Earlier this week, news of L.A. Noire's revival hit the internet, and we were all pretty pumped about it. However, Nintendo Switch owners looking to grab a physical copy should be prepared to pony up a little bit more than their Xbox One and PS4 counterparts. Much like RiME before it, L.A. Noire is going to cost $10 on Nintendo Switch due to the manufacturing costs of the cartridge.  The game's page recently appeared on Rockstar's official website, revealing the price discrepancy. Physical copies of L.A. Noire will go for $49.99 on Nintendo Switch and $39.99 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Digital versions of L.A. Noire will remain the same across all platforms, but with the Switch's minuscule Hard Drive space (32 GBs), many players may find themselves forced to go the physical route. The Nintendo Switch edition of L.A. Noire comes with all of the game's previously released DLC, as well as new collectibles and detective suits to unlock, each … [Read more...]

Despite the fact that it now feels like it has been available forever, virtual reality is still a fledgling platform, one that requires a huge amount of experimentation to produce the best titles that utilize the technology. There have been plenty that do it quite well. Others fall flat, bringing forth nothing more than laughter at the ridiculousness of the failure. Still, when a title nails it, the benefits of the platform are brought into stark relief. Based on my demo of Blind VR, Surprise Attack Games and Tiny Bull Studios nailed it. The demo starts off with a brief comic book cutscene with a woman driving along with her child on a winding road. Calamity occurs when an accident happens. The woman wakes up in a mansion, seeing nothing but blackness. She has been rendered blind. She’s not completely helpless, as our protagonist’s affliction works off of Daredevil rules. Sound allows her to see via echolocation. What this means for the player is that when … [Read more...]

Necrobarista is a point and click visual novel centered around a mystical cafe in Australia where necromancer baristas can bring wandering spirits back to life for one more night. The premise is interesting to be sure, and Necrobarista will be a guided experience, using cinematography and camera movements to enhance the narrative-focused experience. Told though many vignettes, Necrobarista has a wide cast of characters and the game is told from several points of view. One thing that people will notice immediately about Necrobarista is its style. Its a 3D space but definitely tries to keep the 2D anime aesthetic, which I think it mostly achieves. More than just the graphics, it has its own flare in how it presents information to the player with the text floating out in space in a fixed position, as seen in the trailer above. The demo I played at PAX West had two characters facing off in the “knife game,” which is known by many other names, but it’s all about … [Read more...]

And a car, and an item shop Hard as it may be to believe, the Bit.Trip series has been around since 2009. The franchise got its start on the Wii, and developers Choice Provisions have had a close relationship with Nintendo since the studio's inception. Runner 3 is the studio's first game headed to the Switch, and I got a chance to try it out last weekend at PAX West. Runner 3 is a direct sequel to Bit.Trip Presents Runner 2, and the developers teased that the truncated name was due to their reluctance to fill out forms with the full title. Joking aside, the shortened name is intended to convey a separation from Bit.Trip's universe, allowing protagonist Commander Video to break away from the Bit.Trip series and explore a larger world. There are several enhancements new to Runner 3, though the core jump/slide/kick gameplay will be familiar to Bit.Trip veterans. Each of the game's three lands will feature a different type of vehicle which controls … [Read more...]

Today Bandai Namco revealed the first gameplay trailer of its new Kamen Rider tie-in game, Kamen Rider Climax Fighters. The game is a fighting action game pitching Kamen Rider versus Kamen Rider to decide who is the strongest. It includes all the “Heisei Riders” (those appeared in the Heisei Era) from Kamen Rider Kuuga to the latest Kamen Rider Build. You can play with up to four players 1 vs 1 and 2 vs 2 with a third person camera, and stages aren’t flat, but include elevation differences and obstacles. There will be two editions, standard and Premium R-Sound Edition, which includes 38 additional songs used as in-game background music. A first print bonus will also be provided with the usual exclusive PS4 theme. The game will launch in Japan on December 7th exclusively for PS4, and will also get a release in Asia, for the first time for the series. A western release has not been announced for the moment, so we can only hope that Bandai Namco will send it over, one … [Read more...]

