Category: Video Gaming

We’re now just one sleep away from the January 26 release of the first Marvel’s Midnight Sun’s DLC*. You’re likely already aware that “The Good, the Bad, and the Undead” adds Deadpool to the Midnight Suns roster of playable Marvel heroes**, but did you know that it also tells the story of how and why the Merc with a Mouth joined the team? Did you know that he employs a unique En Fuego resource on the battlefield, or that his food truck is parked right outside the Abbey? Read on for more details!

Deadpool has his own Story missions

Deadpool joins the Midnight Suns after crossing paths with the Hunter (and Hydra forces, and vampyres, and Red Skull’s granddaughter Sin) while attempting to stealthily liberate an artifact from the NYC Museum of Art. The story of this botched burglary and subsequent confrontations with vampiric enemies plays out across a series of new missions in which Deadpool, fully aware that he’s appearing in a video game, takes things considerably less seriously than his new allies.

“You should expect Deadpool to regularly break the fourth wall, both in and out of combat,” shares Creative Director Jake Solomon. “It’s like playing the game with a mouthy but lovable friend.”

It’s worth noting that while Deadpool’s storyline is separate from the main campaign, you can include him when assembling a team for any mission once he joins the hero roster. And you should, not only because his wisecracks are brilliantly voiced by Nolan North, but also because…

Deadpool can deal SO much damage!

Deadpool’s unique En Fuego resource has the potential to make him increasingly powerful as a mission progresses. Many of his ability cards incorporate the En Fuego keyword and, providing he has at least one stack of En Fuego, these cards are more powerful and/or have additional effects when played.

“If you can maximize Deadpool’s En Fuego bonus, he becomes a ‘one man Delete key’ for enemies,” says Jake. “Watch him draw an absurd amount of cards, shoot five enemies, and then absolutely destroy the biggest, baddest enemy on the map. All in one turn.”

Deadpool’s En Fuego meter is fueled by KOing enemies using his ability cards, granting him an additional stack of En Fuego after earning a number of KOs. However, Deadpool will lose a stack of En Fuego anytime he takes damage. So, while Deadpool’s innate ability to self-heal a percentage of his health each turn means he doesn’t require a babysitter, teaming up with a tanky hero like Captain Marvel or Captain America who can Taunt enemies away from him helps to maximize his damage output.

Eating at Deadpool’s food truck helps you stay Regular alive

When Deadpool joins the Midnight Suns, the team’s secret Abbey base is upgraded to accommodate his flashy Food Truck in a spot by the pool. Emblazoned with a colorful picture of the man himself astride a bearded unicorn, the truck advertises the “World’s Best Turduckens” but actually delivers something far more useful, if not quite as tasty.

“With Deadpool’s Food Truck upgrade you can discard a card from your hand once per encounter to gain a Move,” explains Jake. “This is a huge boon for positioning and using the environment during tactical missions, and Deadpool doesn’t need to be on the mission for your team to use it!”

Furthermore, if you upgrade the Food Truck you’ll gain a Shove as well as a Move when you discard a card, so you can push an enemy towards danger while backing your heroes away from it.

There’s more to Deadpool than violence and cooking

Like other Midnight Suns heroes, Deadpool can be found relaxing in and around the Abbey between missions, and if you’d like to pursue his friendship you can invite him to hang out. Just know that, because of his unstable and unpredictable nature, Deadpool doesn’t merely “like” any hangout activities; he either “loves” or “dislikes” any way that you spend time together!

Does Deadpool strike you as someone who’d enjoy playing video games, or do you think he’d prefer to lounge by the pool? Movie watching or bird watching? Invite him to activities that he enjoys and, once your friendship level with him maxes out, you can unlock his Legendary Midnight Suns ability and suit.

Deadpool’s arrival at the Abbey also affords an opportunity to conduct additional research with Tony Stark and Doctor Strange at the Abbey’s forge. Deadpool has pitched an idea for “basically an energy drink combined with a portable defibrillator” that, once researched, manifests as the new Effort Maximizer combat item that you can take into tactical missions. This Legendary-rarity item has the power to duplicate all of the cards in your hand for a selected hero while discarding all other heroes’ cards.

“The Good, the Bad, and the Undead” DLC for the PlayStation 5 version of Marvel’s Midnight Suns launches on January 26. It’s available for purchase separately and is the first of four DLC packs included in the Marvel’s Midnight Suns Season Pass.

* The Good, the Bad, and the Undead is included with the Legendary Edition of Marvel’s Midnight Suns and is included as part of the Marvel’s Midnight Suns Season Pass. Also available for individual purchase. Base game required.

**Characters may require unlocking through gameplay.

The Last of Us TV show has had a hand in the Naughty Dog-developed game re-entering the game charts in the UK.

Thanks to the show, the game re-entered the charts and saw a huge sales increase.

The Last of Us returned to the charts in 20th place with a 238% uptick in sales week-on-week (thanks, GI.biz). The jump was attributed to the HBO series based on the title, available to watch in the UK via Sky Atlantic.

The Last of Us: Remastered also returned to the charts coming in at 32 with a 322% increase in sales.

HBO’s show is one of the biggest debut series on the platform, narrowly missing out on the number one spot held by the Game of Thrones spin-off, House of the Dragon.

The debut episode saw over 4.7 million viewers, and within one week of availability, that figure jumped to 18 million viewers. Episode 2 viewership jumped 22% with a total of 5.7 million viewers, making it the largest increase for an HBO original series between episodes one and two (via Variety).

Episode 3, titled Long Long Time, will air on Sunday, January 29 at 9pm ET on HBO and HBO Max. It airs Monday, January 30 in the UK at 2am on Sky Atlantic and NOW streaming service.

News

Legendary Disney characters coming to Dreamlight Valley in 2023

Disney Dreamlight Valley has revealed what fans can expect for the first half of 2023, with the release of a content roadmap, which reveals a ton of new characters, missions, Star Paths, and more coming in the next few months.

First up is next month, which will see Encanto’s Mirabel come to the Valley, along with missions that will explore more of the Frosted Heights biome, and a Star Path that celebrates Disney’s 100th anniversary. The road map also hints that Frozen’s Olaf will join the character roster in February’s update.

Next is an update coming to players in April, which will see a new Realm, new characters, and a Star Path that is focused around Disney Parks. Given that Simba is the character the announcement chose to represent April, the characters and Realm in question are almost certainly The Lion King characters. With Scar having been released a few months prior, it makes perfect sense for the rest of the pack to make an appearance at some point.

Finally, there will be an update in Early Summer, which the announcement hints will close up the game’s primary story involving the Forgetting, with missions in the Forgotten Lands biome, while also featuring a new character and a new Star Path. As for who will be joining the Valley, given the description, it is likely Wreck-It Ralph’s Sugar Rush Princess, Vanellope von Schweetz.

That’s not all, though, as Disney Dreamlight Valley will also feature plenty of more updates throughout 2023, which will include new additions such as a multiplayer feature, new characters and Realms, along with more outfits and furniture for players to obtain.

Resisting the Storm is a new quest that arrived in World of Warcraft with the latest Dragonflight patch, 10.0.5. It introduces you to the new Storm’s Fury event in the Primalist Future, which offers currency to use at the Storm’s Fury Quartermaster, Brendormi, to buy gear, a mount, and other cosmetic items.

Some players are reporting problems getting the quest to complete, despite fulfilling the objective of completing the Storm’s Fury event. If you’re stuck trying to finish the WoW Resisting the Storm quest, here’s what you need to know.

WoW Resisting the Storm: How to complete this quest 

Hello Mayors! Henning Sundell and Leon Andersson from Fast Travel Games here with a site analysis for the upcoming launch of Cities: VR – Enhanced Edition. Get ready to plan, build, manage, and enjoy the city of your utopian and dystopian dreams as the all-seeing mayor both from on high and down amongst your citizens. We’re super excited to be able to provide the first ever city simulation experience coming to the PlayStation VR2.

We’ll have a wide selection of areas available for you to start your new city. Some of you might already be familiar with a couple of areas brought over from Cities: Skylines, but there’s been some new ones added to the market as well. And with the added power of the PS VR2 we’ve made sure you’ll be able to expand even further out from that initial area to build the metropolis of your dreams! As it stands each site will contain 25 possible tiles to use, and your city planning permit will allow you to purchase up to nine (9) of those to build on.

So choose a site and start building your city. We’ll start off small with some low-density zoning and simple roads but as things expand you’ll have to start providing more…

Services

Services will unlock as you progress through the city milestones – ensure your citizens have access to these new services to provide them the best opportunity to live and prosper in your city! Prevent fires with your fire brigades, keep your citizens safe through your law enforcement, and care for the sick with your superb healthcare.

Just make sure they can get to where they need to go using the…

Advanced road simulation

With a wide range of road types ranging from gravel filled country roads to six-lane highways, control traffic lights, junctions, and round-abouts to make the flow of traffic as smooth as possible, ensuring that you use the right road for the right job so everyone can get to where they need to go.

And when rush hour hits make sure you’ve provided plenty of…

Public transport

Bus lines, ferries, above- and underground metro, there’s a variety of options to transport your citizens to, from, and around your cities! Help lighten the congestion of traffic on your road network as more and more people move in to your new…

Zones

From low density suburbs to the towering skyscrapers of high density areas, zones will be your primary way of providing housing, workplaces, and commercial shops for your citizens to live, earn, and spend money in your city. Watch those smaller buildings grow larger and more extravagant as they level up from you providing them with multiple Services and sources of Education.

This means you’ll have to balance your economy to buy and maintain all of that through our…

Advanced budgeting

Keep track of your income and expenses, increase and decrease taxes for different sectors, budget your services as you see fit – and if you end up in a pinch take one of the multiple but definitively fair and favorable loans provided by our local banks.

And if you happen to have a bit left over, make your cities prettier with…

Decorations

Ranging from large playgrounds and busy plazas to placing individual trees, rocks and pedestrian pathways. You can be ensured to put your own personal touch to your cities as you watch your city grow and come alive down at…

Street View

Walk along your shoreside promenade, watch ambulances and police cars swoosh by to whatever emergencies they need to take care of, and watch as your cities skylines grow, all from the same height perspective of your citizens.

All this and more thanks to our…

Deep city simulation

Working under the hood to make every part, every decision, every taxation, every car, and every citizen part of the same whole, an interconnected simulation that feels like a living, breathing, realistic city.

We hope you’ve found this quick overview helpful and given you some inspiration to get into the game and become the best mayor this side of the VR world.

See you on launch day, Mayors! Cities: VR – Enhanced Edition launches February 22, PlayStation Plus members can pre-order now for a 10% discount.

What types of explosive expression can one expect from a creator who is relentlessly driven to break away from the mediocre and mundane? We decided to ask video game designer and digital artist TJ Hughes, who creates under the alias Terrifying Jellyfish, about working on the aesthetically ascendant adventure Nour: Play with Your Food.

In this profile, we speak with TJ Hughes about Nour, how he works with his team, his origin story, and advice he’d give to developers hoping to leave their mark in gaming. Hughes’ first project Feesh, which featured microscopic arcade gameplay and vibrant visuals, showcased TJ’s drive to break the mold in a work space equally microscopic, as it was conceived and completed within a 48-hour Ludum Dare game jam. With no tight time constraints he is magnifying color and playfulness with his sophomore project, Nour: Play with Your Food.

PlayStation Blog: What inspired Nour: Play with Your Food?

Nour is described as “an experimental food art game designed to make you hungry,” giving players a space to play with their food like a kid but without any mess to clean up. A further testament to the difference in working on Nour and Feesh, Nour’s development process was slow and methodical, with no one “eureka moment.”

“I was learning how to make shaders, and was brainstorming the best subject to try and emulate,” Hughes explains. “I was just starting to travel and eat more diverse foods, so I thought it was the perfect subject. I started to upload my art tests onto Twitter, where folks would tell me how the images made them hungry. Being intrigued by that response, I started to try more things like using the tech art concept of sub-surface scattering to simulate the material of noodles and using depth blending to mimic the murkiness of milk tea. I started to develop a library of tech art tricks to make something look appetizing.”

Hughes chose a physics-based experience as it “provides a sandbox to be as chaotic and ridiculous” as a player wants without the wasted food or mess.”

 

“When presented with a physics-based game, we often have one of two goals: Arrange things as neatly as possible, or make as big of a mess as we can. I think the best physics games should allow you to do both!”

The Nour team

As a leader, how do you motivate and encourage your team?

“It helps to have a team that shares so many of the same interests and fascinations,” Hughes says. “It makes relating to each other and getting on the same page about designs so easy. A lot of us are friends before coworkers as well, we bring a lot of that trust into the project. Anyone on the team can suggest anything, which creates an environment where even the most obtuse ideas are considered. We all love food as well, I noticed that before meetings, we’ll often end up telling each other what we’re eating/planning to cook, if the meeting isn’t in-person at a restaurant already.”

Origins & inspiration

What is your earliest memory of falling in love with video games?

“Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is probably my earliest memory of loving video games,” Hughes says when asked about his earliest gaming memory. “Being the younger brother, I was usually player two meaning I got to play as Tails. I could only help by collecting rings and hitting enemies for my brother. Tails had infinite lives, which was great because I was not too good at video games as a kid. We would cheese the boss fights by sending in Tails to attack while Sonic just focuses on dodging. We bought this book full of cheat codes for popular games and found out about the debug mode cheat, which allows you to spawn anything and go through walls. This sparked a fascination with how games worked under the hood, we’d spend hours tinkering with the game until it inevitably crashed from how many objects we’d spawn.”

From there, Hughes would tell any adults who would listen that he wanted to be a game designer. Thankfully, he didn’t have to go far from home to find inspiration or support.Speaking of his parents, who were artistically expressive in their own ways, Hughes says what he does “is a true mix between their passions; art from my mom’s side, tech from my dad’s side.”

“They were both supportive of what I wanted to do which was incredible for me to build my confidence,” he adds.

When speaking on his journey, he also gives much credit to Carol Mertz, Ben Valenti, and Dana Valenti of Rampant Interactive, who gave him his first games job and exposed him to the industry.

“There are so many experiences I wouldn’t have had if not for them, including my first trip to San Francisco for the game developer conference,” he says. “Joey Paniello, who worked that same job with me taught me most of the code techniques I use to this day as well. I’m so glad to be working on Nour with him!”

Advice to game devs: Keep it simple and share your work

With his first game Feesh, Hughes ran into a roadblock where he perceived a lack of content. He thought his arcade title absolutely needed multiplayer but, after researching further, realized he simply did not have the skills or experience to implement it.

“I had told myself, ‘it’s my art’, and the game is a reflection of where I was in my career,” he says. “I chose to launch the game instead of getting too ambitious.” Pricing it at 99 cents because a small project he wasn’t anticipating any kind of return on, it ended up being the right call as he learned a lot from the experience and got his personal projects on the map. “Even though it was nothing fancy, the heart of the game shone through and it was well received!”

Two core observations from that experience frame the advice he wants game developers to walk away with when they read this: Share what you’re working on and keep it simple.

“Have deep conversations about [your projects] with folks you trust! It’s so much better than working on something in complete isolation,” Hughes says. “A game is a constant communication between you and the player, seeing how your players react is vital to that back and forth.”

“Game dev can be a lot of work and you can find yourself taking on a higher workload than you can do. Don’t be afraid to keep things simple,” he says. “Take it easy, and don’t overwork yourself, just do what you can. Indie developers have to wear a lot of hats to get their businesses started, prioritize yourself and as time goes on, try to organize things in a way that makes less work for you. Also look up TikToks on being a small business owner and how to do your taxes and all that right. Don’t ignore that stuff.”

Looking ahead

Panic Inc is the publisher for Nour, a relationship Hughes says has been monumental in making this unique project a reality. “This is the biggest project of my life and having such a reputable publisher backing it makes my incredibly excited to show everyone the final product.”

When it comes to Nour or any project, ultimately, what makes a game a “TJ Hughes” game?

