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JACKY BAYILI
Here, we present some of the most striking images around the world this past week.
Multilateralism and global partnership are critical to building a new world order that will ensure people reach the future they desire, agreed the attendees of a top-level international forum in Conghua district of Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, Monday.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced on Tuesday it will soon unveil a new round of relief measures, one day after the city recorded its biggest plunge in retail sales.
I just spent a week in Hong Kong, and luckily, it was peaceful. Radical protesters had called off violence for the previous weekend in order to "ensure" that the District Council elections would not be canceled. As a result, things were normal on the ground. However, as has been typical for the past few months, in the following weekend, things quickly sparked up again.
The government's proposal to create an Independent Review Committee to find why and how the violent protests happened and what to do in their aftermath would be a step in the right direction if Hong Kong is to move on, Lan Kwai Fong Holdings Chairman Allan Zeman said.
Although sentencing is an art and not a science, there are occasions when the duty of the courts is crystal clear. Public disorder is an obvious example of the type of criminality which invariably requires a firm response. As the Court of Final Appeal explained in its judgment in an unlawful assembly appeal in 2018, "public order must be maintained", and this requires the judges "to consider the factor of deterrence in sentencing" (FACC 8/2017).
Civil servants convicted of criminal offenses will face not only the legal consequences but also disciplinary action from the government, Hong Kong's civil servant chief said on Wednesday.
A United States senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, has pushed and prodded his colleagues with misleading information, gained bipartisan support, and finally managed to obtain unanimous Senate approval of his benignly named Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019.
The pro-establishment camp's defeat in the District Council Election is not entirely unexpected. Notwithstanding the common-sense presumption that most Hong Kong citizens are opposed to the street violence, property destruction and transportation disruption wreaked upon our once-safe and orderly society by the "blackshirts" in the past six months, there was a reliable opinion survey before the election showing that 40 percent of the citizens actually support their anarchy! With such deviant thinking, what can you expect!
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government should make no further concessions to violence, but must resist it with all the means at its disposal, the city's former director of public prosecutions said on Tuesday at a legal forum on the ongoing social unrest in Hong Kong.
On Wednesday, both houses of the United States Congress passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act - a bill designed to implement sanctions on officials and rescind the city's "special status" if Washington deems certain requirements are not met. Sponsored and pushed by hawkish senators such as Marco Rubio, the bill is expected to be signed by President Donald Trump, despite his personal ambivalence and unwillingness to get involved on the issue. The legislation is expected to cause disruption to US-China relations, with Beijing condemning it as a violation of national sovereignty and intervention in its internal affairs.
Le pensionnaire âgé d'un Éhpad, qui n'est pas un locataire, n'est pas toujours responsable des dommages causés par un incendie dans sa chambre. Le contrat de séjour signé avec l'Éhpad n'est pas un contrat de bail. C'est ce que vient de rappeler la troisième chambre civile de la Cour de cassation dans un arrêt du 3 décembre 2020.
Que faire si mon enfant est un cas contact ? Que se passe-t-il s'il a des symptômes évocateurs du Covid-19 ? Un enseignant doit-il s'isoler s'il a côtoyé un enfant infecté ? Quand une classe peut-elle être fermée ? Sur les recommandations du Haut conseil de la santé publique (HCSP), le ministère de l'Éducation nationale a renforcé le 1er février 2021 le protocole sanitaire dans les établissements. Des fiches pratiques à l'attention des parents et des équipes pédagogiques avaient été publiées en septembre 2020.
Distanciation physique de 2 mètres entre les groupes à la cantine, port du masque de catégorie 1 ou chirurgical pour les adultes et les élèves dès le CP, aération renforcée des locaux... En raison de l'évolution de la circulation du virus et de l'apparition de variants plus contagieux, le protocole sanitaire dans les écoles, les collèges et les lycées a été mis à jour afin d'assurer la protection des élèves et des personnels. Le point avec Service-Public.fr.
En raison de l'évolution de la circulation du coronavirus et de l'apparition de variants plus contagieux, les règles concernant l'isolement des cas contact dans une classe évoluent. Désormais, les classes de maternelle fermeront pendant une semaine si un élève est positif. Dans les écoles primaires, les collèges et les lycées, où le port du masque est obligatoire pour tout le monde, la classe est fermée lorsque 3 cas de Covid-19 sont confirmés. S'il s'agit d'un test positif dû à un nouveau variant dit « sud-africain »
ou « brésilien »
, un seul cas suffira désormais à fermer la classe quel que soit le niveau. Le point avec Service-Public.fr.
Pour limiter la propagation du Covid-19, la vente à emporter est toujours la seule possible dans les restaurants universitaires des Crous. Cependant, depuis le 8 février 2021, il est possible de consommer sur place le repas qui est délivré sous forme de vente à emporter. Les étudiants peuvent se restaurer à l'intérieur, dans les salles qu'ils avaient l'habitude de fréquenter mais seulement jusqu'à 18h. C'est ce que précise un décret publié au Journal officiel le 6 février 2021 à la suite des annonces de la ministre de l'Enseignement supérieur.
Conseils techniques sur les outils de contrôle parental, contenus d'éducation à la sexualité, ressources pour aider à déconstruire les clichés véhiculés par les films pornographiques... Le Gouvernement lance la plateforme gratuite jeprotegemonenfant.gouv.fr dédiée à tous les parents démunis face à l'exposition de leurs enfants à la pornographie en ligne.
En raison de l'évolution du contexte épidémique et de l'apparition de variants plus contagieux, le protocole sanitaire est renforcé pour la restauration et l'enseignement de l'éducation physique et sportive à l'école, au collège et au lycée. Toutes les activités sportives en intérieur sont suspendues en milieu scolaire et extrascolaire. Les activités maintenues en plein air doivent se dérouler sans contact. À la cantine, le brassage des élèves est interdit à l'école primaire. Une distanciation de 2 mètres entre groupes d'élèves doit être respectée, contre un mètre auparavant. Par ailleurs, les campagnes de dépistage sont ouvertes aux collégiens et lycéens. Le point sur les nouvelles mesures avec Service-Public.fr.
Soins funéraires, toilette mortuaire, présentation du corps, mise en bière, délai d'inhumation ou de crémation, cérémonies funéraires... Les règles ont évolué depuis le début de l'épidémie. Le droit funéraire est adapté jusqu'à un mois après la date de fin de l'état d'urgence pour tenir compte de la pandémie. Un décret paru au Journal officiel le 22 janvier 2021 précise les dernières dispositions.
Les inscriptions à l'école maternelle débutent généralement en mars pour la rentrée de septembre 2021. Cependant, certaines communes commencent à les enregistrer dès janvier. Renseignez-vous auprès de votre mairie le plus tôt possible. Si votre enfant est déjà scolarisé et ne change pas d'école, il n'est pas nécessaire de renouveler son inscription.
Vous souhaitez demander une bourse d'étude, un logement social étudiant, des aides pour l'année universitaire 2021-2022 ? Une procédure en ligne unique est ouverte jusqu'au 15 mai 2021 pour constituer dès maintenant un Dossier social étudiant (DSE) qui vous permettra d'effectuer votre demande.
En raison du contexte sanitaire incertain, les épreuves de spécialité du nouveau baccalauréat 2021 sont annulées à titre exceptionnel au profit du contrôle continu. Les enseignements concernés seront évalués sur la base des moyennes des trois trimestres de Terminale de ces enseignements. Le ministre de l’Éducation nationale a annoncé d'autres aménagements du baccalauréat que Service-Public.fr vous détaille.
Beaucoup de Français se sont munis de l'attestation de déplacement dérogatoire proposée par le ministère de l'Intérieur lors des deux confinements en 2020. Pour autant, la nécessité d'un déplacement pouvait être justifiée autrement, et pas exclusivement par le biais de cette attestation. C'est ce qu'a souligné le Conseil d'État dans sa décision du 22 décembre 2020.
Dès le 20 janvier 2021, vous pourrez vous inscrire aux formations de l'enseignement supérieur proposées en 2021. Cette année, les écoles vétérinaires, les bachelors universitaires de technologie et d'autres cursus rejoignent les 17 000 formations accessibles. Service-Public.fr vous rappelle le calendrier des phases principales de la procédure Parcoursup. Lycéens de Terminale, apprentis, étudiants en réorientation, découvrez les nouveautés 2021 et les dates des grandes étapes à retenir.
Les élèves se déplaçant seuls et les parents accompagnant leur enfant doivent justifier d'une attestation pour les trajets entre le domicile et l'école si ces déplacements ont lieu pendant le couvre-feu, c'est-à-dire entre 18h et 6h. Service-Public.fr vous explique comment vous la procurer et quelles sont les conditions pour les collégiens et les lycéens.
Vous regrettez de ne pas disposer d'une meilleure information sur la durabilité des produits lorsque vous achetez un nouveau lave-linge ou une nouvelle tondeuse à gazon ? Depuis le 1er janvier 2021, le caractère réparable d'un produit fait l'objet d'un indice. Cette mesure de la Loi anti-gaspillage pour une économie circulaire est complétée par un arrêté paru au Journal officiel le 30 décembre 2020 qui accorde un agrément à un éco-organisme assurant la gestion des déchets d'équipements électriques et électroniques ménagers.
Dans une succession, il arrive que le défunt ait prêté de l'argent à un héritier, un de ses enfants par exemple. La Cour de cassation vient rappeler comment cette dette est rapportable à la succession. L'héritier qui demande le rapport d'une dette par l'un de ses co-héritiers doit en prouver l'existence. À son tour, l'héritier à qui le prêt a été consenti doit prouver qu'il a remboursé la dette. S'il ne le fait pas, elle sera déduite de sa part d'héritage.
Aide humaine et aides techniques : le bénéfice de la prestation de compensation du handicap (PCH) est élargi aux besoins liés à l'exercice de la parentalité des personnes handicapées dès la naissance de leur enfant. Un décret est paru au Journal officiel le 1er janvier 2021. Il est complété par un arrêté paru le même jour qui en détermine les montants. Les précisions avec Service-Public.fr.
Écoles, collèges, lycées : les vacances scolaires d'hiver dépendent de la zone où se situe l'établissement scolaire, l'Outre-mer ayant par contre des dates spécifiques.
Comment fêter Noël en famille dans le contexte de l'épidémie ? Pour cette soirée, le couvre-feu entré en vigueur le 15 décembre 2020 avec le déconfinement sera exceptionnellement levé, mais il faudra néanmoins respecter les préconisations de prudence émises par le Gouvernement pour protéger les plus fragiles et éviter les contaminations. Service-Public.fr vous les rappelle.
Vacances d'hiver, vacances de printemps et d'été... Vous avez besoin de connaître dès maintenant les dates des futures vacances scolaires de vos enfants pour pouvoir vous organiser ? Service-Public.fr vous donne le détail du calendrier pour toute l'année scolaire 2021-2022, publié au Journal officiel le 16 décembre 2020.
Allocations familiales, APL, RSA, prime d'activité... Le paiement des prestations se fait le 5 de chaque mois sauf lorsque le 5 tombe un samedi, un dimanche ou un jour férié, le paiement est alors reporté au jour ouvré suivant le plus proche.
Depuis le 16 décembre, tous les numéros des Caisses d'allocations familiales (Caf) en 0810 sont remplacés par un numéro unique, accessible partout en France et dans les Dom, le 3230.
Visites dans les établissements, sorties des résidents en famille, animations festives dans les structures... Le ministère des Solidarités et de la Santé a exceptionnellement assoupli le protocole sanitaire en vigueur dans les établissements hébergeant des personnes âgées afin de permettre aux résidents de vivre sereinement les fêtes de fin d'année, mais maintient un haut niveau de protection des aînés. Les recommandations sont applicables du 15 décembre 2020 au 3 janvier 2021.
À compter de la session 2021, les candidats au baccalauréat en voie générale et technologique passent un Grand oral à la fin de l'année de terminale. Cette nouvelle épreuve du baccalauréat vise à former les lycéens à prendre la parole en public de façon claire et convaincante. Comment est-elle évaluée ? Comment se déroule t-elle ? Quelle est la composition du jury ? Service-Public.fr vous explique.
Écoles, collèges, lycées : les vacances scolaires de Noël sont identiques quelle que soit la zone concernée. Elles commencent samedi 19 décembre 2020 après la classe (les élèves qui n'ont pas cours le samedi sont en vacances dès le vendredi soir). Les cours reprennent ensuite à partir du lundi 4 janvier 2021.
À compter de la session 2021 du baccalauréat général et technologique, une attestation de compétence en langues vivantes étrangères et régionales sera délivrée aux candidats à la fin du cycle terminal en même temps que le diplôme. C'est ce que prévoient un décret et un arrêté parus au Journal officiel le 5 novembre 2020.
Promiscuité, tension, anxiété... Le contexte particulier du confinement lié à l'épidémie de Covid-19 expose les mineurs aux violences intrafamiliales. Le 119 est le numéro national dédié à la prévention et à la protection des enfants en danger ou en risque de l'être.
Les dates des épreuves écrites du diplôme national du brevet, du baccalauréat, du CAP et du BEP 2021 viennent d'être arrêtées par le ministère de l'Éducation et de la Jeunesse. Retrouvez-les sur Service-public.fr.
En raison de l'impact de la crise sanitaire sur les conditions de préparation du bac, les modalités du baccalauréat général et technologique pour l'année scolaire 2020-2021 sont adaptées. Les épreuves communes sont remplacées par le contrôle continu. Les épreuves des enseignements de spécialité sont maintenues avec deux sujets au choix. C'est ce qu'a annoncé le ministère de l'Éducation nationale le 5 novembre 2020.
Vous vous mariez ou vous souhaitez changer de contrat de mariage ? Une jurisprudence vient rappeler que même dans un régime de séparation de biens, la contribution aux charges du mariage est une règle obligatoire à laquelle les époux ne peuvent déroger. La contribution aux charges du mariage est l'obligation qu'ont les époux de participer à l'ensemble des dépenses de la vie courante : dépenses de logement, nourriture, habillement, santé, éducation des enfants, loisirs...
Le stage d'observation d'une semaine en entreprise qui doit se dérouler durant l'année de 3e est cette année rendu exceptionnellement facultatif en raison de la crise sanitaire et de la situation économique qui en découle. Il reste cependant très souhaitable. En l'absence de stage, des formations sur le monde du travail seront proposés aux collégiens.
La loi encadre le travail des « enfants influenceurs »
sur les plateformes de vidéos en ligne (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram...). Elle comble un vide juridique car rien n'était prévu jusqu'alors pour les protéger. Elle leur ouvre également un droit à l'oubli numérique qu'ils pourront exercer seuls sans leurs parents.
Vous avez des questions sur la scolarisation de votre enfant handicapé ? Vous avez besoin d'écoute et d'accompagnement dans vos démarches ? Votre enfant désire des précisions ou un soutien ? Le Ministère de l'Éducation nationale met à votre disposition tout au long de l'année la cellule nationale « Aide handicap École »
et les cellules locales « École inclusive »
pour vous répondre grâce à un numéro unique : le 0 805 805 110.
Vous avez des difficultés pour percevoir la pension alimentaire due par votre ex-conjoint ? La Caf peut servir d'intermédiaire afin d'assurer son versement. Deux décrets parus au Journal officiel le 1er octobre 2020 précisent la mise en œuvre de cette intermédiation financière.
Parent en perte d'autonomie, conjoint malade, enfant en situation de handicap... Depuis le 30 septembre 2020, le congé qui permet à un salarié résident en France d'arrêter son activité professionnelle pour accompagner un membre de sa famille est indemnisé. Un décret paru au Journal officiel le 2 octobre 2020 précise ses modalités.
Des habits de princesse, des poupées, des dînettes roses pour les filles et des camions, des jeux scientifiques, des costumes de super-héros pour les garçons... Noël approche, comment seront présentés les jouets dans les magasins et les catalogues ? La charte 2020 pour une représentation mixte des jouets a été signée le 24 septembre 2020 afin de lutter contre les stéréotypes de genre ancrés dès le plus jeune âge et renforcer le goût des filles pour les sciences. Service-Public.fr vous explique.
Le portail national d'information pour les personnes âgées et leurs proches www.pour-les-personnes-agees.gouv.fr, qui a pour devise « Pour rester autonome, je prends les choses en main »
, propose une nouvelle version de son site, refondue et enrichie d'un annuaire des services d'aide à domicile. Démarches, aides, accompagnement à domicile, adresses, prix des établissements, comparateur officiel des prix et des restes à charge en EHPAD... À découvrir avec Service-Public.fr !
Les montants des droits d'inscription (droits de scolarité) dans l'enseignement supérieur public pour les étudiants étrangers en « mobilité internationale »
resteront les mêmes qu'en 2019 et à un montant différent de celui payé par les étudiants français, européens ou déjà résidents en France. Un arrêté a été publié au Journal officiel du 26 juin 2020. Saisi pour se prononcer sur les montants différenciés de ces frais, le Conseil d'État a jugé qu'ils ne s'opposaient pas à l'exigence constitutionnelle de gratuité visant à assurer l'égal accès à l'instruction.
Un décret paru au Journal officiel le 24 septembre 2020 précise les modalités de mise en œuvre du dispositif électronique mobile anti-rapprochement destiné à assurer le contrôle à distance des conjoints ou ex-conjoints violents. Déployé dans un premier temps dans cinq juridictions depuis le 25 septembre 2020, il sera généralisé à l'ensemble du territoire à la fin de l'année.
Règles sanitaires, revalorisation des bourses, gel des frais d'inscription, Resto'U, repas à 1 €, aides au logement, programme Erasmus +... : tout sur la rentrée universitaire 2020.
