News:: IO Interactive confirms a new Hitman game is in the works

Today marked the release of Hitman Game of the Year Edition, which included season one of the critically acclaimed assassin game along with some new content. To commemorate the occasion, developer IO Interactive posted a blog post on their website thanking the fans for their independent success and to tease that a brand new Hitman game is in the works.

CEO of IO, Hakan Abrak, says, "One last thing about our next Hitman game; I want to let you know that we’re making great progress and we have exciting new features and some franchise firsts, which we can’t wait to tell you all about. You’ll have to wait a little longer as we don’t plan to start talking about that until some point in 2018."

That isn't much to go on, but seeing as how Hitman was a return to form after the lousy Absolution, it definitely gets me excited. Here's to hoping the next entry won't have a pointless online mode or an episodic structure.

GOTY Launch Day [IO Interactive]

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News:: ‘MLB: The Show 18’ arrives on PS4 March 27th

Sony's MLB: The Show franchise has earned a reputation for hitting it out of the park with each annual edition -- and introducing cool new features, like last year's Retro Mode. Now we know when the next one will come out: MLB: The Show 18 launches on March 27th. And who else to grace its cover than the titan of teeing off, the Yankees' Aaron Judge.

Source: PlayStation Blog

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News:: Assassin's Creed Origins adds incredible fights with Egyptian gods

Ubisoft created a staggeringly-detailed Egypt in Assassin's Creed Origins, but there's a bit of fantasy that got left on the table. Everyone (and everything) Bayek squares off against is mortal. The reality malleability afforded by the magic of the Animus changes that.

Today, Assassin's Creed Origins received a free add-on called the "Trials of the Gods." It's a series of one-week battles against different Egyptian gods. Anubis is first up. The video that's embedded above does a fantastic job of showing the scale of these immortals.

It seems that the fights are tailored to level 40 players, meaning that they'll be extremely difficult for anyone who hasn't reached the soft level cap. Each one comes with a legendary level 40 weapon as a reward; here's the one that's attached to the Anubis fight. Eventually besting them all comes with a legendary outfit.

Even though each encounter only lasts seven days, under-leveled players don't have to worry about missing out. Ubisoft notes that the various gods will be available to fight again later on.

Trials of the Gods [Assassin's Creed]

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News:: Nintendo Switch 'is not off the table' for System Shock

Nightdive Studios has given System Shock fans a progress update on its "faithful reboot" of the influential 1994 game from Looking Glass. The crowdfunded project is still in pre-production, with the team currently focused on creating a vertical slice -- or, "a thin deep slice of the game."

More specifically, Nightdive is "finishing building out the Medical Deck including labs, vents, and patient rooms, adding in several new enemies including the Cyborg Drone and Cyborg Commander, new weapons, turrets, hacking puzzles, and so on. This milestone also lets us finalize the combat for multiple weapon types and throwable items. By the time this milestone is complete, we should have a good hour of gameplay that is very indicative of the final game." Then it'll enter production.

The team also fielded some commonly-asked questions on Kickstarter, noting that the older Unity engine demo for System Shock was taken down "since it does not reflect the current state of the project," there aren't plans to issue a new "build of the game until the backer Beta begins," and support for Nintendo Switch and Xbox One X are "not off the table." Finally, mods are an ongoing stretch goal.

This video covers Nightdive's development pipeline and checks in on level design and R&D. "We're looking to bring you a Citadel Station that's equal parts familiar and fresh," says lead level designer James Henley. If you stick to the end, you'll see some mutant dismemberment.

Hard to believe we're getting this *and* System Shock 3.

November Update [Kickstarter]

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News:: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds hits 20 million sales

Apparently PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds isn't rocking a solid second place behind Epic Games' Fortnite. Bredan Greene (PlayerUnknown himself) announced on Twitter that the game has just surpassed 20 million sales. He also took the chance to reassure players that the team at PUBG Corp is hard at work perfecting his vision for the ultimate Battle Royale game.

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News:: Klavier rocks out in this short Apollo Justice video clip

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney will be hitting the 3DS at the end of the month and the Japanese collector's package comes with a soundtrack CD. Included on that CD are some brand new songs based around the different characters in the game, including the exceptional prosecutor Klavier Gavin. Capcom has uploaded some short clips to YouTube and they are definitely worth a watch.

If you don't fancy the music, at least you'll get a good look at how the new 3DS port compares to the DS original. That sprite work looks quite great and it actually makes me interested in picking up the Ace Attorney Trilogy alongside this. I do think the original DS versions are more than competent, though.

