new Nano Suits, and improved convenience features coming in this patch update on May 24.
The Boss Challenge pits you against the 19 bosses from the base game. Hone your skills, outwit your enemies… and brutalize them.
Progression in the Boss Challenge requires battle data from bosses you’ve previously defeated. You can also fight bosses on Hard difficulty setting after you’ve seen the ending of the game.
To start the challenge, you can either load up and use your own gear you’ve been using or choose one of several presets. Choose the minimum preset for a true challenge, which is extremely understated, or the maximum preset, which has all of your skills and stats buffed up, if you want to taunt the boss with some spectacular combat.
After the challenge is over, your battle data is automatically analyzed. You’ll see metrics like battle time, number of perfect parries and dodges, consumable usage, and more. Test your skills and compare with your friends.
If you defeat all bosses in the Boss Challenge on Normal difficulty setting or higher, you’ll get to earn the Neurolink Suit for Eve. Hats off to your strength!
Blood, blade… and beauty. Eve can be summarized in these three words. New Nano Suits have been added to bring out her beauty even more.
The two Nano Suits above, White Kunoichi and Black Kunoichi, will be available in this new update.
And check out the game yourself for more Nano Suits.
If you switch to ranged attack mode and switch back while locked on to an enemy, you will automatically lock on to the enemy again.
Also, we’re adding an option to always show the compass in the HUD.
All of these will be available on May 24 on PS5. Ready yourselves to reclaim Earth for humankind.
Though the nature of June’s showcase onslaught continues to change, one company remains consistently wacky as ever: Devolver Digital. The publisher has announced it will hold another June showcase this year on June 7 at 5:00p.m. Pacific Time, and this year it’s birthday party-themed.
The showcase will supposedly celebrate the 15th birthday of Devolver Digital’s mascot Volvy, a weird little guy that Devolver introduced last year in its 2023 showcase as a gag on the idea of a retro mascot making a return. Devolver Digital itself, as a company, turns 15 on June 25 of this year.
In celebration of, well, something’s birthday, Devolver promises to shower “partygoers with a big handful of gaming gifts, including updates and release dates for upcoming titles as well as some exciting new reveals.” Currently, Devolver has a number of announced games still in development including Baby Steps, Neva, Human: Fall Flat 2, and The Crush House.
This year’s Devolver Direct-er, Volvy’s Birthday Party will last approximately 20 minutes. If you’ve never watched one of these events before and intend to tune into this one, prepare for it to get a little strange. In addition to the aforementioned mascot “return” last year, Devolver’s events have included parodies of massive gaming conferences, subscription service japes, a malfunctioning mecha Suda51, and a “marketing countdown to marketing.” Who knows what this year will hold?
Devolver’s event will take place over a busy weekend both online and in Los Angeles. Folks tuning in digitally can catch showcases from Ubisoft, Xbox, and the all-encompassing Summer Game Fest all covered here on IGN, while folks in LA can check out our own IGN Live fan event featuring developers, publishers, creators, and more across both gaming and entertainment.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