“You’ll know when you notice a tiny visual detail that looks like someone spent way too much time on,” he says. “I’ve also been told my use of color is fairly trademark. I’m inspired by games like Mirror’s Edge that play with lighting in a unique way to achieve a certain fidelity, one that is heavily inspired by realism, but pushes the boundary on just one or two areas to achieve a whole new aesthetic. Cranking just a few sliders past 10 can be enough to give your work a ‘look.’”

And what comes next?

“I want to do more games/projects that interact with spaces and makes excuses to bring folks together in-person,” Hughes explains. “Right now I’m really fascinated by the sociological concept of the Third place; a community environment in which you can hang out that isn’t home, nor a workplace. To me, there aren’t enough places to just vibe without having to spend money. I would love it if games could provide such a place, or bring more like-minded people to those spaces.”

With the PlayStation 5’s DualSense wireless controller, we at Motive are able to immerse players deeper into Isaac’s thrilling journey aboard the USG Ishimura. Across various events such as weapon shooting, asteroids impacting the ship, and Necromorphs attacking, haptic feedback lets players feel the impact as Isaac would.

Our goal with weapons was to give each a unique feel and sensation to make the experience of fighting Necromorphs even more engaging. Read on for some immersive examples of DualSense controller gameplay:

Plasma Cutter

You steady your plasma cutter and aim at the legs of a lunging Slasher. You place your finger on the DualSense controller trigger and push it past the required threshold to fire the weapon, feeling the weapon’s vibration shortly after. The DualSense controller trigger then pushes back up, re-initializing for your next shot.

The same kind of trigger effect is found on the flamethrower, but with a slight difference as you can feel a low vibration on the trigger as the ejected gas turns into flame.

Pulse Rifle

A Swollen begins lumbering towards you as you pull out your pulse rifle. To survive, you give it all you got, emptying your remaining bullets to defeat the approaching threat. While you hold down the DualSense trigger, you feel it buck with each round fired from the rifle.

Movement and ability haptics

When entering certain zero-gravity areas, the player can activate Isaac’s magnetic boots. Through haptic vibrations on the controller, the player will feel the impact of each step as the mag boots engage with the floor.

When players use Isaac’s Kinesis and Stasis modules, they’ll get similar real-time feedback through the controller through rich haptic vibrations.

Controller speakers

To dial up the immersion, players receive valuable gameplay feedback through the controller’s speakers. Throughout the player’s journey, as they perform certain actions such as picking up items, refilling their stasis energy, and using their locator, they will hear those effects from Isaac’s RIG through audio.

You can dive deep into this iconic story yourself and experience the immersive DualSense controller haptics and adaptive trigger effects when Dead Space releases on January 27 on PlayStation 5.

Xbox gaming revenue is mostly down across all fronts, but its Game Pass subscriber base still saw growth. 

Microsoft released its second quarter financial results for the 2023 fiscal year yesterday, and it revealed that Xbox gaming revenue declined 13% overall. Xbox content and services, such as first-party software and monetization in third-party games, declined 12%, but Microsoft notes that this decline is up against a “strong prior year comparable.” Given that Xbox’s 2022 was lackluster compared to the prior year, this isn’t surprising.

However, the financial results state that this 12% decline is “partially offset by growth in Xbox Game Pass subscriptions.” Xbox hardware revenue has also declined 13%. During an earnings call, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed that Xbox’s monthly active users surpassed 120 million during this quarter in question, as reported by IGN. Nadella added that Microsoft is expecting another year-over-year decline next quarter due to a similar situation as this quarter. 

Video game sales analyst Benji-Sales (on Twitter) offered some commentary on these financial results, stating that he’s less worried about Xbox’s gaming revenue and software performance but that the decline in hardware is alarming. 

“I’m less worried about overall Gaming Revenue and Software performance. They are down but that’s expected considering how weak of a year Xbox had for 1st party content. The more alarming thing here is Hardware. This early in a generation we really shouldn’t be seeing declines.” 

As Benji-Sales and many others have noted, though, these past few quarters have been lackluster for Xbox, but 2023 is shaping up to be the Xbox Series X/S’ biggest year yet, with games like Redfall, Starfield, and Forza Motorsport expected to release. 

