Square Enix has announced that a free demo for The DioField Chronicle is now live for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Ahead of the game’s official launch on September 22, players will be able to try out the strategy-RPG and after experiencing the demo, all progress made including save data, game progress, and character levels will also be carried over to the full game.

The demo sets the stage for The DioField Chronicle as DioField Island “suddenly finds itself cast into an age of uncertainty due to the rise of warlike powers and modern magic.” Players will be able to experience the entirety of chapter one, which includes real-time tactical battles and strategy-based combat that utilizes small squads, each consisting of various unit types with unique battlefield roles. The demo also introduces the player to the Blue Fox Mercenaries, who will play a major part in the story and the military campaign.

Announced back in March during the PlayStation State of Play event, The DioField Chronicle is described as an “all-new tactics IP” featuring the 2D-HD visual style Square Enix is currently known for. It will also have 3D models and realistic environments to contrast the aesthetic, similar to Triangle Strategy.

The DioField Chronicle’s unique characters were designed by Taiki, who worked on Lord of Vermilion 3 and 4, and Digimon World: Next Order, as well as concept art by Isamu Kamikokuryo, best-known for Final Fantasy 12 and Final Fantasy 13. The RPG is scored by composers Ramin Djawadi and Brandon Campbell, known famously for their work on Game of Thrones.

Preorders are currently available across PC and consoles. The Collector’s Edition Set, which is only available on the Square Enix Store for around $208, comes with a copy of the game, as well as the Collector’s Goods Box, which contains The DioField Chronicle Board Game and a Four Pins Set.

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Xbox is making a return to Gamescom this year with a fresh look at what lies ahead for the gaming platform. This will be the first time since 2019 that Xbox has been on the show floor of the giant German gaming convention, and if you can’t make the trip, then you can be there in spirit by tuning into a livestream from the Xbox booth. Here’s what you can expect to see from Xbox when Gamescom kicks off later this month.

Start time for the Xbox Gamescom livestream

A livestream will be broadcast from the Xbox Booth at Gamescom from August 25, starting at 5 AM PT / 8 AM ET and running until 11 AM PT / 2PM ET. Microsoft says that you can expect developer interviews and gameplay from various Xbox Game Studios. including Mojang Studios, Obsidian Entertainment, World’s Edge, and more.

5 AM PT8 AM ET1 PM BST2 PM CET

A few third-party partners will also join the stream for a look at how games from those studios are shaping up ahead of their respective launches.

How to watch the Xbox Gamescom livestream

The livestream will be available on Microsoft’s social media channels, YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook.

YouTubeTwitchFacebook

What to expect from the Xbox Gamescom livestream

A mix of released and upcoming games will be on show during August, including Focus Interactive’s A Plague Tale: Requiem, medieval murder mystery Pentiment, action-strategy game Minecraft Legends, and the picturesque platformer Planet of Lana. Microsoft Flight Simulator, Grounded, and Age of Empires IV will also be present, and will likely have updates on future content drops for those games.

While a full schedule hasn’t gone live yet, you can expect the following games to make an appearance during the Xbox Gamescom stream:

Microsoft Flight SimulatorGunfire RebornSea of ThievesLies of PHigh On LifeGroundedPentimentA Plague Tale: RequiemMinecraft LegendsPlanet of LanaAge of Empires IV

There’s no mention yet if Bethesda will make an appearance, along with several of its highly anticipated games. June’s joint showcase between Xbox and Bethesda was packed with new previews for Redfall, Starfield, and Fallout 76’s next expansion, as well as teasers for third-party studio games such as Hollow Knight: Silksong, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, and The Last Case of Benedict Fox.

For anyone attending Gamescom in person, Xbox can be found in Hall 8 of the gigantic Koelnmesse expo center and will have hands-on opportunities to try out new games. Gamescom officially begins with the Opening Night Live stream on August 23 hosted by Geoff Keighley, who has teased over 30 world-premiere announcements throughout the event. The Future Games Show will also take place on August 24, the morning after Opening Night Live, and will showcase over 50 games.

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Splatoon 3 is releasing on September 9, but you can get an inkling of it this month with a special Splatfest event. As announced in the Splatoon 3 Nintendo Direct, a Splatfest World Premiere will run from August 27 at 9 AM-9 PM PT / 12 PM – 12 AM ET, giving you a chance to try the newly revised multiplayer mode.

