NLG - Next Level Gaming

All of the NFL players in Madden NFL 23 have ratings and you can freely look at them on EA's official site . Is Kenny Pickett ranked high enough at a 68? If you don't think so, you can call into Madden NFL's ratings adjustor hotline (at 689-278-3030) to recommend it go up or down. Thousands of people called in within the first day of the hotline launching, and from EA's snarky Twitter tone, it would appear most of them are complaints, likely about a beloved players rating being too low or a hated players rating being too high. Shoutout to the thousands of fans who called into the #Madden23 Ratings Hotline yesterday to let us know they 𝓐𝓖𝓡𝓔𝓔 with our ratings☎️😉 — Madden NFL 23 (@EAMaddenNFL) July 29, 2022 According to Emma Waldren, Madden’s creator of content strategy and partnerships, over 1,000 people called in within just six hours. 1000 of you called the #Madden23 #RatingsAdjustor hotline in the first six hours 🤯 — Emma Waldren (she/her) (@emmalwald

Game delays are a part of life. You know the old saying, a delayed game is…well, you know. It’s undeniably a bummer to see a title you’re excited about slip into the following year, but it’s generally for the best to ensure a quality product at release. 2022 has had a growing handful of high-profile setbacks, and we’ve assembled them all in one alphabetized list for a handy reference. EA Sports PGA Tour First announced in 2021 with a Spring 2022 launch window, PGA Tour marks EA’s return to making golf games after a years-long hiatus. The publisher nabbed exclusive rights to the Masters Tournament and the game even includes the Ladies Professional Golf Association. Unfortunately, we don't know much more about the game besides a few courses and events, and EA has only offered vague timeframes for launch. It recently pushed the game to Spring 2023, a year after its original projected arrival.  Forspoken Luminous Productions' fish-out-of-water fantasy adventur

"A new chapter is about to begin amidst a tangled web of factions." This line accompanies the latest teaser trailer for Genshin Impact , the incredible free-to-play RPG from miHoYo. The trailer dives into the game's fourth region, Sumeru, which is home to people who can't dream and worship the God of Wisdom. Suermu looks lush in foliage, with mushroom creatures scurrying about the trunks of sizable trees. It also contains a desert area and looks to be just as sizable as the game's other areas. The trailer also introduces a host of companion characters that players will meet as quests are completed. The first new character is Tighnari, a forest watcher who we see holding a magical firefly. In Port Ormos, players will run into Alhaitham from the Haravatat in the Akademiya. Further into the game, players meet Dehya of the Desertfolk, who is also a mercenary for the Emerites. There are also Nilou, a character who is pursuing art and dance, Nahida, a mysterious bei

Today's Annapurna Showcase brought several platform changes and new-gen updates for many well-received indie games. It also gave us a release date on a particular indie that's been radio silent for some time. We've gathered these smaller announcements into one convenient spot, so scroll through to see which Annapurna joint is getting a new home with fresh bells and whistles.  The Pathless Giant Squid’s high-speed action platformer and PS5 launch title is migrating to Xbox and Switch this winter. Hindsight This narrative adventure game about exploring a woman's entire life through her memories finally has a release date: August 4. It will be available on Switch, PC, and iOS. Outer Wilds Outer Wilds is blasting off to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on September 15. This version sports 4K graphics and 60 fps performance. Existing owners will also get these enhancements thanks to a free upgrade. Developer Mobius Digital also pro

Annapurna Interactive concluded its showcase today by debuting The Lost Wild, Great Ape Games dinosaur-laden survival game. The Lost Wild was first announced last October with a pre-alpha trailer  and is described as a first-person survival horror game. Players control an investigative reporter guided by a mysterious voice over the radio to explore abandoned Japanese facilities nestled within an island forest teeming with prehistoric wildlife. These dinos are highly intelligent and realistically behave like animals, featuring what Great Ape describes as self-preservation and reactive systemic AI behaviors.  Players can use stealth to avoid detection while exploring, create distractions, or repel dinos using items like flares and makeshift, non-lethal weaponry. You’ll spend much of the game scrounging for materials as you traverse ruins for clues about the island’s history and how you ended up in this dire situation.  According to the game’s FAQ , The Lost Wild won’t be arriving un

Keita Takahashi, the creator of the Katamari series, has a new game in the works. Unfortunately, it’s tough to know exactly what it is. A teaser trailer premiered during today’s Annapurna Showcase showed a few seconds of close-up footage of an animated child snoring in his sleep. What does it mean? Your guess is as good as ours, but we fully expect it to be weird given Takahashi’s history. Takahashi’s last big title was the colorful  Wattam , released in 2019 and published by Annapurna. This new title looks to continue the relationship between the two partners.

