We’re thrilled to give PlayStation players the details on the latest Call of Duty title coming this year, as was just revealed in Call of Duty: Warzone.  Players will be able to experience WWII combat like never before, as the award-winning Sledgehammer Games introduces Call of Duty: Vanguard, scheduled to launch worldwide on Friday, November 5, for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. There is a ton of great content coming with this game, and we’d like to share just a few of the details with you here. 

Play Video

Witness the origins of Special Forces as you play a pivotal role and change the face of history, forming Task Force One in a gripping Campaign across four major theaters of war. There’s more, too: compete in 20 Multiplayer maps at launch, dive into the first-ever crossover Zombies experience, and prepare for full Warzone integration, including a new, massive map.

There are a few SKUs for PlayStation players to choose from, as well as incentives and benefits for pre-ordering on PlayStation. 

Finally, for those playing on PS5, one of the benefits is experiencing the visceral sensations of war in a deeply immersive way with the DualSense wireless controller.

Let’s dive into the details of Call of Duty: Vanguard.

Change the Face of History

Experience combat through a story of the multinational soldiers who came together to form Task Force One and set the stage for Special Forces as we know it. These are the heroes of Call of Duty: Vanguard:

• Sergeant Arthur Kingsley, 9th Parachute Battalion, British Army
• Lieutenant Polina Petrova of the 138th Rifle Division, Red Army
• Lieutenant Wade Jackson, Scouting Squadron Six, United States Navy
• Private Lucas Riggs, 20th Battalion, Australian 9th Infantry Division, British Eighth Army

Through the gripping narrative and remarkable journey of these steeled soldiers, players will experience influential battles across four theaters of World War II as they engage enemies across the Eastern and Western Fronts of Europe and fight for the free world throughout the Pacific and North Africa.

Multiplayer brings 20 Launch Maps and more

Expect a huge day one Multiplayer offering as Call of Duty: Vanguard launches with 20 maps across a

Hey everyone! I’m JF Dugas, Senior Creative Director on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy at Eidos-Montréal. When we first started working on the game and got to speak with Marvel about what was ahead of us, they gave us carte blanche to craft our own take on this band of misfits. For us, it meant diving into everything that had came before – comics, movies, animated series and more – to understand the essence of these characters, and from there, reimagine them in a fresh and faithful way.

Today, we’re going to tell you more about their backstories and how they relate to their designs. In our universe, a massive Galactic War initiated by a race called the Chitauri took place 12 years before the beginning of the game. This conflict ravaged the whole galaxy and left a lot of destruction in its wake, impacting everyone – including the Guardians, of course.

Peter Quill, son of J’Son (king of the planet Spartax) and Meredith Quill, was living a mostly carefree teenage life on Earth when the Chitauri landed in his backyard. They killed his mother and kidnapped him to use him as leverage against Spartax, holding him prisoner for the next four years. During that time, he met Yondu, leader of the Ravagers, and escaped with his help. He joined the Ravagers and participated in the Galactic War to help the Kree resistance against the Chitauri.

Years later, he fell off with the Ravagers and decided to form the Guardians of the Galaxy as heroes-for-hire, seeing opportunity in a galaxy still reeling from the aftermath of the War. Looking for adventure and profit, this is Star-Lord’s chance for a fresh start, which he’ll extend to his future Guardians.

Our approach for Star-Lord’s design was to go for a space pirate look, combined with key elements from his backstory. When he was a kid, Peter was a huge fan of a rock band called none other than… Star-Lord! This became the origin of his cosmic name, with his passion for this band informing his design, for example with the patch in the back of his jacket. Peter Quill is very nostalgic of his time on Earth, and this is also reflected by his 1980’s hairstyle, the studs on his leather jacket and the pins that harken back to things like his favorite video game.

Drax, who was born and raised on the planet Katath, experienced tragedy during the War as well. His wife and daughter were killed by Thanos, who was working with the Chitauri. He embarked on a quest for revenge, and met cosmic Marvel characters such as Mentor and Chronos, who helped him prepare for the fight ahead. Ultimately, he killed Thanos in a legendary battle, but didn’t truly believe he was dead and continued his hunt.

Drax became a wanted man because of the destruction his obsession caused, and finally decided to turn himself in. He spent seven years in prison, and was recruited by Star-Lord on the day of his release. Drax joined the Guardians, hoping to prove he was more than ‘the Destroyer’.

The Katathian scarification on his body are not just for show: in our lore, they also tell about all the important events of his life, including of course his love for his family and the battles he fought to honor and avenge them. Drax has been through hell and back, and his markings are a testament to his resilience.