The new Splatfests will feature not two but three competing sides. First teams will take part in a standard Turf War battle, but then you’ll transfer to a special tri-color Turf War with all three teams battling it out at once. The first-place team will start in the center while the second- and third-place teams will start from opposite corners, forcing the champs to defend their crown. Like all Splatfests, your team choice will be based on your answer to a poll question–in this case: rock, paper, or scissors?

That isn’t the only new mode coming to Splatoon 3. The presentation also detailed a card-collecting puzzle game mode called Table Turf Battle, a 1v1 battle where you fill slots on a board with cards that show geometric shapes like Tetriminos. Every player will get a starter deck, and there are 150 cards to collect in all. The cards themselves have arrangements of blocks, and your goal is to win over more territory with your blocks by playing the cards.

The presentation also shared new details on weapons, maps, and more. All of the weapons from previous Splatoon games will be returning, along with a new bow-and-arrow-like weapon called a Stringer, and a melee sword weapon with a charged slash called a Splatana. Three new special weapons are incoming, as well. The Tacticooler is a fridge that releases four buff beverages to take and share with teammates. The Wave Breaker unleashes a pulsing wave that marks opponents’ locations and can do damage, and the Reefslider can charge straight into an enemy hotspot and then explode. Those are on top of the returning special weapons like the Tentamissile, Ink Jet, and Booyah Bomb.

Similarly, you have a few new navigation options like the Squid Surge to burst up walls, or the Squid Roll to pop out from the ink and become temporarily invulnerable. A number of new stages were shown off as well, making 12 stages in total. More are said to be coming with free post-launch updates.

The co-op mode Salmon Run is also returning with a number of new large-scale bosses. The Slammin Lid is a UFO that creates protective barriers around salmon. Big Shot is a massive musclebound salmonid that can fire heavy cannonballs that create shockwaves. And Cohozuna, the king salmonid, shows up just before you complete an objective to stir the pot, so you’ll have to dispatch it using a special egg cannon. There’s also a Big Run mode that has salmonids invade the city itself, which will occur every few months.

You can enter the new Story Mode through a manhole lid, which promises an “epic finale” to the Splatoon saga. The story mode this time is called the Return of the Mammalians, which puts you in the role of Agent 3, a recruit of the Squidbeak Splatoon fighting against the Octarian Army. Adventuring with your Smallfry sidekick, you’ll uncover the secrets of Alterna and the Fuzzy Ooze.

Nintendo says the story mode is a good way to get familiar with weapons and movement before you jump into multiplayer matches.You can also try out weapons in a Test Range, and review your performance with battle replays that let you fast-forward, skip, and share highlights. Similarly, a Recon mode lets you explore maps to get to know all their little corners and shortcuts.

As always, Splatoon 3 will put a lot of emphasis on customization. You can dress yourself up in fashion including headgear, clothing, and shoes from different vendors, and equipment comes with abilities to help you run faster or increase the speed of your special moves. If you have a piece of gear you like visually but would prefer a different ability, an NPC can swap them for you. You can also create a loadout including your emotes, and each three months for two years there will be a new catalog with more customization options. You can even customize your own locker in the locker room with gear, photos, and other accessories, and view the lockers of your friends and recent opponents.

A mailbox lets you submit drawings that get posted throughout the city, and a Photo mode lets you snap selfies and send them through a smart device. There will also be Splatnet, available through the Switch Online mobile app, that lets you check stats and order exclusive gear.

The presentation also detailed a handful of new Amiibo figures which can save your loadouts. More content will be coming post-launch, including extra ranked modes like the high-ranking X-Battle. Large-scale DLC is also planned, though details on that weren’t shared.

Finally, an Enter the Splatlands Invitational Tournament will take place at PAX West starting on September 5, just before the game’s launch.

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Breaking Bad series creator Vince Gilligan has revealed he pitched a Breaking Bad video game years ago that might have been inspired in part by Rockstar’s immensely popular Grand Theft Auto.

“I’m not much of a video game player, but how can you not know Grand Theft Auto,” Gilligan said in an episode of Inside the Gilliverse, as reported by NME.

Gilligan said he remembers asking his team if it might be possible to make a Breaking Bad game. He specifically called out the GTA series, and recalls asking people, “Who owns Grand Theft Auto?”

Whether or not Gilligan wanted to partner with GTA developer Rockstar Games or make a GTA-style Breaking Bad game, however, isn’t immediately clear. It’s an exciting thought, at least.

While that Breaking Bad game never materialized, Gilligan said the series would still “make sense” as a video game. In fact, a mobile game called Breaking Bad: Criminal Elements was released in 2019 before shutting down the following year.

