Author: Cheri Faulkner

‘Sifu’ comes to Xbox and Steam alongside new Arenas mode in March 2023

The martial arts adventure game arrives on Steam and Xbox consoles for the first time next year

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NME

Sifu, the acclaimed Kung-fu brawler, will be released for Steam and Xbox consoles in March 2023.

Alongside the release announcement, Sloclap also teased a new Arenas mode which is a free update and will become available for PC via the Epic Games Store and PlayStation at the same time as the Steam and Xbox releases.

The trailer promises “more news coming soon” and details on what the update will include are sparse so far. Sloclap commented, “Successfully completing the arenas will progressively unlock a massive new modifiers batch, which doubles the current game’s amount and notably brings alternative moves to the Kung Fu palette of our main character. Completing the new Arenas challenges will also unlock new cheats and exclusive new outfits”.(via IGN)

Since its release for the PC via Epic Games Store and PlayStation consoles earlier in 2022, the game has been updated regularly with the most recent offerings including a replay editor and more modifiers, cheats and outfits.

It’s currently unclear whether the Xbox consoles release will receive a physical edition as well as digital, but as it gets closer to March 2023 developer Sloclap is sure to reveal more information for fans eagerly awaiting its arrival.

NME placed Sifu at ninth on our 20 best games of 2022 list, calling the follow-up to Absolver punishing, but “packed full of memorable fights,” claiming that the best bit is an early game homage to Korean revenge movie Oldboy. 

In other news, Jingle Jam’s 2022 event has raised over £3.4 million for 12 deserving charities. The event took place throughout the first two weeks of December, and saw over 300 community fundraisers sign up to support the charities, as well as a games bundle worth almost £1,000 being sold. The event will return in 2023 and the organisers are soon to seek charity partners for the next edition.

 

 

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Bungie hires former ‘Valorant’ game director Joe Ziegler

Ziegler joins Bungie after 12 years at Riot Games

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NME

Valorant game director, and the person credited with the original game concept, Joe Ziegler recently announced his departure from Riot Games, and has now revealed his next career move – joining the team at Bungie.

In a tweet announcing his new role, Ziegler said he was “working on new stuff that hopefully will one day get to be played by you all.” With increasing discussions amongst the Destiny 2 community around its PvP system, some fans hope Ziegler is being brought on to overhaul the heavily-criticised game mode. “Woah woah woah, wait, the director of Valorant?” one user wrote on Twitter, “Pls tell me you’ll save our PvP?”

Throughout his career at Riot Games, Ziegler has been widely credited with pitching the original idea for Valorant from the beginning as well as leading development of the project alongside David Nottingham. Whilst the game went live in 2018, development began in 2014. At the end of 2021, Ziegler announced he was stepping down as the game’s director to focus on an unannounced project.

Bungie is currently working on Lightfall, the new expansion for Destiny 2 which releases February 28, 2023. Lightfall introduces a new sub-class and is set in a futuristic new environment. Following Lightfall, Bungie will be focused on 2024’s The Final Shape DLC which presents the end of the current saga.

Alongside Lightfall, the developer is also working on a brand-new title, which according to recent job listings, is a third-person action game.

With Ziegler not stating which title he’ll be working on at Bungie, only time will tell but with his experience of hero shooters there are multiple projects he could bring valuable knowledge to.

In other gaming news, a mysterious tweet posted from Battlestate Games has sent Escape from Tarkov players on a secret quest that focuses on melee combat, whilst the game sees an impressive buff to melee weapon damage.

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Jingle Jam’s 2022 event raises £3.4million for 12 charities

Jingle Jam is the world’s largest games charity event

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NME

Jingle Jam has announced that its 2022 event has raised more than £3.4million for charity from over 85,000 donations.

The event, which took place from December 1 and ended December 15, rewarded donations over £35 with a games collection containing almost 90 games worth over £1,000. More than 300 community fundraisers signed up to stream on Twitch and raise funds for the event, as well as the official Jingle Jam Twitch stream on the Yogscast channel which ran at the same time and was organised and run entirely by volunteers.

