Today a new trailer finally revealed the release date for Nioh 2, coming exclusively to PlayStation 4 in 2020.
The PlayStation Blog also has an interview of sorts with the game producer for Nioh 2,
Hello everyone I’m Fumihiko Yasuda, the producer for Nioh 2. I’d like to share some incredibly exciting news with you all! First and foremost, I’m happy to finally announce our launch date of March 13, 2020.
I know many of you have been waiting and we thank you for your patience while we worked to set an official date. One of the primary reasons for not rushing to set a launch date was to ensure that we can achieve a “genuine evolution” from Nioh, which to us meant that we needed to bring in fresh new elements while retaining the things that we felt were right from the first game. Although there weren’t enough significant changes in the Alpha, we now feel that we have come much closer to reaching our goals.
With that being said, we would also like to give you guys a sneak peek at the game by releasing an open beta demo for you to try out. This open beta will be available from November 1-10 and is downloadable from PlayStation Store. All players will be able to experience new elements such as our extensive character customization feature, our newest weapon- the Switchglaive, and so much more.
Also at this time you will be able to pre-order Nioh 2 from PlayStation Store, which will award you with valuable bonus items to use with the final game. For those of you who are new to Nioh, and want to discover the world around it, the original game will be available for free to PlayStation Plus members on November 5. As for the seasoned veterans, kindly guide the newcomers with your battle hardened skills.
As the development enters into its final phase, we will be busy with debug, rebalance, debug, rebalance… All kidding aside, I’m anxious for you guys to play the Beta and we very much look forward to your feedback so that we can properly finalize Nioh 2. Thank you for your support!
Sharpen your sword… and your skills. Nioh 2 comes to PS4 on 13th March 2020. Play it first with the open beta, from 1st – 10th November.
A new video has been released from the Crystal Dynamics development team which provides a deeper dive into Marvel’s Avengers gameplay, story, AIM narrative, mission variety, Super Hero customization, and much more.
Marvel’s Avengers offers players a truly rich experience, with a combination of Hero Missions and Warzone Missions. Hero Missions are single-player only and are part of the overall Campaign. These Hero Missions are designed to showcase each hero’s unique abilities as you reassemble them to your growing roster. Warzone Missions can be played solo or with a group of up to four players as any Hero in your roster. Each mission dynamically scales based on the team size and player level.
Players in Marvel’s Avengers will also be able to customize Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in a number of ways. While each Super Hero will play true to their unique power sets, each will have the flexibility to play different based on the gear you equip and the skills you enable. Each hero has dynamic combo systems, Heroic moves, an intrinsic ability, and signature move sets to unlock and customize. You’ll also be able to customize these iconic Super Heroes with classic, fan-favorite, and all-new original outfits inspired by over 80-years of Marvel history.
To ensure a heroic experience for all players, Marvel’s Avengers narrative will progress over multiple years with every new post release Super Hero and region delivered to players at no additional cost if you own the core game.
For more exclusive information on Marvel’s Avengers, head over to the PlayStation Blog now for an exclusive interview with Studio Creative Director at Crystal Dynamics, Noah Hughes.
Finally, in case you missed it, earlier this month it was revealed that fan-favorite Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel, is the latest playable Super Hero in Marvel’s Avengers. Players begin their journey as Kamala Khan and learn the origins of her extraordinary powers. As the story expands, Kamala plays an essential role in bringing the disbanded Avengers back together and as each Super Hero rejoins the roster, players must master their unique abilities, rebuild and customize the team to face increasingly evolving threats only the Avengers together can defeat.
To learn more about Kamala Khan in Marvel’s Avengers, check out her announcement trailer here.
Play the beta first on PS4. Marvel’s Avengers assemble on May 15, 2020.
In what is sadly becoming more and more of a underwhelming reveal each month, Xbox has revealed the November 2019 Games with Gold.
November’s 2019 Games with Gold lineup for Xbox One includes: Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter and The Final Station.
For Xbox 360 owners (and through Xbox One backward compatibility), November kicks off with Star Wars Jedi Starfighter, followed by Joy Ride Turbo.