Gilligan said he tried to make a Breaking Bad VR game for PlayStation VR, but this did not go anywhere. He didn’t share any further details about this.

The writer-director was clearly very interested in making Breaking Bad video games, saying on the episode that his team spent “a lot of energy and talent into writing three or four stories for different video games.”

“There were a lot of people hours poured into that,” Gilligan said of the attempts to make a Breaking Bad game. He added, “Making a video game is damn hard. It takes years and millions of dollars, especially when you’re trying to break new ground with VR. It never came to fruition though, which is a shame.”

Gilligan said he would not compromise on quality. He said if you’re going to make a video game, it can’t be like 1983’s E.T. adaptation, which is considered by some to be the worst game ever.

“You gotta make it great. Execution is everything,” he said. In closing, Gilligan didn’t shut the door completely on a Breaking Bad video game, but said fans would be smart to not “hold your breath about a video game.”

Breaking Bad ended in 2013 and a sequel movie called El Camino was released on Netflix in 2019. A prequel TV series, Better Call Saul, premiered in 2015 and airs its final episode this coming Monday, August 15.

No more Breaking Bad universe projects have been announced, but AMC boss Dan McDermott told Variety that the door is always open” in regards to more spin-offs.

“I can tell you that if I could do anything to encourage Vince and [Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul veteran Peter Gould] to continue on in this universe, I would do it,” he said. “I think you’d have to ask them, but the door is always open and I long for the day my phone rings and Vince, Peter or our friends at Sony call to say, ‘Hey, I think we have another show set in this universe.'”

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A new cheat has been discovered for 1994 Super Nintendo game Super Punch-Out, allowing two players to duke it out in PVP mode. Discovered by the Twitter account Unlisted Cheats, which specialises in unearthing previously unknown cheats for classic games, the two-player mode consists of two newly-discovered cheat inputs.

As Unlisted Cheats explains, only two cheats were previously known for the game, a sound test and a mode that allowed Japanese name input. Each cheat requires a combination of just two buttons. The account found a new cheat which would put the player in a “free play” kind of mode, allowing them to select which of the game’s rivals they want to face. If this mode is selected, a second combination of buttons will allow the second gamepad to control the rival character normally controlled by the CPU.

While doing some request work, casually found some new cheats in Super Punch-out for SNES. All secret codes in this game uses two-button combinations. Two of them are known: Sound test and Japanese name input. But there are two more. -> pic.twitter.com/ak9xh3fZsc

— Unlisted Cheats (@new_cheats_news) August 8, 2022

To enable the cheat, which can be used on an original SNES copy of the game with no modifications, players have to hold Y+R on the second gamepad while on the title pad, then use the first gamepad to press A or Start. This will take you to the character select screen.

To enter a two-player match, players have to be in this free mode and on the character info screen, hold B+Y on the second gamepad, then press A or Start on the first gamepad. Once this cheat is enabled, the CPU character will be controlled by the second gamepad.

Considering the cheat has never been revealed until now, almost three decades after the game’s release, it’s likely the two-player mode is the result of a debugging tool that was never taken out of the game, rather than something players were intended to discover.

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Before Your Eyes is a game about blinking as life flashes, well, before your eyes. You witness a collection of moments from the life of a talented artist, with a few twists along the way, but one of its most effective mechanics comes from outside that core blinking mechanic.

Spoilers follow.

This is a spoiler for a specific mechanic in Before Your Eyes, so tread lightly, but one of the most effective late-game moments during the extended conclusion of the game are a handful of sequences where you must hold your eyes closed and just listen. The change in gameplay is incredibly effective and forces you to focus wholly on the narrative in a new way. We recently spoke with game director Oliver Lewin and creative director Graham Parkes about brining Before Your Eyes to mobile devices, care of Netflix, and during that conversation we dove deeper into that specific mechanic, how it came about, and why it’s a high compliment to be told something you made is sad.

The mechanic where you close your eyes for extended periods of time and just listen–how did that come about?

Lewin: We developed the game over quite a long span of time and I remember very early on Graham [Parkes] had the idea of just holding your eyes closed to have this glimpse into another reality or hearing someone’s voice or something. But it was one of those features that we really struggled to find the right place for in the game.

So, it was rather late in the development cycle that we thought, “Oh, in that kind of third act there’s a good place for it.” We wanted to really change the pacing of the game so that it wasn’t about time rushing over you like a waterfall in a way that you can’t control. But it was actually about trying to peer deeper into a repressed memory and embrace the stillness of that in a very focused way and there’s a sequence of the game where you’re largely in a bedroom and you’re restricted in that way.

Inside | Before Your Eyes | Journey

Through holding your eyes closed, you’re able to peer into other places, and other people and other memories. It’s sort of this freeing thing that really flips the pacing of the game upside down. We found that correct moment in the game to introduce this feature and that was one of the last new features that got added into the game.

Parkes: It was always something that we just knew we wanted to do because it’s so cool. I think as a storyteller the idea that closing your eyes puts you into this very vulnerable state and a very kind of… We close our eyes to pray. We close our eyes when we’re listening to music. We close our eyes in these more exalted moments.

I think the idea that I can actually make a player do that? It’s sort of this amazing way to push them deeper into themselves and force them to enter that introspective place. It just always felt like we have to find a place for that, that’s so cool and magical. As Oliver said, it took a while to find the right version of it.

I think we were also inspired by games like Journey and Inside. In Journey you’re always struggling with how much you can fly and then you’re always flying a little bit and then your cape runs out and you fall. Then you have that section just before the last chapter where you can’t fly at all and then suddenly in that last chapter, they just give you infinite flying ability and it totally puts the whole mechanic on its head and lets you free.

Inside does a similar thing. The whole game you’re having to run away from bad guys and you’re totally vulnerable. Then at the end, you suddenly–through the crazy transformation–you suddenly have insane power and instead of being afraid of everybody else, everyone’s afraid of you.

And you’re also afraid of you.

You’re always in danger while playing Inside.

Parkes: Yeah, exactly. That game’s amazing. I think that’s such a great thing that narrative games can do is sort of invert their own mechanics especially when that’s lined up with the story goal. It felt like this really perfect inversion because when you’ve spent a whole game being out of control. You’re holding your eyes open and trying not to blink, but then when you blink, it’s totally out of your control. You’ll just blink accidentally versus when you hold your eyes closed, it’s totally up to you when you want to open them. So, suddenly we’re kind of giving you autonomy for the first time after we’ve taken that away for so long.

We had iterations where we used it earlier in the game and we realized, “Oh no, we have to take all those out and save it,” because it’s going to be so much more powerful if it comes at the end of an hour spent trying to hold your eyes open.

Why, from a creator’s perspective, is it a compliment for me to say, “Your game made me cry.” Why does that make you proud?

Parkes: Well, I think we’ve seen that it’s really cathartic. I think that’s what drama is meant to do. It’s meant to be this space where you can go and experience hard emotions in a safe space. For us, I love art that makes me cry and that makes me emotional and brings me to that place.

Also, as people that love this medium of games so much but always felt like they could be so much more. We were also big film buffs and to us film kids it was always like, “Why aren’t games trying harder to get those really intense reactions out of people that films, books, and music do?” It felt like that was such a rare thing to see. I think when we went to college, that started happening more. You started seeing games like Gone Home, suddenly the kind of indie moment started to really happen.

But I think we still have a sense of that, too. Of just like, we want to see what we can do with the medium that other people aren’t doing and that can just push it further because we think that it has that possibility. I think it has the potential to be the most emotionally intense artistic medium because it’s all mediums at once plus this thing of player agency, which is this totally crazy secret sauce. I think that for us, too, it is about also a love for the medium and saying, “Let’s see if we can do something different with it.”

You can read GameSpot’s Before Your Eyes review by following the link.

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President Joe Biden is signing the CHIPS and Science Act today. This piece of legislation is meant to invest in the manufacturing of semiconductors in the United States, which in turn could alleviate the supply issues with video game consoles.

According to the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee’s website, the CHIPS and Science Act will increase the production of American-made semiconductors in order to tackle the country’s supply chain vulnerabilities.

Today, I sign into law the CHIPS and Science Act. It’s a once-in-a-generation law that invests in America by supercharging our efforts to make semiconductors here at home.
Today represents a more secure economy, jobs, and a stronger future for our nation.
America is delivering.

— President Biden (@POTUS) August 9, 2022

“This legislation represents months of bipartisan and bicameral negotiations. The majority of this bill is made up of bipartisan provisions that started in the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology—which I am privileged to lead,” says Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson.

She continues, “We’re building a diverse STEM workforce ready to tackle the challenges we face, we’re strengthening our manufacturing capabilities, we’re revitalizing American science and innovation, we’re fighting the climate crisis, and so much more. And we’re doing it all with the needs of each and every American in mind.”

