No Man’s Sky New Expansion Dropping this Week

Origins is coming this week.

Patch notes will be released soon with it as well. The No Man’s Sky team has transformed the game greatly since its initial release in 2016 when it received a ton of negative criticism. The team remained persistent and has been releasing steady content over the years. The next is coming this week as Origins. See their statement below!

Statement from the NMS Team:

“Four years ago we announced FOUNDATION, our first major update for No Man’s Sky, we promised “It won’t be our largest update, but it is the start of something”. Those words were true at the time, and they ring true for Origins. We called it Origins because it is the beginning of something new, as No Man’s Sky continues to grow and evolve.

Beyond came out last year, bringing VR and hugely expanded Online play, and since then we have focused on releasing more regular updates. SYNTHESIS, BYTEBEAT, LIVING SHIP, EXO MECH, CROSSPLAY, and DESOLATION have been some of our most popular, surprising and transformative updates – leading No Man’s Sky to have its biggest year to date.

We know there is a huge appetite in the community for No Man’s Sky content, and the team has worked our socks off this year to deliver in difficult circumstances. We have been quiet, but we are always listening and focusing on improving the game that our team loves and feels so passionately about.

This update will be another small step in a longer journey. We hope you can join us.”

Microsoft to Purchase Bethesda Company

What does this mean for Bethesda Games?

Microsoft has officially announced that they will move forward with the purchase of game company Bethesda. Most of you are probably familiar with Bethesda or their huge blockbuster game franchises such as Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Wolfenstein, and more. Microsoft has agreed to purchase the company for $7.5 Billion.

More specifically the purchase for is ZeniMax Media – the parent company of Bethesda and Id software. The deal is stated to close in 2021. Microsoft has stated that Bethesda will still operate in its own division and retain current company structure.

So what does this mean?

Aside from giving Microsoft even more game studios under its belt and some control of these franchises, many may be worried about games becoming exclusive to only Xbox/PC. I personally don’t think the biggest franchises will become exclusive to Xbox and PC. The bottom line is if they did become exclusive they would be missing a lot of sales from people who only have a different platform. Exclusivity may drive demand for Xbox up, but at the same time Microsoft is pushing for cloud gaming with their newly released XCloud. This would remove some need for consoles, thereby making sales of copies of the games a bigger source of revenue.

Official Microsoft Release

Super Mario 3D All-Stars Gives You Everything You Could Want – Except Super Mario Galaxy 2

In case you weren’t aware, this year is Mario’s 35th birthday and Nintendo is pulling out all of the stops.

Well, maybe not all of them. As with anything, there are more than a few complaints about the Big N’s plans to celebrate everyone’s favorite plumber’s big day, but we’ll get to that later.

First, we have a Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection coming that will consist of Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy. That covers three generations of 3D Mario platforming and only leaves out one big game (two if you count Super Mario 3D World) and that is Super Mario Galaxy 2.

A refresh though not a remake like the SNES Super Mario All-Stars, this 3D Mario collection will be available until March of next year. That’s right – it’s a time-limited release. So, if you want to pick it up, you’ll probably want to do that before it becomes unavailable. Oh, and speaking of the aforementioned Super Mario 3D World (originally released on the ill-fated Wii U), that game will be coming out for the Switch next year. It looks like it will feature some new content, too, which will perhaps breathe new life into the multiplayer concept the game had at its core. Called Bowser’s Fury, Nintendo didn’t really show off much about this added content. And speaking of the Super Nintendo classic collection we mentioned above as well, that is available now for the Switch on the SNES retro store.

But Nintendo didn’t stop there. We also got an augmented reality Mario Kart race car toy-slash-gadget that is likely to drive kids nuts this Christmas. Whether or not this will get the same amount of love that the Labo got remains to be seen. Nonetheless, it is a cool concept and one that would be really cool to expand upon. Players set up race tracks in their home and then the Mario character-themed carts that have cameras attached to them race around in an AR world with the mechanics of the Mario games. It really has to be seen to be believed.

Nintendo will also bring out a new Game and Watch featuring classic Mario games. We’re sure this is going to become this year’s scalper gadget special though who knows. Maybe Nintendo will implement a system like Sony is using for their PlayStation 5 preorders and invite people who sign up to purchase their Game and Watch.

Last, but certainly not least, is Nintendo’s take on the battle royale concept with the original NES Super Mario Bros. being rechristened Super Mario 35. Taking a page from Tetris 99, this game pits 35 players against one another in classic NES Mario stages with the last Mario standing the winner. It’s a neat concept and an online-only purchase on the Nintendo store.