Naturally the big names coming to Xbox Games Pass are putting a huge shadow over the monthly Games with Gold releases, and for me at least, this bunch very much are instantly forgettable.
PDP Gaming has always been a company I have kept my eye on over the years, mostly because they specialise in the entry to mid-tier pricing of gaming controllers and headsets. Last week we were invited along to their Winter Showcase here in London and I was impressed by what they had on show for PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox One, even coming up with the PDP Level 50 Wireless Headset for PS4 to review which I have to say, was even more surprising once plugged in than it was to see presented at the event.
I should start off by what you actually get in the box itself, so unsurprisingly you will find the Level 50 Wireless Headset itself, the USB Wireless Dongle and a rather generously long 12-meter USB cable for charging. The packaging itself certainly does the job as the box is branded to the PlayStation blue (the Xbox sister Level 50 headset is in traditional green). It would have been nice if the interior holder was painted in the same box colour instead of the generic brown cardboard but that is just a personal niggle for presentation as that is not what you would have paid for when you bought this headset, with that in mind, let us take a look at the specs of the Level 50 Wireless headset.
Specifications:
50mm Neodymium Drivers
Breathable mesh ear cushions
Easily Accessible Volume Dial on right ear cup
Bi-directional noise cancelling microphone with passive noise filter
Quick Flip Mute: Microphone is Muted when the Mic Boom is flipped up
Officially licensed, meaning arduous testing to meet first party quality standards.
First thing I have to comment on is I really do like the build quality for this mid-tier gaming headset. Simplicity is the best way to describe this headset and it begins with the full-on plastic feel to the headset. It does feel especially ‘plastic’ as well to the touch but what I also was surprised about was just how light this headset really is which I find to be incredible in a wireless headset. The inner ear cups are coloured in branded PlayStation blue and was a little surprised that no PlayStation logo or PS4 imagery is on the actual headset or inner ear cushions, again not a big deal and is just my pickiness for presentation spiking. The other aspect to this headset I like is that its bendy through the headband and ear cups making it very hard to snap this headset, something other headsets that are simply pieces clipped together can do, especially if you take it off without due consideration which has happened to me with previous headphones. The durability of the Level 50 is very sturdy because of this unique feature and more of a common sense design than making putting the aesthetics first.
The theme of common sense continues into the features of this headset as well. Normally on a wireless headset, a lot of the basics such as volume control and mic mute button, are tiny buttons located on one of the ear cups making it quite often a fiddly and cumbersome process to do simple basic things. The Level 50 does two very simple common-sense things as a headset which I feel does make it stand out even more. First the mic itself has a long boom arm attached to the left ear cup and while at first it does look a little too long, the arm allows you to position the mic exactly where you want it to be and never once feeling like you are over doing it or that the mic arm could break.
The mic itself is a good quality, my gaming party could hear me clearly with it even in intense firefights on Destiny: Shadowkeep and whilst streaming my audience said it was crisp as well without any tininess. Muting the mic is also another great common-sense design feature with the simplicity of simply raising the mic arm fully until you can hear an audio cue but can only feel it click into an upright position to know it is locked and muted meaning no more looking for that red light that normally shows that the mic is actually muted and no tiny button to try and quickly locate to activate it. I simply love this aspect to the Level 50 and no longer would suffer the missed button or “forgot to mute the mic” moments either on stream or during MP sessions with friends. The headset power button is situation behind the mic arm on the left ear cup with the EQ Mode button next to it which can switch from a more balanced audio level to a more bass focused level, the sound did sound great with either mode but I found using the more bass focused mode serving better with the bombastic games I tested the Level 50 with.
Volume control is another example of the common sense approach to the Level 50 with a volume dial placed on the right ear cup which uses the old school style of a “dial knob” instead of a button system. I have always found managing volume on a wireless headset to be pretty annoying when having to find the volume control buttons. Instead this dial brilliantly does exactly what you need it to do and its basic granted but, sometimes if basic gets the job done, basic will do. Which is really how I feel about this headset, it gets the job done at a level that is value for the price tag without forking out more just for bells and whistles.
This brings me nicely to the main feature of this headset, the Wireless connection. The Level 50 uses a USB dongle to serve as the wireless transmitter for the PS4, it Is quite a large dongle which will be very visible on the console itself particularly if you use the front USB ports. But the beauty of this method is that plugging in the dongle to the console and then turning on the headset makes them instantly connect with the PS4 automatically switching audio to the headset. Clean and efficient and removes the need to faff about syncing the headset to the console, each time I used it, it simply connected first time every time. Charging wise, the 12m USB cable that comes with the headset is brilliant for just connecting and putting away the headset to the console or any available USB port on a device on standby. Taken only a few hours to fully charge out the box, I left the headset on and idle for a full day and it still had a good charge for a 3 hour Destiny session the next day. The range the wireless is also very good, I live in a flat and from my gaming room I was able to go to my kitchen and bedroom on opposite sides of my gaming room and did not lose signal which is impressive because I can lose Bluetooth connection just going into my kitchen.
Final Thoughts
The Level 50 Wireless Headset is a brilliant bit of kit for those looking for the benefits of a wireless gaming headset on a sensible budget. There is a wired version that has the same features other than being wireless for a cheaper price but I was really impressed with the wireless model. Sound is great and it does exactly what you need it to do with simplicity at its foundation and an excellent battery and charge life to ensure this headset is good to go whenever you need it.
This is another example of PDP Gaming pushing its way through the crowd with a headset that punches above its weight and is definitely worthy of being checked out for its reliability and common sense features.
In anticipation of the blockbuster release ofStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, EA and Respawn Entertainment have released the game’s official launch trailer showcasing the epic Star Wars moments, eclectic cast and charming droid, BD-1, and the intense lightsaber combat players can expect when they become a Jedi on November 15th.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order follows the adventures of Cal Kestis, a young Padawan on the run during the dark times after Order 66 was executed. With the evil Inquisitors of the Empire led by the Second Sister in pursuit, Cal with the help of his trusty companions Cere, Greeze, his faithful droid, BD-1, and some familiar faces from the Star Wars galaxy will embark on an incredible journey to help rebuild the Jedi Order. Cal’s quest will have players visiting and exploring an array of planets both new and familiar to reconnect with the Force, hone his lightsaber skills and grow into the Jedi he was destined to become.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will be available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on November 15.
The Surge 2, Deck 13’s latest futuristic Action-RPG releases its Season Pass today, chock-full of content coming in the next months to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Players who purchase the Season Pass will experience new weapons, including the exclusive BORAX-I Quantum weapon depicted in today’s screenshots, new gear sets, and a brand-new storyline in a new district introducing fresh enemies and bosses. The release schedule and contents of the Season Pass are outlined in our post-launch roadmap below.
13 new weapons will arrive in The Surge 2 in November, followed by three complete sets of gear for your exo-rig in December. Finally, in January, players can explore a brand-new location – a mysterious aircraft-carrier – in the big extension “The Kraken” that includes hours of new content, and a sinister new threat.
The techno-crazed citizens of Jericho City are crafting fresh killing tools and exo-suit attachments all the time. To acquire these new sets, players must find these mad pioneers and tear the prize from their bodies.
Purchase the Season Pass right now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC at 19,99€/$ to get the exclusive BORAX-I Quantum weapon immediately and guarantee yourself hours of more visceral gameplay content.
The Surge 2 is out now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Vampyr, DONTNOD’s narrative-driven action-RPG, is out now on Nintendo Switch! Discover more about this dark adventure’s first portable outing in the intense Launch Trailer today.
Set in an unforgettable interpretation of 1918 London, Vampyr puts you in the role of Dr. Jonathan Reid, a newly-turned vampire. Confronted with a new world of ancient horrors and hidden societies, you’re challenged with saving a dying city’s citizens while uncovering the truth behind your terrible condition.
