Hi everyone, I’m Julian Huijbregts, Community Manager at Nixxes. Today we celebrate the launch of Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered on PC!

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In the past year, our team has been working closely together with our friends at Insomniac Games to bring this original Marvel story and PlayStation hit to PC. To give you more insight into the support for ultra-wide monitors and multiple screen setups*, I’d like to introduce you to some of the members of our Nixxes team.

Graphics Programmer Hilze Vonck, a passionate ultra-wide screen gamer himself, worked on the technical implementation of ultra-wide aspect ratios in the PC version of Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered. “For five years I have used a 21:9 ultra-wide monitor. To me support for ultra-wide resolutions in games is really important. We want to give gamers who invest a lot in their setups the opportunity to play the game in the best way possible. It really makes a big difference when you see the game on ultra-wide or triple monitor setups. It is super cool to experience the game in this way!”

Lead Software Engineer Coen Frauenfelder explains that one of the reasons to go all-out with ultra-wide monitor support was the positive feedback from the gaming community on 21:9 support in other PC games. “We initially planned support for 21:9, and after some internal tests we decided to go even wider and add support for 32:9 screens and 48:9 for triple monitor setups. The game lends itself very well for that. Swinging through the streets of Marvel’s New York on an ultra-wide screen gives a whole different and more immersive feeling.”

The PC version of Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered is fully optimized for ultra-wide gaming. Not only the gameplay, but also the many cut scenes are adapted for panoramic aspect ratios up to 32:9. Coen talks about the challenges that Nixxes had to overcome, to make this possible:

“Implementing ultra-wide support in general gameplay is relatively easy. The big challenge is supporting it in cinematics that are specifically designed by artists to be viewed on 16:9 screens. Outside of that view area, lots of things are happening that need to be fixed. Characters can for example freeze or suddenly disappear. The easy way would be to place black borders in cut scenes to block these areas from view on ultra-wide screens, but we wanted to give PC gamers the possibility to fully use their screens. Our QA team meticulously went through all the cut scenes in ultra-wide view and listed all the details that had to be changed by our

The cat’s meowt of the bag — Stray was the most downloaded PS4 and PS5 game on July’s US/Canada PlayStation Store charts. F1 22 raced to the top of the EU charts, while GTA V, Minecraft, and NBA 2K22 took various runner-up spots.

Read on for July’s full charts, then hit the comments to let us know how you think August’s list will shake out.

PS5 Games

*Naming of products may differ between regions
*Upgrades not included

PS4 Games

*Naming of products may differ between regions

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Today we’re happy to reveal August’s Game Catalog lineup for PlayStation Plus, which will be available to play for Extra and Premium members on August 16. It’s headlined by three Yakuza games (which will soon be followed by other entries in the series later this year). But rubbing shoulders with the crime series will be multiplayer horror Dead by Daylight, open world shooter Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands and whimsical adventure Bugsnax. 

Let’s take a closer look at the lineup.

Game Catalog lineup for PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium members 

Yakuza 0 

The glitz, glamour, and unbridled decadence of the 80s are back in Yakuza 0. Fight like hell through Tokyo and Osaka with protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and series regular Goro Majima. Play as the former to discover how he finds himself in a world of trouble when a simple debt collection goes wrong. Then, step into the silver-toed shoes of Goro Majima and explore his “normal” life as the proprietor of a cabaret club. 

Yakuza Kiwami 

The first Yakuza title debuted in 2005 on PS2. This PS4 remake rebuilds that experience from scratch. Follow the early days of Kazuma Kiryu as he returns to the streets of Japan after serving a decade-long prison sentence for a crime he didn’t commit to save his best friend. 

Yakuza Kiwami 2

Yakuza’s sequel receives the remake treatment, not only updating the original but expanding it with a playable adventure starring Goro Majima set before the events of the main game. A year after the events of the first Yakuza, an assassination pulls Kazuma Kiryu out of a peaceful life to broker peace between rival clans and face off against Ryuji Goda, known as the Dragon of Kansai. 

Dead by Daylight

Dead by Daylight is a 1v4 multiplayer game that draws from all corners of the horror world from a powerful slasher to a terrifying paranormal entity. Choose between playing an unstoppable Killer and one of 4 Survivors trying to evade a gruesome death. Each character has their own deep progression system and plenty of unlockables that can be customized to fit your personal strategy. Work together to escape, or stalk and sacrifice every Survivor.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands

Create a team with up to 3 friends and enjoy the ultimate military shooter experience set in a massive, dangerous, and responsive open world. Create and fully customize your Ghost, weapons, and gear. Enjoy a total freedom of playstyle and discover stunning diverse landscapes both on and off road, in t

Horizon Forbidden West sees Aloy traverse dangerous and harsh environments in search of Gaia’s sub-functions, with hopes of restoring the planet’s terraforming system, rebalancing the biosphere and saving life on Earth. Though our story is set 1,000 years into the future, players will uncover and recognize many iconic locations from our real world today.

DISCLAIMER: Please note that this behind-the-scenes feature contains major spoilers for the storyline and many gameplay elements of Horizon Forbidden West. To get the most out of this in-depth article, we would strongly recommend completing the quest The Sea of Sands prior to reading.

During the quest The Sea of Sands, Aloy ventures into the arid Stillsands Desert in her search for Poseidon, one of Gaia’s sub-functions. At first, the desert appears desolate, however, hidden under the sands are the flooded ruins known as Dunehollow, formerly Las Vegas.

It is up to Aloy to piece together data fragments left behind a millennium earlier by a businessman called Stanley Chen and reactivate the city’s long-forgotten water systems in order to gain access to Poseidon.

Creating the Vegas ruins

Guerrilla Quest Designer Samantha Schoonen led the development of this quest, The Sea of Sands, from start to finish. To bring this vision to life, she did a lot of research on Vegas’ iconic Strip. 

“We looked into casinos and ideated on crazy ideas for far-future Vegas buildings,” says Schoonen. “I drew a lot of inspiration from our concept art as well, and we thought of things like a broken-down roller coaster area, remnants of a pirate ship, and a rooftop swimming pool – we worked a lot with our art departments to figure out what would work, though of course not everything made it into the final game.”

Designing this epic questline was a long process full of iteration and collaboration, says Samantha. “For main quests, we always start out with a story summary provided by our Narrative team,” she says. “Based on that summary, we write a design document containing all information, like story beats, quest objectives, a world map of the area to provide an overview of the quest flow and locations, and a detailed description of these areas.

“We then make an outline of the space. I use in-game reference images to get an idea of the level design and space itself, the outlines. But it’s hard to get a scale of the place while only working in 2D, so as soon as possible, I create a 3D layout in our Decima Engine. We then continue to iterate on flow and level design until everyone is satisfied.”

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Hey PlayStation Nation! The launch of Rumbleverse — the free-to-play, 40-person brawler — is nearly here! On August 11 the Battle Barge will officially open its slipway to all Rumblers as a free download on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Get ready; this is the start of your exciting career as a Rumbler!  

You’re invited to Grapital City, where everyone lives for the fight and dreams of becoming a champion. Create your unique fighter and prepare to be shot out of a cannon, where you and 39 other contestants are launched into the streets of Grapital City to rumble. Dash through streets and scale buildings in search of upgrades, found on every corner and rooftop in the city. Then pick a fight, flex your moves, knock out your opponents, and be the last Rumbler standing.

So, what’s new for launch?

Introducing Duos Mode

We really enjoyed watching you all strive to be a Solo Mode champion during our playtest sessions. The fun really begins on August 11th, when Duos Mode goes live. Fight side by side with a friend, share loot, protect each other, and win together! 

Duos Mode takes all the moment-to-moment gameplay you know and love from our Solo Brawler Royale experience and twists it into something brand new.  Every situation takes on a new set of strategic questions for you and your partner to answer. Want to risk landing on a hotspot like the Trophy Heights Water Tower to get all that loot?  If one of you gets thrown off, the other will be left without backup, raising the stakes. Want to move and loot together? If you stay too close, you’ll be collecting and sharing one player’s worth of items.  If you separate too much, you may be vulnerable to sneak attacks from aggressive Duos that leave you outnumbered.

In Duos Mode, you start with only eight slots for your stats, and a bit less Max Health than you do when you play alone. Additionally, you won’t have access to the Superstar Comeback system. If your teammate gets eliminated, you will get additional Max Health and Stat Slots awarded to you to help keep you in the fight.  Don’t worry though, as running out of Health in Duos mode won’t KO you right away.

If your teammate runs out of health, they’ll be Downed and in need of Help. To Help your teammate, simply stand near them and press the Interact button (Circle) to cheer them back to their feet. You’ll have 30 seconds to do so, but if your teammate is Downed again, you’ll get progressively less time to help them. Sounds simple?  It is… until enemy teams are hovering over your friend trying to stop you.  Try using the Vicious Blast (hold Triangle) or activating your Superstar Mode to push opponents away from your friend, and then help them up as quickly as you can. As a bonus, if you attempt to help a teammate while Superstar Mode is activated, you’ll help them up twice as fast.

Communication and teamwork are the key to victory. Share items. Go for complimentary builds. Help each other when enemies are attacking. You can knock your teammates down, but you won’t hurt them (unless water is involved). If you want a real thrill, try tossing an enemy into the air and letting your teammate connect a follow-up attack.  Create the team combos of your dreams and get your fans really amped up.

Introducing Playground Mode

Want to explore the city at your own pace and perfect your moves? Looking for a few lessons on how to play before you launch head-first out of a giant cannon?  Check out our free roam experience, Playground Mode. The city will be fully open to explore. Seek ou

DreamsCom ‘22 – our giant community-first games expo, made entirely in Dreams, by the way – has now wrapped up for another year. It’s been a blast checking out all of our player-made booths on the virtual show floor, and interviewing Dreams developers live on our Twitch channel. So much good stuff! Who knew? (Us. We knew. Now you do, too!)

No worries if you missed out, though, because the show floor is still playable in Dreams! Go check it out*, poke around, maybe discover some secrets… We won’t spoil too much, but suffice it to say there are some pretty cool surprises for those of you that hunt down every hidden treasure.

And guess what? All these amazing creations that featured at DreamsCom ‘22 are still playable in Dreams today, too. We’ve selected just a few highlights from this year’s lineup – check them out below. (If you’d like to see them in action, you can catch up with our VODs over on Twitch, and even hear the creators themselves talking about their games!)

Protoland
By Paulo-Lameiras

Dreams’ prince of pixels returns – this time, in 3D. Yes, the creator of Impy-winning side-scrolling shmup Solar Blast has turned their hand to the third dimension, and the results are mesmerising. Against an uncanny backdrop – a skyful of stony repeating cloud textures, a nostalgia-inducing field of flat green – we cycle through the weapon wheel, firing shots at drones. Things get even more unreal when we discover we have the ability to freeze time. We slow everything to a crawl in areas where we find ourselves suddenly surrounded so we can aim shots better, calculate platforming routes quicker. It’s clear from these two taster levels that Paulo’s understanding of level design is translating across dimensions well – as diligent secret hunters looking to get the most out of this demo will discover.

Strain
By Orksom

A concept so good it needs no set-dressing: in this puzzle-platforming demo, you’re physically linked to a corpse. Your goal is to navigate a mysterious seaside bunker, all while carrying this dead weight (apologies, old bean, but the truth hurts). Still, they’re not totally useless: the gas mask that links you to the body is perhaps your first clue that your stamina meter is linked to it, so you’re in this for the long haul together. Thanks to some weighty animation and physics, the process of learning to cleverly navigate obstacles and threats while picking up and putting down your floppy sidekick is curiously arresting.

Community Garden Showcase
By Nephrendil

Gardens are meaningful places. In a garden, growth is everything, small victories are celebrated, and communities gather to share knowledge – even to sustain themselves. Asset artist Nephrendil has a deep understanding of this, and it’s a joy to behold; they’ve been running community asset jams to populate the Dreamiverse with a huge variety of low-thermo (read: easy on scene memory limits) flora that anyone can use in their own creations. All entries are presented in interactive showcases that display what’s possibl

Hi, I’m Bruce from Idea Factory International and I’m here to teach you everything you need to know about helping Yumo and her friends stomp out the menacing Chaos Beasts in the world of Dusk Diver 2. Speaking of Yumo’s friends, let’s start with taking a look at how Leo, Bahet, and Le Viada all support Yumo in this sequel to the action RPG adventure, Dusk Diver. That’s right! Leo, Bahet, and Le Viada are back and better than ever.

Yumo, our protagonist, is a college student who doesn’t mind making a little cash taking down Chaos Beasts for Boss, the overbearing owner of Tumaz Mart. Leo might look intimidating, but he is actually kindhearted and protective of his teammates. Bahet is a talented musician that brings his guitar into battle. Le Viada is an interdimensional entity turned successful theatre actress and model. 

It’s been a year since we’ve last seen the Guardians, but Yumo and the gang are ready to jump back into the fray and smack some Chaos Beasts down with a bunch of improved moves that new and old players will enjoy alike. Fans of Dusk Diver will have a particularly good time exploring all the ways the combat system has been overhauled for Dusk Diver 2. 

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This might come as a shock, but Yumo keeps her signature electrified melee attack style in Dusk Diver 2. Only this time, she has some new tricks up her sleeve. Extend Yumo’s combos with the SP Skill Shining Rush, which quickly closes the distance on your foes and delivers a thundering blow that sends your enemies flying. Try setting up Wall Launches and Break Strikes with a well-placed Shining Rush. Wall Launches stun your enemies and leave them wide open, while Break Strikes extend combos and add damage. 

Surrounded by enemies? Let Leo show his lion heart with one of his signature ground pound SP Skills, like Earthquake – Flame. Use it with Leo’s air heavy attack for a roaring combo.  

Fresh off the streets of Evo 2022, two more characters have been announced for Street Fighter 6, the next evolution of the Street Fighter franchise, launching in 2023. Juri returns with her playfully sadistic ways along with new ninja Kimberly! We sat down with Game Director Takayuki Nakayama to ask him how Kimberly and Juri were designed along with quick bios for the duo. 

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A new era is here

Bust out some beats and shake up your spray cans to welcome the newest ninja to Street Fighter 6. Kimberly invited herself to become Guy’s student, who is the 39th Successor to Bushinryu after defeating his master Zeku, the 38th Successor. Kimberly had an ordinary upbringing, but she’s a prodigy who graduated college early and now wants to be a full-fledged ninja. She is infatuated with ’80s pop culture when the portable cassette player was at its peak popularity, hence why she always carries one with her.

Takayuki Nakayama: In terms of Kimberly’s design, we aimed to create an outfit suitable for her speedy and acrobatic movements since she excels in sports like track-and-field and cheerleading. Pair her brightly colored gi with sneakers suitable for moving around quickly, and you have Bushinryu-like ninja attire, don’t you think? We tried to make her hairstyle and outfit beautifully showcase her striking silhouette since she is an expert at running and airborne attacks. The spray can and portable cassette player on her waist are also used for special moves.

The music she listens to originates from a certain person, but you will have to wait for the story to find out who that is. Let’s see how Kimberly, the Ninja + Pop Star = Ninja Star, performs.