Funcom have been slowly building up Secret World Legends [official site] – the revamped version of its conspiracy-laden 2012 MMO The Secret World – by taking bits of the old game, polishing them up and plonking them down in the free-to-play title, which launched in June. Now it’s the turn of the Manhattan Exclusion Zone, a 10-person raid that happens directly under Times Square. Any level 50 character can plunge under New York’s tarmac in search of the 100-foot long Unutterable Lurker, the raid’s big bad. There’s multiple difficulty levels and lots of rewards for success, including new weapons. Here’s a trailer: The update also adds a new mechanic by which up to 40 players can summon extra powerful bosses throughout the world and defeat them for individual rewards. To summon the ‘Megabosses’, you’ll have to defeat regional lair bosses to get the right summoning items. More detail on the exact mechanism can be found … [Read more...]

Revealed just a day earlier on the Nindies Showcase to be coming to Switch, Mulaka, a Zelda-esque open world game set in real-life Chihuahua Mexico, was at PAX West this year, and I had a chance to go hands-on with it and talk to the game’s lead designer, Edgar Serrano. The coolest thing right off the bat about Mulaka is how true to the source material the game is. Serrano told me about how they created the world of Mulaka based on the mythology of the Tarahumara tribe in central Mexico. They’re an indigenous people that still operate today as they have forever and still practice their polytheistic religion. Everything from the map and environment, to the animals, cave drawings and more have been vetted by people of the Tarahumara and there’s even an index system built into the game to tell players about different parts of the world. So in Mulaka, you play as, well, a Mulaka, or shaman in the Tarahumara language. He’s equipped with a spear, … [Read more...]

Crash landing on a strange planet would suck. There’s the feeling of isolation to handle and more than a little confusion on what’s safe or not on the unexplored rock. The heroes of Data Realms’ Planetoid Pioneers have got that covered. These stalwart adventurers come equipped with a device that can scan objects for blueprints, break them down for raw materials and build on the fly. This device serves as the centerpiece for progression in this physics based metroidvania style game. Now, quite a few people hear “physics based crafting” and turn away from the subject so fast that they get a little dizzy. The two features have been so overused in games lately that they almost a synonym for “trend chaser.” That’s not the case with this title. Players are dropped on a giant round orb that is almost all black. It is up to the players to explore the interior of the planet to gather the required resources and plans to … [Read more...]

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series has been off to a noticeably rocky start so far. The first two episodes have been unable to provide the usual interesting characters and plots that I’ve come to expect from Telltale’s games. We’re now halfway through and the chances for an improvement are looking slim. So does More than a Feeling turn things around, or are we really looking at the Guardian’s darkest moment? When Under Pressure ended Peter Quill and Gamora had just discovered the place that Peter’s memories have been begging him to find. When they arrive there they find Mantis, who reveals that Peter is actually the “Celestial One” and rightful owner of the Eternity Forge. She also reveals that the Eternity Forge can be either powered up to revive anyone or be destroyed, but only by Peter. Naturally, the Guardians of the Galaxy are split on what Peter should do with the Eternity Forge, and internal conflicts quickly … [Read more...]

Here at Digital Foundry, we're a little late to the party with Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, but we felt compelled to weigh in on this exceptional title. In addition to being a beautiful, brilliantly designed strategy game, it's also a technological showcase for Nintendo's handheld, designed using Massive Entertainment's Snowdrop Engine - the rendering foundation for Tom Clancy's The Division. It's surely one of gaming's most unlikely engine transitions but according to Ubisoft, a core tenet of its creation hinges on the concept of working smarter - doing things better, not bigger.The combination of Switch and Snowdrop proves to be a highly potent pairing, bolstered by Ubisoft's exceptional artistic direction and a strong gameplay concept. Based on what we've seen of the technology to date, Massive's engine demonstrates a level of flexibility similar to Unreal Engine or Unity, clearly capable of powering a wide range of game types. In addition to Mario + Rabbids, the upcoming South … [Read more...]

