Physical release dates for Shantae: Half-Genie Hero have been announced alongside a gameplay trailer
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Its been known for a while now that the digital version of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero would arrive on December 20 for all platforms, but the physical editions were somewhat of a mystery until recently. According to the newly posted trailer you'll be able to grab the physical PS4 and PS Vita copies of Shantae on the same date as the digital versions, while the Wii U variant will be delayed for a week, or until December 27 to be specific.
And while the release date announcements are certainly packed with useful information, the most interesting part of this one is the newly posted gameplay trailer. So if you're interested in seeing what the long-awaited Shantae: Half-Genie Hero looks like, head on down below:
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It doesn't matter if a game is free-to-play, requires a single purchase, or even an ongoing subscription - odds are it has some sort of microtransaction or DLC system. While that is usually fine, there is one particular type of microtransaction that is the most heinous of them all - the nowadays common loot box. Instead of being able to purchase whatever item you desire, you basically have to keep throwing money into an endless pit, all in the hopes of getting lucky and scoring an item with an astronomically low drop rate.
While it might not technically be gambling, it is pretty much gambling in every sense of the word, and as such I am very glad to say that China (of all places) has decided to pass a law that makes loot boxes much more transparent. According to an announcement translated by chillybright over at NeoGAF, China will soon start forcing developers to publicly disclose the drop rate of all items found in loot boxes! Or if you prefer that in legalese:
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After months and months of vague statements and brief previews of new items, the team behind The Binding of Isaac has decided to do something rather uncharacteristic - a proper announcement that not only revels the release date, but also exactly what to expect from the upcoming Afterbirth+ DLC. Once it arrives on January 3rd it will bring with it full access to mod tools, ~100 new items, a final chapter along with a final boss, 100s of new rooms to explore, as well as a whole bunch of other, assorted features.
And since no Isaac game can be released without a fucked up trailer, you'll be glad to hear that The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ has one as well. So if you're up for getting creeped out without actually learning much about the expansion itself, you'll find the video right below. Have a look:
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When the Halo 5: Forge tool was first announced for the PC I was extremely excited as I figured it would allow us PC players to finally experience Halo 5's multiplayer, but in a higher resolution and with better controls. Unfortunately, what ended up happening is that Halo 5: Forge on PC more or less served only to make custom games for the Xbox One as the PC version could not actually host multiplayer matches for any of these fancy, newly created custom maps.
However, due to the most recent Monitor's Bounty Update this is no longer the case! Not only has the Forge tool been greatly improved, but the PC version now finally has the ability to browse and join multiplayer custom games. In other words, you now have the ability to play Halo 5 on the PC... for free!
Blizzard has announced plans to self-publish novels, comics, and coloring books based on their games
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Blizzard has announced today that they are creating a brand new book-publishing label by the name of Blizzard Publishing. As you would expect given the name, its purpose will be to publish and re-print novels, comics, and coloring books based on Blizzard's games, while also keeping a firm grip on their quality and accuracy towards lore.
The first books published under this new label include two sets of previously released novels, as well as two volumes of the Warcraft Legends manga. If you're interested in the specifics, here's the full list of books and their authors:
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The closed beta signups for Ghost Recon Wildlands, Ubisoft's upcoming open world shooter/stealth game hybrid, have now begun. If you would like to participate you will need to head over to the Ubisoft website and sign up, after which you will have a chance to get a beta invite sent over the moment the servers go live. But even if you end up having terrible luck, worry not as Ubisoft tends to eventually make these beta tests either open to everyone or so massive they might as well be.
And if you're wondering what exactly you'll be able to do in the upcoming beta tests, Ubisoft has released a brief preview video showcasing the key gameplay elements behind Ghost Recon Wildlands. Have a look:
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Even though Doom's multiplayer mode has not received the best of welcomes, I must admit I'm actually impressed with how much effort id and Bethesda are pouring in order to improve it. And even though I'm still not sold on the whole concept, the latest update has definitely made it much better by introducing Infernal Run, a brutal FPS version of American football, as well as a variety of bots you can use to populate Team Deathmatch and Deathmatch game modes.
There's also a couple of other additions, such as the max rank now being Echelon 11, as well as a variety of SnapMap improvements. If you're interested in all of the minute details I would recommend you head over to the official patch notes, but if you're just interested in the short version that also happens to be accompanied by an awesome soundtrack - here's the preview video:
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Figuring out when Tales of Berseria will actually release on the PC has been a bit of a roller coaster, to say the least. The initial announcement pinned the release date for January 24, the same day it releases on the PlayStation 4, but that quickly got corrected to January 24 in the US, and January 27 in Europe. In most cases this would be the end of the story, but not for Tales of Berseria!
According to the recently updated Steam page, Tales of Berseria will be arriving to the PC on January 26, officially making me very, very confused. Furthermore, given that it appears as January 26 on my European Steam account it seems that the silly regional delay has been removed in favor of a unified release. If that actually ends up being the case I would consider it an extremely positive thing, because having delayed digital releases in this day and age is downright ridiculous.
On a slightly different note, if you've managed to survive through all of that rambling without actually knowing what Tales of Berseria is all about, here's the announcement trailer to hopefully shed a bit of light. There are a couple of other trailers out there, but most of them contain story spoilers, so I would recommend not reaching out for them unless you don't mind such things. Anyway, here's the video:
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For those of you that might not be aware, Hex: Shards of Fate is a Magic: The Gathering inspired card game that's trying to combine the best aspects of TCGs and story focused RPGs. In order to further this goal the developers have recently released a rather massive updated titled Chronicles of Entrath: Chapter 2, which brought with it a ~40 hour long story campaign, a new playable class, as well as a variety of other minor changes.
If you're interested in learning a little bit more about the whole update, but more specifically about the lore behind this new campaign, then you should probably check out the most recent trailer. Have a look:
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After introducing nearly every faction and nation into Crusader Kings 2, it appears that Paradox is now getting a lot more experimental with their expansions and DLCs. Just recently they released The Reaper's Due, a DLC that brings with it the black plague and a variety of other maladies, and now they're working on a DLC that brings forth monks, mystics, and secret societies into the mix.
If that sounds like something you might be interested in, then have a look at the recently posted teaser trailer. It doesn't show anything in terms of gameplay features, but it does a rather good job of setting the mood. Here's the video: