Category: Games

EA’s military shooter Battlefield V will be offline briefly tomorrow, January 20, for a round of regular maintenance, the studio has announced.

The maintenance period will begin at 0800 UTC and run for a period of about one hour, ending at 0900 UTC. During this period, all servers for Battlefield V will be down, meaning you can’t play multiplayer.

Should EA need to extend the maintenance period further, the developer will notify players. This downtime appears to be regular maintenance and not in response to a larger issue.

Battlefield V originally released in November 2018 and it sold more than 7 million copies in its first two months. That’s a huge number, but it’s below EA’s expectations. EA blamed the less-than-expected sales numbers on the game’s delay from October to the more crowded November period along with a marketing campaign that failed to generate enough buzz.

EA did not release a new Battlefield game in 2019 or 2020, opting to release Battlefield 6–or whatever the game ends up being called–after the next-generation consoles had more time in the market to grow to a bigger userbase. The new game is due out this year for PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.

Basically nothing is known about 2021’s Battlefield game apart from that it’s developed by DICE and is said to have “crazy ambitious ideas.” DICE has studios in Stockholm, Sweden and in Los Angeles, California. The DICE LA studio is now being run by Respawn co-founder Vince Zampella, as part of the expanded responsibilities of his recent promotion.

Battlefield V took place in World War II, while 2016’s Battlefield 1 was set during World War I. The series hasn’t seen a modern-day release since 2015’s Battlefield Hardline.

Leaks are everywhere in the world of video games these days, and battle royale game Apex Legends appears to be the latest victim. As first uncovered by Dexerto, the Japanese version of a recent trailer for new character Fuse says that a Switch version of the game will become available on February 2.

That text was quickly scrubbed from the video description in various other languages, but fans are still holding out hope that the unintended text was a confirmation that the game is coming to Nintendo’s portable console. February 2 is the day that Apex Legends Season 8 rolls out on other platforms, and it will introduce an explosive Legend named Fuse. It also adds a new weapon, the 30-30 Repeater, which bears a strong resemblance to a famous weapon from Terminator 2.

The new season will bring Kings Canyon back into the fold for a limited time, with the addition of the Mirage Voyage to keep things fresh. A recent patch addressed some stability issues and revamped event skins so that aiming down sights no longer blocked the reticle.

Square Enix has announced that Balan Wonderworld, the action-platformer from the creators of Sonic the Hedgehog that was revealed last year at one of Nintendo’s Mini Directs, will be getting a free demo available on January 28.

The demo will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Steam, and Nintendo Switch. Players will be able to check it out in either single-player or with friends and family in local co-op mode. With two players, you’ll be able to take control of both main characters, Leo and Emma, and can explore how their different costumes open up new paths that aren’t available in single-player mode.

Players will get the chance to check out three of Balan Wonderworld’s 12 worlds through this demo. The first is called The Man Who Rages Against the Storm, and has two playable acts plus a boss fight. The world is a farm sprawling across rolling hills, ornamented with giant crops. Leo and Emma will meet a farmer named Jose Gallard, whose cornfield has been decimated by a storm, and will have to take on the embodiment of his despair.

The second world we’ll see in the demo is World 4: The Boy Who Would Be One with the Wind. This world is inspired by a boy named Chang Haoyu, who is in love with the open sky. Bicycle parts and floating islands of various sizes are scattered across the sky in this world, and different costumes like the Soaring Sheep and Aero Acrobat will make navigating the skyscape more manageable. Only Act 1 of this world will be playable in the demo.

The third and final world we’ll see in the demo is World 6: The Girl and the Kitten. This world follows Cass Milligan and her memory of meeting a kitten through a magical landscape complete with candy, floating books, and mysterious buildings full of mechanical gears.

Those who check out the demo will also gain access to the Island of Tims, a hub world of sorts in between the game’s story worlds, which is inhabited by magical creatures called Tims. These funky little friends have abilities that can help Emma and Leo as they explore the other worlds, and they can be leveled up using flowers on the Island of Tims to increase those abilities.

Balan Wonderworld is releasing on March 26th across all platforms.

Rust has been riding high recently, and that’s led to yet another broken record for the survival game. According to Steam Charts, Rust recently punctured its previous high of 134,483 concurrent players with a jaw-dropping 244,394 concurrent players. As we’ve previously written, this surge in interest is due mostly to the game’s increased profile on Twitch, where it’s often been the most-viewed game over the past few weeks.

As PCGamesN notes, while just under 250k players might sound like a lot, it’s actually significantly less than the likes of Steam’s other top games, including Dota 2, PUBG, and the all-time champion Counter Strike: Global Offensive. (For example, CS:GO’s all-time peak is 1.3 million, according to Steam Charts.) Still, it’s an impressive number for the survival game to hit, especially since its usual peak was around 50 to 100k prior to this increase in popularity.

Rust’s Twitch dominance shows no signs of abating. As of the time of writing, Rust is the top-streamed game on the platform, with around 450k viewers, compared to 322k for the next-highest, League of Legends. The developer behind Rust recently revealed that the game made more than $1 million in one day twice in one week, and that the game might be coming to consoles very soon

Following its debut on PS4 and Xbox One in September 2020, THQ Nordic has confirmed that it’s launching Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning for Nintendo Switch in March.

The HD re-release of the RPG comes to Nintendo Switch on March 16, 2021. The game bundles in three DLC packs, including The Teeth of Naros, Legend of Dead Kel, and Weapons and Armor. Another expansion, Fatesworn, will be released later in 2021.

For now, you can check out the trailer above to see what Kingdoms of Amalur looks like running on Nintendo Switch.

