dokasi.com

Core, the new game/creation tool hybrid coming from Manticore Games, allows players to craft, share, and play within custom worlds designed around different experiences. Core is well situated within an already growing space populated by other games like Fortnite, Dreams, and Minecraft. However, as a free-to-play game on PC, Core does things differently by focusing more on the experience of exploring different player worlds, tying into a more extensive network that is essentially a multiverse of unique player-created landscapes.

Out now in open alpha on PC, newcomers will be able to join the online community that the game has already formed during its closed alpha period, and take many of the player-creations for a test run, or dive into the mechanics head-on to push the limits of the system themselves. But what sets Core apart from games like Fortnite and Dreams is the level of flexibility to explore and experiment with the various constructs. When players dive into the game, they can just stick with one player’s level, such as a standard multiplayer deathmatch with other players set in custom created locales. However, if you want to switch things up without leaving the game, you can seamlessly hop over to different levels via an in-game portal, no matter how different they are.

Much like in games such as Dreams and LittleBigPlanet, you’ll be able to work within a robust level and map editor to design a variety of different spaces and retool various aspects of the core gameplay. In addition to using other player creations as a base, letting you get a grasp of the systems and go from there, you can also make a world from scratch and mold it into any type of experience you see fit. On a mechanic-level, Core feels most accustomed to the mechanics of a shooter, like Fortnite, but players will be able to reshape the game into something else entirely. Instead of being locked into one type of experience until you exit the game, you can portal hop over into a drastically different game and setting–akin to switching over to a different channel.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox Series X arrives later this year, and the company has been gradually revealing new details about it in the lead up to its release. We’ve now learned a wealth of new information about the upcoming system in an Xbox Wire post and Digital Foundry report, including its official specifications and how its Quick Resume function will work. To help catch you up on all the details, we’ve rounded up everything new we’ve learned about Xbox Series X below.

Xbox Series X Full Specs Revealed

We’ve previously known some broad details about Xbox Series X’s hardware, but Microsoft has now revealed the console’s full specs. The system offers 12 teraflops of performance and boasts 16 GB of GDDR6 memory across a variable memory bus. It will also support two types of external memory, allowing you to expand SSD storage with a proprietary drive from Seagate or store games on an external HDD (much as you can with Xbox One).

• CPU: 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.8GHz (3.6GHz with SMT)
• GPU: 12 TFLOPs, 52 CUs at 1.825GHz, Custom RDNA 2
• Die Size: 360.45mm2
• Process: TSMC 7nm Enhanced
• Memory: 16GB GDDR6
• Memory Bandwidth: 10GB at 560GB/s, 6GB at 336GB/s
• Internal Storage: 1TB Custom NVMe SSD
• IO Throughput: 2.4GB/s (Raw), 4.8GB/s (Compressed)
• Expandable Storage: 1TB Expansion Card
• External Storage: USB 3.2 HDD Support
• Optical Drive: 4K UHD Blu-ray Drive
• Performance Target: 4K at 60fps – up to 120fps

Quick Resume And Faster Loading

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Animal Crossing is well-known for its leisurely pace of play, and that attitude also applies to its release schedule. Barring a few spin-offs of varying quality, New Horizons–which is set to release this Friday, March 20–is the first core entry in the series since 2012’s New Leaf. This Switch title takes the series in a fresh direction, placing the player in charge of a deserted island, and introducing Minecraft-like crafting systems to the game.

Reviews for the bubbly sim game are in, and they’re overwhelmingly positive, including our 8/10 review-in-progress. “There’s only so much you can do every day in Animal Crossing,” our critic Kallie Plagge wrote. “Part of the fun of its real-time clock is going to bed wondering what you might wake up to in the morning–how your town might change, who might move in, what special visitor might be there tomorrow. So far, I’ve played Animal Crossing: New Horizons for 80 hours over 17 days, and that anticipation hasn’t yet gone away. While I’ve spent a lot of time developing my island so far, I still feel as if there’s plenty left for me to do and see–there’s a lot in New Horizons to occupy your time with.”

We’ve rounded up some more reviews below, with most of them striking a fairly similar tone. In general, critics are impressed by the integration of the new survival-inspired mechanics within the existing framework of the series. On the other hand, some express concerns about the game’s pace and overall longevity. For more reviews, check out our sister site Metacritic to see what even more writers had to say.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

The Xbox Series X can use a Smart Delivery feature to give you a version of software that matches your current hardware power, but even older games that haven’t been enhanced for new hardware will get a visual upgrade. According to a detailed breakdown from Digital Foundry, the Series X will use a machine-learning algorithm to upgrade older games with high-dynamic range (HDR) color.

The report says both Halo 5 and Fusion Frenzy were shown running with HDR, and a heatmap showed highlights that went beyond the capabilities of standard dynamic range. The examples were a technical demo, but principal software engineer Claude Marais said it could “be applied to all games theoretically.” That said, he said the team is still working through things like user experiences.