Choose to be the savior or the stalker. The blood of London’s citizens fuels your new-found powers in order to overcome supernatural foes. However, feed too freely, and you may doom the city for eternity. The consequences of each life taken will send ripples through each of London’s districts – who will you sacrifice for the greater good?
Vampyr is out now for Nintendo Switch. For more information, visit the official website.
What game lets you play as a bunch of self-aware monkeys (and Sonic the Hedgehog) stuck in spheres as they speed around 100 twisting courses suspended in mid-air?
We’ll give you one guess.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD available today on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One!
Get the edge in your online gaming this Christmas with Gioteck’s all-new TX-50 stereo headset. Available at only £29.99 the TX-50 packs a punch and is compatible with all major gaming and mobile devices. Its sleek black and orange colourway and soft-touch,rubberised finish delivers the very best in style and comfort to gamers of all ages.
Over-ear soft Alacantara cushions allow for precise delivery of sound, blended with extreme comfort for long gaming sessions. 50mm high impact drivers enable you to track every footstep and the flexible metal mic guarantees that you and your team hear every command.Precision extender arms and perforated steel cups make sure that the TX-50 packs a punch both inside and out this Christmas.
505 Games will publish the PC version of Hideo Kojima’s highly-anticipated title Death Stranding, releasing in Summer 2020. The console version of the Death Stranding will exclusively be published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 4 with a release date of Friday, Nov. 8, 2019.
“We are extremely excited and honored to be working with the supremely talented team at Kojima Productions and to bring Death Stranding to PC gamers around the world,” said 505 Games co-founder and CEO Raffi Galante. “Death Stranding will take gamers through a completely original experience that will delight PC gamers everywhere.”
Developed by Kojima Productions, Death Stranding is one of the most anticipated games of the last decade and stars Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead), Mads Mikkelsen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) and Léa Seydoux (Spectre) with additional appearances by Academy Award winning director Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water), comedian and television host Conan O’Brien (TBS’ Conan) and games personality Geoff Keighley, creator of The Game Awards.
Death Stranding follows the story of Sam Porter (Norman Reedus), who must travel across a ravaged wasteland and save humanity from impending annihilation after mysterious explosions set off a series of supernatural events and otherworldly creatures begin to plague the landscape.
Death Stranding will release on Friday November 8th for PlayStation 4, additional details about the PC release of Death Stranding will be revealed in the near future.
Burn through the streets of Palm City in Need for Speed Heat. By day, earn bank to create your perfect ride through sanctioned Speedhunters Showdown events. By night, enter illicit street races alongside your crew, earning rep and building heat. But stay ready – cops are waiting and not all of them play fair. The roads and the rides are endless in this twenty-four-hour street racer where only the fast are free to chase the line, risk everything, and burn all limits.
This trailer was created using the fast innovation found in the Need for Speed Heat Studio App – download now, collect all the available models, create your perfect ride and connect it to Need For Speed Heat.
Need for Speed Heat launches 8th November, 2019 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Jump into the game first on 5th November, 2019 with EA Access and Origin Access Basic to enjoy up to 10 hours of play time as part of the Play First Trial, or sign-up for Origin Access Premier to get full access on PC.
The New Disney + streaming service is gearing up to launch and Star Wars fans are looking to it for the start of the brand new ‘The Mandalorian’ series, exclusive to Disney +, and over night a new official trailer was released:
After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe. “The Mandalorian” is set after the fall of the Empire after Return of the Jedi and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic.
Currently there is official launch date for Disney + in the UK, however a cheeky tweet from the Star Wars UK official Twitter account did put out that this series would be coming in early 2020.
Everything on paper ahead of the launch of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint suggested that this was going to be a game that I was going to love after having such a great time with Ghost Recon: Wildlands and admiring the new refinements to The Division 2. Throw in a main villain voiced by and bearing the likeness of Jon Bernthal, many will know as The Punisher from the NETFLIX series, and the ingredients for a great game were all there. Sadly, what was released was a complete mess of ideas that failed to blend together in any entertaining fashion. Breakpoint was quite simply…. broken.
