Random: Indie Game Blocked By Nintendo Over Confusion On Microtransactions

“I’ve goofed too close to the sun this time”.

Well, this is one we’re almost sure we haven’t seen before. Indie developer Strange Scaffold has revealed that its ‘narrative poker adventure’ game Sunshine Shuffle has been blocked from the Switch eShop in North America due to concerns over child gambling.

According to Xalavier Nelson Jr., the game was supposed to launch on the eShop today (May 24th, 2023) but his own media campaign about the game not teaching children to gamble has seemingly convinced Nintendo that it is indeed about child gambling. Whoops.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Street Fighter 6 Partners With Chipotle to Give Out Fighter Coins, Chips, and Guac

Street Fighter 6 and Chipotle announced that they have formed an official partnership to bring players exclusive rewards and prizes in the game starting on June 2. Later in the year, the game will also add Chipotle Daily Brackets, Battle Hub signage, and Chiptole-branded avatar items.

Those who place qualifying digital orders through the Chipotle app and the chipotle.com website using the promo code HDKN236* will receive a code for 250 Fighter Coins, Street Fighter 6’s in-game currency. These coins can be used to purchase characters, outfits, alternative colors, stamps, avatar emotes, and gear in the in-game shop. Additionally, Chipotle Rewards members can redeem 250 points in exchange for 250 Fighter Coins.

“Our FGC partnerships closely align Chipotle to a passionate and competitive community of gamers who are looking for convenient, delicious, and healthy options while playing titles like Street Fighter 6,” explained Chipotle chief marketing officer Chris Brandt. He continued, “We’re thrilled to be able to enhance gameplay and unlock fun experiences for gamers.”

Chipotle will also be a presenting sponsor for EVO 2023 and a sponsor for Combo Breaker. The Chipotle Challenger Series will return on June 17, where community members can compete for cash prizes, a year’s supply of burritos, and more. The top two teams in the tournament will also win a free trip to EVO 2023

Over on Twitch, Chipotle will give out a total of 500,000 free chips and guac offers to Chipotle Rewards members in the community who watch one hour or more of live streams on participating channels.

EVO 2023 takes place from August 4-6 in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Street Fighter 6 is one of the games in the event’s lineup.

Street Fighter 6 launches on June 2 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. In IGN’s Street Fighter 6 preview, we said, “Street Fighter 6 is shaping up to be the whole package, and certainly the most fully featured a Street Fighter game has ever been at the beginning of its lifecycle.”

George Yang is a freelance writer at IGN.

Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.34 adds 3 new cars, Engine Swap, extra Cafe Menus and more

Gran Turismo players! The 1.34 update for Gran Turismo 7 arrives today May 24 at 10pm PST* / March 25 at 6am BST / 2pm JST.


Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.34 adds 3 new cars, Engine Swap, extra Cafe Menus and more

Introduction of 3 new cars

Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT Veloce ’67

An iconic high-performance coupe of Alfa Romeo in the 1960’s.

The first-generation Giulia series sold from the 1960’s to the 1970’s was a huge hit for Alfa Romeo. The Giulia only came in a 4 door initially when it was released in 1962, but a coupe version was soon added to the line up in 1963. This first coupe was called the Sprint GT. It was designed by the young Giorgetto Giugiaro, who was with Carrozzeria Bertone at the time. Having a form consisting of smooth lines and soft curves, and a characteristic edge at the front, it has retained a lot of fans over the years. The car is powered by a 1.6L DOHC inline-4. Producing 104.5 BHP and 14.2 kgfm torque, it propelled the light 950 kg body up to 111.8 mph. The Giulia Sprint GT became extremely popular as a high-performance coupe, for its compact lightweight body providing great handling, together with its sportscar engine. It became a long running model with many names and detail variants, being produced up until 1977.

Greening Auto Company Maverick

A marvelous hot rod with 1,200 BHP tucked into a nostalgic body.

The SEMA show is hosted every year in November in Las Vegas of the United States. At this world’s biggest festival of custom cars, Gran Turismo selected cars for the ‘SEMA GT Awards’; and the winner of the 2018 ‘Best of Show’ was this 1971 Ford Maverick built by the Greening Auto Company (GAC). The Maverick was originally an inexpensive compact coupe built on the Ford Falcon chassis. But GAC has rebuilt this Maverick into a monster hot rod that can still be driven on city streets. On the exterior the dropped ride height and flared fenders will catch your attention first, but the biggest highlight is under the hood. The engine contained within is Ford’s famous 7 litre Windsor V8 small block. Combined with not one but two turbochargers, it is said to produce up to 1,200 BHP. But it’s not just an uncontrollable bucking horse, switching the control logic of the engine will allow you to cruise leisurely through town. In the spring of 2019, this Maverick took on a top speed challenge, setting a record of 202.748 mph (approximately 202.6 mph). This is a rare model where nostalgia and cutting-edge technology meet.

Nissan GT-R NISMO (R32) ’90

A homologation model with 500 cars produced for Group A racing.

Armed with the RB26DETT engine with displacement meeting Group A specifications, a 4-wheel drive system to waste no power transfer to the road, and a 4WS system to extend the ability of the chassis, the BNR32 Skyline GT-R was a model that was born to win touring car races. The proof of this is the GT-R NISMO that appeared in its second year of production, a Group A homologation model with a limited production of 500 cars. Compared to the standard GT-R, the GT-R NISMO is equipped with fins above the front grille that increases airflow into the engine room for cooling, as well as air inlet openings in the front bumper. To improve aerodynamic characteristics, the rear end of the side sills is given protectors that rectify air flow around the rear tires. A small rear spoiler has been added, and the turbos were changed from ceramic to metal. The exhaust manifold was specially redesigned for this car, and to reduce weight the A/C, audio system, and rear wipers have been omitted, making the car 30 kg lighter than the base model. The GT-R NISMO won the top touring car class in Japan, as well as many other famous endurance races in Europe and in Australia. As a result, it is well known for wreaking havoc in Group A races all over the world.

