Month: March 2019

Hollow Knight released in 2017 and debuted on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One in 2018; however, the exceptional Metroidvania-style game has never been available in a physical format–until now. Both a standard edition and a collector’s edition of Hollow Knight are now available for pre-order, with the collector’s edition exclusive to Fangamer.

According to Fangamer, pre-orders for Hollow Knight’s physical edition will start shipping on May 31, which means you can expect to receive your copy in early June.

Team Cherry, the developers of Hollow Knight, initially partnered with Skybound Games to bring a physical release to the market last year, but the studio announced last November that the deal had fallen through, possibly due to limited resources. So for fans of the game, news that a physical edition is finally happening is a welcome surprise.

In his Hollow Knight review, GameSpot’s Alessandro Barbosa gave the platformer a 9/10 and praised its lengthy, compelling narrative, smart combat design, gorgeous visuals, and fantastic soundtrack. “Its expansive enemy roster and routinely surprising areas and platforming challenges ensure that your journey through this fallen bug kingdom is one you’re unlikely to forget,” he wrote. “Hollow Knight offers a surprisingly large and harrowing adventure, and it’s a treat that every bit of it is just as divine as that last.”

With a newly announced sequel for Hollow Knight on the way, there’s no better time to pick up the game and journey into the world of Hallownest. Here’s how you can pre-order Hollow Knight’s physical edition:

Pre-Order Hollow Knight: Physical Standard Edition

As of right now, the only two places to buy Hollow Knight’s standard edition are Best Buy and Fangamer. We’ll update this post if more retailers begin offering pre-orders. Hollow Knight’s physical standard edition comes with a manual, a fold-out map of Hallownest, and all DLC: Hidden Dreams, The Grimm Troupe, Lifeblood, and Godmaster.

Switch:

PS4:

PC:

Pre-Order Hollow Knight: Physical Collector’s Edition

The collector’s edition is only available for purchase from Fangamer, and it’s packed with plenty of bonus materials. Along with everything included in the standard edition, you’ll receive a metal brooch with a display stand, wall hook, and dual-pronged fastener; a 14-page Quirrel comic book; a gold foil collector’s box; and a gold foil art print set. If you pre-order, a papercraft set is also included (not pictured here). And finally, if you opt for the Switch version, you’ll also receive a Hollow Knight-themed cleaning cloth.

• Fangamer — $69 on Switch, $64 on PS4 and PC

The creator of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has announced that he is stepping away from day-to-day operations of the popular battle royale game, and will instead be focused on “special projects” in a new office under the PUBG Corp. banner. Lead designer Brendan Greene made the announcement in a letter on Twitter.

“While I’ll remain as a consulting creative director on PUBG, development will be led by Taeseok Jang and the fantastic team I have had the honor of working with over the past three years,” he said. “They have some great things planned for this year, and I can’t wait to share more with you soon!

“Going forward, I’ll be based in Amsterdam, rather than Seoul, and focused on building out an entirely new division to focus on research & game development.”

Greene said the new position would focus on “exploring, experimenting, and creating new technologies, tools, pipelines, and gameplay.” Those experiments could feed back into PUBG, or develop into an entirely new game or middleware. At this point it isn’t clear what will come of this work, or even if it will be public as a consumer product at all.

PUBG is widely regarded as the first hit battle royale game, which inspired imitators like Fortnite and Apex Legends. The field is wide open now, even including new modes in well-established shooters like Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. PUBG has remained in development with an active userbase, though. The studio just announced a free-to-play Lite PC version, and its maps will be remastered.

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In a strange and surprising round of news, Sega has announced that it has stopped physical shipments and digital sales of the Yakuza spinoff Judgment in Japan following the arrest of actor Pierre Taki.

The actor was arrested for reportedly using cocaine, which apparently violates Japan’s drug control laws. An official news release from Sega, translated by Gematsu, states, “Sega has received the arrest reports and are currently confirming the facts, but for the time being, we will voluntarily refrain from shipments and digital sales of [Judgment], as well as from things like posting on the product’s homepage. We apologize for any inconveniences this may cause for customers, as well as the parties involved.”

Judgment, which is called Judge Eyes in Japan, launched in Japan back in December. The game is scheduled to arrive in America and Europe this June on PS4, but there is no word yet if that’s still the plan given the controversy surrounding Taki.

Taki plays Kyohei Hamura in Judgment. He’s voiced by Fred Tatasciore (Soldier 76 in Overwatch and Xur in Destiny) in the English version of the game.

Taki is an actor and musician known for being a member of the band Denki Groove and the voice of snowman Olaf in the Japanese dubbing of Disney’s Frozen.

According to Japan Times, the punishment for possessing or using cocaine in Japan is a prison sentence of up to seven years.

In Judgment you play as Takayuki Yagami, a detective who is looking into grisly crimes. Like the Yakuza series, it is set in Kamurocho, the fictional city modeled after Kabukicho in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

For more on Judgment, check out our extensive hands-on preview.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is coming to PC, and Microsoft is getting help from a pair of external studios to bring the collection to Steam and the Microsoft Store. In a blog post, developer 343 Industries said bringing Halo: MCC to PC is a “monumental undertaking,” and to get help, it’s hired Ruffian Games and Splash Damage.

Another factor at play here is that the “bulk” of 343 developers are now working on Halo Infinite, so the team is turning to outside studios to spread the development load.

“Bringing all these classic games together and integrating the huge matrix of features and experiences PC gamers and Halo fans deserve and expect is a monumental undertaking,” 343 said. “It’s no secret that the bulk of the team of 343 Industries is hard at work realizing the future of the franchise with Halo Infinite so the same amazing Publishing Team who diligently brought all the recent improvements and updates to MCC over the last year has invited a few friends to help us achieve victory. The experienced and passionate folks at Splash Damage and Ruffian are partnering with us to help make this dream a reality.”

Splash Damage CEO Richard Jolly said in a statement that it is a “tremendous honor” to work on Halo. He noted that Splash Damage has been making multiplayer games for nearly two decades; some of its recent projects include the multiplayer elements of Batman: Arkham Origins and Microsoft’s own Gears of War 4.

As for Ruffian Games, the studio made Crackdown 3‘s Wrecking Zone multiplayer mode, so it, too, already had an established relationship with Microsoft. “We love Halo and are mindblown to help bring this franchise back to PC,” reads a statement from Ruffian Games. “343 has assembled an amazing team who’re working hard to build the Halo PC experience fans deserve. It’s a privilege to be along for the ride.”

Halo: MCC is coming to PC in a unique way. Microsoft is releasing each game individually, as a separate download and purchase, beginning with Halo: Reach and continuing chronologically through Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo 4. Halo 1 and 2 are the new, remastered Anniversary editions.

Halo: Reach is finally coming to Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and now Microsoft has clarified how you’ll get access to it on Xbox One and PC.

On Xbox One, the game’s multiplayer content–include Forge and Theatre–will be free for everyone who owns the game. The game’s campaign and Firefight mode, however, are getting bundled together in a “premium digital add-on” that you’ll have to buy. Pricing was not disclosed, however.

Xbox Game Pass subscribers have the easiest path to getting all of Halo: Reach’s components. Members will receive “the entirety of Halo: Reach,” according to Microsoft. The word “entirety” suggests there will not be an extra cost for Game Pass members.

Halo: Reach is also coming to the newly announced PC version of Halo: MCC, and its release structure is a little different. According to Microsoft’s news release, the game’s “campaign, multiplayer, and Firefight [will be] available for purchase…”

It’s not clear if Reach’s campaign, multiplayer, and Firefight will be bundled together in one package or each sold as individual elements. Microsoft has said it will share many more details about Halo: MCC’s release on PC in the time ahead, so all should become clear eventually.

For more on recent Halo news, check out the stories linked below: