Crystal Dynamics y Bit Bot Media anunciaron hoy una asociación para la producción de Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – The Dead Shall Rise, una novela gráfica precuela oficial que servirá como precuela para el juego y que profundizará en el pasado de Raziel como un guerrero saráfan humano y su transformación en un teniente vampiro bajo el mando de Kain.

«Los fanáticos de Soul Reaver descubrirán la historia de fondo no contada de la franquicia en una novela gráfica original completamente nueva titulada Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – The Dead Shall Rise que tendrá una campaña Kickstarter que se lanzará a finales de este año. Llegando a tiempo para el 25º aniversario del lanzamiento del juego Soul Reaver original, la publicación de Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – The Dead Shall Rise marcará la primera nueva narrativa oficial de Soul Reaver en dos décadas, desde Legacy of Kain: Defiance de 2003.

El proyecto está dirigido por los escritores Joshua Viola (True Believers, It Came From the Multiplex) y Angie Hodapp (Unioverse, Shadow Atlas), con arte interior de Juan Samu (Star Wars, Godzilla), cartas de Jeremiah Lambert (Masters of the Universe, Transformers), portadas de Dave Rapoza (Destiny, Magic: The Gathering) y Aaron Lovett (Monster Train, Inkbound), con arte adicional de Jonny Bush (Rob Zombie, Ghost) y Ninja Jo (Star Wars, Stranger Things).

Brent Friedman (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Call of Duty) proporciona orientación narrativa junto con la dirección creativa y el aporte de Crystal Dynamics, incluidas ideas y elementos nunca antes vistos de la historia inédita de Soul Reaver.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – The Dead Shall Rise profundiza en el pasado de Raziel como un guerrero sarafan humano y su transformación en un teniente vampiro bajo el mando de Kain. La historia presenta nuevos personajes, incluido un vampiro misterioso con profundas conexiones con Raziel y Kain. Esta convincente historia explora y amplía el canon existente al tiempo que responde preguntas de larga data.

A partir de hoy, los fanáticos pueden registrarse en la página de prelanzamiento de BackerKit para recibir una alerta por correo electrónico cuando el proyecto entre en producción. Todos los que se registren recibirán una imagen digital gratuita de los archivos oficialmente aprobados de Crystal Dynamics de Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver después del lanzamiento del proyecto.

«En la universidad, creé un póster de Soul Reaver para un proyecto de clase, sin imaginar nunca que algún día contribuiría oficialmente a la franquicia», dice el coguionista Joshua Viola. “Incluso hoy, Raziel adorna la manga de mi tatuaje, un testimonio de mi profunda conexión con este universo. Los fanáticos pueden esperar un proyecto lleno de esa misma pasión. Trabajar directamente con creativos de Crystal Dynamics y reunirnos con antiguos colaboradores hace de este un esfuerzo verdaderamente especial”.

En colaboración con Crystal Dynamics, este será el primer libro publicado por Bit Bot Media, una nueva y vanguardista compañía multimedia de Klayton (Celldweller, Scandroid), el músico multifacético conocido por sus contribuciones a importantes películas, televisión, y videojuegos, incluidos Transformers, Malignant y Killer Instinct, y el escritor y productor de cine más vendido del Denver Post, Joshua Viola.»

Acerca de Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver es un videojuego de acción-aventura desarrollado por Crystal Dynamics y publicado por Eidos Interactive. Fue publicado para la consola PlayStation, para el sistema operativo Microsoft Windows en 1999 y para Dreamcast en 2000. Soul Reaver es el segundo juego de la serie Legacy of Kain así como la secuela de Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Hay tres juegos más en la serie, de los cuales Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 es una secuela directa.

El juego toma lugar 1500 años después de los eventos de Blood Omen y relata la historia del vampiro convertido en espectro Raziel, lugarteniente del señor vampiro Kain. Raziel es asesinado por Kain, pero es revivido por el Dios Mayor para volverse su «segador de almas» (en inglés soul reaver) y para cobrar venganza. Raziel comparte su título con la espada de Kain, la Segadora de Almas (Soul Reaver en inglés), arma que adquiere en el transcurso del juego.

Crystal Dynamics comenzó el desarrollo del juego durante 1997, pero una relación en deterioro con Silicon Knights, desarrolladora de Blood Omen, creó problemas legales. Esto y otros retrasos forzaron a liberar material planeado para Soul Reaver en entregas posteriores de la serie.

Soul Reaver fue generalmente bien recibido por la crítica y elogiado por su intrincada historia de ambientación gótica y gráficas de alta calidad. Sin embargo, el juego fue criticado por ser simple y repetitivo en su modo de juego y por un clímax insatisfactorio. El juego está incluido en la Lista de «Los Más Grandes Éxitos» de Sony, y fue relanzado en la PlayStation Network en 2009.

Recuerden que hay una especie de remaster de Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver y los interesados pueden conocer cómo jugarlo en este enlace.

La entrada Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver recibirá una Precuela en Formato de Novela Gráfica para celebrar su 25° Aniversario apareció primero en PC Master Race Latinoamérica.

The world lost a legend when Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama passed away this year, but like all of life's great artists, his legacy lives on through his work. If you've ever wanted to marvel at his talent for drawing awe-inspiring landscapes, pulse-pounding action scenes, and intricately detailed machinery, then you won't want to miss out on Dragon Ball: A Visual History, a stunning hardcover book that's now back in stock at Amazon.

