During the Final Fantasy XIV announcement showcase, the next expansion for the MMORPG was revealed through a teaser trailer--it's called Endwalker and it's set to launch in Fall 2021. You can watch the trailer from the livestream below (be aware that there may be spoilers in the trailer).The trailer shows the Warrior of Light (your character) walking on the moon of your realm followed by the map of Eorzea being burnt. You then see core character Alisaie fighting against what looks to be a dragon-like monsters as the world around her burns. Her brother Alphinaud, who's representing the expansion new Sage healer Job, and the Warrior of Light show up to join the fight. There are also teaser shots of the new villain overlooking a flame to represent new "Final Days" and you see returning villain Zenos as well. It appears that the world of Hydaelyn is a lot more than just an Earth-like planet from these shots. The final shot returns to the moon to reveal the new representation of the Warrior of Light who is now a Paladin.New JobsAfter the trailer, director and producer Naoki Yoshida went to much greater detail about what you can expect from FFXIV Endwalker. The first of which was the two new Jobs--one healer and one melee DPS. The trailer shows Alphinaud sporting the new healer Job--it's called Sage and uses a set of floating aether-infused knives called Nouliths (a wild Gundam reference for those who are aware). It's said to be a barrier-focused healer, similar to Scholar. Sages will start at level 70 with no required class prerequisite, but you need at least one other Job at level 70 and you must own the Endwalker expansion.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The Final Fantasy XIV announcement showcase provided a wealth of new information for players of Square Enix's MMORPG, including details on the upcoming Endwalker expansion set to launch in Fall 2021. Toward the end of the presentation, it was also revealed that a full PlayStation 5 version of FFXIV is in the works. It will take advantage of the new generation of hardware and it'll hit open beta on April 13 this year.Although the PS4 version of FFXIV can be played on PS5 through backwards compatibility, this new version features performance and graphical perks. You'll be able to choose between two graphics options--a full native 4K resolution mode and a frame rate priority mode that uses 1440p resolution. Either way, the PS5 version will benefit from much faster loading speeds, performance stability, and overall visual enhancements.Continual improvements to graphics and performance are planned to be rolled out in subsequent updates and patches. No official release date was given, although it was said that full service will begin after open beta ends.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker was revealed during the FFXIV announcement showcase--it's the next expansion for the MMORPG, and it came with a teaser trailer and several details outlined by director and producer Naoki Yoshida. While there are wild implications for where the story is going next, that wasn't all that the FFXIV team had in store. A new Live Letter from the Producer stream followed the showcase to detail FFXIV patch 5.5, which will lead into the Endwalker expansion.It's a two-part update that's called Death Unto Dawn and will set players up for the Endwalker story. The first part will go live on April 13, which lines up with the PlayStation 5 open beta for FFXIV, and the second part is set for the end of May, which comes after the digital FFXIV Fan Fest event (scheduled for May 15 and 16). The following details may contain spoilers for those not caught up in FFXIV's main story.Screenshots shared in the Live Letter stream show a gathering of several major characters who represent the various regions across FFXIV's world, and this is likely about the events that happened at the very end of the 5.4 storyline. The new main story dungeon was also teased--it's called Palgth'an and looks like it could be the beginning of destruction across Eorzea (which has been alluded to in the narrative and Endwalker details). Palgth'an is compatible with the Trust system so you can take AI characters with you.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

If you were worried you'd have to go more than a few months without a new video game documentary, worry no longer. A new five-part Nintendo documentary is reportedly planned for a March 1 premiere date, and it will be free for everyone to watch.According to Deadline, Playing with Power: The Nintendo Story will premiere on Crackle, the ad-supported streaming service previously owned by Sony. Written and directed by Jeremy Snead and narrated by Sean Astin, who previously worked together on Video Games: The Movie, the series will tackle over a century of Nintendo's history and it was developed over the course of four years.The series includes interviews with a number of industry figures, including former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime and head of Xbox Phil Spencer, as well as celebrities like Wil Wheaton. One other interview subject who will appear is Tom Kalinske, the former CEO of Sega of America who is credited with the Genesis' success and actually standing a chance against Nintendo's SNES. Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