Depuis la rentrée 2019-2020, les étudiants n'ont aucune cotisation à régler à la sécurité sociale et aucune démarche d'affiliation n'est nécessaire. Ceux qui s'inscrivent pour la première fois dans un établissement d'enseignement supérieur restent rattachés à leur régime de protection d'Assurance maladie antérieur (régime général, RSA...), généralement celui de leurs parents. Étudiant étranger en France, étudiant à l'étranger, vous pouvez cependant avoir des démarches à accomplir. Quels sont les conseils pour être bien remboursé ?
Quel est le taux de réussite au baccalauréat des lycées de votre ville ou de votre département ? Le ministère de l’Éducation nationale présente les indicateurs de résultats des lycées d’enseignement général, technologique et professionnel, publics ou privés sous contrat, pour l’année 2019.
Dans les écoles, collèges et lycées, des élections sont organisées chaque année pour élire des représentants de parents d'élèves. Pour l'année scolaire 2020-2021, elles se déroulent le vendredi 9 octobre 2020 ou le samedi 10 octobre 2020, ainsi que l'indique le Bulletin officiel de l'Éducation nationale du 10 juillet 2020.
Accompagnement à la parentalité, allongement des congés maternité et paternité... Voici quelques-unes des recommandations contenues dans un récent rapport pour mieux accompagner les « 1 000 premiers jours »
de l'enfant, du 4e mois de grossesse aux deux ans.
Écoles, collèges, lycées : les vacances scolaires de Toussaint sont identiques quelle que soit la zone concernée. Elles commencent samedi 17 octobre 2020 après la classe. Les cours reprennent ensuite à partir du lundi 2 novembre 2020.
Les évaluations nationales de CP, CE1, 6e et les tests de positionnement en seconde et CAP ont commencé le 14 septembre 2020 pour tous les élèves. Dans le contexte de l'après-confinement, ils vont permettre d'identifier les acquis et les besoins des élèves, afin de leur proposer un accompagnement personnalisé adapté et de remédier à leurs difficultés éventuelles.
Si un lien de filiation est judiciairement déclaré et prouvé à la suite d'une recherche en paternité, son établissement a un effet rétroactif. Selon l'article 371-2 du Code civil, les parents sont rétroactivement tenus à l'entretien et à l'éducation de l'enfant. Il est par ailleurs prévu une prescription de cinq ans pour les actions de paiement d'une contribution à l'entretien et à l'éducation d'un enfant majeur. Cette durée de prescription pourrait-elle être supprimée ou allongée dans le futur projet de loi pour l'émancipation économique des femmes ? C'est la question posée par un député au ministère.
Vous êtes inscrit sur Parcoursup pour suivre une formation dans l'enseignement supérieur à la rentrée 2020 et vous n'avez peut-être pas reçu de proposition d'admission ? Pas de panique, l'ouverture de la phase complémentaire destinée à vous aider à obtenir une place dans l'enseignement supérieur est prolongée de deux semaines jusqu'au 24 septembre 2020.
En raison de la crise sanitaire, il a été décidé du gel des frais d'inscription à l'université. Les montants des droits d'inscription (droits de scolarité) resteront les mêmes qu'en 2019. Un arrêté a été publié au Journal officiel du 26 juin 2020.
Une personne majeure, même placée sous mesure de protection juridique, choisit librement d'avoir des relations personnelles avec un tiers (parent ou non). En cas de difficulté, le juge intervient et peut refuser de maintenir des liens dans l'intérêt de la personne protégée. C'est ce que vient de rappeler la première chambre civile de la Cour de cassation dans un arrêt du 24 juin 2020.
Dans le cadre d'une procédure de divorce, le Code civil prévoit que les époux fournissent au juge une déclaration sur l'honneur de ses ressources, revenus, patrimoine et conditions de vie. Ils doivent pouvoir justifier de sa teneur. Mais quelle est la valeur juridique de cette déclaration et quelles sont les sanctions en cas de fausse déclaration ? C'est la question posée par un député au ministère de la Justice.
Règles sanitaires, fournitures, formation obligatoire, programmes scolaires, organisation des épreuves du bac 2021, téléphone portable, allocation de rentrée et bourses, assurance, santé, cantine, calendrier des vacances... Tout ce qu'il faut savoir sur la rentrée avec Service-public.fr.
Vous débutez une formation en alternance en contrat d'apprentissage ou de professionnalisation et vous cherchez un logement ? Désormais salarié, vous n'avez plus le statut étudiant et vous vous demandez quelles aides sont possibles ? Que ce soit pour une location dans le parc privé ou social, une colocation, une sous-location, un foyer... plusieurs aides existent pour faciliter votre installation, réduire le montant de votre loyer et pouvoir ainsi prendre un logement proche de votre lieu de formation.
À la rentrée, une attestation d'assurance scolaire vous est demandée par l'école, le collège ou le lycée de votre enfant. Est-il utile de souscrire une telle assurance ? Est-elle indispensable ou même obligatoire ? Que couvre-t-elle exactement ?
À la disparition d'un proche, avoir procédé à un inventaire de succession peut s'avérer utile et dans certains cas il est obligatoire. Il s'agit d'inventorier tous les meubles, objets de décoration, tableaux, bijoux et autres objets personnels du défunt. Service-public.fr vous explique.
Bientôt la rentrée et les fournitures à acheter ! Faites le point avec Service-Public.fr.
Pour tout savoir sur les fournitures scolaires 2020, ce qui est à votre charge ou pas..., retrouvez notre vidéo avec les réponses pratiques aux questions que vous vous posez.
Les épreuves communes de contrôle continu (E3C) sont renommées « évaluations communes »
et les commissions d'harmonisation ont désormais lieu en fin d'année de première et de terminale, et non plus à la fin de chaque session d'évaluations. Elles comptent toujours pour 30 € de la note finale du baccalauréat. Le ministre de l'Éducation nationale a retenu des propositions du comité de suivi de la réforme du baccalauréat 2021 du 30 juin 2020. Un décret est paru au Journal officiel le 30 juillet 2020.
En cas de séparation des parents, l'exercice du droit de visite ou d'hébergement pose parfois des difficultés. Afin de garantir la remise effective de l'enfant et d'éviter tout contact entre les parents lorsque le contexte est conflictuel, un décret paru au Journal officiel le 30 juillet 2020 prévoit que cette démarche puisse être effectuée avec l'assistance d'un tiers de confiance et dans un lieu désigné. C'est alors le juge qui l'organise.
La question : « Je commence à organiser la rentrée scolaire de mes enfants, connaît-on la date de versement de l'ARS et quels sont les montants prévus cette année ? »
La réponse de Service-public : « L'allocation rentrée scolaire (ARS) est versée le mardi 18 août 2020 en métropole et dans les départements d'outre-mer (Guadeloupe, Guyane, Martinique). Le versement a eu lieu le mardi 4 août 2020 dans les départements de Mayotte et de la Réunion. Le plafond de ressources des familles varie en fonction du nombre d'enfants à charge au 31 juillet 2020 et de l'âge des enfants. Cette année, elle est exceptionnellement majorée. »
Activités à faire chez soi, lectures à distance, sélections d'ouvrages, discussions en ligne... Avec Partir en livre, c'est le livre qui va à la rencontre des enfants et des jeunes du 8 au 19 juillet 2020 pour leur transmettre le plaisir de lire. Les propositions sont multiples partout en France, gratuites et destinées à tous. Afin de s'adapter au contexte sanitaire, la manifestation propose cette année un bouquet de contenus numériques.
Séjours en villages vacances ou en campings, colonies de vacances, activités sportives, loisirs... Savez-vous que des aides financières peuvent être demandées à votre caisse d'allocation familiale (Caf) lorsque le coût des vacances est un frein ?
Le Code civil prévoit que les époux se doivent mutuellement respect, fidélité, secours et assistance. Mais en cas de séparation, l'un des conjoints peut se retrouver dans le besoin. Dans le cadre des mesures provisoires, le juge aux affaires familiales fixe alors la pension alimentaire que l'un des époux devra verser à son conjoint. Cette pension suppose que l'un soit dans une situation de besoin et que l'autre ait les ressources suffisantes. Mais que recouvre la notion d'état de besoin ? C'est la question posée par un député au ministère.
Mon enfant doit-il porter un masque en classe ? Quelle est la distanciation physique à respecter dans la cour de récréation ? Pourra-t-il manger à la cantine ? Les locaux sont-ils nettoyés régulièrement ? Le ministère de l'Éducation nationale et de la Jeunesse a établi un protocole sanitaire, appuyé par un décret paru au Journal officiel le 22 juin 2020, qui précise les nouvelles modalités concernant la sécurité des enfants, des équipes pédagogiques et des autres personnels.
Vous avez besoin de connaître dès maintenant les dates des futures vacances scolaires de vos enfants pour pouvoir vous organiser ? Service-public.fr vous donne le détail du calendrier pour toute l'année scolaire 2020-2021.
En raison du contexte sanitaire, l'ensemble des épreuves du diplôme national du brevet, du baccalauréat général, technologique et professionnel et du BTS seront validées à partir des notes du livret scolaire. Les diplômes seront délivrés uniquement par le contrôle continu. C'est ce qu'indique un communiqué de presse du ministre de l’Éducation nationale du 3 avril 2020, complété par l'annonce du Premier ministre du 28 mai 2020. Les décrets sont parus entre le 28 mai et le 14 juin 2020 au Journal officiel.
L'envoi répétitif de SMS menaçants et d'appels téléphoniques malveillants à un membre de sa famille constitue une atteinte à la vie privée. C'est ce que rappelle la Cour de cassation dans son arrêt du 20 mai 2020.
Présentée le 6 juin dernier par le ministre de l’Éducation nationale, l'opération « Vacances apprenantes »
doit permettre à un million d'élèves de combler de manière distrayante et enrichissante les lacunes accumulées depuis le début de la période de confinement. Plusieurs dispositifs sont mis en œuvre : écoles ouvertes dans les villes et à la campagne, colonies de « vacances apprenantes »
, accroissement des accueils de loisirs. Service-public.fr passe en revue l'ensemble des mesures de « Vacances apprenantes »
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La fête des pères aura lieu le 21 juin et les parents séparés se demandent souvent chez quel parent doivent se trouver les enfants ce jour-là. La réponse peut se trouver dans leur décision de justice ou leur convention (parentale ou de divorce). Il faut y vérifier si un dispositif particulier est prévu pour cette fête. Sans décision de justice ou sans convention, les parents peuvent s'organiser à l'amiable.
Un décret paru au Journal officiel du 6 juin 2020 prévoit que les victimes de violences conjugales puissent débloquer par anticipation leur épargne salariale, afin d'avoir rapidement les moyens de s'éloigner de leur agresseur en cas d'urgence et de faire face aux changements matériels imposés par leur situation.
Vous venez de perdre un de vos proches et vous souhaitez connaître les principales formalités à accomplir. Organisation des obsèques, informations aux différents organismes, inventaire des meubles, règlement de la succession... Service-public.fr vous guide dans vos démarches selon votre situation et vous informe des nouvelles règles funéraires adaptées en raison de la pandémie de Covid-19.
En cas de conflit et en l'absence de dernières volontés du défunt sur ses funérailles, c'est le parent le plus présent qui décide de l'organisation des funérailles et de l'inhumation. C'est ce que rappelle la Cour de cassation dans un arrêt du 18 décembre 2019.
Suite aux annonces du Président de la République, l'ensemble des crèches, écoles, collèges et lycées sont fermés depuis lundi 16 mars 2020 et jusqu'à nouvel ordre. Un dispositif de continuité pédagogique et scolaire est assuré par l'école ou l'établissement scolaire pendant cette période. Une offre de programmes du primaire au lycée, La Maison Lumni, est également proposée à la télévision.
En raison du contexte sanitaire, la tenue des concours et examens nationaux de l'enseignement public et privé et des concours administratifs est suspendue jusqu'au 5 avril 2020. Un arrêté est paru au Journal officiel le 18 mars en ce sens.
Le juge aux affaires familiales peut rendre une décision sur les droits de visite et d'hébergement d'un parent sur son enfant mineur même si un seul des parents a fait une proposition à ce sujet.
Officialisée en 1977 par les Nations-Unies, cette journée couvre plusieurs événements à travers le monde avec comme objectif de célébrer les avancées des droits des femmes. Vie-publique.fr fait le point en cinq questions pour comprendre la création de cette journée.
Abaissement de l'âge obligatoire de l'instruction, école à la maison, contrôle des connaissances... 5 décrets parus au Journal officiel du 4 août 2019 précisent les mesures concernant l'instruction obligatoire prévues par la loi du 26 juillet 2019 pour une école de la confiance.
MADRID - Cristiano Ronaldo set yet another Champions League record on Wednesday, scoring in Real Madrid's 3-2 win over Borussia Dortmund to become the first player to find the net in all six group-stage matches.
MADRID - Cristiano Ronaldo set yet another Champions League record on Wednesday, scoring in Real Madrid's 3-2 win over Borussia Dortmund to become the first player to find the net in all six group-stage matches.
MADRID - Cristiano Ronaldo set yet another Champions League record on Wednesday, scoring in Real Madrid's 3-2 win over Borussia Dortmund to become the first player to find the net in all six group-stage matches.
MADRID - Cristiano Ronaldo set yet another Champions League record on Wednesday, scoring in Real Madrid's 3-2 win over Borussia Dortmund to become the first player to find the net in all six group-stage matches.
Mire TV, Pixabay License.
The Institute for Communication Sciences (UMS 3665) closed on 31 December 2018.
The European project InsSciDE, coordinated by Pascal Griset, professor of contemporary history at Sorbonne University, joined Sirice.
Research groups on digital themes were transferred to a new CNRS unit, the Center for Internet and Society (UPR 2000), created by Mélanie Dulong de Rosnay and Francesca Musiani.
For more information, you can contact Christophe Potier-Thomas (InsScide (...)
Mire TV, Pixabay License.
L'institut des sciences de la communication (UMS 3665) a fermé ses portes le 31 décembre 2018.
Le projet européen InsSciDE, coordonné par Pascal Griset, professeur d'histoire contemporaine à Sorbonne Université, a rejoint l'UMR Sirice.
Les pôles de recherche sur le numérique ont été transférés au sein d'une nouvelle unité CNRS, le Centre Internet et Société (UPR 2000), créée par Mélanie Dulong de Rosnay et Francesca Musiani.
Pour tout renseignement, vous pouvez contacter (...)
Ce séminaire se déroule les 2e et 4e vendredis du mois, de 15h à 17h, en salle 2, 105 boulevard Raspail, Paris 6e, du 9 novembre 2018 au 14 juin 2019.
9 novembre 2018 Réflexion introductive, « Les nouvelles frontières numériques » Benjamin Loveluck (Télécom ParisTech), « Frontières et souveraineté à l'ère numérique » Francesca Musiani (ISCC, CNRS), « La gouvernance d'Internet : quelques repères » Françoise Daucé (CERCEC), « Le Runet derrière le mur. Une brève histoire des régulations de l'internet russe » (...)
La rencontre annuelle du Global Network of Internet and Society Research Centers (NoC) s'est tenue à Paris.
15 novembre 2018, 15h à 19h
Université Paris 1 Institut de recherche juridique de la Sorbonne Amphithéâtre Sainte-Barbe 4 rue Valette, Paris 5e
Programme
15h à 15h10 – Welcome remarks Mélanie Dulong de Rosnay, Francesca Musiani (ISCC) Carlos Affonso Souza (ITS)
15h10 à 16h – NoC Today and the Future Presentation of numbers of members, diversity, activities, opportunities for engagement, (...)
Maître de conférences habilitée à diriger des recherches à la Faculté des Lettres et Civilisations de l'Université Lyon 3 Jean Moulin, Marida Di Crosta est en délégation au CNRS de septembre 2018 à juillet 2019.
- Annuaire / CherchStatutaireTommaso Venturini est chargé de recherche au CNRS (ISCC) depuis le 1er novembre 2018.
- Annuaire / CherchStatutaireFrancesca Musiani, chargée de recherche (CNRS-ISCC), est membre du comité scientifique de cette conférence.
Presentation
Surveillance is often framed as a resilience building tool in the security discourse. However, if human rights and democracy are included in the object of resilient behaviour, the relationship between resilience and surveillance becomes ambiguous, as it often ends up undermining the very values it aims at protecting.
Privacy and data protection, both fundamental rights (...)
Chacune des séances est construite autour de l'intervention d'un chercheur. Si la période susceptible d'être couverte dans les interventions va de la fin du xviiie siècle à aujourd'hui, l'accent sera mis sur la période contemporaine.
L'un des objectifs du séminaire est de réunir et faire interagir des publics provenant d'horizons différents (étudiants de niveau master 2 en histoire, doctorants et chercheurs débutants en histoire des sciences, et doctorants des disciplines scientifiques de Sorbonne (...)
Cet ouvrage, coordonné par Valérie Schafer, a été publié en mars 2018 dans la collection « Intelligences numériques » des Presses universitaires de Paris Nanterre.
Résumé
Alors que le fonctionnement en temps réel, la promesse de l'instantanéité et l'accélération continue des échanges en réseaux ont été des éléments récurrents des discours fondateurs sur les « nouvelles technologies de l'information et de la communication », force est de constater que celles-ci n'ont aboli ni le temps ni l'espace. Davantage (...)
15 novembre 2018
Sorbonne Université
Campus de Jussieu / Tour 26
4 Place Jussieu, Paris 5e
Francesca Musiani participe à ce symposium annuel de GigaNet (Global Internet Governance Academic Network). Le LIP6 (Sorbonne Université) accueille cette 13e édition, qui porte sur le thème "Not the ‘New Oil' – Data Governance and the Internet".
"GigaNet is an international association of academic researchers founded in 2006 to support multidisciplinary research on Internet governance. Its membership (...)
