Gorgeous New NieR: Automata Statue Revealed

Update, 11/29/21: Deck Nine has revealed the new release date for Life Is Strange: True Colors on Switch after it was delayed back in September.  Originally set to release in September alongside the other versions of the game, True Colors was delayed to a later unannounced date to put less pressure on the team for the release of True Colors. Now, Deck Nine has revealed that True Colors will hit Switch digitally on December 7, as reported by Video Games Chronicle. The physical release of it on Switch won't happen until February 25, 2022, though.  Before picking up True Colors next week on Switch, be sure to check out our thoughts on it in Game Informer's Life Is Strange: True Colors review.  The original story continues below... Original Story, 8/12/21: Life is Strange: True Colors is just around the corner, and while the team over at Deck Nine is working on Alex's story, as well as the Wavelengths DLC that stars Steph Gingrich, the studio did announce a delay for the Life is Strange: Remastered Collection.  Deck Nine offered an update on the Life is Strange series in a recent social media post, including confirmation that Life is Strange: True Colors will arrive on September 10, with the Wavelengths DLC slated for a September 30 release. Life is Strange: Remastered was originally expected to launch around the same time, but Deck Nine wants to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its team, which is incredibly important. To do just that, the decision has been made to push back the Remastered Collection to sometime early 2022.  Deck Nine via Twitter In recent years, hidden studio culture has been slowly coming to light. We're seeing it now with the Activision Blizzard lawsuit. We've seen it with other studios like Rockstar Games, Riot, and Ubisoft, and we've even seen worrisome reports from indie studios, as well. Now, more than ever, teams must look out for one another to promote safe and healthy work environments. Not just in games but all industries. Though it's easy to be a little disappointed when an anticipated title is pushed back, it's better to take care of those crafting these adventures than to burn out the experience totally. Whenever the Remastered Collection arrives, we're excited to dive back into the journey of Max and Chloe once more.  UPDATE: The Nintendo Switch version of Life is Strange has also been pushed back:  Additionally, Life is Strange: True Colors for Nintendo Switch is running a little late. We won’t be quite ready to release on September 10 – but we still plan to release this year. Please watch our channels for a confirmed date over the coming weeks! — Life is Strange (@LifeIsStrange) August 12, 2021 To learn more about the world of Life is Strange, be sure to check out our True Colors hub here to learn more about the newest protagonist and the darker side of empathy.  If comments are still showing as disabled, a site update is happening on our side that has caused a temporary takedown. We hope to have them back up and running soon so our community can go back to sharing their thoughts with us about everything gaming-related! 

PlayStation Store welcomes the End of Year Deals promotion on Monday, November 29. For a limited time* enjoy discounts on titles such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Deluxe PS4 & PS5, Jurassic World Evolution and Days Gone – Digital Deluxe Edition. 270 FS Points 2K Ball N’ Brawl Bundle 36 Fragments of Midnight 550 FS Points […]

Prepare your beans for the Party Spectacular. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout Season 6 drops November 30, bringing a festival-themed makeover to the Blunderdome. An all-star lineup is headlined by five new Rounds, our wildest obstacles to date and costumes fit for the carnival of Crowns. We’ve teamed up with PlayStation to take you ‘behind the […]

The first season of Game Informer’s Video Gameography explores the history of the Metroid series, and this episode is set to wrap our talk on Retro Studio's epic trilogy of Prime with a detailed discussion of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.  Released on August 27, 2007 for Nintendo's Wii, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is often considered one of the best games on Nintendo's unique motion sensing console. During today's show we talk about what made 2007 such an phenomenal year and why we Prime 3 often gets overlook in the shuffle. We also talk about how Prime 3 might be the best entry in the Prime series thanks to it innovative motion controls and the Hypermode system, which allowed Samus to dish out some serious damage. Finally, we speculate if Samus is just an intergalactic version of Batman. Join hosts Ben Reeves (@BenjaminReeves), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), and special guest, lead community producer at Twitch Zach Ryan (@ZachariusD) for the next hour as we explore Metroid Prime's lore, development history, and lasting impact.  If you'd like to get in touch with the Video Gameography podcast, you can email us at [email protected] You can also join our official Game Informer Discord server by linking your Discord account to your Twitch account and subscribing to the Game Informer Twitch channel. From there, find the Video Gameography channel under "Community Spaces."

