Commander Fury

Hey Battlemages! My name is Jesse Kurlancheek and I’m the Design Director on Spellbreak and one of the co-founders at Proletariat, the studio behind the game. Spellbreak is a competitive, free-to-play, third-person spellcasting game where you unleash powerful magic as you fight other players for survival. It’s been about six weeks since we launched and we have our first major release coming out today! It introduces a host of new content, including new Consumables, Talents, and more — but today I want to talk to you about our first new game mode: a 9v9 team deathmatch called Clash. This new mode is one of the first evolutions beyond the traditional Battle Royale for Spellbreak. Clash features two teams of nine players fighting it out to be the first to reach a predetermined score. The game starts the same as the Battle Royale mode, with teams choosing their talents and classes, dropping onto their side of the map (or invading the enemy team’s!), gathering loot, and leveling up. But the circle closes much faster than you’re used to and will eventually settle on a hand-picked location to maximize the excitement. For each exile, your team scores a point. But instead of being eliminated entirely, the exiled player drops a copy of their gear and respawns high above the map, ready to rejoin the battle and keep fighting. They’ll keep their gear and their health and armor will be restored, so watch out; the person you just took out could be coming for revenge! Clash gets you right into the action and keeps you there, highlighting Spellbreak’s unique combat. It’s also a great way to warm up or to cool down at the end of a night in Battle Royale. The stakes are lower, which means you can practice a class with different talents or gear that you might not otherwise risk using in an environment where it’s okay to try and try again. Play Video Spellbreak started as a Battle Royale, but we think of BR as simply one of many game modes and not as a game-defining genre. We’ll be adding more game modes in the future based on your feedback. We’ve got plenty of exploration to do and we’re excited for what the future holds. Clash is just the exciting beginning! Come check out Spellbreak’s Clash mode right now and let us know what you think in the official Spellbreak Discord server. Starting today, all drops are gonna be hot! http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/dKMFFsgmk-gView the full article

Hi there! I’m Chris Cobb from Ragtag Studio. The day we thought would never come has finally arrived: our new game Ray’s the Dead has finally come to life, releasing on PS4 today! This game may be familiar to some of you since the game was originally announced seven years ago on PlayStation’s E3 stage, but for those of you that haven’t heard of Ray’s the Dead, let’s tell you a bit about its history. Development History To say the development of Ray’s the Dead has been a rollercoaster ride would be quite the understatement! Back in 2013 we started with a bang when Sony was good enough to announce us on stage as one of the “indie 8” back during the launch of the PS4. That moment remains a dream come true. Development has been very long in the tooth, but we have stuck with it through thick and thin. We have lived a lot of life during that span of time. Failed Kickstarters, successful Kickstarters. Publishers came and went. My partners Matt and Shawn both had their first born child during development. Both of my parents were diagnosed with, and passed away from, cancer. A lot of wonderful things and terrible things have happened during development, and I like to think a little of all of that has been infused in the game and will live on in Ray’s the Dead. We have given this our all and are very proud of this strange game we’ve created. Enough of that, let’s tell you a bit about the game! Gameplay overview Ray’s the Dead is a single-player, heavily narrative-based game with a very unusual gameplay mix. Playing as Ray, you control a squad of minions that follow you around and obey your every command. With the help of your small army you’ll solve puzzles, defeat enemies, pretend to be trick or treaters, ambush enemies through the bushes, manipulate the stock market, rile up a crowd with the sweet sound of your sax, and of course, save the world! Fans of the cult classic Stubbs the Zombie will find a lot to like in Ray’s the Dead. 66.6% of our small team of three were involved in the development of Stubbs and are happy to bring some of what we loved about Stubbs to Ray’s the Dead. Flashbacks The story of Ray’s the Dead takes place over two timelines. In the present day, you start the game as Ray in Zombie form. He rises from his grave slightly more cognizant than your typical zombie. Even so, he has no idea what’s going on or how he’s come to be in the state he’s in. Shortly into your adventure, Ray will start to experience flashbacks in which you’ll experience Ray’s past when he was still alive. These flashbacks serve to tell the story of all the important moments throughout Ray’s life leading up to… *SPOILER!* … the day he dies! The flashbacks are a great way to introduce you to important characters in Ray’s life that you may also encounter in the present… as a zombie! (How’s THAT gonna go?) They also are the method by which Ray learns new abilities. He’ll often encounter a traumatic situation in the present, flashback to a similar experience in the past, remember how he overcame it, and apply that knowledge to his current situation back in the present. It’s a really fun mechanic and a great storytelling mechanism. Mechanics As Ray, you’ll encounter a variety of combat and environment-based puzzle scenarios. In each situation you must effectively use your team of minions to get out of these sticky situations. You’ll add four different types of zombies to your group over the course of the game, each with a variety of different abilities. Some of the abilities are related to how they navigate the terrain, whereas some lend themselves to a unique combat style. Some of your zombies can burrow underground whereas others can dash past speeding bullets to slam into and stun their enemies. Using the right zombie at the right time is the key to success. Both the puzzles and the combat are more tactical in nature as opposed to button mashy and requiring quick reflexes. Zombies are slow and dumb but with the right guidance and patience you and your small army can over come any obstacle! Environments and soundtrack The world of Ray’s the Dead takes place throughout the 80’s in a variety of seemingly mundane environments punctuated with fantastical elements. You’ll make your way through a shipping yard, but find yourself under attack by shipping containers controlled by a giant robot! You’ll sneak through a moonlit forest campsite, while an incredible mountain peak temple beckons from the distance! And throughout these fantastical adventures you’ll be bopping along to an incredible soundtrack. The soundtrack is a mix of original compositions and licenced tracks, all in the 80’s synth wave style. The soundtrack features a wonderful array of musicians such as Jake Kaufman (Shovel Knight), Dale North, Disasteradio, Santori In Bed, and many more! Release day Back in 2013 Sony sent us a complimentary PS4, along with this bottle of champagne and glasses to celebrate the release of the console. Matt, Shawn and I have been holding onto them this entire time, planning to open and drink it together when Ray’s the Dead finally releases. Unfortunately due to the pandemic we will not be able to celebrate together. But instead tonight, my wife and I will crack this open. I am not expecting it to taste good! Ray’s the Dead is now available in North America and Latin America on PS4 for $19.99. It will be available in Europe on October 29. Ray’s the Dead will be backward compatible with PS5. We hope you will check it out! http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/ReKX7a9QBzkView the full article

I’m Buddy Sola, Community Manager at Akupara Games, delighted to be back to give you more news about Mutazione! Earlier this year, I wrote a blog all about the Garden Mode update that brought Garden Mode to the game – a standalone Cloud Garden where you can play with the magical musical gardening mechanic with more freedom, that added in several new seeds and sounds, and a ‘seed sharing’ feature; a new system that allows you to share those seeds with your friends. Play Video Today, we’re marking the release of all seven Story Mode gardens into Garden Mode. Seven gardens you know and love, now free for planting, experimentation and beautiful ambient compositions in Garden Mode! To celebrate, I want to talk a little more about Mutazione’s seed box and the intrepid collectors trying to track down every seed in the game! If you’ve never played Garden Mode, here’s how it works: players have a set of starter seeds that they can plant in their gardens to grow and bloom and harvest into even more seeds. As they play, though, more seeds will drift in on the wind, planting themselves in the players’ gardens until they reach maturity and yield seeds as well. Each seed is tied to a specific mood (they share a musical ‘mood’, like Melancholia or Euphoria) as well as an instrument (like a Viola or Electric Guitar) so you can fill your garden with instruments you like to make your own ambient symphony. In Garden Mode, you have a seed box which enables you to track your collection, the encyclopaedia of some seeds from the Story Mode, and a system for sharing seeds between players. As it turns out, this created exactly what collection-motivated players were hoping to see: a deep, intricate system for filling out their seed box and collecting all the seeds and sounds Mutazione had to offer! “I gardened fairly extensively in Mutazione’s Story Mode, going back to all my gardens every day with the new seeds I had found and ‘optimizing’ them,” one player on the official Akupara Games Discord community explains. It was a real delight to see a small community grow up around the seed sharing feature, discovering rare seeds, and trading to share and grow their own collections. When Garden Mode came out, and players began to experiment, stories of discovery and exploration began to flourish on our Discord. Players deduced that seeds spawned at different rates for different users, so certain players would have rarer seeds appear for them while others would never see those seeds at all. They quickly learned that in order to complete their collections, they’d need to discuss, share, and explore together. That process echoes the thoughts from Garden Mode’s designer, Douglass Wilson. “For me, listening to music is both really personal but also very social,” he writes. “I love trading music recommendations with friends, and I hope the seed sharing system captures some of that energy. Alessandro Coronas, the composer and audio designer behind the game, recorded so many different plants with such a wide variety of instruments, and we wanted to tease some of those out over time so that avid players could savor each new set of sounds.” “I have done some research by very closely watching the trailer,” another player explains, as they describe some of the detective work that’s gone on. “Also, there’s an image in a review somewhere that depicts plants we don’t have…” Another astute observer realized that the hardest seeds to find had been each from a different mood type, and that they were still missing two moods to complete their collection. To this day, those two seeds remain at large, though new players arrive and start sharing seeds with one another, so we’re getting closer! And with this new injection of seeds, and a brand new selection of soils to plant with in the bringing of Story Mode gardens into Garden Mode, our detective efforts have new fertile grounds for experimentation! Of course, you don’t have to join in the great Collection Detective Story! You can also return to Mutazione’s Garden Mode for a gentle solo gardening composition. With new seeds and soil-types a-plenty, it’s the perfect time to return to the game, and build quiet ambient spaces to escape into. We can’t wait to hear what you make of it. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/8gGac_4u8xoView the full article