Since Jingle Jam’s conception in 2011, the amount raised for charity has exceeded £22million thanks to the success of 2022’s event. “We’re absolutely delighted to have raised such a fantastic amount for our charity partners during this year’s event,” said Lewis Brindley, co-founder of The Yogscast and Jingle Jam trustee. “A huge thanks to the generous publishers, developers and partners who donated games and codes to this year’s collection.”

This year’s Jingle Jam fundraising efforts will support 12 charities each with different values:

  • British Red Cross – Providing critical aid to those affected by the conflict in Ukraine and to young people from war-torn countries who have found safety in the UK.
  • Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) – Taking a stand against suicide and showing that life is always worth living.
  • Dogs For Autism – Training and providing assistance dogs at no charge to autistic people who would benefit from such a partnership.
  • Huntington’s Disease Association – Helping to advise and support children impacted by the rare, hereditary, degenerative and complex neurological disorder, Huntington’s Disease.
  • Kidscape – Providing life-changing, practical support to children and families impacted by bullying, helping to reach more young people including those in diverse communities.
  • Mermaids – Creating more opportunities for transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse children and young people to connect, be themselves, experience trans joy and thrive.
  • Movember – Tackling some of the complex health issues facing men today, including prostate and testicular cancer.
  • Reset Mental Health – Improve the mental wellbeing of young black adults from underfunded and underserved black communities through the delivery of free mental health services.
  • Special Effect – Bringing fun and inclusion to disabled gamers and seriously ill children.
  • Special Olympics Great Britain – Sending a team of Special Olympics GB athletes to represent Great Britain at the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2023 in Berlin – the world’s largest inclusive sporting event.
  • Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Appeal – Funding the Jingle Jam Building, a pioneering and transformational development for the young patients at Bristol Children’s Hospital.
  • Whale and Dolphin Conservation – Protecting whales and dolphins in their natural habitats.

Jingle Jam will be returning in 2023. Jingle Jam Chair, Rich Keith, said, “To be able to raise more money than 2021 during such a difficult year for so many people is incredible and we are delighted that the 12 charity partners can put this significant amount of money towards these fantastic causes.” He continues, “We look forward to Jingle Jam returning in 2023, we will be seeking expressions of interest for 2023 charity partners soon.”

In other news, Epic Games will have to pay the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over half a billion dollars after allegations that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

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‘Escape from Tarkov’’s newest event focuses on melee combat

A mysterious tweet has introduced players to a new quest

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NME

A new Escape from Tarkov pre-wipe event is focusing on melee combat, rewarding players for taking part in melee fights as well as melee weapons being buffed to make the quest more achievable.

Around every six months, Battlestate Games wipes players’ Escape from Tarkov progress meaning all inventories, quest progress, vendor reputation and levels are erased and all players begin again on an even playing field. In the time period leading up to these wipes, players experience several pre-wipe events, which so far have included PvP incentives and a massively increased market value for dog tags.

Now though, a tweet from Battlestate Games has been posted which shows a manual with the caption “The most complete reference guide.” The title text above has been translated by fans of the game to read, “Martial arts (hand fighting) based on Spetsnaz and KGB systems.” Spetsnaz is a Russian term referring to the country’s special forces, whilst the KGB was the main security agency for the Soviet Union throughout the latter half of the 1900s.

Players have reported increased melee damage in the game and a quest with a message that reads, “Well well, you’re just in time, so listen up. Some morons out there found a secret book, from the KGB days, they say it’s some kind of advanced close combat method, a secret one. Personally, I think it’s all bullshit. Go to the Factory and check it out, will ya?”

The message from Skier sends players to the Factory, where they are tasked with scoring a melee kill on Tagilla as well as killing 15 PMCs with a melee weapon. This rewards the Miller Bros. Blades M-2 Tactical Sword and Red Rebel ice pick as well as +2 reputation with vendors Jaeger, Ragman, Skier, Mechanic, Peacekeeper and Therapist.

Whilst there’s no confirmed date for the reset as yet, NME has put together a helpful guide to the pre-wipe event and when fans can expect the wipe to happen.

In other news, classic shooter Star Wars: Dark Forces is now playable in 4K thanks to a massive overhaul from fan project, The Force Engine.

