The PS5-exclusive Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was announced during Sony's official console reveal on June 11, and the game is taking advantage of the console's new hardware features in order to push the series even further. In a developer diary video, creative director Marcus Smith explained just what that will mean for gameplay, including jumping between completely different worlds on the fly.In the video below, you can see Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart gameplay as Marcus Smith explains why it is only possible on PS5. After a mysterious enemy arrives and accidentally damages the fabric of space-time itself, portals to alternate dimensions begin to appear. Because of the PS5's ultra-fast solid-state drive, or SSD, our heroes can jump between these worlds almost instantly. You can see them marked in the world with a wavy, cracked portal, and there is no loading screen before you arrive in the new world."Long gone are loading screens," Smith added. "Now, it's all about bringing exciting new adventures."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Introduced earlier this year to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Warzone, the Grau 5.56 assault rifle is one of the most powerful weapons in the game right now, performing well in most situations and capable of holding its own in close-range and long-range scenarios. However, it has been accused of being overpowered, and Infinity Ward is looking to give it a nerf in a future update.Answering a fan's question on Twitter, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare co-design director of multiplayer Joe Cecot said the development team has several weapon adjustments in the works for a mid-season update. There isn't a definitive date for when the Grau will receive a nerf, but there will be full patch notes available when it occurs.We have a batch of weapon tuning in the works for the mid season update. Patch notes will outline when they drop :) https://t.co/QlaTguFOLJ — Joe Cecot (@JoeCecot) June 19, 2020Players have been calling for the Grau to be nerfed for months, calling it a more powerful weapon than the similar M4A1 that was capable of ruining the game's balance. The M4A1 was already one of the strongest guns in Modern Warfare when it launched last year, combining devastating range with a high rate of fire to make it effective in nearly every situation.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Over the last several weeks, the Florida-based gaming event GCX has been hosting gaming livestream marathons on several different platforms, including Facebook, Mixer, and Twitch. All donations go toward St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and thus far, organizers have raised more than $6 million.Six MILLION Dollars.#GamingDoesGoodThank you. pic.twitter.com/IFvIjNgCIP — GCX (@GCXEvent) June 21, 2020The majority of that money has come from Twitch donations since June 14, and they wrap up today. From June 12 through June 14, they took place on Mixer, and were held on Facebook from June 5 through June 7. Segments have included big-name streamers and creators such as Greg Miller, CohhCarnage, and DrLupo, and Bungie even had its own segment on June 18.Because it could not move forward with an in-person event like it typically does, GCX is also selling tickets to a 2021 event in Orlando. Provided the pandemic is under control by then, this will feature game developers, streamers, artists, and fans who can celebrate gaming together while they raise money for charity.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

New Releases highlights the top video games launching each week, and this one is loaded with cartoon action thanks to SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle For Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated and Ninjala. You can also revisit Borderlands 3 thanks to the new expansion Bounty of Blood - A Fistful of Redemption, while Xbox One gamers can finally get their hands on The Foundation DLC for Control. Finally, Night Call is getting a console launch.SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle For Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated -- June 23Available on: PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PCThis remaster of the original Battle for Bikini Bottom doesn't just look better--it also includes includes content cut from the original game. You can even play an all-new multiplayer mode with both cooperative and competitive modes. PS4 Pro and Xbox One X owners can see the sponge in shiny 4K resolution too.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The Last of Us Part II has broken sales records in the UK. The PlayStation 4-exclusive is now the UK's top-selling title of all time over its first week in terms of boxed sales alone.The game beat out another Naughty Dog exclusive--2016's Uncharted 4: A Thief's End--by 1 percent to claim the record, according to sales charts obtained by GI.biz.The charts cover physical game sales exclusively, so this only captures one element of The Last of Us Part II's launch results. Digital game sales have been growing over the years for Sony and other companies. For Sony's latest period, it sold 66 percent of its games digitally.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

