Posts

Rumors are circulating that Riot Games’ highly anticipated take on the competitive first-person shooter, code-named Project A, is going to be called VALORANT. Fans supposedly caught onto this fact when Riot recently filed for a trademark on the word “VALORANT,” speculating that this would be Project A’s true identity. Indeed, a trademark search finds that the rumors are true. As of February 20th, Riot Games officially filed for a trademark on the title....

Rise of the Tomb Raider and Just Cause 3 have both gotten off to a “solid start”, according to Square Enix. Releasing its financial results for the nine month period ended December 31, 2015, Square Enix had very little to say about its two major game releases, merely stating: “Among the console game titles, Just Cause 3 and Rise of the Tomb Raider made a solid start.” Just Cause 3 launched on December 1 for Xbox One, PS4 and PC, whilst Rise of the Tomb Raider launched on November 13 as a timed exclusive for Xbox....

Despite a Change.org petition gaining traction that seeks to acquire some official recognition from the Academy for Robert Downey Jr.’s decade+ work as Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the actor has seemingly confirmed that he isn’t really into the idea, and has even gone some way to nix any plan from Marvel or Disney to pursue it via Avengers: Endgame‘s “for your consideration” campaign. Downey Jr. was in conversation with Howard Stern earlier this week when the host broached the subject of a potential Oscar nomination passing him by, with Stern indicating that he deserved some Oscar love for the hard work he’d put in over the years....

It’s Valentine’s Day in a few weeks’ time, so naturally Overwatch is getting a map based on the City of Love itself, Paris, Blizzard Entertainment has announced. The new Assault map can actually be taken for a spin now for PC players via the game’s Playable Test Realm, although as far as a general release goes, Blizzard says it’s coming ‘soon.’ It’ll be available in quick play and competitive mode matches....

Bandai Namco has announced Pac-Man World Re-Pac, a remake of the yellow hero’s 1999 3D platforming adventure. The original game was Pac-Man’s first foray into 3D adventure, with the setup of the dot-muncher hosting a birthday party. Unfortunately, those pesky ghosts have crashed said party before he could get there, and kidnapped Pac’s friends and family. You’ll have to chase them down to Ghost Island to save them and face off against Ghostly boss Toc-Man....

As if news that the Switch is getting a platform game with anime Bunny girls wasn’t strange enough, it’s now been confirmed that Nintendo’s flagship console (and PC) is receiving a boxing title known as Pato Box featuring…a man with a duck’s head. Yep. Boasting a dazzling comic book-style aesthetic, Pato Box follows the titular boxing champion – a buff-looking human male with a duck’s features – on a quest for vengeance throughout a corrupt corporation’s headquarters....

There are a lot of good video games coming our way in 2022. This list could get out of hand if I included everything I want to play by December 31 next year. So, I’m only going to focus on the titles I’m seriously itching to get my hands on. For me, there are three games I’m going to lose myself in from the day they release (or before, if I pre-order)....

EA chief competition officer Peter Moore has shut down talk of a Mass Effect Trilogy remaster – and remasters in general – despite executive VP Patrick Soderlund stating only last month that the publisher was “absolutely actively looking” at HD remasters. Speaking to IGN about his career with SEGA, Microsoft and now EA, the interview closed with some questions about remasters. “We are a company that is focussed on delivering for the future,” said Moore....

Phantom Halls, the squad-based survival comedy-horror adventure, launched into Steam Early Access last March but more development money is now being sought. Developer Incendium is wanting to push through improvements prior to the game being fully released and is seeking £30,000 via the new Kickstarter page. So why more cash now? The update explains: Sounds reasonable enough and these new additions would include outside locations such as gardens and swampy sewers, multi-level mansion layout, passive skills and abilities for 12 playable characters, additional enemies, and more....

Xbox chief Phil Spencer is to discuss the benefits of DirectX 12 on Xbox One at next week’s GDC, marketing director Aaron Greenberg has suggested. Discussing the new graphics tech on the latest Inner Circle Podcast, Greenberg acknowledged that it “takes time to get the right tools out. It takes time to allow people to get full power of the box, and you’re right, we’ve made investments in DirectX 12 that will definitely bring some benefits both on the PC and Xbox side in the future that we’re excited about and I’m sure Phil will talk more about what that means for developers at GDC....

