When we first got our hands on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge last year, we were by no means of the impression that the game was lacking in the content department — this is, after all, what we deemed to be “the best Turtles scrolling beat ’em up ever“. A little over a year later, the game’s first DLC, ‘Dimension Shellshock‘, is here to show that sometimes bigger is in fact better, and even more Turtle action is always a good thing.
This DLC comes as a rather solid package. Alongside several new character colour palettes (many of which come from a free update that launched alongside the DLC), there’s also the addition of a brand new game mode, two fresh-faced fighters — Usagi Yojimbo (aka ‘Miyamoto Yojimbo’ in his original comics) and Karai (a mainstay of the 2003 animated TMNT series) — and a number of shredding original music tracks from composer Tee Lopes.
Kairosoft is a development studio that creates management simulation games.
Five games will be available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and Windows PC this summer.
We will introduce each game that will be released this time.
Do you like simulation games? We love them. Since 1996, we at Kairosoft have created a number of pixel art design management simulation games in order to fulfill the dream of “We want to do this kind of work…”
And this time, we have good news. Now you can play on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows PC! From among many titles, we will select five with different personalities and release them on September 15, 2023.
We hope you can find a game that fulfills your longing, such as a game company, an apartment, or managing a village in an RPG world. Now, let’s take a quick look at the five games we’re releasing this time.
Game Dev Story
Game Dev Story is a simulation game set in the development of the video game industry since the 1980s. It is up to the player to choose which hardware to enter and what genre and content to produce.
The player can enjoy the fun of hiring unique staff members, gathering their talents, and working together to create a game that will sell. Remember the days when you were excited every time a new game appeared on the market? Now you can experience the evolution of the game industry as the president of a game company.
Dungeon Village
Dungeon Villageis a town-building simulation game set in an RPG world. Towns full of characters are among the charms of RPGs. In this game, the player takes on the role of a village chief, not a brave adventurer, and builds a beautiful town to captivate the adventurers’ hearts.
While remembering the town you explored in a frenzy, skillfully arrange facilities and hold events to capture the hearts of the heroes.
Hot Springs Story
Hot Springs Story is a simulation game with a slightly different theme in which you create a Japanese-style hot spring hotel. You can create your own beautiful garden by arranging plants that bloom beautiful seasonal flowers.
Watching the characters relaxing in the hot springs will bring you a sense of peace and tranquility. This game is especially recommended for those who love beautiful scenery and want to soothe their souls.
Station Manager
Station Manager is a simulation game that lets you build a huge station. This game was born from the desire to recreate the excitement of getting off at a new train station.
In this game, you can recreate the station of the town where you were born and raised, or freely create a dream station full of attractive facilities and gourmet food. In addition, train cars can be organized, so various stations can be completed depending on your ideas.
Capture the hearts of many travelers with your ingenuity and ideas.
Dream House Days DX
Dream House Days DX is an apartment management simulation game. However, the game is not limited to building homes, but also allows the player to become deeply involved in the lives of the residents.
Players can get involved in the residents’ hobbies and love lives, and influence important life events such as marriage and employment. And you can witness the birth of a new life.
Build charming apartments and help your residents live a great life.
All these titles will be available on Xbox September 15, and are available for preorder today!
In addition, we plan to add new games one after another in the future. Have a great time with Kairosoft’s management simulations!
Manage your own game company and try to create a million-selling game in this unique simulation.
Features the ability to develop your company’s own game console, plus a system for changing your staff members’ professions.
Hire talented people and train them to develop their skills.
As your staff gets more experience, you will unlock a wider array of game genres and content to develop.
Try to find the most popular combinations and develop for the latest platform!
Your staff members can have a variety of game-related professions, from programmer to sound engineer.
Work hard and you may reach the top of the video game industry!
Here’s some good news for Final Fantasy XVI holdouts: the game is on sale for $49.99 right now. That’s a fun little $20 discount on this PS5 exclusive, which also happens to be an excellent game (see our 9/10 Final Fantasy XVI review for details). You can grab it from your retailer of choice below.
Final Fantasy XVI is the latest mainline game in the stalwart JRPG series that’s been tirelessly representing the genre since its debut in 1987. As is typical for new, numbered Final Fantasies, it keeps the Cids and Chocobos but throws out much of what came before in favor of a whole lot of new things. For one, combat this time around is more akin to character action games like Bayonetta and Devil May Cry. It also features a darker, more adult story (a la Game of Thrones) than previous entries. In other words, prepare for swears and sex scenes.
