Update: 02/03/2022: It Takes Two has now sold more than ten million copies, doubling its five million record set this time last year.
Announced on developer Hazelight Studios’ Twitter (below), the team said “our minds are officially blown” as they celebrated the impressive number.
“Potentially twice as many players have enjoyed our game,” it added. “We never dared to dream of so many fans. Thank you for all the love.”
Our minds are officially blown.#ItTakesTwo has sold over 10 (TEN!) MILLION 😳💥
Potentially twice as many players have enjoyed our game – we never dared to dream of so many fans! Thank you for all the love. 😍 pic.twitter.com/GzF1UL7ZUn
Original Story: 02/07/2022: It Takes Two has sold five million copies, including two million since October, developer Hazelight Studios has announced.
The developer tweeted (below) that “our team is absolutely stunned just thinking about how many players have now enjoyed our game.”
Hazelight previously announced on October 13 that the award-winning co-op game had passed three million units sold, showing that It Takes Two had a strong holiday period performance with at least two million sales.
5… that’s FIVE million copies of #ItTakesTwo sold! 😳💥🥳
Our team is absolutely stunned just thinking about how many players have now enjoyed our game! 😍
We called the game “amazing”, saying “It Takes Two is a spectacular co-op adventure that lays down a path of great gameplay ideas and uses it to play a giddy game of hopscotch.”
A little while ago, we put up a list of our favorite shoot-em-ups in Hamster’s Arcade Archives line-up. There are hundreds of games available thanks the weekly releases, so it can be a little hard to find the cream of the crop if you’re coming in a little late. Shooters were of course mainstays in the arcade heyday, but in the mid-80s another popular genre rose up: the beat-em-up. The brawler. The belt-scroller. So many names, but the important thing is that it involved one or more people beating the stuffing out of a veritable army of opponents as they made their way through various locales. There are many of them in Arcade Archives, but these are the ones we like the best.
Renegade ($7.99)
Let’s start by paying some homage to the grandfathers of the genre. By adding some depth to the proceedings, Renegade essentially added one of the last major component the beat-em-up genre needed. It spawned the Kunio-kun/River City and Double Dragon franchises. And despite being such an early example of a brawler, it’s still a lot of fun to play. The enemies are merciless and you don’t have a lot of room to maneuver, but your extensive list of moves is no joke, either. Sending enemies sailing off the edge of the subway platform or into the water never gets old.
Double Dragon ($7.99)
And here’s the last big piece of the beat-em-up puzzle: simultaneous multiplayer. Double Dragon is an icon of the genre, and for good reason. It takes you on an impressive journey through the streets, a construction site, a forest, and a wild enemy hideout, throwing all manner of bizarre foes at you along the way. You can go it alone or bring a friend, though be prepared for some heavy slowdown if you take the latter route. Still, it’s worth it just to see what happens if Billy and Jimmy manage to take down the last boss together. I really love the way the basic punches feel in this game, and just the way hits land in general.
64th Street ($7.99)
Zipping ahead a bit, we have an effort from Jaleco that doesn’t do a lot to hide its inspirations. For the most part, 64th Street follows the template established by Capcom’s Final Fight. It has a cool 1940s gumshoe vibe to it, and the set piece that makes up the climax is definitely worth seeing. But the real fun in this game comes from its key gameplay twist: you can throw enemies into the background. Sometimes it damages or breaks objects or walls, revealing items. Sometimes it sends enemies sailing into the water. The bosses are incredibly cheap, but the game ends up being a blast anyway.
Sengoku 3 ($7.99)
Releasing in 2001, Sengoku 3 is one of the later NEOGEO releases from SNK. It’s also likely the pinnacle of the genre on SNK’s unique console, offering up a nice selection of characters, excellent graphics, some interesting stages to go through, and wild boss fights. There’s an emphasis on building combos in this game, which isn’t something you tend to see in arcade games in this genre. You can also pick up an assortment of throwable objects and make use of them to defeat your foes. While it loses the unique character-switching mechanic of earlier Sengoku games, this is still the best in the series.
Crime Fighters ($7.99)
Konami created some of the most popular, celebrated arcade brawlers to ever exist. Unfortunately, most of them have licenses attached to them so the Arcade Archives selection is a bit more limited. Still, if you want to see where Konami really got the ball rolling on its particular brand of beat-em-up, here is Crime Fighters. It has many of the characteristics of later Konami brawlers like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Simpsons, but in a more prototypical form. A tough one, but worth playing.
Vendetta ($7.99)
A couple of years later, Konami followed up Crime Fighters with Vendetta. Only a short span of time, but it was huge for this genre and Vendetta shows it. Choose from expies of Mike Tyson, Hulk Hogan, Mr. T, and Jean-Claude Van Damme and head out to defeat the Dead End gang. This game makes the bold choice to remove regular jumps which forces you to think differently about crowd control. In exchange, you’re given a wide array of surprisingly brutal moves to dispatch your enemies with. Up to four players can join in on this one, too.
Zero Team ($7.99)
Most of the games on this list come from familiar names like Technos, Konami, SNK, and Tecmo. Unless you’re particularly well-versed in arcade history, you probably haven’t heard of Seibu Kaihatsu. It’s largely known for its Raiden series of vertical shooters, but it made a few other games that don’t seem to get much attention. Zero Team is its entry into the brawler genre, and it’s another one with four-player support. The gameplay is easy to pick up and very enjoyable, and it’s one of the more colorful and silly games on this list.
