Month: March 2020

The console editions of Black Desert has finally joined the likes of Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn, adding cross-play servers for PS4 and Xbox One.

This update is not completely compulsory, with Players having the option to choose between cross-play or platform-exclusive servers.

Each region will be able to play the PvP modes Conquest War and Node War on the new cross-play servers on March 8 to celebrate the new update and allow new partnerships and rivalries to flourish.

Alongside these activities, an in-game event will be added for new and returning players. This event will allow players to get the Cliff and Awakening weapon boxes through completing special quests. Additional rewards can be found by locating treasure chests in the ocean.

The Archer class and Kamasylvia region have also been added to the PS4 edition, bringing it up to date with the Xbox One version.

As part of the update, Black Desert will be discounted on both PS4 and Xbox One. Black Desert is 25% off on the Playstation Network until March 18, along with 10% off pearls. Playstation Plus members can purchase Black Desert for 50% off and pearls for 20% off. Xbox One users have a similar discount, with Black Desert at 50% off and pearls for 20% off until March 16.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is due to arrive for Nintendo Switch on March 20, 2020, and pre-release hype is hitting a fever pitch. Even the most simple piece of news can get our hearts and minds racing–like, for instance, the character limit we’ll have when planning our island’s name.

The official UK Twitter account for Animal Crossing has revealed that you’ll have a ten-character limit for your island’s name, which is two more than was allowed in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. This means, for example, if your New Leaf village was named ‘GameSpot’, your island could be named GameSpotia.

So as you prepare your Animal Crossing boarding pass and have a think about how you’ll design your character, keep this limit in mind so you can plan ahead better.

It’s also worth checking out our guide to getting your hands on Animal Crossing amiibo ahead of the game’s launch, and checking out the list of improvements and changes that this entry in the series is introducing.

Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima has shared his thoughts on the game’s review scores. He observed that the game was rated differently by US and European outlets, and he has an idea about why that might be.

He told The New York Times Magazine that the American audience is more accustomed to shooter games. Death Stranding does have guns and some shooting elements, but it is primarily a game about exploration and traversal

“In America, they’re used to shooters, so they don’t gulp it down,” Kojima said. “It’s OK; everyone can evaluate what they want.”

Kojima added that some part of the audience for his Metal Gear Solid games resisted the way in which those games used stealth, but eventually people came around. He said he’s keen to see what people think about Death Stranding over the next few years.

“In three to five years, we will see what people will say,” he said.

Also in the interview, Kojima shared that he enjoys making video games because he himself feels lonely. “That’s why I create these things in the first place,” he said. When he was a child and returned home before his family was there, he would turn on the lights and the TV for a sense of company, he said.

Kojima also shared that the first idea for Death Stranding came to him about 10 years ago after he learned about the phenomenon where dolphins and whales beach themselves, which is called mass stranding.

The full piece is well worth a read, as it offers a unique look inside the mind of one of gaming’s most celebrated and divisive auteurs. Go read it here.

Death Stranding launches for PC on June 2, and it will feature a unique crossover campaign with Half-Life for the Steam version. It’s also been confirmed that Death Stranding will use the controversial Denuvo DRM on Steam.

Beyond Death Stranding, Kojima Productions has released a teaser for something that fans are speculating is related to Silent Hills.

One For All is making a surprise comeback to Riot’s League of Legends in patch 10.6. Previously, One For All was an arcade game mode wherein both opposing teams only have one champion each, with players needing to work together to take on the other team’s single champion.

As you can imagine, having to work together in League of Legends is an ambitious notion, much less putting five players in control of the same champion at once and expecting a competent level of cooperation. Nevertheless, Riot is set on bringing the arcade mode back after a two-year absence, although only for a limited time.

The last time we saw One For All was April Fools Day in 2018. Since then, League of Legends has added eight new champions and been through a number of patches and balance changes. How this will affect One For All is yet to be seen, but some interesting strategies are sure to emerge from the game mode.

Original One For All strategies aren’t completely unusable, but older strategies are sure to resurface with the reemergence of the game mode. Ultimately it may even come down to old vs new in the first week of release.

Riot has promised to keep a close eye on the game mode, checking that no one champion becomes too over or underpowered in the mode. The whole point of One For All is cooperation, not just picking a strong champion every round. Balancing will be similar to the already existing changes on ARAM and URF.

One For All is currently available to play on the Public Beta Environment (PBE) and will go live alongside Patch 10.6 on March 18. League of Legends’ Arcade games generally stick around for at least two patches, so check it out before the mode disappears again.

Roller Champions, Ubisoft’s upcoming free-to-play roller derby game for PC, is getting a closed alpha soon. The alpha, which starts on March 11, 4 PM UTC (9 AM PT) and runs until March 23, will give participants the chance to experience the game early, and potentially influence its development.

If you’re interested, you can sign up now on the game’s website, which will also allow you to receive updates on the game’s development.

Ubisoft has also released a new trailer and screenshots ahead of the alpha to give you a better idea of what to expect.

In the game, two teams of three players square off in various arenas, and the goal is to get your hands on the ball and fire it into the illuminated hoops along the side of the roller rink. You’ll have to dodge and tackle your opponents and work together to win.

The press release for this upcoming alpha highlights some further features players can expect to experience:

• Character Customization: Players can create a character and choose from a list of 70 items to customize their character including gloves, skates, clothes, and helmet/hair styles.
• New Arena: Curvature, elevation, and other environmental elements provide improved navigation and gameplay, and players will be able to experience the biggest and most impressive arena yet, Chichén Itzá.
• New Moves: Players can check out exciting moves, including the extended tackle and the air tackle, as well as new team moves like the grapple boost, grapple double jump, and grapple double pump.

This is not the first time Roller Champions has been playable. Following the game’s reveal at E3 2019, the demo available at the expo was made available to the public. The final game has no set release date as of yet.

Following the announcement that the city of Los Angeles is declaring a state of emergency over concerns about COVID-19, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has issued a new statement regarding E3 saying they are “monitoring and evaluating the situation daily.”

The ESA says E3 is still planned to proceed in the full statement. “The health and safety of our attendees, exhibitors, partners, and staff is our top priority. While the ESA continues to plan for a safe and successful E3 show June 9-11, 2020 — we are monitoring and evaluating the situation daily.”

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“Our E3 team and partners continue to monitor COVID-19 via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). We are actively assessing the latest information and will continue to develop measures to further reduce health risks at the show.”

The new statement follows an update the ESA provided to IGN yesterday regarding E3 and how the organization is “moving ahead full speed with E3 2020 planning.”

The city of San Francisco also issued a state of emergency for the city prior to the organizers announcing that the Game Developers Conference would be postponed. If the situation worsens, there’s a chance E3 may be affected over concerns of the novel coronavirus.

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Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.