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'Nex Machina' will show you exactly how someone hit a high score
Finnish developer Housemarque's ode to Robotron: 2084, Nex Machina is out for PC and PlayStation 4 this summer. And while we debuted it in December, details for the frantic arcade shooter have been relatively scarce since. But that's slowly changing. Perhaps the most exciting new wrinkle we've learned about is its replay mode. "All of the leaderboard entries are effectively recorded, which means it's possible to enter the leaderboards, select an entry and watch the replay," a post on the PlayStation Blog reads.
'Bayonetta' brings heel guns and hair fights to the PC
After years of feverish fan demand, PC gamers can now finally play Bayonetta. Arriving on Steam today with 4K support and advanced graphics options, Sega's critically acclaimed action classic now looks better than ever before. In a bid to entice those who already own the game, Sega will also be giving buyers the Digital Deluxe Edition at no extra cost until April 25th. This (normally) pricier edition boasts a five-song soundtrack sampler as well as a digital artbook and exclusive wallpapers and avatars.
Razer's 'paid to play' program bribes gamers to use its Cortex software
Lingering in the mind of every gamer is a silly, whimsical idea that very few manage to make a reality. "Gee," we think to ourselves. "It sure would be neat if I could get someone to pay me to play video games." Most of us know it's a futile dream, but it's a desire Razer is banking on. Today the company announced its "paid to play" initiative, a program that's almost exactly what it sounds like. Yes, Razer is going to reward gamers for play their favorite games, but those players won't be earning cash -- they'll be earning ZSilver points from the company's new digital currency platform.
What we love and hate about 'Mass Effect: Andromeda'
A veteran Mass Effect player and a complete novice walk into a bar. This isn't the beginning of a terrible joke: Instead, it's the premise of a conversation between Engadget associate editor Timothy J. Seppala and senior reporter Jessica Conditt, both of whom have been playing the latest Mass Effect game, Andromeda, over the past few weeks. Tim has devoured and adored the Mass Effect series for almost a decade while Jessica has never touched the games before. How does Andromeda compare to previous Mass Effect games? Does it stand on its own as a worthy addition to the sci-fi genre? Are the animations always this messed up? In the following conversation, Tim and Jessica discuss Andromeda's highs and lows from two vastly different perspectives -- and somehow, they end up with similar conclusions. Spoilers for the entire Mass Effect series reside below; you've been warned.
Corsair's first gaming desktop isn't for tinkerers
It's been almost two months since PC parts maker Corsair teased its first finished computer, giving us nothing but a name and a picture of the front and sides of the system. Now, the company is finally ready to show off the Corsair One in detail, and we've already had a chance to take a closer look at the new system. But before we let you start drooling over the pictures of this VR-ready gaming PC, here's some basic information. The Corsair One will be available for $1,800 (a $2,200 Pro version is also available) via Amazon, Newegg and other online retailers starting today. We tried the Corsair One Pro in particular, and promptly took a slew of pictures for those of you who love gaming hardware. Enjoy.
You won't have to pay to play 'Quake Champions'
The upcoming Quake Champions will be free-to-play. Or not. It depends on how you want to approach it. "At its core, it's a free-to-play game with the option to buy the Champion Pack and just get in and play with all the Champions," developer Bethesda Softworks' creative director Tim Willits recently told Polygon. The Champion Pack is basically the full-priced version of the game, giving access to everything you'd expect from a retail title right out of the gate. But, if games like League of Legends and Dota 2 have taught us anything, it's that dropping $60 up-front is a huge barrier to entry for people around the world.
Razer's new digital currency is both outdated and enticing
The last thing the gaming industry needs is another digital currency system that supplants dollars for an exclusive "points" system -- and yet that's exactly what Razer invited me to see at its San Francisco offices last week. The company's pitch was almost contradictory. Razer zVault is a digital wallet system designed to unify payments across platforms encumbered by a myriad of other fragmented digital wallets. It sounds ridiculous, but it's already moderately successful: over six weeks, the zVault pilot program has already tracked over 370,000 transactions using zVault's zGold currency. That's probably due in part to the fact that zVault boasts a burgeoning rewards program that offers users discounts, free games and a second bonus currency that can be used to buy Razer accessories and laptops.
Nautical horror game 'Sunless Sea' heads to iPad
Aquatic RPG Sunless Sea has been a big win for British indie developer Failbetter Games. The well-reviewed game has sold half a million copies since its 2015 PC release, and soon, iPad users will be able to get in on the Victorian Gothic adventure. Not long after sequel Sunless Skies very quickly exceeded its Kickstarter funding goal, Failbetter Games announced that Sunless Sea is headed to iPad on March 23rd.
'Ghost Recon: Wildlands' $40 season pass packs two big expansions
Ghost Recon: Wildlands comes out next week. I know, I almost forgot about it too. But if an open world filled with guns, high-speed chases and sniping over huge distances in Bolivia is more your speed than robotic dinosaurs or some random game with a princess, you might be interested to know what Wildlands has in store after launch. You know, for when you've long since finished its campaign and dominated the competition on the packed-in multiplayer maps.
