Category: Games

Kadokawa Corporation has given Sony a 1.93% ownership stake in the company, a financial deal that the Japanese media conglomerate says will allow it to utilize Sony’s “global expansion power of animation and consumer games.”

“We believe that it is necessary to procure such funds in order not to miss potential investment opportunities and to solidify our ability to create IP based on our track record of creating rich and unique IP consisting of a diverse portfolio of books, movies, animations, games, and UGC platforms, both financially and financially,” it said in a statement as reported by VGC.

The deal will also see CyberAgent–owner of popular smartphone game developer CyGames–receive the same percentage of shares in the company, which in turn will allow Kadowkawa Corporation to create and develop new intellectual properties in addition to maximizing the IP that it already owns.

The company is also the owner of Dark Souls developer From Software, which it acquired back in 2014. From Software has a positive history with Sony, as more than half of its video game catalogue since 1994 have released as PlayStation platform exclusives, including 2015’s Bloodborne.

Sony’s deal may also be linked to its recent plans to turn anime and manga into a core pillar of its business, which it has invested serious money into expanding lately. Anime streaming platform CrunchyRoll was acquired for $1.2 billion by Sony, adding the service to its Aniplex and Funimation divisions. Kadokawa Corporation subsidiary Kadokawa Shoten has helped produce popular anime such as Re:Zero, Rising of the Shield Hero, and Overlord.

As for From Software, its next game is the fantasy-RPG Elden Ring, and it’s lore was created in collaboration with Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin. Described as an evolution of the Dark Souls series by game director Hideki Kamiya, details on the project have been scarce since its reveal at E3 2019. For the few tantalizing details that we do know, you can check out our Elden Ring hub.

Rockstar Games has announced a new Red Dead Redemption 2 music album. “The Housebuilding EP” is described as a special release and it will launch on February 12.

The album’s top-billed song is “The Housebuilding Song,” which is heard during the epilogue of the acclaimed western. Four previously unreleased songs are also included on the EP, written by David Ferguson and Matt Sweeney.

Ferguson is country music legend who produced songs for Jack Clement, Johnny Cash, John Prine, and most recently Sturgill Simpson. Sweeney is a guitarist whose performances are featured on songs by Cash, Adele, Run The Jewels, and Iggy Pop.

The Housebuilding EP is available to preorder now, while a physical vinyl edition from Lakeshore Records can be reserved from Lakeshore’s online store and the Rockstar Warehouse for $18 USD.

The main Red Dead Redemption 2 original soundtrack features songs from Willie Nelson, D’Angelo, Josh Homme, and other famous musicians.

The Music of Red Dead Redemption 2: The Housebuilding EP Track List

1. The Housebuilding Song (David Ferguson)
2. A Strange Kindness (David Ferguson and Matt Sweeney)
3. A Quiet Time (Saloon Theme) (David Ferguson and Matt Sweeney)
4. The Course of True Love (David Ferguson and Matt Sweeney)
5. Do Not Seek Absolution (David Ferguson and Matt Sweeney)

James Gunn has confirmed that The Suicide Squad is now “fully finished,” and praised Warner Bros. for not even slightly interfering with the movie.

Taking to Twitter, Gunn replied to a fan who asked whether the studio was heavily involved with The Suicide Squad. In response, the director explained how he was given total creative freedom on the project, making “every single choice” himself, as Warners gave “very few notes” and it was his choice whether to take them on board or not. He also confirmed that the movie has now reached completion.

#TheSuicideSquad is fully finished and cut and I made every single choice and they never once even slightly interfered. They gave very few notes – they were usually good and minor and I took them if I wanted to and didn’t if I didn’t want to. Warners was creatively amazing.

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) February 5, 2021

The Suicide Squad, for the DCEU, is one of several major Warner Bros. movies that will be released in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously this year — and with “carte blanche” to kill off any Suicide Squad members he wanted to (even Harley Quinn), Gunn has loaded up the movie with cannon fodder obscurities like Blackguard, Javelin, Polka-Dot Man, Savant, and more.

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In the DC comics, the Suicide Squad gained a reputation for having an increasingly high body count — a trend that continued in the antihero team’s various other incarnations and adaptations.

With every member of the squad being expendable once again, no one can be sure who will survive Gunn’s soft reboot, though there are plenty of contenders. The movie stars Idris Elba as Bloodsport, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, John Cena as Peacemaker, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man, Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher II, Steve Agee as King Shark and John Economos, Sean Gunn as Weasel, Flula Borg as Javelin, Nathan Fillion as TDK, Peter Capaldi as The Thinker, Pete Davidson as Blackguard, Alice Braga as Sol Soria, Mayling Ng as Mongal, Juan Diego Botto as Luna, and Michael Rooker as Savant.

