Category: Games

A little less than a year since the release of the wildly ambitious Death Stranding, Kojima Productions has confirmed its next game has entered development. In traditional Hideo Kojima fashion, however, we’re being kept in the dark about exactly what it is.

In a statement to GameSpot, Kojima Productions didn’t mention if the project had any connections to Death Stranding or would be something completely different. It’s currently recruiting for roles in its Tokyo studio across several different departments, including game programming, sound design, art, game design, production, projection management, writing, and localization. Applicants must be able to speak and write Japanese fluently for the roles.

Hideo Kojima isn’t exactly known for brevity–in development time or the length of his games–so it’s likely it will be several years before we actually get to play the studio’s next game. Death Stranding released late last year after being announced more than three years earlier. Its development came after Hideo Kojima’s acrimonious split with Konami. Though Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain released during this time, his other project, Silent Hills, was canceled.

There were multiple carryovers from that project, however. Star Norman Reedus also played the lead role in Death Stranding, while co-creator Guillermo del Toro’s likeness was used for one of its main characters. If we know Kojima, something this goofy will probably be included in the studio’s next game, as well. We’re hoping for Werner Herzog.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is among the 30+ launch titles for the Xbox Series X, and now the developer has shed a little more light on how the game performs on Microsoft’s next-gen console.

Chief producer Masayoshi Yokoyama spoke to Xbox Wire about how the game leverages the power of the console, and Yokoyama is particularly looking forward to players experiencing the dramatically faster load times. Yokoyama said the load times are “nearly instantaneous.”

“I was personally most excited about the reduction in loading times due to the SSD, it’s nearly instantaneous; there’s not even time to read the loading screen tips!” Yokoyama said.

Yokoyama went on to say that Like a Dragon, overall, has a “much higher performance level [on Xbox Series X] than we’ve ever been able to achieve before.”

“Seeing the game run at a smooth 60 FPS gameplay experience or in native 4K with near-instant load times is incredible,” Yokoyama said.

You can check out the full interview here. Have a look at the video above to see the latest trailer for Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

GameSpot’s Michael Higham got a chance to play a part of the game on Xbox Series X recently.

“Even with just a small slice of the game in this Xbox Series X demo, Yakuza: Like A Dragon shows us why the franchise has won the hearts of so many and continues to stand out among its peers,” Higham said. “I’m convinced that the move to a turn-based RPG can pay off, and I’m already invested in our new protagonist Kasuga Ichiban and his friends, because Like a Dragon pulls these things off in ways only Yakuza can.”

The latest Yakuza game will launch alongside the Xbox Series X and Series S on November 10, so check out our preorder guide for all the details on those consoles and the games that will be available on them from day one. Yakuza: Like A Dragon will also be on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on the same day, and will arrive on PS5 early next year. The game supports Xbox Smart Delivery, so you can buy it for Xbox One and upgrade to the Series X/S edition for free later on.

If you feel like celebrating the impending launch of the Yakuza sequel, you can splurge on a $282 USD bowl of ramen that Sega’s Australian distribution partner Five Star Games created to promote the game.

Kojima Productions has confirmed that it’s working on a new project, and is hiring “best-in-class talent” for its Tokyo studio.

Confirmed on Twitter, the studio explained that, “a new project is in development and is looking to hire the best-in-class talent to work out of our Tokyo studio.”

#KojimaProductions confirms a new project is in development and is looking to hire the best-in-class talent to work out of our Tokyo studio. For more information on the openings and requirements, please visit our website at https://t.co/jeTGnnwLAW pic.twitter.com/StLOrxTlhg

— KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS (Eng) (@KojiPro2015_EN) October 22, 2020

The game itself is something of a mystery at this point, with only vague clues listed on the Kojima Productions careers page. There are mentions of 3D model production for “weapons, gadgets, vehicles, mechas”, and desired experience with “Event control system[s] in RPG”, but there are very few specifics beyond that.