“This was a show-stopping moment,” the report states. “It was indeed Fusion Frenzy – an original Xbox title – running with its usual 16x resolution multiplier via back-compat, but this time presented with highly convincing, perceptibly real HDR.”

Continue Reading at GameSpot

With both the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 using proprietary SSD solutions for internal storage, there has been some question as to how players can expand the available space. For the Xbox Series X at least, Microsoft has a solution, and it’s working with hard-drive manufacturer Seagate to do it.

The Xbox Series X ships with a 1TB internal SSD, but can be expanded using proprietary SSDs encased in small metal cartridges. Microsoft explained to Digital Foundry how these small SSDs will work as part of their new “Velocity Architecture”–a new way for developers to utilize SSD memory as standard RAM to store game assets on the fly, and access them with minimal speed compromises.

Microsoft was displeased by the speed compromises of most SSDs when heating up, and worked with Seagate to produce a form factor that provided thermal dissipation while also ensuring a steady 2.4GB/s throughput that developers can depend on. This works in tandem with custom hardware within the console that allows developers to use the SSD to access game files instantly at any point during rendering.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

If there’s been an Adventure Time-sized hole in your life since the beloved animated series wrapped in 2018, Netflix might have just the TV show for you. IGN can exclusively reveal the release date and first teaser trailer for The Midnight Gospel, a new eight-episode animated show co-created by Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward and actor/comedian Duncan Trussell, which will be released on Netflix globally on April 20, 2020.

Unlike Adventure Time, The Midnight Gospel definitely isn’t kid-friendly, judging by the psychedelic, blood-splattered trailer – but its fantastical, post-apocalyptic settings and dreamy animation certainly evoke the style of Ward’s fan-favorite Cartoon Network series, mixed with a dash of Rick and Morty’s high-concept, universe-hopping anarchy. The series is animated by Titmouse, the studio behind a number of hit animated shows, shorts, and cinematics, including Netflix’s Big Mouth and Adult Swim’s Venture Bros.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/netflixs-the-midnight-gospel-trailer-adventure-time-creators-new-r-rated-animated-series”]

Below, co-creator Trussell explains the genesis of the series and the surreal plot of The Midnight Gospel – needless to say, we’re intrigued.

“Years ago I got an email from Pendleton Ward, the creator of Adventure Time, telling me he enjoyed my podcast The Duncan Trussell Family Hour. We soon became friends and Pendleton eventually came to me with an idea of how to do an animated version of my podcast. He said: ‘It’s like we replace the dialogue of Indiana Jones with podcast conversations.’ This was the beginning of The Midnight Gospel, a show about Clancy, a slacker ‘space-caster’ who lives in another dimension called ‘The Chromatic Ribbon.’ This is a place where simulation farmers use powerful bio-computers to simulate universes where they harvest technology. Because Clancy isn’t taking care of his universe simulator, all the planets within it are going through their own unique apocalypse, and the beings living in these other worlds are the guests Clancy interviews for his Space-Cast ‘The Midnight Gospel.’ Over the course of the series, these conversations slowly begin to awaken Clancy to the reality of the impact he’s having on the worlds, both inside and outside of his simulator.”

Check out a selection of first-look photos from The Midnight Gospel below.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=netflixs-the-midnight-gospel-photos&captions=true”]

Do you plan to check out The Midnight Gospel? Share your first impressions in the comments, and for more from Ward, learn about the four new Adventure Time specials coming to HBO Max. 

Animal Crossing is coming out this week, and if you haven’t checked out our Animal Crossing: New Horizons review, I’ll give you the lowdown: it’s amazing.

To celebrate the upcoming release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, we’re having a sale on all our Animal Crossing designs in the IGN Store. Right now, buy any one of our Animal Crossing designs and get the second for 50% off.

Animal Crossing Buy One Get One 50% Off Sale

We have lots more Animal Crossing designs for you to choose from, too, so you’re sure to get something awesome.

Plus we have a massive collection of Marvel shirts and pullovers from X-Men, Avengers, and tons more. If you want more Nintendo designs, we’ve got officially licensed Metroid, Mario Kart, Splatoon, and even newcomers like Luigi’s Mansion 3 designs, too. It’s pretty robust.

 

Square Enix has revealed some more screenshots from Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and they offer us first looks at some brand new characters and locations that were not seen in the original game.

There are four new characters revealed in Square’s latest drop. The first is Andrea Rhodea, the owner of the Honeybee Inn. It is he who approves women for auditions with Don Corneo, the rather gross guy who is looking for a ‘bride’ each evening in the Wall Market area of Midgar’s Sector 6. Also with similar power to approve women is Madam M, who runs Wall Market’s hand-massage parlour, and Chocobo Sam, who is – as his name suggests – a Chocobo handler. As well as helping Corneo, he also runs a service called Sam’s Delivery.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=final-fantasy-7-remake-29-new-wall-market-screenshots&captions=true”]

Don Corneo definitely seems to have extended his network for Remake, as alongside these two he’s also working with a young man called Leslie Kyle, who Square describes as Don’s lackey. Corneo’s Lackey is an enemy type from the original game, and so Kyle’s position is likely a reference to that. There’s no sighting of Scotch and Kotch, Don’s original henchmen, though.