Frontier Developments has released the latest Wetlands Animal Pack DLC for zoo management simulator Planet Zoo. This latest expansion adds eight brand new species to the game, including the Capybara. In addition, players can now also welcome the Platypus, the Nile Lechwe and the Wild Water Buffalo to their zoos. Naturally, there’s also a bunch of new enrichment items for the new arrivals, including Hot Water Tap, Underwater Feeder and plenty of others....

The Star Wars universe has never been a galaxy far, far away from virtual reality and I should know because I’ve covered plenty of official Star Wars VR games in my time. A couple of years ago, I even showcased an incredible fan-made reimagining of the old Atari Star Wars arcade game and on this week’s VR Corner, I’m back checking out another VR fan remake, this time of Star Wars: Dark Forces....

Despite the PS4 being a very successful console full of well-received titles like God of War and The Last of Us, it has its bugs like any other device. For instance, before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare came out, information was revealed that PS4 owners of the game would get exclusive access to one of the game modes, while Xbox and PC players would have to wait one year to access it as well....

The release of the first Kingdom Hearts game back in 2002 was only the beginning of what would eventually become one of the most prominent RPG franchises in video game history. In its 17 year history, Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts franchise has produced 13 games across various platforms with 2019’s Kingdom Hearts 3 as the latest installment. Now, the PlayStation Store is offering the entire franchise in one single package for a good price....

The Twinkling Fantasy event in Pokémon Go is the first big event of 2023! Throughout this Pokémon Go event, you’ll be able to collect exclusive Twinkling Fantasy field research tasks and certain Pokémon are spawning more frequently in the wild — including some very rare Dragon-type Pokémon! There will also be some Fairy-types available, but we all know what we’re showing up for this week… The Twinkling Fantasy event also sees the release of a new signature move for the fan-favourite legendary Pokémon Zekrom!...

Shiny Pokémon were introduced to the world during the second Generation and have been with us ever since. These are Pokémon who exhibit different color patterns than their non-Shiny counterparts along with sparkling animations and unique sound effects — but all the differences are only cosmetic. Pit a Shiny Grookey against a normal Grookey and they will be evenly matched. Shiny Pokémon might be rare, but they certainly aren’t special....

Once again, Pokemon GO trainers are tasked with heading out into the world and helping to purify some corrupted shadow creatures. Although there was no rotation for the available shadow Pokemon (aside from the Legendary shadow encounter) early in February, it seems that there is a new batch arriving now. Shadow Pokemon are encountered after a battle with Team GO Rocket and players have the chance to purify them after catching....

Pokemon GO is preparing to launch the updated Go Battle League in the very near future, but there’s some last minute work to do first. Before Go Battle Leagues are live, Niantic wanted to make one last big patch to the existing combat system to get everything ready. This Pokemon GO combat rebalance is a pretty massive one and involves new moves, the return of some legacy moves, and changes to how the battles themselves go down....

Niantic has taken the lid off the next big new feature coming to Pokemon Go by the end of the year, and it’s an overhaul of the game’s buddy system called the Buddy Adventure update. As reported by Eurogamer, the new update will allow you to select a Pokemon as a ‘Buddy’ Pokemon as was previously possible, but now you’ll be able to increase that Pokemon’s mood and increase its ‘Buddy Level’ by playing with that Pokemon, feeding it berries and battling with it by your side....

Despite reports of crashes and glitches, Pokemon Home users can enjoy some benefits that other players cannot. Specifically, trainers who are bringing their Pokemon from previous games and platforms to Home have discovered that their Shiny Pokemon have new and improved appearances. According to various social media posts, Pokemon Home developer Niantic has created new sprites for Shiny Pokemon for players to immediately tell the two variants apart. While previous mainline games and Pokemon GO primarily used subtle visual differences (from slightly different colors to a single red star next to the Shiny Pokemon’s stats), Pokemon Home has made major visual updates to ensure that Shiny Pokemon cannot be mistaken for their basic counterparts....