Devolver Digital has announced Disc Room, a new game from the creators of Minit and High Hell. It’s Devolver’s latest challenging 2D affair, with an interesting art style and the promise of plenty of violence.
The game is set inside a deadly alien craft, a huge disc that appears in Jupiter’s orbit in 2089. You play as a scientist who must explore rooms filled with alien saw blades that are constantly trying to slice you up, figuring out the labyrinthine structure of the craft and gaining new abilities as you go.
You’ll unlock an invincibility dash, time-bending, and even a cloning mechanic as you go, and the press release promises that you’ll die plenty–“In Disc Room the only way out is through Death.”
The game has only been confirmed for Steam so far, and you can wishlist the game now. The game will release later this year in autumn 2020.
If you’re attending PAX East, the game will be playable there. It’s a good thing, because not every planned game is making its way to the expo–Sony has dropped out over coronavirus concerns, meaning that the planned playable demo stations for The Last of Us Part II will not be there.
It’s safe to say that Animal Crossing fans are hyped out of their minds for the newest mainline entry in the series, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which releases March 20 on Nintendo Switch. The highly anticipated game takes players to a deserted island via the Nook Inc. charter plane, where you’ll begin to create your own island paradise by gathering natural resources, crafting items, and building a community from scratch.
Animal Crossing fans are so excited to start their New Horizons journey that people have started creating their own passports and boarding passes to celebrate their upcoming island adventures. First shared in a post on Reddit, this free Animal Crossing passport and boarding pass generator was created by user T0Rtur3 (with designs by user Celesmeh), and you can check out examples of what these look like below. When creating your passport, you can choose from a few stock character designs and stamps as well as input your name, friend code, and name of your island. There aren’t a ton of customization options yet, but this is still a really cute way of sharing your friend code with other players.
The boarding pass doesn’t include a place to list your friend code, but you can list your real-life city, airport code, and seat number to generate what your own ticket aboard the Nook, Inc. charter might look like. After creating your boarding pass and passport, you can download them directly or actually print out.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently sat down with Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price recently for a wide-ranging and very fascinating interview that covers a number of noteworthy topics.
In the hour-long interview, Spencer speaks about the future of Xbox, including the xCloud streaming service along with some high-level thoughts on what Microsoft will deliver in the next-generation of gaming. Spencer also speaks about Microsoft’s efforts in the area of accessibility and helping make sure gamers with disabilities don’t feel left out on Xbox.
Also in the interview, Spencer spoke about why he enjoys Fortnite, some of his regrets over the years (like moving the Bungie team from Chicago to Washington after the acquisition), and how things have been progressing with all the game studios that Microsoft acquired over the past few years. Spencer also discusses Microsoft’s thinking around business models, including subscription offerings and microtransactions.
Intriguingly, Spencer says he believes creating new models of monetization will help expand the audience for gaming globally.
“I think for us as an industry, we should embrace monetization dexterity, because I think it leads to the best creativity,” Spencer said.
Spencer said he recently visited Africa on a Microsoft trip, and he observed that one popular model for internet-usage in the country is that people might sit in a taxi or a bus and watch an advertisement to earn themselves currency to spend on using the internet. A model like this could work in gaming, Spencer said, where players engage with ads to earn currency to play games.
“Could that be a model that works in games? Absolutely I think it could,” Spencer said, acknowledging that he is not talking about a specific plan but rather a high-level idea that is in no way a concrete idea or plan that may ever come to fruition.
Still, Spencer said the video game industry needs to come up with new monetization methods to help reach new audiences and grow the business overall.
“We need to find new players, and new forms of monetization to open up those those new playerbases and new ways to build games, new creativity; that’s a great path to growth,” he said.
Another interesting topic that came up in the conversation was Xbox Game Pass. As many have been themselves wondering, Price directly asked a question that has occurred to many of the service’s subscribers: how does this model make financial sense?
Spencer said Microsoft is in a unique position as a platform-holder because it has the resources of Microsoft, which recently became one of the world’s first trillion-dollar companies. Overall, more people playing more games and spending more hours gaming is a good thing, Spencer said, but he shied away from directly answering the question about the financial viability of the Game Pass model.
Elsewhere in the interview, Spencer spoke about how he believes the xCloud streaming service will not replace traditional, hardware-based gaming anytime soon. He said he believes playing games on an Xbox (or another console) will be the best way to play games until 2030. The appeal of streaming services like xCloud is for the times when players are away from their main screens and still want to play, Spencer said.
“I think I’m going to have a game console plugged into my television for the next decade-plus. I think it’s going to be the best way for me to play on my television; to have a local device, download the game, and play,” he said.