Engine Swap in GT Auto

It is now possible to perform an ‘Engine Swap’ from the ‘Car Maintenance & Service’ menu at GT Auto (Collector Level 50). On applicable vehicles, this service allows users to purchase and equip new engines from different cars.

Tuning Shop – Ultimate category added

The ‘Ultimate’ tab has been added to the Tuning Shop categories. This will become available at Collector Level 50. The ‘Ultimate’ category adds even more tuning options as well as a number of rare parts.

GT Café Extra Menus

The following two Extra Menus have been added:

  • Extra Menu No. 22: ‘SEMA Gran Turismo Award’ (Collector Level 37 and above)
  • Extra Menu No. 23: ‘Group A’ (Collector Level 33 and above)

Two New Scapes

‘National Stadium’ and ‘The Lake District’ have been added to the featured section.

*Internet connection and Gran Turismo 7 game required for update

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti review: the big middle of graphics cards

I’m sure you’re all bored of reading about how about how expensive RTX 40 series graphics cards are; I’m certainly bored of writing about it. Thank the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti for its mercy, then – assuming you can find one at RRP, it’s the first of its family not to plonk a price premium over the last-gen equivalent. And even though it’s only moderately faster than the RTX 3060 Ti in most games, its efficiency improvements and DLSS 3 support ensure the RTX 4060 Ti keeps some crowd pleasing potential.

Read more

PlayStation VR2 Has Strong Launch Despite Reports, Outselling Original PSVR

The PlayStation VR2 is off to a stronger start than previous reports indicated as Sony has revealed the virtual reality headset had a better launch than the original PSVR.

Shared in a business presentation, Sony revealed that the PSVR 2’s first six weeks outperformed the original PSVR’s first six weeks, coming in at just below 600,000 units sold. Specific numbers are unclear on the provided graph (below), but the original PSVR came in closer to 500,000.

Sony also described the period as a “strong PlayStation VR2 launch”, contradicting a report in March that said the headset was only expected to sell 270,000 units in roughly the same six week period. An industry analyst had said Sony would need to cut the PSVR 2’s price to avoid a “complete disaster”.

The headset launched on February 22 with 42 games, including headlining title Horizon: Call of the Mountain and a variety of virtual reality updates for critically acclaimed games like Gran Turismo 7 and Resident Evil Village.

Sony announced another handful of games at its first PlayStation State of Play of 2023, including sci-fi western The Foglands, mind-bending shooter Synapse, and more. A major PlayStation Showcase is taking place later today, however, promising even more AAA announcements for the headset.

In our 9/10 review, IGN said: “With top-notch visual quality and immersively tactile Sense controllers, PlayStation VR2 represents a quantum leap over its predecessor, setting a new standard for console VR gaming.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Embracer Group Shares Plunge After $2 Billion Deal Falls Through “Late Last Night”

The stock market reacts.

Embracer Group — the owners of huge IPs including The Lord of the Rings, Tomb Raider, and Borderlands — has seen its shares drop by a whopping 39.28% in the past day after it announced the surprise “negative outcome” of a potential $2 billion contracted development deal.

The drop occurred this morning following the candid public statement from the company as a part of its quarterly sales report. In this statement, the Swedish company explained that the deal would have enabled a catch-up payment for “already capitalized costs for a range of large-budget games” and would have improved future profit predictions on games currently in development.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The Planet of the Discounts promotion comes to PlayStation Store

The Planet of the Discounts promotion materializes into PlayStation Store on Wednesday, May 24! For a limited time* you can enjoy out-of-this world discounts across a variety of PlayStation games.

That includes 67% off Gotham Knights Deluxe Edition and 70% off Red Dead Redemption 2: Ultimate Edition. But there are many more titles on offer. Check out the full list below then head to PlayStation Store when the promotion starts to find out your regional discount.

* The Planet of the Discounts promotion begins 00.00am local time Wednesday, May 24 and ends 23.59pm local time on Wednesday, June 7.

Even a return to Titan can’t bring me back to Destiny 2

I always knew I would one day be tempted to return to Destiny 2. After three years and several thousands hours of playtime, last February I hit my limit on the garbage MMO that this phenomenal FPS is trapped inside and uninstalled. But I still adore parts, including its striking sci-fi landscapes. So when I heard the latest season was returning to the alien ocean moon of Titan, one of my favourite spots, I was tempted. Oh I was tempted! But now Season Of The Deep started yesterday and Titan is here and no, it’s not enough.

Read more

Miasma Chronicles review: this tactically sound turn-based post-apocalypse is short on fresh ideas

Swedish developers The Bearded Ladies certainly have a type. If you’ve played the memorably odd Mutant Year Zero or the largely forgettable Corruption 2029, you’ll know it by now – a blend of real-time stealth and turn-based tactics, where you quietly pick off stragglers from enemy squads before confronting the rest in a team scrap. Now here’s Miasma Chronicles, the Ladies’ third effort, and let’s just say they’re clearly happy to stick with what they know.

While the patterns of play are to a great extent the same, though, Miasma Chronicles is a more ambitious project. Addressing criticisms that those earlier games weren’t substantial enough, it’s a broader, denser beast, in which you could easily spend twice as long – 30 hours or so – seeing all the sights and shooting the nasties that populate them. That means there’s a lot more space available for this game to coax out varied strategies and introduce more elements, which is great. But it also means the weaker elements of the formula are left more exposed, which isn’t.

Read more