Black Panther has been an iconic character in the Marvel universe for over 50 years now, first debuting in the comics in 1966. With so much history in a single character, there were endless avenues our team could have gone down to create the Marvel’s Avengers version of Black Panther and his diverse collection of outfits. We’d like to take a moment to discuss creating T’Challa’s look and our thought-process behind it.

Iconic Outfit – Let’s begin with a Crystal Dynamics original design and the outfit you’ll start with in the Expansion. When creating this outfit, we combined the classic Black Panther visuals and silhouette with the full hood and armbands with the more modern and functional aspects of his look that many fans have grown accustomed to over the years. We used these two aspects of Black Panther’s history and put it through what we call the “Crystal Lens” in order to create a suit that could be more realistically made with materials and construction methods, but also still set in the fantastical where it is a one-of-a-kind creation just for T’Challa.

We took the classic armbands on his forearms and turned them into bracers that Black Panther can use to defend himself. We also wanted to include the crest in the center of his chest to denote that iconic feel that he is the Black Panther and to give him a visual ownership of that mantle. When it comes to the helmet, we were inspired to create a silhouette that was reminiscent of his first look in the comics, but with closer inspection, there is more structure to it; the eyes aren’t empty, they have a lens there that signifies he is looking at his own HUD to once again blend the classic with the modern.

We also included some fine detail into the outfit to make it more advanced and cutting edge by interlacing Vibranium throughout to reflect his ability to absorb energy. Our team built the mesh of the Iconic Outfit from scratch and used our material system to push how the lighting reflects off of the multiple surfaces in the outfit whether that’s the carbon fiber, hard plastic, or the original woven material. Players can zoom in closely to the Iconic Outfit and see just how much detail we put into the suit due to our material system.

A version of this Iconic Outfit that will be released is inspired by Black Panther’s secret guard, the Hatut Zeraze, who eventually became mercenaries that were loyal to Wakanda.

When our team was thinking of what other outfits to include with the War for Wakanda Expansion, we wanted to provide a variety from various points of Black Panther’s 50+ year comic history. We also wanted to make sure each of them had a signature look that could be instantly recognizable from a distance whether on a screen or in the game, so we went with bold choices that stand out.

Most Dangerous Man Outfit – Taken from the comics,

Today you can play Tales of Arise for the first time! This is the 17^th entry of the famous Tales of Series developed by Bandai Namco. You can try out the demo today on PS4 and PS5. This demo gives you a quick glimpse into the Tales of Arise’s story and gameplay. Here is a quick preview of what you can expect in the demo.

What’s new in Tales of Arise?

Tales of Arise features six playable characters: Alphen, Shionne, Rinwell, Law, Kisara, and Dohalim. Each character has unique gameplay, Perks, and artes that you can master during the demo. You can start the demo with any character to learn through gameplay and skills. You can always swap between each character during combat or use a new mechanic: Boost Attacks.

Boost Attacks are unique attacks for each character. They can help defeat certain zeugles enemies that you may have difficulties with. Each character has a gauge that will need to be build up over time to use these Boost Attacks.  

• Alphen swings his Fire Sword to deal Break Damage
• Shionne can strike down aerial enemies
• Rinwell can steal arcane artes and prevent enemies from casting
• Kisara can block enemies’ charges and knock them down
• Dohalim can ensnare enemies which will help with faster enemies
• Law’s attack can break through enemies with shields or armors 

Utilize these Boost Attacks to swing the battle in your favor. If you deal enough damage and combo your attacks together, you can unleash a special Boost Strike.

Boost Strikes are cooperative attacks that only activate when enemies are low and you have been fighting well. This allows you to execute an enemy with a massive attack. For Giant Enemies or Bosses, this will deal major damage.

Giant enemies are tough to beat but will reward your party rare items and a lot of experience points. During the demo, you’ll be able to test your might against the Gigant, a giant zeugal. If you’re having difficulties, try going to Camp to cook a meal for buffs and recover your CP.

During the demo, you will notice a new meter called Cure Points (CP). To heal, your party uses the points to restore their health. Be warned that the points don’t recover over time. You will need to rest at inns, camps, or use items to restore your Cure Points. Make sure it is topped off before facing tough enemies.

Returning features

For fans of the series, popular features like cooking and crafting have been expanded. You will be able to gather vegetables, fish, fruits and more throughout the map to cook different meals at the Camp. Cook certain meals that can provide different buffs for your party and improve your performance in battle. Depending on who cooks, there will be additional effects. Sometimes, it can even unlock a unique skit. 