Every week, we ask our panel of PC Gamer writers a question about PC gaming. This week: which classic PC game is on your pile of shame? Oh, boy. We also welcome your answers in the comments. Andy Kelly: System Shock 2I know this is an important game. I know it inspired some of my favourite developers. I know some consider it superior to BioShock. But still it remains unplayed in my Steam library. It doesn't help that the twist is so frequently, wildly spoiled, like the videogame equivalent of The Sixth Sense. I'd love to have experienced it without knowing a thing about it, and I think that's the main reason I haven't given it a go yet: knowing I'll be getting an inferior experience. Ultimately I think I'd rather just read about this in 'best of' lists than actually dive into it myself. Jarred Walton: KOTORI'm not sure why or how, but I never got into KOTOR. It's weird, because I liked many of BioWare's other games, and PC Gamer gave it a 91 back in the day. Whatever the … [Read more...]

Our Apple overlords are set to reveal their next technological gift to us on September 12: the iPhone 8. While rumors run rampant about an OLED screen, a credit threatening price, and facial recognition features, the most important feature for gamers has already been confirmed - augmented reality. If that term sounds a bit Black Mirror, don't panic, you've probably already used it. The mix of real world and game is what drives the compulsive collecting of Pokemon Go. The creator of that game, Niantic, has already been confirmed as one of the developers using Apple's ARKit augmented reality technology.  "For Pokemon GO, ARKit allows us to further enhance the feeling of interacting with Pokemon in the real world," says Phil Keslin, CTO and co-founder of Niantic. "We delivered on that initial promise last year at launch and we’re excited to expand the experience even further." And remember that The Walking Dead: Our World game that recently went viral? That's also made possible … [Read more...]

"This is really important for Sonic, because his core moveset is pretty basic. It’s all about the natural interaction with the slopes. The additional elements that augment that gameplay is what makes a stage novel." - Game developer and Sonic the Hedgehog fan Christian Whitehead, speaking to Glixel. How do you design a great level for Sonic the Hedgehog, a game franchise predicated on pushing players to run as fast as they can? Indie game dev and Sonic afficionado Christian Whitehead might be a good person to ask, given that he just wrapped up work shipping Sonic Mania, the most critically acclaimed Sonic game in recent memory. Luckily, Glixel recently did just that as part of a long chat with Whitehead, and he suggests a good Sonic level is all about designing for slopes. "[Sonic's] core moveset is pretty basic. It’s all about the natural interaction with the slopes," Whitehead said. "In terms of the level … [Read more...]

A recent Destiny 2 bug that can break your entire game has been discovered, and it’s attached to the MIDA Multi-Tool, an Exotic Scout Rifle whose main draw is its large amount of stability, making it a good all-around weapon. The bug mainly prevented the gun from showing up at the Postmaster. The Postmaster is a Frame on the Farm that gives players various engrams that they missed while out on missions, as well as giving them various items that come with special events and more. The main problem of the MIDA Multi-Tool bug is that, if you manage to grab its Engram or the gun itself while you’re out on a quest called “Enhanced!”, and it has to go to the Postmaster due to your inventory being full, there’s a chance it won’t appear. The solution to avoiding this Destiny 2 bug is simple: just keep your inventory clean. Considering the rate that a player will go through guns in the early-game, if … [Read more...]

Earlier today on the Gamasutra Twitch channel, we were lucky enough to be joined by Joel Bylos for another look at Conan Exiles, which recently joined the Xbox Early Access program and released some huge new updates. Since Funcom had to jump through some unique loopholes to deal with the game’s nudity, as well as other trials related to live game development, we figured it was worth returning to Conan Exiles to talk about what’s changed with the game.  You can watch our full conversation with Bylos up above, but in case you’re slaughtering the unworthy as we speak, here are a few quick highlights from our conversation.  There’s a new climbing feature directly inspired by Breath of the Wild As we loaded up our stream, we talked with Bylos about implementing a previously discussed climbing feature that was inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Bylos called it “the most polished feature implemented yet,” and described … [Read more...]