From our review: “Featuring fast, reflex driven, action heavy combat, Final Fantasy 16 is certainly a departure from what fans may expect out of a Final Fantasy game, but its excellent story, characters, and world building are right up there with the best the series has to offer, and the innovative Active Time Lore feature should set a new standard for how lengthy, story-heavy games keep players invested in its world.”
There’s certainly no shortage of games to play these days, but saving $20 off an excellent recent title is always better than paying full price. Grab this one on sale if you’ve had your eye on it but missed out on it at release.
Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on (long inhale) Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, and the social network formerly known as Twitter.
Nintendo has unveiled its holiday hardware plans for 2023, including the return of a very familiar Nintendo Switch bundle alongside two new Nintendo Switch Lite options.
Beginning October 6, Nintendo will sell the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Nintendo Switch bundle for $299.99. This will include a Base Model Nintendo Switch, a digital copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and a three-month individual membership for Nintendo Switch Online.
The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe bundle has become a holiday tradition for Nintendo, as the company has rolled with this strategy for several years in a row. In IGN’s recent interview with Doug Bowser, the Nintendo of America President explained why the company continues to offer this package every year.
“Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is in pretty much everyone’s catalog, and so we think it’s a great entry point for families who are coming into Nintendo systems because it’s got this plug and play type mentality to it where you can just… When you get the unit, plug it in, start playing Mario Kart and having fun as a family,” Bowser said.
But Nintendo will also release two brand-new hardware bundles on the same day the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe bundle returns to shelves. The Nintendo Switch Lite Animal Crossing: New Horizons bundle comes in two different variations: Isabelle’s Aloha Edition and Timmy & Tommy’s Aloha Edition. These two bundles will each retail for $199.99, and include a Switch Lite with a new leaf design on the front and back, and a digital copy of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Isabelle’s Aloha Edition comes in coral and is exclusive to Target, while Timmy & Tommy’s Aloha Edition comes in turquoise and will only be available at Walmart.
Nintendo still doesn’t appear to be considering a price drop on Nintendo Switch hardware, even as the machine approaches its seventh birthday. Instead, the company opts to bundle software with the unit while keeping the price steady.
“[We have] Switch Lite at $199.99, Base Model at $299.99, and then OLED at $349.99. We think there’s tremendous value in those price points for consumers, and you only have to look at our results in the first quarter of this fiscal year to see the demand is still there,” Bowser said when asked where NoA stands on a potential price drop.
“And so as a result, we think about opportunities to bring more consumers in and encourage people to come in, especially during the holiday period. We think the best method, and it’s worked well for us in the past, has been through the bundles themselves, and by offering a software that they can engage with and get their catalog started with. So that’s really the direction we’ve been taking.”
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over seven years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
Ring the bell, everybody, it’s time for another round of game developers telling players that they don’t really understand what a “game engine” is. The spark this time is little-known science fiction adventure Starfield, which I believe we’ve reported on before. The game has a few obvious foibles – in my experience as a space pirate, NPCs sometimes struggle to navigate their surroundings, and then there are those stark disconnects between planetary surfaces and orbital space. Hiccups such as these have led a few players to wonder whether the game might work better using different technology, and in particular, Epic’s much-trumpeted Unreal Engine 5. Isn’t Bethesda’s proprietary Creation Engine, which the company have been updating since 2011, getting a little long in the tooth?
You’ll find a lot of the discussion below this post from Digital Foundry boffin John Linneman on Twxter, which has attracted both gloating PlayStation fans (remember, Starfield is Xbox-only in console land) and a number of thoughtful replies from some fairly senior game developers. This conversation goes back a fair way, of course – people have been ragging on Bethesda for using “the same engine” for years. And there’s a definite air of world-weariness to some of the developer responses.
Microsoft has announced the features coming in its Xbox September update, such as Discord streaming, Variable Refresh Rate support, and more.
In a post on Xbox Wire, no release date was given for the update but Microsoft did say it was coming “soon”. The headline feature for social gamers is in the ability to stream gameplay straight from the Xbox to Discord friends.
Players looking to do so will need to have their Discord and Xbox accounts linked, but once that’s done it’s as simple as hitting the Stream Your Game button.
On a similarly social note, players can now request to join their friends on Xbox, with that friend able to send a party invite, game invite, or message in response.