When WandaVision began its weekly run on Disney+, I enjoyed being reunited with two of the Avengers, but didn't have any idea what I was watching. By the third or fourth episode, it all started to make sense, and it just kept getting better from there. I'm now singing its praises as one of the best shows you can stream; once again cementing my believe that the Marvel Cinematic Universe can do no wrong. Okay, Thor: The Dark World is of a much lower quality than every other MCU film, but it still has some great moments and character development. I recommend watching it to connect all of the MCU tissue.
The one thing you shouldn't do is scroll below if you haven't watched any of WandaVision yet. This is your spoiler warning. The first season of WandaVision hasn't concluded (we're waiting on one more episode that hits this Friday), and yet Funko has already introduced a sizeable line of collectible Pops that give away some of the show's biggest twists and turns.
If you've kept up with the weekly delivery of episodes, take a look at the figures below. Funko has pulled out all of the stops, with a handful of different Wanda and Vision Pops, one for almost every time period they experience. The black-and-white figures for the first two episodes are a nice touch.
We also see this adorable couple in their comic book-inspired Halloween costumes. Their twins are also ready to hit the streets for candy. To round out the set, Wanda's brother Pietro gets a figure, and so does Monica Rambeau in one of her many outfits.
The series goes one step further with two shocking additions: Agatha Harkness, who we believe to be the big bad, and Vision, who is in post-credits form with an all-white shell. These figures wouldn't be out of the ordinary a year from now, but for them to be announced right after some of the characters were revealed in the weekly show is a bit crazy, especially given how secretive Marvel has been about them.
Some of these figures are available now, but the Agatha and white Vision aren't expected to hit until July. This is an amazing line that Funko has assembled that perfectly pinpoints what makes this show special. Here's hoping we get a similar lineup (and show quality) for the upcoming The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which hits Disney+ on March 19.
Thepublishing dispute surrounding The Sinking City has practically eclipsed any conversation about the game itself (which is justokay). Developer Frogwares and publisher Nacon have been embroiled in a very nasty battle over, among other things, the distribution rights to the game. Last week, it was announced that The Sinking City launched on Steam only for Frogwares to implore players onTwitter not to purchase that version of the game. Frogwares has since posted a lengthy blog post explaining that Nacon allegedly had employees “crack, hack and pirate” a version of The Sinking City to release on Steam.
Steam was one of the platforms Nacon was responsible for publishing The Sinking City to, per the original agreement between it and Frogwares. However, once the relationship started falling apart, Frogwares states that Nacon repeatedly tried to force the studio into delivering a new master version of the game for Steam claiming contractual obligation. Nacon took this request to the French courts on two occasions (July 2020 and October 2020) and was denied both times, and a final decision on the matter is currently pending judgment. Frogwares also says Nacon previously attempted to upload a pirated copy of the game to Steam back in late December (following an ultimatum by Nacon's CEO) but the studio was able to block it from sale.
That’s why Frogwares was surprised to see The Sinking City hit Steam on February 26 under Nacon’s name. That caused Frogwares to do some digging; the company says it has discovered evidence that this version has been illegally modified by Nacon. Frogware’sblog post (and accompanying video) goes into exhausting detail about how Nacon allegedly edited the game files to pull this off, like swapping menu and loading screen assets to make it appear as if it is the sole entity responsible for the game. Furthermore, the Steam version lacks achievements, which Frogwares says is due to Nacon’s file meddling and that the publisher also pirated the game’s Deluxe version, which contains extra content that Nacon didn’t pay for or even discuss with Frogwares.
It’s a lot to unpack, and I encourage readers to read Frogware’s post detailing its full investigation. The short version, though, is this: If Nacon did indeed do this, it seemingly did a lousy job of covering its tracks, as Frogwares was not only able to trace the edited files to their original sources, but also to the parties responsible, even going as far as to name drop the guilty parties in question. Frogwares stresses that neither Valve nor Gamesplanet are guilty of any wrongdoing and were merely duped by Nacon. The studio is now focused on finding the best legal course of action, making sure to mention that violating IP laws in France can lead to seven years in prison and 750,000 euros in fines.
Meanwhile, Nacon responded with a blog post onSteam denying the accusations and claiming that Frogwares is merely trying to revise the original contract to their advantage while also adding that the game wouldn’t exist without it doing most of the heavy lifting in terms of funding and marketing. According to Nacon, “It's easy to play the victim, but all we seek is that Frogwares respect its commitments both in the contract and as demanded by the courts.”
Nacon also blames The Sinking City’s missing Steam features on Frogwares, saying “In regards to feedback on the release of the Sinking City on Steam, this is an official and complete version. However, due to a lack of cooperation with Frogwares, we are unable to integrate Steam-specific features (cloud saving/achievements). Thus, this version contains only the base game, without any additional content. Despite this, we have organized the release so that fans on Steam can enjoy the game.”
So yeah, this fight doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. If you have a dog in this race, figuring out which version of the game to buy that directly supports the company you want to side with is a mess in itself. Frogwares recently published The Sinking City onPS5 with visual enhancements, but it’ll be interesting to see if and how the game appears anywhere else after this latest fiasco.
Bungie has temporarily removed Trials of Osiris from Destiny 2: Season of the Chosendue to an issue with win-trading. The brutal-yet-satisfying (when not faced with cheaters) PvP event has always been hit or miss with players, but now it's a miss for all players because it has been removed from the game entirely. At least for now.
Bungie took to Twitter to share the news that Trials has been disabled, though the tweet didn't go into specifics other than "an issue." It was later discovered on a now-removed post on Reddit that the removal had to do with the Hakke emblem.
Due to an issue, Trials of Osiris has been disabled for the remainder of the weekend.
— Bungie Help (@BungieHelp) February 28, 2021
Even though the original Reddit post is gone, a responding comment helped fill in the blanks regarding what was taken down. Since then, the post has been locked and no further comments can be added at this time.
In the thread, Reddit user Ekser12 filled in what the initial post revealed: Basically, players were all equipping the Hakke Emblem and entering into a deal with one another to roll who wins and who loses. A dice is rolled to see who is going to win before each round starts and for those that lose, they switch to a Burned card on another character and give it to them as a win. By doing this, lucky players that win the die are able to make it to the Lighthouse, sometimes without having taken out a single enemy.
Though the process seems involved, moves like this aren't that surprising. Trials is a hotbed of cheaters, making the already brutally challenging PvP instance even more so, especially on PC. Other players feel that Bungie hasn't been consistent regarding what this experience has to offer, especially in terms of what the ultimate goal is. Some feel that if the player count is low, Bungie will switch up the Trials experience to try to bring more Guardians in. Given that Trials is incredibly challenging as part of being a Pinnacle PvP activity, new players get smashed into the ground fairly quickly and with nothing but the equivalent of "I went to Trials and all I got was this lousy t-shirt."
Basically, if you're not a top-tier PvP player, Trials is not designed for you.
At the end of the day, Trials is an aspect of Destiny 2 that is still very much under construction. It's built for a very small portion of the player base in mind with not enough of a payoff to justify going through the motions. Will that change? Possibly! This is by far one of the most talked about aspects of Destiny 2 and Bungie has already stated that it is continuing to look into ways to better the experience for all.
Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should, but that didn't stop one Spore player from playing a messed up version of god anyway by recreating Pokémon in terrifying detail. While not exact replicas by any stretch, the Pokémon-ified Spore creations are just too horrifyingly perfect to keep to ourselves.
Spore is an adorable open-world game that basically lets players live out their godlike fantasies by creating entire universes for some single-player fun. With great power comes great responsibility and apparently great meme-ability, because that's what one player did when they attempted to bring that "gotta catch 'em all" energy into the world of Spore.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
You can see a few of my favorite ones in the slideshow above, but this person created almost 50 in total. Some of them, I'm not going to lie, are pure nightmare material. Others actually look the part if you close one eye and squint the other.
Click here to watch embedded mediaAs our own Brian Shea mentioned, that's no longer Jigglypuff up there. There is no Jiggly in this world of pain, instead, Wigglypuff is here to wreck your world. Some of them are pretty cute though. While Eevee still looks off, at least that is recognizable. Some of them...some of them are more disconcerting than familiar.
What do you think about the recreation of Pokémon in the world of Spore? Do you think you could have done better? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below. And, uh, if you have nightmares tonight: Sorry! And it's not our fault. We love you.
What more Pokémon goodness in your life with the 25th anniversary this past weekend? You can celebrate even after the fact with the newly announced anniversary album featuring Post Malone, Katy Perry, and more with our previous coverage right here.
Most people seem to agree that Super Mario World 3D + Bowser's Fury is a good game. One of the major features of the new Bowser's Fury campaign is that Bowser is now enormous – far bigger than his usual forms. You may think it's neat that Mario must confront a mountain-sized nemesis, but not everyone feels that way. How does former United States President Donald Trump feel about it? Truthfully, he probably doesn't care. But if he did care, and if he decided to go on a rant about it, it would probably sound something like the video below.
Twitter user James Austin Johnson (@shrimpJAJ) has a unique ability to impersonate the former president's voice, which he has used in the past to create a series of videos that approximate unlikely speeches from Trump. The latest one hits close to gamers' hearts, focusing on the Super Mario 3D World re-release on Switch, and the new Bowser's Fury content. You can give it a listen for yourself:
OMG TRUMP UNLEASHES 'FURY' ON BIDEN ADMIN IN TRIUMPHANT CPAC SPEECH: "UNDER [BIDEN], BOWSER... TOO BIG, [SUPER] MARIO CAN'T KEEP UP!!" pic.twitter.com/cv7lqEkldf
— James Austin Johnson (@shrimpJAJ) February 28, 2021
The funny tirade hits all the big points: Bowser's ridiculous size, the implausibility of a cat-like Mario being able to stop him, and how we sometimes even used to play tennis with Bowser. He even muses about the declining interest in 2D Mario adventures.
If you want to know why Bowser is so furious in the first place, you can watch Game Informer's own Alex Van Aken play through the entirely of Bowser's Fury below. He manages to get through it all in just under three hours.
Click here to watch embedded mediaFor more presidential humor, you can check out our (now-outdated) feature that matches all 45 Chrono Cross party members to America's first 45 presidents. It's very important.
While the gaming community anxiously awaits for any sort of confirmation about whether or not those Silent Hill reboot rumors are true, modders have been keeping that horror love alive in their own way for years nows. We've written about a few different Silent Hill-like mod experiences in the past, but one that I've been covering for years just got a major new update that takes the world of Whispering Hills and breathes new life into it in Fallout 4.
Whispering Hills, for those that may not be familiar, is a total overhaul mod for Fallout 4 that is designed specifically to deliver a Silent Hill-like experience in the Commonwealth. This mod has been in development for quite some time now, with a prototype version also available to play. Now the team has shown off episode one, "Welcome back to school," and it takes this project to a whole other level.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThe video above shows off what the first episode brings to the table, including a fully voiced questline for players to take on. As is the nature of many spooky stories, episode one will take players deep into the heart of Midwitch Elementary School, a school based off of the Midwhich facility in the first game. Queue up the fog, the rain, and the general horror vibes, and Whispering Hills just got a whole lot better and worth checking out.
Still not totally sold? It brings in SirenHead, Mumblers, Lying figures, ghouls, the Silent Hill nurses, Screamers, the creepy as all heck dogs, and Pyramid Head into the mix. It's pretty awesome and helps pass the time while we take in all of the rumors about the future of this iconic horror series.
There are a few different places to download this free mod, but I personally use NexusMods myself. You can download the assets needed on Nexus, ModDB, or find it in your Xbox mods menu in Fallout 4.
The cast for Eli Roth’s Borderlands movie has beefed up in short order, already boasting the likes of Jack Black (Claptrap), Cate Blanchett (Lilith), Jamie Lee Curtis (Patricia Tannis) and Kevin Hart (Roland). The latest character to find its performer is fan-favorite Tiny Tina, who will be played by Ariana Greenblatt.
For those of you asking “who?” Ariana Greenblatt may be most familiar to mainstream audiences (especially Marvel fans) as the actress who portrayed child Gamora inAvengers: Infinity War. Yes, she’s one half of the famous scene that launched a thousand memes. You know the one.
Greenblatt has been a busy bee since then, appearing in three films in 2020:Scoob! (young Velma), Love and Monsters (Minnow) andThe One and Only Ivan (Julia). In 2021, Greenblatt is set to appear in the film adaptation ofHamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical,In the Heights as well asThe Boss Baby: Family Business. According toDeadline, Greenblatt landed the role of Tiny Tina after a worldwide search.
Tiny Tina first appeared in Borderlands 2 and is a young explosives expert who becomes orphaned after her parents are sold to evil corporation Hyperion for experimenting. Her love for demolition means she’s usually helping the Vault Hunters with anything that needs exploding. Or she just wants to have a tea party (you do not want the tea party). The character has become among the franchise’s most popular faces, appearing in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Borderlands 3, and fans have waited with baited breath to see who would portray her in the film.
The Borderlands film is being helmed by Lionsgate and is supposed to begin filming this year after facing several pandemic related setbacks. The film currently has no concrete release window.
How do you think Ariana Greenblatt will fare as Tiny Tina and what actress did you have in mind instead? Let us know in the comments!
[Source: Deadline]
The Binding of Isaac is a roguelike classic for a reason, thanks to its gripping gameplay, fun powerups, and the infinite loop of "one more try." Now, about a decade after the original's release, creator Edmund McMillen and developer Nicalis are ready to close out the saga with The Binding of Isaac: Repentance. This new version of the roguelike classic adds a ton of upgrades to the base game to deliver an experience Nicalis has branded as "bigger than any sequel."
Despite releasing a decade after the original version, Isaac is still a tearful toddler exploring the horrors of his basement. In this new, enhanced version, Isaac can travel to unexplored depths, encountering new places, enemies, and bosses. However, he'll also have new weapon combos and items to use in his quest for answers and survival, as The Binding of Isaac: Repentance adds more than 130 new items to bring the total tally to more than 700.
The Binding of Isaac: Repentance also includes a full alternate path with new chapters, a new final boss, and a new ending, as well as true four-player cooperative play. Players can also expect to encounter more than 100 new enemies, 25 new bosses, seven new challenges, and more than 5,000 new room designs.
In addition to confirming the release window of Q3 2021 and the platforms of PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Switch, Nicalis also revealed a physical edition for PS5 and Switch, which includes a full-color manual and reversible cover inserts. If you don't want to wait that long, The Binding of Isaac: Repentance is already set to hit PC on March 31.
Check out the teaser trailer for the game below and let us know if you're ready to descend back into the depths of Isaac's basement this fall.
Click here to watch embedded media[Source: Nicalis, Nicalis on Twitter]
Last week, Guardians noticed an interesting new glitch in Destiny 2 that allowed players to double the number of teammates in certain instances like raids, dungeons, and more. When testing it out myself this weekend before writing up about it, I had more fun than I have had in a long time teaming up with my clan. After diving all-in with the different ways this glitch worked, I'm convinced that this is the way Destiny is meant to be played. I've never wanted a glitch to remain in-game as much as I do with this one and while I know it's fruitless, I hope that it stays forever.
The Destiny 2 12-player glitch applies to raids and any instances requiring 6 players. Some have reported being able to swing the double bug for PvP events like Crucible, but no one in my clan was able to replicate this (not that we wanted to, this type of glitch would destroy the PvP experience).
I love raiding in Destiny 2, it's literally one of my favorite activities in the space shooter, but one raid that I wish would burn in the fiery pits of damnation is Garden of Salvation. It blows. It's a flaming pile of broken mechanics, tether puzzles, and everything that makes me feel like a pleb because I'm just bad. Send me in to kill things and I'm your girl. Ask me to complete a complex puzzle and suddenly I turn into a potato. That being said, this was the perfect raid to test out this glitch on. If anything could make Garden more palatable, it's having six additional players to take on the quirker mechanics while I sit there with my pretty emotes minding my own business.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThe above clip is just messing around while the other half of our party did the actual legwork (I hate this raid, remember), but it was cool to actually getting the chance to just nerd out and explore. We also took on the Prophecy dungeon with 6 players (which was awesome) and ran a few friends through the new Dead Man's Tale exotic quest to masterwork everyone's scout rifles. It was fun for being able to escort the more casual players through the trickier mechanics while also allowing the freedom to have everyone play the element they feel most comfy taking point on.
Where are my fellow arc players at?
As someone that does enjoy the current state Destiny 2 is in (despite a rocky first-year post-launch), I have to say that I really like the ability to have bigger fire teams. I get that there are limits – that's part of the challenge and incentive to spec out Guardians accordingly – but being able to take on Prophecy and have more fun with it (like going all swords) was just a blast. It made for a fun Saturday night filled with shenanigans, jokes, and remembering not to take life too seriously.
Bungie is already aware of the glitch, which is why we are writing this, but hasn't mentioned whether or not the studio is patching it up in time for Tuesday's reset. We'll see, but I've got all of my fingers and toes crossed that it sticks around for at least a little longer.
To take part in this glitch yourself, here's what you need to know:
Have you tried out the Destiny 2 12-player glitch? What other bugs have you found that you wish would have stayed? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below!
Yakuza 6 marked the end of protagonist Kazuma Kiryu’s journey, leaving us with a single question: “What now?” For years, players had explored Japan with Kiryu, becoming attached to the character as well as the template that his games inhabited. Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio could have simply dropped a new face in Kamurocho and called it a day, but that’s not what happened. In Yakuza: Like a Dragon, the studio raised eyebrows by scrapping the traditional arcade-brawler combat and replacing it with turn-based RPG-inspired battles. And while there is a new face to the action, he’s accompanied throughout his adventure in Yokohama with a rotating troupe of like-minded heroes. It’s a pivot that could have ended in disaster. Fortunately, Like a Dragon’s bold gamble pays off, leading to one of the best entries to date.
