Producer Masaaki Yamagiwa was interviewed by MP1st (specifically NextGenPlayer) at Tokyo Game Show 2022 and asked whether the team is looking at ways to make the title more accessible. Elden Ring’s addition of Spirits was provided as an example.

Yamagiwa replied, “We’re thinking it’s ‘good’ to have one set difficulty so that everyone has the same experience of overcoming an intense obstacle, and they all have that feeling of achievement, like ‘I did it.’ But the caveat there is giving players all different ways that they can do that. So you could talk to your friends and say, ‘Hey I beat this boss, and this is how I did it.’ You want to talk to people and go online because you want to have communication with them.

“It’s really important to keep the challenge the same and give players different ways to overcome it. Wo Long is not an easy game by any means, but we’re working to give players as much freedom and agency to play it as they want, and overcome obstacles in their own way. One thing that comes to mind is the Morale system. You have a Morale rank, and as you keep increasing it, you get stronger. You can use that to choose which enemies to fight or raise it so you can take on a harder enemy, and maybe they’ll be a little bit easier now that you’re stronger.

“You can also level up your character like a traditional action RPG and get stronger that way. There’s multiplayer as well, so you can get online with your friends, two other people, so a total of three online and then take on bosses as a group. We’re giving players their own ways to tackle all these things. That’s important to Wo Long’s game design.”

In short, the different play styles will provide multiple avenues for success, even if the overall difficulty is still the same. Those looking for accessibility settings or difficulty options will be out of luck.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty launches in early 2023 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC, along with Game Pass. The demo is available until September 26th for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Microsoft will be the only major console manufacturer to have an actual press conference at E3 this year, and it looks like they are well aware of the possibility that this presents. Having already confirmed that some of the most anticipated Xbox games, such as Crackdown, Quantum Break, and Scalebound, will be featured at their press event next month, they are now also ensuring that their Gamescom conference gets the widest exposure possible- today, the company announced that its Gamescom press conference can be caught live on Xbox Live.

The conference will begin at 7am Pacific/3pm UK on August 4, and will air on Xbox One, Xbox 360, and at Xbox.com. Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, has promised that, in addition to the three games listed above, Microsoft will also be making new game reveals at the event, as well as more Windows 10 gaming information.

Given that Sony and Nintendo are both sitting out this year, it remains to be seen whether or not Microsoft can capitalise on this opportunity and completely seize the mindshare.

Gamescom is 2012 is finally here, today Sony announced Puppeteer at their press conference. Puppeteer is a title from Studio Japan. The game aims to be completely unique as opposed to others. Sony would like to describe Puppeteer as  “the theater of the strange and fantastic”.

Sony has stated that the way you move around in this game is very different as opposed in most games. You do not move around in Putterer, instead everything moves around you. All of the action will be happening on the same stage, and there will be surprises in every scene that will put the player into really strange situations.

The story of Puppeteer is about a boy who has been taken away by a Moon Bear king into a castle. When boy arrived at the castle he was transformed into a puppet. Then the boy begins his adventure by looking for a pair of magical scissors, these magical scissors are going to be used as your primary weapon in the game.  The boy can also lose his head, which means you have to find a replacement for a new one.

This is all that is known about Puppeteer, keep coming back for more news as they come about.

Source – IGN

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We have a ton of new high-qualtiy FF Versus XIII gameplay screenshots and they are truly stunning.
FF Versus XIII is exclusive to PS3 and is shaping up to be one helluva game.
Square’s yet to drop a release date for it, however, expect it to release sometime next year.
Enjoy the screenshots, truly amazing.

According to Filefront, where you can download it, patch v1.020 addresses the following issues:

– Flickering graphics after Alt-Tabbing out of the game and back.
– Controller configurations sometimes failing to save correctly.
– Steering response dead-zone when playing with steering wheel controllers.
– Player car engine audio volume too low.
– Some issues with CPU performance.
– Rare crash issue when entering the Career map screen

The three free cars added are the Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible, the Lamborghini Murciélago LP 650-4 Roadster and the Dodge Viper SRT10 Convertible Final Edition.