Also included in the September update is Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), which allows players’ TVs or monitors to adjust its refresh rate based on the content being viewed, giving a smoother experience while gaming. Players can adjust when VRR is active in the TV & Display Options menu.
Microsoft is also putting Rewards to the forefront of the Xbox operating system. A My Rewards tab has been added to the pop-up menu when pressing the Xbox button, and players can jump straight to the Redeem Rewards page from here.
The September update includes some smaller features too, like Wish List notifications, an upgraded voice chat reporting system, and smoother accessory pairing.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
The name Nextorage might not mean much to you, but this storage company was founded by Sony Japan employees in 2019 and acquired by NVMe SSD controller manufacturer Phison in 2022 – making them well-placed to deliver some high-quality SSDs. Today, their flagship NEM-PA2TB 2TB SSD is down to $109.99 at Newegg, where you can even pick up a $10 gift card with the purchase – neat.
Digital Eclipse, following on from Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, is continuing its trend of going back to the past to rekindle the games that kicked ass. While the Cowabunga Collection was wrapped in comic book paraphernalia and finished with a lick of old-fashioned Konami, The Making of Karateka follows the clean and tranquil stylings of Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection, a package we commended for being so thoughtfully arranged.
Digital Eclipse’s “interactive documentary” angle, thus far, has been somewhat pioneering, built with robust research, stuffed with original interviews, and showcasing unearthed and playable prototype materials. And, priced at a reasonable $19.99, there’s a good chance that anyone who sits down and actually sifts through everything in The Making of Karateka, from video interviews to superb audio commentaries, will probably spend more time with it than they do with most games, such is the attention span of today’s impulse buyers and the wealth of content on-board. Without even playing the games in the package, you can kick back and enjoy the story of how Karateka came to be, in alluring, personal detail.
In the enchanting world of Chants of Sennaar, a mesmerizing puzzle game awaits, where language is not merely a means of communication but a captivating journey in itself.
Playable today on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, players can now embark on this linguistic odyssey, where they will dive into the depths of five meticulously crafted languages, each with its own unique history, grammar, and cultural resonance. The creation of these languages was a labor of love, blending elements of real-world cultures and linguistic principles to create languages that slowly reveal the truth of the world and people around you. In Chants of Sennaar, words hold the key to unraveling ancient mysteries and forging profound connections.
Inspired by the myth of Babel, Chants of Sennaar casts you as a Traveler, who seeks to unite cultures fractured by language, all living within a single mysterious Tower. In this puzzle adventure, you’ll travel to different cultures and decode their languages yourself and, in doing so, learn the history of the world you’re travelling through.
In Chants of Sennaar, language transcends its traditional role, becoming a vital puzzle-solving tool and a conduit for storytelling. As players navigate the linguistic landscape, they immerse themselves in a world of diverse cultures, unraveling the mysteries that lie within. By embracing the power of language, we hope to inspire players to appreciate the beauty and complexities of communication in our own world.
The game Heaven’s Vault inspired us to pursue the concept of crafting an original language from scratch. We expanded upon this concept by creating living dialects actively spoken and utilized by the characters, fostering interactive linguistic experiences for players. By intertwining the languages with gameplay mechanics, we transformed the learning and discovery process into a puzzle itself, making language acquisition an integral part of the game’s progression.
To ensure that each section of the world felt fully realized, we established the cultures of each group of people within Chants of Sennaar early on. This includes their history, architecture, technological advancements, and fundamental beliefs. By bringing these fictional peoples to life, their languages followed suit.
For instance, the Devotees, the first group encountered in the game, are inspired by ancient Middle Eastern civilizations and medieval Latin Europe. Consequently, their written language fuses elements of Mesopotamian cuneiform writing and the Phoenician alphabet. The Devotees’ peaceful and disciplined nature, driven by their belief in a benevolent “god”, is reflected in their language through a vocabulary rooted in simplicity and exchange.
Each people in the game possesses their own language and grammar, intimately tied to their culture and primary concerns. Drawing inspiration from Nordic tribes, the Warriors employ a language reminiscent of the Futhark runic script, characterized by an authoritarian vocabulary and an imperative mode of expression. The poetic Epicureans and industrious Alchemists, on the other hand, exhibit entirely different writing systems and vocabularies, mirroring their distinctive pursuits.
