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World of Warcraft previews its housing system’s neighborhoods, charters, and community quests

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Blizzard has released the fourth of its preview blogs on World of Warcraft’s upcoming housing system, this one designed to finally make you fall in love with your HOA. OK, just kidding, but it is about the neighborhood system. At launch, the game will offer two types of neighborhood zone, one for Alliance and one for […]
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Jagmas
6 hours ago
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Round Rock, Texas
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You Can Grab Four Free Games On Steam Right Now, Including A Battlestar Galactica Title

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The Steam Summer Sale may be over, but there's still deals to be had, as you can claim four free Steam games right now for a limited time.

Fantasy General II, Field of Glory II: Medieval, Battlestar Galactica Deadlock, and Caribbean Crashers are all free to keep on Steam as long as they are claimed before July 17.

Each game (aside from Caribbean Crashers) comes from the same publisher, Slitherine, which is currently hosting a 25th anniversary sale on Steam and is known for publishing strategy games. The three free Slitherine games all sport "Very Positive" user reviews, with Battlestar Galactica Deadlock looking to be the most popular and well-received of the bunch.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

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Jagmas
6 hours ago
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Round Rock, Texas
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Ghost of Yōtei brings back Kurosawa Mode, adds new presentations inspired by more great Japanese directors

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The protagonist of Ghost of Yotei kneels in the game’s key art.

Sucker Punch Productions shared an extended look at PlayStation 5 game Ghost of Yōtei on Thursday during Sony’s Yōtei-specific State of Play. It offered future ghosts more details about Atsu’s weapons, her journey across Ezo, and new and returning presentation modes.

Ghost of Tsushima’s Kurosawa Mode was a wonderful homage to the great Akira Kurosawa, director of some of samurai cinema’s best films, like Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, and it’ll return in Ghost of Yōtei. It features a black and white presentation, film grain, and Japanese dialogue with lip syncing.

The new presentation style, Takashi Miike Mode, puts the camera closer to the action and features more blood and mud during fights; Miike has directed a wide range of films, and western audiences might recognize best him from his 2013 samurai film 13 Assassins. Sucker Punch has also partnered with Samurai Champloo director Shinichirō Watanabe for a presentation mode that adds lo-fi beats to exploration and combat, for when you need a slightly more relaxed vibe in between Atsu’s revenge kills.

Thursday’s deep dive showcases new weapons — dual katanas, ōdachi, and kusarigama — in action. Atsu can switch between them on the fly during combat, and can disarm opponents during fights — or be disarmed herself. Exploration was a focus in the trailer; like in Tsushima, Atsu can follow wildlife to discover hidden areas. Sucker Punch also emphasized Yōtei’s Elden Ring-like discoverability, encouraging players to travel to cool areas off in the distance to see what they might have in store.

Limited Edition Ghost of Yōtei-themed consoles and controllers were shown off at the end of the presentation. The console plates showcase Mount Yōtei while the controllers feature Atsu.

While retaining the Ghost title, Ghost of Yōtei isn’t a direct sequel to Ghost of Tsushima; it takes place 300 years after the first game and is set in a different part of Japan, Ezo (now called Hokkaido). Ghost of Yōtei follows new protagonist Atsu as she sets out for vengeance against those who killed her family, called the Yōtei Six. As she wracks up a body count, both from her Yōtei Six targets and from bounties you can take on, Atsu will fully embrace the Ghost persona. Ghost of Yōtei will offer more narrative freedom for the player than the first game as you’ll be able to take down the Yōtei Six in any order of your choosing.

Ghost of Yōtei was originally announced during September 2024’s State of Play with a 2025 release window. It’s set to be released exclusively on PS5 on Oct. 2.

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Jagmas
7 hours ago
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Round Rock, Texas
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Ghost of Yōtei's big gameplay showcase had new weapons, smoother exploration, and a 'lo-fi beats' mode from Samurai Champloo director Shinichirō Watanabe

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After watching the Ghost of Yōtei State of Play stream, I'm convinced it'll be the sort of sequel that's more interested in refinement than reinvention. The 30-minute presentation showed off a lot of gameplay, particularly focusing on Atsu's expanded arsenal of blades and a new interrogation-based exploration system that looks really neat.

Oh, also there's a lo-fi beats to murder to mode with original tracks by legendary anime director Shinichirō Watanabe (Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop), because Sucker Punch can't help but be corny about the whole "playable samurai film" thing. Kurosawa mode also returns, this time elevated by optional Japanese voices and lip syncing (something the first game ought to have had at launch, but didn't).

But honestly, I'll be flipping those gimmicky modes off after two minutes. I'm playing Ghost of Yōtei for some exploratory slice-and-dice, something that we're not exactly starved for after Assassin's Creed Shadows dropped just a few months ago.

The similarities between the two western-developed, Japan-set games are hard to ignore, especially now that we know Ghost of Yōtei's new protagonist, Atsu, is on a vengeance quest to kill a band of evil bastards who killed her father… just like AC Shadows' Naoe. I suppose overlap is inevitable when you go with a cliche.

One big difference: Sucker Punch describes Atsu as neither a samurai or a ninja. She's a mercenary willing to use any weapon or "dirty trick" to get by. The big gameplay implication of that is that Atsu roams Japan armed with a variety of blades—katanas, spears, kusarigama (chain blades), odachi (long katanas), and dual swords. The five weapon types seem to replace the role of Ghost of Tsushima's katana stances. Atsu can swap weapons in the middle of combat, and each weapon counters different enemy types. Sucker Punch showed one example: The odachi long katana will slice up heavy enemies quickest.

We also saw the return of bows, plus that rifle from the reveal trailer last year. Judging by the way one bullet took down an enemy, I'm guessing Atsu's guns will be used sparingly.

Weapon swapping looks fun, but I'm a little sad Ghost of Yōtei is downplaying the katana. I liked having one signature weapon that carried me through the whole game—Jin's sword had real story significance behind it, and I don't think Atsu will be as precious about equipment.

My biggest highlight of the presentation was Ghost of Yōtei's updated flow for finding quests. Instead of a traditional quest screen, Atsu picks up leads by talking to her friends and interrogating baddies. At one point, we see this interrogation interpreted as a screen that lets you choose between a handful of quests the source could reveal, and what loot they lead to. On one hand, that's a cool way to find stuff, but it also looks very gamey to choose what quest info to extract instead of following a traditional, authored questline.

The show concluded with an ad for a Yōtei-ified PS5 console and controller, if you're into that sort of thing. Ghost of Yōtei is out October 2 on PS5. There's no PC date yet, but hopefully a port will come quicker than the first, which only arrived last year.



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Jagmas
9 hours ago
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Round Rock, Texas
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Kai Cenat Describes Having 'PTSD' After Streaming For 30 Days With No Break

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On a recent episode of the popular web series Hot Ones, famous streamer Kai Cenat claimed he went through “PTSD” in the aftermath of being in front of a massive audience for 30 days straight on Twitch. He also ate some hot wings covered in very hot sauce and screamed about it, because that’s what you do on that show.

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Jagmas
14 hours ago
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Round Rock, Texas
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Elder Scrolls Online celebrates last April’s birthday by selling you a $10 anniversary pack

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It’s tradition in MMORPGs for developers to grant players gifts on the occasion of its birthday, but Elder Scrolls Online would prefer you give it some money to kit yourself for the festivities, which actually happened back in April when the anniversary actually happened. Perhaps that’s an uncharitable read, but it’s not inaccurate: ZeniMax Online […]
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Jagmas
14 hours ago
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Round Rock, Texas
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