Ichiban Kasuga had some big slip-on loafers to fill. Kiryu’s stoicism and determination were a natural fit for the criminal underworld he orbited, but his charm and willingness to help people with their problems won audiences over. Kasuga is no Kiryu, and that’s kind of the point. This new hero is impulsive, hotheaded, and a bit of a goofball. At the beginning of his adventure, Kasuga shares his enthusiasm for the Dragon Quest series with an underling. He sees himself as a hero, even if his abilities don’t initially line up with his aspirations. Kasuga’s willingness to help is weaponized against him, leading to him taking the fall (and an 18-year prison sentence) for a murder.
Click here to watch embedded mediaWe don’t know much about Kasuga at first, which ends up being one of the most refreshing things that Like a Dragon offers. Without the weight of half a dozen or so games and their associated histories on his shoulders, Kasuga is a blank slate for this new Yokohama adventure. Kasuga certainly has goals and motivations – figuring out why his father figure in the Tojo Clan betrayed him is chief among them – but the fact that he’s such a small figure in this world creates an exhilarating feeling of freedom. This new hero doesn’t have established relationships in this new town, so the first few hours are filled with simple things like finding work. What could be a boring slog cleverly leans into the RPG systems that underpin the entire experience.
Like a Dragon isn’t just a superficial take on RPGs; it holds a satisfying amount of depth, including the various jobs that characters can take. You begin as a bat-swinging hero, but you can also swap to several other roles, such as a chef, musician, or break dancer. Each role acquires new abilities as they’re leveled up, like the chef using an area-of-effect flambé technique or the musician strumming a tune that heals the party. The jobs and the overall attacks are pretty silly, which is suitably on brand. Changing these jobs is simple, though it requires a quick stop at the employment agency – a nice reminder that, as goofy as it all can be, it’s grounded in its own sense of reality.
I was a little put off by the turn-based combat at first, but I quickly warmed up to it. Returning players will notice some familiar animations, including some bike-swinging action when characters come across those props in the field. Well-timed button presses grant additional damage or mitigate enemy attacks, which helped me stay engaged during battles. As Kasuga establishes himself in the town, other characters join in on the action. That allows for a lot more depth and specialization. I enjoyed having a couple of bruisers soften up my targets while the others focused on debuffing enemies or providing heals when needed. I especially loved the Poundmates, which are essentially Like a Dragon’s version of summons. These are supremely stupid, and they often are rewards for engaging in the myriad substories. I won’t spoil too much, but I will say that having a group of low-level yakuza thugs attacked by crawfish is one of the less bizarre options available. When you’re appropriately leveled, random battles resolve themselves as quickly as they would in previous games, but larger boss encounters have strategic elements that reward planning and patience.
There is a large criminal conspiracy at play here – it’s a Yakuza game, after all – but it doesn’t feel as needlessly complicated as some of the intrigue has been in the other entries. Keeping track of the important figures isn’t quite as overwhelming, most likely because Kasuga isn’t privy to a lot of what’s going on. I loved the way the story gradually comes to light, too. Kasuga and his friends learn much about Yokohama’s criminal underworld by working various jobs throughout the city; he’s learning about the town and its people at the same time we are, which is a refreshing approach.
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It wouldn’t be a Yakuza game without an abundance of side activities, and Like a Dragon delivers here, too. If you’re not having fun with the current task at hand or want a break from the story, several lengthy side activities or pursuits are around to occupy your time. Yokohama is home to several great diversions, including a Mario Kart-like Dragon Karting series, complete with racing rivals, powerups, and tiered tournaments. I spent much of my time in the oddly engaging management sim, where you hire people to run a variety of different businesses to increase profits, and then take on investors in board-room battles. It’s similar in spirit to the cabaret management or baseball simming in previous entries, and it’s a fun way to make a lot of money for upgrades and consumables.
Like a Dragon is a departure from the games that came before it, but I found those changes to be revitalizing. As much as I enjoyed the Yakuza formula, it was definitely a formula. Like a Dragon has enough familiar elements to make it feel like, at its heart, it’s a Yakuza game. All the while, I fully appreciated how much of a new identity this entry is establishing. Here’s hoping this is the first step in yet another great journey for the series.
This review was originally published on November 4, 2020.
Summary:With the launch of Like A Dragon on PS5, read about how this fantastic turn-based RPG captures the essence of what came before while setting out on its own journey.
Concept:Shake up the Yakuza formula by introducing a new protagonist, moving the action to Yokohama, and – most notably – shifting from traditional brawling action to turn-based RPG-style combat.
Graphics:Yokohama is a vast and dazzling place to explore, with plenty of visual details to soak in. Some of its less-prominent residents tend to look a little strange, but the major players look great.
Sound:Battles are juiced by an energetic soundtrack, which also adds dramatic tension and intrigue when needed. Voice acting continues to impress, whether you’re playing in English or Japanese.
Playability:You do everything from beating up low-level thugs to running a successful business empire during your time with Like a Dragon, and the controls are uniformly up to the challenge. Some of the systems can be tricky at first, but persistence pays off.
Entertainment:It’s a new direction for the series, but Like a Dragon captures the essence of what came before while setting out on its own journey.
Replay:Moderately high
Last Fall, another Battlefield game was confirmed to be in the works. The title is slated to push the boundaries of previous Battlefield innovations while staying true to the franchise's definitive multiplayer experience, “DICE is creating our next Battlefield game with never-before-seen scale,” stated an EA representative. “The technical advancements of the new consoles are allowing the team to deliver on a true next-gen vision for the franchise. We have hands-on play testing underway internally, and the team’s been getting very positive feedback on the game as we’ve begun to engage our community.” The next chapter in the franchise is set to launch in the latter half of 2021.
Today, Laura Miele, EA’s chief studios officer, told Polygon that Criterion Games, the developer working on the upcoming Need for Speed, has now been tasked with prioritizing the next Battlefield game instead. The recent acquisition of Codemasters, the minds behind the Dirt and F1 racing franchises, means that Criterion Games can pivot to a different, arguably more pressing project like Battlefield 6. Unfortunately, this also means that Need for Speed will be delayed to 2022.
Miele affirmed the beneficial outcome of the development shift, “There’s no way we would have made a decision like this without including [Criterion Games] and discussing this with them first, and the impact that they could have on [Battlefield],” Miele told Polygon. “They’ve worked on Battlefront, they’ve worked on [previous] Battlefields, and they have a really tight, close collaborative partnership with DICE. I’m really confident that this is going to be a pretty positive win for them.”
Miele also promised that Need for Speed isn’t going anywhere and that Criterion Games will return to their popular street-racing franchise in the near future. Miele also talked about how EA is giving its studios more creative autonomy which you can read about here. Are you disappointed about the Need for Speed delay? Or would you prefer that Battlefield gets all the attention it needs?
[Source: Polygon]
Ever since the retro-style R.B.I. Baseball series returned in 2014, it has benefitted from being the only MLB game in town for multiple platforms. This year, however, that changes, as the critically acclaimed, longtime PlayStation-exclusive series, MLB The Show, is finally making the jump to Xbox consoles for the first time. With added competition, R.B.I. Baseball 21, hopes to double down on the pick-up-and-play sensibilities of its title while expanding the feature set of its on-and-off-the-field suite.
Developer and publisher Major League Baseball Advanced Media has released a first look at gameplay. This year's title features more customization through the Create-a-Player mode, as well as additional options so you can choose the batting controls and camera angles you want. This year also adds industry-standard features like play-by-play commentary and Statcast data for pitchers for the first time in series history.
R.B.I. Baseball 21 features Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson on the cover. The soundtrack includes music from artists like All Time Low, Diplo, Justin Bieber, Cold War Kids, The Chainsmokers, and more. If you want to listen to the soundtrack ahead of time, the developer has put together a Spotify playlist with all the songs here.
You can catch the short glimpse of gameplay below.
Click here to watch embedded mediaR.B.I. Baseball 21 comes to Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, and mobile devices on March 16. While we haven't gotten our hands on this year's edition, we've been largely underwhelmed by the series' offerings since it made its return in 2014. You can read our review of R.B.I. Baseball 19 here.
In recent years, EA has had difficulty connecting with gamers; with so many studios under its umbrella, that has caused a lot of concern for major franchises. With the recent report that EA is abandoning the live servicemodel for BioWare's anticipated Dragon Age entry (a series known for its single-player adventures) and following the cancellation of Anthem, EA's own Laura Miele has confirmed that the publisher is making a drastic pivot for the foreseeable future.
Miele is currently the chief studios officer for EA and she recently sat down with IGN's Rebekah Valentine to talk more about her work and the future of the company. Within her role, Miele oversees over 6,000 gaming developers from all kinds of backgrounds working on all sorts of projects. Through her work, she tells the site that she's developed an incredibly intricate understanding of the "complexities and sophistication" of game development, and that insight has furthered her love for the craft immensely.
Miele opened up a little bit about what it is like to empower the studios under the EA name to craft the stories they want to tell. "In terms of our game development philosophy, our players are always our north star," Miele mentioned. "As I started this current role, I wanted to strip away some of the preconceived notions about what games we should be investing in and really start listening to players and incorporating their voice into our development process. Since then, we have announced a slate of games that players asked for: a new Skate, College Football, a Command & Conquer remaster, the Mass Effect Trilogy and we developed free content in Battlefront 2 for several years to turn the perception of that game completely around."
She also talked a little bit about how the goal is to have players involved in the conversation during development, which was a big push behind the reason to release the source code for Command & Conquer. That being said, being able to keep players involved and to turn around gamer asks isn't as easy as snapping one's fingers. When talking about this, Miele brought up franchises like FIFA and Madden. The sports series under the EA name have come under fire more often than not in the past, mostly regarding the more predatory practices of microtransactions adapting a Pay to Win model. Miele told IGN that this type of feedback is being taken in, but making changes to games like this on a larger scale take work and sometimes those changes can take years to be set in motion.
"We have recently added advanced innovation teams that are heavily focused on tech development and dedicated to long-term game development," Miele added when talking about EA's sports games. "These teams explore innovation initiatives that players will get to experience in two to three years."
With that in mind, taking in player feedback does not translate to making every single gamer out there happy. Every individual player has different wants, different expectations, and EA is still a business that must appeal to shareholders and investors. That being said, she did add that the publisher is going through a lot of changes presently with the first major course of action being Anthem Next's cancellation.
While BioWare detailed why it would no longer continue in a previous statement, Miele added that it basically came down to one question: Does EA continue investing in this – something that a major portion of the community has already deemed a failure – or does the company take those resources and apply them to other franchise, franchises like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and even Titanfall, for a brighter future? We know which way the company leaned now, which does bode well for those that were concerned about the future of galaxies and a demon-infested Thedas.
For those interested in wall-jumping and chaos, especially with the success of Apex Legends, a part of the pivot does coincide for a drive to continue Titanfall. While Respawn is hard at work on maintaining Apex Legends and making it even better with new seasons, Miele did add that EA has backed off and has given the studio complete control over what it does with that franchise. So if players want it and Respawn hears that, then a new Titanfall is possible.
The first game in the Titanfall franchise was met with mixed reception, but the sequel is where it truly shined. Gone was the online-only adventure, and instead the second game offered a surprisingly deep narrative that left a positive feeling for the gaming community once the end credits rolled.
While EA retains the right to have the final say as the publisher, the company is moving in a direction to provide more "creative autonomy" that has always existed on some level, but will now be a bigger focus. At the end of the day, the focus is to create a balance between developers, the publisher, and the gamers that enjoy each adventure that comes out of each studio. With the retraction of EA's previous stance that no one "likes single-player games," it looks like the future of some of our most beloved gaming adventures may be brighter than many feared.
To read the full interview, which we highly recommend because there is some phenomenal insight here into the company's philosophy and how it is evolving, you can check that out right here.
[Source: IGN]
According to the official PlayStation Blog, four games are coming to PS Now subscribers this month following the reveal of the PS Plus additions revealed last week. From superhuman powers to slow-mo shootouts, the upcoming games coming to PS Now this month include Infamous Second Son, World War Z, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, and Superhot.
Sucker Punch’s Infamous Second Son follows Delsin Rowe, a Seattle-based street artist turned superhuman power sponge that fights against the sinister Department of Unified Protection (DUP); an all-knowing division of suits committed to putting “conduits” like Delsin behind bars and branding them as bioterrorists. Players will work to take down DUP and its harmful philosophies using Delsin’s array of unique skills that are siphoned from a variety of energy sources including storefront neon signs.
World War Z is much like the Brad Pitt movie that came before it. Swarms of zombies topple over one another and even combine to bypass immovable structures and tear you apart. Fans of the Left 4 Dead series will feel right at home as World War Z’s four-player co-op capabilities gives the game a real sense of freneticism. Set up traps and build makeshift strongholds (barbed wire and turrets among other usable defenses) to prepare for the horde. There’s even narrative and character cinematics for players that prefer a break from nonstop action.
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is the latest chapter in the beloved aerial combat franchise. Take to the skyline and brave other skilled pilots, suboptimal weather conditions, and low altitude engagements. Editor in Chief Andrew Reiner enjoyed Ace Combat 7 and said, “For fans of this long-running series, this is the Ace Combat we’ve known and loved for decades, and it’s great to have it back. The dogfighting is rightfully the highlight and will give your reflexes a good workout.”
Finally, Superhot is all about intense gunfights with bullet-time mechanics and slow-mo cinematics that make you feel like a gunslinger right out of the Wanted film. When performing actions the world reacts in real-time, but when you stop in your tracks, everything screeches to a halt so that you can plan your next attack: Maybe simply firing at an enemy isn’t the answer, perhaps you’re better off flinging your gun at someone to stun them and then immediately closing in for hand-to-hand combat to finish the battle.
All four games will be available to PS Now users on March 2. World War Z, however, will only be available until September 6 and Ace Combat 7 is playable until May 31.
This past weekend was the 25th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise, and The Pokémon Company, Game Freak, and Nintendo pulled out all the stops to mark the occasion. On top of the announcements of Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl (plus a better look at New Pokémon Snap), The Pokémon Company also held a virtual concert starring Post Malone on Saturday night. At the end of the virtual performance, it was revealed that Pokémon is receiving a special star-studded musical album to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
Pokémon 25: The Album is a digital compilation featuring music from performers like pop singer Katy Perry, reggaeton star J Balvin, and, yes, Post Malone. "Pokémon is pulling out all the stops for P25 Music, and I'm thrilled to join the program as one of its premier collaborators," J Balvin said in a press release. "I'm looking forward to adding my own unique flavor to this huge Pokémon party and adding more good vibes to the celebration."
The album, which will be released by Universal Music Group's Capitol Records, features 14 songs from 11 artists from UMG. We've already received Post Malone's special cover of Hootie & the Blowfish's "Only Wanna Be with You," and now, Katy Perry, J Balvin, and one more "surprise superstar artist" will release a song inspired by Pokémon. Each time a new song releases, fans will be treated to an accompanying music video and exclusive merchandise featuring Pokémon and the artist. The album will be available in its entirety digitally closer to the end of the year, with the songs hitting individually until then. Additional song collaborations with popular artists around the world will be revealed in coming months, and the company promises, "very 'Pokémon' ways" for the songs to be released.
If you want to check out the aforementioned virtual Post Malone concert, you can do so below.
Click here to watch embedded mediaIf you're excited for Pokémon Legends: Arceus, check out our analysis and wishlist for the game right here.
Hood: Outlaws & Legends is an intriguing multiplayer project, blending PvP and PvE (or PvPvE) while remixing classic Robin Hood lore. In preparation for its launch this May, developer Sumo Digital has released the first of four videos detailing the game’s four classes. First up: the Ranger.
The Ranger serves as a reimagined proxy for Robin Hood himself. As such, long-ranged bow attacks are this character’s bread and butter. By sniping targets from afar, the Ranger is ideal for stealthier approaches, allowing players to pick off enemies in relatively quiet fashion. Of course, if you need to go in guns, er, I mean bows blazing, the Ranger can provide covering fire for teammates during loud skirmishes, blind enemies, and blow them to bits using explosive arrows. The video below gives a great look at the class in action.
Click here to watch embedded mediaHood: Outlaws & Legends pits two teams of four against each other to pull off the perfect heist. You must sneak into strongholds, steal whatever riches lie inside, and escape with your pockets as full as possible to win the favor of the oppressed populace. In addition to the two human-controlled teams competing against each other, both squads will also have to combat the A.I. guards patrolling the maps. Thus, the game becomes a three-way battle and success depends on building the best team in terms of class make-up and, of course, good old fashioned teamwork.
Being a multiplayer title, Sumo Digital plans to support Hood post-launch with new maps, modes, and characters. Until then, Sumo Digital will release videos for the next three weeks detailing the remaining classes: Brawler, Hunter, and Mystic.
Hood: Outlaws & Legends releases May 10 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. You can pre-order now to play early on May 7. For another look at the game, check out its last big trailer from the 2020 Game Awards.
From Software fans have been begging for a new look at Elden Ring, and while news has been mum, it looks like a month-old trailer has been circulating online – and a source has confirmed to me that it is real. While not a high-quality video, the internet immediately exploded in excitement over the latest crumb for the new game with the Elden Ring trailer.
"I can only imagine what drives you to seek the Elden Ring," says an inquiring voice in the video linked at the bottom of the article. "I suppose you can't be talked into turning back. Very well then!" I was able to confirm with one of my sources with close ties to the studio that the trailer is legitimate, though a few of the responding screenshots that have been circulating are fake.
First spotted by VGC, the trailer first began making its rounds in Discords, showing off a phone recording of the Elden Ring trailer. VGC's Andy Robinson added on Twitter, "I understand Elden Ring's development has (unsurprisingly) been significantly disrupted by the pandemic like so many big-budget games in production right now. It's unclear if it will make it out this year. One source told me they were expecting to release in 2022."