Four new Marvel vs Capcom Infinite pre-order costumes have been revealed, showing off alternate looks for Thor, Ryu, the Hulk, and Mega Man. You’ll be able to get different outfits depending on which version of the game you pre-order, though we don’t know if the others will be available later. The four costumes in detail are the Thor and Incredible Hulk costumes from the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film “Thor: Ragnarok”, where Thor and the Hulk are gladiators on an alien planet. Ryu’s new skin is his Evil Ryu persona, while Mega Man’s new skin is his Mega Man X: Command Mission outfit, complete with an energy cape. These four different Marvel vs Capcom Infinite pre-order costumes will give your characters a fresh new look if you don’t like their current designs, though it’s a shame that you don’t get all four in each version no matter which one you pre-order. If you … [Read more...]

Absolver is all I've played over the last couple weeks. I love it. But for most of that time, I've struggled to connect to its servers, and even when I do (it's been better recently) I often get into laggy 1v1 matches. Developer Sloclap has been aware of the issues since launch, and the promised update is finally here. The small download comes without the promised "goodies," which will go out next week as update 1.06 with more changes and some new items. This patch just contains the vital stuff: server and matchmaking fixes, and cross-region play. Here are the notes:  Various improvements to server connection and matchmaking Added double save to avoid complete progression loss if a save get corrupted Bug fixes when joining a school Fixed bug where Achievements wouldn’t be unlocked on Steam and PS4. Beat an AI to unlock your due achievements, there could be a small delay before the achievement pops :) Cross-region invitations added Fixed Boss progression not being updated … [Read more...]

The Xbox One S, the slimmed-down and cheaper version of the original Xbox One, is apparently being sold as a Blu Ray player in Japan, rather than as a gaming console. There are pictures to go with it; apparently it’s being sold for nearly 30,000 yen (around 278 US dollars), so it’s consistent at least. The fact that the Xbox One is being sold as something other than a gaming console in Japan isn’t really that surprising (though the advertising in the store does mention that the Xbox also allows you to play video games). The Xbox One is a western console through and through, especially since Japan is Sony’s home turf, meaning that a huge number of Playstation sales will come through Japanese gamers. Even then, however, it’s likely that the Xbox One S isn’t going to sell well even when it’s being marketed as a Blu-Ray player. The Playstation 4 can also play Blu Ray discs, and it seems … [Read more...]

Ashraf Ismail, the director of the upcoming Assassin’s Creed game, has gone on record saying that he believes that the version of Assassin’s Creed Origins on Xbox One X is the most beautiful version, even in the face of other platforms like the PC, the Playstation 4, and the Playstation 4 Pro. The Xbox One X has often been said by Microsoft and a number of developers to be an extremely powerful system, able to compete with some of the most powerful PCs. While we haven’t really seen any gameplay on it that would back up these various claims, all of the devs that are singing its praises, such as Monolith and here at Ubisoft, can at least make a person think. Assassin’s Creed Origins on Xbox One X is probably going to be a beautiful game no matter how you slice it, anyway. The game will be taking place farther back than any Assassin’s Creed game before, back during the Ptolemaic period of Ancient … [Read more...]

A brace of new God of War art from the concept stage of the game has shown the various hazards that Kratos and his son Atreus will uncover as they delve into an abandoned mine. This being God of War, the mine is, of course, filled with monsters and more. The various creatures that Kratos and Atreus will be encountering on their journey through the mine, along with other bits of their travel through Midgard (the Norse version of Earth, one of the nine worlds of Norse mythology) include things like giants and trolls, zombies, and other ferocious creatures from the Nordic myths. The mine that’s shown in most of the new God of War art is also probably only one thing that we’ll be exploring over the course of the game. The game’s debut gameplay at E3 2016 showed what appeared to be an open-world setup, so whether the mine will be a temporary diversion or a story-important location that players will have to move … [Read more...]