2023-07

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During today's official reveal livestream, EA Sports revealed EA Sports FC 24, the replacement for its overwhelmingly popular FIFA franchise. The move away from the FIFA license was announced last year, and today, we got our first look at this year's EA Sports soccer title. The big pitch this year from EA Sports is around its advanced technology. EA's proprietary Frostbite engine returns, but with enhancements, including the new Sapien character model skeletons first introduced through our Madden NFL 24 coverage last month. The skeleton ensures that players look more true to life when standing still but also in motion, making for more realistic movement that affects both the game's visuals and gameplay. This year's implementation of Frostbite also includes new GPU cloth technology, which is meant to ensure that players' kits move like real-world materials in reaction to player...

The Clock Tower series is a favorite among horror game aficionados, but the first game has never been released outside of Japan. That finally changes as the 1995 classic is getting spruced up for a modern, international re-release. For any Americans thinking, “But we got the first Clock Tower on PlayStation,” actually, we didn’t. The 1997 game known as “Clock Tower,” which did release in the West, was actually Clock Tower 2 and was titled as such in Japan (watch us play it in this classic episode of Replay). The actual first game arrived on Super Famicom (SNES) and stars Jennifer Simpson, an orphan adopted by the Barrows family, only to find that a murderous stalker called the Scissorman is terrorizing their mansion. As a point-and-click adventure, you use a mouse cursor to guide Jennifer and interact with your surroundings to solve puzzles...

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is an upcoming action RPG from Don’t Nod, makers of Life is Strange and Vampyr, which was first revealed at The Game Awards last December. The upcoming ghost-busting adventure has a new trailer revealing a November 7 launch date.  The game stars Antea Duarte and Red mac Raith, two lovers who serve as Banishers, those who protect the living from the lingering spirits of the dead. Unfortunately, Antea has become a ghost herself and must work alongside Red to find a way to bring herself back to life. Along the way, they’ll explore New Eden, a North American settlement teeming with supernatural dangers, and player combat threats using Red’s conventional weaponry and Antea’s spectral abilities. Players will also interact with New Eden’s residents in choice-driven conversations that steer the course of the narrative, namely in deciding...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge has an upcoming DLC called Dimension Shellshock, in which Usagi Yojimbo appears as a new playable character. Today, Dotemu announced that this content update also includes a new Survival Mode. Survival Mode lets players battle across distinct dimensions and collect crystals. Spending enough crystals upon death unlocks upgrades such as a new life, power bars, Radical Mode, and extra hit points. As seen in the trailer below, one dimension includes an Edo-inspired zone. You can even transform into bosses like Bebop and Rocksteady to pummel foes.  Dimension Shellshock is slated to arrive later this year and will be a paid add-on. You can read our review of Shredder's Revenge here. ...

The Federal Trade Commission has filed an appeal to a California judge’s ruling earlier this week in its Activision Blizzard acquisition court case against Microsoft.  Earlier this week, California Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley denied the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction in its case to block Microsoft and Xbox from acquiring the Call of Duty maker. The FTC sought this preliminary injunction to have the court order Microsoft to cease its attempt at acquiring Activision Blizzard for a colossal $69 billion. Following the court ruling, the FTC had until July 14 to file an appeal, and it did so on July 12.  Here’s what the FTC’s appeal filing says:  “Notice is hereby given that Plaintiff Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from this Court’s Opinion dated July 10, 2023 and...

Stray Souls, the upcoming third-person horror game from first-time developer Jukai Studio, will hit PlayStation, Xbox, and PC this fall.  Jukai Studio and publisher Versus Evil announced this release window in a new trailer that also revealed Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka will guest compose on the game’s score. And in that trailer, you can hear a tease of his original track, “Splintered Minds.”  Check out “Splintered Minds” in the latest Stray Souls trailer for yourself below:  As you can see, Yamaoka’s track sounds great, and Silent Hill fans know this is probably just a taste of some excellent music from the famed composer. The trailer also reveals plenty more Stray Souls gameplay, which features third-person gunplay, some stealth elements, and plenty of terrifying monsters.  Stray Souls hits PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via...

Today, a California judge denied the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's request for a preliminary injunction in its case to block Microsoft and Xbox from acquiring Activision Blizzard. Now, shortly after the ruling, Microsoft has announced it will pause its appeal efforts against the Competition and Markets Authority in the U.K. so that it and the CMA can negotiate.  Back in April, the UK regulatory body blocked Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard over cloud gaming concerns. With a July 18 deadline for the acquisition, Microsoft theoretically needs to either mark the U.K. out of its market as it relates to this purchase or negotiate a deal with the CMA to quell the regulator's concerns. Microsoft was previously set to appear in court to appeal the CMA's block on July 28. According to Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith, that won't...

After five days of testimony last month, California Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley has denied the Federal Trade Commission's request for a preliminary injunction in its case to block Microsoft and Xbox from acquiring Activision Blizzard.  The FTC sought a preliminary injunction in an effort to have the court order Microsoft to cease its attempt at acquiring the Call of Duty maker for a colossal $69 billion. Now that the FTC's request has been denied by the Court, the regulator has until the end of July 14 to appeal the decision, as reported by The Verge. With this ruling, Microsoft can now close its acquisition of Activision Blizzard before its July 18 deadline, although it still has to figure out how it's going to handle the decision from The Competition and Markets Authority in the U.K. to block the purchase over cloud...

Tuatara Games has revealed its next project, and it’s a sci-fi survival shoot ‘em up called Let Them Come: Onslaught.  Tuatara Games has released games before – it released Bare Butt Boxing this May – but it’s perhaps best known for its work as a AAA VFX support studio working on games like Valorant, Fortnite, Godfall, and more. It’s set to release Let Them Come: Onslaught on PC via Steam Early Access in the first quarter of 2024. Let Them Come: Onslaught puts players behind the gun of a lone survivor on an alien planet who must survive hordes of creatures by activating nukes to blow up the planet.  Check out the teaser trailer for Let Them Come: Onslaught for yourself below: Tuatara Games says the game features dynamic weather, and a wide range of weapons, including a flamethrower,...