Fellow Fighters, at long last, Rambo joins fellow 1980s action movie icons RoboCop and the Terminator as part of Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate and Kombat Pack 2. We at NetherRealm Studios couldn’t be more excited about Rambo joining the fight. Drawing inspiration from the first three films in the Rambo series – First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and Rambo III – our gameplay designers looked to distill the essence of his particular style of combat. That’s why our Rambo, as he does in the films, relies more on stealth than he does on gunplay. He uses the environment itself as a weapon, deploying a variety of traps which use elements like tripwires, swinging logs and hidden mines. Of course, Rambo is also famous for his skill with a knife and compound bow. Both are a core part of his moveset and are used in very distinct ways. Play Video As with all of our guest fighters, our visual artists worked diligently to recreate Rambo’s classic look and feel. They carefully studied the early films, going frame by frame to catalog the details of his wardrobe and weapons. As part of this work, our character team fully reproduced Rambo’s two iconic looks from First Blood – his drifter look from the top of the film and his guerilla warfare look from the film’s epic climax. The end result of their work is stunning. Rambo looks like he stepped right out of the original movies and into Mortal Kombat 11. Knowing that Sylvester Stallone would return to voice the character made the stakes for getting the lines right very high. All of the hard work to perfect the script paid off when we finally got to record it. Stallone enthusiastically jumped into the performance, bringing the words to life in exactly the way we had hoped. For me, getting to work with a legendary actor as he plays one his most iconic roles was a thrilling experience. As a Voiceover Director, it doesn’t get any better. My favorite memory of the session was the sound of Stallone chuckling. As he performed the lines, he noticed the many references we had included, not only from the Rambo films, but also from the rest of his body of work. When you play, listen closely to the banter for references to The Expendables, Cliffhanger, Demolition Man and more. It was a real kick to see that he was so entertained. Hopefully, Rambo fans will have as much fun with the experience as did the man himself. Rambo skins in order: First Blood, Flaming Dart, Airborne, Warfighter Don’t forget, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate and Kombat Pack 2 pre-orders on PlayStation 4 are available now via the PlayStation Store, as well as other retailers, giving players access to the Time Warriors Skin Pack at launch featuring a new character skin for Noob Saibot, Liu Kang and Skarlet. And if you pre-order Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate, you get instant access to Mortal Kombat 11, Kombat Pack 1 and the Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath Expansion when you purchase. Also, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate is PS5 Upgrade Available, so current Mortal Kombat 11 and Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate owners and new buyers on PS4 can access a free upgrade to the PS5 version of their game at no extra cost, in conjunction with the Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate launch on Nov. 17. Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to our launch! http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/ZobkqxZqAA0View the full article

Hi, everybody! We know that for many of you, your PlayStation console doesn’t get shut off when you’re done playing games. Entertainment like movies, TV shows, music, and gaming livestreams only add to the PlayStation experience. As we continue on our road to PS5 launch, we’re pleased to announce some of the entertainment apps* scheduled to hit the PS5 console on day one, with more apps to come in the future. Apple TV Enjoy Apple TV+, Apple TV channels, new and popular movies, and personalized, curated recommendations on the Apple TV app. That means users can enjoy Apple Originals like Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, Ted Lasso, and The Morning Show through Apple TV+, subscribe to premium channels, and buy or rent movies and TV shows and access past purchases from Apple. The Apple TV app will also be available on PS4. Disney+ The dedicated home for movies, shows, shorts, and originals from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic. From original series like The Mandalorian, to fan favorites like The Simpsons, you can watch your favorite stories right from your PS5 console. Netflix Catch up on top entertainment hits such as Stranger Things, The Haunting of Bly Manor and more. With thousands of TV episodes and movies in Netflix’s library, there’s plenty to choose from. Spotify Listen while you play. Just as with PS4, users can play their favorite songs as background music in-game with Spotify. You can choose from more than 60 million songs while you’re battling bosses or roaming through an open-world adventure. Twitch With a deeply integrated Twitch experience on PS5, you can now watch or livestream your favorite gameplay and chat live about the best moments with fellow gamers throughout the many diverse and dynamic communities. YouTube Also integrated with PS5, you can broadcast and share your epic gameplay moments directly to your YouTube channel, or sit back and watch new and trending content shared from around the world. Additional streaming apps* coming to PS5 include Amazon Prime Video, MyCanal, Hulu, Peacock, and more. As we showed in our tour of the PS5 User Experience, there will be a dedicated space exclusively for media entertainment. It’s located right next to the Game home screen, so you can quickly switch between Game or Media content. Within the Media space, you’ll no longer need to download entertainment apps through PS Store — it’s all in the Media space. Creating dedicated Game and Media spaces for the PS5 user experience will make it fast and easy to switch between gaming and entertainment content whenever you want. The PS5 console also features a new Control Center that makes controlling your music easier than ever before, so you can quickly switch between channels, skip, and pause your music. At the launch of the PS5 console, there will be a new Media Remote to conveniently navigate and control the entertainment experience on PS5. Users can power on the PS5 console and quickly navigate media with built-in play/pause, fast forward and fast reverse controls. The remote also lets users adjust volume and power settings on compatible TVs, and also features dedicated launch buttons for the following entertainment apps*, Disney+ Netflix, Spotify and YouTube. We hope you’ll enjoy this experience once PS5 launches in November. *Internet and account for PlayStation Network required. Streaming services may require paid subscription and are not available in all countries. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/nOrTEEi5E5kView the full article

Hello there, everyone! As you may have already heard, we are excited to be releasing Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on December 8, so it’s just about that time to mentally prepare yourself for the fun battles that lie ahead – specifically, Skill Battle, a new mode of play featured in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2! So, you may be asking yourself, just what exactly is Skill Battle mode? Well, we’re happy you asked! Introducing Skill Battle mode One of the big new additions to Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 over the previous entry is the addition of Skill Battle mode. Skill Battle lets players form a team of three characters from the fantastical worlds of Puyo Puyo and Tetris. Each of these characters brings their own skillset to each match, so the key here is to assemble the right team with the right mix of skills and their effects to maximize your odds of victory. Skills can be activated in battle by expending MP, which is pooled together and shared as a team, as reflected by the green gauge in the middle of your screen. Here are some important points to keep in mind when forming your overall strategy: Unlike the other modes, where you lose after stacking Puyos or Tetriminos to the top of the board, players can keep playing, or “battling,” so long as their HP remains above zero. Players attack by clearing Puyos and Tetris lines, which sends Garbage Puyos or Garbage Blocks to their opponent’s board and damages their HP. Before the Garbage Puyos or Blocks are sent, the opponent can see the amount of damage they’re about to receive, giving them the chance to defend themselves with a well-timed chain or combo of their own. Characters have skills they can deploy to change the flow of battle and turn things in your favor. For example, the intellectual Chief Engineer, Ai, has a skill called “Crestfall” which decreases your opponent’s Attack for a bit. Another character, the adventurer Ally, has “HP Recovery,” which can refill some of your HP. As characters level up, you’ll unlock even more skills to gain that edge you need to win! There are two types of skills: Auto Skill and Special Skill. An Auto Skill is unleashed automatically at the start of battle and increases certain stats of the character equipped with it, while a Special Skill can be activated as players see fit in their strategy. What are Item Cards? Item Cards are sort of like accessories that will power up your team’s overall stats! Each party can equip up to four Item Cards in a Skill Battle match, so it’s important to create that optimal loadout for each encounter. Play Video How do I get new characters and Item Cards? By engaging in Skill Battles in Adventure mode, you will unlock new characters to use in other modes. You will also earn experience points, which will eventually level them up and improve their base attributes (HP, MP, Attack, Defense, and Recovery). When characters reach specific levels, they will also acquire new skills to use in the Skill Battle mode. Item Cards are randomly dropped in Adventure mode and can offer a variety of bonuses and special effects when equipped on a team. A card’s effect is generated at random, so players are encouraged to play through the Skill Battle mode to obtain better and even more rare Item Cards create the ultimate team. Speaking of rare Item Cards, by pre-ordering the Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 Launch Edition, you’ll get access to a special set of rare item cards, including three from the world of Sonic the Hedgehog! But wait… there’s more! After the launch of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, we have plans to provide additional free content updates to the game, including but not limited to: more characters, new game features, and new accessibility options. More details will be shared at a later date, so stay tuned! View the full article

Hey survivors! I’m Evan, founder of Dead Drop Studios, solo indie developer, and creator of the Outbreak series. I’m back to announce that the entire series will be available on PS4 tomorrow with the release of Outbreak, to talk a bit about game development, and to tease some glimpses of the future of survival horror! Experience the 2D retro undead apocalypse The series originally began with Outbreak, designed to be a homage to co-op retro survival titles from the early 2000s. Outbreak will finally be available on PS4 tomorrow for $9.99 MSRP with a 10% discount during the launch window! Behind the retro pixelated graphics lies a dark, deeply terrifying adventure. You find yourself trapped in a deserted hospital as the world is engulfed by an unexplainable undead epidemic. Your first challenge is to choose your survivor, each with different abilities, starting equipment and backstories. Afterwards, you’ll venture either alone or with a friend into the Campaign story mode, the Onslaught horde mode, or choose to go it alone and experience small survival horror vignettes in the Nightmares Mode. As you tackle the expansive, labyrinthine halls of the hospital, you’ll travel from triage rooms, to offices, to underground tunnels, and eventually a hidden laboratory as you seek to escape the horde. Throughout your adventure, you’ll learn the fate of the people trapped in the hospital as you come along written records they left behind. Outbreak is a brutally unforgiving experience where you only have one life – dying means restarting a scenario from the beginning. This latest version includes options to make your adventure a bit more reasonable – like AI partner bots and an easier difficulty mode – but the raw challenge is there if you wish to seek it out! Creating horror as a solo indie developer The Outbreak series was born out of a love for classic survival horror – a genre that doesn’t get many entries nowadays. As I built these titles, my design philosophy was to look to the classics for inspiration, then see how modern gameplay and design elements could augment them. From inventory slots that treat keys and shotguns the same size, to tucking lore away within written logs scattered around, every decision was designed to drag you back to those bygone years. But at the same time, each title also has some handy quality-of-life changes in as well. Not a fan of tank controls? Don’t worry, there’s always a modern control scheme available if you’d rather play like it’s 2020 instead of 1996. It was important to me that every game in the series had something to offer for nostalgia-seeking folks like myself, and for those who have never entered the world of survival horror before. Variety is also key – featuring diverse casts of survivors in different situations in each game helped build a cohesive universe that felt bigger than the specific events happening to just one character or group. I was very mindful to keep each title as a self-contained adventure, but also thread plot-points and references to other titles in the series throughout. A great example of this is Lydia, where you’ll find evidence of her adventures throughout nearly every title in the series as she searches for her family and tries to escape the apocalypse. And as a one man show, I had to keep development efficient and costs reasonable. Every title was built with Unity, which allowed me to focus on creating games and not worrying about all the intricacies of porting to each individual platform. PlayStation’s tools and services also helped ensure that PlayStation is the best place to play each title – with the highest screen resolution and best framerates. Each title really shines on this platform and it’s awesome to be able to see them all in action! More nightmares await… In addition to Outbreak, there are four more hardcore survival horror adventures in the series available right now on PlayStation 4! Each title brings a different aspect of the genre to life as you’re challenged to fight for your life. Experience over-the-shoulder action packed survival horror in Outbreak: Epidemic and Outbreak: Lost Hope. Then return to the roots of survival horror with fixed cameras and crushing difficulty in Outbreak: The New Nightmare and Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles. The nightmare isn’t over yet… It has been an awesome experience to launch the entire Outbreak series on PS4. As a solo indie developer, it’s so wonderful to see the positive response and all the new players joining the series! We have one more surprise to tease… The entire Outbreak collection will be getting a physical release from Limited Run Games on PS4! Stay tuned for more information and thank you again for your support! View the full article

