Microsoft Flight Simulator will launch on Steam, and VR support is coming later this year as part of a free update.
“Microsoft Flight Simulator for PC will support VR via the HP Reverb G2. This will be available later this fall,” head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann revealed during a press briefing. In an accompanying post on the Xbox blog, it was announced that the game will be coming to Steam on launch day as well as Windows 10 and Xbox Game Pass for PC, which is currently in beta.
Neumann has told Eurogamer that VR support will come to other headsets beyond the Reverb G2 later down the line. “We’re going to bring it to all the devices – all the common ones,” Neumann told Eurogamer. “It’s just going to take a few more months after that.”
During the same briefing, Neumann described Microsoft Flight Simulator as “an ever-changing, ever-evolving platform” with more features and more planes arriving in the years to come.
Following the game’s launch, the team at Asobo is “aiming to release something meaningful every month.”
Free world updates will arrive every two to three months and focus on a specific area of the globe, with custom airports and missions. Free sim updates will address community wishlist features in between. Asobo is also planning paid DLC for Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Neumann mentioned helicopters and heliports as a potential focus.
During a media preview for Spiritfarer–an upcoming death positive game that sees you play as Stella, a ferrymaster to the afterlife–I played through a mid-section of the game and spoke to creative director Nicolas Guérin. I asked him what it was like to work on and release a project that deals with mortality and grief during a worldwide pandemic, when death is likely at the forefront of many people’s minds.
“It is scary at first,” Guérin told me. “Scary because it would be entirely possible that people don’t want to hear or talk about death anymore, being that much surrounded by it. But then, taking a step back, I believe maybe, maybe Spiritfarer could be a little bit of help.”
I was a bit surprised at my experience with Spiritfarer. We’ve seen quite a few games that deal with death positivity in the past few years, such as A Mortician’s Tale and Necrobarista. However, Spiritfarer takes on a much more transactional tone in how it asks players to take a hard look at the swirl of emotions that surround dying or caring for the recently deceased.
In Spiritfarer, you encounter and befriend many different spirits, from child-like bundles of curiosity who misunderstand your intentions to savvy romantics who are unfaithful to their spouses. It’s your job to try and befriend these people, learn about who they were in life, and help them ultimately move on.
This translates into a lot of fetch quests and multi-part crafting missions. Initially, it’s a bit unsettling. You feel good for checking off tasks and helping people deal with their grief but it also feels like you’re being selfish for gaining some semblance of satisfaction when you’re not the one who has to struggle with accepting death. But Guérin assures that Spirifarer is intentional in making you feel good about accomplishing tasks–doing things for people who are dying to make both them and yourself feel good is a part of grieving.
“Indeed, transactions in Spiritfarer are meant to be interpreted through the lens of grief acceptance, but more importantly, with [keeping] in mind the concept of efforts and care,” Guérin said. “Mechanically speaking, all transactions in Spiritfarer represent a sacrifice of oneself to care and help others. There is even a currency in Spiritfarer, called Glims, and [protagonist] Stella can buy many things. But of course, everything she buys, she does so for the spirits she is taking care of.”
Spiritfarer developer Thunder Lotus Games isn’t a stranger to games that deal with coming to terms with dying. The developer’s first game, Jøtun, sees you play as a Viking woman who dies dishonorably and has to now prove herself to the gods in order to enter Valhalla, and the studio’s sophomore effort, Sundered, sees a woman descend into an ever-changing underworld where she must choose whether she’s willing to sacrifice her humanity and embrace demonic, Eldritch-like powers in order to save herself.
Spiritfarer has a vastly different tone than those games though–it’s very cute (you can hug whoever you want, even your cat) and none of your problems are solved through violence. It’s more about emotionally connecting to the dying than coming to terms with your own mortality.
Even in the brief preview I got to play, I couldn’t help but be drawn to the cast of characters Stella has to ferry to the afterlife. I didn’t have much time to interact with Gwen, Stella’s best friend and one of the first spirits you have to say goodbye to, but seeing her and Stella part ways got me all misty-eyed. If it wasn’t for my intent to not cry in the middle of something where I’m expected to remain professional, I’d have likely burst into tears right then and there in front of the devs. The farewell was such an emotional gut-punch because it wasn’t strictly tragic, there were underlying currents of hope (that Stella and Gwen would see each other again) and happiness (that Gwen was leaving Stella’s ferry feeling more content than when she arrived) to the scene too.