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The Suicide Squad will debut in theaters and on HBO Max on August 6, 2021. There’s no trailer yet for the movie, but Warners did include some footage in a sizzle reel of upcoming releases. Gunn is also writing and directing a Suicide Squad TV series spinoff starring John Cena’s character Peacemaker. No release window has been given for that yet, though it is expected to premiere after The Suicide Squad.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Sony has unveiled the top downloaded games during January across the PlayStation Store. Hitman 3 is the only new release to sneak its way into the charts, despite launching later in the month.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War made a strong showing in both North America and Europe, settling into the top three in both regions on PlayStation 5–plus number one in the PlayStation 4 charts. Season One of Activision’s latest shooter kicked off earlier in the month, adding new maps, weapons, game modes, and a season pass. Call of Duty: Warzone occupies second place for free-to-play games.

FIFA 21 takes the top spot in Europe ahead of Hitman 3, but Agent 47’s latest outing comes in second place in both regions. The rest of the PS5 chart is mostly made up of newer games, while there are plenty of mainstays in the PS4 charts with the likes of Grand Theft Auto V and Minecraft.

You can see the full January roundup over on the PlayStation Blog. Here are the top downloaded PS5 games in North America during January:

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
2. Hitman 3
3. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
4. Madden NFL 21
5. NBA 2K21
6. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
7. FIFA 21
8. Demon’s Souls
9. Mortal Kombat 11
10. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
11. Sackboy: A Big Adventure
12. Immortals Fenyx Rising
13. Godfall
14. No Man’s Sky
15. Watch Dogs: Legion
16. Dead By Daylight: Special Edition
17. Borderlands 3
18. Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition
19. Dirt 5
20. Temtem

Hitman 3 received a score of 9/10 in GameSpot’s Hitman 3 review. “What’s good about Hitman–its level design and the creativity, experimentation, and exploration that affords–is great in Hitman 3,” said critic Phil Hornshaw. “It closes out the trilogy by brilliantly playing off everything that came before it, making use of and then subverting expectations, and rewarding players for their willingness to master the complexity of both its individual levels and the series as a whole.”

Developer IO Interactive recently revealed Hitman 3’s content roadmap for February, which adds ninja gear, elusive targets, and more.

One of the biggest game studios in the world, Riot Games, has hired a former Netflix and Hulu executive to head up marketing and consumer products for the League of Legends studio’s brand-new entertainment division.

In the role, Ryan Crosby will work on developing “entertainment extensions” of Riot’s franchises, including League of Legends, according to a report from Deadline. His boss is Shauna Spenley, another former Netflix executive, who is heading up the new entertainment division at Riot.

This is not Crosby’s first gaming gig, as he previously worked on marketing and advertising at Activision, as well as Microsoft. Most recently, he was the director of global creative marketing at Netflix before making the jump to Riot.

“Ryan and I worked together for years at Netflix and I’m excited to bring his unique mix of strategic and creative experience to Riot as we continue to grow the entertainment division,” Spenley said. “His deep gaming expertise, combined with broad entertainment background, will prove invaluable as we build global teams that will pioneer the future of entertainment.”

With 3,000 employees across 20 global studios, Riot is one of the world’s largest game developers. The company is owned by Chinese internet behemoth Tencent.

Riot has numerous projects in the works, including a fighting game. Riot’s biggest game is League of Legends, which has more than 100 million monthly players.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is finally out this year, and while it’s a near-complete collection of the original trilogy it is making some camera tweaks to the game’s infamously gratuitous focus on butts.

“Kevin [Meek] actually called out some camera cuts that were just…. why was that focusing on Miranda’s butt?,” project director Mac Walters explained to Metro. “So in some cases, we said, ‘Okay, we can make a change there’.

Character and environment director Kevin Meek also mentioned in the same interview that male Shepherd’s habit of manspreading was tweaked. BioWare couldn’t overhaul the entire animation, but the studio did find that changing the camera angle and reframing the scene made for a more elegant solution.

“If you were wearing a skirt, it would be a bit unflattering,” Meek said. “So we can’t necessarily change that animation, but you can raise that camera up slightly to reduce the problem.”

The Legendary Edition also won’t include the first game’s Pinnacle Station DLC due to the original data having been corrupted. Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer has also been cut from the remaster, as BioWare was focused solely on polishing up the original trilogy campaigns.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will launch for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on May 14. It’ll also be backwards compatible on Xbox Series X|S and PS5, with those versions supporting faster loading speeds.

If you want to see just how substantial an upgrade the collection is then check out official comparison shots of certain characters and places from Bioware. For even more details, check out everything we know about Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.

“im not owned! im not owned!!”, i continue to insist as i slowly shrink and transform into a corn cob

— wint (@dril) November 11, 2011