There really is no beating about the bush here, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint is a bloody mess with bugs, glitches and failed concepts that do more to showcase its own failing than coming together to elevate the game beyond just a sequel to Wildlands. I suffered so many problems playing this title for review from hard crashing of the game to multiple game freezes and even the complete corruption of my save file which resulted in Ubisoft simply telling me to start all over again with a new game and still hitting all the bugs I experienced on my first attempt to play through the game. Frustration and bewilderment were pretty much my only real emotions whilst playing.
The story is perhaps the strongest yet for the series with the worlds biggest name in combat drone technology, Skell Technology, raising one too many eyebrows with which countries and armies they have been supplying their technology too. The company has taken over the island of Aurora (a completely fictional setting following the negative reaction from using Bolivia for Wildlands) and following the loss of the USS Seay, an American cargo ship, under suspicious circumstances and the complete loss of communication with the island, the US sends a taskforce of Ghost Recon teams to the island with two missions, find out what happened to the USS Seay and re-establish contact with island to find out what is happening. On approach to Aurora all the Ghost Recon helicopters are taken out and you as the player, find yourself playing ‘Nomad’ who survives the crash and sets out to complete the mission.
I do have to say before I do go into just what Breakpoint gets so very wrong, that it actually does quite a few things really well. I love that for Breakpoint, they moved to try and give it a far more tactical feel, where the feeling of being caught is very real from the very moment you crawl from the crashed helicopter at the start. This is what I felt was missing from Wildlands, the feeling that you are the best of the best undercover special forces soldier but with Breakpoint taking it to a new level, it was really satisfying being in the world and having this element as a focus of gameplay worked really well in the Closed Beta and to an extent, in the full game. I really loved how the island is constantly under surveillance from drones and patrolling helicopters so at any time the alert that one is heading your way requires you to hide or use the new “ground camouflage “ where you go full prone and cover yourself in the mud and dirt of the ground to blend into your environment to avoid detection.
I also really loved the fact that the whole island is available to explore and it is a massive playable area which if you use the Exploration mode of game experience, the first of the many Ubisoft game series borrowed systems that Breakpoint uses and first seen in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, makes you have to go and explore the island to find objectives, locations and discover side quests. The gunplay is also really enjoyable, refined from Wildlands and with some help from Division 2, moving from close range and long range with the sniper rifle was quite satisfying for me. I relished using my scope, binoculars or drone to assess a location before moving in so I could plan a strategy and adapt my tactics according to the threat ahead. There are things that Breakpoint did well.
But sadly, what the game does get right is very quickly overshadowed by everything it gets wrong. Even before I get to the technical issues that plagued my time through the game, Breakpoint suffers from the classic “so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should” approach to bringing in systems from other successful Ubisoft titles. Now I have said in previous Ubisoft game reviews that when they do bring in such systems that have worked well in other games to compliment another game, that is a genius idea. The problem with Breakpoint and doing it is that instead of careful integration of these mechanics, here they are slammed together to neither enhance the experience or do anything really new because they are so immediately recognisable.
The most obvious one is easily just how much of The Division 2 has been used as the foundation for Breakpoint. If you have played Division 2 you will know that the map is sectioned off by using Enemy Levels to both warn and prevent a player with too low a level from venturing into an area that they are clearly underpowered for. Breakpoint uses the same ‘Gear’ system to give your character a power level which has the knock-on effect of turning it away from being a tactical shooter and instead a looter shooter because every enemy encounter and every location you discover and visit will throw new armour pieces and weapons at you. Rather than dropping something cool, it is a system that merely increases the score of an item incrementally so you can get the same version of the assault rifle you are using multiple times only with a slightly increased score value. This is so over used that it just becomes more of an annoyance then having any particular wow factor when finding or picking up a new gun or amour piece. It is a system that suits Division games and far less so the Ghost Recon games.
I also really hated the Division style Hub area of ‘Erewhon’, a secret base for the local militia set inside a mountain because it absolutely kills the biggest element of the story, that you are on your own. The strength of the narrative is that you the player as Nomad, are the last able-bodied Ghost on the island battling to complete the mission and to rescue and find any other survivors of the Ghost team. Instead the moment you enter Erewhon you are presented with multiple other players in the game which straight away nullifies the whole “lone survivor” mechanic as you could simply get this ‘army’ together and head right into Skell HQ to take down the bad guys. Wildlands did the whole co-op element right; it was you in a squad of four Ghosts and if playing solo the other members would be AI controlled or could be replaced by your friends instead. Now Breakpoint still allows co-op play and believe me, this game is far more fun when played with friends, mostly so you can share your pain and have a laugh when the game does its janky stuff, but right away you literally have a potential army of players available which breaks the logic of the story narrative.
The janky stuff is really what tears Breakpoint down and from launch to even now, it is plagued with too many broken elements and bugs that kills the game experience. For me, the game can freeze when bringing up the map or just trying to enter a dialogue scene which by itself also has the annoying thing or removing any headgear and weapons from the dialogue scene for some strange reason before returning them once completed. The game would also crash on me at times whenever I tried to use the bivouac shelter system where you can pitch up tent and craft health items and even cook food to boost attributes. Facial animations in dialogue scenes are painful to sit through and the game throws so much information on you with the option to pin main and side missions that you want to complete with a map so bloated with additional information that it is easy to lose track for missions can be taken on.
The enemy AI is so woeful it really is rather tragic, with patrolling enemies dotted all over the place that you just cannot walk for more than five minutes without encountering enemies either standing by vehicles or patrolling. So often you can find a patrolling group either walking in a straight line as they would in Far Cry or even just literally standing next to each other so all you need to do is equip an assault rifle or SMG, line up your sights on one enemy and just pull the trigger and move sights to the right in order to wipe out the whole squad. When tackling something like a building or oil/gas refinery, the AI can become even more ridiculous as I could simply set up position in a sniper tower, take out a guard which can alert every other enemy to come and investigate and simply pop your head out of cover to take them out and crouch to break line of sight with none of the enemy even coming up to the tower to search for me. I even upped the difficulty level hoping it would provide more of a challenge but the shockingly bad AI just made it far too easy to cheese your way through.
I did like the idea of the Wolves, former Ghost operatives now rogue who are constantly hunting you down and is just a clone of the Mercenaries system from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, yet they never actually feel like a threat despite having all the abilities that you can unlock with the quite overwhelming skill tree that tries to merge together all the familiar four classes of soldier but limited which of the many perks you can unlock to only a few useable at any one time. Another feature that could have been brilliant but undone by the mess of it all.
At this point it really is difficult to find anything to really recommend Breakpoint as something to go out and buy right now. I have no doubt that given time, Ubisoft can get it playable because it is something they have proven that they can do, but this is a game that should never have released in this condition and is sadly a case of trying to throw so many different game systems together which only result in diluting anything remotely recognisable as a Ghost Recon game and instead creates a mutant Division 2.5 ‘Bond Villain Island’ game. Too many things are broken and far too much of the fails to achieve what they thought it would leaving a boring, frustrating and buggy experience that it should never have become after having all the elements that could and should have made it a must have game for fans of the series.
To stamp the above home even more, at the time of finalising this review, the news broke that as a result of the huge failure of Breakpoint’s release, Ubisoft has confirmed that it has now delayed ALL of its 2020 line up starting with ‘Watch Dogs: Legion’ in order to allow the teams extra time to put more polish on the titles in order to avoid another Breakpoint situation. Breakpoint is so bad that an entire year’s schedule of games has been delayed.
Pretty much says it all really and sadly I can only end by saying do not buy Breakpoint, give it a few months to allow the team to fix the bugs and work on quality of life updates for the game, go back and play Wildlands which is what I did and had a great time with friends, mixing it up with playing the new content for Division 2. Breakpoint should have been better, but it dropped the ball and it dropped it hard!
13 new weapons will arrive in The Surge 2 in November, followed by three complete sets of gear for your exo-rig in December. Finally, in January, players can explore a brand-new location – a mysterious aircraft-carrier – in the big extension “The Kraken” that includes hours of new content, and a sinister new threat.