It's never too late to learn how to play video games--or connect with family you've never truly gotten to know. That was the case for Mary, a woman from Bolton, England who finally began to learn about her grandson Jason via Xbox Live.In a video posted by Xbox on February 5, grandmother Mary and grandson Jason--who live hours apart and have never really known each other--finally get to learn about each other through gaming. Mary received an Xbox Series S so she could play Minecraft with Jason, who ran her through how to use the controller and play the game over voice chat.Over the course of several weeks, Jason learned about Mary's life, including her large family that included five siblings. Meanwhile, Mary learned how to race across the English countryside in Forza Horizon 4, and she also explored the wide-open water with Jason in Sea of Thieves. It seemed to help her fend off loneliness during the ongoing pandemic. With lockdown in various parts of the world approaching 12 months now, that human connection is extremely important.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Hitman 3 stands as the culmination of IO Interactive's reboot of the series, which took stealth and assassinations into a bunch of intricate, elaborate sandboxes. Though the Hitman series is done (for now), we know IOI's next move: a James Bond game, tentatively titled Project 007. The details on what exactly that game will entail are pretty thin at the moment, but with its three most recent Hitman games essentially forming one big, expansive package, we have a lot of material through which to search for clues as to what the developer might have in mind for an interactive take on 007.We've played a ton of the World of Assassination series, and some aspects of its levels seem like they could work pretty well in a 007 game. At the very least, we've got some ideas about which we can speculate wildly. Take a look below at our notions of how Hitman might inform James Bond when players turn in their ICA 19 for a Walther PPK.Unconventional Solutions (To The Problem Of Killing Guys)Most Bond adventures start with 007 visiting Q to pick up whatever new gadgets the scientists working for MI-6 have devised. So we always see Bond heading into a mission with things like a watch that hides a cutting laser or a car with an ejector seat. The thing is, those items rarely get used in a straightforward way. The ejector seat isn't to save Bond from a wreck but to get rid of a henchman who has Bond at gunpoint.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The Nemesis System used in the games Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-earth: Shadow of War is one of the coolest open-world gameplay hooks we've ever seen, letting you form rivalries against non-player characters based on your previous actions. If you were hoping other games would implement it, however, that will be a lot harder to do now, as Warner Bros. has patented it.As spotted by IGN, this week the US Patent and Trademark Office announced that a patent for the Nemesis System would be valid as of February 23. However, the page listing the issuing date is not available online at the moment.This followed years of attempting to patent the system that went back to shortly after the release of Shadow of Mordor. A filing from 2016 described a system "for managing non-player characters and power centers in a computer game [that] are based on character hierarchies and individualized correspondences between each character's traits or rank and events that involve other non-player characters or objects."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Kadokawa Corporation has given Sony a 1.93% ownership stake in the company, a financial deal that the Japanese media conglomerate says will allow it to utilize Sony's “global expansion power of animation and consumer games.”“We believe that it is necessary to procure such funds in order not to miss potential investment opportunities and to solidify our ability to create IP based on our track record of creating rich and unique IP consisting of a diverse portfolio of books, movies, animations, games, and UGC platforms, both financially and financially,” it said in a statement as reported by VGC.The deal will also see CyberAgent--owner of popular smartphone game developer CyGames--receive the same percentage of shares in the company, which in turn will allow Kadowkawa Corporation to create and develop new intellectual properties in addition to maximizing the IP that it already owns.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Acclaimed and Oscar-winning director Quentin Tarantino has shared his thoughts on 2019's blockbuster smash Joker, and in particular the grisly and uncomfortable talk show scene involving Robert DeNiro's character.In an Empire podcast conversation with director Edgar Wright, Tarantino discussed the scene, in which Joaquin Phoenix's Joker meets DeNiro's Murray Franklin, confesses his murderous ways, and then shoots Franklin in the head.Tarantino said the scene succeeds in subverting expectations and convinces the audience that Joker should kill Franklin.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Tetris Effect and Rez Infinite director Tetsuya Mizuguchi has confirmed that Enhance has begun work on a current-generation title, likely PS5, using past games as an inspiration.Speaking to Famitsu (via VGC), Mizuguchi says that the studio's next game will likely be building off Area X, an area added to Rez Infinite when it launched in 2016 that is widely considered one of the best parts of the re-release."In particular, Area X in Rez Infinite was developed as a 'prologue' to the next game, and we hope to use that concept in the next generation of games," says Mizuguchi. "With the concept and XR technology, we’d like to increase the overall resolution and create a more detailed game."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