Mutation Nation ($7.99)
Mutation Nation is a guilty pleasure of mine. It’s not like it does anything particularly fancy with its gameplay, though its assortment of cool super moves aren’t too shabby. Mechanically, it does what you would expect and not much more. But it leans into its theme really well, with some wild enemy designs that sometimes mutate mid-fight and really cool bosses. It looks really good for a NEOGEO game, and the soundtrack has some nice kick to it as well. This is another really fun trip to take with a friend, but cracking mutant heads solo is a good time, too.
Ninja Gaiden ($7.99)
Of the three games carrying the name Ninja Gaiden, this is probably the least successful and least remembered. But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad game. It’s actually quite good, albeit a little different in feel from most other beat-em-ups. You have a set of moves appropriate to a ninja, and your journey through a pop culture view of America is hilarious and interesting. Put on your ninja duds and find out the one story of Ryu Hayabusa that you probably don’t know.
P.O.W.: Prisoners of War ($7.99)
Before there was NEOGEO, SNK mostly made games about war. It was a popular thing in the 1980s, and SNK made almost as much bread from it as Capcom did. The biggest hits were vertical run-and-guns like Ikari Warriors, T.N.K., and Guerilla War, but there was one side-scrolling beat-em-up that managed to break through a bit. You play as a P.O.W. who takes matters into his own hands and not only breaks out but actually brings down the whole enemy operation. Another early example of the genre, but a great one all the same. Bring a buddy for maximum carnage.
And that’s the lot, friends. I hope this list helps you find some new games to play, and if you have any Arcade Archives beat-em-ups you would like to recommend, please comment below. We’re all looking for more good stuff to add to our libraries, after all. Thanks again for reading!
The bad news is that The Last of Us Part 1 (opens in new tab) on PC, which had been set to launch on March 3, is delayed. The good news is that the delay is brief as these things go, just a few weeks, and it’s now set to come out on March 28.
The delay, believe it or not, was apparently prompted at least in part by the popularity of the HBO show (opens in new tab), which has brought the game back into pop culture prominence and exposed it to a whole new audience.
“Hearing your love for the HBO adaptation, seeing your beautiful Photo Mode shots, and learning about how the world and characters our studio created nearly a decade ago continue to reach new and old fans alike floors us every day,” Naughty Dog said. “We know a lot of you have been revisiting the story that started it all with The Last of Us Part 1 on PlayStation 5 console, and we realize that many of you have been excited to jump in—some for the first time—when Part 1 hits PC.
“And so we want to make sure that The Last of Us Part 1 PC debut is in the best shape possible. The additional few weeks will allow us to ensure this version of The Last of Us lives up to your, and our, standards. We are so excited to bring The Last of Us Part 1 to a new platform, reaching new and returning players with Joel and Ellie’s unforgettable story of survival, and we hope that you’ll continue to look forward to its PC release on March 28.”
It’s a weird statement, right? It’s one thing for a team to say it needs more time than it anticipated to get things right, but something else entirely to imply that they were ready to gun this thing out the door in whatever half-assed shape they could smack it into until the TV show became a hit. I can’t decide if this is pure cynicism or brutal honesty: Is Naughty Dog camouflaging development headaches in a warm cloak of boundless love for the fans, or just admitting that it’s only really going hard because everyone is paying attention?
There is a third possibility, and this is what I’m hoping for: After seeing the massive success of episode 3 of the HBO show, which went deep into the relationship between Bill and Frank (opens in new tab) (something the game doesn’t explore), Naughty Dog is expanding the narrative to embrace their story as canon. I know, three weeks isn’t enough time to make big, meaningful changes, but I think it should happen and so I’m putting it out there.
(Image credit: Naughty Dog)
(opens in new tab)
Whatever the case, March 28 is now the big day. The Last of Us on PC is available for pre-purchase now on Steam (opens in new tab) and the Epic Games Store (opens in new tab), both of which currently still indicate a March 3 release date.
Last week, we asked you to head back into the deadly world of The Last of Us Part I and share moments using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:
IROBot616 shares A black and white portrait of Joel
Photoingame shares A portrait of Bill against a pink and red sky
Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?
THEME: Season: A Letter to the Future
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on February 8, 2023
Next week, we’re hopping on our bikes and riding through Season: A Letter to the Future. Share the beautiful sights and scrapbook pages you’ve created using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured: #PSshare #PSBlog
In the original Dead Space, it was very much the intent that you would live in Isaac’s big, heavy, stompy boots. From the second you took control of his tortured body and failing mind, the designers at Visceral wanted you to really embody him. To live through his horror, to see this ruined world in the same way he does. It’s not enough to subject you to what he sees – the plague of Necromorphs eating away at the heart of the USG Ishimura. No, Visceral wanted to go deeper than that. Through the eyes, and into the brain.
// video // – Dead Space (2023) isn’t just a treat for the eyes; it’s a whole body experience.
And it worked. In the original game, there was a system in place that mimicked Isaac’s breathing and heart rate. If there was a scripted scare coming up, or if you’d taken a lot of damage, or had run from some unknowable terror deep in the guts of the ship, his heart rate would increase and his breathing would become ragged.