The trailer leak comes after a concept art reveal back in January from an artist that worked on Elden Ring, though the artwork in question was quickly taken down.
Elden Ring has been a highly anticipated title ever since it was first revealed back in 2019 at E3. The game itself is a collaboration between game director Hidetaka Miyazaki and renowned fantasy author George R.R. Martin, most notable for his Game of Thrones series.
Ever since the dark RPG was teased with the E3 trailer, fans of the brutal adventures From Software loves to deliver have been clamoring for more information. News has been pretty silent regarding the title, but our own sources have corroborated Robinson's earlier report that a delay has happened and it is not a title that is anticipated to launch this year.
While leaks are an unfortunate part of the internet, perhaps the widespread excitement regarding the blurry video means an official reveal could be on the horizon. There is some speculation that the title could be a fixture at the upcoming Xbox showcase, but none of our sources were able to confirm that rumor.
To see the trailer for yourself, you can view the leaked footage right here. But remember, watching this low-res video might be robbing yourself of the full dramatic effect when a new official trailer is released.
[Source: Twitter via VGC]
A good puzzle involves a delicate balance. The perfect brainteaser should leave players confused just long enough to feel clever once they reach a “eureka” moment, but the solution shouldn’t be so obtuse that players want to throw up their hands in frustration. Maquette fails to strike that balance. This gorgeous indie game explores the heady concept of recursive worlds while it tells a touching love story, but its puzzle design wavers too far between excitement and tedium.
Maquette is a thoughtful meditation on worlds within worlds. Many of the early puzzles revolve around a maquette model, which resembles your environment. Whenever you manipulate objects inside the model, your actions also affect your surroundings. If you place a normal-sized key into the model, a giant-sized version will drop into view at the corresponding location in your environment. Using this mechanic, you can create ramps or bridges using everyday objects, or shrink larger items so they can slide through the cracks in a fence. I loved how Maquette challenged me to carefully explore my environment and think about how objects can be used in multiple ways.
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Throughout this journey, you’re treated to a somber love story about a young couple’s struggles to understand and live with each other. This story is told primarily through voiceover (you never actually see the characters), but they are well-performed, and listening to this couple’s cutesy banter regularly brought a smile to my face. Given the heady nature of the gameplay, Maquette’s narrative is surprisingly down to earth, but the characters and their struggles were so relatable that I sympathized with their plight.
Unfortunately, the road to Maquette’s conclusion is bumpy. As much as I liked Maquette’s recursive world design, it offers a few uncomfortable player moments. Just as the model in front of you is a facsimile of your environment, your environment is also a model of the larger biomes that extend onto the horizon. Late in the game, you begin to explore those large spaces, which means you much walk across a variety of big, open areas. I loved the chilling vastness of these spaces, but solving some of these puzzles requires trial and error, which means you have to do a lot of walking. This quickly grows tedious, and I hated reaching my destination only to realize that I needed to adjust the model in the center of the world, which required a long march back.
Click here to watch embedded mediaIn addition to Maquette’s tedious navigation, a handful of puzzle solutions are so obscure that I had to scour the environment many times before accidentally stumbling into an interactive element. I actually solved a couple of puzzles in ways that I don’t think the designers intended, and reaching these solutions didn't make me feel clever; it just felt like I had jury-rigged my way forward. One time I even worked myself into a corner; by the time I had calculated the puzzle's solution, it was clear that I could no longer achieve it. At that point, I was forced to reset the chapter, losing about 30 minutes of progress.
When Maquette is firing on all cylinders, it is a beautiful journey through a series of ever-larger environments, and Maquette’s love story is poignant and a little heartbreaking. Sadly, my interactions with the puzzles were also full of heartbreak. While Maquette has some missteps, I look back fondly on my time with it. Much like a real-life romance, my affection for this game is complicated. — Ben Reeves
Summary:Explore recursive worlds within worlds. Change one thing in a model in front of you to affect the space around you.
Concept:Explore recursive worlds within worlds. Change one thing in a model in front of you to affect the space around you
Graphics:Maquette’s environments aren’t highly detailed, but the visuals are vibrant and colorful
Sound:Bryce Dallas Howard and Seth Gabel do a stellar job with the voice work, and a scattering of indie-rock ballads set a contemplative mood
Playability:The world is easy to navigate, but interactive elements are sometimes hard to spot
Entertainment:Many of Maquette’s puzzles offer a satisfying challenge, but some require abstract thinking to the point of frustration. The lengthy backtracking also gets old
Replay:Moderately Low
Hu Tao is the spooky 77th director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, presiding over all manner of funeral services in Liyue, and she's coming to Genshin Impact soon. Hu Tao is a polearm wielder and pyro element, so she'll likely take over a spot in your crew that's currently being filled by Diluc or Xiangling. Of course, that's if you're lucky enough to get her out of the gacha. Hu Tao has an adorable little ghost companion that syncs up and synergizes with her core mechanics, which seem to hinge around self-injury for massive damage boosts. Don't worry, Hu Tao can heal herself via regeneration with her skillset as well. Before we dial down into specifics, check out Hu Tao's teaser trailer below!
Click here to watch embedded mediaTo dig a little deeper, Hu Tao contains a suite of abilities designed to push out big burst damage. Hu Tao can trade HP for massive attack bonus that converts to fire damage, suitable for triggering elemental effects on your enemies and priming them for a combination attack from another character. The more HP you stack on Hu Tao, the bigger the attack bonus when you hit your "Paramita Papilo State" talent. While Hu Tao is in this state, charged attacks activate Blood Blossom, which is a fire damage-over-time effect on opponents that get hit. If you haven't already figured it out, enemies that have pyro vulnerabilities are going to absolutely crumble under Hu Tao's powers.
Spirit Soother commands her ghost spirit to do incredible fire damage in a giant area-of-effect, and it also heals Hu Tao. In combat, it looks like Hu Tao will take on some risk by leveraging her HP pool to get a ton of power, go in for hefty fire damage, and then unleash hell with Spirit Soother in order to regain the wagered hit points and annihilate everything on the screen simultaneously. This sounds pretty fun, to be honest.
One of the other latest character releases was Xiao, also a polearm weapon user, but in the Anemo (wind) school. Hu Tao somehow appears even cooler than Xiao, but it all depends on what your core party composition looks like and if you have room for a new pyro character. And of course, it will likely depend on whether or not your primogem stash is filled enough to get yourself a Hu Tao whenever her banner drops.
While we don't have a timeframe for Hu Tao's release at the moment, it stands to reason that she'll likely be featured in the next major character banner. It's a little early to say how good Hu Tao will work in most groups, but I like ghosts and fire so I'll probably dump a bunch of primogems trying to pick up a copy. Her constellations are probably going to be the make or break decision for me... If she's a character that can get by on little or no constellation support (acquired by getting multiple copies of a character) then I'll definitely try to acquire one. If she's one of the characters that doesn't excel until they have a lot of constellation points, then I'll probably exercise some restraint and wait to see who's coming next. Hopefully a Dendro character!
If you have no idea what Genshin Impact is or what all the fuss is about, I recommend checking out my review here.
With the recent confirmation from Sony Interactive Entertainment head Jim Ryan stating that more PlayStation games will be making the jump to PC, starting with Days Gone this Spring, it got us thinking: what other PlayStation adventures would we want to see make the leap onto the mod-friendly platform? While we could easily just say Bloodborne across the board (which we are very tempted to, mind you), here is an actual list of 10 PlayStation games we'd like to see on PC.
While there is always the PlayStation Now service, it's not quite the same as an actual PC port. Modding Horizon Zero Dawn and Death Stranding when both games made their way to PC was so much fun, and to have that freedom with more titles in addition to an excuse for another playthrough would be amazing.
Let's get started with our first pick: Bloodborne.
You can't have any PlayStation to PC list without Bloodborne, let's be real. Dark Souls making its way over into the land of keyboard and RGBfied mice was a huge hit, and masochistic gamers like me are always down for some pain and murder. That's why Bloodborne would be the perfect fit! There's already a cozy spot right next to the Dark Souls games there and I will never, ever pass up the opportunity to have the Hunter go up against Thomas the Tank Engine with mod support.
This action roleplaying game has a massive fan following, and for good reason. It blends creepiness with satisfying combat, and the challenges overcome throughout the story can feel so incredibly satisfying as a player. Seeing this game make the jump to PC would be amazing not only just to have it more available on a different platform, but it would also be an awesome way to make it a little more accessible for those players who might prefer to have a more customized setup. Like how the Xbox adaptive controller helps players get into the games they love the most, gaming on PC has a wider market of peripherals that could help all kinds of gamers jump into the mix.
But mostly I just really want Thomas the Tank Engine to crush my soul.
With God of War: Ragnarok on the horizon, this year would be the perfect time to bring in the PlayStation 4 iteration of Kratos' story. Seeing such a fearsome god in the role of a father with Atreus was a treat, and the title handled absolutely beautifully on PS4. That being said, the exploration and combat mechanics would mesh well with PC controls and the ability to play this adventure on the highest possible setting? Yes, please!
While obviously two totally different games, what made me truly want this to be the next PC port was the ability to play Horizon Zero Dawn with a mouse and keyboard. Though they have two unique styles of mechanics, many of the environmental areas felt similar. Horizon had a plethora of tech issues when it first launched on PC, but the team eventually got the game where it needed to be and it was truly a stunning experience to take on. Give me that but with God of War and I think I might just be the happiest gamer on the planet, and I'm sure I'm far from alone on that.
Picture this: Pedro Pascal. With the Mandalorian actor slated to play Joel in the upcoming TV series based off of the first game in the Last of Us franchise, imagine being able to mod the actor's face into the game itself to make that casting choice a little easier to envision. While I personally love Pascal for the role, I've seen a lot of people say that they are having a hard time seeing him as Joel. While I don't personally understand that, I know how quickly modders work. If Naughty Dog announced a PC port tomorrow (not through PlayStation Now), I can promise you that someone somewhere would have a Pascal mod ready to roll out by the end of the week.
The Last of Us was a monumental title for PlayStaiton. While the second game was met with more of a mixed reception, both storylines were intricate beyond compare. To see the first game make its way onto PC platforms would give so many a chance to experience this harrowing world of survival for themselves, especially for households that are limited to only one platform of choice.
Valkyrie Profile is an incredible role-playing series from Square Enix and tri-Ace that brings Norse mythology to life in a beautiful way. Since the franchise's birth, it has been on many different PlayStation systems (including PlayStation Portable) in addition to the Nintendo DS and mobile platforms.
This JRPG staple is aesthetically inventive, mechanically distinguished, and narratively rich in a way that PC gamers can appreciate. Even better? By opening up the player base even more, this could just be the nudge Square Enix needs to put some resources behind a revitalized future for the series. Plus, the iOS port for the original game was terrible and a PC version might just be the thing needed to wash that memory clean away.
Ghost of Tsushima was visually stunning and had a story that made me completely rethink how I saw the samurai genre. With its open-world beauty and incredible multiplayer post-launch add-ons, this game feels like it was built with PC in mind.
I've run through the story of Tsushima twice now on PlayStation and adored everything about it both times. The way it focuses on stealth and how reactive the combat is, the PC format, to me, would feel incredibly natural. This is also one of those games, like Horizon Zero Dawn, where modding would be a real treat. Not even just joke mods, but mods to tinker with the settings, play around with the characters, and also tweak some of the armor in-game to be even more epic than what the vanilla game has to offer.
Taking on a raid with friends in Ghost of Tsushima on PC would honestly be a dream Friday night. The potential to also have a few cool crossovers like how the Death Stranding PC version had would be amazing as well. Replace the foxes with headcrabs? That will be a resounding horrified "yes" from me, dawg.
I know I keep talking about mods (that's because I'm obsessed with them and write about them a lot here at Game Informer) but what game is more perfect for that part of the PC conversation than a game that's literally about creating something from nothing?
Dreams is a creationary-based adventure that gives players complete control over crafting a world that pushes the boundaries of what we thought was possible. We've seen people recreate Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Half-Life, and so many other games within this world; to take that onto PC with even more creative freedom would be beyond incredible.
Infamous Second Son was the darling of PlayStation 4 at the start of the last generation. This action-adventure game was a treasure from the team at Sucker Punch and it gave players the badass feeling of being able to go anywhere and do anything they'd like. Plus, the protagonist — Delsin Rowe — was a stylish punk that was just a genuine joy to play as. Being able to manipulate various elements such as smoke, concrete, and even neon was inventive in a way that allowed gamers to take to this world the way they wanted to. The combat was also highly stylized and it felt like a modern-day Assassin's Creed regarding the parkour elements.
When I described this game to a friend, I said "Think Assassin's Creed meets The Clash" and I still stand by that statement. Give this adventure to PC players and there will be an entirely new wave of appreciation for the detailed care that went into the world of Infamous Second Son.
The Persona games in general are known for expert stylization, crazily weird dialogue, and quirky characters that stick with you long after the end credits roll. With several other Persona adventures available already on PC, it's high-time to bring Persona 5 to the mix, especially with all of the raving reviews that surrounded this title at launch.
The turn-based combat would also make this a super easy port, mechanically speaking, to visualize. Persona 5 is definitely one of those high-impact games that suck you in and don't release you until you've beat it and it's this type of game that thrives on PC. With it being a highly beloved entry into the series, it's time for Sony to consider bringing this particular adventure to a new market.
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is hands down my favorite in the series. Nathan Drake and Sully together again in a story that was as filled with action as it was with heartwarming moments. There was so much more humanization given to these characters that we've grown to love through the years and the narrative that has continued on is something truly special.
Few games grip you right at the start, but this one certainly did. The immersive world was breathtaking and the storytelling was exceptional. With no more Nathan Drake tales on the horizon, now would be a good time to bring a PC port into the equation so that this legacy can continue on and new players can strap in for the ride of their lives.
A Legend of Dragoon remaster (or remake!) has been the talk of the PlayStation community for a long time, but what about a PC port? This role-playing game dominated the tail-end of the 90s, and for good reason. Taking on the role of Dark in an effort to stop the world from being obliterated in a sea of destruction brought unparalleled joy.
The cutscenes, for its time, were impeccable and the story was something that was genuinely amazing despite the mixed reviews when it first launched due to Final Fantasy comparisons. The legacy of Dragoon even continued on with novels and manga, so going beyond the PlayStation scope wouldn't be unheard of.
Plus, texture mods? Can you imagine?
Basically, what I'm saying is this: Sony, you've said you're open to more PC ports (finally), so let's talk because this list is gold and there is no good reason for these not to make the jump. Even more so for the older titles.
Please and thank you.
Stonefly the eye-catching new project from Flight School Studios, makers behind the 2019 indie title Creature in the Well. The game blends two disparate yet inherently fun elements, armored mech suits and giant bugs, to create a neat looking adventure coming this summer.
Stonefly centers Annika, a young but brilliant inventor who is on a quest to recover her father’s lost mech armor. To do so, Annika will have to do her best Tony Stark impersonation and craft an insect-like suit of armor of her own. Doing so involves gathering materials to craft into parts, which you’ll find scattered through the beautiful, hand-crafted forest. The sense of scale gives a sense that Annika is a small human in a big world, as she walks over street-sized branches and soars over leaves at least twice the size of her mech. Or maybe she’s a normally proportioned human and the environment is just really, really huge.
Click here to watch embedded mediaPlayers use their suit to battle a variety of oversized bugs, who are hungry for the same resources you’re trying to collect. Bugs come in all shapes and sizes and boast distinct behaviors and abilities, requiring unique strategies (like pushing them off ledges) to deal with them. Players can also adapt their suit to explore different types of environments and climates, such as cold areas. In addition to story missions, players can engage in exploration-focused side quests and timed challenges. Despite appearing more action-focused in style, Flight School Studio describes Stonefly as being a "chill and tranquil" adventure game. Be sure to check out the cinematic trailer in the header up top as well as the gameplay primer embedded in the story to see the game in action.
Stonefly looks really neat, and while it wasn’t perfect, I enjoyed Creature in the Well enough to want to keep an eye on this one. Look for the game to arrive this summer to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.
The reveal ofPokémon Legends: Arceus stole the show during this morning's Pokémon Presents presentation. The upcoming open-world game launches on Switch early next year and transports players back in time to the feudal period of the Sinnoh region. Trainers are let loose to explore a seemingly vast open-world teeming with Pokémon across several generations. Per the title, the game is headlined by the legendary Arceus who, from what I understand, is basically God? So far Pokémon Legends Arceus looks great (if not a bit choppy) but what does it actually entail, and most importantly, what do we as players want to see from it?
Join Pokémon enthusiasts Alex Stadnik and Brian Shea as well as lapsed fan Marcus Stewart (that's me!) as they share their heart's desires for Pokémon Legends: Arceus and analyze the debut trailer frame-by-frame. Will we get a thorough look at the lore and story of the origins of the Sinnoh region? How will catching and battling work? Will there be an antagonistic force or will players be free to wander the landscape and explore to their heart's content? We won't know the answers until later this year, we hope you enjoy this conversation as we break down what we hope Game Freak's first venture into the open-world genre will entail.
If you missed out on the presentation, it gave us another look at gameplay forNew Pokémon Snap and also featured the exciting reveal ofDiamond and Pearl remakes coming to Switch. All in all, it looks like a pretty great time to be a Pokémon fan.
If you enjoyed our takes on Pocket Monsters, maybe you'll love listening to our expert opinions on the recentMortal Kombat movie trailer. Be sure to also check out and subscribe to Game Informer's YouTube channel for more fun and informative videos like this one.
Fortnite and DC Comics have crossed over in the past, including giving players a chance to live out those fantasies of becoming key icons like the Joker, Cat Woman, and Batman himself, but now the two universes will meet again for a new adventure: a new comic series. The latest Fortnite x DC crossover is a new Batman comic series that will feature the battle royale title in an entirely different way.
