Wales Interactive, the publisher behind FMV games like The Complex and Late Shift, has announced a new FMV title called Gamer Girl, and it’s unlike anything we’ve seen before. The game, which is coming to PC, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One in September, lets you play as a popular streamer’s chat moderator and personal contact. The game is being developed by FMV Future (The Bunker).
It’ll be up to you to handle a chat log and maintain personal contact with the streamer, Abicake99 (Alexandra Burton). You’ll make decisions about the posts in her chat, respond to DMs from her, and work to help Abi succeed–she can fire you if you mess up.
Interestingly, this is also being positioned as the first “improvised” FMV game, with the press release drawing comparisons to found-footage movies like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity. Part of the game will involve protecting Abbi from a predator, and following her as she takes her streaming into dangerous real-world scenarios.
You can watch the trailer below, which hints at the game’s horror elements.
The micromanagement elements of the game will involve managing comments, rewarding or banning Abbi’s community members based on their comments, and the better you do, the more moderator abilities you can unlock.
So it seems like the game will have two goals–help Abbi succeed, and keep her safe. You can also influence what kind of streams she does, or purposefully encourage drama and to help increase her ratings.
Real-life streamers, including CyborgAngel, will also appear within the game as characters. You’ll be able to contact some of them, too, but they may have ulterior motives.
Wales Interactive is promising “hundreds of choices and permutations,” so it should be interesting to see just how many different paths you can go down in Gamer Girl.
American composer Dave Porter created some very memorable music for the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul TV shows, and more recently, he composed new tracks for the Breaking Bad movie, El Camino. Two of those tracks, “Underpass” and “Frozen Money,” have now been released in full.
You can listen to the songs below, through the Spotify link. They are textbook Breaking Bad songs, featuring metallic, driving sound sounds that make you feel tense and uncomfortable–in a good way.
These two tracks were featured in El Camino, but this is the first time they’re being released in full.
El Camino, which was released in October 2019, was a huge success for Netflix. More than 25.5 million people watched it over its first week to become one of the network’s most popular films ever.
“If you love Breaking Bad and Jesse Pinkman, El Camino is a beautifully crafted kindness, and a chance to spend another hour or so with a character you care about,” reviewer Meg Downey said. “If you don’t have strong feelings about either of those things, El Camino may feel like a really spectacularly shot screen saver. Either way, the fact that it exists at all, and that Sony TV and Netflix were willing to put money behind what is so obviously an extremely niche passion project, feels like a good omen for franchise TV.”
A new Game Developers Conference study has been released, and it shines a light on the impact of COVID-19 on the gaming industry. For the study, GDC surveyed almost 2,500 developers, and there are a series of notable takeaways to learn from the report.
First, nearly half of those who responded to the survey said they are working longer hours and are less productive than before the pandemic when they might have been working in an office.
“Poor communication, isolation, and lack of access to critical tools are some of the common challenges devs are dealing with right now,” GDC said. “Nearly half of game makers feel working from home has lowered their productivity and 1/3 of developers said they’ve experienced a decrease in creativity while working from home. While productivity and creativity may have decreased for many developers, the amount of hours worked has increased for nearly half of all the developer respondents.”
On the other side, 19 percent of respondents said they saw an increase in their creativity in their new work-from-home environment. “Fewer distractions means more space to think and act on ideas,” one person said.
One surveyed developer said, “The most difficult part is problem-solving. Not everyone can sit on Zoom all day. We typically would have brainstorming sessions in the office together that would help when we were stuck on an issue.”
Overall, 32 percent of respondents said their productivity “somewhat decreased” due to working from home, while 9 percent said their productivity “greatly decreased.” 24 percent said their productivity somewhat increased, while 8 percent said their productivity greatly increased.
In terms of the number of hours worked, 41 percent of surveyed developers said they were working about the same number of hours as before. About the same percentage said they are working longer hours from home. Of those, 28 percent said they were working “somewhat more” hours, while 11 percent said they were spending “much more” time working than before.
14 percent said they were working less, and 6 percent said they were working much less than before.
The pandemic has also had an impact on business results. 34 percent of respondents saying they saw their business decline, 37 percent said it stayed about the same, and 31 percent said their businesses experienced growth due to the increased time spent playing games.
Less than 10 percent of surveyed developers said they were laid off or furloughed due to the pandemic, while 26 percent said their household income dropped due to the crisis.
70 percent of respondents said they moved to a work-from-home environment, while 27 percent said they were already working from home before the pandemic struck.
As would be expected, a number of game projects have also been delayed due to COVID-19. 33 percent of respondents to the survey said their games were delayed for reasons related to the virus. Another expected result is that mental and emotional health of developers has been impacted.