In the original, 2008 release of the game, this system was rudimentary – but effective. There were only a few states for both heart rate and breathing that could be, more or less, organised into three distinct categories: resting, stressed, and extreme. Still, despite this fairly binary setup (where sound effects sometimes even played over each other in a kind-of sonic melee), you’d find yourself matching the breathing pumped into your headset, or broadcast from your speakers. If Isaac was on the brink of death, gasping for air with his heart rate unhealthily above resting, you’d probably find yourself getting physically excited, too. That’s what we’re like, as humans – you can’t help but empathise.
Play this game with a heart monitor, and you’ll definitely notice some patterns.
The Dead Space Remake, arriving some 15 years later, had the opportunity to build on this remarkable idea. The original game had laid the foundations for a horror experience that toyed with your body as much as it did your mind, and now EA Motive had the chance to really dive into that – to build more architecture on the solid foundations established by Visceral’s Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey back on the 360/PS3.
“It’s finding that sweet spot where it happens enough that you notice it,” says Roman Campos-Oriola, creative director on the Remake, when we ask him how you make a tool like this work only when necessary – so it’s not something you become attuned to, immune to. “So it depends on the atmosphere of a specific section. We want that section to be tense. You should feel like it’s hard on Issac. But! It’s not scripted. It’s a whole new system. That’s the kind of value we want.”
The Dead Space Remake uses what the devs call the ALIVE system in order to direct the horror experience. That acronym neatly breaks down into “Adrenaline, Limbic System Response, Intelligent Dialogue, Vitals, and Exertions”, and is the design bible Motive referred to when trying to recreate an authentic horror experience for you and Isaac to endure.
“The reaction is Issac’s reaction, we did not try to mimic the player’s reaction,” says Campos-Oriola, when asked whether the studio tried to predict player response when it constructed the game. “But what we tried to do with a lot of systems like the ALIVE system is we tried to make the ship more alive. That also applies to Issac — we tried to make him react in a more dynamic way.
“He reacts to more elements, like breathing and exertion, that kind of thing. The way he reacts to them; we tried to make it more immersive and widespread.”
There’s so much going on in Dead Space, under the helmet.
Rather than the binary way the original game dealt with exertion and response, the Remake has a more granular approach: there are more sound effects for different levels of exhaustion or damage, there are more types of breath he can take, ‘damage breathing’ won’t play over ‘exertion breathing’, and so on. The result is – the studio hopes! – a character that reacts more like a man in Isaac’s situation would, rather than a video game mannequin that has a cycle of states it could flit through.
“It’s tricky because you run a lot in the game, so it’s definitely something that you don’t want to trigger every time you sprint down a corridor. But it’s something you don’t want to hear often enough that you notice it’s there, so it impacts the atmosphere of the game. Tweaking those values has been a bit of a back and forth.”
Campos-Oriola explains that sometimes the testers would run for 10 metres, escaping a surprise encounter with a Necromorph, or something, and “Issac would go ‘HUFF HUFF HUFF’ [laughs] It’s a bit too much!” jokes Campos-Oriola. “Also sometimes you’d run around the ship in a big fight and he’d barely be breathing, and we’d be like ‘hmmm, maybe it’s not enough’.”
This iteration resulted in a system that’s more authentic and human than the one we saw in the original game. The soundtrack for the game was specifically designed to elicit feelings of anxiety and dread, and the audio programming designed around Isaac compounded that. The end result is a game that frightens and thrills you not just with action and visuals, but with sound and psychology, too.
Will we get to revisit the ALIVE system in Dead Space 2 Remake? We’ll have to wait and see.
“A good example [of all this working together], for me, is the Chapter 2 Quarantine,” explains Campos-Oriola. “It’s quite a huge room with a lot of enemies. As you fight in that room, run around and kite them, find stuff in your environment to throw at them, etcetera, we want you and Issac to start breathing heavy — that’s the immersion we want to have. And we do have benchmarks throughout the game that help us set these values.”
Campos-Oriola and the rest of the team at Motive made good use of playtesters in making sure all these tiny moving parts worked in unison to get in your head as you explore the USG Ishimura. Taking the kernel of an idea and polishing it up to modern standards in this way is a unique strength afforded to Remakes of this prestige (just look at what The Last of Us, Part 1 did with accessibility), and a cast iron defence of them in the modern gaming landscape. For Motive and Dead Space, the ALIVE system is more than just a cool bit of technology; it’s the beating heart of the game’s identity.
The PC launch of The Last of Us Part I has been delayed by a few weeks. Instead of releasing on March 3, the game now arrives on March 28.
Naughty Dog wants more time to polish up the PC port, as stated in a message posted to Twitter that you can read in full below (click the image to enlarge).
The Last of Us Part I launched for PlayStation 5 last fall and serves as a ground-up remake of the 2013 title. It features improved graphics, reworked controls, improved enemy A.I., and a remade version of the Left Behind DLC chapter. The remake helped usher in the premiere of The Last of Us HBO series last month, which has been heavily watched and received heaps of praise thus far. The show’s second season has already been confirmed.
Welcome to Next Week on Xbox! In this weekly feature we cover all the games coming soon to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows, and Game Pass! Get more details on these upcoming games below and click their profiles for further info (release dates subject to change). Let’s jump in!
Craft every building, room, and path – just make sure the layout makes efficient use of the power grid and water systems. Work on rehabilitating prisoners by sending them to a variety of therapies, from a zero-gravity room to a hologram room to dance therapy. Help these inmates address their problems and return them to society!