While a crossover in itself isn't at all surprising (seriously, the list of mashups is almost too long to count at this point), the fact that it's via a new comic series is a little unexpected. The new comic series is called Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point and will offer six issues for a new storyline centering around yet another tear in reality.
A new rift rips Gotham's sky asunder in the new miniseries and drops Batman dead center into an unfamiliar world. Batman invaded the game, now he's invading the entire universe, as he tries to escape an endless loop of nonsensical chaos while meeting other characters from the Fortnite-verse like Renegade Raider, Fishstick, and more.
“When DC first approached me about doing a Batman/Fortnite series, I thought it would be a lot of fun,” said series writer Christos Gage. ”After speaking with Donald Mustard and discovering just how deeply we'd be diving into the secrets behind the world of Fortnite, I was amazed! This series will reveal things about Fortnite that have never been seen or heard before yet are very much part of the canon of the game.”
The new comic series will include a redeemable code for DC-specific Fortnite gear, including the Rebirth Harley Quinn outfit. For comic lovers who get all six issues, which means all six codes, they will also unlock a special Armored Batman Zero outfit and wear when vying for that Victory Royale.
“I’m also looking forward to integrating other DC Super Heroes into the series, characters that Batman has existing relations with,” Gage continued. “It’ll be exciting to share with fans how these relationships will be reshaped in this new world. The art by Reilly, Christian, Nelson, and John is stunning, and my prediction is that this series will blow everybody’s mind, whether you’re a fan of DC, Batman, or Fortnite.”
You can check out the official website right hereto learn more about the new miniseries with the Batman x Fortnite crossover comics ahead of the planned release for April 20, 2021.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Season 2 just launched, and alongside its arrival comes the new Outbreak mode, which is an open-world twist on the series' beloved zombie mode offerings. Outbreak tasks up to four players to complete the daunting Operation Threshold, an all-new mission that is set across several regions in the Ural Mountains of Russia, wherein the squad must explore designated hot zones and compete in a variety of challenges. The official Call of Duty blog post states that each mission "begins with a Requiem strike team entering one of these regions via helicopter, armed with a custom starting weapon and Field Upgrade." The article then describes how players will navigate to their primary objective, with a waypoint marking the location on on the in-game map and mini-map.
Players diving into Outbreak can expect a variety of activities to participate in, including mission investigations that task you with retrieving an important resource known as Aetherium Crystals, eliminating high value targets via a GPS satellite tracker, or defending a specific area on the map against waves of zombies that are corrupted by the Dark Aethery energy. In our recent feature, PC Editor Dan Tack describes why Outbreak is such a big deal:
This week, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War got a new Zombie mode, Outbreak. Well, “mode” is kind of treating this experiment lightly, because it very well could be the framework of an entirely new Zombies experience - and one that’s far more compelling for folks that aren’t already immersed in the round-based puzzle-hunting and metasolving that Zombies is known for.To celebrate the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Season 2, the Game Informer crew is going to be dropping into Outbreak to see what all of the fuss is about. Beginning at 3:00 p.m. Central, join Andrew Reiner, Dan Tack, Blake Hester, and myself for a roughly two-hour live stream as we explore everything that the open-world zombie mode has to offer. If you enjoy this episode of Game Informer Live, be sure to subscribe and follow us on YouTube and Twitchso that you don't miss another livestream. Are you planning to jump into Call of Duty's new Outbreak mode? Be sure to fire off in the comments below letting us know what you're looking forward to the most about the game's Season 2 content drop.
In September of last year, it was confirmed that the industry was moving toward a $70 price tag for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X games, and it likely only a matter of time until it becomes the norm. It looks like Final Fantasy VII Remake is joining the ranks of $70 games with its PS5 version, officially called Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade.
PlayStation fans got a first look at how the Final Fantasy VII remake plays on the PS5 earlier this week during the most recent State of Play showcase. In addition to the Yuffie episode, Square Enix shared the differences players can expect with PS5 upgrades. What we didn't know until after the showcase was that the price was getting an upgrade as well.
The standalone digital and physical versions of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade will both retail at $69.99. The new Yuffie episode is included in that package, but for those who want a little more, there is also a Digital Deluxe version of Intergrade that will come with goodies like a digital artbook, a digital mini soundtrack, and a Cacstar weapon for those that pre-order through the PlayStation Store. For those that want that option, the Deluxe version will retail for $89.99.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThere is a lot to be excited for with Intergrade, especially for those that were waiting for a PlayStation 5 port. "The original Final Fantasy VII is one of the most influential and adored games of all time, representing the best storytelling, gameplay, and technology its era had to offer," said our own Joe Juba about the remake in his full review. "Its monumental impact on the role-playing genre is hard to overstate – but even harder to replicate in today’s landscape. That struggle between history and innovation is the engine that drives Final Fantasy VII Remake; the legend of the original looms large over it like the metal plates above the slums of Midgar, but this new version refuses to simply exist under a shadow. With smart (and surprising) additions to a classic world and its inhabitants, Final Fantasy VII Remake artfully appeals to nostalgia without being bound by it."
While not every game that comes out on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will come with a $70, it will become more visible as new titles launch. What are your thoughts on the 10 dollar price hike: justified, hate the move, or think that it plays into a smarter long-term strategy? Sound off with your hot takes in the comment section below!
The upcoming release of Monster Hunter Rise is an exciting launch for longtime fans of the RPG series from Capcom, bringing with it more combat, more palicoes, and even some good puppers. While the Switch release is set in stone for March 26, Capcom has confirmed that a Monster Hunter Rise PC port is on the way but will be a staggered launch like games in the past. Much like Monster Hunter World, Rise is slated for a PC date sometime in 2022.
With Monster Hunter Rise dropping soon next month, many PC fans wondered if and when the game would be making it over onto a more moddable platform. Capcom has confirmed yes following several leaks in a recent interview with GamesRadar. During the interview, series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto confirmed that a PC release is in the cards, but it won't be happening this year.
During the interview, Tsujimoto confirmed that a PC port is already developing because Capcom gets "many fan requests" for this platform. When Capcom brought Monster Hunter World to PC, especially with Iceborne, the community grew exponentially, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive after the initial launch once the initial technical issues were taken care of. Because of that, Monster Hunter Rise will also make a solid PC port, in terms of player interest, and will open up possibilities for more fans to be able to enjoy the continuation of this franchise.
We've been learning a lot about Monster Hunter Rise over the past several months, including a demo for Switch fans to enjoy. Between the newly revealed Monster Hunter Rise Switch console and Pro controller and the latest trailershowing off even more monsters, there are many reasons to be thrilled about the next step in the Monster Hunter legacy.
As to whether or not we'll see an Xbox and PlayStation port, that remains to be seen. Currently, Monster Hunter Rise is slated for a March 26 launch on Nintendo Switch with a PC release sometime in 2022. Could that open up to more platforms? It's possible! But at this time, these are the only two that are confirmed.
What are your thoughts so far on Monster Hunter Rise? Would you like to see the game also make its way onto PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X systems? Sound off with those slaying hot takes in the comment section below!
[Source: GamesRadar]
This week, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War got a new Zombie mode, Outbreak. Well, “mode” is kind of treating this experiment lightly, because it very well could be the framework of an entirely new Zombies experience - and one that’s far more compelling for folks that aren’t already immersed in the round-based puzzle-hunting and metasolving that Zombies is known for. In short, Outbreak is an open-world, co-op romp that draws upon many, many enjoyable elements that you can find in other CoD games and modes, today’s looter shooters, ARPGs, and even roguelites. Now, I don’t think what’s there in Outbreak is the final, realized version of what this mode can be, but rather some nascent aether where a breakout, big deal mode (or even game) could one day be. Let’s dive in.
Click here to watch embedded mediaFirst, something needs to be stated. I’ve tried to drag friends along from CoD multiplayer modes into Zombies for years and years, but they always bounce out after a round or two to head back to kill confirmed or Warzone. That’s fine, because those games are a lot of fun, sure. But Outbreak can get its hooks into players that don’t gel with the round-based, window-boarding, puzzle-hunting template. You give the same players a map with a bunch of weird icons to explore, events to capitalize and grow on, and take away the timing elements that keep them huddled up near a wall until they have enough cash to open a door, and things change fast. While I don’t think there’s enough variety in Outbreak yet and that the mode needs a little more variance and some pacing tweaks (Outbreak is a loooooooong game, when you’re doing well), the framework here is enthralling in comparison to the Zombies we already know and sometimes love.
While I do enjoy many elements from the Call of Duty Zombies lineup, the formula was in need of a shakeup, or at least an alternative. Outbreak lets the Zombies design team draw upon a ton of different things that already exist in the CoD universe, from large maps and vehicles and the concept of loot chests from Warzone and shove them all into a delicious undead wrap that’s way more enjoyable to traverse with friends. In a way, it’s almost like a roguelike first-person shooter role-playing game. Yes, that’s a thing I said about Call of Duty Zombies. And it works! What a world.
Access to vehicles changes a lot, for both traversal and combat considerations. Sure, I did bug out an enemy boss by shoving him under the ground by ramming into him and make it so we couldn’t complete the map, but running over your standard issue legions is a lot of fun. Upgrading after each level feels meaningful, whether you’re packing a punch on your weapon(s), loading up on special ammo to shatter armored terrors, or just gearing up on armor. Even the mundane task of picking up a loot chest has some degree of intensity in this mode, as there’s always a small chance that the chest could actually be a mimic enemy disguised as a chest. Who doesn’t love mimics? You know, maybe Outbreak really is the Dark Souls of Call of Duty Zombies. Now that’s not a big deal, but when it spawns right on top of you and you’re split up from your main group, it could be a catalyst in a chain of events that could wipe your party.
The mode could use some big tweaks and bigger experiments, but the shell that’s been crafted here with Season 2 using bits and pieces of everything CoD is a stellar one. While matches that go on for hours as fastidious players make sure they scoop up every power up and unlock every chest are a bit much, having different main objectives in each map that aren’t just killing a boss is welcome. Whether you get ported to a house to have a “classic” zombies objective, have to haul resources across the map under duress, chase a boss down, or escort the payload, there’s some nice replayability already in place, and we’re just getting started. The team has relayed that the goal is to inject some of the other zombie elements, like the fiendish puzzles and curious curios, into Season 3 and beyond as they determine which directions to take Outbreak in the future.
So what would I like to see from here? Enemy variety, event variety, and the willingness to lean into this mode as the full-fledged team-based role-playing roguelike/roguelite that it so desperately wants to be. You can feel the energy from pseudo-MMO experiences like Destiny ebbing out in this one, just waiting to be harnessed. Hell, add classes. Add experience points or something. Add permanent progression elements (they already have this to a lesser extent, but I’m saying go for it and add more). Add straight up dungeon crawls. It’s Zombies, it’ll work. Anyway, check out Outbreak and enjoy, it’s the cool chassis where something epic may someday be constructed.
The PlayStation 5 is an impressive machine, but a big issue has plagued its players across the board: theinability to upgrade its internal storage. The PS5’s SSD only has 667GB of available storage (a lot less than Xbox Series X's 885GB SSD), and with triple-A games typically sizing up at around 50GB to 70GB minimum, managing new game downloads – plus updates – has been a bit of a nightmare for PS5 owners. Thankfully, a new report by Bloomberg indicates that Sony is working on a firmware update that will finally allow PS5 owners to upgrade its internal storage.
According toBloomberg’s anonymous sources, Sony's upcoming update will enable the PS5's expansion bay, allowing players to install a second M.2 SSD to the console. If you remove the detachable “fins” covering the PS5, you’ll notice the internal slot meant to house an additional drive. The slot has been disabled since launch, with Sony promising last November that external storage support would come in a future update.
To that end, the update will also unlock faster cooling fan speeds to prevent the system from overheating. The sources point to this summer as to when Sony will announce the update. While that all sounds great, the company has yet to provide a list of compatible drives approved for PS5.
Even still, this is welcome news given that PS5 owners currently have scant options when it comes to adding storage space. PS5 titles can only be installed internally, limiting the usefulness of external USB drives; those can only be used on PS5 to run less-demanding PS4 games. Games are only getting bigger, and as we’ve seen with nightmare scenarios like the recent Call of Duty games growing too big for the 500GB PS4, the issue of storage is one that needs to be addressed sooner than later.
In January, Nintendo announced an Animal Crossing: New Horizons Sanrio crossover would be happening with a new card pack. Still, the company didn't show off exactly what these cards will bring to the calming simulator game. Now, we've got our first look at the adorable Hello Kitty items (plus other Sanrio properties) and villagers coming to our islands when the new pack arrives next month.
My Meloy, Hello Kitty, and Keroppi are all making their way to islands everywhere with new villagers, items, and styles to don celebrating all things Sanrio. Check out what's on the way next month with the full card reveal below:
Click here to watch embedded mediaThe trailer above reveals a few returning faces from Animal Crossing: New Leaf, including Marty, Etoile, Chai, Toby, Chelsea, and Rilla. Players can also scan the cards over at Harv's island for a few exclusive Sanrio-themed posters as well.
The Animal Crossing Sanrio Collaboration Pack arrives on March 26 exclusively at Target for those interested. The only problem with this trailer is now I don't know who I'm going to possibly kick off my island because I need more Marty in my life...
Decisions, decisions.
The collection pack comes with six cards per pack and will retail for $5.99. To learn more about what else is going on in the world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, check out our game hub here for more on updates, events, and so much more.
What do you think about the Sanrio Animal Crossing: New Horizons collaboration? What other franchises would you like to see make their way into island life? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below! Be sure also to check out our latest coverage here to learn more about the Warp Pipesand how they work with another crossover event starring the Super Mario franchise.
Pokémon Diamond and Pearl released in North America in 2007 on Nintendo's DS handheld, and now today's fans will get a chance to revisit these installments with a new, modern makeover. Announced during today's Pokémon Presents festivities, this pair of games – called Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl – is coming to Switch later in 2021.
Though it may not have been the biggest reveal during the show (that honor belongs to Pokémon Legends Arceus), it's still an exciting opportunity to jump into the classic Pokémon formula with a fresh spin.
According to The Pokémon Company's Takato Utsunomiya, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are "faithful remakes" of the games originally released 15 years ago. The most obvious change is the distinct visual overhaul, but fans can undoubtedly expect other tweaks to the experience while retaining the core elements that made the original releases so well-received.
The games take place in the Sinnoh region, and feature the starter Pokémon Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup. Like most of the duos of Pokémon releases, the two versions offer similar experiences, with slight variations between them, like which legendary Pokémon are available in each.
These remakes are being developed by Ilca Inc (a studio that helped create Pokémon Home), though Game Freak's Junichi Masuda is also serving as a director, which is encouraging considering Masuda was also the director of the original Diamond and Pearl releases.
Look for Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl on Switch in late 2021, launching simultaneously worldwide.
New Pokémon Snap got some spotlight during today’s 25th anniversary stream, showing off the game in action and how players can lure and capture the best photos.
The game is set in the Lental region, a biodiverse area where players will explore a jungle, desert, and underwater areas. The world is teeming with wildlife, with various types of Pokémon as far as the eye can see. The game has a who-who of monsters, including legendary and mythical types such as Celebi. Between the creature animations and the game's vibrant presentation, New Pokémon Snap looks very nice as far as visuals go.
Click here to watch embedded mediaLike the original N64 game, luring Pokémon into the perfect shot involves tossing food to get their attention. You can also use special lures to make any Pokémon glow or change the color of their attacks to really jazz up those shots. While just snapping pics of Pokémon doing their thing will satisfy Professor Mirror to an extent, capturing rare behavior (like a Raichu surfing) nets you more stars upon review. That means determined photographers will have to get creative, and exercise more patience, to immortalize those one-in-a-million moments in film.
Once you capture that perfect shot, you can make it even better by editing it. You can zoom or re-frame compositions as well as add borders, stickers, and other effects. Photos can be uploaded to an online database to share with others, and the most popular photos will be featured for the world to admire.
New Pokémon Snap looks to be shaping up nicely, and we can’t wait to get our hands on it when it comes to Switch on April 30. Be sure to check out the other announcements from today’s Pokémon Presents presentation, including the Diamond and Pearl remakes for Switch and the new open-world game, Pokémon Legends Arceus.
Nintendo is celebrating all things Pokémon today and one of the announcements showed off the latest game in the iconic franchise, a title that takes a page from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with a stunning open world set in the Sinnoh region for Generation 4. The latest Pokémon adventure is Pokémon Legends Arceus.
One of the coolest aspects of the new game is that trainers aren't just in the "gotta catch 'em all" mindset, now players can ride their Pokémon to ride, to fly on, or to run with. It's an entirely different way to interact with the pocket monsters that we've come to know and love through the years while giving fans even more freedom to roam to their heart's content.
The Feudal Japan stylization of this new game is a nice touch, giving that open-world exploration even more of a beautiful edge when becoming the very best. The idea of going back in time with the franchise is also an interesting take, especially when looking at the recent years for this series. Based on the trailer, Legends Arceus looks like it could be an incredibly peaceful adventure for those looking to explore, while still providing familiar gameplay that fans know and love.
Click here to watch embedded mediaWith our reveal, the trailer shown shared a first look at how taking on Pokémon will work in this new game while also showing off the calming power of simply walking around to see what's new.
Pokémon Legends Arceus will be launching early 2022, though a specific date hasn't been revealed at this time.
What do you think about the newly revealed Pokémon game set in Sinnoh? Which pocket monster are you most excited to encounter and to take to the skies with? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below! You can also learn more about the upcoming Pokemon Snap reboot right here with the newly released trailer from the same showcase.
