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WB Games is here to remind you (with a new trailer) that Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will be released in 2020
Happy Star Wars Day! You can head down to your local theater anytime this weekend to catch a showing of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the final film in the “Skywalker Saga.” But WB Games and TT Games also want to remind you that Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will be available for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One in 2020.
The new trailer embedded above features a short glimpse at Lego-ized scenes from all nine Star Wars films, while also promising that fans who played the previous titles in the series will get to experience a “New Game” sometime next year.
Batman: The Telltale Series gets new graphical style with the launch of the Shadows Edition
The Dark Knight is getting a little darker as we head into 2020.
That’s because the resurrected Telltale Games has partnered with Athlon Games to launch Batman: The Telltale Series – Shadows Edition for multiple platforms. Available to download for the PC and Xbox One today (and coming to the PS4 on December 20 and the Switch in the near future), the compilation includes both Batman: The Telltale Series and Batman: The Enemy Within, as well as a brand new noir-style visual filter known as Shadows Mode, which you can see for yourself in the trailer embedded above.
“We’re excited to be able to build and continue the legacy of an iconic Telltale Games franchise by launching Batman: The Telltale Series – Shadows Edition,” said Brian Waddle, the Chief Revenue Officer at Telltale Games. “This is just the beginning in a much more expansive plan to build on our catalog of Telltale Games titles, which we hope to discuss in further detail in the coming months.”
Batman: The Telltale Series – Shadows Edition will be priced at $29.99, but Batfans who already own the games can purchase the Shadows Mode filter as downloadable content for $4.99.
Gears Tactics will be released for the PC on April 28, 2020
Gears Tactics was first announced at E3 2018, but it’s been shrouded in mystery ever since. Microsoft didn’t bring the tactical spinoff to this year’s E3 Expo, nor did it have a showing at the consolemaker’s recent X019 event. Thankfully, that all changed at this year’s Game Awards.
Unveiling a trailer that mixes cinematic moments with gameplay footage, The Coalition and Splash Damage have attempted to bring the spirit of the Gears franchise to the turn-based genre. Here’s what they had to say about their collaboration on Xbox Wire:
Developed by The Coalition and Splash Damage, Gears Tactics is set 12 years before the first Gears of War. Cities across the planet Sera are beginning to fall to the monstrous threat rising from underground – the Locust Horde. With the government in disarray, a squad of survivors emerge as humanity’s last hope. Outnumbered and fighting for survival, players must recruit and command a squad to hunt down Ukkon, an evil mastermind who makes monsters.
Gears Tactics features an immersive and character-driven story, one that follows the defiant soldier Gabe Diaz, voiced by Noshir Dalal, to rescue and build up a squad in a journey of leadership, survival and sacrifice. Playing as Gabe, you’ll customize your squad and equipment to prepare your troops to face tough enemies, upgrading squad skills and outfitting them with loot collected in challenging missions.
Microsoft also confirmed that Gears Tactics will be released for the PC on April 28, 2020. An Xbox One launch will follow at a later date.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice wins “Game of the Year” at the 2019 Game Awards
Geoff Keighley and his co-presenters shotgunned their way through dozens of awards during tonight’s Game Awards, but in between all the World Premiere Trailers, they managed to shine a brief spotlight on a wide variety of titles. Unlike most years when a handful of titles dominate the conversation, this year’s Game Awards spread the wealth among a lot of worthy winners, including Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, this year’s recipient of the “Game of the Year” award.
From Software’s ninja adventure also claimed the “Best Action/Adventure Game” trophy, but it wasn’t able to sway the jury for the other three nominations it was up for. Instead, ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium became the most-honored game of the night, winning “Best Narrative,” “Best Role Playing Game,” “Best Independent Game,” and “Fresh Indie Game.”
Some of the ceremony’s other winners included Kojima Production’s Death Stranding (“Best Game Direction,” “Best Score/Music,” and “Best Performance” for Mads Mikkelsen), Remedy’s Control (“Best Art Direction”), Beat Games’s Beat Saber (“Best VR/AR Game”), Respawn’s Apex Legends (“Best Multiplayer”), and Activision’s Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (“Best Sports/Racing Game”).
In addition to a rousing speech by their former President, Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo had a great night too, taking home trophies for “Best Fighting Game” (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), “Best Family Game” (Luigi’s Mansion 3), and “Best Strategy Game” (Fire Emblem: Three Houses).