 

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‘Star Wars: Dark Forces’ is now playable in 4K thanks to fan-made engine

The Force Engine, created by a fan, has been in the making for three years

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NME

Star Wars: Dark Forces, the classic shooter from 1995, has had a huge upgrade thanks to fan project, The Force Engine.

The Force Engine seeks to reverse engineer and rebuild Lucas Arts’ Jedi Engine for modern systems, overhauling the games that used that engine, being Dark Forces and Outlaws. On December 19, The Force Engine released as Version 1.0 with support for Dark Forces complete, whilst the work on Outlaws is still ongoing.

The Force Engine is used to play the “vanilla” levels in Dark Forces according to a post on its website, but also includes support for “the many user mods developed for the original game”. There’s no longer any need for players to set up DosBox in order to launch the game, and introduces high-resolution rendering whilst also preserving the original 320×200 quality. This means those that seek the original experience can still do so, or those that want to crank it up to 4K on a widescreen monitor have the power It’s important to note that fans still need to own a copy of the original game to use The Force Engine for Dark Forces.

Star Wars: Dark Forces. Credit: LucasArts

In the full list of current features, the creator lists the mod loader and high-resolution support alongside a GPU renderer which will improve performance at higher resolution, full input binding and controller support – although the menus still require mouse input – and quality of life improvements. These include but are not limited to full mouse look, aiming reticle, improved Boba Fett AI and more.

A new save system has also been implemented, meaning players can manually save to avoid the necessity of completing long levels in one sitting, but can also quick save “like Doom or Duke Nukem 3D”.

Dark Forces was the first FPS set in the Star Wars universe back in 1995. To play the game through The Force Engine, just set the source folder to your owned copy of Dark Forces and shoot away. In the future The Force Engine will include support for Linux and Mac, but for now anyone with Windows 7 and above is able to take advantage of this massive fan-made overhaul.

In other news, new research from Which? reports that the Joy-con drift experienced by some Nintendo Switch console owners is down to a mechanical fault.

 

 

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‘Dusk’ creator blames his cat for releasing new FPS ‘Chop Goblins’ early

“WTF I just came upstairs to my office and discovered [that] Zamboni released ‘Chop Goblins’ early!”

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NME

David Szymanski, the creator of Dusk, has just released his new game Chop Goblins. However, if his recent tweet is anything to go by, the game was released early – and behind his back – thanks to his cat Zamboni.

Szymanski originally intended to release Chop Goblins in January as a New Year’s surprise for fans, however due to the uncertainty around Twitter’s effectiveness as a promotional platform he was prompted to announce the game early. Now the developer, or his cat Zamboni, has surprised fans again making Chop Goblins available on Steam.

Not only that, the game currently has a generous 10 per cent launch discount. The game’s Steam page describes the “micro-shooter” as a “bite-sized FPS” which sees players pursuing the “malevolent Chop Goblins through time”.

The FPS is designed to be completed in a “single sitting” without sacrificing “depth, variety, or creativity in its gameplay and level design”. There are five levels set in different time periods and players can use five “satisfying and unique” weapons against an assortment of enemies and minibosses.

For those looking for replayability, Szymanski has included leaderboards, achievements and secrets to discover. According to Szymanski, players will have his cat Zamboni to thank.

“WTF I just came upstairs to my office and discovered [that] Zamboni released Chop Goblins early!” the developer said on Twitter. “They must remind him of himself,” he concluded.

Chop Goblins is available on Steam with a 10 per cent launch discount making it £3.49 until December 19.

Szymanski also said that his dog woke him up in the middle of the night and, in a “sleep-induced haze” he wrote down an idea for Racoon Salinger, a character that “eats moss and becomes fat, to the dismay of a worldwide television audience”.

In other gaming news, Metacritic has just released its list of the ten worst games of 2022. Games that received less than seven reviews from professional outlets were exempt from inclusion on the list, which was topped by Postal 4, Babylon’s Fall and CrossfireX. The list includes games for any platform on the list, but games can only appear once meaning their poorest-performing platform versions were selected.

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Here are 2022’s worst games according to Metacritic

‘Blade Runner’, ‘Babylon’s Fall’ and ‘Postal 4’ all feature in the list

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NME

Review aggregation site Metacritic, has revealed the ten worst games released in 2022 according to average review scores from approved critics.