Determining the number of languages was tough, but we settled on having five distinct groups inhabiting the Tower, each having its own language; with this number we’ve achieved a nice level of dramatic stakes while still ensuring accessibility for all players. The creation of these original languages involved a combination of cultural background, research, and artistic design. Our artistic director, with a deep-rooted interest in linguistics and visual communication, brought his expertise in graphic design to bear on the development process. Drawing from a wide range of graphic and semantic systems, including Phoenician, Kufic, Sanskrit, Futhark, Korean Hangeul or Cistercian numbers, we crafted distinct and credible languages for the game.
Beyond the mechanical aspects, Chants of Sennaar explores themes of division, mistrust, and the challenges of coexistence. Most importantly, it also highlights the transformative power of communication, open-mindedness, and embracing diversity.
Remember, the power of words can transcend boundaries and shape destinies. Are you ready to embark on this linguistic odyssey? Play Chants of Sennaar now on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, or try the demo for free.
Divided since the dawn of time, the Peoples of the Tower no longer speak to each other. But it is said that one day, a Traveler will find the wisdom to break down the walls and restore the Balance. Explore and discover an enthralling world in a colorful, poetic setting inspired by the myth of Babel, where men have forgotten their past. Travel the endless steps of a prodigious labyrinth, uncover an ominous truth and unveil the mysteries of this fascinating universe where ancient languages are both the lock and the key.
Embark on a captivating journey with ancient languages to decipher
• Explore a beautiful, fascinating world with a strong narrative inspired by the myth of Babel
• Observe your environment and solve puzzles to unravel the mysteries around you
• Use stealth and cunning to outwit the Guardians and cross the forbidden zones
• Decipher ancient languages to restore the connections between the Peoples of the Tower
Hi Eternights fans! Jae here, creator of Eternights. I’m hyped to show you a deep dive into the gameplay of one of my favorite bosses… The Infected Hacker. Spoilers ahead.
For some context, The Infected Hacker is a monster that has hacked Yuna’s social media (our popstar companion) and used it to lure thousands of her fans by promising safety and shelter. As a sick form of trophy, the hacker asked Yuna’s fans to bring their Yuna plushies with them, resulting in mountains of her blood-stained merch, each one of them representing a fan killed by his hand. When Yuna is faced with all of this, she isn’t even given time to grieve or process, before the monster that killed her fans approaches her with a sword made out of different body parts – eager to add another hand or two.
I designed this boss around the theme wrath, which I think you can tell by his furious attack patterns. The key to Eternights combat is timing – you need to dodge at just the right moment, right before an attack, to get a perfect dodge and slow down time, which allows you to get more attacks in against the boss. Not only that, but doing this also charges up your elemental gauge that when filled allows you to do a powerful elemental fist attack.
Completing a combo doesn’t just feel super satisfying, it also allows you to press R1 to inflict extra damage on enemies. Once you complete a combo, if you manage to keep on attacking without getting hit, you can end up fully charging your death blow meter, which is a sword skill that allows you to deal a devastating amount of damage to your enemies. Another favorite sword skill of mine is the Stinger, which is an attack that allows you to quickly close the distance between you and your target. Very useful when your target moves around a lot.
To get a bit deeper into elemental attacks, you unlock and upgrade them by forging a closer bond with Yuna. The higher level you have, the more layers of shield you can destroy in one go. Now Yuna, specifically, has the fire elemental ability that can be used to destroy ice barriers, which this boss has three layers of. So it pays off to be close to your companions.
Yuna’s elemental fire isn’t the only trick up her sleeve. Every confidant has a set of confidant skills you can unlock, upgrade and use in combat. Yuna’s skill here is the ability to create a temporary pool of healing that you can stand in–in order to replenish your health. Of course, if you can avoid enemy attacks in the process. These confidant skills can only be upgraded by collecting or earning a specific collectable called White Essence. So make sure to be on the lookout.
Now, you’ll need as much healing as you can get, The Infected Hacker is a tough opponent. He attacks from all directions as well as has an arsenal of different area of effect attacks ready to deal damage to you. Not only that, halfway through the battle, he unlocks his sword’s true form while also throwing out moves you’ve never seen before.
It’s a tough fight, but if you use all of the skills I’ve given you, I know you’ll be able to beat it. But what’s this? After the battle there is a mysterious little girl? What’s that about? Well, you’ll have to play the game to find out!Eternights is releasing September 12 on PS5 and PS4. Pre-order is available now with a 10% discount for PlayStation Plus members.