“The game’s values are about kindness and the understanding that we’re all interconnected, shaped by others” Guérin said. “At the core of it, there is hope, or at least, a stronger proximity with the concepts of heritage and legacy, and how even if someone passes away, his or her imprint will remain on us, on who we are, and who we will become.”
If you’re as excited to go on a journey with Stella as I am, Spiritfarer is scheduled to set sail for Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC in 2020.
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Twitch Prime has revealed August’s batch of free games for subscribers, and it’s one of the better months in recent memory for the program. Twitch Prime is included with every Amazon Prime subscription, so don’t miss out on these freebies. All you need to do to start getting free games through Twitch Prime is link your Twitch account to your Amazon Prime account.
Treachery in Beatdown City is the standout here. The beat ’em up released earlier this year, and though it harkens back to old school arcade games, it adds more depth to the formula with RPG mechanics, character strengths/weaknesses, and a tactical menu that gives each fight a strategic bent. It earned an 8/10 in GameSpot’s Treachery in Beatdown City review.
Blazing Chrome, a 2019 run and gun, is also noteworthy. Machines take over the world, and as a member of the resistance, you have to run through a series of chaotic side-scrolling levels, obliterating every mechanical enemy in sight. Blazing Chrome thoroughly nods back to 16-bit shoot ’em ups, and you can even play local co-op with a buddy.
Chroma Squad is a tactical RPG inspired by Power Rangers that released in 2015, while Warsaw is also a tactical RPG that takes place during WWII. Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn is a sequel to the 1994 fighting game. A Legend Reborn is a departure from the original as a beat ’em up. The main character, a kung fu master, is voiced by Shaquille O’Neal himself.
Twitch Prime also gives away free in-game loot for popular games each month. In August, you’ll be able to snag new goodies for Red Dead Online, Apex Legends, Grand Theft Auto Online, and more. You still have some time to claim July’s Twitch Prime free games before August’s freebies take their place–right now you can grab 23 free games.
August 2020 free Twitch Prime games
Available throughout August
Treachery in Beatdown City
Blazing Chrome
Chroma Squad
Warsaw
Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn
Free SNK games with Twitch Prime
Available through December 31
Art of Fighting 2
Baseball Stars 2
Blazing Star
Fatal Fury Special
Ironclad
The King of Fighters 2000
The King of Fighters 2002
King of the Monsters
Metal Slug 2
Pulstar
Samurai Shodown II
Sengoku 3
Shock Troopers 2nd Squad
SNK 40th Anniversary Collection
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Nintendo’s secret best mobile game continues to expand its roster. To celebrate the Dr. Mario series’ 30th anniversary, classic 8-bit Dr. Mario has been added as a new character in Dr. Mario World, and he’s free for all players.
Access the game before 10:59 PM PT on August 30 and you’ll receive 8-bit Dr. Mario as a free login bonus. In solo play, 8-bit Dr. Mario is able to eliminate three special viruses when his skill gauge is fully charged, while in multiplayer, he can prevent your opponent from moving half-capsules for four seconds.
8-bit Dr. Mario isn’t the only new character to join the game this week; another Koopaling has also just received his medical degree. Dr. Lemmy is now available through the Staffing feature, and his special skill revolves around barrels. In solo mode, Dr. Lemmy can immediately break 10 barrels in a stage, while in multiplayer, he can hide one of your opponent’s viruses inside a barrel.
On top of the new doctors, one new assistant–Sushi the shark–has also been added to the game. You can get a look at 8-bit Dr. Mario in the video above, while Dr. Lemmy and Sushi are highlighted in the tweet below.