A complete list of winners from the 2019 Game Awards can be found at Video Game Canon.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare repeats as the best-selling game of November 2019
Not even the combined might of two new Pokemon games could stop Call of Duty: Modern Warfare from holding on to its position as the best-selling game of November 2019… but Nintendo and Game Freak certainly made it interesting.
According to The NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella (via Twitter), three Pokemon games actually managed to crack the top five last month. Pokemon Sword sliced its way to #3, while Pokemon Shield built a stronghold at #5. Sandwiched in the middle at #4 was the Pokemon Sword + Pokemon Shield Double Pack, which was counted as a separate game by the tracking firm.
If you were wondering what would have happened if all three games were combined onto a single line, Piscatella said that the combined sales of Sword, Shield, and the Double Pack would have landed at #2 for the month (though who knows what the sales charts would have looked like if Nintendo contributed eShop sales to the dataset). Even with that caveat, new releases dominated last month’s ranking, with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (#2), Death Stranding (#7), and Need For Speed Heat (#9) in the top ten. Going further down the list, you’ll also find Just Dance 2020 at #14.
Overall, the game industry collected $2.3 billion in sales last month, a 19% drop from November of 2018. Unsurprisingly, the Nintendo Switch was once again the best-selling console during the month, and it remains the best-selling console for all of 2019.
You can find the full list of best-selling games from November 2019 after the break. (more…)
Bethesda will bring John Romero’s Sigil and Final Doom to Doom and Doom II on consoles
Bethesda has promised that Doom and Doom II will soon become a little bit more complete on consoles and mobile ddvices. Yesterday, the publisher hosted a 26th Anniversary Celebration for the seminal first persona shooter on Twitch, and they confirmed during the livestream that four of the franchise’s more famous fan-made expansions will soon be available to download on the PS4, Switch, Xbox One, iOS, and Android.
These expansions will be available to download, for free, through a brand new Add-Ons tab in both games. According to Bethesda, the list of “curated” add-ons will initially include Sigil, which was released just this year as the unofficial “Fifth Episode” for Doom by co-creator John Romero, and No Rest For the Living, a Doom II expansion that made its debut on the Xbox 360 in 2010.
Final Doom, a 1996 retail repackaging of TnT: Evilution and The Plutonia Experiment, will also be available to download in Doom and Doom II as part of the update. Best of all, Bethesda confirmed that more add-ons will be added to both games at a later date.
On top of all that, Bethesda is also planning a few quality of life updates for the shooters, including bumping the graphics to 60 FPS and adding options for additional aspect ratios.
It’s currently unknown when the add-on update or the quality of life update will be available, but Bethesda said that it’ll be “soon.”
Kickstart This! Radical Chess, Guinea Pig Parkour, and Endless Memories
Kickstarter is like a devil’s playground of goodies just waiting to be funded. I’m currently toying with the idea of spending $1,000 on the Raine One Electric Scooter, if only for its glowing wheels and similar name to my own.
But the crowdfunding site is also one of the best ways for solo developers and small indie studios to present their project to an audience directly, which is what I love about it. Make a trailer that oozes passion and originality for a game that also looks cool, and I will throw my money at you like I’m in a strip joint.
So which games have caught my eye recently? In this edition of Kickstart This!, I will face off with Radical Chess, roll and jump in the 2D platformer Guinea Pig Parkour, and battle my way through the 2D action adventure Endless Memories. (more…)
Geoff Keighley has announced the nominees for the 2019 Game Awards
We’re getting closer and closer to the end of the year, and that’s means that it’s finally time for the Game Awards. The nominations for the annual awards show were announced earlier today, and Remedy’s Control, Kojima Productions’s Death Stranding, Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds, Capcom’s Resident Evil 2, From Software’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will all be competing for “Game of the Year.”
Host Geoff Keighley isn’t involved in the nominating process, but it still feels strange to realize that he actually appears as a non-player character in Death Stranding. Hideo Kojima’s latest game, and first as an independent developer, ultimately received nine nominations across eight categories (both Norman Reedus and Mads Mikkelsen were nominated for “Best Performance”).
Fans are once again encouraged to vote for their favorite games at the award show’s official website, and fan votes will have a real effect on the outcome, as they’ll count for a 10% share of the voting jury.
The 2019 Game Awards will be held on Thursday, December 12. In addition to all the winners, we can also expect to see a lot of World Premiere Trailers for upcoming games, some of which will be announced in the coming days.
In the meantime, you can find a complete list of all the nominees after the break. (more…)