The list includes games released for “any platform” throughout 2022, but games that have received fewer than seven reviews from professional media outlets aren’t eligible for inclusion. Games can only feature once in the list so those released for multiple platforms have been judged based on the lowest scoring version.

Taking the lead as the worst-reviewed game of 2022 is Postal 4: No Regerts which describes itself as a “satirical and outrageous comedic open world first-person shooter” on its Steam page. The game exited early access earlier this year and failed to win over critics, with an average score of just 30.

Also featuring on the list is CrossfireX, which saw Alan Wake and Control developer Remedy Entertainment teaming up with publisher Smilegate for release in early 2022. In NME’s review we called its short three-hour campaign “painfully limited” and awarded it just two out of five stars.

CrosfireX. Credit: Smilegate / Remedy

Babylon’s Fall, the role-playing game that had its servers taken offline before it reached its first anniversary, flies into third place on the chart after managing to have just one concurrent player on Steam mere months after its release.

The full list of Metacritic’s worst games of 2022 is as follows:

  1. Postal 4: No Regerts (PC) – 30
  2. CrossfireX (Xbox Series X) – 38
  3. Babylon’s Fall (PS5) – 41
  4. XEL (Switch) – 43
  5. Arc of Alchemist (Switch) – 46
  6. Zorro: The Chronicles (PS5) – 49
  7. The Last Oricru (Xbox Series X) – 50
  8. The Waylanders (PC) – 51
  9. Kamiwaza: Way of the Thief (PS4) – 52
  10. Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition (Switch) – 52

In other gaming news, Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon has hinted toward the release date of NetherRealm’s next title. When asked whether the studio’s next title would be hitting shelves soon, Boon responded “I shouldn’t ans23r that.”

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‘Mortal Kombat’ creator Ed Boon hints next game will release in 2023

“I shouldn’t ans23r that”

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NME

According to a hint from Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon, NetherRealm’s new game could be released in 2023.

NetherRealm’s last release was Mortal Kombat 11 in 2019, but based on the studio’s release schedule fans believe the next game on its way will be another Injustice. In a recent Q&A on his Twitter page, Boon – who is also NetherRealm’s CEO – hinted towards some release date information for the studio’s unannounced next project.

When one user asked, “Will we get anything new from NetherRealm in 2023?” Boon simply replied “I shouldn’t ans23r that,” while he responded to a similar question with “I really shouldn’t 23-answer that.”

When probed further on the topic by someone asking whether there will be any announcements around the project in the next six months, Boon said it was “likely”.

It seems Boon attempted to reply to all the responses to his quickfire Q&A, which saw 135 questions sent his way within 30 seconds of his tweet which simply read, “Ask me stuff…” One user asked whether Michael Myers was likely for a Mortal Kombat game in the future, where Boon revealed that NetherRealm “wanted him. But Halloween people said no.”

Speaking about NetherRealm’s traditional two-year cycle of releases being broken, Boon said that he was “not at liberty to talk about” most of the factors around it, but mentioned that Covid “and the world around us” had definitely played a role.

Finally, Boon said it was “not likely” that Goat Simulator would ever feature in a Mortal Kombat game.

The Q&A comes more than a year after it was confirmed that NetherRealm was working on Mortal Kombat 12 over Injustice 3 as the studio faced being separated from DC licence holders Warner Bros Games.

In other gaming news, Riot Games’ catalogue of games is now available for Game Pass users, with a host of additional rewards available.

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Riot Games brings catalogue to Game Pass with extra rewards for users

‘Valorant’, ‘League of Legends’ and more titles have joined the service

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NME

Riot Games’ biggest PC and mobile games are now available for Game Pass members, along with a host of additional benefits.

From today (December 13) all Game Pass members will have access to every current agents in Riot’s multiplayer shooter Valorant, along with access to new agents as soon as they’re released. Additionally, a 20 per cent match XP boost will be in effect for battle pass, event pass and agent contract progress.

As for League of Legends, Game Pass members will be able to play all of the game’s 160+ champions without purchasing them, access to new champions as soon as they’re released and a 20 per cent XP boost.

