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“There was a similar IP that was already established,” lead producer Bill LaCoste tells me when I ask him, on a bit of a whim, whether there’s anything he learned while working on NBA Jam in the early 2000s that still applies to his current work on Fallout 76. “We had to rebuild a lot of that from scratch ourselves, and it was really like, ‘how do we maintain consistency’, because, at the time, we weren't associated with Midway – we just had the licence to do NBA Jam. So, it was like ‘we need to recreate this, we know what makes it fun for people, we know what people are going to enjoy out of this’. With a Fallout game, it's the same thing: there's already lore, there are established timelines that are already there. We have to make sure that we are representing that title correctly.” When Fallout 76 initially launched back in October 2018, in an underwhelming fashion that’s been very well-documented at this point, it stuck out among its Fallout siblings. It was unpopular, and unpopular in ways that LaCoste says he picked up on while playing it at that time – before he joined Bethesda. Then, as part of the process of joining the team a little bit before 2020’s Wastelanders update, LaCoste says he flagged the areas of improvement he’d identified to the development team (in a manner expressly designed to be constructive, by the way). Read more View the full article

While the recent success of Amazon's Fallout TV show has been a boon for all of the series' existing entries, including Fallout 76, it also left a lot of folks wondering when the next big Fallout game - Fallout 5 - might actually arrive. Even if it’s pretty clear that The Elder Scrolls 6 will be arriving before Fallout 5 does, you can't blame Fallout fans - both new and veteran - for having had their imaginations dragged to the future of the wasteland. Especially since Fallout 4 is getting very close to being a decade old. So, during a recent interview with Fallout 76 lead producer Bill LaCoste at a preview for the Skyline Valley expansion, I asked the developer how he feels 76 fits with regards to the wider series at this point, specifically in terms of whether its role is to help bridge the gap between Fallouts 4 and 5. Read more View the full article

Shin Megami Tensei V is the only game where you willingly disclose to a manic ****** with ******** gear whether you’re a top or a bottom. Only a franchise as powerful as Atlus’ obscure, cult-classic JRPG could make you pity a disgustingly rotten, unwanted green ******. I couldn’t get my fix for zany ****** dialogue and utterly unfiltered rejection in any other game. And you’ll be pleased to hear that in crafting Vengeance, Atlus has injected the same wickedly fun cruelty that fans adore the franchise for. But Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance isn’t just the same ol’ snarky Demons making you feel like a ******, now in crispier 4K quality. This isn’t just a polished-up redo of the 2021 sensation. Instead, it’s a full-on revamp. Countless quality-of-life features, impressive new Demons and characters, and a major story overhaul give Shin Megami Tensei V—and Atlus as a whole—a redemption arc. View the full article

The new XDefiant patch, Y1S0.3, finally addresses the issues with snipers and jump/crouch-spamming that plague the game. The June 12 patch is minor overall, mostly making small tweaks in the lead-up to the release of season one on July 2. But the tweaks to some of the most annoying movement features in XDefiant will have a huge effect on the meta. View the full article

We’re fast approaching the sixth year of Fallout 76 and although the popular action RPG has received dozens of additions so far, it could be argued that the upcoming Skyline Valley update will be the most impactful of them all, at least from what I’ve seen of it so far. From the first-of-its-kind map expansion to the ability to finally play as a Ghoul in 2025, here’s six exciting updates coming soon for all you vault dwellers to enjoy. Appalachia is Getting ******* Fallout 76 has previously expanded its scope with new locations like 2022’s The Pitt Expedition and last year’s trip to Atlantic City. But unlike Expeditions, which take you to entirely different locations, Skyline Valley’s more seamless map extension approach means this is the very first time in six years that the core region is being expanded, spreading south into the Shenandoah region. “We [knew] that there was a skirt around the whole map of unused space,” says Fallout 76’s Creative Director, Jon Rush. “And we wanted to do a region expansion for a while. We wanted to make it impactful and really tie it into the story, so [Skyline Valley] just felt like the right time and place.” Previous Expeditions have been very isolated experiences, lacking maps or any real exploration opportunities outside of their specific questlines. Skyline Valley gives wastlanders the first chance to continue their 76 experience in new locations that are part of the main world map. “There are very pointed reasons for going on the Expeditions [with] specific things you're trying to get,” says Rush. “So we wanted an in-world place where [players] could adventure and explore. Camp builders can make new camps [here] and people can come up with their own new stories.” 20 New Points of Interest Skyline Valley isn’t just a side quest. With the map expansion comes 20 new points of interest for players to explore, with some such as Mary’s Rock Tunnel, Rapidan Camp, and Skyline Drive being based on real-world Shenandoah locations. There are also new factions, quests, and activities coming to the expansion, including a new event called ‘Dangerous Pastimes’ that tasks you as a storm chaser trying to power up a giant lightning rod and hopefully kick off an electrical light show. A Brand New Vault to Explore ********* Fallout 76 fans will be no stranger to Vault 63, a bunker that has remained mysteriously closed since launch. Skyline Valley will finally open its giant mechanical door for the first time and let players discover what’s hidden inside. “Why [has] that Vault 63 door been closed for so long?” asks Rush, hinting that the answers are soon to be discovered. “It has drawn so much intrigue and mystery [with fans], ‘What's going on back there? There's something.’” A lot of the true nature of Vault 63 is still a mystery, but what we do know is that Skyline Valley will trigger an incident that finally exposes Vault 63 to the wasteland, catapulting its once-sealed door across Appalachia. As for what’s inside, we know Vault 63 wasn’t completed before the ****** dropped, and so all of its residents were soaked in radiation and turned into (albeit quite content) ghouls. Their leader, Hugo Stolz, looks slightly different, though. Hugo is (at least cosmetically) one of the brand-new ****** types coming with the Skyline Valley update called The Lost. The Lost The Lost are former denizens of Vault 63 who now live out their days as electrified, almost feral ghouls. “The Lost dwell in their own skewed reality,” explains Rush. “[They’re] unable to communicate outside to others and will defend themselves against all outsiders.” Why they’re electrified and why Hugo’s mind hasn’t deteriorated like the rest of his kin is still yet to be explained. But what we do know is that The Lost will regularly roam the Skyline Valley region once Vault 63 is exposed, and are very much the main fodder you’ll have to deal with. They act almost feral-like, with a focused impulsion to hunt you down and swing their melee weapons in your direction. The Lost aren’t the only new ****** types coming to Skyline Valley, though. Storm Goliaths We’ve only seen some short glimpses so far, but the Storm Goliaths are three giant, raging robots that appear to harness bad weather and weaponise it directly into your face. “[Storm Goliaths are] a trio of super-sized robo-brains built by the great minds of Vault 63,” shares Rush, letting on that Vault 63 contains a bevy of bad ideas that have now been unleashed into Appalachia. But it’s not just technical monstrosities you’ll have to tangle with. Skyline Valley continues the tradition of irradiated mutations, with a particular new highlight being the Thrasher; a weird, cow-sized mutant turkey hybrid that now roams the hills of Shenandoah. In a later update coming in 2025, though, you won’t just be fighting radiated nightmares, you’ll become one. Play as a Ghoul For the first time ever, Fallout 76 will give level 50+ players the chance to don the leathery, noseless skin of a ghoul. According to Rush, this is significantly more than a cosmetic appearance. “If you're a ghoul, you're obviously not too concerned about radiation,” he says. “Radiation can actually heal you as a ghoul. It will also be positioned to have other very striking benefits as well, punctuated a bit more by dozens of ghoul-specific perk cards that we're going to be adding.” Rush explains that the key to ensuring playing as a ghoul was far more than a cosmetic experience was realising how it could alter the gameplay for experienced players. “Most players wear power armour to get away from radiation. As a ghoul, you wouldn't want to wear power armour, because [you want the radiation], right? ” explains Rush. “So that encourages a playstyle that doesn't [need] power armour and frees up a ton of perk points that can be used in a bunch of different other ways.” Playing as a ghoul will disrupt the meta for Fallout 76, changing the way players optimise their character and encouraging further, unprecedented experimentation. It’s clearly something that the team at Bethesda have had in their minds for a while, but It feels like no coincidence that this is arriving hot on the heels of Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul in the extremely successful Amazon Prime Video show. With the popularity around ghouls never being higher, it makes sense that fans of the show would want to live out their irradiated fantasies in Fallout 76. Rush also all but confirmed a gameplay mechanic is directly inspired by the show. Fallout on Prime established rules for how a ghoul maintains lucidity, via copious amounts of the *****-like remedy that prevents a downward spiral into the zombie-like, feral status. When asked if regularly drinking the mysterious concoction would be used as a gameplay survival feature he simply replied “Possibly” while maintaining a smile that would make a Vault Boy proud. For more from the Appalachian wasteland, why not check out our documentary about the weird and wonderful community that still plays Fallout 76, including roleplaying cannibals, a Shakespeare troupe and a full-time courier service. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Shin Megami Tensei is one of the longest-running RPG series out there, but despite its storied history, it’s never been as recognized as other genre staples. Even its spinoffs — mainly Persona — have dwarfed the main series in such a huge way that they’ve even dropped the SMT branding from their titles. Fans prop up every new Shin Megami Tensei release as the possible breakout moment for the mainline franchise in the West, and 2021’s Shin Megami Tensei V was seemingly the best chance the series had at reaching a wider audience.Being stuck on the Nintendo Switch and releasing during a remarkably busy holiday season didn’t do Shin Megami Tensei V any favors, though, but now the game is back with a Vengeance. Keeping with typical Atlus tradition, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is an expanded and enhanced version of the original RPG, addressing feedback from the initial release, adding a ton of new features, and — most importantly — releasing on multipl...View the full article

