FACEMINER is a clicker/puzzle game where you work from your CRT monitor to analyse packets of facial surveillance data for a mysterious company. It describes itself as a ‘hardcore thriller clicker set in 1999’. As a connoisseur of unusual word combinations – as well as a believer in the satirical power of clicker games since playing Universal Paperclips – I immediately set about downloading the free Steam demo.
20 minutes of announcements incoming.
Here we go, folks. Yesterday, Nintendo announced that an Indie World showcase will be coming our way today, Wednesday, April 17th, 2023 at 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm BST / 4pm CEST.
The showcase will last for around 20 minutes and will focus on indie games that are coming to Nintendo Switch in 2024.
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Po and friends are back.
Mojang’s insanely popular survival-crafting game Minecraft is celebrating the new Kung Fu Panda movie with some new themed DLC.
The DreamWorks Kung Fu Panda DLC can be purchased from the Minecraft Marketplace and is an “adventure map” filled with “action-packed battles, epic showdowns from the movies, and pand-tastic co-op action”. Here’s a bit about it:
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If you didn’t play the original release, now you know.
A remaster of Shadows of the Damned is coming to the Switch this year and if you haven’t played the original 2011 game and are wondering what it’s all about, Grasshopper Manufacture founder Goichi “Suda51” Suda has compared it to Super Mario.
“It’s like Super Mario Bros., but in Hell” he told Destructoid in a recent interview. Here’s Suda’s full explanation (via translator):
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Take-Two Interactive is laying off around 5 pecent of its workforce, or about 579 workers, and canceling several probjects, the GTA 6 publisher announced in a new filing. The news follows claims from CEO Strauss Zelnick that the publisher had “no plans” for layoffs amid its planned cost reduction program.
In the filiing, Take-Two said it is “eliminating several projects in development and streamlining its organizational structure,” which includes laying off workers. Take-Two said it expects to incur between $160 and $200 million in total charges, with $120 million to $140 million related to title cancellations.
It’s a plan that’s been in the works since at least February. At the time, Zelnick said of the cost reduction plan, “We haven’t put any meat on the bones of that yet. I would just note that our biggest line item of expense is actually marketing. We do think we can optimize that. We also have third-party expenses, software, other vendors, supply services. And we always find opportunity there. The hardest thing to do is to lay off colleagues, and we have no current plans.”
Take-Two had previously claimed that it was done “right-sizing” its business and that it expected to be in “growth mode” going forward in part due to the expected release of GTA 6 in 2025. Elsewhere, Take-Two recently acquired Gearbox from the Embracer Group, in the process confirming that a new Borderlands game is in development.
In 2022, Take-Two completed a multi-billion dollar merger with Zynga. But as of late 2023, Take-Two was said to be struggling with mobille due to its acquisition being “expensive and late.”
In the meantime, the games industry has been racked by layoffs in 2024, impacting publishers including EA, PlayStation, Xbox, and Riot. Take-Two says its own cost reduction plan is set to be complete by December 31, 2024.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
The post Grounded’s ‘Fully Yoked’ Update Out Today: A Bigger, Bolder Backyard Awaits appeared first on Xbox Wire.
New screenshots of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, the next game in the beloved Budokai Tenkaichi series, confirms more characters coming to the hotly-anticipated 3D fighting game. Among its ranks of super-powered heroes is Dragon Ball Z’s oft-forgotten Saiyan warrior, Future Gohan.
NEW SPARKING ZERO CHARACTERS! Beerus, Whis, Gohan, Videl, Future Gohan, and Trunks (Sword) pic.twitter.com/nq0u2ns8un
— SLO (@SLOplays) April 16, 2024
V-Jump magazine’s Sparking Zero screenshots, later shared on X/Twitter with fan translations, confirmed Future Gohan among five other playable characters bolstering the upcoming arena fighting game’s ever-increasing roster. As of the time of publication, Sparking Zero now has 42 playable characters. Here’s the list of the other heroes coming to Sparking! Zero:
Although Future Gohan is among the likes of other popular Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super characters like Trunks and Beerus, his presence supersedes that of Sparking Zero’s admittedly expected playable characters as far as DBZ fans are concerned. Part of why Future Gohan in Sparking Zero is blowing fans’ collective minds is thanks to the limited-yet-impactful amount of screen time he got in the series canon.
Future Gohan first appeared in the Dragon Ball Z special, The History of Trunks. In it, he and Trunks serve as humanity’s last line of defense after Android 17 and Android 18 massacred the rest of DBZ’s cast of heroes. Design-wise, Future Gohan distinguishes himself from other iterations of the character because he fights with only his right arm. Famously, Future Gohan lost his left arm protecting Trunks during their desperate battle against the cyborg duo.
Although Future Gohan has made appearances in other Dragon Ball games like Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, his character model had both of his giant arms still attached to his body. This in turn led to the creation of a humble PC mod whose sole purpose was to “chop off Future Gohan’s useless broken arm.” Going off V-Jump’s screenshots, Future Gohan’s character model will do battle with one arm, much to the adulation of diehard fans.
Limited screentime aside, Future Gohan’s death is most remembered among fans as the emotional push that led to Future Trunks turning Super Saiyan for the first time.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero launches on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Although it does not have a release date, be sure to check out our feature breaking down seven details you might have missed from its Goku vs Vegeta Rivals trailer.
Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow them on Twitter @ShinEyeZehUhh
It won’t be long before players can get their hands on Hades II, the sequel to 2020’s critically-acclaimed roguelite by Supergiant Games. In a new post on X/Twitter, Supergiant Games announced an upcoming Hades II Technical Test along with instructions on how to join.
The goal of the technical test is to ensure that the upcoming Early Access release has a “smooth play experience from the start.” It will have much less content than the Early Access version — including the first major area of the game and early-game characters — and it will only be available to a “relatively small subset” of players who sign up to play.
“If you played the original game, imagine a version where you couldn’t get past Tartarus even if you vanquished its guardian,” Supergiant explains on its website. Players who complete the area a number of times will see a “gentle suggestion” to discontinue play.
To sign up for the Hades II Technical Test, you need only go to the Hades II Steam Page and click the button marked “Request Access.” If you’re invited to participate, you will receive an email from Steam with download instructions.
“We expect to start with a small player population, then grow it over time,” Supergiant explains. “So, even if you aren’t invited to the Technical Test right away, you may still be invited later. Our process boils down to: invite some players, fix any problems they run into, invite more players, and so on. Once we’re sufficiently confident that things are stable, we’ll wind down the Technical Test, then launch in Early Access on Steam and the Epic Games Store relatively soon after.”
The Hades II Technical Test will be one of the first playable glimpses fans get of the anticipated sequel, which will feature Melinoë, daughter of Hades and sister of Zagreus, as its main character. The original game was acclaimed for its sharp writing, beautiful visuals, and clever take on roguelite storytelling, and Hades II looks to be more of the same.
Supergiant says that it will try to “conduct the Technical Test as expeditiously as possible,” then launch into Early Access. The studio is uncertain how long it will last, but expects that it will be “longer than a week, shorter than a month.” The Early Access launch will be dependent on the length of the Technical Test. It is currently set for Q2 2024.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
“Nintendo is ‘the’ way you understand games”.
The London Developer Conference (LDC) made its almighty return last week, allowing some of the biggest names in the gaming world the chance to talk about the industry, where it currently sits, and where it is likely to go.
One of the speakers in this year’s programme was Keza MacDonald, video games editor for The Guardian and author of 2020’s You Died: The Dark Souls Companion book.
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