Outside of gaming-related content, Nintendo is also planning a series of events to celebrate Mario and his contribution to video game history.

What do you think of Nintendo’s anniversary plans surrounding Mario? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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Xbox Game Pass Adds EA Play for no extra charge

EA Play coming this holiday to Xbox Game Pass.

You heard that right, Microsoft is partnering up with EA to add the entire EA Play collection to the Xbox game pass for no extra cost. You might remember EA’s service as EA Access or Origin Access, but it has been re-branded to EA Play.

You will soon be able to play the entire EA Play library with your $4.99 game pass subscription. That includes more than 60 of EA’s greatest games like Battlefield, FIFA, Mass Effect, and Need for Speed titles just to name a few. Also, yes it will be for both Xbox consoles and Windows PC.

In my opinion it would be silly to not have a $4.99 game pass subscription once this comes out. Also don’t forget new members can get game pass for only $1 for the first month.

Full details from Microsoft here.

Winners of the 2nd Gamer Bias Valorant Tournament – MFC!

Congrats to MFC for winning our 2nd Valorant Tournament.

Shout out to team Supreme Royale Gaming for placing 2nd and giving us an exciting finals match!

Thank you to all of the participants for joining us and competing.

  • MFC
  • Supreme Royale Gaming
  • Off-Meta
  • Oligarchy Gaming
  • Unknown

Stay tuned for more tournaments with new games as well!

You can catch all the matches on our Twitch Channels:

https://www.twitch.tv/gamerbiasofficial/videos

More match VODs here

Batman is Dead and Night Falls Over Gotham Knights

The world has waited long enough for a new Batman game because the makers of the Arkham series of excellent titles decided to reveal some huge news at the recent DCFandome.

Basically, Batman is dead and that’s not totally a bad thing. In fact, he needs a replacement and that’s where you and all sorts of other DC Comics luminaries come into play.

In what essentially sounds like the upcoming Avengers game but with Batman IP and the Arkham pedigree, Gotham Knights promises fanboys and newcomers alike more than enough content to keep them entertained in a Bruce Wayne-less Gotham.

Per the game’s own website:

“Batman is dead. A new expansive, criminal underworld has swept the streets of Gotham City. It is now up to the Batman Family; Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Robin; to protect Gotham, bring hope to its citizens, discipline to its cops, and fear to its criminals. From solving mysteries that connect the darkest chapters in the city’s history to defeating notorious villains in epic confrontations, you must evolve into the new Dark Knight and save the streets from descent into chaos.

Gotham Knights is an open-world, action RPG set in the most dynamic and interactive Gotham City yet. In either solo-play or with one other hero, patrol Gotham’s five distinct boroughs and drop in on criminal activity wherever you find it.”

Characters on tap so far include the Red Hood, Robin, Batgirl, and Nightwing. As if the reveal at the DCFandome didn’t underscore how much of a love letter this is to fans, the gameplay and differentiation between the characters – as well as the huge cast of enemies on tap – should erase any remaining doubts.

But the game won’t just include classic characters but also nods to more recent developments in the DC Universe, such as the Court of Owls enemy that Batman has faced off against beginning in 2011. Variety reports that each character will have their own unique combat style and weaponry that will hearken back to the characters as depicted in the Batman serials.

Best of all is that no one will have to wait for very long to get their hands on this game and try it out for themselves. Slated for release in 2021, Gotham Knights will be on next-gen consoles, naturally, but will also make an appearance on current-gen systems. There will be an online element with multiplayer cooperative being a big deal. In fact, players will be able to star as the same character (an earlier fan concern) though we don’t know if they will be distinguishable by gear load-outs or what. Given that this game does aim to have RPG mechanics as a big selling point, we would imagine that gear is a big deal in the course of the game but that’s just our own speculation. 

What do you think? Does Gotham Knights sound like something you would be interested in buying? Are you a fan of the Arkham games? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below if you like.

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Halo Infinite’s Delays Blamed on Interesting Things

The announcement of Halo Infinite came as little surprise to people who had paid attention to rumors over the past several years.

But its delay was no less disappointing and now we’re learning that it is due to some pretty special circumstances, namely the ongoing work on the Halo television series, among other things.

That’s what Thurrott is reporting and the website claims that inside sources pin the delay of Halo Infinite on, among other things, the television series as well as extensive outsourcing of the game’s development.

The television series is cited as a particularly huge time sink. But there’s also the added pressure of trying to bring out a launch title game.