February is officially coming to a close and just like with every new month, Sony is offering active PlayStation Plus members a chance to snag a few free games. While February's freebies are available for a little while longer, the free PS Plus March 2021 games lineup has just been revealed for the month ahead.
The month of March has a pretty stellar lineup, including one game that was a major focus for the most recent State of Play. Earlier this week, Sony revealed more about the Yuffie-driven episode of Final Fantasy VII as well as what the remake looks like on current gen titles. That segway was absolutely perfect going into the March PS Plus games, because the remake for PlayStation 4 is one of the free titles being offered.
"The original Final Fantasy VII is one of the most influential and adored games of all time, representing the best storytelling, gameplay, and technology its era had to offer," said our own Joe Juba about the remake in his full review. "Its monumental impact on the role-playing genre is hard to overstate – but even harder to replicate in today’s landscape. That struggle between history and innovation is the engine that drives Final Fantasy VII Remake; the legend of the original looms large over it like the metal plates above the slums of Midgar, but this new version refuses to simply exist under a shadow. With smart (and surprising) additions to a classic world and its inhabitants, Final Fantasy VII Remake artfully appeals to nostalgia without being bound by it."
Other games being offered include the PlayStation VR title Farpoint, the sci-fi action game Remnant: From the Ashes, and Maquette, a first-person puzzler designed around an "Escher-esque recursive simulation."
Click here to watch embedded mediaIt's not too late to also scoop up February's games with Control, Destruction AllStars, and Concrete Genie, though it is important to note that an active PS Plus membership is required for all of the aforementioned titles. The membership for Sony's online services includes free games each month, exclusive sales on select titles, and unlimited access to game online with friends! The free games remain yours until the membership runs out.
Thoughts on the free PS Plus March 2021 games lineup? How do you feel about PS Plus in general and how it's changed through the years? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below!
Whether it's the social media countdown, a collaboration with Levi's, or the announcement of a digital concert headlined by Post Malone, The Pokémon Company has recently been building the hype around the 25th anniversary of one of the world's most recognizable entertainment franchises. While I love the song Sunflower as much as the next webhead, it hasn't become abundantly clear how gamers will be able to celebrate their love for the iconic series. That all (hopefully) changes today.
The Pokémon Company is set to premiere a Pokémon Presents update that they say fans of all things Pikachu won't want to miss. While there are sure to be updates on Pokémon projects outside of games, there are plenty of titles in the works fans hope to get an update on.
We know New Pokémon Snap is coming to the Nintendo Switch on April 30, so now seems like a prime time to show off the first substantive look at how the game will actually play. Outside of that, we haven't seen anything from Pokémon Unite, the moba collaboration between The Pokémon Company and Tencent. But what other surprises could the day hold? Will we get a Let's Go treatment for either Gold/Silver or Diamond/Pearl? Will the Game Boy classics ever make their way to Nintendo's handheld hybrid? Only time will tell, but I can tell you one thing for sure. We'll be there to react to it all.
Join Pokémon expert Brian Shea, Alex Van Aken, and me as we watch today's Pokémon Presents with you live and react to all the biggest announcements and surprises.
The show officially kicks off at 9 a.m. CT, but we'll be going live at 8:45 a.m. CT for a little preshow action featuring our rock-solid predictions for what we think The Pokémon Company will be showing off! If you can't get enough of our live shows, remember to subscribe on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and Facebook to get notified when we go live each week!
The Monster Hunter series is more popular than ever, thanks to recent entries Monster Hunter: World and its Iceborne expansion. Meanwhile, Nintendo fans have had to wait patiently for their time to shine. Thankfully, that time is close at hand. Monster Hunter Rise is an all-new adventure for Nintendo Switch, giving hunters another excuse to hit the field (and a host of monsters). In this episode of NGT, we take a look at what’s ahead, including a look at the returning fan favorite (?), the Khezu.
We start out with a quick look at Monster Hunter Rise’s cooking system. Unlike World’s kitchen, which featured drool-worthy entrees and dishes, Rise seems to be more about indulging your hunter’s sweet tooth. Players can mix and match different combinations of mochi, and you can see the Palico’s pounding out the delicious desert – and presenting it with a wonderfully catchy tune. (Skip to the end of the video to hear it without our commentary; it’s worth a listen.)
From there, we take a look at a battle against the returning Khezu wyvern. They’re virtually blind, they’re nasty looking, and people apparently can’t get enough of them. That’s what Tack keeps trying to tell us, at least. We also get to see an extended rodeo-riding session, which is used to bring two monsters together for some kaiju-style action.
It can only end in one way: fashion show! Story be damned; Monster Hunter vets know that the only reason hunters hunt is to fill their closets with spiffy new gear. If you’re curious to learn what Rise’s take on Khezu gear looks like, it’s your lucky day! We show off the complete set, from the Assassin’s Creed-style outfit to a grotesque, toothy hammer.
Monster Hunter Rise is coming to Nintendo Switch on March 26.
Fortnite's newest season, Zero Point, is uniting some of the greatest hunters in movies, games, and comic books for an epic battle royale showdown. This event kicked off with The Mandalorian and his child companion leaping through a dimensional rift, and almost every week after has brought new hunters like the Terminator, Predator, and this week's addition of Ripley from the Alien films. Unfortunately for her (but fortunately for us) she didn't emerge from the rift alone. A Xenomorph also made it through.
Both Ripley and the Xenomorph are now available for purchase. You can get both of them together for 2,200 V-Bucks, or you can get Ripley on her own for 1,500, and the Xenomorph for 1,600. Ripley has two looks you can switch between, and the Xenomorph has a built in emote. The Alien fun is rounded out with the P-500 Power Loader Arm Pickaxe, Jonesy the Cat in a carrier, a Cheyenne Dropship Glider, and a chest-burster emote.
The Zero Point season still has a few weeks left, and if Epic Games keeps up its current pace of revealing new characters from other popular licenses, we'll likely see more exciting crossovers. We don't expect many more superheroes, as Fortnite is already flush with Marvel and DC characters from last season's Nexus War, which even saw Galactus lording over the map for a limited time event.
I recently wrote that this season of Fortnite has gotten me more into the game than I've ever been, and is a great jumping on point for newcomers or people who stopped playing. The infusion of new characters, missions associated with them, and flow of the battles have been fantastic.
Who do you hope appears next? Is there a popular movie or TV show with a hunter that would fit nicely into Fortnite's framework? Let us know your idea in the comments section below!
343 Industries has taken to offering up regular monthly check-ups on the status of Halo Infinite as it steers toward its much anticipated launch later in 2021. After earlier looks into art, graphics, and the work of the live team, this month the team is shining a spotlight on the setting itself. The Zeta Halo is a massive explorable environment that seems to dramatically outstrip the scope of many previous games in the series, especially in terms of freedom and discoverability.
One of the big focuses for creating the game world for Halo Infinite is described as focusing on two central tenets – legacy and simplicity. “For 'Legacy' we really want players to feel like they are experiencing a game that they remember fondly (Halo: Combat Evolved), but with modernized graphics of course,” says Justin Dinges, the campaign art lead on the project. “As far as 'Simplicity' is concerned, we wanted to ensure that we steer away from overly noisy designs and details which is a key takeaway for the team coming off Halo 5.” That’s a welcome message for longtime fans of the series, as Halo has always found a way to balance a modern sci-fi aesthetic with natural beauty.
Taking cues from Bungie’s work on the original Halo: Combat Evolved, 343 Industries is looking to the environment closest to home near their studios in the Pacific Northwest to help inform the artistic look of the Zeta Halo. To nail the right balance, they’re exploring forests, fields, and natural biomes that sit on the surface of the Halo, juxtaposed against jutting hexagonal shapes from the original Forerunner technology, sitting just below the surface. “This is our way of mixing a beautiful real-life biome (the PNW) with something fantastic and sci-fi (the hexagonal structure) as the experience aims to be the best of both worlds,” says Dinges.
This month’s post also offers some fascinating insight into designing gameplay in the large open spaces that the Zeta Halo enables, with a particular focus on the new Grappleshot tool, which lets players zip to distant locations. “Equipment like the Grappleshot is a great example creating new and exciting possibilities,” says gameplay director Troy Mashburn. “Walls, cliffs, and small gaps don’t stop Chief any longer which gave us the opportunity to rethink how encounters are built. This caused some challenges early on because designers couldn’t just place the final objective at the far end of a base assuming players will have to fight their way through. With the Grappleshot, players can go wherever they want whenever they want. From a development standpoint, this was both terrifying and completely liberating at the same time.”
The resulting gameplay encourages players to find their own solutions to confronting a challenging encounter, like how to infiltrate and overtake a large enemy fortress, whether that be taking the frontal assault approach, or grappling up to a sniper nest and taking out a bunch of enemies from a high vantage point.
Future “Inside Infinite” installments in the coming months are set to discuss the overall approach to audio, and include discussions with the PC team, and we’ll surface those discussions as they happen. In the meantime, the discussion of the Zeta Halo setting includes a number of other insights directly from the team, including their opinions on cooperative play within the space, and the focal points for development over the remaining months of development.
Check out the full conversation at Halo Waypoint.
Bungie confirmed earlier today that Destiny 2: The Witch Queen has been pushed back until 2022. You can read the heartfelt post about that right here with our previous coverage, but the team also confirmed when players can finally expect transmog in addition to changes expected for the way rewards work in-game.
Ada-1 returns to the Tower in Season 14, the very next season following Chosen. With her return comes the ability to finally ‘think Destiny 2 but then make it fashion’ with the ability to transmogrify those "lewks."
Currently, players can go to the in-game Collections tab to change up how their Guardian looks by reacquiring certain gear and any unlocked shaders, but it's still pretty limited. There are also ornaments that can alter the way certain items look, but again; limited. With the newly implemented transmog system, called Armor Synthesis, arriving with Season 14, players will be able to take any armor they have in their Collections and turn it into a universal ornament with no limitations.
"Every season Ada will offer players a set of bounties that highlight various activity types," explains the most recent blog post. "Players can complete these quests and receive the materials they need to power up Ada’s Loom, which can turn any piece of armor in your collection into a permanent universal ornament. Players short on time will also be able to purchase Synthesis tokens for Silver."
Once players acquire a few new universal ornaments, Bungie says that they will then want to head over to the new appearance screen, which can be found in the character menu. It will be here that Guardians can change all of their gear's aesthetic in one convenient location, no matter the gear type, either individually or in one grand sweep. Bungie is also changing shaders to be permanent unlocks so that they won't have to hold onto stacks in the inventory, making it even easier to customize how armor and weapons look.
Also coming down the pipeline: changes to the rewards system. Season 11 introduced infusion caps to keep "gear fresh." What it did in reality, however, is frustrate players to no end. You know how long it took me to get Randy's Throwing Knife and Masterwork only for it to be considered null due to a power cap? TOO LONG, dear reader. While the goal behind that change remains the same, Bungie realizes that the execution was "way off the mark." Because of that, players can expect a few changes.
"We’ve made the decision that any weapon or armor that can currently be infused to max Power will continue to be able to reach max Power permanently. Starting in Season 14 we won’t be capping the infusion on any weapons or armor that have not already reached the cap as of the start of Season 13. This means you’ll be able to take your Trustee, your Falling Guillotine, and all the high-stat armor you’ve earned this year to take on the raid in The Witch Queen."
The studio is looking into different ways to improve the game's meta, though specific alterations on a grander scale won't be announced in the immediate future, especially regarding The Witch Queen. That being said, Bungie promises that it won't be capping any more of its weapons, but because of that "we must consider more variables in the game balance of our upcoming seasons and releases, so expect to see tuning when it comes to our biggest outliers in PVP and PVE. Yes, I’m looking at you, Felwinter’s and Warmind Cells."
This is a massive shift for the game and one that can either go right or so very, very wrong.
To read up on what else is coming to Destiny 2, including crossplay, you can check out the full blog post right here.
If you thought the one-two punch announcement of Final Fantasy VII coming to PS5 and its Yuffie-focused content was all the new stuff you were getting from the series, think again! Square Enix took to Twitter right after State of Play wrapped up to announce not one but two different Final Fantasy VII related titles for mobile devices.
The first is Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier. It’s a battle royale (you read that right) set in Midgar before the events of the game, where you control a candidate for Soldier and battle an unknown number of other players. Players use a combination of third-person melee, gunplay, spellcasting, and even summons to take out opposing players and be the last Soldier standing. In addition to other human players, it looks like you face off against A.I. enemies as well. The game launches later this year for iOS and Android.
Click here to watch embedded mediaNext up is Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis, a single-player title that combines the entire FFVII story into a chapter-based adventure. When I say the entire story, I mean the original game and its compilation titles: Advent Children, Before Crisis, Dirge of Cerberus, and Crisis Core. It will also feature new story elements surrounding the origins of Soldier penned by Final Fantasy VII Remakestory and scenario writer, Kazushige Nojima.
The chibi-like character models and presentation look as if the original 1997 game was remastered for a handheld and actually has a charm to it. Meanwhile, the combat resembles Remake's but appears more static, akin to a traditional turn-based style. The game's press release doesn't make it clear if you’re actually playing through every FFVII story like a traditional RPG. If so, then that’s one beast of a mobile game, and the trailer certainly looks that way. I would imagine it's more of an abridged take, but who knows? We’ll find out when Ever Crisis comes to iOS and Android in 2022.
Click here to watch embedded mediaI guess this is what Square meant when it filed thosetrademarks a few months back. These are certainly surprises and both games have the potential to be fun. While it’s not the Crisis Core remake I think many fans hoped for (that could still happen!), there’s no way I’m not giving these games a shot as a big fan of Final Fantasy VII.
What do you make of these two games? Let us know in the comments.
Final Fantasy VII Remake was one of the best RPGs of 2020, and Square Enix is building on that success by releasing a new episode featuring Yuffie – one of the party members from the 1997 original who did not appear in last year’s game. And if you're excited to see what Yuffie can do, you won't have long to wait.
The new content is part of the PS5-enhanced version of the game, called Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade. As revealed during PlayStation's State of Play event, the whole package releases this summer on June 10. According to a Square Enix press release, Intergrade "comes bundled with the brand new episode featuring Yuffie as the main character, which introduces an exhilarating new story arc and numerous gameplay additions for players to enjoy."
That means the Yuffie episode is only available on the new-gen console. Square Enix is offering a free upgrade to the PS5 version for owners of the original, but there's a catch there: Even though you can experience all of the performance enhancements that way, users who upgrade from PS4 to PS5 still need to purchase the new Yuffie content separately. However, if you're buying the game for the first time with Intergrade on PS5, the Yuffie episode is included as part of the package.
So, what's the big deal about Yuffie anyway? Why is this exciting? Well, if you haven't played the original Final Fantasy VII, all you need to know is that Yuffie is an energetic ninja warrior from Wutai, and she has an unstoppable desire to acquire materia – the colored orbs that give Cloud and his friends magical abilities.
For a clearer idea of what Yuffie's adventure entails, you can watch the full trailer above. It has all sorts of interesting info and nods, including Yuffie wearing a cute Moogle cape and staying just barely out of sight of recognizable heroes like Tifa and Barrett.
The new episode also features a new companion named Sonon who fights alongside Yuffie. The trailer shows them fighting a huge mechanical beast, as Yuffie performs acrobatic leaps and stylish attacks with her blade. Though the familiar Sector 7 slums seem to the setting for at least part of the game, fans can count on brand-new story beats, bosses, and areas to explore.
"In this new adventure, play as ninja Yuffie Kisaragi as she infiltrates the shadowy Shinra Corporation to steal a powerful materia and restore glory to her homeland," according to the press release. While Square Enix isn't completely tipping its hand in terms of what to expect from the new stale, we will undoubtedly learn more as its June 10 release approaches.
What are your thoughts about this new expansion to Final Fantasy VII Remake? Are you excited to play it? Were you hoping Yuffie's big entrance would be in the next full game instead? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
While a few cryptic early videos have teased the atmosphere and visual potential of Returnal, Housemarque’s new game has remained largely a mystery since its announcement. But after a recent hands-off demo I had the chance to check out, and its appearance at today's State of Play event, my anticipation for the project skyrocketed.
An action game like Returnal lives or dies by how tight the controller play feels, and of course, that’s one element that I can’t speak to with authority until I get hands-on. As such, I’m not ready yet to crown the game as my new shooter obsession until I play it in full on PlayStation 5 for the April 30 release. But independent of gameplay feel, Returnal has a lot in its favor as it nears release in a couple of months.
Housemarque has been around for a long time, and the team has the experience and talent to nail top-tier action. Not everyone knows the team’s games, because in recent game generations, they’ve focused primarily on downloadable arcade-style action games, including titles like Resogun, Nex Machina, and Alienation. Those were fast-paced games that didn’t immediately reveal their depth, but any player who dug in found a rich well of complexity and immense replayability, thanks to immaculate balancing, very tight action controls, and a steady ramp of challenge that allowed for constant improvement by players.
Returnal shifts perspectives to a third-person action shooter, but early gameplay exhibits many of the same focal points of replayability and smooth, fast moving action. And that bodes very well for the chance at some engaging combat scenarios.
Returnal explores the conceit of an astronaut named Selene who crash lands on a weird alien planet called Atropos, filled with monstrous creatures. As she explores, her limited knowledge and weaponry inevitably lead to death. But after meeting her demise, she inevitably wakes back up on her crashing spaceship, destined to experience a madness-inducing time loop.
From a gameplay perspective, that means that Returnal follows the familiar structure of a roguelike, albeit with some twists. Selene can acquire new powers and avenues for exploration that permanently unlock, including a melee attack, a hook shot, and even changes to the geography of the world, like a bridge or door that opens up for subsequent runs. Meanwhile, other upgrades can be acquired on each run, but disappear afterward, like weapons and mods, max health, and attack power.