If you buy the yearly iteration of your favorite sports video game, chances are you haven’t had much to cheer about the last few years. To put it bluntly, the genre is struggling, and even the new console generation hasn’t been the answer to rejuvenating it. Take just this year, for example. Metacritic scores are anything but impressive for the biggest sports around. Madden NFL 22 earned an abysmal 60, NHL 22, which promised to change its metagame, disappointed with a 74. NBA 2K has largely been the franchise to beat, but NBA 2K22 only holds a 76, some of the lowest marks the series has seen in years. FIFA 22 and MLB: The Show 21 earned the highest averages, around 78, but it’s telling that none of these franchises could even crack the 80 mark.  This downward trend has been going for some time now, and I’ve grown irritated seeing modes largely untouched and similar technical errors carrying over year to year. It’s like watching your favorite sports team when they’re in a slump. How long do you wait it out and watch the continual losses pile up before you just walk away and hope next season fares better?  The problem is, the hope that the following entry fares better has lingered for too many seasons now, and it’s not just with one or two franchises. It’s across the board. Last generation, the sports genre exploded with innovation, making sports games look and play the closest they ever have to real life. In addition, developers were looking at unique ways to build a community around them and cater to multiple types of players, from creating robust franchise modes to offering skill-based online play. And, most importantly, they were finding new and interesting ways to captivate the sports fan. Visual Concepts showed the power of sports storytelling, making NBA 2K’s MyCareer a must-play by letting you create a player and take them on a cinematic journey that delved into the highs and lows of stardom. It opened a world of potential and lit a fire in their competitors, with FIFA creating Alex Hunter: The Journey and NHL’s Be A Pro becoming a choice-driven story. Heck, Visual Concepts had so much success it even implemented a storyline into NBA 2K18 and 19’s franchise mode, albeit with mixed results. But at the very least, developers were trying new things, taking risks, and learning from one another about engagement and what kept people playing their game year-round.   These days, sports games play it safe, offering graphical upgrades and a few new features to get by, but no series is really trying to reinvigorate the formula or shake up what’s been done before. And even when efforts are made, they feel half-hearted. For instance, NHL 22 tried to get inspiration from Madden by introducing Superstar X-Factors and made a push to shake up its metagame. The problem? These X-Factors ended up being a non-factor in making the gameplay more rewarding or exciting, and the metagame didn’t change enough to be notable, except for its flaws. What’s more frustrating is watching various modes just go neglected without meaningful changes for years on end. I can’t remember the last time NBA 2K, NHL, or FIFA really touched Franchise mode. Madden made an attempt this year with Franchise mode, but it wasn't nearly enough to make it a must-play. Even worse is the stuff that doesn’t work or needs improving stays the same; NHL’s dialogue in Be A Pro is laughable, and its poke check remains overpowered while Madden is still full of odd glitches and a clunky interface.  Sports games’ annual releases don’t allow time for wide-scale changes, but each year has always been about the developers making smart improvements to the foundation. I’ve come to expect a game in any sports franchise will play smoother each year, and specific modes will get a bigger focus with more effort toward meaningful additions. And when the gameplay starts to fizzle, developers will begin to invest in new strategies to keep it interesting, like finding ways to change the metagame or implementing a new system that changes how the gameplay feels, like NHL 19’s improved skating. But too much is staying the same for too long in a lot of franchises. Madden’s gameplay code is so old at this point that the developers are just working around the same problems, from snapped-to animations to players running into each other post-play, even when they try to add new features. It also feels like sports games are at a crossroads of deciding what they need to be for this generation of gamers. I don’t envy this decision, as there are many different reasons sports fans pick up the controller. Ask anyone what their favorite mode is and why, and you’ll get a multitude of answers. One thing never changes, though: These games are meant to have a long tail and be played year-round. This has caused many developers to invest significantly in online-centric modes that they can keep updating throughout the year. But even here, the rewards never seem great enough, or worse, they feel very generic in their execution. The limited resources don’t make the decision of what to focus on easy for developers. It’s a constant tug-of-war between keeping the hardcore fans happy and bringing in new players via more casual offerings, like FIFA’s Volta, Madden’s The Yard, and NHL’s Pro-Am. Somebody is always left out in the cold, and lately, it’s been the players dedicated to more single-player ventures like franchise modes. Let’s face it: Modes like these don’t bring in any extra cash.  NBA 2K22 probably made the most significant leap this year, trying to merge its popular MyCareer mode with The City, its bustling online world, where players can play against each other in pickup games and tournaments and shop around. Visual Concepts still has a long way to go with dialing down its intrusive microtransactions here, and it’s still too empty to be fun to explore, but I see the potential.  I just saw that WWE 2K22 is forgoing its usual fall release to allow more time to shore things up, and while the series has been full of highs and lows, I like the creativity that continues to shine in its various modes and how it caters to the things that excite hardcore fans. There’s 2K Showcase Mode, WWE 2K’s playable documentary where you follow the career of a legendary wrestler or a historical period and take on pivotal matches; My Faction allows you to assemble and manage your own stable to rival greats like The Four Horsemen; and this year, it’s introducing MyRise, a new spin on MyCareer that allows you to guide a WWE rookie to stardom in a choice-driven adventure.  To be fair, the challenges of COVID-19 have undoubtedly made the last couple of years even more difficult and taxing for the genre. However, these problems were already coming to a head at the end of the previous generation, and they’re not going away. A roster upgrade just isn’t enough these days to keep fans at bay, and it’s the loyal fans who end up feeling burned for getting their excitement up for another season, only to see the same problems pop up again. Developers need to be unafraid to push the reset button and maybe take some extra time to rethink their game. As it is, sports contain a great deal of creativity and excitement, but that experience isn’t translating video games. Why? Because developers keep using the same playbook. They don’t want to take the risky play that nets the glory for fear of failure, but I’d rather see these games try something new and fail than give me the same tired experience I’ve played for years now.