Hi again 2K fans! Welcome to my final Courtside Report. We’ve discussed a lot already from scoring to our revolutionary new movement and impact technology and the great enhancements they’ve brought to gameplay. But I know a lot of you are chomping at the bit to find out what’s new with your MyPLAYER, while others are curious how we’re pushing Simulation into the future. Well, this blog is for you! There’s going to be a lot of info to digest, so I’ll try to keep the points as concise as I can. Player Builds, Badges, & Takeover The next-gen MyPLAYER Builder is all about customization. We’ve taken in a lot of feedback from the community over the past few years as we’ve evolved the MyPLAYER building experience. One thing that we hear loud and clear from you is that you want more options. Here’s our response: No More Pies: You no longer choose from preset skill breakdown pie charts for next-gen. Instead, we’ve given you control over setting each individual rating to the cap that you prefer. Obviously, there are restrictions based on your vitals and you can’t max out everything, but there’s much more control to make the exact type of player you want to be. Badges A lot of thought and re-design went into badges for next-gen. Many favorites return, but most have undergone some significant functionality changes. There are also some new ones, some revived ones, and some removed ones. The badge point system and equipping process is similar to what you’ve grown accustomed to: perform well in the various categories (Finishing, Shooting, Playmaking, Defense/Rebounding) in any mode to earn badge points, and then apply those points to whatever badges you want within those related categories. But my advice when you get next-gen is to experiment with different badges that you may have overlooked in the past because you might find some new favorites that compliment your playstyle in ways you may not expect. Here are some of the new/returning badges and what they do: Fearless Finisher – Boosts contact layups and decreases fatigue Heat Seeker – Boosts takeover progress on inside shots Highlight Film – Boosts teammate takeover progress on flashy dunks Hook Specialist – Boosts hook shot ability Revived Posterizer – Contact dunks! Rise Up – Boosts ability to do standing dunks in traffic Anti-Freeze – Harder to get cold and lose takeover meter progress Blinders – Less affected by peripheral defenders when shooting jumpers Circus Threes – Improved ability to hit pull-up and stepback 3’s Fade Ace – Boosts all post fadeaways Hot Shot – Increases takeover meter faster when knocking down jumpers Deep Threes – Dame and Curry range 3 balls Rhythm Shooter – Boosts shot %’s out of size-ups as well as 1-step pull-ups Set Shooter – Shooting ability gets better the longer you set and wait before pulling Sniper – Boosts the ability to hit shots when using Pro Stick aiming Stop & Pop Three – for the JJ Redicks who want to pull-up for threes in transition Bullet Passer – Gives you the ability to throw laser dots like LeBron Relay Passer – Boosts the shooter on pass to assist situations Special Delivery – Boosts takeover progress for the passer and receiver off a flashy pass assist Ankle Braces – Makes it tougher for ball handlers to break your ankles Clutch Defender – Boosts your defensive ratings in clutch moments Hot Stopper – Boosts takeover meter for good defensive plays like steals, blocks, and good contests And here are the badges that we retired because they were either redundant, didn’t fit in the new design, or the community just didn’t like them: Consistent Finisher, Contact Finisher, Cross-Key Scorer, Fancy Footwork, Fastbreak Finisher, Deep Hooks, Pick & Roller, Relentless Finisher, Showtime, Deep Fades, Flexible Release, Hot Start, Pick & Popper, Pump Fake Maestro, Range Extender, Quick Draw, Steady Shooter, Pass Fake Maestro, Flashy Passer, Lob City Passer, Lightning Reflexes, Moving Truck. Takeover In case you’re new to 2K, Takeover is the ability to get hot and take over games. It’s been a popular feature for the past couple years and we wanted to take it to the next level for next-gen. Instead of limiting players to eight general archetype-based takeovers, we’ve broken those eight into 24 more specific takeover abilities. In a way, you can think of them as unique badges that you can fire off when you get hot. Advanced Gathers – Unlocks more effective spin, euro, hop step, cradle gathers Finishing Moves – Able to absorb contact and finish at the rim Easy Blowbys – Enhances ability for slashers to beat defenders off the dribble Pull-Up Precision – Boosts well timed/aimed shots off the dribble Anklebreaking Shots – More anklebreakers off of spin and stepback jumpers Negative Impact – Reduces defensive impact against pull-ups and other skill shots Limitless Range – Extends your shooting range out to the logos Spot-Up Precision – Boosts well timed/aimed stationary jump shots Team Ratings Boost – Playmakers boost their teammates’ offensive ratings Team Takeover Boost – Boost your teammates’ takeover meter progress Team Badge Boost – Boosts your teammates’ badges up a tier Extreme Clamps – More stone wall and lost dribble body-up resolutions for locks Perimeter Badge Drop – Knocks shooting badges down a tier when you get close Enhanced Jump Shot Contests – Boosts your ability to contest jumpers Stuff Blocks – Unlocks more swat, backboard pins, and grab blocks Paint Intimidation – Boosts your ability to affect shots around the rim Interior Badge Drop – Drops opposition’s scoring badges down a tier in the paint Boxout Wall – Improves ability to seal off opponents for easy boards See the Future – Shows where missed shots are going to end up Glass Clearing Dimes – After rebounds, kick out passes boost your teammate’s shooting Power Backdowns – Easier to push defenders around when posting up Post Playmaking – Boost your teammates’ offensive abilities when passing out of post Advanced Post Moves – Easier to beat defenders with post moves Post Shot Daggers – Increased scoring ability with hooks, fades, shimmy shots, etc. We’ve also changed Takeover to be a multi-tier system! Once you set up your ratings caps and vitals, you’ll be presented with a subset of the list above based on the type of build you made. Then you choose one ability for your primary and another for your secondary, or if you want, you can put the same ability in both slots if you want to “double up” on it. When you’re in-game, your takeover meter will fill up your primary takeover slot first. Once filled, you can choose to activate it right away or wait to try and fill up your secondary slot. You must be careful because you take the risk of losing all your progress if you turn the ball over or miss a bad shot. But if you can fill in your secondary slot, you can activate both the primary and secondary takeovers together and keep them active for a longer period of time. Finally, if you want to devastate your opponent even further, you can wait even longer and try to fill up the Team Takeover meter. If you can fill all three, activating will enable your entire teams’ takeovers and it’s pretty much over for the competition. And just like in current-gen, activating Team Takeover also allows you to have user-control over your teammates in MyCAREER games. We know our MyCAREER fans love that ability! Last thing I wanted to mention about Takeover. We wanted to honor our late friend, Kobe Bryant, who we tragically lost way too early this year. When you’ve earned all your badge points, you will receive the Mamba Mentality badge which allows you to change your takeovers whenever you want. So just like Kobe, you can vary up how you choose to take over from one game to the next! Next-Gen AI Next-gen was an opportunity to reset on a lot of areas of gameplay. This was especially true when it came to artificial intelligence. Some of these items are immediately noticeable and some are more nuanced for the hardcore X’s and O’s hoop heads. But one thing’s for certain, NBA 2K21 continues to lead the way in accurately modeling its respective sport better than anyone else out there. That’s something we pride ourselves in and know that the true students of the game appreciate about the franchise. Defense New switching logic update: Both on-ball and off-ball screen logic has been rewritten and the auto-switching logic was refined to reduce bad switching instances. So expect to see fewer cases of the AI calling for a switch without a screen and leaving a player open. Adaptive Coaching Engine (ACE) now has the ability to recognize and adapt to different types of off-ball actions including: Flare screens, Down screens, Back screens, and Handoffs. Improved logic for CPU defenders to get in position to take charges. Several improvements to transition defense. Overhauled the Hedge defensive system for better screen positioning and angle targeting. The player can now call for help defense by holding L1/LB instead of just calling for a double team. This is a great mechanic that you can use when guarding the ball; instead of hoping the AI selects the right time to send help, it’s now under your control with a simple press and hold of the button. Improved logic for defenders in avoiding each other when moving around obstacles. This works hand-in-hand with the off-ball movement changes I detailed in last week’s blog. Offense Next-Gen Game Planning: This is a great new feature that allows players and AI to have more specific game plans for their teams. In the past, you could choose to run pick & rolls with LeBron, but the new system allows the AI to target a team’s best players. So for the Lakers, not only will they run pick & rolls, but you can have them run exclusively with LeBron and Anthony Davis. There’s a new game plan option in the pause menu. Here, players can select between 8 pre-selected game plans that they can access in game through the On-The-Fly-Coaching panel (OTFC). Each game plan has default options already set up for them, so the player can pick a single option and have all the important details for that game plan ready to go. Here are two examples of game plans you can choose: Play Through Star: This game plan will have ACE automatically select the best scorer on the team and only run scoring actions for them, both via plays and freelance actions. It also sets the tempo and rebounding choices automatically to accommodate your star’s playing style. Pound the Ball Inside: ACE auto selects the best post scorer on the team and will exclusively run post scoring actions and plays for them. Double team counter intelligence: You’ll see the AI using less movement and create more spacing for shooters spotting up behind the three point line to punish excessive double teaming. End of game logic: Improved the AI’s ability to time plays with the shot clock for buzzer beater situations. Starters and Bench Favorite Plays: This year we expanded the favorite plays to allow players to set up one group of plays for their starting unit and another group of plays for the bench units. Moved player-specific plays and player-specific ball screens back to the L1/LB button. This was something many people were requesting so they could get quick access to icon pick control again. Favorite plays are now mapped to the DPAD. Play and freelance flow: As we have done every year, the play and freelance offensive flow has been greatly improved moving to next-gen. There are several actions that we just had a hard time getting to run smoothly in past 2K games, but thanks to the logic upgrades and vastly improved motion engine, everything flows extremely well in NBA 2K21 for next-gen. Fixed AI players accidentally positioning themselves out of bounds. New pick & roll spacing: New spacing code gives some of our pick & roll and isolation sets that extra adjustment on dribble penetration. It’s much more solid now but expect continued expansion on this module as the year goes along with our in-season play and AI updates. PS5 MyTEAM Challenge Activities Finally, we can’t end the Courtside Report without talking about one more exciting PS5 feature we’re creating new experiences for. Like how we took advantage of the DualSense and its Adaptive Triggers and Haptic Feedback features, we took a look at PS5’s Activities and asked ourselves, “How can we bring fresh and meaningful content to our MyTEAM gamers?” The answer was MyTEAM Challenge Activities. Each new MyTEAM Season, through the Activities feature, will bring about a unique Challenge Activity that’s akin to our Moments and Spotlight Challenges: complete special objectives within set game scenarios and get rewards for hitting them. Each Season’s Challenge Activity will yield a different reward, and there will be a new Challenge Activity for every new MyTEAM Season up for NBA 2K21 for PS5. Best of all, all participants will be ranked amongst each other through the Activities leaderboard. First up, starting with Season 3, will be the Challenge of scoring 72 points against the 1996 Chicago Bulls. As most NBA fans know, the Michael Jordan-led Bulls achieved an unthinkable regular season record of 72 wins and 10 losses – the best record in NBA history until the 2016 Golden State Warriors one-upped them with a 73-9 record. Build your own dream team, score the iconic number of points (or more), earn yourself a nice little reward, and get ranked based on the final number of points you’ve tallied up. See you on the leaderboard! Closing Thoughts As I stated previously in the NBA 2K21 current-gen blog, this has been a rollercoaster year for 2K. With the changes to our work from home culture in addition to having to roll out both current and next-gen versions of NBA 2K21, I’m amazed at the talent and grit that the entire Visual Concepts team has shown over this wild year. Again, a HUGE thanks to all the gameplay engineers and producers (as well as their families) for coming together to create, without question, the best basketball game ever to grace a console. I’ve been working and testing on this title non-stop everyday, and I still get excited to play every time I boot the game up. I hope these Courtside Reports give you a small glimpse of some of the awesome things the gameplay team has created for you and we look forward to hearing your feedback to help us continue to refine 2K basketball and take it to even greater heights as we move forward into this next generation. And if these gameplay blogs even have you a little excited about NBA 2K21 for next-gen… just wait. We have A LOT of jaw-dropping news coming soon about all the amazing stuff happening off the court that’s going to blow you away! View the full article