Tile-based puzzle game with smooth and challenging gameplay, old-school isometric graphics, and excellent music. Prizma Puzzle Prime includes content from past games, new elements, enhanced graphics, visual and sound effects.
Solve jigsaw puzzles in a refreshing reinterpretation of a beloved classic within a beautiful style of wonderland! Featuring 12 beautiful illustrations created by Katia Numakura, with inspiration from “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll.
A frenetic minimalist “boss rush” where understanding the enemy attack patterns and weaknesses is key to success. Each room is a surprise and each boss a different challenge with unique mechanics. Use your power ball to defeat them and beware of their attacks — you won’t have a break.
A multiplayer escape room game that can be played competitively, co-op, or solo. While visiting a well-renowned doctor, you notice something is amiss at his office, but before you realize what’s going on, he drugs you and you fall asleep. When you wake up, you’re sitting on a chair in the back room, locked, and unable to get out of the building. Can you figure out what’s going on and escape before it’s too late?
In this open-world action RPG set in the world first introduced in the Harry Potter books, you’ll embark on a journey through familiar and new locations as you explore and discover magical beasts, customize your character and craft potions, master spell casting, upgrade talents and become the wizard you want to be. Make allies, battle dark wizards, and decide the fate of the wizarding world!
Aliens are among us! Can you find traces of them on Earth, the Moon, and the edges of the galaxy? Find all the clues to prove the existence of alien civilizations and discover how making fried eggs can end up in a monster attack! This hidden object game lets you see the world through an alien TV show while following the adventures of Earth resident Shaun. He must prove the existence of aliens no matter what!
In this dramatic point and click adventure game, we’re introduced to Oliver, a former criminal, who starts to suffer remorse from the terrible deeds of his past and has since developed a dependence on alcohol. One day while in a small shop, he is a witness to a robbery committed by a young girl. Feeling this is his opportunity to atone for his sins, he reaches out to help her. But who really needs help and who is the victim?
Score field goals, touchdowns, and show who is the greatest football pinball player. Discover all the missions and secrets, including a secret arena match where your abilities will be tested.
On February 22, the enhanced version of Pistol Whip relaunches on PlayStation VR2. This Day one title — intensified by exclusive haptic feedback — will define just how physical a physical action rhythm game can be.
PS VR2 users will benefit from internal upgrades like SSD optimization, which reduces load times and scene transitions; however, the focus today is Pistol Whip’s iconic gameplay, made more immersive than ever, thanks to haptic feedback.
The reimagined PlayStation VR2 Sense Controllers, equipped with finger touch detection and a six-axis motion sensing system, create a more realistic firing experience: discover unique reload SFX for different weapons and changing resistance, including a haptic for dry fire. Additionally, three kinds of melee SFX provide varying sensations when Pistol Whipping different enemies.
“When implementing the adaptive triggers, we found a number of ways to provide controller feedback,” Explains Mike L., lead haptics engineer for PS VR2. “Now players will feel an increasing resistance as they pull the trigger, flattening out shortly before drawing it far enough that the weapon fires, at which point resistance drops to zero.”
The PS VR2 headset’s native vibrations work in conjunction with controller feedback and 3D audio, which respond to in-game impact – or near misses. By dynamically adjusting sound positioning, players will hear and feel bullets whizz by their heads.
With a roadmap that suggests plenty of new Pistol Whip content coming this year, lucky PlayStation VR2 users can download this shiny new edition right away; just in time to practice for the upcoming releases.
Fishing mini-games make just about any game better. There’s something meditative about being close to the water, waiting in silence for a catch, and mashing buttons to reel them in – plus I don’t need to deal with the horrendous smell from behind the safety of my desk. The indie game Dredge subverts what I like about fishing games, with an eerie eldritch horror waiting beneath the ocean’s surface. We won’t need to wait long before we see what’s under there as Dredge releases on March 30th.
Launching their plans for the rebooted DC Universe this week, DC Studios co-chairmen James Gunn and Peter Safran reiterated their desire to bring DC superhero games, as well as film and TV, into a single, connected universe. They also suggested that they wanted the same actors to play characters across all media.
“One of our jobs is to come in and make sure the DCU is connected, in film, television, gaming, and animation,” Gunn said in an official video. “That the characters are consistent, played by the same actors, and it works within one story.”
Not everyone thinks this is a great idea. Commenting on gaming’s integration with the DC Universe, Jake Solomon, director of the recent Firaxis game Marvel’s Midnight Suns, said it would make game development harder, as well as threatening the livelihoods of video game voice actors.
“This would have been a nightmare for us on Midnight Suns,” Solomon said on Twitter, “I understand the desire (I think) but movies and games are so, so different. And the pressure this puts on the amazing voice actors in the games space?” Solomon went on to predict the proposed integration wouldn’t happen. “Different universes. And that’s how they should/will stay.”
This would have been a nightmare for us on Midnight Suns. I understand the desire (I think) but movies and games are so, so different. And the pressure this puts on the amazing voice actors in the games space? Different universes. And that’s how they should/will stay. https://t.co/grKQGkhCsl
Solomon isn’t going out on a limb here. The view that games based on big properties should follow their own continuities and release schedules, rather than tying into film releases, has been accepted as best practice in the industry for over a decade. The creative and logistical freedom this approach grants game studios has allowed the likes of Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham series, or Insomniac’s Spider-Man games, to become massive franchises in their own right, despite overlapping with popular film iterations of the same characters.