Blue: “I collected some information on the new doctor and assistant appearing today at 11 PM PT. I think you’ll be chuckling so much that you’ll forget the contents of the video, so watch it several times.” #DrMarioWorldpic.twitter.com/4heiZh2YbI
Dr. Mario World is also in the midst of an anniversary event. Right now, Nintendo is giving out an infinite Heart, which lets you play any stages without using up stamina for 30 minutes, as a free daily gift, and the Daily Booster offers two free plays per day instead of one. Nintendo is also giving out other daily login bonuses through August 5.
Nintendo has only released a handful of games on mobile so far, and while they haven’t been huge money-makers for the company, Nintendo says its mobile games have strengthened its IPs. The company’s most recent mobile title, Mario Kart Tour, is also getting new content this week in the form of the Wild West Tour, which adds Nabbit, Cowboy Wario, and Kalimari Desert.
IGN can officially reveal that one of TV’s best martial arts series is returning to Cinemax this fall.
Warrior Season 2 will debut in October exclusively on Cinemax and MaxGo, featuring another batch of action-packed episodes. Here’s how the premium network describes the upcoming season: “The series follows Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji), a martial arts prodigy who emigrates from China to San Francisco under mysterious circumstances. After proving his worth as a fighter, Ah Sahm becomes a hatchet man for the Hop Wei, one of Chinatown’s most powerful Tongs (Chinese organized crime family). Season two follows rival Chinatown Tongs as they fight for dominance amidst the growing anti-Chinese fervor that threatens to destroy them all.”
Be sure to check out our exclusive first look at the second season of Warrior, with the exciting teaser trailer below:
In our Season 1 review, we said Warrior is “efficient, energetic, and enjoyable; It’s American history brought to vivid life with so much punching.” Back in 2019, executive producer Justin Lin (Fast & Furious, Star Trek Beyond) shared what initially attracted him to the Bruce Lee-inspired series:
“I’ve always admired Bruce Lee for his trailblazing efforts opening doors for Asians in entertainment and beyond,” Lin explained. “So I was intrigued when Danielle [Woodrow] told me about the urban legend of his never-produced idea for a TV show and suggested we bring it to life. Then, when Shannon [Lee] shared with us her father’s writings – rich with Lee’s unique philosophies on life, and through a point of view rarely depicted on screen – Danielle and I knew that Perfect Storm had to make it.”
IGN can also exclusively reveal these never-before-seen images from Season 2, featuring Andrew Koji, Kieran Bew, Celine Buckens, Olivia Cheng, Dianne Doan, Dean Jagger, Langley Kirkwood, Hoon Lee. Jason Tobin, Dustin Nguyen, Maria Elena Laas, Miranda Raison, Tom Weston-Jones, Chen Tang, Joanna Vanderham, and Perry Yung in the gallery below:
If you’re looking for a super addictive game to sink hours and hours into, Civilization VI is a solid choice. Even better: It’s never been cheaper to dive into this acclaimed strategy title, thanks to a limited-time Steam deal at PC store Newegg that’s ending soon, like in a matter of hours. Until around 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET today, you can grab Civilization VI’s Platinum Edition for just $23. We’re talking about a $120 edition that includes the base game, two major expansions, and six DLC packs for a fraction of the price–and it’s currently full price on Steam.
To get this price, be sure to use promo code CVLZTN6PT at checkout. The Platinum Edition is already discounted to $28, a fantastic price on its own, but the promo code slashes another five bucks off. If you already own the base game, the Gathering Storm and Rise and Fall expansions are also on sale separately. After purchasing, you’ll receive your Steam code via email within one hour.
Like previous games in the franchise, Civilization VI is a turn-based 4X strategy game that involves building up your civilization through settling new cities, developing a vibrant culture including art and science, keeping your civilians satisfied, engaging in diplomacy with other world leaders, and, of course, going to war. While the core of the game is the same, Civ VI also brought many changes and improvements to the franchise, including a new civics tree, districts that allow for city specialization, and the ability to combine troops into a larger army or fleet. The game earned a 9/10 in GameSpot’s Civilization VI review, in which critic Scott Butterworth called Civ VI “the deepest, most well-rounded base game the series has ever seen.”
“Civ 6 has a few rough edges, but they’re pushed far into the periphery by spectacular strategic depth and intricate interlocking nuances,” Butterworth wrote. “Any frustrations I experienced were immediately eclipsed by my desire to continue playing. Just one more turn, every turn, forever.”