Halo Infinite is being built around the all-new SlipSpace engine and the complexities of that development have made a launch timeframe for the game’s release nearly impossible.

In fact, the E3 demo shown off last year was of a game that was “was not in a state that was playable at that level of fidelity.”

Thurrott also quotes this unnamed insider source on the extensive outsourcing on the project as saying, “The coordination between the many different companies contributing to Infinite has been rough, at best. One person familiar with the company’s plans indicated that they believed the out-sourcing for Infinite was at a ratio higher than a typical studio undertakes during development which has caused significant headaches for cross-development collaboration.”

Of course, none of this is mentioned in the official statement from the studio:

“Today I want to share an important Halo Infinite development update with the community. We have made the difficult decision to shift our release to 2021 to ensure the team has adequate time to deliver a Halo game experience that meets our vision.

The decision to shift our release is the result of multiple factors that have contributed to development challenges, including the ongoing COVID-related impacts affecting us all this year. I want to acknowledge the hard work from our team at 343 Industries, who have remained committed to making a great game and finding solutions to development challenges. However, it is not sustainable for the well-being of our team or the overall success of the game to ship it this holiday.

We know this will be disappointing to many of you and we all share in that sentiment. The passion and support the community has shown over the years has been incredible and inspiring. We wanted nothing more than to play our game with the community this holiday. The extra time will let us finish the critical work necessary to deliver the most ambitious Halo game ever at the quality we know our fans expect.”

Really, though, if you’ve paid attention since the infamous gameplay reveal, it’s probably not that shocking that they’re going to take a little more time with everything.

Not only did that gameplay reveal last month provide ample meme material for the more creative out there, but it also drew derisive commentary from Halo skeptics and even some disappointed comments from diehard fans. Since nothing is finalized it would be a shame to judge something this early and now it looks like Microsoft’s marquee property is going to take a little bit more time to make sure everything is just right.

As for when exactly the game will be coming out that is still up in the air at the moment.

What do you think of the uproar over Halo Infinite’s gameplay reveal? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Fall Guys Update Coming

The uber-popular multiplayer party royale game Fall Guys is getting a much-needed update, developer Mediatonic announced.

This patch will be aimed at addressing certain player complaints as well as a few system-specific issues that have crept up since the game’s release on August 4.

And a new patch isn’t the only news that the Fall Guys had up their sleeve.

As for the patch itself, we’re looking at a new round selection algorithm that will only pit teams of equal sizes against one another, sorting party members in Spectator mode, and a few PS4-only changes including inverted controls and other customization options for the player’s controller.

Other changes include the inability to grab onto certain objects in Slime Climb, a change in the geometry for Jump Showdown to prevent gameplay exploits as well as a quick fix to the auto-panning issue, and some UI changes to make purchases easier and more clear in their language.

Mediatonic also announced that the top five reasons behind the game crashing were fixed and also implemented some visual fixes to the way the outfits display. There were also some graphical adjustments introduced for non-Pro PlayStation 4 models. The Japanese market got the option to change the button binding for Jump while Trophy and Achievements are now displayed correctly in languages other than English. 

Interestingly, one update that the social media team posted but maybe wasn’t supposed to mention is the fix to the “speed nerf” that the yellow team had. The tweet says, exactly, “Removed move speed nerf from Yellow Team (Don’t post this one).” Who knows what that is about.

In other news, Geoff Keighley is using none other than Gamescom to announce Season 2 for Fall Guys on August 25. 

Fall Guys has become somewhat of a sensation since its release and it’s really no surprise. Capitalizing on the popularity of the “battle royale” genre plus the already-addictive gameplay that underpins titles like the Mario Party games and you have a potent combination.

And, as far as recommendations go, we can’t help but give Fall Guys two thumbs up. It’s not only a good time but it is strangely addictive. The online component really takes everything to the next level and provides you with an almost infinite amount of replay value. Beyond that, however, it is really cool to see the battle royale idea going in new directions.

Since it is geared towards the broadest audience possible, this game is great for anyone looking for a good time. You don’t need to worry about bringing a crowd with you and you also don’t have a huge amount of pressure on your back to be the best. There’s something really relaxing and freeing about the huge team sizes and the chaos that ensues. Many of the challenges actually feel like that old Japanese gameshow Takeshi’s Castle and the ensuing antics also have that kind of chaotic slapstick quality to them.

What about you? Do you plan on getting Fall Guys or do you already have it? Let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments.

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