Category: Games

In 2008’s Iron Man, Marvel Studios dropped in a brief post-credits scene featuring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, who teased the existence of something called “the Avenger initiative.” The rest, as they say, is history, and cinema was forever changed. However, it turns out that a different draft of Fury’s monologue teased the existence of X-Men and Spider-Man, almost a decade before Disney would acquire Marvel and subsequently acquire the film rights to the X-Men franchise, as well as share film rights with Sony.

At this year’s Saturn Awards, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige introduced a previously never-before-seen deleted scene from 2008’s Iron Man. The clip will be included on a box set that contains the entire Infinity Saga, coming later this year. In the clip, Jackson’s Fury can be seen tacking on a little bit of additional info to his now-familiar spiel.

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With Tokyo Game Show 2019 happening, plenty of news has come out of upcoming Japanese games, including Final Fantasy VII Remake. While we got a fresh look at the new combat system, along with seeing Tifa and Aerith in action (and the summoning of Ifrit), we also got details on Classic mode. And series producer Yoshinori Kitase took the stage to show off the game and walk through how Classic mode works.

In case you’re out of the loop, the standard combat system for FF7 Remake has you attacking in real-time to fill up the ATB gauge, which then allows you to pause the action to execute special attacks, cast spells, and use items. Thus, it plays like an action RPG. However, in Classic mode, standard attacks are automated and the ATB gauge fills up on its own. You won’t have to worry about the real-time action aspect, and you would only need to take care of executing commands as if it was a traditional turn-based RPG.

The official Final Fantasy VII Remake Twitter account briefly outlined the system in a series of tweets:

Classic mode is a separate gameplay option that’s intended to make the combat feel closer to how it worked in the original game’s turn-based system. Official footage from the stage show has not been released yet, so if you were not able to catch the segment during the stream, you’ll have to wait to see it in action. For more on Final Fantasy 7 Remake, be sure to check out the hot TGS trailer that shows off Shinra’s villainous goons known as The Turks or the latest FF7 Remake gameplay. You can also see how the squatting minigame has been recreated or watch our early hands-on impressions of the game from PAX West 2019.

During its Tokyo Game Show 2019 stream, Square Enix showed off more gameplay from the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. While the majority of the demo was the same as what was shown during E3 2019, the company did surprise viewers by providing a showcase of Aerith, Tifa, and Cloud battling a boss enemy.

The gameplay was narrated by Yoshinori Kitase, who served as the director of the PlayStation original and is producer on the remake. Although the explanation was entirely in Japanese, the gameplay allowed fans to glean some new details. The boss in question is Aps, who is encountered in the Midgar Sewers.

Aerith, who traditionally occupies the magic-user/healer role in Final Fantasy VII’s parties, is shown bolstering the magical abilities of her teammates. In the gameplay, she puts down a magical field which Tifa enters. Once inside the field, Tifa is shown executing a series of Thunder strikes consecutively.

Tifa, meanwhile, is still the bruiser, throwing herself at the enemy and delivering brutal rushes of punches and kicks. She still packs a punch and during the gameplay executes some really flashy special combos. At one point a Limit Break move was used and she executed an impressive somersault kick.

Perhaps the most exciting reveal was Ifrit, who was summoned into battle through a Materia slotted into Cloud’s Buster Sword. Ifrit operate independently, while the player continues to control the three party members. However, the summoned monster seemed to follow Cloud’s lead, attacking by launching himself into the enemy and breathing fire on it when Cloud was on the offense, but backing away when his summoner did. Ifrit could also be commanded to use special abilities such as Flare Burst, which summoned hellfire to damage Aps.

Before leaving the battlefield, Ifrit summons a swirling cyclone of flames that wrapped up the enemy and, ultimately, dealt the killing blow. It was a flashy, cinematic move that looked very cool.

During the presentation Kitase also showed off the new squatting mini-game, which has been fleshed out quite significantly. While the classic Final Fantasy VII version was a fairly simply experience, the remade version has a rhythm game element to it where buttons are pressed in specific timing to ensure the character maintains balance.