Sega’s executive director on the Yakuza series of games, Toshihiro Nagoshi, was recently asked about his thoughts on Ghost of Tsushima, and he had plenty of warm words for everyone involved in the production of the Sucker Punch developed game. “To be honest, we [Japan] were beaten. Yeah, of course, we’re losing. Honestly, I think that’s a game that should be made in Japan,” Nagoshi said in a Sega live stream (via Hachima).
“Foreigners who tickle the fancy of Japanese people more than Japanese people are…rather amazing, no? There’s like a notion that Westerners don’t understand things (about Japan), but that hypothesis itself is mistaken.”
Nagoshi was also impressed by the performances within the PS4 game and protagonist Jin Sakai’s design, who he jokingly said would have been scrapped in the design phase for not fitting the typical mould of a cool hero if the game had been developed in Japan.
“The protagonist [Jin] isn’t a particularly handsome lead, don’t you think? At your typical [Japanese] company, if you showed concept art for a character like him, I don’t think it would be approved. All this money and development time is being spent on this middle-aged dude.”
Ghost of Tsushima has proven to be another massive success on the PS4, having sold sold over 2.4 million copies within its first three days of launch and becoming Sony’s new fastest-selling original IP.
The game was also recently patched, introducing a new low-intensity mode that makes combat easier. For players seeking to embrace their inner samurai, they can also switch to the new Lethal difficulty option which will amplify damage dealt by more aggressive enemies, while also increasing Jin’s own deadly combat skills.
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UFC 3’s career mode was its biggest highlight, and with UFC 4, developer EA Vancouver is looking to double down on the mode with a new threefold focus of building confident players, making choices matter, and sticking to the authentic UFC experience.
Building Confident Players
One of the biggest challenges that UFC games face is teaching new players how to utilize the many different facets of mixed martial arts without completely overloading them with tutorials right out of the gate. UFC 4 is attempting to address this by making its career mode the primary onboarding process for the game.
To accomplish this, UFC 4 introduces Coach Davis, a coach you meet during your very first amateur MMA fight who invites you to his gym and introduces you to the fundamentals of MMA. You’ll learn about the various disciplines of MMA, including boxing, kickboxing, jiu jitsu, and wrestling, and after each training session at the gym, you’ll face off against a fighter who specializes in that specific aspect of MMA.
“One of the reasons why we added Coach Davis is because he takes you through the fundamentals in a much more measured [way],” said Creative Director Brian Hayes. “As opposed to trying to create a five-minute opening experience where we show you a hype video and then give you some pop-ups during gameplay to try and teach you all the myriad of controls involved with an MMA game, we decided to make the opening experience the introduction to Coach Davis, you jumping into your amateur career… and then use that experience to be a better onboarding tool to show you boxing, kickboxing, jiu jitsu, and wrestling.”
Making Choices Matter
Choices and consequences are central to UFC 4’s career mode, with your choices being the main driving force behind the direction your own personal story takes you. The career mode is unscripted, so no two players’ journeys will be exactly the same.
Some of the biggest choices you make will be in your training camp. In UFC 4, to improve your fighter, all you have to do is fight. The more you use a specific move, whether it’s in training camp or in an actual fight, the more that move will level up in real time. Leveling up a move not only improves its effectiveness, but it also rewards you with evolution points that you can spend on either attribute points or perks that could make you consume less stamina with every attack, give you faster hooks or faster kicks, and so on.
To facilitate this fighter evolution system, you can choose specific sparring techniques in training camp, whether it be Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Boxing, Muay Thai, or Wrestling. Each sparring session is specifically focused on the moves related to that discipline, allowing you to best prepare for the upcoming fight. Also, this time around you won’t know what type of fighter you’re going up against just by looking at the fight contract. Instead you’ll have to choose to watch tape on a fighter if you want to know what their attributes are, their top five moves, or their overall style.