Installing the patch means you will only be able to play online against others who have installed the patch, but you will still get Autolog updates from all other players.

Thanks to CVG for the info

One such document is a rough sketch for a first floor map:

There’s also a snap of a script for the game’s codec conversations. Note that it is in Katakana as opposed to Kanji characters as games of the time couldn’t visually support Kanji:

There’s also a pic of the front page with a big rejected stamp on the front. Whether it was rejected by Kojima himself or one of his superiors is uncertain, but the Metal Gear franchise may have been very different if this Metal Gear Intruder was allowed to see the light of day.

Thanks to Andriasang for the info

Xbox LIVE Dashboard update:

On Wednesday, January 19th there will be a mandatory dashboard update that (re) enables the ‘Boot to Disc’ option in the Xbox 360 dashboard. After you accept the update, you’ll be able to set the option to boot to the Xbox 360 dashboard OR directly to the game you have in the tray when you power up your console. This option can be found in the System Settings.

Xbox.com update:

Additionally, on Thursday January 20th an update will be made to Xbox.com that slightly alters the appearance of Gamercards. The Gamercard look and feel has been updated and gamerzone has been removed from the card. Other than that, the same amount of information is on the card. Example below:

Thanks to Major Nelson for the info

We have little information on the new project but Yerli told CVG that “I can’t really talk about that at the moment, maybe at E3, maybe before, I don’t know yet.” When asked about what kind of genre Crytek would be aiming for in future Yerli replied that “As a company we can’t just make shooters, we need to breed genuinely new forms of entertainment and interactive experiences, and I think Kingdoms is a new interactive entertainment experience.

“Working with Microsoft allows us to do something really new and awesome from our perspective, and from gamers’ perspective I think they’ll have a very different experience with Kingdoms.”

He also added that “We’re looking at new challenges for the company and thinking about what experiences and types of games people may want to play. Whatever it is, we will try to do. The genre may not even exist yet for that matter, so what we’re keen on is games that offer new experiences for every moment the gamer plays. This has been at the core of the evolution of new IPs at all of our studios.”

Concerning the power of the 360 Yerli stated that “”… I think when we put Crysis 2 out we will show a level that is, multiplatform-wise, maxing out, but we will look into with Microsoft how Kingdoms can push the Xbox 360 110 percent, to its limits.

“When you’re spending a multimillion budget only on the Xbox 360, that team will be able to crank out the last two or three percent left in the console. But I think that two or three percent will make the difference potentially between day and night that you cannot afford if you go multiplatform.”

Will that two or three percent make all the difference? Only time will tell as we get more information on Codename: Kingdoms

Thanks to CVG for the info

Cage spoke with PSM3 recently about the matter, but in an unpublished quote to CVG Cage said that “I would like to add a message for all the people who supported us and bought Heavy Rain, and to all my colleagues in the industry who voted to give awards to Heavy Rain. I would sincerely like to thank everybody for their trust and support, and for having made Heavy Rain a real success.

“This game granted credibility and respect for the ideas that we believe in, and I am convinced that Heavy Rain has and will open doors to others to approach interactivity in different and more mature ways.”

“I always said that the success or the failure of the game would send a strong message to the industry. This is now done. Thank you to all the people who believed in us and gave Heavy Rain a chance.”

Thanks to CVG for the heads up.

The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony as a bundle gets discounted £15.99, whilst Midnight Club: Los Angeles is also £15.99.

GTA: Chinatown Wars is is also on sale at £11.99.

THQ’s also offering the full downloadable version of Red Faction: Guerrilla for £11.99.

MGS: Peace Walker is now £15.99, down from £31.99. If you haven’t got it already, then consider this a must.

There’s also complete DLC bundles in there too for Warhawk, Mafia II and BioShock 2.

Get all the offers at EU PS Blog

It isn’t quite as good as the Holiday sales, but a bargain is always a bargain.