The semiconductor shortage has been impacting video game consoles like the Nintendo Switch, which has declined in console sales this year by 23% compared to the last fiscal year. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger previously stated that the shortage was expected to last until 2024. Hopefully, with the signing of the CHIPS and Science Act, people will be able to pick up new generation consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S soon.

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Spider-Man Remastered’s PC version will be released on August 12 for most regions (August 13 for others), on Steam and the Epic Games Store. The PC port includes the base game, as well as Marvel’s Spider-Man DLC called The City Never Sleeps.

Check out the below regional times for when you can launch the game.

Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered PC Unlock Times

LA: August 12, 8 AM PTNew York: August 12, 11 AM ETLondon: August 12, 4 PM BSTBerin: August 12, 5 PM CESTDubai: August 12, 7 PM GSTTokyo: August 13, 12 AM JSTSydney: August 13, 1 AM AESTAuckland: August 13, 3AM NZST

Ahead of the launch, Nvidia’s latest GeForce Game Ready Drivers can take Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered to the next level on your PC with things like ray-traced reflections, image quality boosts, and higher resolution for shadows and details.

#SpiderManPC launches this week! Check our global map to see when the game is available in your territory! 🌎
Steam: https://t.co/Uuy4K6BwvX
Epic Games Store: https://t.co/WG57Xxf4dP pic.twitter.com/QKrvOOZVeD

— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) August 9, 2022

To know if your PC can run the game, you can check out our Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered PC specs article. You don’t need top-of-the-line graphic cards to run the game. Recommended specs include a GTX 1060 (or the equivalent) and Intel Core i5. Even for running the game at amazing ray-tracing levels, you can still use an i5. The graphics card, on the other hand, needs to be RTX 3070 or better.

Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered’s price tag is $60 on both Steam and Epic Games store. If you preorder from either storefront you’ll get three different suits, the Spider-Drone gadget, and five extra skill points.

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You can now watch the Rocket League World Championship through Fortnite from August 9 to August 14.

To watch the Rocket League World Championship in Fortnite, you’ll need to visit the discovery page and enter the code: 8205-6994-2065. Then you’ll join the island built by Fortnite Creators 404FNC and FiveWalnut. Once the code is entered, you’ll be put into a Team Rumble match, and your gameplay will be directly affected by whichever team wins in the RLCS.

Before entering each match, you’ll select which Rocket League team you want to support. You’ll receive a power-up on the island every time your team scores a goal. The more your team scores, the more power-ups you’ll receive. In addition, once a Rocket League match ends, the Team Rumble match will begin, and whoever selected the winning team will start the game with upgraded weapons.

Epic has also introduced a new Fortnite special quest to celebrate the Rocket League World Championship. The following items will be rewarded upon completion:

Rocket League Trophy Back Bling: Go for the goalRegal Rocket Glider: The original aerialNice Shot! EmoticonGolden Goal SprayWho doesn’t like free stuff?

You can also receive Rocket League rewards by entering the code “RocketLeagueLive” in-game. Once the code is entered, you’ll receive the following:

Neon Runner BannerHustle Brows TopperAero Mage WheelsRLCS Theme Anthem

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Between Guilty Gear, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Blazblue, Arc System Works has established itself as one of the best developers of fighting games on the market, but the studio is looking for another big mainstream hit with a recognizable IP.

At EVO 2022, Arc System Works CEO Minoru Kidooka explained how the studio is looking to pursue new opportunities by contacting IP rights holders, instead of passively waiting for an opportunity to fall into its hands.

“We need to expand fighting game communities through IP,” Kidooka said to IGN. “In the future, if we have such an opportunity, we are actively pushing to collaborate with new IP owners.”

Arc is no stranger to collaborations, as it developed the award-winning Dragon Ball FighterZ, a 3DS One Piece game, 2012’s Persona 4 Arena, and 2020’s Granblue Fantasy Versus. Kidooka added that the studio’s original Guilty Gear and BlazBlue games won’t be forgotten about as the developer aims to work on an IP planned and developed in the US, with BlazBlue in particular having the potential to expand beyond the fighting game genre.

Arc’s latest release was DNF Duel in June, a new fighting game franchise that mixes robust combat with an excellent online system. “Arc System Works continues to set a high standard for fighting games with DNF Duel, creating an experience that’s both simple enough for new players and robust enough for fighting veterans,” Jason Fanelli wrote in GameSpot’s DNF Duel review.

Beyond that game, Arc also announced that rollback netcode will be added to Dragon Ball FighterZ in a future update alongside Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 versions with enhanced visuals.

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