NLG - Next Level Gaming

According to a new report from Kotaku  and confirmed by The Verge , Nintendo has closed its offices in California and Toronto. The shuttering of the office in Redwood City, California, affects around 100 employees within Nintendo's Sales and Marketing department, as well as its NMI, which is "a dedicated merchandising field team who work with retail stores across the country." Kotaku's article mentions "many of the now-displaced staff were upset over the decision."  Nintendo has confirmed the closures in a statement to The Verge. Here is the statement in full:  Nintendo of America headquarters are in Redmond, WA, and Vancouver, BC. We are moving more of our employees and operations into those headquarters and will be closing small satellite offices in Toronto, ON, and Redwood City, CA, over time.  Devon Pritchard, Executive Vice President, Business Affairs and Publisher Relations for Nintendo of America (NOA), will assume interim leadership of Sales, M

Each year brings hundreds of new board and card games to the market, and even the recent dampener on social get-togethers hasn’t halted the flow. Without fail, in each year, some of the most popular themes include horror, monsters, magic, and mystery – perfect fits for a Halloween get-together. Whether you’re looking to head to the game store and snag something for a game night this weekend, or you’re planning farther out, and you’re just a fan of games about things that go bump in the night, each of these recent releases provides a lovely evening of fun, with just the right mix of amusement and spooky vibes. Horrified: American Monsters Publisher: Ravensburger A standalone follow-up to the original Horrified release from 2019, the new American Monsters variant offers enough new content to justify a purchase if you already loved the first one. However, this version is also a perfectly solid entry point if this is your first go-around. Where the first game featured baddies like F

With Halloween just days away, we thought it would be fun to post our Game Over page from issue 319  of Game Informer , highlighting some of the creepiest entries found within the Pokédex. Not every Pokémon is cute and cuddly, many are dangerous and pose a serious threat to the lives of others. Without further ado, here are The Scariest and Creepiest Entries in The Pokédex: So, you wish Pokemon were real? Maybe reading these creepy facts from the various Pokémon games will make you think twice.

Earlier this month, the Pokémon Trading Card Game released its special Celebrations expansion to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise as a whole. While that limited expansion was focused squarely on the past, the world of Pokémon TCG pushes ahead with its newest expansion, Sword & Shield – Fusion Strike. Earlier this year, The Pokémon Company released its Sword & Shield – Battle Styles expansion, which introduced a new mechanic that allows players to use special variants of Pokémon to either deliver a knockout blow or approach battles more strategically. This latest expansion, Sword & Shield – Fusion Strike, expands on that mechanic with new Fusion Strike cards that typically gain bonuses when other Pokémon with Fusion Strike are in play. The idea is to let players create synergies between their Pokémon through Fusion Strike Style decks. The Fusion Strike expansion adds 20 Pokémon V, 13 full-art Pokémon V cards, and 8 Pokémon VMAX cards, including a

A few weeks ago, we published a detailed rundown of what horror games we think you should play this Halloween season. But with no trick or treating this year, you're going to have a lot of extra time on your hands to be scared. Luckily for you, Game Informer is always here to help. Rather than suggesting horror video games for you to play, this time we're here to run down some scary movies we think you should watch if you like things that go bump in the night.  Did you like Friday the 13th: The Game? Check out Sleepaway Camp It would be too easy to recommend a Friday the 13th movie here. Instead, you should watch the criminally underappreciated Sleepaway Camp . Released in 1983 by director Robert Hiltzik, Sleepaway Camp tells the story of Angela Baker and her stay at Camp Arawak. Angela doesn't quite fit in and is often bullied by the older kids at camp, or much worse, tried to be taken advantage of by the adults running the camp. Conspicuously, though, all these pe

Uh oh! It’s Halloween weekend, and you still don't have a costume for yourself or your children? Fear not! I have scoured the internet for the best, and worst, outfits you can buy. Being that we're all gamers here, I focused on outfits based on our favorite interactive medium. Some of these are great. Others... not so much. But the clock is ticking, and beggars can't be choosers. Here's a list of video game Halloween costumes that haven't sold out (yet), along with links to purchase them. 