“My whole family is living with me and sometimes it’s hard to focus on my tasks,” one respondent said.
“Aside from the pressures of home life, not seeing people that work on the game in person has been tough,” another explained. “The lack of a human connection and a physical tangible place to call work just makes you feel like an outsider.”
About 10 percent of surveyed developers said they felt safe about returning to work. “There has been talk of reopening the office for some individuals, with extra cleanliness required,” one respondent said. “I want no part in it.”
Planet Coaster is coming to consoles, and ahead of its late 2020 release, a gameplay trailer has been released to show off the kind of parks you’ll be able to create. This trailer shows off a particularly well-designed park in the game, which is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, and Xbox One.
While the trailer doesn’t show anything of the console UI, it indicates some of the things you’ll be able to do will a controller, including building modifications, drawing paths for walkways, and dropping workers into the park.
Check the trailer out below, and reminisce about when it was safe and fun to visit theme parks before the COVID-19 pandemic (some theme parks are open now, but whether they’re safe to visit is another question entirely).
Whether or not players will be able to make a park that looks this good and runs this well on their first attempt remains to be seen, of course.
Planet Coaster received a 9/10 in GameSpot’s review. Reviewer Edmond Tran wrote that the game is “focused on the positivity that amusement parks can bring, one that fosters even the smallest spark of imagination and creativity.”
The world of Ghost of Tsushima is one in which you’ll often show reverence for nature. Making your way to Inari and Shinto shrines scattered across the island is a way to unlock new Charms that can make you more effective in the game, while also often treating you to environmental puzzles and beautiful vistas that can provide an appreciation of Ghost of Tsushima’s lush world. In addition to the marked shrines throughout Tsushima, you can also find hidden altars that trigger visual flourishes. Find enough of them, and you can unlock a hidden trophy.
To get the Honor the Unseen hidden Trophy, you need to find and bow to 10 hidden altars throughout the island. You’ll find them in various, often unassuming places, usually marked by wooden signs that show the silhouette of someone bowing. Watch for the signs as you climb Shinto Shrines, complete quests, and liberate outposts. While there are more than 10 altars, here’s a list of where you can find 10 to unlock the Trophy.
You’ll go to Golden Temple in Ariake as part of the main story in Act 1. While you’re there, head up the stairs on the west side of the village to find a large Buddha statue. It’s not marked with a sign, but the statue counts as a hidden altar.
Kechi Fishing Village – River Dock
Kechi is an occupied farmstead you’ll find west of Hiyoshi Springs on the river. The hidden altar is on the dock over the river, but activating it is a lot easier after you’ve liberated the village from the Mongols.
Tadayori’s Rest
As you head down to Azamo Bay as part of the Act 1 story, you’ll also unlock the Mythic Tale The Legend of Tadayori. Complete the quest (use our Mythic Tale guide for help) to find Tadayori’s Rest, a grave marked by purple flowers in Houren’s Pasture. In the center of the area is a shrine that counts as a hidden altar.
Yoichi’s Crossroads – Cemetery
This is another Mongol outpost, located southwest of Hiyoshi Springs location in the Hiyoshi region. The Mongol camp is right next to a small cemetery. Climb the steps to the highest point of the cemetery, where you’ll find a group of statues marked as a hidden altar.
Traveler’s Rest Inn – River Dock
Another outpost west of Hiyoshi Springs, Traveler’s Rest Inn is just south of Kechi Fishing Village. It also has a hidden altar spot on the river.
Kaneda Inlet – Pillar of Honor
This Pillar of Honor is at the very north of Izuhara, in the Hiyoshi region, just west of Castle Kaneda. Head to the coast in Kaneda Inlet to find a Pillar of Honor there. It also bears a sign marking it as a hidden altar.
Toyotama
Old Kanazawa Marsh – Pillar Of Honor
You’ll find a Pillar of Honor between Umugi and Akashima in Toyotama. Head southwest of the Old Kanazawa Marsh location on the map to find the Pillar in the middle of a field, with the hidden altar sign standing beside it.
Cloud Ridge Shrine
There’s a Shinto Shrine on the coast of Kushi, north of Yarikawa Stronghold, where you’ll find not one, but two hidden altars right next to each other. Find the shrine and start climbing up until you squeeze between two rocks and come across a statue depicting a frog. Bow to that one, then turn right and on your way out, you’ll find another frog statue that’s also an altar.
Omi Monastery
Head to Otsuna to find Omi Monastery south of Omi Village. It’s a big place, but up the hill from the monastery is a small cemetery. Bow to the large grave there to kick off a musical interlude.
