Month: July 2022

All of the NFL players in Madden NFL 23 have ratings and you can freely look at them on EA's official site. Is Kenny Pickett ranked high enough at a 68? If you don't think so, you can call into Madden NFL's ratings adjustor hotline (at 689-278-3030) to recommend it go up or down. Thousands of people called in within the first day of the hotline launching, and from EA's snarky Twitter tone, it would appear most of them are complaints, likely about a beloved players rating being too low or a hated players rating being too high. Shoutout to the thousands of fans who called into the #Madden23 Ratings Hotline yesterday to let us know they 𝓐𝓖𝓡𝓔𝓔 with our ratings☎️😉 — Madden NFL 23 (@EAMaddenNFL) July 29, 2022 According to Emma Waldren, Madden’s creator of content strategy and par...

Our brief first look at NBA 2K23's on-court action shows off the fluidity of play and attention to detail that unfolds even after the whistle is blown. For years, this series has been lauded as a graphical powerhouse, and this teaser sizzles in this way. We'll have to see how the footage shown breaks down as far as new gameplay features, but it would appear perimeter play is getting some of the spotlight this year. The realism in the superstars is also on display, both on the court and in how they celebrate and interact with fans. NBA 2K23 will have three different looks on retail stands with NBA Legend Michael Jordan on one cover, Phoenix's Devin Booker on another, and the WNBA's Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi on the third. Michael Jordan's return unfold...

"A new chapter is about to begin amidst a tangled web of factions." This line accompanies the latest teaser trailer for Genshin Impact, the incredible free-to-play RPG from miHoYo. The trailer dives into the game's fourth region, Sumeru, which is home to people who can't dream and worship the God of Wisdom. Suermu looks lush in foliage, with mushroom creatures scurrying about the trunks of sizable trees. It also contains a desert area and looks to be just as sizable as the game's other areas. The trailer also introduces a host of companion characters that players will meet as quests are completed. The first new character is Tighnari, a forest watcher who we see holding a magical firefly. In Port Ormos, players will run into Alhaitham from the Haravata...

Annapurna Interactive concluded its showcase today by debuting The Lost Wild, Great Ape Games dinosaur-laden survival game. The Lost Wild was first announced last October with a pre-alpha trailer and is described as a first-person survival horror game. Players control an investigative reporter guided by a mysterious voice over the radio to explore abandoned Japanese facilities nestled within an island forest teeming with prehistoric wildlife. These dinos are highly intelligent and realistically behave like animals, featuring what Great Ape describes as self-preservation and reactive systemic AI behaviors.  Players can use stealth to avoid detection while exploring, create distractions, or repel dinos using items like flares and makeshift, non-lethal weaponry. You’ll spend muc...

Today's Annapurna Showcase brought several platform changes and new-gen updates for many well-received indie games. It also gave us a release date on a particular indie that's been radio silent for some time. We've gathered these smaller announcements into one convenient spot, so scroll through to see which Annapurna joint is getting a new home with fresh bells and whistles.  The Pathless Giant Squid’s high-speed action platformer and PS5 launch title is migrating to Xbox and Switch this winter. ...

Kentucky Route Zero has become one of the last decade's most celebrated narrative adventure games. As such, fans will be happy to know that developer Cardboard Computer is hard at work on its next title. A dev diary during today's Annapurna Showcase doesn't reveal much about the game, including its title. We get shots of the team members animating a dog's face, with the designers saying the next game will feature fully-animated characters. It also explains the project has a faster tempo and sports funnier writing than KRZ but will ultimately be a tragedy.  Whatever this game is, it has no release window or announced platforms. You can read our review of Kentucky Route Zero here. 

Thirsty Suitors kicked off the Annapurna Showcase with a new gameplay explainer breaking down its uniquely presented battle system and a surprising exploration segment.  The game, which premiered during last year's Game Awards, centers on Jala, a young woman who must reconcile with her exes and friends while dealing with ( or, more specifically, disappointing ) her demanding parents before her sister's wedding. The game revolves around a turn-based battle system where Jala faces a former lover, which reimagines their attempts to find common ground as an RPG battle. The trailer showed off moves such as Thirsty Taunts to manipulate an ex's emotions. Your old flames can manifest their inflated egos into alternate realities, where they reign supreme as the exaggerated versions of...

Annapurna Interactive revealed an eye-brow-raising new shooter called Bounty Star: The Morose Tale of Graveyard Clem. The title blends mech gameplay and farming with a wild west aesthetic, and it’s coming next year.  Players control Clementine McKinny, a bounty hunter and former soldier looking to atone for her past by keeping the peace in the Red Expanse, a post-apocalyptic version of the American Southwest. She uses her trust mech suit to keep the bad guys at bay, which players can customize with various offensive and defensive components. These include various guns, a laser sword, missile launchers, riot shields, boosters, and more.  When you're not blasting apart enemies, you'll take care of your homestead. This rundown garage can be upgraded with new supply and water lin...

Keita Takahashi, the creator of the Katamari series, has a new game in the works. Unfortunately, it’s tough to know exactly what it is. A teaser trailer premiered during today’s Annapurna Showcase showed a few seconds of close-up footage of an animated child snoring in his sleep. What does it mean? Your guess is as good as ours, but we fully expect it to be weird given Takahashi’s history. Takahashi’s last big title was the colorful Wattam, released in 2019 and published by Annapurna. This new title looks to continue the relationship between the two partners.

Now's the time to claim Japan's seedy underbelly for yourself. Yakuza: Like A Dragon is packaged into the free PlayStation Plus August catalog. However, eight other Yakuza are coming to the subscription service starting this month. According to the official PlayStation blog, Extra and Premium members can download/play Kazuma Kiryu's classic, crime-riddled journeys in Yakuza 0, Kiwami, and Kiwami 2 next month. Later this year, those same subscribers get access to Yakuza 3 Remastered, Yakuza 4 Remastered, Yakuza 5 Remastered, and Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. That's hundreds of hours of fantastic Ryu Ga Gotoku content. Be sure to check out our reviews or previews for the games below: Yakuza 0 Yakuza Kiwami & Kiwami 2 Yakuza 3 Yakuza 4 Yakuza 5 Yakuza 6 Like A Dragon ...