We may be almost a year out from the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but just as Nintendo continues to release free content updates for the game, the merch keeps coming as well. Entertainment Earth, a store that offers toys and collectibles for various fandoms, has a new Animal Crossing: New Horizons mini-figure collection with seven characters from the game: Isabelle, Tom Nook, Flick, Flurry, Lolly, Dom, and Marshall.According to the listing, these are Bandai Shokugan figures, which refers to inexpensive yet high-quality toys that, in Japan, are paired with a piece of candy or gum. Sadly, you don't get a snack with this set of figures, and because you're getting all seven Animal Crossing figures together, the collection is also a bit pricey at $48. Each figure is just over 2 inches tall and covered in a soft furry texture, and they come in window boxes with special packaging, making them a nice get for collectors.Animal Crossing: New Horizons Mini-Figure SetUnfortunately, if you're just interested in owning one of the villagers like Marshall or Lolly, they're not available to buy separately. GameStop offers the same Bandai Shokugan figures, but you'll receive one character at random for $8 and won't be able to choose.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The Call of Duty franchise had its best-ever year in 2020, helping parent company Activision Blizzard post its biggest year in the company's three decades of existence. The success of Call of Duty has encouraged Activision Blizzard to look to replicate its model across the company's other franchises to fuel even further growth in the future.As part of Activision Blizzard's latest earnings report, CEO Bobby Kotick said the company's approach to the Call of Duty series will be the model for its other series in the future. Call of Duty has undergone a transformation in recent years, as Activision now operates the franchise across numerous vectors. There is the premium yearly games, the free-to-play battle royale game Warzone, and the mobile game."Our approach to the franchise has become the roadmap we are now applying in many of our other games. Within Call of Duty, we have meaningfully expanded social connections and improved engagement through free-to-play experiences on mobile phones, computers and game consoles. These initiatives expanded franchise reach, with over 250 million people playing Call of Duty last year, more than tripling the 70 million people who played Call of Duty in 2018."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake has been delayed to an unspecified date in the future. It was previously slated to launch in March. This is the game's second public delay, as the game was originally slated to arrive in January."Since announcing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake in September, we saw an outpouring of feedback from you on this beloved franchise," reads a line from the developer's announcement of the delay. "It is your passion and support that is driving our development teams to make the best game possible. We that said, we have made the decision to shift the release for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake to a later date. This extra development time will enable our teams to deliver a remake that feels fresh while remaining faithful to the original.""We understand the update might come as a surprise and we will continue to keep you posted on progress of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake. In the meantime, we want to thank you all for your ongoing support."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

It's the final weekend in Destiny 2 before the release of the Season of the Chosen, which brings a new villain and changes to loot and rewards in the game. That makes this your last chance to visit Xur and get new Exotics before the new season begins. Head to EDZ, to the Winding Cove area, to find Xur this week. For his weapon, Xur is offering Telesto. Hunters can pick up the Gwisin Vest chest armor; for Titans, there's the Severance Enclosure chest armor; and for Warlocks, Xur has Sunbracers gauntlets.Xur LocationYou'll find Xur in the Winding Cove area of the EDZ. Use the nearby transmat point to spawn in, then jump on your sparrow and head north toward the edge of the area. If you take the highway bridge on your left, you'll approach a cave in the wall of the area that will lead you up to a ledge above. There, you'll find Xur, standing beside a crashed Fallen dropship.You'll have to scale a cliff or find a cave pathway to reach the ledge where Xur is waiting in Winding Cove.Xur Exotic ItemsXur's final weapon offering of the Season of the Hunt is Telesto, a powerful fusion rifle that gets a lot of use in the Crucible and beyond. It fires blasts of fusion energy like other weapons of its type, but those bursts of energy stick to surfaces and enemies, exploding later--making it deadly around corners and fired into groups. If you're not a fan of his other options, Xur also sells an Exotic engram that will decrypt into an Exotic you don't already own. He also has the new Xenology Quest, which rewards an Exotic Cipher you can use to purchase Exotics from either Xur or the Tower's Monument to Lost Lights. The quest requires you to either complete Strikes or win matches in Gambit and the Crucible.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Season 3 of Mayans MC, the Sons of Anarchy spin-off on FX, will be revving up and debuting on March 16, and you can check out the first teaser for the new episodes below. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Elgin James shared that the upcoming season will be even darker than the events leading up to this point. Season 2 of Mayans MC was particularly interesting because it provided an update on the SoA world, but since that season also aired in 2019, it's been a while. (The Season 2 cliffhanger set up a much deeper SoA connection.) For those who need a refresher--which is perfectly understandable, since Sons of Anarchy started in 2008 and ended in 2014, and the spin-off began in 2018--we have an explainer on how Mayans M.C. connects with the original series. Those links might be helpful to hop to and read before reading James's recent comments--but be aware there are potential spoilers in the next paragraph."Season 3 picks up just a few months after the slaughter of Vatos Malditos," says James (via Entertainment Weekly). "EZ, now fully patched, struggles to find his footing within the club's hierarchy and, haunted by his murder of Dita, finds himself torn between darkness and the gravitational pull of his new love interest."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com