Developing…

The MMO Roblox is performing phenomenally well on mobile. According to Sensor Tower’s estimates, the game has now crossed $2 billion in lifetime revenue globally across iOS and Android.

Like other games, Roblox’s mobile edition saw its microtransaction revenue surge during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, May 2020 was the game’s biggest month ever, with $113 million in spending.

The US is by far the biggest market for Roblox, accounting for $1.3 billion in lifetime revenue. The UK is No. 2 with $161 million, while Canada comes in third with $81 million, according to Sensor Tower.

The iOS version of Roblox is much more lucrative than the Android edition, bringing in around $1.5 billion compared to $545 million on Google Play. Apple itself has made $450 million from the iOS edition, while Google has taken $164 million; all of this is due to the 30% cut that each company takes a platform-holder.

Roblox has been downloaded around 437 million times on mobile so far, and the US is No. 1 with 113 million, which represents 26 percent of global downloads.

The owner of Roblox, Roblox Corporation, is reportedly planning to go public with an initial public offering or a direct listing. Roblox is also available on PC and Xbox One, so these numbers only represent a portion of the game’s total playerbase and scale.

In addition to support for 120fps, Gears 5 on Xbox Series X boasts a dramatic improvement for input latency. The developer announced on Twitter that input latency–which is the amount of time it takes when you trigger an action to when it completes–has been improved by 36% for the campaign and 57% for multiplayer.

According to Microsoft, this results in a “profoundly more responsive experience.” We’ll have to wait until we get our hands on the game to understand what this feels like, but it definitely looks like a nice upgrade.

As you can see in the charts below, Gears 5 multiplayer on Xbox Series X at 120fps has an average input latency of 37 milliseconds, compared to 85 milliseconds for Xbox One X at 60fps.

For campaign, Gears 5 has an average of 60 milliseconds of input lag on Xbox Series X, compared to 97 milliseconds for Xbox One X. The improvements here are in the range of mere milliseconds, but it still seems like a noteworthy improvement. Check out the charts to get into the nitty-gritty of it all.

Gears 5’s optimized version for Xbox Series X will be available when the console releases on November 10. It will be joined by another Gears game, Gears Tactics, which makes its console debut as a launch title for the new console.

The new 9.0.1 update for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has officially gone live, and it contains an important fix for Steve from Minecraft.

Although the patch notes make no mention of it, for an obvious reason, the patch appears to have made a change to Steve’s win screen. If you know, you know, and we don’t need to lay it out any more than that

In addition to that change, the 9.0.1 update makes several other updates to Steve/Alex to fix a series of issues related to clipping through the landscape and other oddities. You can see the full patch notes below, as shared by Nintendo on its website.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 9.0.1 Patch Notes

General

• Fixed the issue where sometimes an opposing fighter would go through the landscape when Steve/Alex created a block at a certain location and the opposing fighter destroyed the block.
• Fixed the issue where sometimes an opposing fighter would go through the landscape when Steve/Alex created a block at a certain location and the anvil created with a down air attack struck the opposing fighter.
• Fixed the issue where the opposing fighter would become uncontrollable when Steve/Alex hit them with a minecart in certain situations.
• Fixed the issue where if Steve/Alex’s minecart bounced off the wall, it would not hit the opposing fighter.
• Fixed the issue where opposing fighters carried in Steve/Alex’s minecart would sometimes be warped to the original location where they were picked up.
• Fixed the issue where certain fighters could go through Steve/Alex’s block once KO’d.

Smash Bros. Ultimate’s 9.0 update arrived last week. Along with various balance adjustments, that update introduced the game’s latest DLC character, Steve (and Alex) from Minecraft. The blocky fighter arrived alongside a brand-new stage, as well as a selection of Minecraft Spirits to unlock.

Steve is the second of six additional DLC characters planned for Smash Bros. Ultimate, following Min Min from Arms. Nintendo has not yet revealed the identities of the remaining four fighters. All six characters are included as part of the game’s Fighters Pass Vol. 2, which costs $30 USD. Each DLC fighter can also be purchased individually for $6 USD apiece.