EA's Chief Studios boss Laura Miele has shared some new insight on the company's first next-generation games, one of which is EA Sports' Madden NFL 21. Miele said the game will not only look better and load faster thanks to the power of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, but it will also contain some under-the-hood improvements to make the game more authentic to the NFL experience.She told GI.biz that Madden NFL 21 will make use of "next-gen stats" that will seemingly include updated player stats in real time. Here's how she described the feature: "In Madden we will be using the NFL's next gen stats so every athlete in the game will play how they do in real life, with the data being updated in real-time."Player ratings are a huge part of the Madden series--it's always a big deal each year when the ratings are revealed and players react to them. Changes are made regularly in previous games, based on real-world performance, but it sounds like Madden NFL 21 will take things even further by updating them in "real time."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Is there golf on Mars? There is now. Desert Golfing, one of the best mobile games of the last decade, has just received a sequel, and it's called Golf On Mars. The game is available now, and costs $3 on iOS and Android. It's also coming to Steam on June 29, if you'd rather play with a mouse.Developer Captain Games returns for the sequel, which once again serves up literally millions of holes, all pseudo-randomly generated--meaning that while every player will encounter the same holes, they've all been designed by the same algorithm.You play with simple swipe aim controls, and the goal is, essentially, to go as far as you can with as few strokes as possible. Most players will aim to get their average down, but there's no end goal--you can theoretically keep playing forever. The game is set in the year 2866 when Mars has been 35% terraformed, but don't expect much of a narrative.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Police cars have been removed from Epic's hugely popular battle royale game Fortnite, players have noticed following the release of the Chapter 2, Season 3 update. A source connected to the game told The Wall Street Journal that the removal of the cop cars was in response to the murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minnesota. However, the source said Epic Games was not trying to make a "political statement" but was instead attempting to be "sensitive about the issues" going on the world today.Earlier this year, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney spoke about politics in gaming. "If a game tackles politics (or: weighty social issues), it should come from the heart of designers through the game, and not from marketing departments seeking to profit from division," he said.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Ninjala is coming to Switch as a free-to-play title on June 24, and the game's launch trailer shows off some of the frantic action you can expect in its eight-player battles. It also, for some reason, opens with a strange little homage to West Side Story.The musical, which was adapted into a film in 1961 and is getting remade by Steven Spielberg, is about a clash between two teenage street gangs, and a love affair between members of opposing sides. While Ninjala also has warring gangs, it's not clear whether the game's Story mode will deal with any of the complex themes of the musical--although it seems unlikely.The trailer also shows plenty of gameplay footage, so you can check out some examples of the unique powers each character will possess, and witness some intense brawls. Despite an aesthetic that looks like it's inspired by Splatoon, the gameplay is clearly very different.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Weta Digital, the effects studio owned by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and screenwriter Fran Walsh, is expanding. The New Zealand-based company has launched a new animation studio, and it will make original content for the first time in the outfit's quarter-century history.Prem Akkaraju has been named the CEO of Weta Animated. He is the co-founder of SR Labs with entrepreneur Sean Parker, who himself is a member of Weta Digital's board of directors and an investor in the company.Weta Animated will make original animated content for cinema and streaming, Weta said in a press release announcing the venture. Jackson and Walsh will write, produce, and direct "several" of the new animated projects at Weta Animated.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Sir Ian Holm, the actor who portrayed Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy (among many other roles over his long career), passed away on June 19 at the age of 88. Tributes have poured in for the actor, and on June 20 Jackson himself weighed in on what made Holm special, and what his presence on the set of the Lord of the Rings trilogy meant to him.Jackson, who posted his tribute on Facebook, opens by saying that Holm was "was such a delightful, generous man. Quiet, but cheeky, with a lovely twinkle in his eye." He recalls being nervous about "working with such an esteemed actor" before shooting his beloved trilogy, but writes about how Holm "immediately put (him) at ease." He recalls how Holm alerted him that he would "be trying different things in every take," and that if he hadn't given Jackson what he needed after five or six, he should give him specific direction."Incredibly his varied line reads and performances were all quite wonderful," Jackson recalls. "He rarely needed direction. He gave us an amazing range of choices to select from in the cutting room." He recalls how Holm enchanted a group of kids they were filming with during a long shoot with a lot of downtime by telling them stories between recording.