Hi everyone. I’m Catherine Jensen, and I head up the Global Consumer Experience division here at PlayStation. Our department works every day to create the best possible gaming experience for our community on PlayStation Network. We also manage the @AskPlayStation customer support channel and create troubleshooting guides to help gamers find solutions. Our goal is to help foster a fun and positive experience when you’re playing online with friends and other gamers. Managing online safety is an important part of ensuring that. We believe that it’s critical that gamers be able to quickly and accurately report abuse or harassment if they experience it while on PlayStation Network. As part of this initiative, we’ve been preparing to roll out a new feature on the PS5 console that enables gamers to report verbal harassment through a new Voice Chat reporting function. Its sole purpose is to help in reporting of inappropriate behavior, including actions that violate our Community Code of Conduct. Please note that this feature will not actively monitor or listen in on your conversations – ever – and it’s strictly reserved for reporting online abuse or harassment. PlayStation gamers learned about this new function in an unexpected way following the recent PS4 8.00 system update. We didn’t clearly communicate this feature or explain why we were introducing it, and we apologize for that. When the PS5 console launches in November, PS5 users will be able to chat with PS4 users — which is why we needed to include an advisory with the latest PS4 system update. We should have more clearly explained why this function was being rolled out, along with details on how it will work on the PS5 console, so let me walk you through that now. Once the PS5 console launches, if a PS5 player needs to file a harassment report, they will be able to include up to a 40 second-long Voice Chat clip in their report — 20 seconds of the main conversation with the other player, plus an additional 10 seconds before and after the conversation selection. Only the most recent five minutes of a Voice Chat will be available for a player to use for this reporting function. These reports can be submitted directly through the PS5 console, and will be sent to our Consumer Experience team for moderation, who will then listen to the recording and take action, if needed. Some submitted reports won’t be valid, and our team will take this as an opportunity to provide guidance and education. There won’t be an option to opt-out of this Voice Chat recording function because we want all users to feel safe when playing with others online, not just those who choose to enable it. Thanks for reading, and I’m hoping this gives you a better idea about our goals for this new function. We appreciate your support, and want you to know that our team will always work to create a positive experience on PlayStation so you can focus on playing great games and having fun with your friends. View the full article

Last week, we challenged you to share moments from your favorite games that largely feature one color using #PS4share and #PSBlog. From gloomy green portraits to sandy landscapes, here are this week’s colorful highlights: The Traveler gazes out at an ocean view in this share by CausticJR. Mona weaves some magic in this share by CrazyLittleJazy. Xiangling poses with her panda Guoba in this share by Eugene18947602. SepticVerEye shares Kaeya striking a pensive pose. Sora_hajime shared Noelle taking in the foliage. The Traveler gazes over a beautiful valley in this share by tea_game_. Search #PS4share and #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week? Theme: Centered Share by: 9am Pacific on Wednesday, October 21 Next week, we’re bringing the focus front and center. Share perfectly centered shots from the game of your choice using #PS4share and #PSBlog for a chance to be featured. View the full article

Welcome warriors. Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, Sucker Punch’s new cooperative multiplayer mode for its superlative samurai epic launches today as part of the game’s Version 1.1 update. Standing separate from the single player story, this online-only* experience sees you play one of four legendary warriors. Build your legend and unlock new class-specific abilities, gear, and armour designs as you fight alongside friends in unique missions inspired by Japanese mythology. Play Video The mode is headlined at launch by two distinct gameplay types: two-player Story Missions and four-player Survival Missions. We’ll let you uncover the gameplay intricacies of the former for yourself. The secrets of the latter are equally thrilling to discover while on the battlefields of Tsushima; this primer is built to guide you on the basics and allow you to focus on developing your legend. Each Survival Mission is a fight to defend multiple locations on a map for multiple rounds, repelling increasing numbers of ever-strengthening enemy hordes who charge in from set areas on the outskirts of each map. If they hold a contested point long enough, it’s lost until you complete the next boss wave. Lose all points and your mission is over. To ready you for your first forays into battle, here are seven tips: 1. Make best use of your chosen class Once you pick your starting class, you’ll need to increase your class rank to unlock each of the other three. Teams can combine any mix of classes and all can use stealth, melee, and ranged attacks and equip gear. But you should lean into the class attributes: a diverse team can tackle any challenge. The Samurai is your frontline fighter and can draw the attention of a horde, while the bow-wielding Hunter works best with a height advantage, avoiding shield blocks to land headshots from above. The Ronin’s Ultimate ability resurrects all downed party members (every class can revive a fallen ally given time, but doing so exposes you to an attack). The Assassin’s ability to turn invisible gives you an efficient way to inflict heavy damage on the more troublesome foes. 2. Coordinate class specials for crowd control The enemy horde is many, you are but four. Yet each of the four classes has a unique Ultimate ability. Gradually fill your Resolve meter by attacking foes. Once it’s full, trigger your Ultimate by pressing L1 + R1. Ronin’s resurrection ability aside, these Ultimates are built to topple multiple enemies in a few heartbeats. The Hunter will launch multiple arrows in one pull of the bow, damaging any foe in a wide arc in front of them. Plan the strike when hordes are spreading out of their spawn areas or activate from above when enemies are packed tightly inside a defense point. Samurai will bounce between multiple nearby enemies, their choice of targets guided by a flick of the left stick, while the Assassin can teleport across the field of battle and land critical strikes. Combined they can quickly thin out horde numbers. It’s worth noting you can’t be killed for the duration of your Ultimate’s animation. 3. Scan the skies Even when you learn where a map’s spawn points are, their order is randomised. Fireworks will erupt above where the next horde is coming. So divide up the sky between you during lulls in battle. When you see fireworks, use the game’s Ping system – press R3 while aiming to activate a marker on the map for your team to see – to guide your team to where they’re needed. 4. Stay mobile and learn the quickest routes Numerous structures, walls, even cliffs stand between you and each defence point. But parkour skills and a grappling hook are your tools to flow over roofs, swing across courtyards and spider your way up near-vertical slopes. Learn the quickest way between each defence point. Not only does every second count as rounds increase in intensity but you’ll also feel every inch the fleet-footed warrior as you dart across maps. And don’t have any fear of falling. In Legends, there is no fall damage, so don’t be afraid to leap off cliffs (you will need a moment to get back on your feet though). 5. Fight for every defence point Every defence point lost will reduce your team’s shared health bar, drastically reducing your chances of survival. So never consider an area lost until the match’s UI tells you so. You still have a chance to recover them: every fifth round is a Boss Wave, winning which will restore control of all defense areas. Later rounds will send in hordes thick and fast, so you’ll need to split up to repel them. Don’t try to solo unless things are desperate – two pairs are best. 6. Choose and use your Gifts wisely Most rounds offer bonus objectives. They’re worth doing, as they’ll add extra coffers to your Magatama total, which increases as you down enemies and survive each round. What can you spend this currency on? Every map contains a shrine with purchasable – weaponised – Gifts, such as being able to ignite nearby enemies or summon a spirit animal to fight alongside you. Once a shrine is activated, each Gift can only be purchased by a single player, and has a cooldown period before being buyable again. In later rounds when horde numbers increase and powerful Oni appear, Gifts can mean the difference between holding a point or losing it. So don’t squander them. 7. Unlock new techniques Whatever gameplay type you play in Legends, all will add to your XP which in turn will increase your class’s Rank, and unlock new techniques and cosmetic items. Once you finish a match, make sure to dip back into your character’s profile on the main menu screen to equip better gear and unlock (and deck yourself out in) some new outfits. You can find out more about Ghost of Tsushima: Legends here. Now get onto the battlefield and practice your teamwork! *A copy of Ghost of Tsushima and PS Plus membership is required to play Ghost of Tsushima Legends. View the full article

The launch of PlayStation 5 is just weeks away! And we’re teaming up with our friends at Burger King on a new launch promotion. Starting today, Burger King guests who purchase the 2 for $5 deal in the US will have a chance at winning a PS5 console.* Here’s how it works: First, register on the BK App or BK.com to participate in the promotion. When you purchase a 2 for $5 deal, or make a $5+ purchase on the BK App, BK.com, or in-restaurant, you will earn one game token. If you purchase in-restaurant, be sure to hold on to your receipt. You’ll need receipt info to enter. You can then use that game token to play a digital scratch-off game in the BK app or BK.com for a chance to win a PS5 console, PlayStation game codes, or BK coupons. Play Video The promotion kicks off today, October 15 through November 22, and is expected to expand into select international territories in the weeks ahead – we’ll keep you posted! *NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. BK® App or bk.com registration required to participate. Open to legal residents of the 48 contiguous U.S. & DC aged 18 or older. Void where prohibited. Sweepstakes begins 10/15/2020 and ends 11/22/2020. See Official Rules at bk.com/ps5-sweeps for alternative method of entry, prize details, and odds disclosure. Sponsor: Burger King Corporation 5707 Blue Lagoon Drive, Miami FL 33126 View the full article