Looking into the future, Spencer said he sees a future where there are more consoles, not fewer. These could include things like streaming-only consoles or other devices that live under your TV. He said the gaming industry will follow the music business where streaming has taken over and allows for all different types of experiences based on what people want.
He pointed out that in the music world, people listen to music however they want, on any device they want, whether that be relatively lower quality audio on the train to work or at home on a high-fi, surround-sound setup. With gaming, Spencer said he wants to unlock and allow gamers to play whatever they want, wherever they want.
“I think with games, it’s going to go similar. I think what we’re going to find, is as games are able to run in multiple contexts on different devices, you’re going to see a lot of different devices grow up to support different use scenarios,” he said.
One console experience in the home might have the “most capability,” while others on different screens could offer different experiences. Spencer foresees a future where users can beam content at home to any screen they want across a “multitude of different devices.”
You can listen to the full AIAS Game Maker’s Notebook podcast interview below with the Spotify embed. It’s also available everywhere podcasts are. Note that this interview was conducted during the DICE conference earlier in February, meaning it was recorded beforeSpencer’s big announcements about the Xbox Series X this week.
The Game Maker’s Notebook is one of the best gaming podcasts around. Some of Price’s previous guests have included Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order director Stig Asmussen, veteran and prolific voice actor Troy Baker, and Dreams developer Abbie Heppe, among many others.
It’s been six years since the Xbox One released, but the system has just now gotten a feature that players have wanted since the beginning. Xbox Insiders are now reporting on Reddit that the latest update allows players to eject the discs from their systems with a press of the X button, meaning that you can make the system spit out the disc without needing to get up and press the button on the console.
Of course, with so many players going digital now, especially with Xbox Game Pass, this feature might get less of a workout now than it would have in 2013. Still, it’s going to be a handy feature for many players once they receive the update, especially collectors or anyone who uses their Xbox One as a DVD player.
This is one area in which the Xbox One has lagged behind the Xbox 360, which allowed players to eject discs with the controller, too. The PlayStation 4 has also long allowed users to eject discs with the controller.
Hopefully this new feature will carry over to the Xbox Series X, which will be able to play all of the games on Xbox One–and the two previous models of Xbox as well, since it’ll have complete backwards compatibility.
Xbox has a huge 2020 planned, not just because of the new console on the way–the long-awaited Halo Infinite is also coming. If you buy it on disc, you’ll be able to eject it easily; however, it’ll also be on Game Pass.
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2/24 Update: Added details about ray tracing, teraflops, “Quick Resume,” and “Smart Delivery.”
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At The Game Awards 2019, Microsoft’s next-gen console finally earned its official name: The Xbox Series X. Initially revealed at the E3 2019 press conference as Project Scarlett, specifics about the console have been scarce. Microsoft has given us some concrete details to focus on, however, including some specs, a release window, a major launch title, and more.
With Sony absent, Phil Spencer and his team will definitely be the main focus of the show, however, it remains to be seen if that means we hear any announcements about an Xbox Series X release date or price.
Xbox Series X Specs: What Hardware Does it Have?
As part of the initial Project Scarlett announcement video, those involved in the creation of the new console said it will be four times more powerful than the Xbox One X, which is capable of 8K output, 120 frames per second, variable refresh rates and real-time “next-gen ray tracing.”
Spencer later clarified that the Xbox Series X would feature DirectX raytracing, which will allow for more realistic environments, with “accurate reflections and realistic acoustics.”
A new generation SSD is being used as virtual RAM, allegedly offering over 40 times performance increases from the current generation. Xbox Series X will also leverage high-bandwidth GDDR 6 SDRAM.
AMD and Microsoft co-engineered and designed a custom processor for the Xbox Series X. This processor leverages AMD’s latest Zen 2 and Navi technology. It was clear before E3 2019 that AMD would be designing the next Xbox’s processor, as Spencer briefly discussed a partnership with AMD during a keynote address at CES 2019. Spencer teased the new Xbox Series X processor on Twitter earlier this year when he changed his profile picture to an image of the chip. The new processor, which looks very similar to that of the Xbox One X reads “8K” and “Project Scarlett.”
Xbox Series X Features
The same team that worked on the Xbox One X is working on the Xbox Series X and they are prioritizing reduced load times. Xbox head Phil Spencer is a longtime advocate for framerate over resolution, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Xbox Series X team is paying close attention to better framerates.
In February 2020, Phil Spencer posted on the Xbox blog, detailing some features coming to the Xbox Series X. A “Quick Resume” feature will allow players to load “suspended state” games almost instantly and let you quickly navigate through multiple games without having to endure enormous load times.