Marvel Studios hasn’t had the same success with its own game licensing efforts. (Spider-Man’s video game licensing rights are held separately, by Sony.) But even Disney and Kevin Feige have resisted trying to tie the likes of Crystal Dynamics’ Marvel’s Avengers into the Marvel Cinematic Universe continuity, and it sounds as though future Marvel projects — which include an Insomniac Wolverine game, an Iron Man game from EA’s Motive studio, and a World War II-set Captain America and Black Panther game from Amy Hennig’s Skydance studio — are freestanding games built on the Arkham/Spider-Man model.
Gunn and Safran haven’t said much about their plans for integrating games with the DCU yet. In an in-house DC interview, Gunn appeared to want to split the difference, proposing games that would fit the canon (and fill gaps in the release schedule) while still telling stories that can stand on their own.
“It’s not like we’re going to have the Superman movie come out and have this Superman game come out,” Gunn said. “It’s more like we’ll have the Superman film come out, then maybe two years later, we have the Supergirl movie coming out. So, what’s the story in between there? Is there a Krypto game that we can play that comes in between them? Something that’s still set in the world with these characters, but is its own thing.”
If Gunn is proposing, even as a hypothetical, slotting a game about Krypto the Superdog between two major in-development movies, it doesn’t speak that well of his opinion of the gaming medium or his grasp of game production schedules. Fortunately for him, he has an easy out. There’s nothing to say the DC Elseworlds label, which will be applied to Matt Reeves’ sequel to The Batman and Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux, can’t be applied to games too. Expect this to appear on Rocksteady’s forthcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League — and, perhaps, once Gunn and Safran’s plans meet reality, the majority of DC game releases in the future.
“Today we are announcing that Season 9 will be Knockout City’s final season,” Knockout City director Jeremy Russo writes in a blog post. “Then, on the morning of June 6, 2023, over two years after our initial launch, all servers around the world will be shut down and the game will no longer be playable.”
Russo writes that the game’s final season will be jam-packed with new content, an “epic send-off both in and out of the game,” and even a private server version on PC so that Knockout City can be enjoyed by players who host their own server forever.
As for why, Russo writes that Velan has learned a lot about multiplayer live-service games through Knockout City and that despite 12 million players and billions of KOs in-game, “there are several aspects of the game in need of a major disruption to better attract and retain enough players to be sustainable.”
“Since we are a small, indie studio, it’s simply impossible for us to make those kinds of systemic changes in the live game while continuing to support it,” Russo continues. “So it became clear to us that we needed to take a step back and pave the way for Velan to do what we do best by innovating.”
Now, Velan plans to take everything it’s learned over the course of Knockout City’s lifetime and apply it to “other games and product we are very excited about.” Russo writes that the team is currently in the process of doing a “comprehensive retrospective on every aspect of the game, all the community feedback and analytics data, and even our development processes” with the hope that “sometime in the not-too-distant future, all this information can be used to start work on what comes next in the Knockout City universe.”
On February 28, 2023, Season 9 of Knockout City will begin with the final planned update, Version 9.0. Season 9 will run 12 weeks with six back-to-back events featuring some of the studio’s most creative cosmetics yet, fresh new twists on several of fan-favorite playlists, an event focused exclusively on League Play, and a super-sized two week Midnight Madness where the community will pick the two playlists they want to play to close out the last season. There will be a new map to accompany the new Brawl Pass and Deep Space storyline as well.
On the same day, all real-money transactions will be removed from the game. To make up for this, though, Velan says it has packed every event in Season 9 with rewards for XP, Style Chips, and thousands of Holobux. Every event will feature a massive sale shop with huge discounts, Russo writes, and almost every cosmetic the team has made will make an appearance in the shop at some point in Season 9.
“On May 23, just after our two-year anniversary, Season 9 ends and our final 2-week farewell event begins, which we’re calling Thanks for the KOs,” Russo writes. “This will be one final in-game celebration of Knockout City, featuring Triple XP, massive rewards, and the return of the community’s favorite playlist, Superpowers: Power Grab. Then, at 12 p.m. UTC on June 6, 2023, the event ends and all servers will be permanently shut down.”
Russo ends the blog post with a big thank you to all of Knockout City’s players, which you can read, in full, below:
On a personal note, announcing the end of Knockout City is a bittersweet moment for me. While this is the end of a two-year journey for some of you, I and a handful of others on the team have been living in Knockout City for over six years. I am so proud of the team at Velan for creating such a wild new game with such critical acclaim at launch, for creating a brand new engine from scratch that’s capable of doing things no other engine can do over the internet, for creating what I think are some of the most creative (and hilarious) cosmetics of any live-ops game on the market, and for keeping the game running, evolving, and improving for two years straight. I’m also so grateful to all of you, the players, for being the most positive and supportive game community any of us have ever seen, for dedicating your time to talking to us on Discord, Twitch, and elsewhere, for teaching me new tricks in my own game every time you beat me down in a match, and for putting up with me when I’m laying on that Taunt button a bit too much!
Thank you, brawlers, for all your passion and support these past few years. I hope you all enjoy the final season of Knockout City, and I’ll see you out there!
We really enjoyed Knockout City when we reviewed it back in 2021, giving it an 8.5 out of 10. You can read Game Informer’s review right here. We even called it the best sports game of 2021.