The screenshots show off a glowed-up Wall Market, but also reveals the Corneo Colosseum, a fighting arena where players can battle enemies to receive rewards. This sounds and looks a lot like the Battle Square from the original game’s Gold Saucer. As we won’t get to visit the Gold Saucer in the chapters covered by Remake, it makes sense why it would be added to Wall Market.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/inside-final-fantasy-7-remake-part-1-english-subs”]

There’s also confirmation that the Beginner’s Hall from Sector 7 is back, and that it features both the ground floor weapons shop and the second floor neighborhood watch room. Not spotted in any of the screens is the many flexing dudes, though, which is a bit of a shame. There is a jukebox in Tifa’s Seventh Heaven bar, though, and you can buy music discs in the world to play on it.

For more Final Fantasy 7 Remake, check out the promise that we’ll see much more of Midgar’s Upper City environments, and read our latest hands-on preview.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

Resident Evil 3 won’t release until April 3, but you’ll be able to try out the game’s action-oriented horror a few weeks early. An official demo is coming to Xbox One, PS4, and PC on March 19, and a beta for the new Resident Evil Resistance game (which comes with Resident Evil 3) arrives later this month. You can check out a new trailer below.

The Resident Evil 3 demo features Jill Valentine as she tries to escape from a panicked Raccoon City which has quickly become overrun with the infected. She teams up with Carlos Oliveira as they work to save civilians, but the terrifying Nemesis monster stands in her way. If you want an extra challenge in the demo, you can find 20 Mr. Charlie statues strewn throughout the playable area.

Resident Evil 3 takes the formula established in the Resident Evil 2 remake and injects more action elements into it. Jill has a dodge-counter move for dealing with aggressive enemies, as well as explosive barrels to help her out in stick situations. However, it’s still a horror game at its core.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

The original Trials of Mana, known in Japan as Seiken Densetsu 3, didn’t see a proper Western release until just last year, when an English translation was finally made available as part of the excellent Mana Collection. If you’re unfamiliar with the original 16-bit game, it’s one of the best games ever created for the Super Famicom, but its introduction so late into the 16-bit console’s life-cycle meant Square was better off spending its resources in ways other than localizing a massive Japanese action RPG for a Western release.

The good news is the 16-bit translation in the Mana Collection is excellent, but the better news is the modern remake absolutely hits the nail on the head. I had a chance to go hands-on with Trials of Mana during my time at PAX East and I was surprised at just how well it translated the the pixel art and chiptunes of the original into a new game. From my all-to-brief experience, the Trials of Mana remake looks like a major improvement over the 2018 Secret of Mana remake.

[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=Trials%20of%20Mana%20remake%20looks%20like%20a%20major%20improvement%20over%20the%202018%20Secret%20of%20Mana%20remake.”]

Trials of Mana Remake Graphics

First off, the game is absolutely gorgeous. I chose to play the demo on Nintendo Switch and the bright, beautiful colors of the 16-bit version lost nothing in the translation to the modern era. Other demo stations had the game running on PS4 Pro, where it (unsurprisingly) looked even better. It throws off some serious Dragon Quest XI vibes, minus the Akira Toriyama character designs but with the added benefit of brighter and bolder color palettes. On Switch, the demo ran well in docked-mode (handheld play wasn’t an option). I chose to try it on Switch because I plan to play the full game on Switch, but seeing it on PS4 Pro has me second-guessing myself.

As far as comparisons to the Secret of Mana remake, Trials looks much better. Secret of Mana (the previous game in the Mana series to Trials) looked… OK. Certainly passable. But Trials of Mana Remake’s graphics are on a whole other level. Check out the slideshow below for a better look.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=trials-of-mana-remake-demo-screens&captions=true”]

Trials of Mana Remake Gameplay

My one concern going into the Trials of Mana Remake was how it would handle gameplay. For the uninitiated, battles in the original take a bit of getting used to, but the learning process is quick and makes sense after only a few skirmishes. The remake battle system is even easier to understand. The Mana series is an action RPG, so battles aren’t turn-based. It’s less DQXI and more Ys VIII: battles begin when you’re in range of an enemy and you hit buttons in real-time rather than issuing a series of commands. It made sense immediately, and I found myself hacking and slashing through rabites and mushrooms with ease.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/trials-of-mana-remake-first-boss-battle”]

Trials of Mana Sound and Music

The Mana series on Super NES/Super Famicom has some of the best 16-bit chiptune music of all time, and the signature sound effects and music of Trials of Mana translates incredibly well to the modern era. There’s a soft warmth to sound effects for even the harshest actions in Mana, and the modern version retains the charm of the original, Not only is the music updated for the modern era, the sound effects have also been updated, and neither have lost any of their charm.

The hands-on demo I had a chance to experience at PAX East has me very excited for the full game. Trials of Mana Remake is scheduled to come out April 24 to PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC.