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Need For Speed Heat heads down to the Miami-like Palm City on November 8
Electronic Arts and Ghost Games unveiled the latest addition to the Need For Speed franchise this morning… Need For Speed Heat.
Need For Speed Heat takes place in the sun-drenched Palm City, an open world locale where players will be able to participate in the Speedhunters Showdown competition during the day. But at night, they can stake their Rep (and their bankroll) on the streets in a series of illegal underground races.
Soak in the same neon vibes that you might find in Miami Vice and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City with the Reveal Trailer embedded above, and learn more about the game direct from the publisher:
Need For Speed Heat sends fans to Palm City, a brand-new open world where street racers have gathered to make their names known. By day, players compete in the Speedhunters Showdown, a sanctioned competition where they earn Bank to customize and upgrade their garage of high-performance cars. At night, players risk it all to build their Rep in underground races where a rogue police task force roams the streets, ready to take racers down and swipe all their earnings. The roads, the risks, and the rides never end in this street racer where a player can roll deep with their crew, build their garage full of hot cars, and make the city their nonstop playground.
“We’re delivering more options than ever before for players to be unique and make themselves known,” said Riley Cooper, the Creative Director at Ghost Games. “Our fans have been clear that they want more cars, more customization, and more challenges, and we’re tuning up on every aspect. From your character’s style to your car’s performance and your driving style, we’re fuelling everyone’s creativity with this new game.”
Electronic Arts will offer up an extensive Gameplay Reveal for Need For Speed Heat during the Geoff Keighley-hosted Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 19. Fans not in attendance at this year’s Gamescom will be able to tune in to a livestream of the reveal through their favorite streaming platform.
Need For Speed Heat will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on November 8.
New trailer introduces Threaks’s top-down shooter Battle Planet: Judgement Day
Threaks is hard at work on a twin-stick shooter known as Battle Planet: Judgement Day, and the developer shared a closer look at the game today in a new trailer. Similar to Geometry Wars 3, Battle Planet: Judgement Day drops players down onto small planetoids and asks them to survive against a seemingly neverending alien force:
Your goal in Battle Planet: Judgement Day is simple: survive! Touch down on planets infested with deadly aliens intent on cutting your life short and blast your way around its rotating surface, taking out anything in your path quickly… or suffer a devastating demise. Team up with comrades-in-arms for some local-co-op split-screen action to make fast work of foes. Finish all the planets in a star system and jump to another with ever-more deadly foes. Lucky for you, your ship receives a steady stream of upgrades, making it more devastating and durable.
Battle Planet: Judgement Day will be released for the PC this September, with a PS4 and Switch launch to follow sometime this Fall.
2K is adding all 12 WNBA teams to NBA 2K20
2K Games has announced that all 12 teams from the WNBA will suit up in the NBA 2K franchise for the first time this year in NBA 2K20. WNBA matchups will be available in Play Now and Season modes, and players will be able to experience “gameplay animations, play styles, and visuals built exclusively around the women’s game.”
“Growing up, I always remembered watching male athletes on TV and playing as them in video games. Now, to have the WNBA be in the position we are and to have women featured prominently in NBA 2K20, we are allowing young girls and boys to have female athletes as role models,” said Candace Parker, a player for the Los Angeles Sparks. “The 2K team has done an amazing job of making sure to not just put women into the game playing men’s basketball, but I’ve seen first-hand the hard work they’re doing to make this as real and authentic as possible to women’s basketball. I’m proud to be a part of this team paving the way for the future.”
“For years, fans have requested the ability to play as some of their favorite WNBA stars,” said Jeff Thomas, the Senior Vice President of Development at Visual Concepts. “We’ve been working with the WNBA and their top players to modify our basketball simulation engine to replicate the WNBA on-court experience. We’re excited to roll out this new feature in NBA 2K20 because we know how important the WNBA is to the world of basketball.”
NBA 2K20 is currently in development for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One, and it’ll be released on September 6. The first trailer for the game featuring WNBA players has been embedded above.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD rolls into stores on October 29
Sega has announced that Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD will be released for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One on October 29 (a PC release through Steam will follow later this Winter).
Originally released for the Wii in 2006, this new version of the game features improved graphics and optimized controls (but no motion controls, not even on the Switch):
About Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD revitalizes this classic title with updated graphics (480p > 1080p at 60fps) and optimized controls for each platform. Motion controls from the original Banana Blitz have been removed in favor of tightened analog controls, making it a breeze to jump in and start rolling through the game’s 100 levels.Features
- Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz is Back in HD – Originally released on the Wii in 2006, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD reinvigorates the original game with 100 single-player stages, 10 multi-player mini-games, revamped control schemes, updated graphics, and more.