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News:: PlayStation VR puzzler SuperHyperCube is now on Vive

Kokoromi's virtual-reality puzzler SuperHyperCube sheds its PlayStation VR exclusivity today. The game is out now on Steam for $15 with support for HTC Vive, and there are some walls that need increasingly-wonky-shaped blocks put through them, stat.

We’ve launched! SUPERHYPERCUBE is available on Steam (Vive) for $14.99 today! Spread the word https://t.co/yqtxflTkIY http://pic.twitter.com/7abrCY7nki

— Kokoromi Collective (@KOKOROMI) November 7, 2017

The PlayStation VR version also now costs $15, which is half the original price. I've always liked this game -- it's focused and well-crafted -- but I would struggle to recommend it at a full $30.

SuperHyperCube was once planned for Oculus Rift as well, but Kokoromi and Polytron rescinded their intended support for the platform last year over Oculus founder Palmer Luckey's ties to the "shitposting" political organization Nimble America. Luckey no longer works at the Oculus, but the game is still only officially supported on PSVR and Vive, at least for the time being.

SuperHyperCube [Steam]

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News:: ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove delayed to 2018

ToeJam & Earl's crowd-funded sequel has been delayed until 2018. Humanature Studios made the announcement on its Kickstarter page, the game had originally been targeting a 2017 release.

ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove made its initial Kickstarter pitch way back in 2015. The successor to the Genesis classic promised to be the ultimate sequel to the original 1991 title and raised $508,637, the original goal was $400,000.

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News:: Giveaway: Boss 101 (Steam) from Dtoider Donley!!!!

If you frequent our C-Blogs (and you should), you might have seen Dtoider Donley posting about the development of his game Boss 101. Well, release day is upon us! Head to Steam and buy yourself a copy of Boss 101, to show some love and support. If you're poor, broke or just prefer free stuff though, we got you. The Big D (can I call you that?), and his team, have given us 15 copies to hand out to 15 lucky folks. What is Boss 101 you ask? Hot, sexy side scrolling action. Mr. Destructoid hat love. Fantastic pixel art. Crazy boss action. Dude, hats! Games inside of games! Gameception man!!! Here, feast your filthy, peasant eyes on this amazing-ness.

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News:: It's the saddest N7 Day

N7 Day, always on November 7, is the annual celebration of BioWare's space opera Mass Effect. Like the game it honors, N7 Day represents hope. Mass Effect has always had underlying themes of hope and ambition in the face of seemingly-insurmountable odds; N7 Day has always been about the hopes and ambitions of whatever Mass Effect game is next.

Not this year, though. This, the 10th N7 Day, is the saddest N7 Day. It's more of a memorial service than anything. We try to remember Mass Effect at its best rather than how it left us.

To commemorate the day, BioWare has released two new multiplayer characters, produced this retrospective video, and hired six Twitch personalities to stream the games. For the first time in 10 years, there's nothing to look forward to. For the first time in 10 years, there is no hope.

That's because Andromeda's troubled development and tepid reception led to publisher EA shelving the series for the foreseeable future. This particular N7 Day is a stark reminder that there's nothing next for Mass Effect -- at least not soon. There isn't any weird concept art or screenshots or teasers or anything to be excited about. Mass Effect and N7 Day live in the past now.

So take this N7 Day to reflect on all the good times and all the exhilarating times. Remember your Shepard and maybe even your Ryder. Remember Mass Effect 2's suicide mission. Remember how neat it felt to explore unknown planets. Remember how damn much you loved everyone in your crew.

And hold out hope that Mass Effect eventually comes back stronger than ever.

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News:: Review: Sonic Forces

It might be time for a new approach to 3D Sonic the Hedgehog games. We see so many great studios swoop in and re-invent (or do right by) the series, like PagodaWest Games and Headcannon with the recent Sonic Mania, but those are mostly 2D affairs. The real Sonic cycle isn't about any individual iteration but about the goodwill the franchise constantly yo-yos back and forth.

Sonic Forces has problems of its own, and they're not helped by the Switch version.

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News:: Humble Bundle is rounding up simulators

Sometimes, you just want to forget about the world around you with a good, hearty simulation game. For me, anyway, few if any genres are more effective at making time fly by than simulators. That's the subject of this week's Humble Bundle, from baseball to brain disease.

