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Given that Hunters is sort of doing its own thing in a cartoon-y corner of the Star Wars universe, neither of its new characters are exactly familiar faces, but like the boulder-throwing Wookie hunter, droid Jedi, and Jawas duo revealed previously, they do at least fit comfortably within the Star Wars oeuvre. There’s Sprocket - a Mon Calamari who can control an arsenal of droids, capable of injuring opponents and protecting allies, from the comfort of his custom Command Chair - and Skora, a Rodian cartel doctor that can heal and harm with her dart gun....

It’s a position the game rightfully deserves, with each of its expansions praised by critics for an epic storyline that’s gone from confronting evil empires to quelling thousand-year wars or hopping dimensions and facing a universe-destroying embodiment of despair, all while deftly navigating the threads that tie it all together. As an MMO full of references to other games in the series, FF14 is often called a ‘Final Fantasy theme park’ - but there’s far more to it than that....

The new rules, which were announced yesterday, will take effect from 1st September. Valve is making these changes to ensure the browsing and shopping process is as “clear and straightforward as possible” for customers. Graphical asset capsules are the banners that are used to represent a game throughout the Steam storefront. Valve has noticed an increase in overcrowded graphics, where review scores and award logos completely distract from the game’s own logo....

Yes, it’s true: Nintendo are only planning to make physical copies until the end of March, and the game has been in high demand partly for that reason (though Nintendo has also said that digital downloads of the game will be around indefinitely). 3D All-Stars is a collation and remastering of three classic Mario games - Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy. Everybody has their favorites, but you’re sure to find at least one here that you love....

One initial snag is there are not in the game initially. They require unlocking - with the game giving you the original cast of eight to begin with, and putting you to work on getting the rest. There are multiple Super Smash Bros character unlock methods, and until you’ve got them all, we have a Super Smash Bros character list so you can work out who you are missing. Not only that - but more Super Smash Bros DLC characters have been added over time....

It’s been a year since we launched the Supporter program, and it’s seen the return of regular weekly podcasts, the Off-Topic series and Bertie’s wonderful One-to-One series where he’s profiled in-depth legends such as Ken and Roberta Williams and Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. For £1 (or $1, in a neat conversion thanks in part to our tanked economy) you’ll get Standard supporter access, which will give you the site ad-free as well as the weekly Essentials newsletter plus ‘Supporter’ status on comments - so you can shout ‘slow news day?...

If you’re looking for an attractive 3D fantasy world that doesn’t require a moment-to-moment tithe of blood, this is your game. The work of Tokyo-based indie nocras with a score from Youtube star Ujico*, it’s an idle afternoon in the daydreaming mind of a seasoned triple-A artist, whose credits include Zelda and Final Fantasy - a distillation of lessons learned while composing geography and architecture for grander, more combative experiences....

First up are the PGA Tour 2K23 Deluxe Edition and the Tiger Woods Edition. These will both be released on 11th October. The standard edition will then be released a few days later on the 14th October. You can see a new live-action trailer below. PGA Tour 2K23 publisher 2K has said the game is designed to celebrate Woods’ legacy, with the veteran golfer playable as an in-game pro. In addition to this, Woods has also acted as an executive director, advising the game’s development team throughout....

“It feels like freedom,” Schofield says as we chat in the sun in an annex to Summer Games Fest’s LA venue. “It always feels that way, but somehow this one was more cooped up for longer. I’m kind of used to it because Call of Duty always made you keep your mouth shut, but this one felt longer.” Put some of that down, perhaps, to the challenges of working through the pandemic - challenges that Striking Distance had to adapt to just as it was spinning up development....

The Scandinavian outfit previously bought a 30.7 percent stake in Supermassive just over a year ago. There’s no word on how much today’s deal was worth. Nordisk Games, part of the Egmont media group, also owns a small roster of other game developers, including the Stockholm-based Just Cause creator Avalanche Studios and Metroid Dread maker MercurySteam. Supermassive, which is headquartered in Guildford, has recently swelled its ranks to some 300 employees....