With less than a month until launch, we’re thrilled to share our very first look at the PlayStation 5 console’s user experience (UX). The new UX is completely centered on the player – to provide you a truly next-generation experience with deeper immersion that quickly connects you to great games and a passionate gaming community. Play Video We believe your play time is valuable and should be meaningful, and all the new features we’re delivering are inspired by that concept and vision. The new UX introduces several new features designed to make your gaming experiences more fun, engaging, personalized and social. One of the highlights is a new Control Center, which provides immediate access to almost everything you need from the system at a single press of the PlayStation button on the DualSense wireless controller – all without leaving the game. We’ve also added a new feature called Activities, designed to bring you closer to the key elements of gameplay. Activities are displayed via on-screen cards in the Control Center, which enables you to discover new gameplay opportunities, go back to things you missed, jump directly into levels or challenges you want to play, and much more. Some Activity cards can be put in picture-in-picture mode, so you can view them without having to leave the game. Navigating the interface, switching between games, and hopping into online matches occurs quickly, as we rebuilt the entire software stack from the console to the network to bring you a truly next-generation experience. We believe the less time you spend waiting to interact with the system, the more time you will have to spend playing games. We wanted to give you an early peek at a part of the PS5 UX journey in our video walkthrough, so we hope you enjoy the tour. Also, keep in mind this is in a pre-production environment, so there may be some minor changes, but it’ll give you a taste of what to look forward to when PS5 launches in November. We can’t wait for you to check out PS5’s next-generation UX for yourself next month! Let us know which feature you’re most excited about in the comments. View the full article

Greetings yokai hunters! I’m proud to announce the release of Nioh 2’s second DLC expansion- Darkness in the Capital. And to commemorate this latest installment, we wanted to share some insights into our development process for creating a fresh new perspective into Japan’s distant past. While The Tengu’s Disciple brought the protagonist to the end of the Heian Period (794 – 1185), our latest chapter brings them dead center into the middle of this era. We hope that by experiencing events from Japan’s past in the world of Nioh, you can all gain an even more detailed picture of the series’ lore. Instead of merely expressing this unique mythology simply via dialogue and text, we wanted to take all of our players that braved their way through the main game on a brand new and extensive adventure throughout these three DLC expansions. One of the most notable aspects of Darkness in the Capital are the two renowned historical figures that make their grand appearance: Minamoto no Yorimitsu and Abe no Seimei, the famed yokai hunter and the most powerful Onmyo mage of antiquity. Yorimitsu’s four major subordinates also made names for themselves as fearless warriors for defeating yokai in many tales passed down through generations. These acclaimed individuals were very active during the midpoint of the Heian Period, an age where the world was in a state of disorder and yokai ran rampant. In the world of Nioh where heroes take up their swords and make full use of Onmyo magic in order to battle hordes of yokai fiends, leaving out this significant and thrilling period from Japan’s history wasn’t even an option for us in the development team. This story, from this particular period, was a MUST! One of the major challenges that we faced in creating Darkness in the Capital was that while samurai and Onmyo mages did exist during this period, it was also a time in history where more attention was placed on the Heian nobles. While this focal point may differ from other parts of the Nioh series, this particular era can be seen as the quintessential depiction of the Heian period. Beneath the elegant surface of this period lied degeneration and deep-seated grudges, and as such we made sure to represent this period as one filled with curses and peril. We accomplished this through various aspects such as incorporating these elements into the visuals, text, as well as through the actions of the enemies you will encounter on your journey. We carefully researched the historical aspects of Darkness in the Capital, as stories from this time period are comparatively less well known to those from the Sengoku period. We also wanted to ensure that they were properly represented in order for players to learn more about Japanese history. I also wanted to leave you with one small hint regarding the story: be on the lookout for some notable bosses you may have encountered from your previous journey through the Nioh series… Last but not least, we’ve put a lot of thought and effort into designing a new weapon that fans of other Team Ninja titles, including our fighting games, have definitely been hoping for. I’m happy to introduce the latest additions to your arsenal- The Fists and Clawed Fists. These weapons allow you to literally take the fight into your own hands and pummel even the toughest yokai into submission! We wanted to capture the feeling of fighting in a no-holds-barred fist fight with this new weapon, and we hope you’ll take them out for a spin. Our team carefully thought through many different scenarios for combat in order to present these new weapons to our fighters. In particular, the dilemma to choose the new Fists weapon or to go for a more traditional armed equipment was definitely something we contemplated over. We knew we had to ensure that Fists had its own sense of uniqueness and strength to stand out among the wide selection of other weapons in our roster. With that said, we look forward to the exciting new encounters players can experience as they explore all of the new capabilities that both Fists and Clawed Fists have to offer! Please stay tuned for further details regarding the third and final DLC expansion for Nioh 2 in the near future. We’re anxiously looking forward to providing you guys with even more engaging boss battles and memorable missions to complete, along with the anticipated conclusion to the epic tale of Nioh 2. As always, please stay safe out there and keep your blades sharpened for the final battle to come! *Nioh 2 required to play “The Tengu’s Disciple” and “Darkness in the Capital” (sold separately or as part of the Nioh 2 Season Pass) View the full article

To help you start celebrating the upcoming holiday early, PlayStation Store is conjuring up a Halloween Deals promotion from Wednesday, October 14*. Help reconnect the world in futuristic adventure Death Stranding, or explore and survive the open-world frontier of survivor horror Days Gone. This new digital sale covers an extensive range of titles, so even if you’d rather keep your Hallows’ Eve horror-free, there’s plenty of discounted treats to pick from. Check out a list of just some of the titles that are on sale below, then head on to PlayStation Store (Europe players, go here, North American players, here) when the promotion goes live to see the full range of offers for your region. Alien: Isolation – The Collection Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits Bloodborne: The Old Hunters Cinders Dark Chronicle Dark Cloud Darkest Dungeon Darksiders Genesis Days Gone Days Gone – Digital Deluxe Edition Death end re;Quest Death end re;Quest – Deluxe Bundle Death end re;Quest 2 Death Stranding Death’s Gambit Devil May Cry 5 (with Red Orbs) Devil May Cry HD Collection Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition DOOM (1993) DOOM 3 DOOM Eternal Deluxe Edition DOOM Eternal Standard Edition DOOM II (Classic) Dragon Age: Inquisition Deluxe Edition Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot – Deluxe Edition Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition Fallout 76 Fallout 76: Wastelanders Deluxe Edition Fe Five Nights at Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted Five Nights at Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted – Bundle Five Nights at Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted – Curse of Dreadbear Flipping Death For Honor For Honor – Marching Fire Expansion For Honor: Complete Edition Forbidden Siren Helldivers: Dive Harder Edition Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars Jotun: Valhalla Edition Kingdom: New Lands Little Nightmares Malicious Fallen Malicious Fallen: Deluxe Edition MediEvil MediEvil – Digital Deluxe Edition Moonlighter: Complete Edition Mortal Shell Murdered: Soul Suspect Nioh Nioh – Bloodshed’s End Nioh – Defiant Honour Nioh – Dragon of the North Nioh Season Pass Okage: Shadow King Othercide Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville: Deluxe Edition Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 – Deluxe Edition Predator: Hunting Grounds Predator: Hunting Grounds – Digital Deluxe Edition Predator: Hunting Grounds – Dutch 2025 Pack Predator: Hunting Grounds – Samurai Predator DLC Pack Predator: Hunting Grounds City Hunter Predator Pack Primal Project Warlock Resident Evil 3 – Raccoon City Edition Resident Evil Revelations 1 & 2 Bundle Resident Evil Triple Pack Rise of the Kasai Sayonara Wild Hearts Sea of Solitude Shadow of the Beast Skelattack Sleeping Dogs – Definitive Edition Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts & Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 Unlimited Edition Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 – Season Pass Edition Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts Sundered: Eldritch Edition The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan The Evil Within The Evil Within 2 The Mark of Kri The Mummy Demastered The Order: 1886 The Unfinished Swan The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Game of the Year Edition Thief – Including ‘The Bank Heist’ DLC Mission Thief Simulator Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint: Standard Edition Twisted Metal: Black Wasteland 3 Watch Dogs 2 Watch Dogs 2 – Gold Edition West of Dead Wolfenstein: Alt History Collection Zombie Army 4: Dead War Zombie Army Trilogy Zombie Vikings *Halloween Deals promotion ends November 2 23:59 PDT / PST / GMT and November 3 02:59 EDT/EST View the full article

The moment is nearly upon us – the release of the demo for Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory, the first rhythm action game set in the beloved Kingdom Hearts universe. We’re pleased to share some details about what’s in store. Included are six tracks from the game’s massive library of over 140 songs, collected from across the breadth of the Kingdom Hearts portfolio of games and composed by legendary composer Yoko Shimomura. The six tracks are: Welcome to Wonderland Hand in Hand　 The Rustling Forest Wave of Darkness I　 Sinister Shadows　 All for One　 The first four tracks can be played solo, in a mode called “Field Battle.” You’ll play as “Team Classic,” comprised of Sora, Donald, and Goofy, and attack enemies to the beat of the music. A quick tutorial eases you into the controls, so you’ll know exactly which buttons to press to attack, jump, and soar across the levels. The other two tracks listed above can be played with a friend in local co-op, with one player controlling Sora and the other taking control of Riku. The demo showcases an array of different difficulty levels from beginner to standard to proud for the greatest challenge. You’ll be able to further customize your play experience via “play styles.” Each of the tracks can be played via basic game mode, that breaks up different actions – attack, jump/float, and special into different buttons, as explained in the tutorial. For a more relaxing experience, you can select “One button” mode to map every action to a single button. And for experienced rhythm gamers who want the highest challenge, a “performer” mode is available that includes extra targets on each track mapped to even more buttons on the controller. The demo is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the content available in Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory; the full game will include other gameplay options like a versus mode, a massive music library of over 140 tracks, multiple Kingdom Hearts worlds to explore, additional character teams, a memory theater, and a wide range of collectibles and unlocks. We’re also pleased to share a special message from the game’s producer, Ichiro Hazama: This title has a total of over 140 wonderful songs included. Not only that, but the game progression will also allow players to revisit each of the entries in the Kingdom Hearts series from the first title. So, fans of Kingdom Hearts definitely, and even those who are getting into the series for the first time, will get ample enjoyment out of this game. There is so much more I want to say, but I am running out of space! I would very much appreciate it if you could start with trying out our demo. Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory releases November 13, 2020 on PlayStation 4! You can pre-order now at PlayStation Store. View the full article

