Author: trafficblast

Bandai Namco has reiterated plans to host an open beta for Dragon Ball FighterZ. Specifics of the test are still unknown, but those eager to spend some extra time with it now know how they can get in early.

In addition to a variety of other bonuses, pre-ordering a digital copy of FighterZ grants early access to the open beta, which will only be available on PS4 and Xbox One. It’s unclear if pre-ordering the physical edition–which you’d have to do if you want the FighterZ Collector’s Edition–also qualifies for this early access. We’ve followed up with Bandai Namco to find out and will report back with any information we receive.

We don’t yet know what the open beta will consist of or when exactly it will take place. It can’t be especially far off, as we’ve learned that Dragon Ball FighterZ’s release date is set for January 26, 2018. A closed beta first took place in September.

In addition to early beta access, other perks for pre-ordering include early access to SSGSS Goku and SSGSS Vegeta, two exclusive lobby avatars, and a Girls Stamp Pack that consists of Android 21, Android 18, and Bulma. All of this will be available for the game at launch. Separately, players will be able to purchase a season pass that adds eight characters to FighterZ’s roster.

Total War: Warhammer 2‘s upcoming Mortal Empires mode promises to introduce the largest map in Total War history. By combining both the first game and the second games’ battlegrounds, developer Creative Assembly is giving players the opportunity to puppeteer a fantasy war on a scale much grander than anything it has done before.

If you own both Total War: Warhammer games, you’ll be able to pit over 100 factions from across the two titles against each other. With 117 starting locations, 295 settlements, and 35 legendary lords, it promises to be a vast, involved gameplay experience. But is it any good?

GameSpot’s Dave Jewitt, a self-confessed Total War and Warhammer nut, recently had some hands-on time with the mode and has offered his assessment of how it’s coming together. In the video above you can hear him talk about how the thousands of new variables impacts flow, the opportunities bringing all the factions together provides, and whether you’ll need an insane PC to play the mode.

For those wondering if they should check the base game out, GameSpot’s Total War: Warhammer 2 review awarded it a 9/10. “With Warhammer II, Total War doesn’t reinvent anything so much as it iterates on the ideas that made the first so special,” said Daniel Starkey. “At its heart there’s still the marriage of Total War’s big-scale strategy and Warhammer’s precise tactical play. But, through a thousand tiny tweaks, they’ve refined the experience into one of the most intriguing and exciting strategy games ever.”

Total War: Warhammer 2’s Mortal Empires mode will launch on October 26 for PC.

Bandai Namco’s much-anticipated new Dragon Ball fighting game is less than three months away, the publisher announced today. Dragon Ball FighterZ‘s release date has shifted from a vague “early 2018” to a precise date: it launches January 26, 2018 in the United States and Europe on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Developed by Arc System Works, the studio responsible for Guilty Gear and BlazBlue, FighterZ is a stylish 2D fighting game featuring a ton of characters from the world of Dragon Ball, who are rendered in 3D. Just recently, we learned that Nappa and Captain Ginyu will be playable, joining the likes of Android 16, Future Trunks, Krillin, and Piccolo. You can see all the Dragon Ball FighterZ characters in our roundup.

In addition to the competitive aspects of the game, FighterZ features a “what-if” story mode where Android 16 is revived and the Z-Fighters are progressively killed off. Players will take control of a different character from chapter to chapter.

Die-hard fans will have the option of picking up a FighterZ collector’s edition, the main attraction of which is a 7-inch Goku statue. Pre-ordering the physical version, including the standard edition of the game, will receive two early unlockable characters: Super Saiyan Blue Goku and Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta. You’ll also receive early access to an upcoming FighterZ open beta. Bandai Namco has also announced FighterZ’s DLC season pass, which adds eight new playable characters.

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Nintendo has announced an Animal Crossing-themed Nintendo Direct coming on Wednesday, October 25 (or late on October 24 in the US) – but it will focus exclusively on the upcoming smartphone game, and will not feature 3DS or Switch announcements.

Announced on its Japanese Twitter account , Nintendo says the broadcast will take place at midday in Japan – that makes it October 24 at 8pm Pacific / 11pm Eastern, or October 25 at 4am UK / 2pm AEST.

Nintendo UK has announced a second version for the region, at a slightly more friendly time of 7am on the 25th.

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Quick: name your favorite E3 ever.

Time’s up! Can you even pick one? Hopefully they’re all fun in their own way for gamers, but for 28-year Microsoft veteran Kevin La Chapelle, the answer to the question is both instant and unlikely to ever change: 2015.

That’s the year you heard some of the loudest cheering ever at Microsoft’s Xbox E3 media briefing. And those cheers weren’t for new versions of Halo or Gears of War, or even Project Scorpio. Instead, the Galen Center erupted in applause when Head of Xbox Phil Spencer announced what La Chapelle’s team had spent months working on: backwards compatibility.

Microsoft partner software engineering manager Kevin La Chapelle recounts the early days of the Xbox One backwards compatibility program.

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Microsoft has revealed the first 13 backwards-compatible original Xbox games for Xbox One to IGN – several of which we got to play. These first 13 will be available tomorrow, October 24. All are enhanced with 1080p resolution, higher and/or smoother framerates, and faster loading times.

These are the first 13 games you can play on any Xbox One if you own the title, beginning tomorrow:

• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
• Ninja Gaiden Black
• Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
• Fuzion Frenzy
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
• Psychonauts
• Dead to Rights

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Microsoft’s Xbox backwards compatibility team is adding Xbox One X-specific enhancements to four high-profile Xbox 360 games that are already playable on Xbox One: Halo 3, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Assassin’s Creed. All four updates will be available for free to anyone who owns the game on November 7, the same day the Xbox One X launches.

Some titles now have 10-bit color depth unlocked where they previously had 8-bit, others have HDR lighting enabled, and all have nine times the on-screen pixels. I got to see Halo 3 running in a developer mode that clearly showcased the difference. The left half of the screen was standard Xbox 360 emulation on Xbox One, which already offers framerate smoothing and other subtle benefits. On the right it had HDR and the 9x pixel count.

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A hidden console command lets players turn The Evil Within 2 into a first-person survival horror.

As reported by DSOGaming, the modification switches the camera from behind the shoulder of Sebastian Castellanos to within his tormented grey matter.

The line of code necessary for the change seems to have been left in the game by developers Tango Gameworks.

Due to the fact that there is a first-person section already in The Evil Within 2, it is unclear whether this is an Easter egg for savvy fans or an experimental tool used by the development team.

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