Cor. Here’s me at a camp fire listening to a spooky story. Here I am helping a mermaid sing a song. Here I am judging a royal sandcastle competition. Here I am stuck in some kind of pipe. Understand this: Toem is already one of my favourite games in years. Basto just makes it all even better. The free update provides an entirely new region with a bunch of new objectives to tick off, but also a new bit of Toem’s newsprint world to explore, new characters to meet, new whimsy to engage in....

Understanding it depends a lot on being German, because that’s where the team, Toukana, is from. Toukana is four people: Timo Falcke, Sandro Heuberger, Luca Langenberg and Zwi Zwausch, and they met doing a game design degree in Berlin. “Dorfromantik” is a German word. “An older word,” Zwi Zausch tells me in a video call they all join me for. “And it’s usually used to describe the kind of nostalgic feeling you get when you long to be in the countryside....

Both Kits launch next month, starting with The Sims 4 First Fits Kit on 1st September. This one’s all about expanded child Sims’ clothing options with a bunch of ‘fashionable and cute’ outfits, some of which you can see in the header image above. “Dress child Sims in trendy looks that are perfect for birthday parties, the classroom or just hanging out with friends,” explains EA. “Start your child Sims on a lifetime of trend-setting fashion and allow them to express themselves with the kinds of leopard-print jackets, patterned leggings and colorful shades they’ll want to wear when they grow up....

Described as a “mature 3D visual novel”, it follows failed screenwriter Junon who must face her past, present and future in a single day. The game promises to explore motherhood, sisterhood, grief and survival, with the teaser trailer featuring a conversation between a mother and daughter and a, perhaps fatal, car crash. Progress will be non-linear as you explore Junon’s scattered thoughts. The Wreck is due for release on PC via Steam in 2022....

Just ten days after the game was released (thanks, NME), dataminers discovered the launch command “networktest” hidden in the code, and soon realised that it permitted the game to be played in co-op via the game’s debug console. The discovery is particularly interesting given that while there are some workarounds that enable co-operative play, the game is still clearly marked as a singleplayer adventure on Steam. Given it’s not been formally revealed to the game-playing public, it should come as no surprise that the mode is a tad unstable....

And it’s a problem well worth solving to avoid playing the painful game of storage Tetris, as you agonise over what can stay and what has to go to make room for the shiny new game you’ve bought and can’t install. And if you want to play something like the Witcher 3, which takes up almost the entirety of the original Switch’s hard drive on its own, you’re gonna need some options here....

Very are currently offering the standard Switch console in neon with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and 3 months of Switch Online membership for just £259.99. This is a great offer given the minimal reductions we see for Nintendo’s first-party games, particularly Mario Kart 8, which is rarely under £40. This Nintendo Switch console isn’t a Lite model, so you can connect it to a TV with the included dock and split the controls for two players....

Conducted by Famitsu and translated by FrontlineJP (thanks, NME), the survey was completed by 1700 people, the majority of whom (1509) were male and aged 25-29. Almost all respondents confirmed they loved the story and world of Elden Ring, as well as exploration, the field, and boss combat. Item crafting and the upgrade system for equipment were the least favourite aspects of Elden Ring. Our favourite NPCs are Ranni, Iron Fist Alexander, and Blaidd respectively, whereas Diallos and Enia were least memorable....

The mod itself is free to download from Helifax’s website and you can watch me put it through its paces in traditionally immature, VR Corner style in the video above. The mod itself features “synced eye (single-frame stereo instanced) full 6DOF VR with Ray Tracing (not AER)” which in layman’s terms means it looks very pretty and you can fully move your head and look around in all directions. Helifax has also implimented a kind of faux motion-control control scheme that maps the gun aiming to either the mouse or the right thumbstick of your controller of choice....

As modes of transport go, jetpacks are often more about pluck than precision. In Exile you are engaged in a constant push-pull with unhelpful gas geysers, explosive shockwaves and the invisible tug of Phoebus gravity. But rocketing around at high speed in low-roofed caverns chimes perfectly with a game that asks you to jump headfirst into the unknown and apply seat-of-the-pants problem-solving. Exile’s rocket-powered emergent slapstick makes me smile the same way I do when seeing a jelly start to wobble: precariousness as pleasure....