It was also confirmed that the Xbox Series X will have 12 teraflops of GPU power, which is four times more than the Xbox One and twice as much as the Xbox One X. For those not familiar with the term, a teraflop is a measure of how many complex calculations a machine can handle every second. Essentially, it allows for higher-quality graphical output.
At EA’s Q3 2020 investors call, CFO Blake Jorgensen told investors that the power behind the new generation of consoles would “blow people’s mind.”
“The power of the new consoles is gonna be substantially greater than existing consoles,” said Jorgensen during the call. “We can do a lot more [with PS5 and Xbox Series X]. Things we’re doing will blow people’s minds.”
It sounds like Microsoft’s next-gen console is going to be pretty powerful. We actually broke down how the Xbox Series X compares to PCs.
Xbox Series X Design and Images: What Does it Look Like?
At The Game Awards 2019, we were given our first look at the Xbox Series X. Standing vertically in what looks to be a matte black finish, Microsoft’s fourth-generation console features a power button with the signature Xbox insignia at the top that lights up white when pressed on. There’s metal mesh across the top of the console that gets backlit with an Xbox green glow as well.
In an interview with GameSpot, it was confirmed the Xbox Series X will support discs and is “roughly as wide as an Xbox One controller”. Phil Spencer also told GameSpot that the Xbox Series X was “designed to be as quiet as possible”, sporting a large fan designed to push out “high volumes of air” from the top and keep the console cool.
Earlier this year, images of the Xbox Series X were reportedly leaked on Twitter. At the time of writing, it’s still unclear if this is a real prototype, or simply an incredibly detailed mockup. Either way, the reported leak offers fans a potential closer look at the front and back of the console.
A lot of fans have taken note of an unknown port located between the HDMI and digital audio port on the back of the “leaked” Xbox Series X image. Microsoft insider blog Thurrott is reporting that the unknown port will be used for expandable storage. At the time of writing, the purpose of the port has not been confirmed by Microsoft.
Xbox Series X Games: What Are the Confirmed and Rumored Titles?
So far, we know of seven titles that will be making its way to the Xbox Series X, along with two unannounced AAA games. Perhaps the biggest title of them all is Halo Infinite, which is the only confirmed Xbox Series X launch title.
Microsoft has been accumulating studios, perhaps in anticipation of the future console generation. Microsoft announced it had acquired five studios (Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, Compulsion Games, Playground Games) and founded a new Santa Monica studio during E3 2018.
Phil Spencer also said Microsoft aims to support a “Play Anywhere” scheme, wanting to provide the option for gamers to connect across devices and across platforms, suggesting potential cross-generation play.
Additionally, the Xbox Series X will feature “Smart Delivery” which will give players easy access to all digitally purchased games across all devices, meaning it doesn’t have to be purchased twice. This feature will be available for all exclusive Xbox Game Studio titles, including Halo Infinite, as well as any third-party developers that decide to opt in. Cyberpunk 2077 is one game already confirmed for smart delivery.
Project xCloud
Just before officially announcing Project Scarlett, Microsoft announced that its game streaming platform Project xCloud is coming in October 2019. Xbox head Phil Spencer also announced Console Streaming, which turns an Xbox One into a personal Xbox server for free. It’s likely this feature and Project xCloud will find its way to the Xbox Series X in the future.
Last year, we went hands-on with Project xCloud and found that so far, it seems like a pretty good service. Be sure to check out our Project xCloud review if you want to hear more about it.
There were some recent rumors about Project xCloud exclusive games, but Microsoft has since clarified its original comments, saying that it has “no plans for cloud-exclusive content at this time.”
Xbox Series X: What Happened to Lockhart and Anaconda?
In December 2018, reports suggested the two devices that make up Project Scarlett are referred to within Microsoft by two codenames: Lockhart and Anaconda. Again, it’s unclear if Project Scarlett still consists of multiple pieces of hardware.
These two separate Xbox SKUs would theoretically have a similar dynamic to Xbox One S and Xbox One X. Lockhart was rumored to be a more affordable, baseline model that made the technology more accessible to a larger group of consumers.
This could potentially be the streaming-centric device hinted at in earlier rumors. The report suggested Lockhart was comparable to, or just a bit more powerful than, the Xbox One X.
Anaconda, on the other hand, would be a decidedly more powerful piece of hardware that would cost more for consumers willing to shell out the money for extra horsepower. It would reportedly provide a “cutting-edge console gaming experience.” It was also suggested the Anaconda could potentially act as a dev kit.