- Online Leaderboards – A first for the series, players can now compete with others around the world through online leaderboards for single-player Time Attack and the all-new Mini-Game Decathalon Score Attack modes.
- No Monkey Business – Play Your Way: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam. With uniquely optimized control schemes for each platform, everyone from first-time rollers to world-record holders can jump right in to the fun.
Sega also uploaded a brand new Gameplay Trailer for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD today, and it’s been embedded above.
Sega will bring “An All-New AAA Game” to Gamescom 2019
As usual, Sega will have a large presence at this year’s Gamescom convention in Germany, and that includes the promise of the public debut for an “All-New AAA Game.”
As far as announced titles go, Sega will also bring the console edition of Two Point Hospital to Gamescom, alongside a demo for Catherine: Full Body, and a massive Sega Genesis Mini installation:
Sega/Atlus will showcase the beautifully remastered update of the cult classic RPG/puzzle game, Catherine: Full Body (Launches 3 September 2019). Players will get the chance to try the demo which contains cutscenes that provide context to the title’s complex and nuanced narrative. Plus, there will be a playable segment from early in the game, which showcases several gameplay features; such as a variety of puzzles, character interaction/development and more.
Sharing the spotlight is the critically acclaimed Two Point Hospital on PS4, Xbox One, and Switch, developed by Two Point Studios. It’s the ultimate management sim where you play the role of hospital administrator who must build, cure, and improve in an ever-changing and atypical healthcare environment. Visitors to the stand will be the first in the world to experience Two Point Hospital on consoles by completing the first chapter.
Are you ready for a blast from the past? The long-awaited Sega Genesis Mini, coming to stores [19 September 2019 in North America], will be available to visitors of the stand and all 42 games will be playable using a GIANT, fully functioning Sega Genesis controller! The nostalgic console includes some of the most popular games released by Sega including the much-loved Sonic The Hedgehog and the iconic Streets of Rage series. Other glorious titles included in the Sega Genesis Mini include Darius, Road Rash II, Virtua Fighter 2, Ghouls and Ghosts, Strider, Kid Chameleon, and many more.
The 2019 edition of Gamescom will open its doors on Tuesday, August 20, and run through Saturday, August 24.
Ghostbusters Remastered crosses the streams when it launches on October 4
After initially announcing it back in May, Saber Interactive has now shared the final release date for Ghostbusters Remastered with IGN. According to the developer, the game will be available for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One on October 4.
Ghostbusters: The Video Game was originally released in 2009 serves as something of an unofficial third entry in the film series because it was written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis (it also features vocal appearances from original busters Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson).
Because of that pedigree, there are plenty of callbacks to Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, including a massive boss battle against the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, which you can get a glimpse of in the new trailer embedded above.
Gameplay Trailer for Nightwolf’s Mortal Kombat 11 debut (on August 13) is here
Mortal Kombat fans are decidedly mixed on most of the new fighters that were introduced in Mortal Kombat 3. But Nightwolf has managed to become something of a fan favorite over the years, and according to NetherRealm Studios, his addition to Mortal Kombat 11 is right around the corner.
The developer dropped a new Gameplay Trailer for the Matoka warrior today, and it gives players a closer look at his arsenal of weaponry, as well as his mastery of lightning and a trio of spirit animals:
Born as Grey Cloud, Nightwolf is a proud and fierce warrior dedicated to the cause of good and chosen by the Great Spirit to become the Matoka tribe’s champion and protector.
Kombat Pack owners on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One will be able to download Nightwolf beginning on August 13. All other Mortal Kombat 11 players will get their chance to select the fighter a week later as a standalone purchase for $5.99.
EA still plans to release Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 3 and a new Need For Speed game later this year
Back in February of this year, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson said that the publisher planned to launch Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 3 and a new Need For Speed game in 2019. And with Summer rapidly coming to an end, the executive made an appearance at Electronic Arts’s quarterly financial presentation yesterday to reconfirm that both games are still on track.
According to Wilson, the currently-untitled Need For Speed game will definitely make its public debut at next month’s Gamescom convention in Germany, and Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 3 shouldn’t be too far behind:
We’ll take the wraps off our new Need For Speed game heading into Gamescom in a few weeks. We have a Plants Vs Zombies shooter title coming to console and PC later this year.
Gamescom will throw open its doors on August 20, so we’ll likely learn more about Need For Speed 2019 and Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 3 then.