The Authentic UFC Experience
The final key focus of EA Vancouver in UFC 4 is to remain authentic to the actual UFC experience. That means that you begin on the amateur circuit, eventually make your way to the World Fighting Alliance (WFA), potentially make your way through Dana White’s Contender Series, and finally wind up in the UFC where your ultimate goal is to become not only a champion, but secure that Greatest of All Time (GOAT) status.
To this end, you’re also given choices with regard to how your journey plays out. You now have the choice to decline fights if you feel like you’re not ready for them yet. You can even stay in the WFA for your entire career and never make the jump to the UFC if you want. Whatever choice you make has a consequence, though. If you decline a fight, the other fighter will drag you on social media, affecting your popularity; if you stay in the WFA, you’ll be able to improve your stats and skills, but you won’t get any closer to completing your GOAT goals; you can respond cordially to fighters and build a relationship that lets you eventually invite them to your gym and learn their moves; or you can taunt them and build hype for your eventual showdown.
“We wanted to make character choices matter more this year than in [UFC 3],” said Career Mode Producer Raman Bassi. “[In UFC 3], a lot of the champions were set in stone and we built a rival story around them. In UFC 4, we wanted to break that open completely.”
UFC 4 is set to release on August 14 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, with EA Access subscribers getting it a full week earlier on August 7.
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Mitchell Saltzman is an Editorial Producer at IGN and would be terrible in a fight, but still loves UFC and Mixed Martial Arts nonetheless.
Adam Sandler’s semi-jokey aggressive lobbying in 2019 to win a Best Actor Oscar for his role in Uncut Gems as Howard Ratner, a gambling-addicted jeweler, may have proved fruitless in the end–but that hasn’t stopped Netflix, who recently launched the movie in May on its platform, from celebrating his performance.
The Safdie Brothers’ crime-thriller-comedy, which earned $50 million and is A24’s highest grossing title to date, has gone down in history as having the fourth most F-bombs in movie history, and Netflix has just tweeted a four-minute compilation of every time those bombs were dropped. Maybe this is how he wins?
Cutting this together couldn’t have been quick: There’s a total of 560 F-bombs. This supercut is a both a testament to and a not-subtle clue about how relentlessly intense the film is. But with 560 F-bombs, that count places it behind Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (569 uses), the F-bomb documentary Fuck (857 uses), and the Canadian movie Swearnet: The Movie (935 uses).
Uncut Gems stars Sandler as Ratner, a compulsive gambler who works in New York City’s diamond district and comes into possession of a rare opal. The film’s supporting cast includes LaKeith Stanfield, Idina Menzel, and Julia Fox. NBA player Kevin Garnett stars as himself.
Sports Interactive has announced that Football Manager 2021 is still coming this year, but will do so later than planned.
Fans have been wondering about the whereabouts of Football Manager 2021 as word on it has been quiet. Studio director Miles Jacobson released a statement today to quell fans’ fears on what that silence could mean, saying the game is still coming but will come out “a little later than we’d originally planned.” Given the last five mainline Football Manager games have arrived in early November, it seems likely that this was the planned release window for this year’s entry.
“What I can confirm today is that, despite all the problems going on in the world, there will be new Football Manager games released later this year,” Jacobson said in a blog post. “They will be delivered a little later than we’d originally planned, but they’ll have exceptionally strong feature sets…albeit different to those we thought we’d settled on back in January when I completed my ‘dream feature set.'”
Jacobson didn’t expand on what that dream feature set would have been, nor what features have made it into the final version.
Sports Interactive says it’s taken a monumental effort to make Football Manager 2021’s release possible this year and has required a lot of flexibility from the team. The game has changed scope on an almost “weekly basis” scaling both upward and downward, but Jacobson says it believes fans will appreciate all of the improvements and new features in this year’s game.
“Our games will be on more platforms and available on more stores than ever before when they’re released later this year but, with regards to features and release dates, it’s a little too early for us to talk about the specifics right now. Please cut us a little bit of slack and rest assured that we will once again deliver a set of games that provide hundreds of hours of entertainment and remain the best value for money on the market — and something to help you escape from the real world at the moment, at least for a while.”
While waiting for the latest iteration in the series, check out our thoughts on last year’s game in our Football Manager 2020 review.
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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.