Hi, I’m Warren Arnold, a Director at Jackbox Games and in case you haven’t heard, we’re launching The Jackbox Party Pack 7 at PlayStation Store tomorrow! Seven Party Packs! How DO we do it? A lot of hard work, deep dedication and a spring of ideas. In all seriousness, what drives our innovation is that we love to play games with each other. You might not think that a game company built on fart jokes has fun, but we do! And the great thing about playtesting at Jackbox is that you trust everyone here to look at your idea and give creative and uplifting notes that hopefully gets a game across the finish line and into a Party Pack. While I have at least part of your attention, let me give three examples from The Jackbox Party Pack 7 of how ideation and playtesting helped elevate some already great game ideas. Quiplash 3 First, let’s take a look at Quiplash 3, which features a brand-new final round called Thriplash. Once we decided that there would be a new entry in the Quiplash library, we quickly decided that we would try a new structure for the final round. We had company-wide meetings that focused on what we liked about earlier final rounds and what we thought we could do to take Quiplash’s final round in some new directions. Many ideas were pitched and many were playtested before we landed on a classic tentpole of comedic structure: the rule of threes. On the surface, it seemed like a natural progression from asking players to create one joke for a prompt, to asking them for three. It playtested well, but we could tell it was missing one final piece: the reveal. Initially, the text appeared all at once, but a brilliant comment resulted in the text appearing one, two, three, which really helped the third part of the joke land. While we were happy with older versions of Quiplash, opening up an old favorite to new ideas really helped us find a simple, yet elegant final round. Champ’d Up Playtesting was also huge for Champ’d Up, an energetic drawing game where players create characters who battle it out for titles like “The Champion of The Graveyard.” In the first round, one player knows the title and the other has to create a challenger by only seeing their opponent. So one is left to wonder what sort of title a fancy duck or a muscular robot might hold before they create a challenger. The team could’ve stopped there but they wanted to raise the stakes in the second round. So, they took what was already working and made some slight adjustments. Through several play tests, they discovered that adding a round where neither player knew what title they were competing for made for some hilarious matchups and really raised the energy in the room. By heightening what was already there, the playtests immediately proved that we had a winner. The Devils and the Details And last but certainly not least ambitious is The Devils and the Details, a cooperative game where players provide instructions to each other as a family of demons living in the suburbs. Just like any other family, they’ve got a crushing amount of mundane tasks to perform throughout the day. The Devils and the Details is heavily dependent on the controller to complete the family’s task, so the team had to test each unique chore to make sure it added to the building energy of the game. Chores, like driving the kids to school, require one player to monitor the GPS and shout directions to the player driving the car. Lost a sock? One player has to describe the sock, while another swipes the rest of the laundry out of the way on their controller. Each task needed to be properly ordinary but have a compelling action on the controller. And how did they find out what worked? Have you not been paying attention? Geez. Playtesting. Each of these games greatly benefited from the time and effort put into them by people who really love what they do. Hopefully, you enjoy playing them as much as we here at Jackbox Games enjoy making them. View the full article

Throughout September, the Dreams Community were hard at work creating spooky rooms and jack-o-lanterns for our latest collaborative event #AllHallowsDreams. Today, we’re super excited to announce that you’ll get to see all their hard work when the gates creak open on October 15, 2020 for all Dreams players. Just like DreamsCom, All Hallows Dreams will also be playable for those with the Trial version of Dreams, too! There really isn’t too long to wait until you get to jump into Dreams and experience the amazing (and super spooky!) creations our community have cooked up. If you missed our announcement of #AllHallowsDreams, you can catch up with all the details here, or read on and find out what to expect come October 15! The Haunted House The main attraction of #AllHallowsDreams is our community-built haunted houses. Each room has been designed by a member of the Dreams Community, with an incredible variety of styles and interpretations of what Halloween means to them. And, yep, there’s plenty of frights to be had! You’ll be able to explore the haunted houses at your own pace, too. After DreamsCom, we focused on making sure there’s a way for players to move at their own pace and in keeping with the haunted house theme, a creaky elevator seemed like the best bet! You’ll be able to select which floor you want to visit in any order, so if you want to revisit a favourite, it’s only a few button clicks away! Of course, Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween without fancy dress. When you jump in to All Hallows’ Dreams, you’ll be able to choose between several different outfit options for your character. We can’t wait to see which outfits you choose, so please do make sure to share a shot with us on social media! The Pumpkin Patch Moving on! Our pumpkin patch was another creative challenge we set our Dreams Community. We asked creators to carve out their own jack-o-lantern using a template, and the results have been amazing. Alongside the haunted houses (homes?), our pumpkin patch is fully explorable for everyone and will be filled with all of the jack-o-lanterns created in September, ranging from spooky to cute to silly and back again! We’ve also given creators the option to leave their pumpkin labelled with their PSN ID, so you can look out for them in the Dreamiverse if they’ve created your favourite. But wait, there’s more! Another excellent part of Halloween is the treats, right? Well, we have a nice treat in store for All Hallows’ Dreams – new Imps! These lovely new Imps will be making their way to all Dreams players at the same time as All Hallows’ Dreams begins (October 15), and will be ready and waiting to be used for your characters in the haunted houses! We love them all, but we want to know which is your favourite – so make sure to let us know on social! The new Imps will be available for all players to keep, but you can only receive them if you log in to play Dreams between October 15 – October 31. If you don’t, you’ll miss the opportunity to get your hands on them. Today, we’ve also kicked off our annual in-game Halloween Community Jam for everyone to get involved in. Last year’s Halloween jam gave us some truly amazing creations such as Happy Jack, A Ghost’s Halloween, Witchy Woods and so much more. So if you have an idea for a Halloween creation, or were inspired by your entry in to All Hallows’ Dreams, make sure to get involved! We are so excited about All Hallows’ Dreams, and we’re so grateful to all the amazing creators who have been involved in helping us build this spooky adventure. We can’t wait to see everyone jump in on October 15! Be sure to share your experiences on social media by using the hashtags #DreamsPS4 and #AllHallowsDreams! Happy Halloween! View the full article

Welcome to a special NBA 2K21 post on next-gen gameplay! We at Visual Concepts are hard at work in creating an unmatched next-gen game in NBA 2K21 on PS5 but also want to take an opportunity to talk about some of our gameplay enhancements in the weeks leading up our November launch. In this post, we’re going to dive into some of the tech that we were able to create to make NBA 2K21 on the PS5 truly feel like a next-generation experience. Next-gen movement There’s nothing more exciting for a developer than the arrival of new consoles. Every new generation gives us the opportunity to step back and reimagine how we can push the sports gaming genre forward. If I had to pick one aspect of gameplay that’s probably benefited the most from the jump to next-gen, the answer would probably have to be on-court locomotion. Movement is the foundation for a solid basketball game. When that foundation isn’t solid, a lot of aspects of the game fall apart. We put a lot of resources toward improving locomotion with and without the ball, and I’m excited how far it’s come to kick off year one of the next generation of 2K hoops. Dribble movement The dribbler was rebuilt from the ground up for next-gen and the difference is night and day. We retained the concept of signature dribble styles that we introduced a couple years ago, but otherwise, everything was scrapped and re-architected bringing a completely different feel with the ball in your hands for next-gen. Additionally, protect and post movement saw massive upgrades. The aspect of dribble movement that excites me the most is the predictability and consistency of it. It’s much easier to go exactly where you want on the floor, and in the manner that you’d expect to get there. No unwanted turns or having your player face the wrong way. No bursting up to speed or failed cuts. It just works. And because it’s built using the same engine as the Pro Stick dribble move system, movement and moves work cohesively together. Player speeds are more accurate to real life and the sense of weight feels more lifelike. It’s a complete package and I don’t think I can overstate how much it’s elevated my enjoyment of playing the game. Defense and Off-Ball All non-dribbling movement from on-ball defense, to off-ball offense and defense is run by our motion engine which is in its third year of development. The motion team has been working tirelessly to bring a next-gen feel to moving without the ball, and it both looks and feels fantastic. Here are some of the upgrades that stand out: Unique contextual motion assets for various basketball situations (Transition Stops, Leak Out, Guard Break, Anchor, Space Perimeter) bring an awareness to the look of the players on the floor and give them more life. Improved pathing, cuts, and stops make defenders feel more grounded and fix a lot of the sliding from the previous generation. Overall improvement to motion stability and response. In other words, we smoothed out the twitchiness and players can more accurately follow exactly what you’re doing on the sticks. Updated player-size detection logic and greater emphasis on player differentiation. Bigs move like bigs, and guards move like guards. This includes a lot of new animation content to support signature motion styles. Left stick taps allow you to play quick steps which are really helpful when you need to make subtle adjustments to your defensive position. Foot Planting Sliding in basketball is no good. But it’s something we’ve had to live with in the past because of limitations in technology. I’m happy to say that 2K21 next gen takes a huge leap in that department. Our engineers re-wrote our foot planting tech from scratch and it led to one of the most striking visual improvements when you put current gen side-by-side with next gen. Players can now take procedural steps instead of sliding their feet when they need to make micro-adjustments. I love seeing proper footwork as players are making hard cuts, accelerating, stopping… even just standing and making subtle movements in place. It just brings 2K hoops one more step (see what I did there?) closer to real life. Body Ups That’s our internal name for all of the interactions between the ball handler and defender. It’s always a tricky balance trying to accurately model the cat & mouse game between the offense and the defense. Our goal with body ups was to highlight the improvements that we were able to make to both dribbling and defensive movement. To that end, it meant less canned interactions and doing a better job of respecting user control. I think 2K21 strikes a great balance between rewarding taking proper driving angles and respecting contact. Attempting to drive head first directly into a defender will stop them in their tracks, lead to charges, or force pickups. When ball handlers get to the hip of the defender but the defender matches well, it will lead to more realistic rides that neither player will feel stuck in. And on the other extreme, slow footed (or slow to react) defenders will be punished with blow by’s and if they try to force the contact too late, might get hit with a blocking foul. Strong ball handlers can also hard stop out of a ride and crab defenders more effectively so it’s not always about speed when trying to probe into the paint. The logic for the types of resolutions that play out is much more robust and takes into account every little detail you can think of. The end result is a better 1-on-1 game that more accurately mirrors the real NBA. Off-Ball Contact Just like with body ups, we wanted to translate those same principles off-ball. The motion team completely re-worked the off-ball contact system, which now features everything from “let throughs” (incidental contact) to hard collisions. There’s a great freedom of movement when you’re working away from the ball but also realistic contact when it’s called for, all with no snatching or sliding. My favorite aspect of these collisions can be seen in the new screen interactions. Gone are the “vacuum screens” that have plagued basketball games in the past where defenders would get pulled into a screen collision and run in a direction they weren’t asking for. You can reject screens appropriately, go over or under as you’d expect, and “die” on a screen if you have a weak defender trying to barrel through a big. It all looks great, but more importantly, feels great for both the offense and defense to get the outcomes that make sense in such an important aspect of team basketball. Impact Engine One of the biggest challenges we face when balancing offense and defense is contact in the paint. As you can tell, with next-gen we really stressed the importance of respecting user control and not warping defenders into place for the sake of game balance. But it’s vital to be able to have reliable contact, especially for protecting the basket, in order to prevent bloated points in the paint. For NBA 2K21 next-gen, we developed a new in-air contact shot system that we internally call the Impact Engine. The goal was to completely remove the snatching that we’d been using in past games and resolve collisions on the fly as players hit each other in mid-air. The Impact Engine gives us the flexibility to do just that. By creating reliable contact when players are in flight, we no longer have to take control of defenders while they’re on the ground and pull them into place just to force certain outcomes. This will be most noticeable for paint defenders as they’ll have the freedom to maneuver their players into position and make a play on the ball themselves rather than the game dictating what happens based on whatever animations happen to trigger. To further aid paint defense, the logic that goes into block targeting was improved and we’re using IK more heavily now to get the hand to track the ball (as well as to minimize clipping.) One of the main beneficiaries of the new engine is that we now have contact alley-oop and putback dunk-ons for the first time in 2K, which look sick and feel rewarding when you can pull them off! On-ground contact also saw major upgrades, specifically with charge and block fouls. Beating the shooter to the spot and getting set will yield a lot more successful charge calls on the offense while being late will give you more blocking fouls. We’ve also added “crash” layups for the situations where the shooter barrels into the defense but a charge or block aren’t warranted. These animations will help convey to the player that they’re forcing the issue and hopefully teach them to respect paint defenders next time they go inside. If you can’t get around the defense, sometimes it’s better to shoot a floater or pull-up jumper. PS5 Trigger effect Something that always excites us as developers is the introduction of new hardware features that come along with new consoles. When we first heard about the DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers and haptic feedback, we immediately began brainstorming ways to use them to enhance the gameplay experience. As soon as we got our hands on the dev kits, our lead engineer experimented with several different prototypes to figure out what made the most sense for a basketball game. For the adaptive triggers, we opted to use them to convey energy/fatigue. As you move around the court, you’ll feel more and more resistance on the Sprint trigger as your player’s energy drains. We also use adaptive resistance in the post game. Strong post players will feel very little resistance on L2 when backing down weaker opponents, but you’ll have to use more force to pull L2 when it’s the other way around. It’s very interesting to play with and helps immerse you into the experience of actually being on the basketball court! As for haptic feedback, we used it to accentuate our various collision systems. Boxouts, body-up rides, off-ball collisions/deny/rides… basically any situation where players make significant contact will vibrate the controller at various intensities depending on the strength of the players involved and the severity of the impact. It’s so dope to feel the difference in your hands between a grazing bump and hard hit. It’s also a great reinforcement tool to understand when you’re making players work too hard on the court, which could hit their energy/stamina levels and potentially cause wear-and-tear on their bodies with our in-depth injury system. There’s so much more that happened on the engineering front to raise the bar in building NBA 2K21’s next-gen tech, but these are just the main ones I wanted to bring to your attention for today. New technology is always exciting and I love seeing how advancements in the hardware lead to advancements in the software, which then birth new gameplay features and push the genre forward. Make sure to check out next week’s gameplay Courtside Report as I reveal details about player builds, badges, takeover, and improvements to AI! View the full article

