Resident Evil 4 remake: Steam Deck performance and best settings

Resident Evil 4 remake is a mostly cool runner on desktops, and good news if you’re recently picked up a certain handheld PC in the sales: its Steam Deck performance is alright too. Maybe not to the battery-sipping, framerate-abundant extent of the very best Steam Deck games, but with the right settings, nu-Resi 4 can keep its burlap sacked head well above 30fps even in its most visually demanding scenes.

Read more

Resident Evil 4 Remake Mercenaries Mode Arrives Early Next Month

Resident Evil 4 Remake’s horde-style mode The Mercenaries will arrive on April 7, meaning folks will only have to tolerate a short, two-week wait for the fan favourite mode to arrive in-game. Capcom revealed the date at the conclusion of the fresh Resident Evil 4 Remake launch trailer it published today, which you can watch below.

At Sony’s first 2023 State of Play last month, Capcom confirmed that The Mercenaries would be coming as a free, post-release update – though April 7 may be pleasantly closer than some were expecting.

Resident Evil 4 Remake is available today and earned a 10 out of 10 in IGN’s review as “the series’ most relentlessly exciting adventure rebuilt, refined, and realised to the full extent of its enormous potential.”

For much, much more on Resident Evil 4 Remake be sure to check out our look back on how the original completely revolutionised the survival horror genre, plus our top 10 beginner tips for tackling this superb remake and why the iconic custom chainsaw controller Capcom crafted for the original is sadly not making a comeback this time around.

Luke is Games Editor at IGN’s Sydney office. You can chat to him on Twitter @MrLukeReilly.

The games of 2022, according to this year’s GDC and IGF Award winners

IGF Award ceremonies were really heartening stuff. Getting to see so many great developers have their games celebrated by their peers will always warm the old cockles, especially when we celebrated so many of them in our own RPS Advent Calendar at the end of last year. Well, I say ‘see’. In truth, I was tucked away backstage at this year’s IGF and GDC Awards, clutching my dictaphone with a single question in mind: if each winner had to give away their award to another game in their category, who would it be and why?

It’s an idea Brendan (RPS in peace) came up with back in the primordial mists of 2018, and it was so good I just had to knick it and do it again. It might be cruel to wrench these awards away so soon after receiving them, but it’s all in the name of spreading good vibes and extra shoutouts, I promise. So here are the games of the year 2022, according to the people who just won awards for games of the year 2022.

Read more

A New Pokémon Distribution Event Has Been Announced For Japan

Unlock a special Pikachu.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet has been running Tera Raid Battle events and even some item distributions like no tomorrow, but unfortunately, there’s not been quite as many gifts and Pokémon giveaways.

If you happen to be located in Japan though, there’ll soon be a “special Pikachu” at Pokémon Centers and Pokémon Stores across Japan. If you go to one of these locations, there’ll be a Serial Code for Scarlet & Violet to redeem this pocket monster. Here are the stats (via Serebii.net):

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Lawsuit Over Fatal Call of Duty Swatting Incident Settled for $5 Million

The Wichita City Council in Kansas has reached a $5 million settlement in a lawsuit filed by the family of Andrew Finch, who was killed by police in the first fatal swatting incident in the U.S. over an online Call of Duty match.

According to The Wichita Eagle, city officials approved the settlement on Tuesday in a five-year lawsuit against Wichita police detective Justin Rapp, who killed 28-year-old Finch despite him being unarmed. The city voted 6-1 in favor of the lawsuit.

The swatting incident stemmed from an argument between Casey Viner and Shane Gaskill during an online match in Call of Duty: WWII in December 2017. Viner made a hoax call to the police, and Gaskill gave a false address to Tyler Barriss, a serial swatter who ultimately made a false report of a hostage situation and a murder. The SWAT then surrounded Finch’s house, and when Finch, who was unaware of the situation, stepped outside to see what was going on, Rapp immediately shot Finch in the chest from 40 yards away, even though he didn’t pose a threat to police or others on the scene.

Barriss, who was also linked to another swatting incident in Canada, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter, while Viner was sentenced to 15 months and given a two-year ban on gaming for hiring someone to make a prank emergency call to police.

Meanwhile, Rapp had no criminal charges filed against him, nor was he investigated by Wichita police for any potential policy violations. Even though he was previously passed over for promotion for lack of sound judgment, he was ultimately promoted to detective last year.

As for the $5 million settlement, Finch family spokesperson AlmaAnn Jones said she was glad the community helped bring closure.

“It has been difficult to say the very least,” Jones said. “I’ve watched this family go through disappointment after disappointment after disappointment and finally today we came together as a community. We got this done.”

The settlement will cost the city council $2 million, while the rest of it will be covered by insurance.

Swatting has become a problem within the gaming community for the last decade, especially for Twitch streamers. In 2019, for example, then-16-year-old Fortnite World Cup champion Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf was swatted during a live Twitch stream. No one was injured at the time.

Thumbnail credit: Getty Images

Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. She has contributed her work to various publications, including Digital Trends, TheGamer, Twinfinite, Mega Visions, and The Escapist. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.

Squid Sisters To Debut New Song In Splatoon 3 Splatfest, Here’s A Sneak Peek

Take a trip back to Inkopolis.

Nintendo hasn’t completely forgotten about the Squid Sisters. The recent Splatoon 3 DLC saw them make a return and now in a surprise update, they’ll be debuting a new song.