Former Uncharted series director, Amy Hennig, has revealed that she's working on a Marvel game with Skydance Media.  Skydance tapped Hennig to head up a new division within the studio to work on games heavily focused on narrative back in 2019; now we know more about her first game there ... well kinda. We know it's a Marvel game, but it's currently an unannounced title, so there's no telling which superheroes or villains we'll be playing as. However, we do know what kind of experience it will be.  After holding our cards close to the vest for so long, we’re excited to finally be able to share the news! We’re having a blast working with @MarvelGames on our first project at @Skydance New Media, and can’t wait until we can share more. Excelsior! https://t.co/opj87SJwQ6 — Amy Hennig (@amy_hennig) October 29, 2021 "Skydance New Media, the new interactive division of Skydance Media helmed by award-winning writer and director Amy Hennig, announced today a par

If there’s one thing we all have in common, it’s that we’re scared of something. If you’re saying right now, “I ain’t scared of anything,” well, come on, you know there’s that something that makes your spine shiver. For me, it’s death and suffocating spaces. Oh, and Michael Myers, too. Fortunately, there aren’t any games based on Halloween out there for me to play (although the famed slasher is a playable killer in the excellent asymmetrical multiplayer horror, Dead by Daylight ).  However, there’s plenty of games where you die. You can die in most games, though, but the ones that really emphasize those deaths are the ones that leave me shaking in my boots. Add a touch of claustrophobia to the formula and you’ve created my nightmare. My all-time favorite horror game is something some might not necessarily consider a game in that genre, but it spooks me nonetheless: BioShock .  For starters, I’m claustrophobic and Rapture is perhaps the most claustrophobic in-game city ever made (y

Horror games provide some of gaming’s most exhilarating experiences, and much like their silver screen counterparts, they aim to get you as close to experiencing death as possible without actually dying. In between the thrills and jumpscares, horror also lends itself well to character-focused storytelling that can often pull on one’s heartstrings (but not before bumping that heart rate up a bit first). While what makes something scary ranges from person to person, this list highlights some of the most terrifying recent games we’ve played. Here are ten great horror games, listed in no particular order, that you’ll have a spooky time getting lost in.

Click here to watch embedded media Who doesn't want a free Burrito from Chipotle? This tasty opportunity is currently being offered in Roblox through a limited Halloween-themed experience called the Chipotle Boorito Maze . On each day from October 8-31, the first 30,000 people who make it through the maze to the Chipotle restaurant will win a free (and real) burrito. We don't know why Roblox is currently down, but the timing of it going offline for most players lines up with this promotion, leading us to believe a wave of players may be overloading the servers or there may be some problem with this new offering. We know you’re having issues using Roblox right now. We’re sorry and working hard to get things back to normal. — Roblox (@Roblox) October 29, 2021 After going offline last night, Roblox is now working on recovery efforts , stating that some users are starting to have limited access to the game again. We're hoping it comes back online soon so we can all see

Krafton, Inc., has announced that it is going to acquire Unknown Worlds Entertainment, the developer behind Subnautica.  This news comes by way of a press release on Krafton’s site, which reveals that it decided today that it is going to acquire Unknown Worlds. Krafton says this acquisition continues the company’s strategy of expanding and securing top-tier talent under its umbrella of studios.  Click here to watch embedded media “This latest decision continues Krafton’s expansion strategy of securing and investing in top-tier talent that aspires to evolve, innovate, and create new experiences,” the press release reads. “Unknown Worlds becomes Krafton’s sixth independent studio, joining a stable of other seasoned developers that include PUBG Studios, Striking Distance Studios, Bluehole Studio, RisingWings, and Dreamotion.” As noted above, Krafton is the company behind Striking Distance Studios, which is developing The Callisto Protocol , the sci-fi horror game developed by Dead

Knockout City, EA’s wacky multiplayer dodgeball game, ranks among 2021’s most pleasant surprises. The game is a riot and will join November’s batch of PlayStation Plus games after already appearing on Xbox Game Pass. If you’ve enjoyed lobbing exploding balls into the faces of friends or strangers on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S, your matches are about to look and feel even better.  On November 2, new-gen enhancements will hit the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of Knockout City free of charge. Players who obtained the game through Game Pass or PS Plus are eligible for the upgrade as well. What are you getting? Here’s the full breakdown below:    PlayStation 5: Native 4K at 60FPS or 1440p (upscaled to 4K) at 120FPS Xbox Series X: Native 4K at 60FPS or 1620p (upscaled to 4K) at 120FPS Xbox Series S: 1440p at 60FPS or 1080p at 120FPS Options for Performance and Quality modes will appear in the main menu. Developer Velen Studios has also improved Knockout City’s overall li

Netflix has released a new trailer for the upcoming second season of The Witcher and as you might expect following the end of the first season, it teases the coming war.  That war will see Henry Cavill’s Geralt of Rivia aka The Witcher, Freya Allan’s Ciri, Anya Chalotra’s Yennefer, and more weaving their way through it, too, all while fighting monsters and magic, of course. As the trailer notes, “something has changed” and the world is acting strange – there’s a war, monsters roam freely when they should be hibernating, and for everyone that isn’t Geralt, it seems like the end of days. For Geralt, though, it’s just “horses**t,” as he’s already lived through “three supposed end of days.”  Click here to watch embedded media If one thing is clear from the trailer, it’s that there is a war coming, and as Geralt points out in it, it’s because The Continent belongs to nobody (despite basically everybody trying to make it theirs.) Monster by Kanye West featuring Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki

343 Industries has revealed in a new Inside Infinite blog post that it relied on character and enemy designs from the Halo 3/Halo: Reach era of the franchise for inspiration.  Microsoft and 343 Industries have been pretty open about their desire for Infinite to harken back to the days of classic Halo. It’s set on a single Halo ring – Zeta Halo – much in the same way Halo: Combat Evolved was set on a ring, and the designs retain the more streamlined look of Bungie’s Halo games. Now, we know it’s because Halo 3 and Halo: Reach were the inspiration.  Click image thumbnails to view larger version                                                                                                                “The spiritual reboot actually made it easier for us to incorporate some more legacy designs into the characters,” Halo Infinite character and combat director Steve Dyck writes in the blog post. “One of the best examples of this is the Elites, Grunts, and Jackal who all have a muc

When Microsoft and 343 Industries revealed the first-ever Halo Infinite campaign gameplay last year , it was met with a lot of criticism, and Craig the Brute was at the center of it all. Craig, at the time, was just a standard brute. The poor guy showed up to work that day thinking he'd just be standing around, guarding an outpost, just like every day before. Craig was earning money to put food on the table for his family, and then one fateful day, Spartan 117, aka Master Chief, came knocking, and the brute had to get absolutely wrecked by him. As if that's not a tough enough workday, Craig became the central point of criticism regarding that gameplay showcase: people thought he didn't look great.  Well, look who's laughing now: Glow-Up of the Year winner Craig the Brute.  As you can see in the screenshot above, Craig is looking great. He ditched the shaved head look in favor of a lil mini mohawk, and he even grew out a goatee. As indicated by his new face paint a

We were not given early access to review Riders Republic, Ubisoft's new open-world action sports game. So, while you wait for our full review, here are some thoughts on the game after nearly a dozen hours. We hope to release a formal review sometime next week.  I think the best way to describe Riders Republic is to tell you about its soundtrack. Specifically, two songs prominently featured and played ad nauseam over almost every single race and objective.  The first song is "All I Want" off The Offspring's 1997 album Ixnay on the Hombre. If the name doesn't immediately ring a bell, it's perhaps best known as the song in Crazy Taxi. You know, the "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" song. That one.  The second is a cover of Coolio's landmark 1996 song "Gangsta's Paradise," softly performed by Les Ukulélés Girls, featuring the artist Zita. Replacing the original's bass and drums of the original, and the almost icy and cold keyb

It is important to keep in mind what is going on within Activision Blizzard at this time regarding ongoing allegations about the work culture. The ongoing lawsuit from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) against the company is over reported toxic workplace culture. The bulk of the suit focuses on "violations of the state's civil rights and equal pay laws," specifically regarding the treatment of women and other marginalized groups. To learn more about the proceedings thus far, including details listed in the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, please check out our previous coverage here . We already knew Season 6 of Call of Duty: Warzone would be the last for Verdansk , which is the current map in rotation for the popular battle royale. Now we know when we’ll be officially saying goodbye: December 1.  That’s because the new Pacific-themed map, officially known as Caldera, will launch on December 2. However, anyone that owns Call of Duty: V

Darkest Dungeon has always been a game that could inspire some of our most colorful language with challenging enemies and creatively devious encounters. Its sequel was  recently released in Early Access and is carrying that torch forward. Though the game has not been out long, we've already run across several enemies that have made our blood boil, muscles tense, and obscenities fly from our mouths - which makes defeating them all the sweeter. Here are the top contenders on this dubious, profanity-laden leaderboard so far.

PlayStation has announced the PlayStation Plus lineup for November and it’s one of the largest free games offerings for the service yet.  Six titles are up for grabs this month, three of which are exclusive to VR. Knockout City, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, and First Class Trouble are your "standard" games this month. The Persistence, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, and Until You Fall are what you can expect on PSVR. All of these will be available to add to your library on November 2.  Knockout City was released just this year and it’s coming to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 for free as part of the PS Plus lineup next month. It’s an online multiplayer game where you play dodgeball across multiple maps while using a variety of abilities and powerups to stay alive and take your opponents out. Check out Game Informer’s Knockout City review to find out why we gave it an 8.5 out of 10.  Click here to watch embedded media First Class Trouble will be coming PS