Riot’s auto-battler Teamfight Tactics, which sees champions from League of Legends battle across a chess-style board, will also be included in the service. Game Pass members will receive 1-Star rare Little Legend tacticians and four arena skins available until April 2023, with an additional skin available for each following month.

The card game Legends of Runeterra is also available, with Game Pass members getting all cards in the Foundation set.

League Of Legends. Credit: Riot Games

Finally, from January League of Legends: Wild Rift will be available on mobile for Game Pass members, with all 80+ champions unlocked as well as day one access to every new champion and a 20 per cent XP boost.

Players who link their Riot account and Xbox profile by January 1, 2023 will get a bonus reward for each game. Valorant players get the Pocket Sage buddy whilst League of Legends will gift a Masterwork Chest and key. In Teamfight Tactics, players will receive a Little Legend rare egg, and in Wild Rift a random emote chest will be issued. Lastly, Legends of Runeterra players will receive a Prismatic Chest.

For Game Pass members in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam, benefits for League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics will begin unlocking in January 2023. Game Pass members in India will have access to all benefits starting today for available titles.

Teamfight Tactics. Credit: Riot Games

For those wondering how to link their Xbox and Riot accounts for the additional benefits, simply installing and playing a Riot game through the Xbox app on PC will automatically prompt users to link their accounts. For anyone without an existing Riot account, players can also register at this stage and then link accounts, still receiving the benefits.

According to a blog on the Xbox website, this process can take up to 24 hours but once a notification that benefits are unlocked has been received, the rewards program indicator will update.

In other gaming news, Microsoft is reportedly offering Sony Call of Duty for PlayStation Plus in an attempt to push through its pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

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Rockstar Games nearly developed an ECW wrestling game in 2000

Wrestler Tommy Dreamer revealed that ECW had an agreement with Rockstar before the Acclaim deal was done

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NME

According to an interview with wrestler Tommy Dreamer, ECW had an agreement in place with Rockstar Games to develop a game with it before Acclaim ended up taking the reigns.

As discovered by Hard4Games on YouTube (via, VGC), the interview with Dreamer, who was one of ECW’s top talents at the turn of the millennium, sees the wrestler discuss how Acclaim came to develop the game.

“Video games were key for your success as a wrestling company, and we had a lot of companies bidding for that game,” he reminisced. “There was a fan, who worked for this company, and they were like ‘Man, we want this ECW game to be our number two behind this other game, and it’s revolutionary, it’s a perfect fit for ECW.”

Dreamer goes on to discuss how the fan attended an ECW arena show and spoke about the “other game”, mentioning that “We just need our one game to hit, and if that game hits you will be our next game”.

According to Dreamer, the company “couldn’t wait due to financial reasons” as Acclaim had lost its license for WWE, leading them to offer money “on the back end as opposed to the front end”. He then goes on to reveal, “That other game, that if it hit we were going to take off – that game and that franchise was Grand Theft Auto – and you think about how ECW would have fit that whole genre, and that guy was Kevin Gill who worked there, he was a big ECW fan”.

Gill is credited on Rockstar titles such as Midnight Club: Street Racing and Smuggler’s Run, and spoke about the deal in an interview with Tru Heel Heat Wrestling earlier in 2022. He mentioned that he “actually put together a deal for Rockstar Games to do the ECW video game” with owner Paul Heyman.

It seems Gill has different reasons for the deal not going ahead to the ones publicised by Dreamer though, as he suggests that the company was unsure of ECW’s future and sustainability, saying that the company’s “financial situation was getting very shaky and at that time, this is 1998, could have been 1999, all the talent was leaving”.

With games taking years to develop and costing a lot of money, Gill says Rockstar had to think about whether ECW would be around in a few years when the game would be set for release.

Whatever the reason for the deal not going ahead, ECW ended up signing the deal with Acclaim to create ECW Hardcore Revolution and ECW Anarchy Rulz, which were met with great criticism. ECW ended up collapsing in early 2001, owing almost £7.5million ($9million) until its assets were bought by WWE in 2003.

In other news, FromSoftware has provided insight to the upcoming Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, stating that it will focus on single-player combat and boss fights.

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