With a map that erodes and grows as the game progresses, Terrorformer TD puts a rather unique spin on the tower defense genre. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

A SimCity 4 player has reached a major milestone, achieving a population of 50 million citizens in their region after over two decades of gameplay. This impressive accomplishment caught the attention of fellow SimCity 4 players, who quickly poured in to congratulate the player on their achievement. View the full article

Ubisoft’s upcoming *********’s Creed Shadows is returning to smaller map sizes instead of going down the enormous open-world route. “It’s about roughly similar to [*********’s Creed] Origins, so it’s smaller than Valhalla in terms of territory,” Simon Lemay-Comtois, associate game director at Ubisoft Quebec, said in an interview with VGC on June 11. “There is some body of water around Japan, but it’s not like Greece was, [which was] half water. With Japan, that’s not the case. We have the coastlines, and Lake Biwa is a very big lake, but [the map’s] roughly the size of Origins.” View the full article

Points for trying something a little different with the life sim genre here. Sally puts you aboard a magic flying ship, which is a bit unusual. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Flow Computing has secured around $4.3 million in venture capital funding from Nordic businesses to pursue an IP that it claims can multiply CPU performance. The company says its Parallel Processing Units (PPUs) can usher in a revolutionary "CPU 2.0" era. Read Entire Article View the full article

Back in the Steam Next Fest of February 2023, a Dungeons and Dragons style old-school, dungeon-crawling multiplayer RPG mixing the looks of Skyrim with the extraction sensibilities of Escape From Tarkov blew up, with a demo peaking at over 100,000 concurrent players. That was Dark and Darker, and after a lengthy ******* absent from the Valve platform due to legal issues it's now back as a free Steam game. Despite a mixed user response to the return, it seems to be holding strong for now, as developer Ironmace works on resolving the divide between free and paid players. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Dark and Darker Steam reviews sink as Ironmace issues new statement Dark and Darker is now free to play and finally back on Steam Part of Dark and Darker goes free to play but still isn't on Steam View the full article