You can craft different items as well. By gathering certain ores throughout the map, you will be able to forge different accessories in the demo. The level of the ores will determine how many bonuses you will receive from the item. It’s worth searching for rare ores to obtain strong accessories.  Play the demo to receive a special Vacation Hootle DLC to use&

I’m Chris Chung, the indie developer behind Catlateral Damage and its brand new Remeowstered version. Today I’m thrilled to announce that Catlateral Damage: Remeowstered will be releasing on both PS4 and PS5 on September 15!

If you’re not familiar with the original Catlateral Damage, it’s a family friendly, first-person destructive house cat simulator where you get to be a cat on a rampage and knock things onto the floor. You know, typical kitty stuff.

It started as a small one-week prototype back in 2013, inspired by the antics of my childhood cat, Nippy (he once dragged a whole pizza off the kitchen counter). Eventually, it went on to have a successful Kickstarter and release on PS4 in 2016, with a free VR Mode added a few months later for the launch of PlayStation VR.

Catlateral Damage: Remeowstered is the “mew and improved” definitive edition of the game, with a whole bunch of new content and improvements to the user interface, animations, and overall visuals. Fan-favorite features like collecting real-life cat photos and the laid-back Litter Box Mode also return. The most substantial change is a complete progression redesign, where you complete goals in Goals Mode to unlock new levels and the other game modes.

You can also collect treats by finding them in levels or receiving them as rewards for completing goals in Procedural Mode (where levels are procedurally generated). Treats unlock permanent stat boosts and special abilities, like a more powerful charged swat and a forward dash. In addition, there’s a completely revamped soundtrack, a bunch of new pet photos to find, and new features like scratching curtains and riding a robot vacuum.

The PlayStation 5 version also has some special features that leverage the console’s capabilities. Of course there’s the 4K resolution, faster load times, and increased render distances, as well as support for Activities and Game Presets (for camera inversion).

But my favorite feature is the DualSense wireless controller’s advanced haptics, which allow you to feel your in-game cat purring when it sleeps as if you were holding it in your hands. Adorable. Both PS4 and PS5 versions also support the motion sensor function for camera aiming, in case using the stick isn’t your thing.

Greetings everyone, I am Emre Sağırlar, Community Manager of Hero Concept. Our latest title Mayhem Brawler will be out on streets tomorrow and I wanted to talk about the project’s development process, how it evolved, and the studio’s innovative approaches to this classic genre. Let’s scroll the belts, shall we?

Play Video

One wild coin was yet to be inserted

Mayhem Brawler is an urban fantasy-themed beat ’em up game with a comic-book art style. But it wasn’t always that. Originally, we’d set out on this project to create a digital trading card game. We wanted to create an urban fantasy universe with a superhero motif, featuring stories from every corner and perspective. TCG’s are well-known for their huge amount of lore, locations, characters, creatures, and much more, which made it the ideal genre to realise our world in.

Ultimately the team realized it would take a significant amount of time to bring all the corners of this rich universe into a cohesive whole with the careful balancing we’d want in a trading card game. Yet with all the materials we’d created, a sudden thought struck: why not adapt them into a classic style, side-scrolling beat ‘em up?  With our world, characters and art style drawing inspiration from the likes of comic-books, classic beat ‘em ups, and novels that told everlasting stories, the crew was able to bring some new things to the genre. 

Even though we’ve inspired from the classic beat ’em ups, the story won’t involve the overused “save the kidnapped daughter/girlfriend” formula. Instead, players will be the top metahuman officers of super-powered law enforcement agency Stronghold. You – and up to two friends in local multiplayer – will police the streets and save the residents of Mayhem City. 

The urban fantasy-theme gave us opportunities to create varieties of enemy minions and bosses, such as wizards that assemble for spine-tingling rituals, vampires that own megacorps to do their evil deeds, lycanthropes that live among mankind for filthy errands, and mejins that came from another dimension to simply party in the neighborhood. As beta players shared their surprise and delight at the fantastical creatures they faced, we knew we were off to a good start with the choices we’ve made for the project. We’re proud of this world we’ve created and as such, the idea for a trading card game at some point in the future is still very much alive.

The Games Under promotion comes to PlayStation Store this Wednesday, August 18*, bringing with it significant discounts on a massive range of titles. That includes Doom Eternal – PS5 Standard Edition, Resident Evil 3 and Need for Speed Heat: Deluxe Edition.