It’s officially titled ‘Tomorrow’s Nostalgia Today’ and there’s been a video clip of it uploaded on Nintendo’s official YouTube channel, here’s a look:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

RPS@PAX 2023: We chat with Necrosoft Games about their spooky-not-scary tactical horror RPG Demonschool

PAX East and what better way to kick off our show coverage than highlighting a great indie game! We first came across Demonschool back at PAX West last year and have loved it ever since. It’s a slick, tactical Persona-like where you play as a band of university students navigating school life by day and beating up ghosties and ghoulies by night.

I had a chat with Demonschool’s Jenna Stoeber who talked me through what Demonschool is about, the game’s many horror inspirations, and what spooky shinanigans players can expect. If the giant skeleton lad in the game’s trailer and demo is anything to go by, we’re in for a treat. You can watch the full interview by watching the video below:

If you’ve haven’t yet, set your peepers on Demonschool’s slick trailer to see what demon hunter Faye and her gang of misfits are up against. There’s no concrete release date, but like Jenna said, Demonschool should be out sometime in 2023 with a playable demo available in May.

We’ve got plenty more interviews, demos, and highlights lined up for the rest of the week and you can find all our PAX East coverage by checking out our RPS@PAX tag.

Read more

Countdown: 3DS eShop Spotlight – Attack Of The Friday Monsters!

#28 – Hold up, it’s Thursday.

For the month before the 3DS and Wii U eShops close for new purchases on 27th March, each day we’re going to highlight a specific eShop game for one of those consoles and give a short pitch as to why we think it deserves your love and attention — before it’s too late. The chance to add these to your library will be gone for good soon and, for one reason or another, these eShop-exclusives are close to our hearts.

Today, Gavin gets that Friday feeling…

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

“Impossify” Your Park Beyond with Xbox Series X|S on June 16

Hello, Visioners!

I’m happy to share some facts about what’s sure to become your favorite park management game of all time! Park Beyond is coming to Xbox Series X|S on June 16, 2023. From the beginning, we’ve been developing the game on console to give you the best experience. The entire UI and all our features have been custom designed for the Xbox version to provide an optimized gaming experience.

In Park Beyond, we give you the opportunity to build the park of your dreams. You can do this in our unique campaign guided by our loveable written characters or jump right into our sandbox mode.

Park Beyond Screenshot

Of course, we also have a deep management system with different layers, depending on how deep you would like to dive into this world of numbers but…

What makes Park Beyond special are the “Impossifications” – over the top versions of theme park feature that let you go beyond the humdrum and ordinary. And you can use these with so many features, it’ll make your head swim! You may have already seen how our normal Ferris wheel becomes a colossus with eleven wheels instead of just one. Or the Crazy Kraken is transformed from an (already awesome) whirling animatronic ride into a colossal, living, breathing octopus that throws guests through the air.

Park Beyond Screenshot

For purists, it is possible to stay within the limits of what is physically possible and enjoy all aspects of the game. But if reality is just too restrictive, there’s very little you can’t Impossify, even the deepest levels of our park management systems!

A janitor with a broom is a bit too dull? No problem! Give him a flamethrower and any garbage guests leave behind is incinerated on the spot. Your mechanics are only carrying around normal, boring equipment? No problem! See what a few extra exo arms can do.

You can also Impossify any beverage or grocery store in Park Beyond, increasing the fun factor for visitors. You’ll gasp in delight along with your guests the first time you see what happens to a simple kebab store or a coffee shop.

Park Beyond Screenshot

Our story is also Impossified. How is that possible, you ask? We’ve crafted a hearty selections of story missions for you to play through. Additionally, in our extensive campaign you will have different choices before each mission to drag you deeper into the story and increase the replayability. Our unique characters will take you by the hand and teach you all aspects of the game. Even simple tutorials are always connected with fun and entertaining dialogs or cutscenes.

You want infinite possibilities? The sandbox mode is the perfect place for that. You can use all the features we mentioned in the sandbox mode and combine them to design the park of your dreams. Just let your modular roller coasters whiz past your Impossified rides and then rush them right through one of your modular buildings and shoot your coaster through a cannon into a mountain, you created with terraforming.

And believe me when I say that is just the beginning…

Park Beyond Screenshot

Finally, you may wish to share your awesome creations with your friends. We’re all show-offs sometimes, aren’t we? Especially when we have spent hours or even days with the wildest creations and parks. I have very good news for you. We wanted to make sure you could share your creations with the world, and we are so excited to see what you come up with. We’ll give you the opportunity to share your content on Xbox Series X|S.

If all this sounds great and you can’t wait for the release anymore, then you won’t have to wait much longer. Park Beyond will be coming to Xbox Series X|S on June 16, 2023 and you can already pre-order it now on the Xbox Store.

Everyone who pre-orders the game gets the Park Beyond: Pac-Man Impossification Set to bring some classic arcade flavor to their creations!

We can’t wait to see what the park of your dreams will look like, but right now you’ll have to excuse me, it’s my turn to board the Fireball Express Screammaker 8000, so I’ll see you in the park!

Related:
Tales of Symphonia Remastered, One of the Most Beloved Installments of the Series, is Now Available on Xbox
Calling All Pilots: SD Gundam Battle Alliance Comes to Xbox Game Pass!
Enter the Elden Ring Colosseums and Battle for Glory