Persona Teases Seven Announcements To Celebrate 25th Anniversary

Atlus has revealed some plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Persona series with seven announcements over the course of the coming year.

The company announced a new website dedicated solely to the celebrations and the upcoming announcements where they thanked fans for their support in pushing the series to sell more than 15 million copies. The website continued on to promise that there will be seven announcements that will include “25th commemorative goods, various events, collaborations, and of course game information.” The celebrations will kick off in September and will run until Autumn 2022.

That's pretty much all the details they revealed on it but let's speculate a little on what they could possibly show.

I think it's highly likely we'll see Persona 5 Royal or Persona 4: Golden come to other platforms either this year or early next year. At least I could see P5R coming to PC with a possibility of it also hitting Xbox consoles or Nintendo Switch, look I've played Persona 5 three times so I'll probably play it again if it came to Xbox. Lastly, I could see them teasing a Persona 6 with a short trailer similar to how they originally teased Persona 5, so a non-discript trailer basically tells us nothing. Hopefully, they'll finally have some big game news to share with Persona and not just look here buy some merchandise.

Sony Has 25 New PlayStation 5 Games In Development

PlayStation has confirmed there are currently 25 first-party games in development for the PlayStation 5 and more than half of them are possibly brand new IP.

PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst was talking to Wired for a feature about the PS5's first six months: "There’s an incredible amount of variety originating from different regions," which, he claims, include "big, small, different genres."

The games we know that are coming to PlayStation 5 are Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, God of War: Ragnarok, and Horizon: Forbidden West. PlayStation also has two partnerships with other studios that include Haven Studio which is Jade Raymond's new studio and a multiplayer project from Firewalk, a studio founded by Bungie developers.

Later on in the feature, PlayStation's CEO Jim Ryan went on to try and play down previous reports of PlayStation 5 stock issues for the foreseeable future, saying "We’re working as hard as we can to ameliorate that situation. We see production ramping up over the summer and certainly into the second half of the year, and we would hope to see some sort of return to normality in terms of the balance between supply and demand during that period."

The interesting note is if this generation lasts along long as the previous generation, 25 games only works out to be 3 games a year. The fact that almost half are new IP which would mean they would need more development time than say a squeal is somewhat telling that these games are for the entire generation. If that is so, it's kinda lackluster with Microsoft owning 23 studios with each studio working on multiple projects. That is all speculation though, Hopefully, the 25 games are not including already known titles and we'll see a ton of cool games coming to PS5 in the future.

EA Teases Battlefield 6 reveal for June

EA and DICE are seemingly teasing a reveal for Battlefield 6 coming next month according to the game's official Twitter account.

In an extremely brief teaser, they tweeted "Words that rhyme with Soon: June. Boom." My guess would be that the game will show up at E3 2021 and i think it'll be available on Xbox Game Pass. Notable the EA Play addition on Game Pass Ultimate shows on the app to claim by 02/06/2021 which could mean when EA Play leaves the service but that's speculation. Hopefully, I'm wrong on that one but it wouldn't surprise me if EA Play was removed from Game Pass Ultimate and then Ubisoft Plus is added.

PlayStation Plus Games For May 2021 Announced

Sony has revealed the upcoming free games for PlayStation Plus in May 2021.

The aforementioned upcoming games go as followed:

Wreckfest (PS5)

Battlefield V (PS4)

Stranded Deep (PS4)

All three of the games will be available to download on the 4th of May, after the past few months of amazing games coming to the service. It seems PlayStation is taking their foot off the gas a little but hopefully, they'll field some deep picks for June 2o21. (I'm not sorry for all the bad puns)

Respawn Entertainment Reveals it's working on a brand new IP

Respawn Entertainment has announced that it's working on a new IP according to a job listing that appeared online over the weekend.

studio head Vince Zampella went on to retweeted the job listing for an 'Incubation Team Software Engineer' and states that the studio is looking to add to a currently-five person team and join a "compact incubation team currently developing a new IP" with Zampella calling it an "exciting new opportunity."

Sadly there's not much more known about the new project but it’s exciting regardless. Respawn created some of the best games from the Xbox One and PS4 generation and I can't wait to see what they'll achieve in the near future.