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Although the game is content-complete, CD Projekt Red delayed Cyberpunk 2077 to November of this year for bug-fixing. The developer subsequently held a call with investors regarding the delay, and during the 45-minute presentation, the studio confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077's multiplayer is also delayed and spoke about the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X editions--including how they will be free for existing players.Cyberpunk 2077's expansions and multiplayer modes are going to be delayed proportionally with the game release. "When it comes to multiplayer, similarly to the expansions, its launch is going to be proportionally delayed as well. Although multiplayer is a bit more distant anyway," the company said.On the subject of Cyberpunk 2077 being playable on PS5 and Xbox Series X, the company said that the current-gen game will be playable on those consoles at launch with a next-gen patch that adds some improvements based on the horsepower of those consoles. "It will look better on next-generation consoles," the company said. However, a "more robust update" will come later. This next-gen edition will be free for everyone who bought Cyberpunk 2077 on PS4 or Xbox One. The full details on the upgrade scheme, however, have not been announced.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Demon's Souls is getting a PS5 remake, and it looks stunning. Now, a single new screenshot has emerged on the official PlayStation 5 games site, and while a single new screenshot often isn't newsworthy, this one is different.The screenshot, below, shows what we believe is the Tower Knight, a huge boss encountered in the courtyard of Boletarian Palace in the original game. The fight against Tower Knight was made very difficult in the original release by eight archers who attacked you during the encounter, and we imagine it'll remain difficult on PS5.Demon's Souls for PlayStation 5This screenshot is also another example of just how good Demon's Souls will look on PS5, thanks to the expertise of developer Bluepoint Games.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Following a tease dating back to November 2019, Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time has leaked thanks to listings filed by the Taiwan Digital Game Rating Committee. The listings state that the game is being developed for PS4 and Xbox One (with Xbox Series X compatibility, according to the box art). No official announcement has been made regarding the game, nor do we know when one might be coming, although ratings board listings are often solid predictors of impending reveals. Here's what we know about Crash 4 based on the leak.The listing includes a blurb (translated by Gematsu) for the first numbered sequel since Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped on the original PlayStation, which was the last in the series to be developed by The Last of Us Part II developer Naughty Dog. It mentions new masks akin to that of Aku-Aku--a series stalwart and familiar companion to Crash Bandicoot."Crash is relaxing and exploring his island in his time, 1998, when he finds a mysterious mask hidden away in a cave, Lani-Loli," the translation reads. "The mask is one of the Quantum Masks and apparently knows Aku-Aku, Crash's mask friend! With the Quantum Masks returning and a Quantum Rift appearing near our heroes, they decide to bravely head through to different times and dimensions to stop whoever is responsible."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The PS5-exclusive Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was announced during Sony's official console reveal on June 11, and the game is taking advantage of the console's new hardware features in order to push the series even further. In a developer diary video, creative director Marcus Smith explained just what that will mean for gameplay, including jumping between completely different worlds on the fly.In the video below, you can see Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart gameplay as Marcus Smith explains why it is only possible on PS5. After a mysterious enemy arrives and accidentally damages the fabric of space-time itself, portals to alternate dimensions begin to appear. Because of the PS5's ultra-fast solid-state drive, or SSD, our heroes can jump between these worlds almost instantly. You can see them marked in the world with a wavy, cracked portal, and there is no loading screen before you arrive in the new world."Long gone are loading screens," Smith added. "Now, it's all about bringing exciting new adventures."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com