Omi Village – Lord Sakai’s Grave
You’ll venture to Omi Village as part of the Act 2 story tale, Ghosts of the Past. Just north of Omi Village is the Sakai cemetery, where you’ll find the grave of Jin’s father. You’ll create a haiku at the grave, but it also functions as an unmarked hidden altar.
Warning! This last entry is a story spoiler for the end of Act 2’s story. Don’t mouse over it until you’ve completed every story mission before The Fate of Tsushima Tale.
Taka’s Grave
Before you complete the final mission in Act 2, the story will take you to the cliffs outside Yarikawa Stronghold, paying your respects at your friend’s grave. Bow here to trigger an unmarked hidden altar, as well.
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One of the key differentiators between Microsoft and Sony for their next-generation strategies is that Microsoft is not releasing exclusives for its Series X console out of the gate, while Sony plans to do that with PlayStation 5. Microsoft’s strategy and messaging is that Xbox is not tied to one device, but rather a wider ecosystem.
The games you buy should be yours to play no matter what console you play on within the Xbox family, or even beyond to mobile devices with the rise of xCloud. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has now reiterated Microsoft’s stance on this front, confirming that Microsoft will not release any first-party games exclusively on the Series X for the “next couple of years.”
“You won’t be forced into the next generation. We want every Xbox player to play all the new games from Xbox Game Studios,” Spencer said in a blog post. “That’s why Xbox Game Studios titles we release in the next couple of years–like Halo Infinite–will be available and play great on Xbox Series X and Xbox One. We won’t force you to upgrade to Xbox Series X at launch to play Xbox exclusives.”
Spencer’s comments line up with what Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty said earlier in 2020. “As our content comes out over the next year, two years, all of our games, sort of like PC, will play up and down that family of devices,” Booty said. “We want to make sure that if someone invests in Xbox between now and [Series X] that they feel that they made a good investment and that we’re committed to them with content.”
Microsoft’s approach is more akin to a phone upgrade. Games still release across devices, but you’ll get a better performance with the newer hardware. As Booty alluded to, this has been standard on PC for decades.
While Microsoft does not plan to launch Series X exclusives anytime soon, other developers are. Two titles shown during the Microsoft event in May, Scorn and The Medium, will bypass last-generation consoles and release exclusively on new machines and PC.
Spencer said in an earlier interview that he’s so passionate about his strategy because he wants to make Microsoft’s games available to people no matter what device they have. Forcing people to buy new hardware is against what the spirit of gaming is all about, Spencer said.
“As a player you are the centre of our strategy,” Spencer said. “Our device is not the centre of our strategy, our game is not the centre of the strategy. We want to enable you to play the games you want to play, with the friends you want to play with, on any device. On TV, the Xbox console is going to be the best way to play console games.”
He added: “I find it completely counter to what gaming is about to say that part of that is to lock people away from being able to experience those games. Or to force someone to buy my specific device on the day that I want them to go buy it, in order to partake in what gaming is about.”
NPD analyst Mat Piscatella has been predicting for a long time that gaming in the 2020s will be more focused on ecosystems instead of platforms specifically. “By the end of the decade, I doubt any company will tie content exclusively to one device,” he said. “Particular hardware will be a nice to have, not a need to have.”
Psssst… the 2020’s will be about ecosystems, not platforms. By the end of the decade I doubt any company will tie content exclusively to one device. Particular hardware will be a nice to have, not a need to have. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
The Danganronpa games, which are intense and well-liked visual novel titles that all debuted on PlayStation systems, will soon be removed from the PlayStation Store. Publisher NIS America has announced that the entire series will be removed from the PlayStation Vita store, and one game is leaving PS4, too.
The games will be leaving gradually, and it’s unclear if or when they will come back. Spike Chunsoft is now the series’ publisher, and they could theoretically re-release the games after they are removed–but whether it is worth doing is unclear. We’ve reached out to Spike Chunsoft for clarification, and will update if we receive any.
The games are about groups of super-talented school students who are trapped in an elaborate “killing game”–whereby the only way to escape is to kill another student and then not be accused during a class trial. They’re extremely intricately plotted, wild games.
Here are the games being removed, and the dates they’ll no longer be available to purchase from.
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (PS Vita): August 31
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (PS Vita): September 4
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (PS Vita): September 4
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (PS Vita): September 25
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (PS4): September 25
The PS4 versions of the first two games and Ultra Despair Girls, which were published by Spike Chunsoft, will remain available.
The trilogy, minus the more action-oriented Ultra Despair Girls, is also coming to mobile. The first game is available now.