Getting your hands on all of the necessary ingredients to cook everything in Disney Dreamlight Valley will definitely take some work. In some cases, these ingredients may even require you to complete a few tasks around the valley before you can even gain access to them. Such is the case with Coconuts–but don’t fret, as we’ll fill you in on how to get your hands on plenty of them.
How to get Coconuts in Disney Dreamlight Valley
The first step to getting coconut trees is to befriend Maui, which will require you to head over to the Moana realm and complete a series of objectives that entice him to make his home in your valley.
When Maui has moved to your valley, reach friendship level 2 with him to unlock his first quest “Burying the Eel.” This quest will ask you to speak with Goofy and round up a few items for him, including x3 Worms and x8 Softwood. Dig up the worms at the cracked spots on the ground near the water in Peaceful Meadow, and gather the Softwood near trees basically anywhere in the game.
Once you unlock these tropical trees, just walk up to them and forage for some coconuts.
Take the worms and wood to a crafting station to make an Eel Trap, then head down to the dock on Dazzle Beach to place it in the water. After doing so, fish nearby to reel in an eel, which you can then take back to Maui.
Maui will ask you to plant the eel, so dig a spot somewhere in your valley and bury the fish there, then water it repeatedly until it finally sprouts into a coconut tree. Once it does, you can harvest Coconuts from it, allowing you to both complete Maui’s quest and begin cooking dishes that require the fruit. Additionally, more coconut trees will spawn on the beach for further harvesting.
For more on Dreamlight Valley, check out our comprehensive guides hub.
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stunning graphics, and diverse roster of monstrous creatures. Monster Hunter Rise is set in a vibrant and dynamic world that is filled with dangerous creatures and challenging quests. The game is designed with multiplayer in mind and allows players to embark on epic adventures with their friends and fellow hunters. The multiplayer component of Monster Hunter Rise is seamless and effortless, allowing players to easily join up with other players and embark on their quests together. The game features a vast and diverse range of multiplayer modes, including local and online co-op, making it easier than ever to team up with others and take on the toughest challenges that the game has to offer.
Monster Hunter Rise introduces several new gameplay mechanics that add even more excitement and depth to the already engaging gameplay. The game introduces the new “Wirebug” mechanic, which allows players to quickly traverse the environment and execute complex aerial combos. The game also introduces new weapons and armors, as well as an entirely new type of companion called “Palamutes.” These faithful beasts can be ridden into battle and provide support to their owners during quests. The world of Monster Hunter Rise is alive and teeming with a variety of different creatures, each with their unique behaviors, abilities, and habitats.
Monster Hunter Rise SunBreak Direct Play:
The game features a massive and diverse roster of monsters, ranging from small and agile creatures to massive and powerful behemoths. Players must study their enemies carefully and learn their patterns and weaknesses if they hope to emerge victorious from their battles. Monster Hunter Rise is a visually stunning game, featuring gorgeous environments and detailed character models that bring the game’s world to life. The game’s soundtrack is equally impressive, featuring an epic and immersive score that perfectly complements the action on the screen. The combination of stunning graphics and immersive sound creates a truly captivating gaming experience that will keep players engaged and entertained for hours on end.
Features and System Requirements:
New challenges
Epic adventures
Different creatures
1 :: Operating System :: Windows XP/7/8/8./10. 2 :: Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-4130 or Core™ i5-3470 or AMD FX™-6100 3 :: Ram :: 8 GB RAM 4 :: DirectX: Version 12 5 :: Graphics:: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 1030 (DDR4) or AMD Radeon™ RX 550 6 :: Space Storage:: 36 GB space
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1 :: Download Game 2 :: Extract Game 3 :: Launch The Game 4 :: Have Fun 🙂
Spire Blast developers Orbital Knight have released Castle Crumble() on Apple Arcade today. If you played Spire Blast you will right at home here, and I think I like it more based on the first few levels I played. It features cannonballs, magic beams, and more as you try and destroy castles with nice haptics. It is going to be interesting to see if it gets updated as often as Spire Blast with new content. Check it out here on Apple Arcade.
Alongside today’s new release, a few notable games have been updates beginning a few days ago until now. Amazing Bomberman adds the Liberabimus stage, mission level 151-200, and new customization parts. Cut the Rope Remastered brings in a winter themed board with 12 new levels and fixes for issues in the prior update. Episode XOXO brings in the first four chapters of The Valentine’s Day Project new original story. JellyCar Worlds gets its first content update since launch bringing in World 7 featuring the grapple ability, the ability to access challenges from many more places, improved UI, and more.
LEGO Star Wars: Castaways adds in an exclusive Clone Wars event to earn minifigure pars inspired by the clones and a chance to take on Fearsome Droidekas in the HoloSim levels. MasterChef: Let’s Cook! adds a new Mix minigame, Valetine’s day themed additions, new challenging ways to cut, pan, and pour, and more. What The Golf? adds in the new Love Birdies special day pack with this week’s update. Charrua Soccer has its anniversary event on with all characters from last year’s events, daily challenges, and more. The Valentine’s Heart Challenge is also featured here for a limited time.