The original Kingdoms of Amalur was released in 2012 to generally positive review scores. The behind-the-scenes story, however, was a different matter. The game was developed by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios, which went bankrupt and caused a stir with the local government in its home state of Rhode Island.

The game was originally published by Electronic Arts before THQ Nordic bought the rights in 2018. As for Schilling, he has since made a name for himself in the conservative talk show market where he hosts a program on the Howie Carr network and writes for Breitbart.

An official soundtrack for Halo 2 was released in 2004 alongside the game. In addition to tracks composed by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori for the sci-fi FPS, the soundtrack featured tunes by famous bands like Breaking Benjamin, Incubus, and Hoobastank.

Breaking Benjamin had arguably the most famous of these, “Blow Me Away.” Now, coming up on 17 years after the song’s release, the track has reached Platinum status. Per the RIAA’s definitions, this means the song has reached 1,000,000 certification units.

“Blow Me Away” becomes Breaking Benjamin’s eighth single to reach platinum status. The band also has nine Gold-certified songs for a total of 17 songs to reach either designation. This news was first discovered by and reported on by Loudwire.

The Halo 2 OST also featured the iconic guitarist Steve Vai performing the title track with his own special face-melting rendition. In this incredible video, you can see the first time that Vai laid down the track in the studio for what would become an iconic song for the Halo series.

The next major Halo game on the way is Halo Infinite, which is launching this fall for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC following a delay out of 2020. The first new mainline Halo game since 2015’s Halo 5: Guardians, Halo Infinite runs on a new engine and its multiplayer is free to play.

IO Interactive’s rebooted Hitman series has been lauded for its clockwork open-world approach, and this week the trilogy comes to a close. Hitman 3 marks the last game in the stealth trilogy, and critics have started giving their impressions just ahead of release on January 20.

So how does this Hitman game stack up to the others? Critics seem to agree that it’s not just a great stealth assassination game on its own, but also a satisfying conclusion to the series as a whole. In GameSpot’s review, Phil Hornshaw noted that this sequel is “full of fun and fascinating ideas, many of which play with the concepts underpinning the last four years of Hitman levels,” and awarded it a 9/10.

As always, Hitman 3 rewards repetition to fully plumb its depths and see all of the mechanics and characters moving around the world on their schedules. An intimate knowledge of every setting is required to execute some of the more intricate assassinations, but if you just want to finish as fast as possible, you can complete the story campaign in about 8 hours. In addition to all the high-powered consoles and PC, Hitman 3 is also coming to Nintendo Switch via cloud streaming.

We’ve compiled some reviews from around the industry below. For a more expansive look, check out GameSpot sister site Metacritic.

• Game: Hitman 3
• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Google Stadia, Nintendo Switch
• Developer: IO Interactive
• Release Date: January 20
• Price: $60 / £60

GameSpot — 9/10

“What’s good about Hitman–its level design and the creativity, experimentation, and exploration that affords–is great in Hitman 3. 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.” — Phil Hornshaw [Full Review]

VG247 — 5/5

“Taken individually, Hitman 3 feels like great value, with plenty of variety and lots to do. When taken as a whole, the World of Assassination trilogy is hands-down one of the best and most complete-feeling trilogies in video game history. It’s a fitting finale for 47 – at least for now – and it has naturally left me thrilled to see what IO does with James Bond or whatever else comes next. It might only be January – but I can pretty much guarantee this will end the year as one of my 2021 favourites.” — Alex Donaldson [Full Review]

GamesBeat — 5/5

“Hitman is a world made up entirely of Chekhov’s guns, and it’s a blast finding out how to get Agent 47 into position to pull the trigger.” — Jeff Grubb [Full Review]

Game Informer — 9/10

“Hitman 3 concludes a chapter in the greater Hitman story, but it doesn’t feel like an ending. There’s an abundance of content and side activities on offer, and the trilogy as a whole is bound to be a long-term destination for would-be assassins. IO Interactive’s final act in the trilogy anticipates and rewards player experimentation, features meticulous level design, and has moments of ghoulish catharsis that makes me cackle aloud. My enthusiasm for it all is as indelible as the barcode tattooed on the back of Agent 47’s head.” — Jeff Cork [Full Review]

Destructoid — 9/10

“Coupled with extra gadgets (some of which can be imported – though not as swimmingly on PC), Hitman 3 is really fun to dive back into; or introduce someone to for that matter, just to see what they come up with. It’s the little things that add up and really make Hitman 3 special. Hats off to IO Interactive for really sticking with this series and getting it right.” — Chris Carter [Full Review]

GamesRadar — 4.5/5

“This is a great end to the trilogy, with a satisfying conclusion made from enjoyable and endlessly entertaining levels. Well done 47.” — Leon Hurley [Full Review]

Ars Technica — Unscored

“A solid if unambitious expansion pack—and that should tell you whether to buy this one or catch up on Hitman 2 instead.” — Sam Machkovech [Full Review]

Kotaku — Unscored

“Even when I was on familiar ground—”safe” in my disguise, surrounded by pretentious and gullible targets, armed with all my secret gadgets and intel—I felt aware of who 47 actually is: lonely and out of place, with few friends and little control over his life. Whatever humanity he might have is twisted up in the machinations of power and capital that he’s both part of and fights against. “Who will you be without a score to settle?” Lucas Grey asks him early in the game, and it’s a question I often turned over as Hitman 3 played out. Essentially, he’d be no one—but then he’s always been that, really; all the rest of his identity is just make believe. Narratively and structurally, Hitman 3 strips its own make believe away, leaving the series’ core darkness on display.” — Riley MacLeod [Full Review]