As such, there’s the promise that players can gradually unlock entirely new areas and biomes, as well as core powers, but also expect that each run brings a sense of discovery and newness.
Content that is randomly created for each run can be a blessing or a curse in roguelikes, but based on my time observing the game in action, the team has zeroed in on a number of systems that make the most of both hand-crafted, curated content, while simultaneously having it presented in creative ways on each runthrough.
Amid 10 weapon archetypes, like machine guns and shotguns, there is a tremendous variance that changes the baseline behaviors of armaments you find. In addition, weapons come with traits that further change things up, like piercing bullets, sniper rifle rounds, or explosive rounds – all of which can stack. On top of that, weapons also come with unique alt-fire options, like adding a lightning gun shot, or tentacle attacks that entangle foes. Add in randomized specs, and players can expect all kinds of weird and wonderful weapons. On top of weapons, players also encounter parasites, which graft onto Selene, and offer a random selection of both positive and negative effects, leading to a risk/reward choice for using them. For instance, you might bear one parasite that attracts revenge bullets from enemies you kill, but simultaneously creates explosions every time you pull off a critical reload.
Likewise, the level design is built to optimize for variability while not ignoring the need for thoughtful construction and progression. Individual rooms are hand-crafted, but their orientation with other rooms changes. And the contents of the rooms also changes, from the monsters that appear there, to the secret chambers or passages you can find, to the loot you can pick up. On a larger level, Returnal also features several unique biomes that you’ll gradually encounter– with entirely new color palettes, environmental effects, and geography to explore.
While the shooting and action is certainly a big focus, Returnal also has some big narrative ambitions. Selene’s exploration of the Atropos planet is wrapped up in mystery and secrets, including the very nature of the time loop itself, and why it’s happening. At times, Selene encounters manifestations of her own dead self, sometimes arising from previous lives she has lived exploring the planet, but also sometimes encountering dead selves from future runs she hasn’t yet taken.
Players learn that a strange signal drew Selene to Atropos, labeled “White Shadow,” and she desperately searches for its origin and meaning.
But strangest of all, during Selene’s journey, she occasionally encounters what seems to be an Earth house hidden amid the alien growth – a place that clearly has some ties to her own past. When players approach the house, the view shifts to first-person, and Selene can wander the house, though there are doors she won’t initially open, seemingly because of some trauma connected to her time there.
The storyline is built to unfold gradually over the course of many runs and lives through the game, which has the potential to lend a linking nature between the many playthroughs that players may inevitably confront on the journey to answers.
While there are plenty of fascinating trappings that add intrigue and replayability to Returnal’s appeal, it will all be for naught if the shooting, speed, and overall action aren’t up to snuff. The full picture there won’t come into focus until I’ve had a chance to play it for myself, but the combat I saw in the hands-off demo looks very promising.
In keeping with Housemarque’s arcade history, many of the battles draw heavily on the “bullet-hell” tradition of constant attacks pouring out across the screen, demanding the player dodge, run, and dash to safety, even while pumping out counterattacks. There’s a twitchy, fast-moving quality to the action that is sure to remind players of the team’s other work on titles like Resogun.
Beyond that, the quality of the action is especially high, thanks to the game’s exclusive appearance on PS5. One of a handful of games so far that have been exclusively built to cater to the PS5’s potential, the onscreen visuals (and especially particle and weapon effects) are a sight to behold. Housemarque told me that their team is also investing heavily in leveraging the PS5’s 3D audio tech to create increased atmospheric immersion; plan to play with a headset if you can. In addition, the team is also exploring ways to capitalize on the PS5’s awesome DualSense controller; for instance, the adaptive trigger feature will be used on the L2 aim button, letting you get a focused zoom by pulling the trigger halfway, but also letting you push past the resistance so that the weapon will switch into alt-fire.
We don’t have long to wait until we can all try out Returnal for ourselves. The game is targeting a full release on April 30, exclusively for PlayStation 5. In the meantime, if the idea of Housemarque’s great eye for action has you excited, the team’s earlier games, including Resogun, remain as fun now as on the day they released – go check them out!
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At today's State of Play, the upcoming Deathloop from Arkane Studios and Bethesda got a spiffy new trailer, full of James Bond vibes. The time-looping title is scheduled to arrive on May 21 this year. Inside the trailer, not only do we get to immerse ourselves in a Bond-title-card homage, but we get to see quite a bit of action. Inside, we get a peek at a neon-tinged world where there's plenty of assassination happening, from throwing knives to heavy explosives to standard guns. There are some other curious weapons around too that don't look anything like a standard arsenal. Check out the trailer right here!
Click here to watch embedded mediaProtagonists Colt and Julianna are both prominently featured in the trailer, taking on a variety of colorful foes in a number of environments. Strange, cult-like masked foes make up some of the enemy composition. So far, we know the game is something of an assassination tour, with Cole tasked with taking out a certain number of big bads before time runs out. Because of the loop mechanic, players are tasked with trying to hit the perfect run, taking out all the targets and surviving. If Colt fails, you're back to the start of another loop, though some aspects are likely to be retained from loop to loop. How it all plays out in the end we have yet to see.
While the trailer focuses on the action, there are a number of stealth, spy, and infiltration elements at work in Deathloop as well for players to explore. When things can't be solved other ways, covert killing is the way to get things done. That's probably why they went with the James Bond motif for the trailer, hunh. Cool. Based on the trailer, there may be some big-ticket movie moments in the game to go along with that thematic infusion as well. Deathloop arrives on PlayStation 5 and PC on May 21.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is coming to the PlayStation 5 with upgraded visuals, faster load times, and new features such as a photo mode, developer-publisher Square Enix announced today during Sony's latest State of Play livestream. The game is expected to be re-released on June 10 under the new name Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade.
While the port comes with the standard upgrades people have come to expect, such as updated textures, fog, and lighting effects, a few quality of life improvements to note are the inclusion of faster load times, the option to choose between a graphics mode (which displays at 4K resolution) or a performance mode (running at 60 frames-per-second), and a new Normal (Classic) difficulty mode, which allows the player to automatically attack and defend. Previously, this playstyle was only available for the game's Easy difficulty. Lastly, Square Enix unveiled that Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade will feature a photo mode, though it's unclear if this is exclusive to the PlayStation 5 version of the game.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade will be available as a free upgrade on PlayStation 5 for anyone that already bought the game on PlayStation 4.
That wasn't the only Final Fantasy VII news Square had to reveal during today's State of Play. The company announced a new single-player DLC starring Yuffie, which will also be available on June 10. Check out all the details you need to know about the new Yuffie DLC here in our news story.
For more on Final Fantasy VII Remake, check out our review, where we said the game "finds an impressive equilibrium between its past and its present, crafting a distinctive world and exciting combat system that feel modern." If that's not enough praise, you can also read why the game was one of our favorite games of 2020, making the number 9 spot on our Top 10 list. While you're at it, why not read why we think video game remakes are better than film remakes.
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee was a beloved cult classic from the original PlayStation generation, and while that game received a handful of sequels, creator Lorne Lanning says that those titles didn’t really captures his original vision for the series. Fortunately, Lanning is getting a second bite at the apple with Soulstorm, a true sequel to Oddysee, which is set to release in a matter of weeks.
In Soulstorm, players reprise the role of Abe, a strange-looking Mudokon slave who escaped RuptureFarms’ meat processing factory and helped liberate his fellow workers. Abe grows to become a leader of this rebellion, and Soulstorm follows his continued adventures.
In this 2.5D action platformer, players lead Abe as he unites his fellow Mudokon’s and sneaks past – or otherwise does battle with – the evil Glukkons. Over the course of the game, you can rescue over 1,000 companions, who help you solve puzzles and navigate combat sequences. If you wish, you can complete the game as a pacifist or an agent of chaos. The PS5 version even makes use of the Sony’s DualSense controllers, allowing you to feel Abe’s heartbeat during tense situations.
We loved the remake of the first game, Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty!, which released in 2014, and this looks like a worthy follow up. Fortunately, we won’t have to wait too much longer. Oddworld: Soulstorm is set for release on April 6, and PlayStation Plus subscribers will get a free upgrade to the PS5 version.
Last year, a State of Play stream brought us the our first look of a new Five Nights at Freddy's game called Security Breach. While the announcement was more or less just a sneak-peek teaser trailer of the newest entry in the popular frightful franchise, today's State of Play stream gave us a better look, plus further confirmation that Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach is coming to PlayStation 5 this year.
We still don't have a ton of details, but the trailer shows the poor player-character running through children's play area in a mall full of deranged, living animatronic monsters. The PlayStation 5 version utilizes ray tracing, but if you still haven't gotten your hands on Sony's hard-to-obtain new-gen console, don't worry, it's also coming to PlayStation 4 and PC.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach comes to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC sometime in 2021. Check out the new trailer below and let us know your thoughts on the new Five Nights at Freddy's game in the comments section below!
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Sifu premiered today during Sony’s State of Play showcase. Developed by indie dev studio Sloclap (the creators of 2017's Absolver), Sifu is an intense third-person action game where players take on waves of enemies in various environments — from housing complexes to death arenas — using an array of martial-arts techniques. Players can use the environment to their advantage by pinning enemies to walls for devastating attacks. Some of the adversaries in your path will attempt to strike you down with deadly weapons like pipes and knives, but the fighting mechanics allow for interesting counterattacks and opportunities for players to use unique weapons of their own.
Visually, Sifu looks like it’s inspired by fan-favorite kung-fu movies, but based on the trailer's grim tone, the gritty realism of the combat moves, and the main character's serious disposition, the game appears to have a more grounded, personal narrative. Sifu follows the journey of a young martial artist who vows to take revenge on the mysterious group of assassins that murdered his family. Players are tasked with hunting down each assassin one by one across the different districts of a fictional Chinese city. Neon lights fall forebodingly against dark corridors where gangs of nefarious enemies lie in wait. If players die during their travels, a mysterious pendant will ultimately bring them back to life. But according to Sifu’s press release, death defiance comes at a cost: “you will age significantly every time you come back to life: time is the price you will pay for your revenge.”
More details about what players are bound to experience in the gameplay (at least, on a more mechanical level) as well as the greater narrative will likely be revealed in the coming months. Sifu is slated to release this year for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC (via the Epic Store).
Last year, Ember Lab made the difficult decision to delay its debut game, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, from a planned release around the PlayStation 5 launch to a date sometime in 2021. At today’s State of Play event, the indie studio revealed when, exactly, players will be able to finally experience the delightful action-adventure for themselves. What are your plans around the end of August?
More specifically, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is coming to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC (via the Epic Games Store) on August 24. Preorders go live starting today, giving players who get in early a crack at some special cosmetics. You get access to a pair of silly hats regardless of whether you preorder the standard digital edition ($39.99) or the deluxe digital edition ($49.99). The headwear gives you a chance to show your festive side by equipping your Rot companions with party hats or a head-mounted celebratory cake – complete with Kena’s name.
Click here to watch embedded mediaWhat does the extra $10 get you if you opt for the deluxe edition over the regular one? You receive a digital soundtrack, an exclusive golden Rot, and silver staff cosmetics. You get both the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 versions regardless of which Sony platform you initially order for, so you don’t need to worry if you haven’t made the new-gen leap quite yet.
The release date was accompanied by a new trailer at Sony’s State of Play, showing how Kena can tap into her innate spirit abilities to help cleanse a cursed land while also leaning on the abilities of her helpful Rot friends. It also highlights some of the larger combat encounters, including a glimpse of massive bull enemy.
“We’re overwhelmed by and grateful for the enthusiasm surrounding Kena: Bridge of Spirits, and we can’t wait to share our game with everyone this August,” says Josh Grier, chief operations officer at Ember Lab. “We’re taking the next few months to further polish and optimize for the best possible game. It’s been quite an experience completing our first title during the pandemic. We are super excited to reveal the latest trailer and announce the launch date.”
For more on Kena: Bridge of Spirits, check out some of the exclusive features we wrote for our cover story a few months ago.
Solar Ash is a game about movement through a dangerous world filled to the brim with exploration opportunities. Players will be tasked with trying to save the planet and during the most recent State of Play, Sony showed off more about the game, including enemy encounters, traversal movements, and so much more.
From massive Sentinels with their elongated bodies and hungry appetites to the smaller enemies players will face, Solar Ash blends beauty, danger, and an adventurous spirit for those looking for a new world to get lost in. Take a look at the latest gameplay reveal, with commentary from the creative director, in the video below:
Click here to watch embedded mediaFor those that enjoyed Hyper Light Drifter, the team is sticking pretty true to the art style that many fell in love with. Solar Ash looks like a more peaceful version of that game with many surprises hidden around each corner. According to the studio over at Heart Machine, "Players will find a surreal, vivid, and highly stylized world filled with wild high-speed traversal, endearing characters, and massive enemy encounters. The Void is calling…"
While the team didn't talk about whether or not this would utilize PS5 haptics or not, I would imagine that if this feature were to be utilized that it would be stunning, especially during the part where the main character dropped onto the back of a Sentinel. The haptic feedback that the PS5 DualSense offers is incredible and can take experiences like this to a whole new level.
Solar Ash will be coming to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 later this year, though no release date has been given at this time.
What did you think about Sony's latest State of Play showcase and our newest look at Solar Ash? Is this a game that strikes your fancy, or is it not to your playstyle? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below!
When Bungie added cross-progression to Destiny 2, Guardians were excited to be able to have more freedom regarding the platforms of choice. That being said, cross-progression is still limited to platforms that the player owns. For those that want to play with friends regardless of platform, the studio has confirmed that Destiny 2 crossplay is officially slated to launch with the release of Season 15.
Currently, Destiny 2: Beyond Light is in its 13th season with Season of the Chosen, so we still have a little further to go before crossplay is implemented. The studio took to the Bungie blog to provide a little more context for crossplay as part of the team's effort to make Destiny 2 more community-friendly.
"With Destiny now committed to being an everlasting evolving world, we want to make sure we are still taking the time to upgrade the systemic foundation of Destiny 2 to support everything we want to do in the future," reads the blog post. "Our ultimate vision for Destiny 2 still stands – a definitive action-MMO, a unified global community where you can play Destiny anywhere with your friends."
The amount of plans in place going forward, especially with the knowledge that we have at least two more expansions on the way in lieu of Destiny 3 at this present time, are impressive. But the enhanced workflow doesn't mean that the team is taking any chances, which is why Bungie added that Work From Home orders will continue with the continued presence of COVID-19. Because of this, the studio is asking players for their understanding regarding moved dates and plan shifts when looking to implement features like crossplay, transmog, gear overhauls, and more.
To learn more about the upcoming state of Destiny 2, you can read more from the blog post right here, including the decision to push back The Witch Queen.
What are your thoughts on the current state of Destiny 2: Beyond Light and the journey so far to get here? Are you enjoying the new features added like Battlegrounds? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below! Be sure to also check out our game hub here to learn more about what's going on in the world of Guardians, even if that world no longer includes Cayde-6 (cries forever).
Assistant game director Joe Blackburn took to the Bungie blog today to give fans an update on what's next for Destiny 2, specifically The Witch Queen release date. While the team has a lot in the works, including crossplay coming in Season 15 and transmog in Season 14, Bungie did have to make the difficult decision to push back the launch of The Witch Queen due to a couple of different factors.
The blog post started out as wholesome as can be, with Blackburn opening up about being a fan of the game and knowing that his passion for it was enough to drive him to want to be a part of its growth in an official capacity. Now, he works at Bungie, and the work is far from over with ongoing content and the future ahead. With Season of the Chosen out now and so many enjoying the newly added features like Battlegrounds, Bungie is heads down when working on what's next. While there is much to look forward to, a few dates have been changed and largely due to the ongoing pandemic and Work From Home orders.
"Last summer, we outlined our ambition for the next era in Destiny 2 by announcing the full arc, starting with Beyond Light, followed by the Witch Queen and Lightfall," the blog posts reads. "As we began to scale production on the Witch Queen last year, we made the difficult but important decision to move its release to early 2022; we also realized we needed to add an additional unannounced chapter after Lightfall to fully complete our first saga of Destiny."
While progress has been made, the health of the developers does come first and because of that, the release has been pushed back to early 2022. Blackburn shares that it was a difficult decision but with it not being tied to legacy expectations, they know that it was the right move to make.
The Witch Queen represents an important evolution in the ongoing story of Destiny 2. Beyond Light built the foundation and allowed us to weave the world-building of Destiny and Destiny 2 together, but The Witch Queen will light the fire on a strongly interconnected narrative across Lightfall and beyond, unlike anything we’ve ever attempted before, with characters, arcs, heroes and villains that persist over multiple future releases. Even more importantly, the conclusion of these releases will also conclude the “Light and Darkness Saga,” the conflict we first introduced with the launch of Destiny many years ago. As we’ve been developing The Witch Queen, we realized that we needed this release to be the first of many moments crucial to the story of Destiny. With so much leading to and dependent on what happens in The Witch Queen, we wanted to make sure that we gave ourselves enough time to build out this journey in the right way, starting with an exceptional first chapter.Quality over a set release date is something that is very important and an attitude that can save many studios from a lot of headaches. Part of Destiny 2's launch woes was that many felt that the endgame activity lacked any real meaning. Paired with the microtransaction controversies, and Destiny 2 had a rough go when it was first released. After parting ways with Activision and overhauling the entire system, the Destiny 2 community has been alive and well, with a huge surge of growth following the Forsaken expansion. That marked a real turning point and a turning point that gave Bungie the momentum to truly realize the team's vision going forward.
With crossplay, transmog, a total overhaul to loot, and tweaks for more meaningful grinds, there is a lot for Guardians to look forward to with the continuation of Destiny 2. With two confirmed expansions on the way and the possibility for even more, I'm personally excited to see where the road leads from here.
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