The PlayStation TGS stream is ongoing and, at the time of writing, the footage hasn’t been released online through official channels. However, you can watch fan captures like the one above.

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Tokyo Game Show 2019 is now in full swing. A number of games are being shown at the event and among them is Death Stranding. Over the course of the show game director Hideo Kojima will appear on three streams to showcase gameplay from Death Stranding. The first provided more insight into more of Death Stranding’s open-world gameplay, which involves navigating mountainous terrains to deliver goods and even sneaking through bases, which will be a welcome treat for fans of Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid titles. The second Death Stranding demo, meanwhile, focused on the safe house; a private area of sorts where players will spend time between missions.

As shown in the demo, in this area you don’t actually play as Norman Reedus’s character, Sam Porter Bridges. Instead, you play as a “soul” that commands his actions. The player has free reign over the camera and Sam will react to your movements. During the presentation, Kojima compared it to a Bishojo Game, where it’s about interacting with the character on screen. In the demo Sam was pointing at where he wants to go, such as the shower because he was covered in dirt or the storage area where weapons are kept, where he can stock up and inspect his tools.

Since Sam is basically at home in the safe house and you can observe him with less pressure of being set upon by the strange things that occupy the world outside. Opportunists who try and swing the camera around to look at Norman’s Reedus, when the chance arises, will find that he covers his bits up. Keep trying to look at his junk and eventually he’ll lose his cool and punch you, which results in the lens of the camera cracking.

As the soul influencing Sam’s action, you can get him to shower. Given that it’s a Kojima Production game, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to hear that the act of taking a shower has some unexpected gameplay implications too. The biological fluid collected from your showers is converted into a crystal which can then be used to power weapons. This process also happens outside of the shower–it seems Death Stranding takes place in a world where effectively using your pee, poop, sweat, and blood is important to survival.

Another interesting element of Death Stranding shown during the demo was Sam’s interaction with the enigmatic Bridge Baby, also known as a BB. The child is shown mimicking what Sam does, so when he taps on the glass, BB does the same. But then BB gets a bit too into it and escalates to smashing its head against the glass, eventually breaking through–but it turns out to be a daydream.

Death Stranding will also let players return to the game world after the credits roll and help out fellow players by leaving things that will guide them on their journey. As shown in the first gameplay demo, players will be able to rate these.

There are a number of other small things revealed in the demo, such as the ability to wear sunglasses and customize aspects of your character. One such thing you can customize is your backpack, which you can add additional pouches or batteries to. Players will have to physically place them and use limited space efficiently. It’s reminiscent of the inventory from Resident Evil 4. You can also change the color of the backpack, if you’re into that sort of the thing.

Eventually, Sam points at the table and directs your attention there. On the table are a number of items, including a jar with some sort of bug in there, which Sam eats. There’s also a pretty rad-looking pair of sunglasses, which Sam puts on and models, before giving a thumbs up to the camera. A hat with the Bridges logo can also be found on the table, and the colors of the glasses and hat can be tweaked.

On a nearby wall is a holographic map of the world, where players can look at main missions, read important mail–which sometimes feature mission hints, requests, or general correspondence. There’s a data archive that contains important documents that will fill the player in on the world and story.

Much later in the game demo, we’re shown a scene from the viewpoint of a BB, who is seeing Mads Mikkelsen’s character drinking wine. He talks to the BB and then toasts it, before taking a sip of the wine–it’s a bit weird and out of place, but it’s Death Stranding, so to be expected. A quick cut later and we’re back in the open-world, customizing voice clips that alert Sam to key information, selecting music, and

There are a number of cool little touches in the location which you can see for yourself in the video. These include a music player, drinkable beer, singing with characters in other dimensions, and a mirror that takes pictures of you when you pose and make funny faces, among other things.

Make sure to watch the first presentation too, if you haven’t already. It’s around an hour of Death Stranding gameplay and showed off a boss battle, bike travel, and more.

Death Stranding’s release date has been confirmed as November 8, 2019 for PS4.