NLG - Next Level Gaming

Elden Ring has enormous amounts of content hidden away that are quite easy to miss. While the game challenges players to explore extensively, missing a giant area or super boss can be rough. We’ve got you covered! Obviously, there are tons of spoilers here, so if you want to do your own digging, leave immediately! I mean it, get out of here! Again, spoiler warning turn back now! How To Find Malenia, Blade of Miquella If you made it to the end of the game and wondered where one of the story trailer’s top characters was, she’s hidden away quite well, inside a sprawling legacy dungeon. She’s the best fight in the game and an incredibly serious challenge. To find her, first, you’ll need the two halves of the secret Haligtree medallion. The first half may be the toughest to find, located in Liurnia of the Lakes in the southwest corner. Inside the village there you’ll find a checkpoint site of grace. From that site of grace, follow the hill up until you get to the perfumer enemy. Take t

A Virtual Boy F-Zero spinoff game called Zero Racers “was done,” according to a former Nintendo Producer.  However, as anyone who’s ever looked into the history of this spinoff knows, Zero Racers (sometimes known as G-Racers), was never released. This likely had less to do with the game and more to do with the Virtual Boy’s commercial failure. Yes, the Virtual Boy has garnered a fanbase over the past few decades, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t a success. That lack of success likely led to games like Zero Racers never becoming a reality…or so we thought because it turns out Zero Racers was complete and ready for play.  “Zero Racers was done,” former Nintendo of America localizer and associate producer Jim Wornell told Did You Know Gaming , as reported by Nintendo Life . “We had a complete manual, package, and label done for the game. It went through LOT check, it had an ESRB rating. It was complete.”  That’s not all that Wornell revealed to Did You Know Gaming , either. He sai

It's been nearly three years since the release of Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, which began Generation 8 of the long-running pocket monster-catching series. And now, following yesterday's reveal of Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet , we'll be diving headfirst into Generation 9 later this year on the Switch.  Click here to watch embedded media A new generation of Pokémon is exciting for a number of reasons. There's the new story to unravel, a brand-new region to explore, and of course, new Pokémon to catch. Perhaps more exciting than all of that, though, are the three starter Pokémon that we'll be beginning our new Scarlet and Violet adventures with. It's the first big decision we'll all be making in Generation 9, other than choosing which version to play in the first place, and it's one that will stick with us for the entire duration (unless you're a heathen who doesn't use their starter on their journey to the Elite Four).  As expected,

Platform: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC Publisher: 2K Games Developer: Gearbox Software Release: March 25, 2022 Rating: Teen The Borderlands series has made a name for itself with excellent gunplay, zany stories, and more, popularizing the looter-shooter genre over the last decade-plus. But with three mainline games and a plethora of spinoffs, many have wondered where the Gearbox Software posterchild would go next. The answer is Tiny Tina's Wonderlands , and we're showing off some brand new gameplay in today's video! Click here to watch embedded media Join your hosts Alex Stadnik and Wes LeBlanc as they wallop their way through this truly bananas new game world. Instead of taking place in the sci-fi world of Pandora, our titular hero, voiced by Ashly Burch, is leading her star-studded party (including Andy Samberg and Wanda Sykes) through a game reminiscent of Dungeons and Dragons, but with all the loot and Borderlands humor you've come to exp

It’s February 27, which means The Pokémon Company had a stream to celebrate the series and all of the games within it. This year was nothing short of a great stream, bringing news of updates for many of the franchise’s titles including Pokémon Go, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and even the reveal of Generation 9.  If you missed today’s stream and are looking for a recap of everything revealed, we’ve got you covered.  Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet Revealed in a new trailer that closed out the stream, Generation 9 is officially Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet . While the region was not given a name, it was shown off with sweeping vistas, familiar pocket monster faces, and beautiful use of color. While we don’t know for sure, our guess is that this region is based on Spain. You can watch the reveal trailer below:  Click here to watch embedded media As you can see the trailer, we also received our first look at the starters: G

It’s February 27, which means The Pokémon Company had a stream to celebrate the series and all of the games within it. This year was nothing short of a great stream, bringing news of updates for many of the franchise’s titles including Pokémon Go, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and even the reveal of Generation 9.  If you missed today’s stream and are looking for a recap of everything revealed, we’ve got you covered.  Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet Revealed in a new trailer that closed out the stream, Generation 9 is officially Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet . While the region was not given a name, it was shown off with sweeping vistas, familiar pocket monster faces, and beautiful use of color. While we don’t know for sure, our guess is that this region is based on Spain. You can watch the reveal trailer below:  Click here to watch embedded media As you can see the trailer, we also received our first look at the starters: G

