Remedy Entertainment’s upcoming third-person shooter Control has gone gold, according to a developer on the team. Effectively, development on the game has completed and discs are ready for manufacturing and distribution. Everyone can rejoice and wait with bated breath as the game’s August release date inches closer.

Remedy’s game director Mikael Kasurinen tweeted that Control is “done,” noting that the work the Finnish studio’s put in over the past three years was “an achievement from the best dev team on the planet.” Control is headed to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on August 27.

Ville Ruusutie, Remedy’s principal animation programmer, offered some additional context on Kasurinen’s news. In a tweet of his own, Ruusutie said the team “lost animation middleware and wrote new from scratch” while noting it was a “big risk” but thinks the studio has done well considering some of the “big tech challenges” Remedy has faced working on Control.

Control comes three years after the studio’s last outing, Quantum Break. In Control, you play as Jesse Faden, the Federal Bureau of Control’s new director, exploring the Oldest House and harnessing supernatural abilities to defeat enemies and find her brother. We found it to be Remedy’s most interesting game since Alan Wake after spending some time with it, saying, “Control is being designed with a Metroidvania-like structure that requires you to re-examine previously explored locations when new skills are unlocked, and the thought of incorporating an alternate dimension into this concept is very intriguing.”

Though Control is headed to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, the game will be a limited-time Epic Games Store exclusive. PC requirements have been revealed, and while one of them is a mandatory Epic Games account, Control will arrive on Steam in Summer 2020.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/good-news-remedys-control-has-gone-gold/1100-6468670/

Destiny 2‘s Solstice of Heroes event begins on July 30, and now we know what to expect from the last big event of the Season of Opulence. You’ll be chasing a special set of Solstice armor for your characters and upgrading it by completing a number of objectives and participating in a new activity that’s specific to Solstice. There are also a variety of new cosmetic rewards to acquire during the event.

Bungie laid out all the details of the Solstice of Heroes in a post on its blog that included a trailer, which you can watch below. The event starts with picking up a special set of Solstice armor, which is in a pretty rough state when you first get it. You’ll need to complete Solstice objectives to upgrade the armor, slowly improving it until you can get it to its Masterworked “Majestic” state. You’ll have until Solstice of Heroes ends on August 27 to complete it.

Bungie also explained that the Solstice armor set will be the first “Armor 2.0” set available in its upcoming new expansion, Shadowkeep. Armor 2.0 is Destiny 2’s upcoming new armor system, which allows you to transfer the properties of one set of armor to another set–essentially allowing you to wear armor you like the look of, not just what has the best stat and perk random rolls. When Shadowkeep launches in September, you’ll be able to pick up the Solstice Armor 2.0 set, provided you earn and upgrade the whole thing during the event.

Upgrading that armor will take you to a new area for Solstice called the EAZ, or European Aerial Zone–essentially a version of the EDZ that’s in Destiny 2 already, but composed of a bunch of floating platforms. A matchmade Solstice activity takes place there that has you and two other players fighting a bunch of mini-bosses to receive treasure chest rewards. The more bosses you kill, the more chests you get; the whole thing sounds a bit like the Haunted Forest and Verdant Forest activities from past events.

Solstice also adds a new elementally themed mechanic to the game. As you play different activities in Destiny 2, you’ll see orbs dropping that align with your elemental subclass. Pick them up and you’ll access additional buffs that are specific to the element you’re using. It sounds like gathering these orbs will be part of the process of powering up your Solstice armor as well.

• Solar orbs generate a damaging wave around you as you play
• Void orbs allow you to go invisible and give you Truesight to see through walls when you crouch
• Arc orbs enhance your movement speed and melee and sword damage

There’s one more big change coming to the Solstice of Heroes, which might give a hint of what players can expect from the upcoming Shadowkeep expansion. Most seasonal events come with event-specific Eververse engrams for players to earn as they level up, which give them random drops of event-specific cosmetic items. That’s not the case in Solstice, though–instead, there will be no Solstice engrams, and all event cosmetics will be available for purchase from the Eververse store with either Bright Dust or Silver, Destiny’s premium currency.

That might be a hint at the shape of things to come as Bungie changes its approach to Destiny 2 microtransactions. We know Bungie is about to greatly change how Bright Dust works, making it so you solely earn it from playing the game (rather than from breaking down Eververse items you could have purchased with Silver). We might get a hint at the limits of how you can use Bright Dust in Solstice, and how much of the Eververse Store will require you to use Silver, which you can only purchase with real money. Then again, this might just be a weird limbo period between system changes, but either way, things are going to be different than usual with Solstice of Heroes–and every different with the launch of Shadowkeep on September 17.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/destiny-2-solstice-of-heroes-event-start-date-rewa/1100-6468669/

One of the Nintendo Switch’s most appealing features is its portability, but with such a big screen, it’s at high risk of getting scratched or otherwise damaged if you’re not careful with how you transport it. Whether you’re bringing it with you on a train, plane, bus, or even in a car, having a hard-cover case is essential. There are countless case options out there, but today, we’re spotlighting possibly the most attractive Nintendo Switch case we’ve ever seen: the Hori Alumi case with a gold-and-black Legend of Zelda-inspired design. Normally listed at $25, it’s only $17 on Amazon right now and comes with free one-day shipping if you’re a Prime member.

See it at Amazon

An officially licensed Nintendo product, the Hori Alumi case is heavy-duty and durable, with a smooth, brushed aluminum hard shell to protect your Switch screen from scrapes. The gold accents along the zipper and in the artwork are stunning, and the black-and-gold design continues on the inside as well. The inner case also includes a padded pocket for storing small accessories and up to five game cards.

One drawback of the Hori Alumi case is that it doesn’t have as much storage as some other cases on the market, so if you care about keeping more than five games on you or carrying extra accessories like Joy-Cons or a charger, you may want to consider other options. Its main strengths are its durability, as Hori’s cases are constructed with high-quality aluminum rather than nylon or foam, as well as its eye-catching Zelda design.

In case you’re curious, we’ve gathered a few other Switch cases on sale at Amazon right now, as they include other features such as more game card slots or more storage to carry the dock and controllers (however, that means they’re a bit more bulky to travel with). The Vikena Deluxe Switch Travel Case is a particularly good option as well, as it features storage for the Switch, dock, a Pro controller, a Joy-Con controller grip, AC adapter, 18 game card slots, and more–and it’s over 50% off right now. You can check out that case and other options below.

• RDS Industries Switch Carrying Case, Black Ballistic Nylon Exterior — $31.02 ($40)
• Vikena Deluxe Switch Travel Case — $29 ($60)
• JETech Switch Carrying Case — $10 ($20)
• AmazonBasics Hard Shell Switch Travel Case — $23 ($26)

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/this-stunning-zelda-themed-switch-case-is-only-17-/1100-6468663/

Viz Media has released a new gameplay trailer for Cat Lady, an upcoming dungeon crawler developed by Rose City Games. You can watch the trailer above.

The trailer showcases Cat Lady protagonist Ally Marie reaching her grandmother’s house, only to discover all of the household items have been possessed by ghosts and have kidnapped her grandma. Her grandmother’s cats–who all can now talk–convince Ally that they must go save her relative. As Ally makes her way through her grandma’s house, she utilizes different combinations of cats to combat the ghosts, as each feline has a unique special ability. The wizard cat Mildred can shoot powerful fireballs, for instance, while the kissy cat Nelly sends out hearts in a wider shotgun-like spread.

Cat Lady is the second scheduled release in a deal that Viz Media has with Rose City Games to develop three games that incorporate a manga- or anime-like art style. The first game, The World Next Door, is a visual-novel-meets-puzzle-battle game where human teenager Jun becomes trapped in a world of fantasy and magic and must rely on the new friends she meets to try and find a way home. The third game has yet to be announced.

According to the gameplay trailer, Cat Lady is expected to release “soon.” Launch platforms have not yet been announced.

A manga publisher, Viz Media has long existed on the fringes of the gaming industry and is responsible for some of the most popular manga adaptations of several gaming franchises, including The Legend of Zelda and Splatoon. When the company isn’t focused on games, it’s primarily responsible for publishing English translations of shonen manga in the west–such as My Hero Academia, Dr. Stone, One Piece, and Dragon Ball.

In GameSpot’s The World Next Door review, I wrote, “The cast of characters is genuinely funny at times, and getting to know them has its benefits, but the story ends before most have a chance to really grow and mature. Worse, an interesting plot point that Liza introduces into the story near the game’s end is never satisfyingly resolved. The combat portion has similar shortcomings. Though the puzzle battles are frantic bouts of fast-paced fun, the most interesting enemies and bosses are introduced in the latter half of the game, leaving combat in the first two dungeons too simple. Ultimately, there’s enjoyment to be had with The World Next Door, but the game takes too long to start leaning into its strengths.”

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-gameplay-trailer-for-cute-dungeon-crawler-game/1100-6468642/