If the rumors are to be believed, the Xbox Series X is likely the console nicknamed Anaconda, while the Lockhart console is yet to be announced by Microsoft. However, it’s currently still unclear if Microsoft will have more than one console at launch.
Xbox Series X Controller vs Xbox One Controller
The Xbox Series X controller looks very similar to that of the Xbox One and was partially inspired by the Elite Series 2 controller. Notable new features with the new Series X controller are a Share button and a hybrid d-pad similar to the Elite Series 2.
In the Xbox Series X announcement post from Microsoft, the company noted that the controllers “size and shape have been refined to accommodate an even wider range of people.”
Further, the new controller will be compatible with the Xbox One and Windows 10 PC’s and will be included with every Xbox Series X purchase.
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Colin Stevens is a news writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
Black Mesa, the fan-made Half-Life remake from the team at Crowbar Collective, will leave Early Access and release its 1.0 build on March 5, 2020. The game, which hit Steam Early Access in May 2015, has been in development for an extremely long time–as project lead Adam Engels says in the release date announcement, he joined the project 14 years ago.
“For the majority of its development, Black Mesa was a volunteer project,” Engels’s post says. “Even after we got the green light to sell the game, we still did not make any money until late June of 2015.”
“We think this upcoming 1.0 release is the best, most polished, and most fun version of the game yet. The anticipation and excitement around our project is beyond flattering.” The game will continue to receive support and bug fixes after its 1.0 release, the post states.
The game, which started life as a mod, currently costs $20 on Steam. The game’s last major update was the Xen beta in August 2019, which added the final area into the game.
Black Mesa is not the only Half-Life game launching in March 2020–Half-Life: Alyx is also coming to VR devices on March 23, 2020. If you’re looking forward to it, check out our preorder guide.
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It’s not just Sony and Square Enix that are abandoning or scaling back their PAX East plans amid concerns about the coronavirus. Japanese publisher Capcom has announced that concerns around the virus are leading to some changes for the company’s plans at the Boston gaming show.
In a statement posted to Twitter, Capcom said members of the Monster Hunter: World development team who planned to travel from Japan to Boston for a fan gathering called Monster Hunter: Festa are no longer going to make the trip. The event will still go on, and there will be some news about the Iceborne expansion, but the developers won’t be there for the previously scheduled autograph session.
“Our sincere apologies for inconvenience!” the statement says.
An update on MH Festa: Boston 2020: Unfortunately, our guests from the MH dev team will no longer be able to attend the event. We will no longer have an autograph session but are still planning to share #Iceborne news. Our sincere apologies for inconvenience! pic.twitter.com/DVpQugYieS
“These fears reinforce harmful stereotypes that generations of Asians have worked hard to dismantle,” Walsh wrote in a letter. “They trigger our worst impulses: to view entire groups of people with suspicion, to close ourselves off, and to miss out on the opportunities and connections our global city provides.”
“As a large, international company, you have an opportunity to set a good example…As a leader in technology, you can show that you are motivated by facts, not fear.”
Netflix is rolling out a new feature into more territories after successful testing in the UK and Mexico. The streaming service is reporting that, for the first time, many users will be able to track which shows are getting the most views in their region.
The lists, which will update daily, will give you three figures–the 10 most watched TV shows, most watched movies, and the overall top 10 most watched pieces of media. According to Netflix, “The position of the row will vary depending on how relevant the shows and films are to you.” If the top 10 does not correlate with your taste, this could mean that it’ll be quite far down on the site’s interface for you.
Shows and movies that are appearing in the top 10 will also have a badge on their icons, denoting their popularity. This feature has rolled out in some countries now, but Netflix has not provided a list of where they are available. The list is not currently available on Australian Netflix, for example.
Netflix has recently been slightly more open about its viewership figures, boasting, for instance, of The Witcher’s incredible debut. However, they also recently changed how viewership is tracked, and watching something for two minutes now counts as one view.
Fans of Castlevania will likely want to keep an eye on Netflix, as season 3 of the show will be available on March 5.
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From the Minestrone Mines to Gumbo Grotto, Snack World is an RPG universe entirely founded upon various types of cuisine. But although this base is admirably creative, Snack World’s failings outweigh its strengths. Although it is conceptually innovative, the execution never quite lives up to ambition.
Right from the get-go, Snack World acknowledges the tropes it attempts to riff off of. You awaken as an amnesiac hero, conveniently discovered just outside the castle gates. You earn an audience with the king, who is simultaneously jovial and relentlessly selfish, and he tasks you with a variety of quests to satiate his daughter’s fleeting desires–most of which she no longer cares for by the time you retrieve your boon.
