Author: Trafficblast

One of the first crossover events for Monster Hunter World was with the PlayStation 4 exclusive Horizon Zero Dawn. Now with MHW’s Iceborne coming soon, Capcom is crossing over with Horizon again with PS4-exclusive content modeled after the Horizon DLC, The Frozen Wilds.

A brief trailer shows off the crossover. It transitions from Aloy skulking in a snowy forest–which could be at home at either game–to close-up shots of her armor and a projectile weapon. The teaser didn’t suggest exactly how you’ll get your hands on the armor sets, but if it’s anything like the last Horizon set, you’ll just need to complete a limited-time quest. It’s notable that unlike many of the game’s traditional armor sets, the first Aloy armor could only be worn as a full set that changed your appearance entirely. The same is likely to be the case here.

The unveiling was part of MHW’s presence at Gamescom, which also included a new trailer for the Iceborne content. That one showed off the explosive Brachydios and a fearsome ice dragon. Iceborne is coming to PS4 and Xbox One on September 6.

Iceborne is the first large-scale expansion for Monster Hunter World, coming more than a year after its initial launch. That first year has been the most successful in series history, having most recently crossed 13 million units sold worldwide. In fact, it has become overall one of Capcom’s most successful games of all time, and earned a spot as one of GameSpot’s Best Games of 2018.

Two months on from Shadowbringers release, the events keep on rolling in Final Fantasy XIV. The Moonfire Faire event began earlier this month and is still ongoing, allowing you to unlock various clothing material and even a kid’s swimming pool for your housing. Then, starting August 26, a new event called The Rising will kick-off for all players level 30 and above.

The Rising will be located in Eastern La Noscea, Bloodshore, and will send you on an important quest to unlock a Brave New Y’shtola minion and numerous pieces of artwork to decorate the walls of your housing with.

Reviewer Ginny Woo awarded the Shadowbringers expansion a score of 9/10 in GameSpot’s review, saying, “It’s not just the sheer scale and strength of the narrative weaving in years of old lore without cheapening the experience for new players, or the immaculately designed boss fights replete with spectacular music and thematic touches. It’s also the implementation of the Trust system and the chance to truly feel the impact of the Warrior of Light’s decisions over the past expansions through exploring the stories of your companions. For a story that starts with a laser focus on your character’s motivations and misgivings, it tells a tale that ends up being the biggest and the best that Final Fantasy XIV has ever told. Equal parts redemption, vengeance, cruelty, and sassy Elezen, Shadowbringers promises a hell of a lot when you take your first steps into Norvrandt and delivers a truly spectacular finish even if it stumbles a little along the way.”

In other Final Fantasy news, Square Enix released a new trailer for Final Fantasy VIII Remastered during Gamescom, finally giving us a release date of September 3 for the upgraded version of the classic RPG. With overhauled visuals and substantial polish, the remaster also fixed one of the game’s funniest memes.

The 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan will be a homecoming of sorts for Mario and Sonic. The unlikely pair have starred in officially licenced games for the iconic sporting event over the past 12 years, with the upcoming Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 being the sixth entry in the long-running series. Unlike previous entries, however, it will be the first to feature Classic Events which use 2D sprites and environments.

Announced during a Nintendo Presents livestream at Gamescom 2019, the classic mode transports the game’s varied cast back in time to 1964 so they can compete in the previous Olympic Games held in Tokyo.

In the mode, the likes of Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Bowser are using sprites from 1985’s Super Mario Bros., whereas Sonic and pals feature sprites from 1992’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2. It’s a nostalgic mishmash of 8- and 16-bit graphics, and the mode is fairly comprehensive, too. The classic 2D characters are able to compete in 10 different events, such as the 100m dash, the long jump, judo, team volleyball, and more, and each event will also take place in a 2D arena.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 launches on the Nintendo Switch on November 5 in North America and November 8 in Europe.

Microsoft says its new studios will “focus on making games for our platforms,” with no further plans to release more Xbox exclusives on PlayStation 4 or Nintendo Switch.