A lot of the times when I play city or colony builders, I eventually get bored of my surroundings. Sure, it's wonderful to see a small town turn into a bustling metropolis, but the hills and the scenery rarely change - Cities Skylines 2 is gorgeous, but it's still, throughout all my trials and tribulations, just a city. Well, in Ark of Charon, a new builder that you can play now, you have to pick up your settlement and move onto a new area every few days. You also carry your entire city on the back of a giant creature. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: New strategy game is a city builder atop a living World Tree sapling View the full article

One of the mission statements of The Final Shape has been Bungie releasing some strange and wonderful new ******* variants into the sandbox. One of the most exciting of these is Lost Signal, aka the legendary Witherhoard... Read more.View the full article

***** of P is one of the more memorable Soulslike games in recent years, as well as a fascinating take on the classic novel The Adventures of Pinocchio. In other words, it's a perfect choice as the latest entry in Dark Horse's ever-growing lineup of video game-themed art books. IGN can exclusively reveal the cover art and first details for The Art of ***** of P. Check out the cover below: The Art of ***** of P is a hardcover book that offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the game, featuring 224 pages of concept art and creator commentary from the employees at ROUND8 Studios. “When we decided to make an art book for ***** of P, we knew we wanted to create something that served as a thank you to our fans while giving a behind-the-scenes peek at the development process for the game,” said Jiwon Choi, Director of ***** of P, in a statement. “The team at Dark Horse Books took our vision for 'The Art of ***** of P' and is crafting something that is truly vibrant and speaks to the love and effort from the team at ROUND8 Studios. We hope it brings joy to our ***** of P community!" The Art of ***** of P is priced at $49.99 and will be released in bookstores on November 12 and comic shops on November 13. Dark Horse also recently unveiled The Making of Halo The Series: Hope, Heroism, Humanity, which explores the making of the first season of the *********/Paramount+ series. In IGN's ***** of P review, Travis Northup scored the game an 8 out of 10, writing, "***** of P might not branch out particularly far from its soulslike inspiration, but like a marionette controlled by a skilled puppet master, it plays the part extremely well in a wonderfully dark fantasy world. It must be said that its uneven difficulty didn’t always make me feel like an underdog, especially when playing as a brawny, overpowered version of Pinocchio with a massive *******, and combat pigeonholed me into a specific playstyle while the levels are less open and twisting than most. But with an awesome ******* crafting system, some really memorable boss fights, and one of the better stories we’ve seen in this genre, I can enthusiastically recommend you spend your time hanging out with Gepetto and friends. If you’ve been waiting for a Bloodborne remaster or sequel that may never come, ***** of P is the next best thing." Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter. View the full article

In Dark and Darker, the only way you’ll get better loot is by smuggling out gear and valuables from the dungeons – but that means you need to leave alive. Here is everything you need to know about exits in Dark and Darker.All exits in Dark and Darker and how to use themThere are five different types of exit in Dark and Darker, and you’ll need to know how to use them all, and when they become available. As each of these varies between each other, and potentially from map to map, make sure to make a note of these mechanics.Each of the following escapes (apart from the portal) will appear on the map at all times as a blue symbol. This means that you’ll have an easy time knowing where they are as long as you keep an eye on your minimap as you explore. Each icon looks how you’d expect them to look, so don’t worry about getting them confused.Stair escape in Dark and DarkerThe stair escape is the simplest escape in Dark and Darker, and i...View the full article

Blue Archive fans keep winning, Nexon has rolled out some localization fixes after fans organized on the official Discord. The localization in question altered a line from Kiryuu Kikyou, a new student who has a one-off line where she mentions wanting to stay close to Sensei to feel their body heat. >********localization gets added […] Source View the full article

It's a complicated situation when it comes to Metal Gear Solid Delta. The upcoming Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater remake doesn't have any input from mastermind Hideo Kojima, and the game's recent Xbox Showcase preview was lacking that ultra-specific visual panache the PS2 original reveled in. However, producer Noriaki Okamura confirms that MGS Delta will come equipped with a Legacy Filter to honor those glorious yellow and green ****** tones. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: MGS3 remake reportedly sneaking away from 2024 release window No one asked for Metal Gear Solid cologne, but we're getting it Metal Gear Solid 3 remake release date speculation, trailer View the full article

Exotic Class Items are exceptional pieces of gear as they offer multiple powerful perks. In short, you want them. Here’s how to farm and unlock the Titan Exotic Class Item Stoicism in Destiny 2.How to get the Stoicism Titan Exotic Class Item in Destiny 2All Exotic Class Items are locked behind a hidden questline in the Pale Heart. The item you get is tied to the class you’re playing, so if you want the Titan’s Stoicism, you must be playing as a Titan.The first part of this quest is to complete an Overthrow at The Landing, Impasse, and Blooming. Once you’ve beaten an Overthrow at each location and the dialogue expires, a mini-boss should spawn somewhere in the area.I use the term lightly because my Fireteam has had horrendous luck with these spawns. I’ve had multiple scenarios where they’ve not appeared, and I don’t have any way to fix them. Fortunately, the bosses spawn in the same places each time, so let me show you the locati...View the full article

An Elden Ring player showed a very simple way to beat the arguably most difficult boss in the game. One of Elden Ring's greatest assets is its enormous, carefully designed world, which includes over 230 bosses. Despite featuring so many different boss fights, players only need to complete 12 main boss instances to complete the main storyline. View the full article

A new Elden Ring comedy manga is on the way, but this time the focus is those NPCs that you probably watched some lore videos about. Back toward the end of 2022, Elden Ring received a manga adaptation, though as series as the game itself is, this take on the Lands Between opted for more of a comedic tone. Well, yesterday, Bandai Namco and FromSoftware announced that a new manga is on the way titled Elden Ring Distant Stories from The Lands Between. This time around, while still taking a comedy approach, the game's numerous NPCs will be the main focus, with the first story focusing on Roderika, who many of you have likely met considering how early you can find her in the game. Haruichi, an artist best known for working on the manga adaptation of Star Wars: Visions and Leia Organa: Ordeal of the Princess, will be the artist and writer behind Distant Stories from The Lands Between. The previous manga, Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree, was handled by Nikiichi Tobita (A Cursed Sword's Daily Life), which was released back in September 2022. This upcoming manga from Haruichi is out quite soon, too, as it's set to launch on Kadokawa's Comic Hu manga website (though there's no word on an English translation just yet). Read more View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Valorant console is finally on the way after Riot announced that its hit tactical FPS would be making the leap to PS5 and Xbox at Summer Game Fest. Now, ahead of this week's console beta, the list of Valorant PS5 Trophies has dropped. Unfortunately, the most fervent hunters will be left disappointed as there's a distinct lack of a Platinum accolade in Valorant PS5 - you'll have to go for that in ranked instead. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Valorant Xbox and PS5 console port release date window, beta, and more This is not a drill, Valorant is coming to Xbox and PS5 this year Best Valorant crosshair codes to help you play like the ***** View the full article

These charging stations pack 320kW of dual-port power, which helps EVs replenish from empty to 80% battery in just 15 minutes. FLO has also designed the chargers to comply with the stringent standards of the federal government's National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program (NEVI) and the Buy America Act. They promise... Read Entire Article View the full article

Publisher Microids and developer Tower Five announced a release date for their Empire of the Ants game. Their ant-fantasy real-time strategy game is launching on November 7th for Windows PC (via Steam), Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. Here’s a rundown on the previously announced game, plus a new trailer: Based on Bernard Werber’s best-seller, Empire of […] Source View the full article

Indie developer Studio Pixel Punk shared a new trailer for ABYSS X ZERO, their new 3D metroidvania game coming to various platforms. Here’s a brief blurb on the previously announced game, plus the new trailer: ABYSS X ZERO is a stylish 3D Metroidvania, with expressive low poly visuals made by the two person indie team […] Source View the full article