Pay $1 or more:

• Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville
• SimplePlanes
• Out of the Park Baseball 18

Pay more than the average:

• Mad Games Tycoon
• Plague Inc: Evolved
• Train Simulator 2017 (with the Town Scenery and Platform Clutter Scenery Packs)

Pay $10 or more:

• Cities: Skylines Deluxe Edition

I can't personally vouch for most of these selections -- I think I'd slowly lose my mind if I were locked in a room with Out of the Park Baseball 18 -- but I'm fond of messing with humans on a micro and macro scale in Cities: Skylines and Plague Inc: Evolved, respectively. Cathartic games, those two.

Speaking of which...

Humble Strategy Simulator Bundle [Humble Bundle]

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News:: Review: Call of Duty: WWII

Activision's billion-dollar franchise Call of Duty has hit a crossroads. After over a decade of releases, the military shooter has traversed through World War II, contemporary Middle-Eastern conflict, the horrors of 'Nam, a United States invasion, and ultimately into the great infinite of outer space.

Where now? Once the trapeze artist has mastered four flips, blindfolded, over a flaming pit of alligators, where does their act go next? Activision, having equipped its soldiers with jet-boots, matter-destroying weaponry, satellite fire and explosive-laden drones, has hit the wall. There's little option but to return to the series roots: the blood, mud and misery of World War II.

Will winding back the clock to conflicts - and games - past give Call of Duty a healthy shove into its own future, or is the franchise merely retreading a worn path all over again? Switch out your Titan Energy Rifle for a rusted M1 Garand and let's find out.

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News:: Nuclear Throne's final major update has landed

It's been quiet on the Nuclear Throne front for quite a while now, with the last big update releasing back in February 2016. Developer Vlambeer broke that silence this week with a new update; the final update.

You'll find the patch notes below, but the intent for this one was to provide better game performance, easier modding, "and a lot of quality of life and balance fixes" for the brutal top-down shooter. The team even brought on Nuclear Throne Together mod creator YellowAfterlife, "and worked closely with community members and feedback to create and update 99 that is worthy of the wait."

As for what comes next, Vlambeer's Rami Ismail said in a reddit AMA that "Nuclear Throne was really, really rough on us. While working on it was great, getting it wrapped up and being 'done' with it was awful. I think after this, we'll do some smaller stuff."

He added that "We've obviously spent a lot of time recovering, and we're now focusing on supporting our titles a bit. Ridiculous Fishing got an update, now Nuclear Throne, and maybe we'll have some more updates for older games. Beyond that, we're prototyping some new stuff - some of it is exciting, some of it is totally not. It'll take some time for us to find something we really want to focus on, but in the meanwhile, it's fun to be back to creative work."

As much as I love/hate but mostly love the game, I'll be glad to see this crew tackle something new.

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News:: Telltale lays off 90 employees, about one-quarter of its staff

Telltale Games underwent a major downsizing initiative today, as it laid off nearly 25 percent of its workforce. The episodic narrative-driven games developer let go of 90 employees.

In a comment to GamesIndustry International, Telltale CEO Pete Hawley said "Our industry has shifted in tremendous ways over the past few years. The realities of the environment we face moving forward demand we evolve, as well, reorienting our organization with a focus on delivering fewer, better games with a smaller team."

The restructuring seems to align with a common criticism of Telltale in past years: It had taken on too many different projects at once. Apparently, the developer is looking to scale back the number of games it works on, and, unfortunately, that also means scaling back its staff. It's also mentioned that internal development will move over to "more proven technologies that will fast-track innovation in its core products as it works with new partners to bring its games to new audiences."

Everyone at Destructoid wishes the best for the affected Telltale employees and hope they land on their feet as quickly as possible.

Telltale Games restructures, cuts 90 staff [GamesIndustry International]

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News:: New Neptunia project will exceed expectations by 1000%

Japanese studio Compile Heart recently promoted Hyperdimension Neptunia producer Norihisa Kochiwa to the lofty position of company President. Kochiwa immediately got to work in proving that he was in no way a man given to hyperbole regarding the company's forthcoming releases.

With his inauguration, Kochiwa released a series of interesting statements regarding the company, including plans to hire more staff and even branch out into other genres. The new Prez then went on to announce that an all-new Neptunia project was in the works, one that will surpass all fan's expectations by 1000%. Yes, he said that.

That's a pretty big declaration, especially considering Nep-Nep devotees are often pretty excitable individuals, but hopefully we will discover what is in store for the meta-JRPG series in the near future.