The final update of the week is Solitaire Stories bringing in Tri-Peaks, a remix of the original Pantaloony story, and more. This month will also see three special in-app events — The Pod: Death by AI, Crystal Caverns, and Romeo & Juliet. Check out our forum threads for Amazing Bombermanhere, MasterChef: Let’s Cook!here, Cut the Rope Remasteredhere, What The Golf?here, Charrua Soccerhere, LEGO Star Wars: Castawayshere, Solitaire Storieshere, JellyCar Worldshere, Episode XOXOhere, and Castle Crumblehere. For all Apple Arcade related things, check out our dedicated Apple Arcade forum for discussion on the service and every game included here. What do you think of Apple’s new release today?
On June 6, Velan Studios’ online dodgeball brawler Knockout City will have its servers taken offline, just over two years after going live. Game director Jeremy Russo explained the decision in a special announcement (opens in new tab), writing that, “Despite over 12 million players and billions of KOs around the globe, there are several aspects of the game in need of major disruption to better attract and retain enough players to be sustainable. Since we are a small, indie studio, it’s simply impossible for us to make those kinds of systemic changes in the live game while continuing to support it.”
Last year, Knockout City went free-to-play and independent, leaving behind Electronic Arts, which had published it as part of the EA Originals label. According to SteamDB’s charts (opens in new tab), the switch to free-to-play temporarily bumped its daily player count from under 200 to over 2,000, though that soon dropped down the 200–300 mark where it’s stayed ever since.
Knockout City’s final update on February 28 will bring it up to version 9.0 and mark the beginning of Season 9. “This will be a 12-week season,” Russo writes, “with six back-to-back events featuring some of our most creative cosmetics yet, fresh new twists on several of our best playlists, a whole event focused exclusively on League Play, and a super-sized two-week Midnight Madness where the community will pick the two Playlists they want to play to close out the last Season. There will be a whole new map to accompany an entirely season-themed Brawl Pass and Deep Space Dispatch storyline!”
On the same date, Knockout City’s real-money transactions will be disabled. Season 9’s events will still hand out rewards including its in-game currency, which is called Holobux, and cosmetics will be on sale while rewards will be increased.
When Season 9 is complete on May 23, a final two-week farewell event called “Thanks for the KOs” will run, offering triple XP and the return of a playlist called “Superpowers: Power Grab”. The servers will officially shut down at 12pm UTC/4am PST on June 6, though players on PC will be able to continue playing, Russo writes, as “we’ll be releasing a standalone player-hosted version of the game for Windows PCs. Even after the official servers go offline, Knockout City can continue to be played for eternity by fans that want to host their own servers!” More details on how that will work are still to come.
As for what Velan Studios plans to do next, it may well include something adjacent to Knockout City. “We’re currently in the process of doing a comprehensive retrospective on every aspect of the game,” Russo writes, “all the community feedback and analytics data, and even our development processes. Our hope is that sometime in the not-too-distant future, all this information can be used to start work on what comes next in the Knockout City universe. While we can’t promise that Knockout City will be back, what we can promise is that you’ll continue to see new and innovative games from Velan Studios that will surprise and delight players around the world.”
Home » News » Netflix’s New Anime Sparks Controversy For Using AI-Generated Artwork & Backgrounds
Titled The Dog and the Boy, Netflix’s new animated short film was made by WIT Studio, and the Netflix Japan Twitter account recently tweeted out that the art and background used in the film were AI-generated. It didn’t take long for the backlash to start, especially when you consider that image generation AI has been a huge source of controversy as it’s generally regarded as unethical among animators and artists.
The tweet in question states: “As an experimental effort to help the anime industry, which has a labor shortage, we used image generation technology for the background images of all three-minute video cuts!”
The irony here is that the animation industry has long been plagued with issues like low pay, high stress, long working hours, combined with high demand, resulting in lots of burnout among artists. The tweet from Netflix Japan comes off as a little tone-deaf as a result, as the issue isn’t necessarily the labor shortage itself, as it is the subpar working conditions in general.
Ironically, the credits also list the background designer as “AI + Human”, implying that human artists were involved in creating the art for the film, but the credits don’t seem to reflect that appropriately. Needless to say, Netflix has been met with tons of flak in the tweet replies, as fans and viewers alike are calling for better working conditions for animators and artists instead of relying on AI for image generation.
In this week’s episode of The Game Informer Show, the crew shares exclusive details about the Resident Evil 4 remake while breaking down this month’s cover story. During The Playlist, Blake shares notes from his Hi-Fi Rush review before discussing the changes in the Dead Space remake. At the show’s end, we answer our listeners’ burning questions about Resident Evil 4.
The Game Informer Show is a weekly gaming podcast covering the latest video game news, industry topics, exclusive reveals, and reviews. Join host Alex Van Aken every Thursday for a chat about your favorite games – past and present – with Game Informer staff, developers, and special guests from around the industry. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.
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Game director Jeremy Russo shared the news in a blog post published earlier today, saying the game’s servers will be shut down on June 6, and that after that Knockout City “will no longer be playable”. Or, at least it won’t be in its current form (emphasis mine).
Today we are announcing that Season 9 will be Knockout City’s final season. Then, on the morning of June 6, 2023, over two years after our initial launch, all servers around the world will be shut down and the game will no longer be playable. This was an extremely difficult decision for us, but a necessary and important one for our studio. Before that happens, there are a ton of new updates in store. We’ve got a jam-packed Season 9 full of all the amazing new content you’ve come to expect, an epic send-off both in and out of the game, and even a private server version on PC so Knockout City can live on forever.
