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PGA Tour 2K21 tees off this August from 2K Games and HB Studios
2K Games and HB Studios are continuing their partnership with the PGA Tour this Summer as the next game in The Golf Club franchise has morphed into PGA Tour 2K21.
Referred to as an “evolution” of the franchise by 2K and HB, PGA Tour 2K21 will feature pro golfer Justin Thomas on the cover, as well as 15 licensed PGA Tour courses, and a Course Designer mode to expand that number when you need a new challenge:
Thomas will be joined by 11 additional PGA Tour pros, each of whom will present a challenge to players in PGA Tour Career Mode as they compete to become a FedEx Cup Champion. Players can also create and personalize their MyPlayer with equipment and apparel from licensed brands including adidas, Polo Ralph Lauren, Malbon Golf, Callaway Golf, Bridgestone Golf, TaylorMade Golf, and more.
Capping off the simulation experience, PGA Tour 2K21 will feature a broadcast-style presentation with state-of-the-art graphics, dynamic cutscenes and a seamless replay system, all anchored by the play-by-play commentary of renowned broadcaster Luke Elvy and analyst Rich Beem.
In addition to its many single-player options, PGA Tour 2K21 will also include local and online multiplayer modes, including Alt-Shot, Stroke Play, Skins, and 4-Player Scramble.
PGA Tour 2K21 will be released for the PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and Stadia on August 21. A very unexpected Announcement Trailer for the game has been embedded above.
Paper Mario: The Origami King will be released on July 17
With the E3 Expo off the calendar this Summer, game publishers have been scrambling to figure out how best to announce all the projects that would have debuted at the big show. So here we are on a random morning in May, and Nintendo has just announced that a new Paper Mario game will launch in less than two months.
Paper Mario: The Origami King will be available for the Switch on July 17, and not only is Mario forced to team up with Bowser once again, but it also looks like Princess Peach has turned evil…
Mario faces one of his most thrilling challenges yet in Paper Mario: The Origami King when the dangerous King Olly unleashes his plan to fold the entire world. Just when matters couldn’t get worse, he’s bound Princess Peach’s Castle in giant, colored streamers and transported it to a distant mountain. He’s even transformed Bowser’s minions into Folded Soldiers and enlisted them in his treacherous cause.
The game’s Announcement Trailer, which has been embedded above, gives us a good look at some of the new features coming to The Origami King.
Fans of Arms will be thrilled to learn that Mario is getting a set of stretchy arms to call his own. These “1000-Fold Arms” give Mario the ability to “interact with the landscape” by peeling away at the game’s world to solve puzzles and reveal “unexpected surprises.” And speaking of puzzles, the new ring-based battle system will ask players to “maximize damage” by correctly lining up Mario against his opponents.
With Super Mario Bros. celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, we’ll likely hear a lot more about Mario throughout the year. It just won’t be at the E3 Expo.
Tetris 99’s next Maximus Cup event is this weekend and it’s offering an Animal Crossing: New Horizons Theme as a prize
Nintendo has followed up most of its new releases in the last year with a Maximus Cup event in Tetris 99 with a crossover Theme for the puzzle game as the prize. It happened with Fire Emblem: Three Houses in August. And it happened with Pokemon Sword and Shield in November.
And because it was inevitable, now it’s happening with Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
The 13th Maximus Cup will begin this Friday, May 15, at 3:00 AM (Eastern Time). Like Tetris 99’s other online events, it’ll continue into early next week and end at 3:00 AM (Eastern Time) on Tuesday, May 19.
Players who collect 100 Event Points over the 96-hour period will unlock a special in-game Theme based on Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which features some of your favorite characters and lots of mint green styling. Obtaining 100 Event Points shouldn’t be too difficult, as the scoring system for this Maximus Cup event is the same as always:
Points Table for Tetris 99’s 12th Maximus Cup
1st Place: 100
2nd Place: 50
3rd Place: 30
4th-10th Place: 20
11th–30th Place: 15
31st–50th Place: 10
51st–90th Place: 5
91st–99th Place: 1
Don’t let the 13th Maximus Cup event be unlucky, and we’re pulling for everyone who wants the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Theme.
Scorn is a Gigeresque nightmare… and an Xbox Series X exclusive at launch
Microsoft began rolling out some of the third-party support they’ve lined up for the Xbox Series X earlier today, and Ebb Software’s Scorn has certainly slithered its way to the front with haunting imagery reminiscent of H.R. Giger’s designs for the Xenomorph from the Alien franchise.
Featuring statues that cry entrails and a lot of bodily fluids, the new trailer for Scorn is a wild ride into an utterly alien world. But I think it’s best to let the developers themselves fill you in on how they plan to unsettle players with their “nightmare” vision:
Scorn lures players into a claustrophobic underworld populated with misshapen organic forms dripping with unnamed fluids. You will find yourself entirely alone, with only your senses and instincts to guide you through the non-linear nightmare of interconnected spaces. In Scorn, the environment is itself a character, and will do its best to unsettle and unbalance you. Each location has its own puzzles, characters, and story to tell, all of which combine to create a cohesive world. On your journey through the game, new areas, skills, weapons, and items will be unveiled as you attempt to comprehend the unfolding reality of Scorn.
Kowloon Nights, an investment fund for independent developers, is providing support for Scorn, and Community Manager Danika Harrod expanded on Ebb’s influences on the Xbox Wire:
Scorn is a first-person horror adventure game designed around the idea of being thrown into the world. As players explore the dream-like world in a non-linear fashion, they will soon learn that every location has its own story, puzzles, and characters – even the unsettling environment is a character itself. The team has drawn visual inspiration from Swiss painter H.R. Giger and Polish painter Zdzislaw Beksinski. Conceptual inspiration has come from works by unique writers like Franz Kafka and Jorge Luis Borges, horror and sci-fi writers like Thomas Ligotti and J.G. Ballard, and the weird cinema of David Cronenberg and David Lynch.
Scorn will be released for the Xbox Series X during the console’s “launch period” this Fall, and it’s also in the works for the PC through Steam and the Windows Store.
Posted in News, PC, Xbox Series X
Sony sets new release dates for The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima
Two of Sony’s biggest games have new release dates.
The consolemaker pushed back the previously-announced May launch of The Last of Us Part II a few weeks ago, but it looks like the game will still make it out the door this Spring. Writing on the PlayStation Blog today, Sony’s Hermen Hulst revealed that Naughty Dog’s sequel will be available in stores for the PS4 on June 19.
Hulst also confirmed that Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima will be delayed as well, and it’s now expected to be released for the PS4 on July 17.
The executive went on to thank the development teams for their hard work as the whole world grapples with stay-at-home orders in the face of the coronavirus:
I want to personally congratulate and thank both the teams at Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch Productions on their achievements, as we know it’s not an easy feat to reach the finish line under these circumstances. Both teams have worked hard to deliver world-class experiences, and we can’t wait to see what you think of them when they release in just a few short months.
The new release date for The Last of Us Part II comes in the aftermath of a major leak from within Naughty Dog that is currently making its way around the Internet. Several cutscenes from the game were uploaded to YouTube yesterday, as well as screenshots showing levels and plot points. So be on guard if you want to stay unspoiled.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us Part II
It’s raining Bells as Animal Crossing: New Horizons becomes the best-selling game of March 2020
Multiple states attempted to “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus pandemic throughout the month of March by shutting down non-essential businesses, and The NPD Group’s recent report (via Twitter) about the month’s best-selling games absolutely reflects this strange new world.
Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons, without the benefit of digital sales (the consolemaker doesn’t supply them to NPD), was the best-selling game of March 2020. According to analyst Mat Piscatella (also via Twitter), it’s impressive debut has already set a new sales record for the franchise, and it trails only Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Super Smash Bros. Brawl for best first month sales by a Nintendo-published title.
The game also helped sell a lot of people on the Switch, as Nintendo sold more Switch consoles in March of 2020 than they did when the system launched in March of 2017.
With gamers doing their part and staying home, the entire industry surged ahead alongside Tom Nook, Isabelle, K.K. Slider, and the rest of the Animal Crossing crew. Total game sales were up 34% over March 2019 ($739 million vs $550 million), while total hardware sales rose 63% ($461 million vs $282 million).
And Animal Crossing: New Horizons isn’t the only new release that’s popular with players right now. MLB The Show 20 (#3), Resident Evil 3 (#4), Doom Eternal (#6), and Persona 5 Royal (#7) all debuted in the Top Ten. Looking further down the list, new games such as Nioh 2 (#11), Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX (#15), and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Remastered (#20) all snuck into the Top 20.
You can find a complete breakdown of The NPD Group’s list of best-selling games from March 2020 after the break. (more…)
Unlock a Ring Fit Adventure Theme for Tetris 99 in this weekend’s Maximus Cup event
After giving Tetris 99 players a two-month sabbatical from Maximus Cup events, Nintendo announced that they’re relaunching the popular competition this weekend.
The 12th Maximus Cup will pit players against one another over four grueling days of block dropping. The event will begin just after midnight this Friday, April 24, and continue until a similarly late hour on the following Monday, April 28.
This time around, players who acquire 100 Event Points will unlock an in-game Theme patterned after Nintendo’s latest exercise craze, Ring Fit Adventure. And not surprisingly, the scoring system for this Maximus Cup event remains unchanged:
Points Table for Tetris 99’s 12th Maximus Cup
1st Place: 100
2nd Place: 50
3rd Place: 30
4th-10th Place: 20
11th–30th Place: 15
31st–50th Place: 10
51st–90th Place: 5
91st–99th Place: 1
Good luck to everyone planning to participate in this weekend’s Maximus Cup event.
Final Super Mario Maker 2 update will include World Maker, Koopalings, the Frog Suit, and more
Nintendo has announced that they’ve got one final earth-shattering update coming for Super Mario Maker 2. Set to launch on April 22, the World Maker Update will give creators the chance to bundle together up to 40 courses (spread across eight worlds) into their own mini Mario masterpiece.
Creators have been asking for the ability to build their own “games” with Mario Maker’s toolset since the launch of the original game back in 2015, so this new update is sure to be a big hit with the sequel’s fanbase. But Nintendo isn’t stopping there, and the consolemaker confirmed that even more new features will be tucked away in the World Maker Update.
If you’ve got eight worlds to build, you’re going to need a unique boss at the end of each one. So it’s a good thing that this update will also add the Koopalings to Super Mario Maker 2. Each Koopaling will have their unique movement pattern, and they’ll be making their debut alongside other memorable villains such as the key-chasing Phanto and the wind-up Mechakoopas.
Speaking of Super Mario Bros. 2, the SMB2 Mushroom will arrive to give Mario his outfit from the first US sequel and the ability to pick up and throw items and enemies. Super Mario Bros. 3‘s Frog Suit, Super Mario World‘s Power Balloon, New Super Mario Bros. U‘s Super Acorn, and Super Mario 3D World‘s Boomerang Flower will also be added to Mario Maker 2’s suite of powerups.
You can take a deep dive into everything that Super Mario Maker 2’s World Maker Update has to offer in the new trailer embedded above.
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged Super Mario Maker 2