2023-02

After spending a couple of years coming together in early access, Darkest Dungeon II is ready to go 1.0 this May. Those who haven’t been keeping up can sample the finished version by downloading a free demo today. Darkest Dungeon II arrives on PC on May 8. The game first entered early access in 2021 and, like the original, tasks players with taking a dozen heroes through dangerous dungeons. This time though, you’re guiding them on a treacherous caravan ride through five dangerous regions. Heroes can bond with or sour on each other via the Affinity System to create combat synergies or dysfunctions. Darkest Dungeon II also boasts a plethora of new upgrades and boons to bolster party members. The demo gives players access to the four starting heroes and two full regions to explore, but progress will not transfer to the full...

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Last night's Grammy awards ceremony was the first ever to include a category for the best score soundtrack for a video game, and last year's Assassin's Creed Valhalla expansion, Dawn of Ragnarok, took home the win.  More specifically, the DLC's composer, Stephanie Economou, won the Grammy for her score in the game. Her other credits include Netflix's Jupiter's Legacy and contributions to the scores and soundtracks of movies like The Martian, Mulan (2020), and more, as reported by Variety. The publication reports that Economou thanked "all of the people who fought tirelessly to bring this category to existence," thanking them for "acknowledging and validating the power of game music."  Variety also reports that prior to this year's Grammy awards, video game scores and soundtracks were eligible in the show's score category but only earned one nomination in more than 20 years....

Bandai Namco has confirmed that Nina Williams will be in the Tekken 8 roster.  This news comes from a new gameplay reveal trailer that confirms Nina Williams as a playable fighter in the forthcoming game alongside footage of some new and returning moves. Running more than two minutes long, this trailer was just a small portion of a longer livestream where Bandai Namco discussed Tekken 8's fighting mechanics, different systems and fighters, and more.  Check out the Nina Williams reveal trailer below:  "Target located," a Bandai Namco tweet reads. "Nina Williams is back in business in Tekken 8. Get your first look at the silent assassin, back just in time for the next King of the Iron Fist tournament."  Elswhere in the stream, Bandai Namco revealed that a closed alpha test for Tekken 8 will take place next month....

Earlier this week, we saw a new teaser trailer for The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The teaser gave us a glimpse of Cat Mario's appearance in the film, as well as Donkey Kong's reaction. Today, Universal, Illumination, and Nintendo released the official movie poster for the Super Mario Bros. Movie. In this new poster, we get a cinematic glimpse of the cast of main characters that we know of so far, including Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Kamek. Additionally, we see the opposing worlds in the apparent conflict of the film, with the darkness of Bowser's Castle contrasted by the bright and joyful Mushroom Kingdom. While nobody quite matches Donkey Kong and Toad's wide-eyed and unbridled bliss, every character on the poster is at least sporting a smirk. The Super Mario Bros. Movie features an all-star...

Since the remake of Resident Evil 4 graces Game Informer’s cover this month, we thought it’d be fitting to revisit the game that kicked off Capcom’s remake craze: Resident Evil 2.  Capcom renovated Resident Evil 2 from the ground up into a modernized third-person action game. Led by directors Yasuhiro Ampo and Kazunori Kadoi, who now sit at the helm of Resident Evil 4, the game revitalized the 1998 classic, introducded it to a new generation of fans, and paved the way for the RE3 and 4 remakes to come after. Join me, Marcus Stewart, as I revisit my personal Game of the Year for 2019 to see how it holds up while discussing my Resident Evil 4 cover story. If you enjoy our livestreams but haven’t subscribed to our Twitch channel, know that doing so not only gives you...

The PC launch of The Last of Us Part I has been delayed by a few weeks. Instead of releasing on March 3, the game now arrives on March 28. Naughty Dog wants more time to polish up the PC port, as stated in a message posted to Twitter that you can read in full below (click the image to enlarge).  The Last of Us Part I launched for PlayStation 5 last fall and serves as a ground-up remake of the 2013 title. It features improved graphics, reworked controls, improved enemy A.I., and a remade version of the Left Behind DLC chapter. The remake helped usher in the premiere of The Last of Us HBO series last month, which has been heavily watched and received heaps of praise thus far. The show’s second season has already been confirmed. For...

Velan Studios has announced that it is shutting down its dodgeball multiplayer game, Knockout City, in June.  The studio announced in February of last year that Knockout City was going free-to-play and saying goodbye to Electronic Arts, who originally published the game as an EA Originals title, to self-publish the game's future content. That free-to-play launch happened last June with the start of Season 6 and now, Velan has announced that it will shut the game down in June of this year. More specifically, Knockout City will be shutdown on June 6.  "Today we are announcing that Season 9 will be Knockout City's final season," Knockout City director Jeremy Russo writes in a blog post. "Then, on the morning of June 6, 2023, over two years after our initial launch, all servers around the world will be shut down...

Electronic Arts has reportedly canceled a single-player game set in the shared Apex Legends and Titanfall universe.  This news comes by way of Bloomberg, which reports that three people familiar with the matter say EA canceled the project, code-named TFL or Titanfall Legends, that was in development at Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment. Roughly 50 people were on the team working on this game and EA will reportedly attempt to find positions for these employees elsewhere within the company. If positions cannot be found, some might be laid off with severance packages, according to Bloomberg.  The publication says Mohammad Alavi (Titanfall 2, Apex Legends designer) was set to direct this now-canceled game, but he left the company in 2022.  It's likely this canceled single-player game set in the Apex Legends and Titanfall universe was the one hinted at back in...

Sony's latest financial results covering Quarter 3 of Fiscal Year 2022, which consists of the last three months of the year, reveal the PlayStation 5 had its best quarter on the market yet.  The company has surpassed 32 million PS5 units shipped, sitting roughly at 32.1 million, after shipping 7.1 million during the last three months of 2022. It's important to note this isn't a sell-through number so theoretically, there could be consoles sitting on shelves still. But a company ships more units when the demand is there, so it's likely that the majority of these shipped consoles were sold.  PlayStation did just as well on the first-party software side of things, selling 20.8 million during Q3 of Fiscal Year 2022, which is almost more than double the 11.3 million sold during the same period in 2021. Of those 20.8 million, roughly...