While an online game shutting down is always a shame for the community left still playing it at the time, it’s also a reality of this business, even for a game that launched with five million players. When that time inevitably comes, it’s a cruel and disappointing twist that the game usually disappears forever, leaving nothing in its wake except screenshots and memories, and no way for future generations to see what it was all about it.
So the news that Knockout City will be getting a “private server” version on the PC is great, both for fans of the game as well as anyone interested in game preservation (which should be all of you). Russo says this will be “a standalone player-hosted version of the game”, which will be released shortly after the existing version’s shutdown in June.
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If you’re a player, the team will be running all kinds of updates between now and June, which you can read about in more detail here.
Free-to-play, team-based dodgeball game Knockout City is about to be, well, knocked out. According to an official post today, it’s shutting down in June.
We have an important announcement about the future of Knockout City.
Season 9 will be our final Season. All servers will be shut down on June 6th. We have more in store, so stay tuned!
In the full blog post, developer and publisher Velan Studios says that Season 9 will be the final season for Knockout City, with the game shutting down on June 9, 2023 — over two years after launch. This means that all servers will shut down and Knockout City won’t be playable at all.
Beginning February 28 (the same day that Season 9 starts), all real-money transactions will be removed. However, Velan reassures that Season 9 will include copious rewards in the form of XP, style chips, and the currency holobux. Additionally, “almost every cosmetic we’ve ever sold” will end up in one of the upcoming event sale shops, and rewards for login bonuses, league play, and other elements will be increased.
A final, two-week-long event on May 23 will conclude Knockout City’s run with triple XP, “massive rewards,” and a community-favorite playlist.
In its FAQ on the shutdown, Velan did say that a private hosted server version would be released on PC, which should allow players in pre-formed groups to enjoy the game and keep it alive for posterity. However, the live version of the game will be gone.
Notably, game director Jeremy Russo wrote in the same blog post a very detailed explanation for why Velan Studios is opting to shut down Knockout City, saying that it had become extremely challenging for Velan to create a large, live service game with “no points of comparison,” noting that there were many aspects of the game that needed overhauls to become sustainable longterm.
Since we are a small, indie studio, it’s simply impossible for us to make those kinds of systemic changes in the live game while continuing to support it. So it became clear to us that we needed to take a step back and pave the way for Velan to do what we do best by innovating. Now we can take everything we learned, everything that succeeded and everything that needs improvement, and get to work on exploring new possible experiences for Knockout City and other games and products we are very excited about. We’re currently in the process of doing a comprehensive retrospective on every aspect of the game, all the community feedback and analytics data, and even our development processes. Our hope is that sometime in the not-too-distant future, all this information can be used to start work on what comes next in the Knockout City universe. While we can’t promise that Knockout City will be back, what we can promise is that you’ll continue to see new and innovative games from Velan Studios that will surprise and delight players around the world.
It’s been a week of live service game shutdowns, incidentally, with EA announcing Tuesday that Apex Legends Mobile and Battlefield Mobile would be sunsetting soon, and Iron Galaxy almost simultaneously announcing that Rumbleverse would also be closing. Like both Rumbleverse and Apex Legends Mobile, Knockout City was critically praised, with our own reviewer calling it “one of the best team-based PvP games to come out in years.” Hopefully Velan’s able to bring the IP back for another round one of these days.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
If you’ve taken a stroll down to Dazzle Beach in Disney Dreamlight Valley, you’ve probably seen some coral (sea debris) spread around–especially some big pieces blocking the way across the bridge in the center of the biome. That’s pretty annoying, so you’ll want to clear the way quickly, and we’ve got you covered with how to make it happen.
How to get rid of sea debris in Disney Dreamlight Valley
There are two types of sea debris–small and large–so we’ll be taking a look at both here, as they require different steps. Either way, the first step to breaking the sea debris on Dazzle Beach is heading to the Moana realm and following the questline there to befriend Maui.
Small sea debris
As you complete quests for Moana in her realm, you’ll eventually get one called “The Great Maui,” which will ask you to speak to Maui and answer three questions. The answers are below.
“Maui, shapeshifter, Demigod of the wind and sea, hero to all.”
“Magical fish hook that he can use to turn into animals.”
“Story of burying eel guts to create a coconut tree.”
Getting these right will prompt Maui to upgrade your pickaxe so that you can bust open small sea debris.
Busting open these larger pieces of coral will require a second pickaxe upgrade.
Large sea debris
Once you’ve fully completed the Moana realm and Maui has taken up residence in the valley, get his friendship to level 4 to unlock a quest called “A Tale of Stone and Fire.” Follow Maui when the quest begins, then he’ll eventually tell you he needs you to return to his island and gather some things for him.
Return to Moana’s realm and look for the boat on the beach. Open the basket in the sand here to get the items Maui needs, then return to him. He’ll then ask you to make him a 5-star meal, so pick one you feel is reasonably achievable with the ingredients you have available and make it for him.
When you take the 5-star meal back to Maui, he’ll finally upgrade your pickaxe a second time, allowing you to break up that large sea debris blocking the bridge.
Both types of coral will continue to spawn around Dazzle Beach each day, so break it up when you see it for extra Sand for crafting. And hey–don’t forget to wrap up the rest of Maui’s quest after getting the pickaxe upgrade.
For more on Dreamlight Valley, check out our comprehensive guides hub.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