If you were looking to add the mythical Pokémon Shaymin to your party or your Pokédex in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl, today’s your lucky day.  That’s because Shaymin will soon be available to catch in the remakes later today as a Mystery Gift event. Announced during today’s Pokémon Day stream, which also saw the reveal of Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet alongside the Daybreak Update for Pokémon Legends: Arceus , Shaymin hits the game via something called Oak’s Letter.  After receiving the Oak’s Letter Mystery Gift, you’ll be able to encounter Shaymin and catch the mythical Pokémon and add it to your team. As noted by the trailer, it takes approximately two hours of play time before the Mystery Gift feature is unlocked in new playthroughs of Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.  You have plenty of time, though, to take part in this Mystery Gift event because while it’s live starting today, it will be remain live until March 27 so you have over a month to

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is getting a new update, Version 1.1.0, otherwise known as Daybreak, later today.  Announced today during the Pokémon Day stream, which ended with the reveal of Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet , Daybreak will add a new investigation to Game Freak’s latest pocket monster RPG. You’ll be tasked with beginning an investigation into a new phenomenon that is causing a mass outbreak of what appear to be Alpha Pokémon. Click here to watch embedded media As you can see in the trailer above, the phenomenon is causing some of the most challenging types of Pokémon in the game to appear all over the place and it seems it will be up to you to figure out first what’s going on, and then discover a way to stop it. It’s not a bad time to be catching some powerful Pokémon if you’re up to the challenge, though.  The Daybreak update will also bring new Pokémon battles to the training grounds in-game. Seemingly addressing one of players’ biggest complaints, this new update wi

The next mainline Pokémon games have been revealed as Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, and they’ll be released on the Switch in “late 2022.”  This news comes by way of today’s Pokémon Day stream . Pokémon Red and Blue were released in Japan on February 27, 1996 and these days, The Pokémon Company celebrates the yearly anniversary with a stream about all of its games, including updates and more for them. This year’s included plenty of that, but it ended with the big reveal that Generation 9 is coming this year.  Click here to watch embedded media The trailer begins with a security guard at Game Freak checking something out before it transitions to footage from Scarlet and Violet. Adopting the look of Sword and Shield (although with significant graphical upgrades), this game appears to be set in a region such as Italy, or perhaps somewhere in South America based on some of the architecture. Regardless, the trailer features plenty of sweeping vistas, familiar pocket monster faces,

If you’re looking for specific secrets to look for as you traverse the Lands Between, you’ll want to check back in a few days for some ways to find some hidden areas and bosses. Today, we’ll walk through some strategies to get the most out of your exploration in the vast open world and legacy dungeons that you’ll experience on your journey and explain how some of the more nebulous overarching concepts work. Obviously, if you’re looking to head into the incredible world of Elden Ring completely spoiler-free, this is the time to stop reading. God Runes, How Do They Work? When you defeat one of the shard-bearing demigods of Elden Ring, you’ll acquire their god rune. However, in order to activate it, you will also have to locate and climb a divine tower in the associated region. Depending on the demigod, these could be very easy to find in the surrounding territory and easy to locate on the map. However, some of the demigod towers are tucked quite out of the way and require considerable

Gran Turismo 7 launches on March 4, and driving sim enthusiasts are in a tizzy asking themselves one burning question: how would the game's beautifully rendered cars look if Kirby ate them? You haven't seen it, but they're definitely wondering about this.  That's because Kirby and the Forgotten Land also launches in March and debuts his new suction ability: Mouthful Mode . This was memorably demonstrated with the pink fluff inhaling a car and taking on its shape in the most adorable form of body horror I've ever seen. That same car is probably in Gran Turismo 7 (it's got a bazillion vehicles, so the odds are in my favor), meaning that these games are a match made in... somewhere.  That's why I took the liberty of looking up some of GT7's best cars (I think) to render Kirby eating them, thus putting our collective curiosity to bed once and for all. Yes, this is what I chose to spend my work hours doing instead of something productive. I'll level wi