Once you embark on an odyssey to regain your memory while becoming a dungeon-crawling virtuoso, you’re quickly bombarded with a hefty amount of information tied to the game’s various systems. Although they are relatively straightforward and conventional–character traits, codex entries, and opportunities for dungeon co-op–the explanations are buried under esoteric apps on a phone-like device called a Pix-e Pad. It’s an interesting idea, but they’re unnecessarily facetious, confusing nuance with jargon.
Snack World’s dungeon crawling is more palatable. The environmental design of areas like the Gorgonzola Ruins, which is presided over by none other than the gorgon Medusa (spelled Madusa in Snack World), is inspired, for example; serpentine statues denote dead ends, while torches bearing green flame are arranged in puzzles that could summon either a chest or a monster once solved. Strong environmental design exists outside of dungeons too, with the game’s third hub, Chowlin Temple, being impressive in terms of scale and artistry–the massive golden dragon sprouting out of the temple itself is a spectacle when you first encounter it.
However, exploration of these environments doesn’t fare as well. They may look well when the game slows to a standstill, but they’re stunted by awful camera angles during actual play–on one occasion you partake in an eight-person boss fight in an arena barely bigger than a fridge. Meanwhile, Snack World’s dialogue and humor are the sort of thing that makes you go, “Oh, that’s funny,” without ever actually laughing, which is endearing in a sense but becomes groan-inducing when “virtue” is still being emboldened as the punned “virchew” 25 hours in.
Combat is clever and intuitive, though, at least early on. Snack World considers weapons, healing tonics, and utility colognes as “jaras,” of which there are over 200. This allows you to create a variety of builds out of different jaras, which keeps combat fresh and fluid. Unfortunately, the AI design of your NPC companions is dodgy at best. On multiple occasions a teammate stood next to me and simply refused to revive me, despite being entirely safe to do so, triggering a quest failure and forcing me to hack my way through the dungeon all over again.
About 10 hours into the game, the UI began to fail. I could access menus, but numerical values had all but disappeared. I couldn’t see weapon stats, nor the amount of a certain item I owned. As a result, I couldn’t properly prepare builds for a game that is emphatically build-based. Granted, there is an option for auto-selecting a loadout that is specifically tailored towards whatever quest you’re about to embark on, but, most of the enjoyment comes from experimenting with new builds.
Dungeons are further spoiled by their bosses. The majority are designed well, at least in aesthetic terms–a pair of banshee sisters known as the Bandshees are stylishly remodeled as the idolesque Godivas later in the game, while Dullardhan the Headless Hackman channels massive Bloodborne vibes. Unfortunately, many of Snack World’s bosses are based on random number generation that defeating them often boils down to sheer stubbornness and sheer luck. One particular boss, Falgon, kills you in one hit with an energy blast and, once he’s at about 33% HP, spams this attack like there’s no tomorrow.
Snack World also requires about as much grinding as an MMO without ever much in the way of reward. The fact that level balancing is a tad confused only accentuates this–I once completed a mission marked as level 47 while only at level 36 without dying a single time, but couldn’t for the life of me finish a certain level 40 mission while I was level 45. Perhaps that’s down to me being better suited towards one boss than another–but, even if that’s the case, Snack World still has trouble articulating difficulty.
It’s almost as if Snack World’s boss design was partially inspired by FromSoftware, but only in terms of emphatic inspiration as opposed to iteration or even imitation. What’s worse, there is no shortcut to boss doors, nor an opportunity to save outside them–you must traverse the preceding dungeon in its entirety again, which begins to disrupt and destroy the decent dungeon-crawling. As a result, despite the fact Snack World is initially most exciting when you’re exploring the depths of its dungeons, that excitement is soon painfully wrenched into tedium. This phenomenon seems to permeate Snack World in its entirety: although it’s exciting and captivating early on, each of its constituents become tedious before long, and all of its strengths are weathered away by repetition and a sense of feeling incomplete.
This success has allowed Intelligent Systems to grow, according to their updated company profile (which is in Japanese, but has been translated and summarized by Siliconera). The developer now has 169 employees, the highest number they’ve ever had. This includes 68 graphic designers and 63 programmers.
This figure has grown from the 130 employees the company had in 2011, before the release of the very popular Fire Emblem: Awakening. The studio is also employing more women than ever before, now making up 31% of the team.
Intelligent Systems was formed in 1986, and has also worked on several other beloved series in the past, including WarioWare, Advance Wars, and Paper Mario. They have not announced their next game yet, but rumors suggest that a Fire Emblem remake originally planned for the 3DS has been moved over to the Switch.
This is not confirmed, though–it’s possible that another one of their major franchises will come to the system instead, or even something entirely new.
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