Annapurna Interactive revealed an eye-brow-raising new shooter called Bounty Star: The Morose Tale of Graveyard Clem. The title blends mech gameplay and farming with a wild west aesthetic, and it’s coming next year.  Players control Clementine McKinny, a bounty hunter and former soldier looking to atone for her past by keeping the peace in the Red Expanse, a post-apocalyptic version of the American Southwest. She uses her trust mech suit to keep the bad guys at bay, which players can customize with various offensive and defensive components. These include various guns, a laser sword, missile launchers, riot shields, boosters, and more.  When you're not blasting apart enemies, you'll take care of your homestead. This rundown garage can be upgraded with new supply and water lines, and you can grow food, raise animals, and manufacture ammo for your mech. Bounty Star will arrive on PlayStation and Xbox platforms (launching day one on Game Pass), Switch, and PC and launches in

Thirsty Suitors kicked off the Annapurna Showcase with a new gameplay explainer breaking down its uniquely presented battle system and a surprising exploration segment.  The game, which premiered during last year's Game Awards, centers on Jala, a young woman who must reconcile with her exes and friends while dealing with ( or, more specifically, disappointing ) her demanding parents before her sister's wedding. The game revolves around a turn-based battle system where Jala faces a former lover, which reimagines their attempts to find common ground as an RPG battle. The trailer showed off moves such as Thirsty Taunts to manipulate an ex's emotions. Your old flames can manifest their inflated egos into alternate realities, where they reign supreme as the exaggerated versions of their self-perceptions. Thankfully, you knock them down a peg by enlisting the help of family members as if they were Final Fantasy summons, such as a giant version of Jala's mother dishing ou

Kentucky Route Zero has become one of the last decade's most celebrated narrative adventure games. As such, fans will be happy to know that developer Cardboard Computer is hard at work on its next title. A dev diary during today's Annapurna Showcase doesn't reveal much about the game, including its title. We get shots of the team members animating a dog's face, with the designers saying the next game will feature fully-animated characters. It also explains the project has a faster tempo and sports funnier writing than KRZ but will ultimately be a tragedy.  Whatever this game is, it has no release window or announced platforms. You can read our review of Kentucky Route Zero here . 

During February’s Nintendo Direct, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe got a lot of overdue attention with the announcement of 48 race tracks – new and old – coming to the arcade racer by 2023. The first wave dropped in March alongside a 2.0 update. Wave 2 is just around the bend and promises the Turnip and Propeller Cups next month. This means we’re getting some familiar courses across multiple consoles, including the Super NES, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo 64, Nintendo DS, Wii, and Mario Kart Tour games. Here are the details for each cup based on a recent press release: Turnip Cup  Tour New York Minute – Zip past towering skyscrapers and enjoy a scenic drive through the park in this Big Apple-inspired course originating from the mobile game Mario Kart Tour.  SNES Mario Circuit 3 – Drift your way around tight corners and avoid the Warp Pipes in this classic course that originated in Super Mario Kart on Super NES.  N64 Kalimari Desert – This desert race features frequent run-ins with an old-fashi

Now's the time to claim Japan's seedy underbelly for yourself. Yakuza: Like A Dragon is packaged into the free PlayStation Plus August catalog . However, eight other Yakuza are coming to the subscription service starting this month. According to the official PlayStation blog , Extra and Premium members can download/play Kazuma Kiryu's classic, crime-riddled journeys in Yakuza 0, Kiwami, and Kiwami 2 next month. Later this year, those same subscribers get access to Yakuza 3 Remastered, Yakuza 4 Remastered, Yakuza 5 Remastered, and Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. That's hundreds of hours of fantastic Ryu Ga Gotoku content. Be sure to check out our reviews or previews for the games below: Yakuza 0 Yakuza Kiwami & Kiwami 2 Yakuza 3 Yakuza 4 Yakuza 5 Yakuza 6 Like A Dragon Last week, screenshots of the next Yakuza game surfaced. Whether we're in for a numbered entry or sequel to Like A Dragon remains to be seen. But we know that the lovable Ichiban Kasuga a

Platform: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC Publisher: Private Division Developer: Roll7 Release: August 16, 2022 It’s Tuesday morning. I’m late. I’ve missed the embargo deadline for Rollerdrome. Across the games press, website authors have already published previews and stories about their time playing Roll7’s blood-packed sports title.  But I can’t stop playing Rollerdrome.  Instead of writing, I once again queue the Barbican Arena competition, the last leg in my six-level demo. The level begins in a long, claustrophobic tunnel lit in red light. I have everything I need – rollerskates and a shotgun – to put on the show of a lifetime. Ahead of me are echoes of a crowd clapping in unison, an ominous metronome inviting me further past the steel-latched mouth of the arena. They paid for a show, and I’m going to give it to them. Rollerdrome is a bloodsport funded by a mega-corporation in a near-future dystopia. Challengers travel the globe, competing in industrial arenas to cl

Bloomberg posted a new report about Grand Theft Auto 6's development, based on sources close to or within Rockstar Games. The details discuss how a revamped and improved studio culture has influenced the game's design, including its playable protagonists, writing, and tone.  GTA 6, which Rockstar confirmed was in active development in February, will reportedly star two playable bank robbers in a Bonnie and Clyde-inspired tale, and the female protagonist, a first for the series, will be Latina. The game is set in a modern-day, fictionalized Miami and its surrounding areas, which signals a return to Vice City. Despite being set in a single city, the game is said to already have more interior locations than any GTA game. Still, the studio plans to regularly update GTA 6 over time to add more missions and even cities. Bloomberg reports that GTA 6 may arrive sometime before March 2024. However, sources tell the publication that some developers within Rockstar are skeptical that

This month's catalog for PlayStation Plus was announced today on the official PlayStation blog . Subscribers will be able to skate into August with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, and Little Nightmares. The three games will be available on August 2, which means July's titles – Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan, and Arcadegeddon – are leaving. You have until August 1 to download last month's free games. In any case, here's what you can expect from this month's three titles: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 Cross-Gen Deluxe Bundle | PS4, PS5 "Drop back in with the most iconic skateboarding games ever made. Play Tony Hawk's Pro Skater & Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 in one epic collection, rebuilt from the ground up in incredible HD. All the pro skaters, levels, and tricks are back and fully remastered, plus more. Skate to songs from the era-defining soundtrack along with new music,

If you subscribe to the digital edition of Game Informer , you can now learn all about Skull and Bones. Following the cover reveal , our digital issue is now live to subscribers on web browsers , iPad/iPhone , and Android devices . Individual issues will be available for purchase this afternoon. You can download the apps to view the issue by following this link . All of these digital options are included in a PowerUp Rewards Membership .

<p><img src="https://ift.tt/Z91SVM2" width="800" height="450" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-body-default" /></p> <p>Skull and Bones was first revealed in 2017. As a major fan of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, I was thrilled to see Ubisoft dive back into piracy, this time with a new IP. At that point, Skull and Bones was a 5v5 multiplayer arena battler where you played solely as the ship. It wasn't exactly the Black Flag follow-up many, including myself, had anticipated, but with Ubisoft Singapore, the studio behind the Assassin's Creed franchise's excellent naval combat, at the helm, I wanted to see more. </p> <p>After another look at it in 2018, Skull and Bones went dark, and Ubisoft remained mostly silent on the title for years. Then, this month, the publisher announced that it would be re-revealing Skull and Bones on July 7. That return brought with it a

WWE’s SummerSlam event takes place this Saturday, and Epic is getting in the mood by announcing that 16-time world champion John Cena will five-knuckle shuffle his way into Fortnite. Cena arrives on July 28 and comes outfitted in his full-on entrance gear as well as his shirtless in-ring gear. You can pick up a set that includes a “you can’t see me” emote, WWE Championship Title Back Bling, and Five Digit Slapper pickaxe. Personally, I’m chuckling at the idea of the PG-friendly Cena adjusting attitudes with guns instead of bodyslams.  While Cena isn’t the first wrestler to appear in Fornite – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has him beat there – it’s cool to see regardless, and, as a wrestling fan, I hope this trend continues. Fortnite already acts as the ultimate “forbidden door” for various media properties, so let's throw more sports entertainment into the mix by adding stars from WWE, AEW, Impact, New Japan, and other promotions.  Do you plan on chasing victory royales as Big Mat

Sony released a PlayStation Blog post fleshing out some of the new features for its upcoming PlayStation VR2 headset.  PS VR2 now sports a see-through view. By hitting a button or using the Card in the Control Center, you can disable game footage and see your surroundings without removing the headset. This is thanks to the device’s embedded front cameras, making it less of a hassle when you need to check on something in the real world. Sony also notes that this mode is for viewing only; you can’t use it to record. You can, however, broadcast yourself while playing PS VR2 games by connecting a PS5 HD camera to the consoles.  The play area, as in the virtual boundaries allotted for VR play, can now be customized. You can use the headset cameras and Sense controllers to scan the room and dynamically map out the play space to your liking. These settings are then saved until you move to a different play area.  Lastly, PS VR2 sports two viewing modes: VR and Cinematic. VR mode displays

Nier: Automata is my favorite game of all time , renowned and criticized for its unconventional narrative design and eccentric characters. Years after seeing the action JRPG’s numerous endings and earning the platinum trophy, I never expected to miss out on so many well-kept mysteries. However, an Automata player recently discovered a secret room leaving hardcore dataminers baffled and excited.  Someone randomly posted a video on the Nier Automata subreddit showing they found a secret room in the Copied City. So far no one else has worked out how they managed to make this secret door appear. Literally 1 person on earth has accessed this room and we are uttered mind blown pic.twitter.com/g7W4JxiNDg — Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) July 25, 2022 Randomly uploaded to Reddit by user sadfutago (thanks, Eurogamer !), the video in the tweet above shows them sprinting past droids in the Copied City and interacting with an inconspicuous section of the back wall. After sliding down a lad

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has been delayed. The upcoming adaptation was scheduled to launch on September 1 (with a Switch port coming sometime later). However, developer Daedalic Entertainment is taking a few more months to polish up Gollum's solo adventure.  Fans have been critical of Gollum's perceived lack of quality, especially after a  recent gameplay trailer where the game looked rough around the edges. Daedalic seems to have taken those concerns to heart. The studio didn't reveal a new release date, only saying it's delaying the game "by a few months."  Here is the complete delay statement:    First of all, we would like to thank all of you for your patience and support so far. Over the last few years, our team has been working hard to bring you a remarkable story in a breathtaking world, fill with magic and wonder. We are dedicated to meeting our community's expectations and uncovering the untold story of Gollum in a way that honors the

Xbox Insider testers noticed a faster boot-up time for their consoles, revealing Microsoft’s recent initiatives to get players into their games quicker. According to The Verge , the cold boot-up time is now estimated to be around 5 seconds. The trick to the faster time lies in a shorter animation.  Can confirm - worked with @harrisonhoffman and @jakerose27 to create a shorter boot up animation (~4s) from the original boot up animation (~9s), helping to reduce the overall startup time. — Josh Munsee (@joshmunsee) July 23, 2022 The director of Integrated Marketing at Xbox stated (see above) worked alongside the principal product manager for connected TV apps, Harrison Hoffman, and senior product manager lead Jake Rosenberg to “create a shorter boot up animation (~4s) from the original boot up animation (~9s), helping to reduce the overall startup time.” However, there is a catch. You’ll have to set your Series X/S to Energy Saver mode to benefit from the faster boot-up. This means

Annapurna Interactive will hold a livestream showcase of upcoming titles on Thursday, July 28.  A message shared by the publisher's Twitter account yesterday states that the presentation begins at 12 p.m. Pacific/3 p.m. Eastern. Other than that, it offers no hints as to what games will appear. Annapurna's last showcase took place just over a year ago, where it highlighted a variety of new titles and game updates, such as Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye, The Artful Escape, and more.  this thursday // streaming on our channels + with a few partners // noon PT pic.twitter.com/hxUYXeszjk — Annapurna Interactive (@A_i) July 24, 2022 Annapurna has been riding a nice wave of momentum lately due to the well-received launches of Stray , the cat-focused post-apocalyptic adventure game developed by BlueTwelve, and Neon White , the anime-inspired platforming action game developed by Angel Matrix. The publisher has several noteworthy titles in its portfolio that could get a spotlight

A flying wyvern known as the Lucent Nargacuga will soon nest within a ruined society in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. This creature arrives on August 1 within a free title update for players on Switch and PC. Capcom released a minute-long trailer that shows a battle against the Lucent Nargacuga within the Forlorn Arena, backed by beautiful moonlight. The wyvern can cloak to evade its attackers and spin within the blink of an eye to knock them back. In our review for Sunbreak , John Carson said the game needs more threats. "The lack of new monsters plagues the early hours, but there’s plenty to love if you keep at it," he wrote. "The added flexibility of the Switch Skill Swap system is a freeing and fun expansion to combat for hardcore hunters and the new creatures in the Master Rank quests – when you get to them – breathe life into the experience. For someone already invested in Monster Hunter, there’s plenty  to love in Sunbreak." This title update brings at

Funko, the collectibles manufacturer behind the wildly popular Pop line of toys, is partnering with 10:10 games to create a "AAA action platformer" for console and PC. The game is slated to release in 2023 and is spearheaded by video game developer veterans  Jon Burton and Arthur Parsons, who worked together on several Lego games at Traveller's Tales and are now at 10:10 Games. “Creating iconic products that emotionally connect fans to their favorite fandoms is critical to each product portfolio decision,” said Andrew Perlmutter, CEO of Funko. “By partnering with 10:10 Games and utilizing the best creators in the business, we will have the talent to deliver games that reflect Funko’s unique look and feel across its lines and varied products.” This quote implies Funko's stylistic characters with large heads and black eyes could be used for the game. Given the developers' track record of making games that feature hundreds of playable characters, it's not unr