'Overwatch' Season 4 brings a server browser and tweaked respawns
Big news for Overwatch players: Season 4 has begun and a bevy of changes and additions have arrived alongside it. First up, the competitive shooter's server browser. It's live! This means that from here on out, you can set your own parameters for how you want to play. Up for "total mayhem" in the Brawl gametype? Have at it. If the pre-made lists don't turn your crank, you can customize everything from movement speed; hero abilities; map rotation; capture speed; ultimate abilities and a whole lot more for your perfect match. For a peek, check out the video embedded below.
Lead an army of cartoon heroes in Epic's latest game
Epic Games announced Battle Breakers, its new free-to-play title for mobile and PC, at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The game looks like a Saturday-morning cartoon, complete with larger-than-life characters and a huge, cinematic soundtrack to enhance the gameplay.
'Overwatch' streamer destroys his in-game imposter
Brian St. Pierre is called Kephrii in the competitive Overwatch scene, and he's known as the highest ranked Widowmaker player in the world. He recently ran into a hacker impersonating his gamer tag and using cheats, but instead of getting mad, the real Kephrii got even. While streaming the match on Twitch, St. Pierre showed off his skills by consistently killing the fake Kephrii, who played Widowmaker, then Tracer (two different character classes), on the opposing team.
'Mafia III' expands its story starting at the end of March
It's more than a little weird that it's taken until now for the folks behind last year's Mafia 3 to announce add-on packs for the game. But that's just how the world works lately. The additional story missions start with "Faster, Baby!" at the end of March. The expansion focuses on stunt driving and car chases, according to the game's blog. More than that, it offers up a new section of the New Orleans-esque setting.
'Fallout Shelter' arrives on Windows 10 and Xbox One next week
Mobile games have been making their way to consoles at a semi-regular clip lately. Most recently it was Square Enix Montreal's series of Go titles moving to PlayStation 4, and now Fallout Shelter is making its way to Xbox One and Windows 10. Now, it was already available on Steam, but this version offers Play Anywhere features like cloud-sync and shared achievements between the platforms. So, it's a little different.
Exploring what made the 'Doom' and 'Titanfall 2' campaigns tick
The new Doom was almost one of my favorite games last year. While it was edged out at the last minute, there's no denying how refreshing the game was. Developer id's laser-focus on speed, making the player throw caution to the wind and tossing modern shooter conventions out the window was incredibly exciting. Titanfall 2 on the other hand took a major complaint levied at its predecessor and delivered one of the most unique shooter campaigns we've seen in an awful long time. As Mark Brown of YouTube channel Game Maker's Toolkit points out, the story modes put fun ahead of everything else.
'Overwatch' boasts over 25 million players
Last we'd heard, online shooter Overwatch had 15 million players. A little over three months later, and that number's gone up by quite a bit. Developer Blizzard has just announced that the current count has crossed 25 million across PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It's pretty impressive and given all the moves Blizzard has made (announcing an eSports incubator, frequent seasonal events and doling out additional characters for free) perhaps it isn't surprising that the number of players is growing. Now, if some of them would actually help move the payload we'd really be in business.
'Inside' team teases its next project following company turmoil
It's been quite the week for Playdead fans. First came some explanation for why the typically lock-jawed studio behind Limbo and Inside lost one of its cofounders last July. Then, the team tweeted out a teaser image for its next project. Absolutely nothing is known about the game other than it might have something to do with a comet and that its protagonist might be an astronaut of sorts. Oh, and it's using a subdued color palette and stylized visual motif. Par for the course here, really.
Buy a copy of 'Resident Evil 7' on Xbox One, get it free on PC
The latest game getting the Xbox Play Anywhere treatment is Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. That's right, Capcom's upcoming horror jaunt will support cloud saves, and buying the digital Xbox One version will net you a gratis copy of the game on PC. While it isn't the first non-Microsoft produced game with the feature (indies Ark: Survival Evolved, Astroneer and We Happy Few will have it as well) it's certainly the highest profile occurrence thus far.
The next 'Overwatch' holiday event celebrates Chinese New Year
It doesn't look like Overwatch's holiday celebrations are over just because Christmas is in the rearview mirror. Next up? Chinese New Year. The game's Twitter account sent the news out along with a quick video, proclaiming that the event, Year of the Rooster, will begin January 24th -- a few days before the actual holiday this year. Given that previous installments have included special gametypes and character skins, it stands to reason we can expect the same here too -- especially given Mei's garb in the 11 second clip.
Valve's Steam Controller interface now works with Xbox gamepads
Arguably, one of the best things about Valve's Steam Controller is its software component -- an interface that allows user to assign any button of their controller to a myriad of keyboard functions. Its a feature that lets gamers make any PC game playable by controller -- even if it was only designed to be used with a mouse and keyboard. The interface is so good, Valve enabled it for PlayStation 4 controllers earlier this year. Now they're enabling it for pretty much everything else: the latest version of Steam's beta channel will let you fully customize the Xbox 360 gamepad, the Xbox One controller and any other input device that uses the Xinput standard.