Norihisa Kochiwa announces Neptunia project [Ryokutya2089]

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News:: PSA: Sonic Forces' PC port is a hot mess

Sonic Forces has already had a bit of an uphill battle to face releasing after Sonic Mania, but it looks like PC users are going to have an even rougher time of it. Thanks to the magic of Denuvo DRM, most users can't even progress past the second level in the game. Upon reaching the first mission with your custom avatar, the game promptly crashes with little explanation. Sega has been diligent in quickly issuing a patch, at least.

Another big problem comes from some messed up calculations with the framerate limiter. For some reason, capping the framerate at 60 results in the game playing at half speed, around roughly 32 FPS. Using the 30 FPS cap results in 22 frames per second, which is what the cutscenes are locked to. As you can clearly tell from just a numerical standpoint, this is making things look ultra weird for a lot of people. At least Forces has an unlocked framerate option, but cutscenes are pretty much busted for the time being.

Hopefully Sega gets out some more fixes in the near future, because the current Steam user ratings for Sonic Forces are mostly negative. I know with a lot of PC ports, issues can come down to user hardware configurations. It can be hard to determine whether a person experiencing slowdown or crashes is having a legitimate problem or something on their end. An issue like crashes based on Denuvo, though, is something that should have been noticeable to anyone in the QA department.

_{[Thanks to DC2912 for the tip]}

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News:: Superhero tropes aplenty in Sonic Forces launch trailer

Sega's Sonic Forces speeds onto the scene today, with the spiky blue mascot and his edgy buddies coming together to once again battle the evil Dr Robotnik, nee Eggman, and his army of mechanical monsters.

One last trailer has been released in an effort to put a boost into the brand's fanbase. From music, to voiceover, to on-screen titles, it definitely feels like Sega's marketing have taken a page from comic-book trailers of late when compiling this action-packed preview.

Can Sonic Team's new title equal the quality of the outsourced Sonic Mania, thus giving franchise fans what would easily be the best year for the brand in decades? I guess we'll find out, as Sonic Forces is available today on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch.

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News:: What to (hopefully) watch when Game of Thrones ends

News broke Friday that Amazon is in discussions with with Warner Bros. and the J.R.R. Tolkien estate to acquire television rights for the epic fantasy classic. Amazon founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, is looking for content that is "large-scale" genre content and has potential "broad international appeal." And what genre content is not only large, but huge, and, coincidentally, is about to leave a gaping void in television lineups after its final six episodes conclude? Why, Game of Thrones of course, the show that pioneered big-budget, fantasy television.

Everyone and their mother is looking for the next Game of Thrones to anchor their programming, so knowing this, and knowing that come some point in 2019 you'll no longer have to worry about dragons or medieval zombies, what should be on your radar to satiate your fantasy appetite?

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News:: What we're playing: 'Super Beat Sports' and 'Animal Crossing'

Welcome back to Gaming IRL, a monthly segment where several editors talk about what they've been playing in their downtime. This month we've been loving Super Beat Sports and Stardew Valley and taking an early look at Nintendo's Animal Crossing mobile game. But first, let Kris Naudus tell you about the scariest dating sim she's ever played.

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News:: Nintendo hits us with their updated holiday roster for Switch and 3DS

At this point Nintendo has built up a nice little winter for itself on Switch. I mean some of it is elevated by ports of games that are years old (and one, L.A. Noire, that's nearly a decade old), but they're games, accompanied by a few big original releases. To recap a bit Nintendo of Europe has shared this infographic, and there's quite a bit left in these next few months.

To close out the year on Switch when it comes to said originals we have SnipperClips expansion and Xenoblade Chronicles 2, followed by the highly anticipated final Shovel Knight campaign, Octopath Traveler, and Super Meat Boy Forever in early 2018. On the 3DS side we have Pokemon Ultra Sun & Moon, as well as Style Boutique 3: Styling Star, Mario Party: The Top 100, and another edition of Shovel Knight: King of Cards.

The Switch has accomplished a lot in its first year, it  just needs to keep up the momentum. If it surpasses the Wii U in just under a year it'll be another cause for celebration for Nintendo.

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News:: NetherRealm will reveal more Injustice 2 fighters this week

NetherRealm studio's boss-man, Ed Boon, has announced that the full contents of Fighter Pack #3 for Injustice 2 will be unveiled to the world this week.

The grim-dark fighter, which sees DC Comic's heroes and villains wage war on each other, is currently undergoing its delayed PC beta test, which ends on November 10. On that day, NetherRealm will release a video revealing the more combatants coming to the game as paid DLC.