Lego Super Mario Announces A New Adventures With Luigi set

After a recent leak, Lego and Nintendo have officially announced that Luigi will be joining the world of Lego Super Mario Adventures with Luigi Starter Course coming this August.

The set will include a Lego Luigi who'll be similar to Mario which includes an LCD screen and a speaker that plays sound effects, but Luigi will have his own responses and interactions with the blocks in the Lego Super Mario set.

The Starter Course will come with a ? Blocks, Pink Yosh, Boom Boom, and Bone Goomba features. If you already own the Lego Super Mario Starter Course, both Mario and Luigi will be able to interact with one another.

The Luigi Starter Course is available to preorder now with a release date of August 1 priced at £49.99.

Fortnite adds a Horizon Zero Dawn & Tomb Raider crossover event

Epic Games and PlayStation have announced that Horizon Zero Dawn protagonist Aloy will be coming to Fortnite.

Aloy will arrive on April 15 in a Horizon: Zero Dawn bundle that will include a Blaze Canister Back Bling, a Glinthawk Glider, and an Aloy's Spear Pickaxe. The pack also comes with a Heart-rizon emote, Focus effect, and Shield Weaver Wrap. Players on PlayStation 5 will get a bonus unlockable with the exclusive alternate Ice Hunter Aloy Style.

Lastly, they'll be adding two exclusive limited-time game modes and a PlayStation-exclusive Aloy Cup Duos tournament. on April 16 Aloy will be teaming up with Lara in a special Aloy and Lara Duos event where each team will be playing as the duo equipped with their signature weapons in the form of a bow for Aloy and dual pistols for Lara. This event will be running until April 18.

Microsoft & Bethesda deal Approved By The EU Commission

Microsoft's $7.5 billion USD deal of Bethesda parent Zenimax is looking to be close to the finish line, as the EU Commission has finally cleared the deal with no concessions following a preliminary review process.

the agreement between the two companies has officially been approved as it "does not raise serious doubts as to its compatibility with the common market".

a similar ruling has recently come from the US Securities & Exchange Commission in which they published their own 'Note of Effectiveness' which assures both parties and investors that they've looked through the details of the deal, and have found no reason to say the acquisition cannot proceed.

It's looking like the deal is set in stone and hopefully, we'll hear more on it in the near future, fingers crossed that's sooner rather than later.

Hogwarts Legacy delayed into 2022

Warner Bros has announced that Hogwarts Legacy has been delayed into 2022.

a statement posted to the official Twitter account said: "Creating the best possible experience for all of the Wizarding World and gaming fans is paramount to us, so we are giving the game the time it needs."

This year is currently looking to go one of two ways for me, either a ton of upcoming games get delayed due to working at home situation or there are so many games coming that this delay will only end up being a good decision all round. I'm still currently playing 2020 games and the game train isn't stopping with Yakuza 3, 4, and 5, Hitman 3, Scott Pilgrim VS The World The Game: Complete Edition and that's just the games I'm excited for that’s launching in January.

Hogwarts Legacy is now launching on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC in 2022.

Dying Light 2 News Coming Soon

Dying Light 2 might finally be on the horizon after developer Techland has released a statement responding to the departure of one of its longest-serving employees.

Narration Designer Pawel Selinger recently revealed on his LinkedIn page that he had left the company after 22 years at the studio. The news was reported by several outlets with a large portion of them putting him as the lead writer of the game after a recent departure of their prior writer.

Techland responded over the weekend with a statement to PC Gamer, which confirmed the departure of Pawel Selinger but also clarifying his former role: "Paweł Selinger, who has been the Narration Designer for the last two years, decided at the end of 2020 to end his cooperation with Techland and to pursue his further career elsewhere."

The statement continued on: "Paweł spent most of his professional life at Techland and he, among others, takes credit for the success of the series Call of Juarez. He left a large piece of himself with Dying Light 2, as he worked on the project from the very beginning. His duties, ie. the narrative department, were taken over by Piotr Szymanek in October 2020."

the statement also added that there could be some light on the horizon for those wanting news on the game by saying: "We will be sharing exciting news about Dying Light 2 soon!"