The company has recently acquired a number of studios that either have or will release games on Nintendo Switch and PS4, including Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and Obsidian. However, it looks unlikely that this partnership will continue with Xbox’s future releases.

In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, Microsoft outlined its plans for upcoming first-party titles, saying, “The past year has been an exciting time for us as we have more than doubled the internal creative teams making up Xbox Game Studios. As these new studios transitioned in, we were aware of some existing commitments to other platforms and will honor them. However, going forward these new studios will focus on making games for our platforms. We have no plans to further expand our exclusive first-party games to other consoles.”

This follows an announcement, via Nintendo, that previous Xbox One and PC exclusive Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition, will be coming to Nintendo Switch with Microsoft handling the publishing duties.

Nintendo and Microsoft have been collaborating on multiple projects over the past 12 months. Banjo-Kazooie was revealed as a DLC character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate back at E3 2019, and Microsoft also helped support the Switch releases for both Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and Cuphead. The company has plans to bring Xbox Live to Nintendo’s machine in the future as well.

Meanwhile, games like Fortnite: Battle Royale, Rocket League, and Minecraft continue to support crossplay across multiple platforms, and Microsoft has no desire to halt these plans for current or upcoming titles. “We continue to believe deeply in crossplay and progression of games with the right flexibility for developers to ensure a fair and fun experience,” the statement reads.

Microsoft also has plans to make its IP accessible via other devices by using the company’s streaming service xCloud.

When a low-budget horror movie with a mostly unknown cast and the seemingly generic title of Halloween hit theaters on the weekend of October 25, 1978, no one could have anticipated the impact it would have. John Carpenter’s film went on to become one of the most successful independent movies of all time, grossing $70 million worldwide with a budget of $300,000. And just as notably, it was a key part of the first wave of slasher movies that would dominate horror for the next few years.

Inevitably many sequels, reboots, and remakes followed, with varying degrees of critical and commercial success. But no matter how bad some of the later Halloween movies are, Michael Myers–aka The Shape–is truly one of the great horror characters, leading filmmakers to regularly look for new ways to kickstart the series for the next generation of horror fans.

The latest movie, simply titled Halloween once again, arrived in October 2018. It had been nine years since the last one–Rob Zombie’s much-maligned Halloween 2–which was the longest gap ever between movies. But there was much to be hopeful for. It was produced by Blumhouse, the production company with a long stream of horror hits behind them, including Get Out, Paranormal Activity, and The Purge. It was directed by acclaimed filmmaker David Gordon Green and co-written with comedian, actor, and horror fan Danny McBride. And most excitingly, both John Carpenter and original star Jamie Lee Curtis were involved.

Carpenter had not been involved with a Halloween movie since 1983, but in this case, he he was a creative adviser as well as writing a new music score. And Curtis returned to reprise her role as Laurie Strode, in a movie that would act as a direct sequel to the original film. Halloween 2018 proved to be a box office smash, making $255 million worldwide and setting the stage for an inevitable sequel.

After some teasing, not one but two new Halloween movies were announced in July–Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends. The announcement came from Carpenter himself, and while only a few details have been revealed so far, we know the titles of the movies, release dates, plus some of the cast and crew. So here’s everything we know so far about the upcoming Halloween sequels…

Steam is on its way to China as a separate marketplace co-created by Valve and its Chinese partner, Perfect World. The Shanghai-based video game developer and publisher said Steam China will be “almost entirely independent of Steam.”

That’s according to a report by Technode. The bespoke marketplace is officially titled “Zhengqi Pingtai,” which translates to Steam Platform.

By creating a self-contained version of Steam specifically for China, it ensures Valve will be able to conform to the increasingly stringent rules Chinese regulators have placed on video games, without damaging its interests in other regions. Valve has come under close scrutiny in the past because of the violent and sexually explicit games it distributes on the marketplace, but an independent Chinese store should alleviate these issues in the future.

According to Perfect World CEO Xiao Hong, Steam China will be “tailored for Chinese users,” with “high-speed servers and high-quality operations teams.” Around 40 games will initially release on the new platform, all of which are currently available on the international version of Steam, including Dota 2 and Dota Underlords.