We already know that one member of Fighter Pack #3 is The Atom, which leaves (at least) two more stars to be revealed. I personally would love to see Kate Kane, aka Batwoman, join the fray, but I think that's a very unlikely choice. We might even get another crossover "guest," as the Warners are particularly fond of adding. Who are you hoping for?

Regardless, we'll all know for sure come Friday. Injustice 2 is available now on PS4 and Xbox One. The PC release is expected to launch November 14.

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News:: NVIDIA GPUs are 'Star Wars' merch now

It's easy to find flashy video cards that look good through a case window, but NVIDIA may have just kicked things up a notch. It's releasing two Star Wars-themed GeForce Titan Xp Collector's Edition GPUs that are very nearly art pieces, if also a classic example of arbitrary movie tie-ins. The Galactic Empire card is lit up in a sinister red and has a casing reminiscent of the dark, orderly nature of the Death Star, while the Jedi Order card is lit in a friendlier green and has the "battle-worn" finish you'd expect of Rebel gear. There are even nods to the hilt of Luke Skywalker's lightsaber.

Source: NVIDIA (1), (2)

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News:: All hail the Utawarerumono HD remake

Rejoice, fans of faintly furry fantasy fun, because Utawarerumono is back. Again. Three years after releasing two sequels to a fifteen-year-old game, Aquaplus has gone back to the well to remake that same game. The original Utawarerumono is destined for release on the PS4 and PS Vita next April. 

The remake, titled Utawarerumono: A Lullaby for the Scattered, will have its art and event scenes remastered in HD. The battles will also be redone in 3D, presumably using the same engine as its 2015 sequels, Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth. A special "Extended Mode" with improved music and a re-animated intro are also planned. And then, of course, there are premium editions, one including an anime episode showing the childhood of Mask of Deception/Truth heroine Kuon, as well as a trilogy pack gathering all three games into at least a hundred hours of animal-eared visual novel bliss.

This is pretty good news, considering that the original Utawarerumono game never made it overseas (except as a fan translation), and the sequels, good as they are, contain numerous references to that story. People could just watch the licensed anime adaptation (which did cross the pond), but it's not quite the same as being able to play it all. Of course, there's no word yet as to an English release for this one either way. If Atlus USA deigns to pick up this game like they did its sequels, I hope they a.) Don't wait three years to make the decision and b.) Use the same (fantastic) localization team.

In the meantime, if you're looking for more Utawarerumono feels, check out the intro for oh-so-very-mid-00's anime adaptation.

_{『うたわれるもの』シリーズの1作目が最新ハードで復活、“原点はいま、新たなる出発点へ”の意味とは？【先出し週刊ファミ通】[Famitsu via Gematsu]}

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News:: Japan's next Splatfest is a question of lemon

Hot on the heels of the weekend's European breakfast conflict, Nintendo have announced the next Splatfest, this time scheduled for Japan. Once more, players will take sides in multiplayer shooter Splatoon 2 to ascertain the answer to a question that is plaguing the nation:

Do you prefer to eat your fried food with lemon, or without?

Sometimes, it could be argued that the debates between loveable funsters Pearl and Marina are a little frivolous, but I think this holds the crown for perhaps the most oddly trivial to date. Queen-of-the-world Pearl is pro-lemon, whereas Marina likes her fried cuisine, or "Karaage", sans lemon. Where do you stand?

The Splatfest to find the answer will take place from November 11 at 15:00 JST, running until the same time the following day. I'm personally surprised Marina is anti-lemon, as given how much Pearl keeps kicking her ass, she must be pretty bitter.

I went there.

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News:: Final Fantasy IV's Golbez joining Dissidia Final Fantasy arcade

The Japanese arcade version of Dissidia Final Fantasy has been slowly expanding its roster over the last few months, and the latest addition to the fold is Final Fantasy IV's Golbez. He's got a cool looking dragon now, something I don't remember seeing in the PSP titles, but he's yet another giant magic ball projectile character. 

In the same November update, Final Fantasy XI's Stellar Fulcrum will be added as a playable stage. It looks pretty, like all stages added as of this date. 

Here's hoping these arcade updates eventually come to Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, at least as DLC, and that we'll be seeing brand new characters pretty soon. 

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News:: 'Your Hands Are Feet' puts you inside a psychedelic egg yolk

Sarah Rothberg is obsessed with the bright-red silicone sponge she bought at Sur La Table. As a sponge, it's worthless -- it's too flimsy to be abrasive, and you can forget about it absorbing liquid -- but when you rub its tiny bristles together the sound is strangely familiar. It's the sound of shaving a giant's leg.

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