Our latest system software update for PlayStation 4, version 8.00, is launching today globally. This update includes changes to the existing Party and Messages features, new avatars, updated parental controls and more. Here are some of the key features in this update: Updates to Party and Messages Following this update, Party and Messages will be more tightly linked together and you will see changes to the UI. Both apps will now use the same ‘Groups’ of players for Party voice chats and message exchanges, instead of having different groups setup across the two apps. So now you can start a Party chat or send a message to the group you’ve previously chatted with across PS4, as well as PS5 when it launches. New Avatars We’re expanding the collection of pre-set avatars for players to showcase on their Profile. An array of new avatars from your favorite games will be available, including Bloodborne, Journey, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, The Last of Us Part II, The Last of Us Remastered, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and many more. Mute all Mics from Quick Menu We’ve added an option to “Mute all Microphones” in the Quick Menu, so you can easily mute your mics while gaming. Simplified and more flexible Parental Controls Under Parental Controls, we’re combining the ‘Communicating with Other Players’ and ‘Viewing Content Created by other Players’ into one setting – ‘Communication and User Generated Content’- to cover both areas of communication and UGC sharing. This offers a simpler setting that’s easier for parents to understand and apply to their children. In addition, children can send a request to their parents to use communications features in specific games. When a child sends this request, the parent will receive an email notification and can choose to make an exception for that game and allow the child to use its communications and UGC features. This will provide more flexibility to both parents and children. Enhanced 2-Step Verification The 2-Step Verification (2SV) feature on PS4 will be enhanced to support third party authenticator apps as an option during the activation flow and 2SV sign-in across PS4, mobile and web. Removal of Event Creation and Private Community Creation After 8.00, you will no longer be able to create Events or access existing Events created by other users. We’re also removing the ability to create private Communities under the Community app on PS4. If you already have existing private Communities, you can continue to access them. Updates to Remote Play App on Mobile and PC At the same time as 8.00, the existing PS4 Remote Play app on mobile (iOS/Android), Windows PC and Mac, will change its name to PS Remote Play, and the option to connect to PS5 will be added. You’ll need to sign in to PSN from your PS5 to be able to access the feature, so sit tight until PS5 launches this November! As a reminder, a PS4 system with a wired connection via a LAN cable is recommended to download the update. View the full article

The latest title in our intense restaurant management series, Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! is set to launch tomorrow on PS4! Our team at Vertigo Gaming has been hard at work on this new, redesigned entry since late 2018 when Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! released on PS4, and we can’t wait to see what people think about it. Unlike its restaurant-based predecessors, the Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! campaign takes place in a travelling food truck as you road trip across a radically-changed war-torn America of 2042 to participate in the Iron Cook Foodtruck Championships with your robot crew Whisk and Cleaver. Travel on routes that have you prepping orders as you pull up to stops lined with hungry customers — serve their orders efficiently and to perfection to earn ways to upgrade and decorate your truck as you set more dynamic and challenging menus for each state. Watch out though, you’re not the only food truck on the road and some aren’t as friendly as their appearance make them out to be… We’ve taken a lot of feedback from CSD 2 and applied it to this game, increasing the graphical fidelity and decreasing input lag. Building off of the local multiplayer options in the previous titles, Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! offers drop-in/drop-out couch co-op play at any time throughout your campaign as well. Not to mention the music — an OST filled to the brim with our award-winning composer Jonathan Geer’s unmistakable creations. The latest in the CSD series has been made better through the introduction of new additions and improvements, thanks in no small part to months of testing with our community: The auto-serve command is a game changer and will be a welcome sight for veteran players of the series. Along with the campaign’s Standard Mode, we’ve added a Chill Mode that can be toggled on or off at any time in case you’d like to take a break or just aren’t generally a fan of the typical fast-paced gameplay. Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! also offers dozens of accessibility features — such as audio and visual options that reduce motion, colorblind settings, and lots more. After nearly a year in Early Access on PC, Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! makes its console debut tomorrow on PS4 — we’re excited to see folks cooking and serving all across the world! View the full article

Hey everyone, it’s Damoun Shabestari (aka Shabs) here, Game Director at First Contact Entertainment, developers behind Firewall Zero Hour. We recently celebrated the two year anniversary of Firewall Zero Hour, which launched on PS VR on August 28, 2018. Since that launch, we’ve been reflecting on how far the game has come, with a steady stream of seasonal content updates received by our ever-growing community — which reached new heights and new audiences this year when Firewall Zero Hour joined the PS Plus Instant Game Collection in February 2020. Since launching two years ago, we’ve shipped five full seasons of content — including the addition of 11 new Contractors, nine new Maps, 36 Weapons (including six Legendary Weapons), and over 120 Mission Rewards in the form of Skins, Trinkets, Facepaints, Reticles, and more! We also released a Digital Deluxe Edition of Firewall Zero Hour, and a Deluxe Pack, featuring some of the most popular Contractors, Skins, and Facepaints released to date. Firewall Zero Hour has cemented its status as a must-have game for PS VR owners, PS Aim controller owners, and all fans of the multiplayer and shooter genres. The support from our community speaks to the game’s longevity, and we are grateful for each and every one of our awesome PlayStation fans! Today, we’re unbelievably proud to reach the milestone of our sixth season of Firewall Zero Hour, with the launch of Operation: Cloudstrike*. Let’s check out everything that’s in store for you. New Map Operation: Cloudstrike launches with the brand new map — Post 15 — freely available to all players. Post 15 is an underground command center, operating somewhere in the United States, hidden in a remote mountain range. This government bunker is top-notch, built to withstand whatever may happen “on the outside.” The data regarding the decisions made here — secret to even top-tier government officials — is highly sought after. Work with your fellow contractors to scour the facility, full of industrial equipment, and find (or protect) that sensitive data on the laptop. Watch out for tight corridors and multi-tiered walkways where fire can be taken from multiple angles! Players will also find themselves immediately inside the Post 15 map scene, as it becomes the Lobby environment during Operation: Cloudstrike. New Contractor This season welcomes a mysterious new Contractor — Shadow — who sports a tactical face shield. Hidden behind this face shield is Hannah Muller. Hailing from Munich, she graduated university in Berlin with honors, and later enlisted into training for an elite tactical unit within the German Federal Police. Hannah became known as Shadow — a strong asset to the German government who could infiltrate enemy lines unnoticed. Since leaving behind the regulatory world of government, Shadow has since taken her skills outside of her home country. Shadow’s Skill of “Vapor” allows players who are knocked into a downed state to emit instant smoke which helps conceal them from the enemy. Shadow and her Skill of “Vapor” are available to Operation: Cloudstrike Op Pass holders. New Cosmetic Rewards There are over 24 new cosmetic Rewards available this season. Upon completion of Missions, a variety of different trinkets, face paints, and camo skins can be equipped by players. In addition to Free Mission Rewards, Op Pass holders have access to Premium and Bonus Mission Rewards. New Weapon Coming to Operation: Cloudstrike is a brand new weapon, the Custom Kruger. The Custom Kruger is available to all players upon completion of the first week Free Mission. The Custom Kruger is a medium-range, full-auto assault rifle ready for your engagement zones in Operation: Cloudstrike’s new map, Post 15. New Legendary Weapon Skin The Legendary Weapon Skin of Operation: Cloudstrike is Shadow’s Manta Ray — available to Op Pass holders who complete all Free, Premium and Bonus Missions in Operation: Cloudstrike (a total of 24 Missions) and redeemed for 250,000 Crypto. Reminder: Op Pass and Hack Key Bundles The Cloudstrike Op Pass allows players access to 16 additional Mission cosmetic Rewards, plus access to the new Contractor Shadow, and the ability to unlock the Legendary Weapon Skin, Shadow’s Manta Ray after completion of all 24 Missions this season. Hack Keys can be used to instantly complete any Operational Mission and receive its cosmetic Reward–a great option for players who don’t have as much time to play as they would like. If you have any Hack Keys left over from last season (Operation: Syndicate), you can use them on Missions this season (Operation: Cloudstrike). Firewall Zero Hour – Cloudstrike Op Pass + 25 Hack Keys ($24.99) Firewall Zero Hour – Cloudstrike Op Pass + 5 Hack Keys ($9.99) Firewall Zero Hour – Cloudstrike Op Pass + 1 Hack Key ($5.99) Firewall Zero Hour – 5 Hack Keys Pack ($4.99) Contractors, we can’t wait to hear your feedback on this new season, Operation: Cloudstrike! We are so thankful for your feedback, as the game has continued to grow and evolve in its two years since launch. It’s been one crazy journey together, and we’re honored to be part of such an amazing community with you all! Let’s squad up and I’ll see you online, Contractors! *Firewall Zero Hour required to access Operation Cloudstrike. Operation Cloudstrike content requires Op Pass (sold separately) until January 12, 2021. PlayStation®4 system, PlayStation®VR and PlayStation®Camera are required to experience VR functionality. View the full article

Hello! I’m Daniel Winkler with IguanaBee and we’re the developer behind G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout. The team at IguanaBee grew up watching the animated G.I. Joe series, reading the comic books, and playing with the toys. We worked with Hasbro and Fair Play Labs to create a play experience that reimagined the third person shooter with mechanics inspired and made possible by the G.I. Joe and Cobra universe. It was an honor, and childhood dream, to work with these classic characters. We’re confident in saying G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout was made by fans for fans. We focused on fast-paced gameplay, with active cover mechanics, class-based special maneuvers, and unique Ultimate powers for each character. I love the special abilities for our Ninja character class, for example, specifically Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. They are fast and allow for great combos, especially with their close combat Ultimate Powers and katana strikes. Depending on your play style you can focus on using their abilities for attacking enemies directly or avoiding attacks. We are really happy with the gameplay mix we’ve arrived at. It’s a mix that we feel has never been done for a third person shooter and we are excited for players to experience it! “We always strive to define our core characters, their unique attributes/abilities and personalities through gameplay as much as possible,” says Rich Zambarano, Hasbro’s Gaming Content Manager. “Because this is a deeply story-driven gameplay experience, and I think we were able to successfully capture that depth for both the G.I. Joe and Cobra characters. I hope players and fans will greatly enjoy this aspect of the game.” Some of our best memories have been next to our friends and siblings playing games. Nothing compares to laughing alongside your friend solving problems together and celebrating beating each level. G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout is special because it spans generations. We hope it will bring families together playing games with not just brothers and sisters, but also moms and dads. Sitting next to your friends experiencing the story together for the first time in co-op, or just seeing who has the best skills in local multiplayer, is endless fun. Playing alone is absolutely an option, too, though. In the Campaign Mode, players will play through 17 missions with a full story. Our goal when developing the story was to bring to life a narrative that fans of G.I. Joe will love. In some missions, you play as Cobra, in others you play as the G.I. Joe team, and you always have at least two characters to choose from. You never play the same mission twice as a different faction, so every mission is unique and brings the story forward. Cobra may be the bad guys, but we know fans enjoy the Cobra characters just as much as G.I. Joe ones. When playing with G.I. Joe action figures as kids, we always created stories for both Cobra and G.I. Joe, imagining elaborate plot lines for not just Roadblock and Duke, but also Destro, and we wanted to make sure the game gave players that option. “Some of the most beloved G.I. Joe characters are Cobra characters: Baroness, Storm Shadow, and of course, Cobra Commander! Fans have as strong an affinity for the G.I. Joe villains as they do the heroes, and we wanted to make sure we gave them the opportunity to experience this game from both perspectives,” Zambarano says. In terms of exactly where the story takes place, I will let Zambarano tackle that. “Although it is not set in the 1980s, the narrative is inspired by some of the classic fiction and diabolical Cobra plots fans may remember from cartoons and comics, but with a contemporary look and feel. We had a great opportunity to align the look and design of our game characters with Hasbro’s G.I. Joe: Classified Series action figures, to give them an evolved and contemporary design statement. The G.I. Joe universe, from the comics, toy line, animated series, and feature films, have always put diversity front and center. The universe was ahead of its time featuring strong lead characters of various cultural and national origins, such as Storm Shadow and Roadblock. G.I. Joe also featured prominent female characters including Lady Jaye, Scarlett, and Baroness. At the time that G.I. Joe started its growth to a worldwide phenomenon, most female characters were held to support roles or “damsel in distress” roles, but in G.I. Joe, Lady Jay, Scarlett, and Baroness stood up to the best on the battlefield. Diversity also came up when we were planning the voice over for the game. When watching all the classic episodes of G.I. Joe, what stood out immediately was the diversity in regional dialects. Some characters had a Boston accent, others a New York accent, another a southern accent, and it was fun to hear the different dialects. We are really looking forward to player and fan reaction to the story, and Zambarano is willing to offer a cryptic tease that G.I. Joe superfans, in particular, can look forward to. “Our G.I. Joe fans are very passionate with incredible attention to detail. I will say, without giving anything away, that there is a very iconic element that players will uncover in the last mission that we decided to slip in. It is unrelated to the actual game story but is something super fans will remember fondly and hopefully be excited to see.” G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout is coming to PlayStation 4 tomorrow, and we can’t wait for fans to play the game! View the full article

Email us at PSPodcast@sony.com! Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google or RSS, or download here This week, Sid, Tim and I spend a lot of time drooling over that new PS5 teardown video (it’s almost here!), then Kristen sits down with miHoYo to talk about the ins and outs of their elemental open-world RPG Genshin Impact. Join us, won’t you? Stuff We Talked About Genshin Impact PS5 teardown video Comparing our new Trophy levels Playing PS4 games on PS5 No Straight Roads Mortal Kombat Bugsnax Crash Bandicoot 4: Its About Time The Cast Tim Turi – Senior Content Communications Specialist, SIE Sid Shuman – Senior Director, Content Communications, SIE Justin Massongill – Content Communications Manager, SIE Thanks to Cory Schmitz for our beautiful logo and Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music. [Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.] View the full article

When the PlayStation 5 launches this November, more than 99 percent of the 4000+ games available on PS4 will be playable on PS5. We know you have questions about how PS4 games will work on PS5, so here is a quick overview on some common questions we’ve seen from the PlayStation community. What console generation games are supported with PS5’s backward compatibility feature? We are focused on the huge catalog of games on PlayStation 4, and we’re pleased that more than 99% of PS4 games will be playable on PS5 on day one. This includes games that have defined the PS4 generation – from critically acclaimed PlayStation exclusives like The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima, to blockbuster hits from our third-party partners. What is the difference between playing PS4 games on the PS5 Digital Edition console, versus the PS5 console with the Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive? The gaming experience on both models will be the same. However, how you access the content to play will differ: PS5 Digital Edition You will be able to play digital versions of your compatible PS4 games on the PS5 Digital Edition console. These will be compatible PS4 digital games you have already purchased, or plan to purchase, via PlayStation Store on PS4, PS5, web or PlayStation mobile app. Since there is no disc drive, you won’t be able to play your PS4 disc-based games on the PS5 Digital Edition. PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive You can play digital versions of your compatible PS4 games you downloaded from PlayStation Store on PS4, PS5, web or PlayStation mobile app. You can also use physical PS4 game discs. When you sign in to PS5 with your account for PlayStation Network, you will automatically see your library of played PS4 content through the menu. Be sure to keep the PS5 console updated to the latest system software update available, and apply all available game patches to the game. What is the PS4 game experience like on PS5? PS4 titles get even better on PS5. Select PS4 titles will see increased loading speeds on the PS5 console, and will also leverage Game Boost, offering improved or more stable frame rates. Some titles with unlocked frame rates or dynamic resolution up to 4K may see higher fidelity. Additionally, PS4 games will also take advantage of some of PS5’s new UX features, but more to come on that later. Are games from PlayStation VR backward compatible? Yes, PlayStation VR games are included among the thousands of PS4 games that are playable on PS5. Please note that playing PS VR games on a PS5 console requires a PS VR headset, DualShock 4 wireless controller or PlayStation Move controller(s), and PS Camera (for PS4), which are sold separately from the PS5 console. Also, the PS5 HD Camera is not compatible with PS VR on PS5. You’ll need to use the PS Camera (for PS4), and the PS Camera adaptor (no purchase required), to use PS VR on PS5. What about PS4 games on PS Now and PS Plus? Backward compatible PS4 games included in PS Plus or PS Now will run on PS5. Can I stream PS4 games on PS5? Yes, Remote Play from PS4 to PS5 and PS Now streaming are supported. The benefit of streaming is that you can save your storage space on PS5. Please note that PS4 games will not leverage PS5’s Game Boost through streaming. How do PS4 game transfers and game saves work between the two consoles? You can transfer digital games, game data, and game saves from a PS4 console to a PS5 console using LAN cables, or by connecting wirelessly (WiFi). If you’ve already stored PS4 games and game data in the external USB storage device connected to your PS4, you can bring them over to PS5 with that external USB storage device. And if you are a PS Plus member, you can also sync PS4 game saves on PS5 through cloud storage. Please note that the ability to transfer game saves between a PS4 version and a PS5 version of the same game is a developer decision, and will vary title by title for cross-generational games. For Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, when players decide to upgrade from PS4 to PS5 their game saves will transfer.* Sackboy: A Big Adventure also will support game save transfers from PS4 to PS5 in an update that will be delivered shortly after the release of the game.* We’ll share additional details on both games closer to launch. How will I know which PS4 games aren’t playable? Games that are only playable on PS4 will be noted on PlayStation Store as playable on “PS4 only.” We have a list of games that are only playable on PS4, along with additional information on backward compatibility here: playstation.com/ps5-backwards-compatibility *If players originally purchase a PS4 game disc, the PlayStation 5 with an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive is required to upgrade to the PlayStation 5 version of the game and transfer their saves over. View the full article