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout's Next crossover is with Bethesda's Doom

Devolver Digital and Mediatonic have announced that Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is crossing over with Bethesda DOOM.

From January 12 a collection of Doom-themed costumes will be available in the in-game store, including Doomguy, a Cacodemon, and a Cyberdemon. This is the latest in a line of crossovers with other gaming properties since the game launched, including such games as Untitled Goose Game and Sonic the Hedgehog.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is currently in the middle of its third season on PlayStation 4 and PC.

a New Arkane Game With Dishonored and Prey Developers In The Works

In an interview with Vandal, Dishonored co-creator Harvey Smith confirmed he's working on a new unannounced game at Arkane Austin. He explained that he had recently moved back to Austin Texas after finishing up development on Dishonored 2 at Arkane's Lyon studio, who's currently working on Deathloop for PS5.

Harvey Smith said the following "I'm not on Deathloop, I'm on something else, working with the guys who made Dishonored and Prey."

Vandal later asked Smith if the soon to be Microsoft acquisition had altered anything at Arkane, to which he replied with that there's been no difference at the moment. He added that, of all possible partners for Bethesda, he'd find it difficult to think of a better one than Microsoft, ending the interview with "They fit perfectly."

While we wait to find out more on this mysterious game, you'll be able to play another Arkane game on May 21 for PS5 and PC called Deathloop.

Hitman 3 New Feature Revealed

IO Interactive has revealed an upcoming feature for Hitman 3. Players will be able to unlock "persistent shortcuts" in levels, which will open up new paths on previously played levels.

Originally revealed by Game Informer, the new shortcuts are said to "encourage exploration, reward curiosity, and incentivize replayability" with players being able to open up new routes by interacting with doors, certain areas, and access points in each level. Agent 47 will then be able to use them during future playthroughs to get to areas of the map faster or to head off a target before they reach a specific destination.

I'm personally looking forward to checking this out for myself when Hitman 3 launches on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC on January 20, 2021.

Nintendo Buying Developer Next Level Games

Nintendo has confirmed today that it will be acquiring Canadian developer Next Level Games, the studio behind Luigi's Mansion 3.

Nintendo is hoping the deal will be sealed by March 1, 2021, pending shareholder approval. Nintendo stated that the deal would "secure the availability of Next Level Games development resources for Nintendo, including development expertise, as well as facilitate an anticipated improvement in development speed and quality by enabling closer communication and exchange of staff with the Nintendo development team."

I'm pretty excited to see what Nintendo has up its sleeves for the developer and hopefully, this means that more Luigi-based adventures in a mansion are on it's way.

Overwatch Year Of The Pig Event, Anthem VIP Demo - Hello Ghostly Games Podcast 25.01.19

Anthem VIP demo is now available to download, Blizzard Entertainment announces the new year lunar event called The Year Of The Pig and I spent my week Hunting down Funko Pops.

That's not all though, we discuss Bungies statement on the future of Destiny, Dragon ball FighterZ free on Xbox, Fortnite getting frosty with the sneaky snowman, Halo: The Master Chief Collection dev is teasing something for SXSW, Fallout 76 not going free to play and Overkill's The Walking Dead console release delayed.

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The Division 2 Private Beta, Kingdom Hearts 3 Epilogue - Hello Ghostly Games Podcast 18.01.19

After last week darker tone, I felt at times for a more happy episode, so I drank two coffees before the episode. That will make it happy, won't it? no okay. But seriously we talk more video games this week and get into the release dates for the division 2 private beta, kingdom hearts 3 epilogues coming after the game launches and much more.

Overwatch's Solider 76 Joins Tracer as an LGBTQ hero - Hello Ghostly Games Podcast 11.01.19

What's Up everyone, I wanted to start by adding a somewhat disclaimer to this episode. The following episode gets into a mature discussion in regards to depression, anxiety, and death. I talk about the recent loss of my father in law and how that's affected me over the past year and also my previous attempts of suicide.

It was rough for me to listen back to but I hope this episode helps you if you're going through similar feeling or issues. Life always gets better and there is always someone who cares, even if it feels like there isn't.