We should be learning more about some of these games in today’s Xbox Developer Direct and then Starfield in a Starfield-specific showcase Xbox is planning. 

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Do these financial results surprise you? Let us know in the comments below!

Source code for fantasy MOBA League Of Legends and its autobattler spin-off Teamfight Tactics has been stolen and ransomed, Riot Games have confirmed. In a series of tweets, the developer revealed that the code was taken in an attack on their systems last week. Demands have been made by the hackers, which Riot say they won’t stump up for. The hack is being investigated both by Riot and law enforcement agencies, but Riot insist that League Of Legends players’ personal data and information weren’t compromised by the hackers.

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It might be the middle of the week, but there’s still no slowing down this Wordle train. We’ve returned to offer more help to people in need when it comes to getting the Wordle correct. This time, we’re helping out with the answer on January 25. Like last Wednesday’s word, this answer has to do with food. It’s a common word, but some people might not have heard of it due to the word describing a specific food that has a much more traditional name. If you haven’t started the Wordle just yet, then you can check out our list of recommended starting words. However, if you’re already past the starting point, then you’re likely looking for some hints.

Luckily, we provide just that further down in this article. We also spell out the full answer even further down, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read below the hints.

Today’s Wordle Answer – January 25, 2023

We’ll begin with two hints that directly relate to today’s Wordle answer, but don’t give it away immediately.

• Hint 1: This word is another word for corn. There are several restaurants named after it.
• Hint 2: This word has two vowels, both in the middle of the word. There are no repeating letters in this word. There is a “z” in this word.

If those hints weren’t enough to get the ball rolling for you, then you can keep reading for the full answer to the January 25 Wordle. The full answer to today’s Wordle is… “maize.” The “z” can make things difficult, especially if you didn’t know that corn wasn’t only the word used to describe the yellow grain that grows on a cob. Hopefully, every player was able to continue their Wordle streak today. Check back tomorrow for another edition of our Wordle guides.

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Update: Welp. As became increasingly clear as the evening wore on, this one isn’t going to be fixed tonight. Per the Bungie Help Twitter account, the studio is aiming to resolve the issue in the early hours of Thursday (Pacific time), but right now I wouldn’t set your watch by that. As things stand, this is not the first rollback in the game’s history, but it feels like a major one. 

Still, I guess a break from Destiny 2 won’t do anyone any harm. I finished Cult of the Lamb tonight, so that’s something.

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Rick and Morty and Squanch Games co-founder Justin Roiland is out as CEO of the High on Life developer, the company announced Tuesday. The company tweeted from its official Twitter account that Roiland resigned last week, on Jan. 16. The news of Roiland’s resignation comes hours after Adult Swim cut ties with the Rick and Morty creator.

Roiland is facing felony domestic abuse charges stemming from an incident in 2020; his arrest and charges went unreported publicly until NBC News first reported the case in January.

“The passionate team at Squanch will keep developing games we know our fans will love while continuing to support and improve High On Life,” Squanch Games tweeted. Squanch Games has not responded to Polygon’s request for additional comment.

The Rick and Morty co-creator was arrested in August 2020 and released on a $50,000 bond over the two felony charges: one count of domestic battery and another for false imprisonment. He faces several years in prison if convicted. Roiland pleaded not guilty to both charges at his Oct. 14, 2020, arraignment. His next hearing is in April. Roiland’s lawyer maintains his innocence on the two felonies.

Squanch Games’ most recent game, High on Life, was released late last year to great success; it was the biggest Game Pass launch of the year. Roiland started the studio with former Epic Games executive producer Tanya Watson in 2016; she served as CEO until she left the studio in February 2021. Squanch Games has released four games: Accounting, Dr. Splorchy Presents: Space Heroes, Trover Saves the Universe, and High on Life.

Squanch Games itself faced a sexual harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination lawsuit in 2018. Roiland was not named in the lawsuit, Kotaku reported; the lawsuit named former technical director Jeff Dixon as the perpetuator of harassment. The lawsuit was settled in 2019.