Margit The Fell Omen is the first mandatory boss you’ll encounter in Elden Ring. You’ll find his fog gate inside the Castleward Tunnel, which begins at the top of Stormhill, the wind-swept lands northeast of the starting area called Limgrave. The hammer-wielding steward is old but quick on his feet and poses a more significant threat to slower melee-focused players, especially those of a lower level. If you’re still trying to figure out how to beat Margit The Fell Omen, we’ve got you covered. In this Elden Ring boss guide, we’ll show you how to find a unique item to make the fight much more effortless. Click here to watch embedded media What is Margit’s Shackle? I don’t recommend combating Margit until you’ve leveled up your primary weapon at least two times. Additionally, make sure to call upon Sorcerer Rogier before entering the fight. His golden summoning sign lies on the right side of the floor before the fog gate. However, if you need a more considerable advantage, you’re goi

After a successful foray into the comics realm with 2020's Nexus War: Thor , Marvel is once again crossing over with Epic's Fortnite in a new comic book mini-series set to debut in June. Fortnite X Marvel: Zero War smashes these two massive universes together once again, only this time we'll be taken on an adventure starring Shuri, Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Wolverine. Oh, and Jonesy is around, too, according to the cover art of the first issue. In the official announcement , Marvel describes the series as following "inhabitants on the Island who are locked in what seems to be a never-ending war, and only one thing has the potential to turn the tide—a crystallized fragment of the Zero Point that was cast into the Marvel Universe." The previously mentioned superheroes and "several fan-favorite Fortnite characters" will be hunting down the Zero Shard in an attempt stop the machinations of the Imagined Order. Cristos Gage of  Spider-Geddon and Avengers

Knockout City, the popular EA Originals dodgeball game developed by Velan Studios, is officially going free-to-play with the start of Year 2.  This news comes by way of a new post by Velan on EA’s Knockout City page. In it, the studio reveals that following the conclusion of the current Season 5, Season 6 will kick off Year 2, which will in turn kick off the game’s transition into a free-to-play title. What’s more is that Velan will be saying goodbye to its publishing partner, EA, to self-publish future content for the title.  “[After] Season 5 is over, we’re going to be kicking off Year 2 of Knockout City, and it comes with one huge headline to mix things up: Knockout City is going free-to-play, beginning this spring with Season 6,” Velan writes. “We’re really excited to bring our game to millions of new players around the world, by removing the price tag entirely.  With that being said, we do want to take a moment to thank our day one fans for purchasing Knockout City and support

Valve’s long-awaited Steam Deck is finally here, offering up a portable gaming solution with broad appeal. The nature of that appeal is quite different depending on your perspective. Some primarily console-focused gamers may find a low-cost entry into at least part of the PC gaming experience. For more dedicated PC players, it provides a chance to take what may already be an extensive Steam library on the go – albeit with only specific titles optimized right now. Either way, the Steam Deck is an impressive first step into a promising future of portable PC play – with some significant issues holding it back from greatness. Click here to watch embedded media The Steam Deck is big. At nearly a foot in width and weighing in at about 1.5 pounds, it’s a bit surprising the first time you pick it up – even knowing ahead of time about its bulk. However, the advantages of that heft are immediately apparent, with spacious controls, a myriad of inputs, and most importantly, an impressive 7-inch

Valve’s Steam Deck launches today, meaning its first wave of customers will soon be gaming on a shiny (and very large) handheld PC and looking for things to play. The device can’t play every title and Steam recently rolled out new library categories to better label which of your games work on the Deck and which don’t. Publisher THQ Nordic has assisted on this front by revealing which of its many titles are playable on Steam Deck at launch.   In a press release, THQ has listed the following titles as Steam Deck Verified . That means they’re fully functional on the handheld: Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition Darksiders Genesis Desperados III This is the Police 2 The next batch of titles is Steam Deck Playable . This is a step below Verified status because while these games work on the device, they may require some manual tweaking to get them running at full capacity: Battle Chasers: Nightwar Biomutant Darksiders: Warmastered Edition Destroy All Humans! (2020) Elex Exped

Ed Boon is best known for his work on the Mortal Kombat series, which he's had a hand in guiding since 1992, first at Midway Games and now with his team at NetherRealm Studios. He's one of the most celebrated creators in gaming, and today he'll be honored with an induction into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' Hall of Fame. Boon joins the likes of other video game legends like Shigeru Miyamoto, Mark Cerny, Bonnie Ross, Gabe Newell, and last year's recipient, Connie Booth. Fellow Hall of Famer Todd Howard will present the award, which will be a part of this year's D.I.C.E. Awards show, kicking off at 7 p.m. CT on IGN and various streaming networks. I had the chance to talk to the fighting game legend for an hour a couple of weeks ago, a few days after he first learned he was being inducted into the Hall of Fame. He was still processing his thoughts, taking it all in, and reflecting on his lengthy career. Walk me through the day you found out