GameSpot’s Danganronpa series reviews
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This year’s entry in the PES soccer series, eFootball PES 2021, won’t be a full-blooded update–it will be a season update instead, with fewer changes than usual and the same basic gameplay as 2020. Now Konami has revealed more details about what we can expect from this year’s entry, including the price and release date.
eFootball PES 2021 Season Update, as the game is officially called, will release on September 15 for PS4, PC, and Xbox One. It will cost $30 for the standard edition, or $35 for a Partner Club edition, which will include exclusive content for whichever club you pick–FC Barcelona, Juventus, Manchester United, FC Bayern or Arsenal FC. You can also get a 20% “loyalty” discount on these Partner Club editions by pre-ordering through PES 2020.
Despite the name it will be (slightly) more than just a season update. Along with all the data for players and club rosters (available via a day one patch), the game will also host UEFA Euro 2020 content–which came to PES 2020 in a reduced form after COVID-19 saw the tournament delayed. This will include the 44 UEFA teams, an offline tournament mode, and Wembley stadium.
The iconic moment series, which joined PES 2020 in an update, will also be available at launch. This mode lets you relive classic moments from soccer history. How it will differ from the previous game’s version remains to be seen, but hopefully it will feature new moments.
Other than that, though, don’t expect a big change in gameplay. PES 2022 is being planned as a bigger game, one that will leave behind the Fox Engine that the series is using currently. This year also marks the 25th anniversary of PES, which will hopefully lead to some further celebration in-game.
PES 2020 players can also expect a “Veteran’s Bonus” in the new game, depending on how much you achieved in the original. Further details are available on the PES website, and you have until the game’s launch to qualify for them.
Jurassic World Dominion is about to start filming again in England, and movie studio Universal is taking extended measures to keep people safe and healthy amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Actor Jeff Goldblum, who reprises his Dr. Ian Malcolm role in the movie, has now shared an update on getting back to shooting.
“They gave us 109 pages,” Goldblum said of the protocols for Dominion. “They invested all their heart and soul, and a lot of money, into making sure that we’re safe. I won’t bore you with the details, but we’re all going to be quarantined in a kind of a bubble, all the crew and all the cast. And testing and everything.”
Goldblum acknowledged that it’s a “risky time” to be filming a movie on the scale of Dominion, but he noted, “We feel it’s good.”
Universal is said to have spent $5 million on new health and safety measures for Dominion, and director Colin Trevorrow previously spoke about how he feels “confident our guidelines will keep us safe.” The challenge, he said, will be to find ways to allow the actors and other key creatives to express themselves in this new environment.
“The hard part will be constructing a creative environment within all the precautions. Once the cameras roll, we have to forget our world and live in the world of the movie. That may take some practice,” he said.
“We’re all fired up to get back to work. This is what we do, and we’re all eager to get back out there and do it,” Trevorrow added.
Microsoft has announced that in the lead-up to the Xbox Series X, the company will cease production on the Xbox One X and the Xbox One S All-digital edition. The standard Xbox One S will still be manufactured and available for purchase.
In a statement to IGN, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed, “As we ramp into the future with Xbox Series X, we’re taking the natural step of stopping production Xbox One X and Xbox One S All-Digital Edition.”
Check out Microsoft’s full statement below:
“At Xbox, we’re making massive investments to forge the future of gaming—a future that puts the player at the center of the Xbox experience. We continue to build great games for Xbox One. We continue to build out Game Pass, now with more than 10 million members across Xbox console and PC. We’re previewing Project xCloud in 15 countries so gamers can play games with their friends on any device. And we’re working hard on the next-generation of console gaming with Xbox Series X—the fastest, most powerful console we’ve ever built which includes backward compatibility with thousands of Xbox games and all Xbox One accessories. As we ramp into the future with Xbox Series X, we’re taking the natural step of stopping production on Xbox One X and Xbox One S All-Digital Edition. Xbox One S will continue to be manufactured and sold globally. Gamers can check with their local retailers for more details on Xbox One hardware availability.”
Microsoft cited the development of its next-gen game console, the Xbox Series X, as well as continued support for digital services like Xbox Game Pass and XCloud as reasons for ending production on the One X and One S digital.
Previously, the Xbox One X was deemed Microsoft’s most powerful console, capable of rendering graphics in native 4K while uprezzing older games. IGN reviewed the Xbox One X and awarded the system a 9 writing, “The Xbox One X is a very impressive collection of hardware crammed into a sleek case. It runs cool and quiet as it delivers performance a step above any of its console competitors.”
For everything on the upcoming Xbox Series X, including specs and games, check out IGN’s Xbox Series X comparison.