Even better, the book has gotten a substantial discount from its regular price of $50, as you can grab it for just $25 right now. A comprehensive history of the manga, the book showcases manga art, additional promotional material, creator commentary, notes, sketches, and posters from throughout the history of the original Dragon Ball series. Alongside full-color artwork and rarely-seen sketches, it also comes with a dust jacket to protect it.

In case it sells out again, there are some other great Akira Toriyama books to check out as well. Dragon Quest Illustrations: 30th Anniversary Edition is a stunning and in-depth hardcover collection of over 500 illustrations from the Dragon Quest video games that Toriyama worked on and Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater is a collection of short stories spanning the first few decades of his career.

Video game prop weapons are commonly seen in collections or at conventions. But it's a bad idea to carry around a replica video game weapon that has an actual blade attached to it. Anthony Bray, a resident of Nuneaton in Warwickshire, England discovered this the hard way when police arrested him last month for carrying a replica of Link's Master Sword from The Legend of Zelda.

Via the Warwickshire police, Bray has been sentenced to four months in prison for carrying a bladed article in public. According to the report, Bray was spotted by officers on June 8 with the Master Sword in his hands as he walked down the street. However, it's important to note that this wasn't simply some toy prop. There was a real blade attached on this Master Sword.

Bray told officers that he purchased the Master Sword replica online, and intended to use it as a "fidget toy" to keep his hands busy. Bray also told officers that he didn't plan on using the sword as a weapon. But since he was openly carrying blade in public, Bray broke the law whether he intended to or not.

Deadpool and Wolverine is the superhero comeback for more than just Hugh Jackman. As revealed in an early trailer for the film, Aaron Stanford is reprising his role as John Allerdyce aka Pyro, a part he portrayed in the first three X-Men movies from 2000 to 2006. There are several other cameos expected in the film, but since Stanford was among the first to be shown, the actor is finally able to talk about his return to the franchise after 18 years.

In X-Men and X2: X-Men United, the films re-envisioned John as a student at Professor Xavier's school and a friend to Bobby Drake/Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and Rogue (Anna Paquin). Near the end of X2, Magneto (Ian McKellen) recruits John, who starts going by his chosen codename, Pyro. During X-Men: The Last Stand, Pyro was a member of Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants, but he didn't get a real supervillain costume. While speaking with EW, Stanford revealed that Pyro's lack of a proper outfit has been rectified.

"I was just very happy to even have a costume," said Stanford. "In the original X-Men films, Pyro gets really shortchanged in terms of a costume. In X2, we start off with Pyro in Xavier's School for Gifted Mutants. The SWAT team bursts in in the middle of the night and we have to flee. So for half the movie, I'm in my jammies. I never got the cool leather, tactical suit that all the X-Men wear. And in X3, I was just dressed in an ensemble from Hot Topic, basically. So to have him be in a proper superhero costume that was actually taken from the comics themselves was very cool."

Next year's Superman reboot is the first film to share that title since the 1978 movie starring Christopher Reeve. Although Reeve passed away in 2004, director James Gann is including a nod to the late star in his Superman movie by featuring Reeve's son, Will Reeve, in a cameo role.

Via Cleveland.com, Will Reeve, who is a real-life reporter for ABC, will portray a TV reporter in Superman. In the outlet's footage from the shoot, Reeve's character is seen making a report on the streets of Metropolis. According to the outlet, Reeve’s character and the other extras in his scene were seen reacting to another superhero who arrives during this sequence. However, the report doesn't mention which hero it was. After filming his scene, Reeve was spotted hugging Gunn, and he was also given a round of applause from the cast and crew.

The first Superman movie established the tradition of former actors in the franchise making cameo appearances in the modern films. Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill, who previously portrayed Superman and Lois Lane respectively, appeared in the movie as Lois Lane's parents during a scene that was initially cut from the film. Reeve kept that tradition alive even after he was paralyzed from a horseback riding accident in 1995. In 2003 and 2004, Reeve made two guest appearances as as Dr. Virgil Swann on Smallville opposite Tom Welling's Clark Kent.

Hugh Jackman returns to play Wolverine once again in this month's Deadpool & Wolverine, but the career-defining role almost never materialized for the Australian actor. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jackman and Marvel boss Kevin Feige discussed Jackman's legacy as Wolverine, going back to their first meeting in 1999 and Jackman's first tryout for the role (and a steak dinner that followed).

The actor Dougray Scott was already signed on to play Wolverine in X-Men, but a commitment for Mission: Impossible 2 forced Scott to leave X-Men during filming (Scott would later say Tom Cruise forbade him from doing both films at the same time). This led to a last-minute recast for Wolverine, and that's where Jackman came in.

When Jackman came to Toronto for his own tryout for Wolverine, things didn't seem to go very well. He said he recalls reading lines for director Bryan Singer and writer Tom DeSanto. Jackman said it was a tense audition, held in the director's trailer during a lunch break. "I could tell he was like, 'Why on my lunch hour am I auditioning some guy for a part that I've already cast?' He was pissed off," Jackman said of DeSanto.

Microsoft Office 2019 is on sale for only $25 at StackSocial. If you don't mind not having the latest updates and features present in Microsoft 365--the $70 per year subscription service Microsoft sells--you're getting quite the bargain here. This deal is only available through July 5.

Office 2019 Professional Plus for PC works with Windows 10 and 11. Mac users can also get a deal on the Office 2019 Home and Business edition, but it's not discounted as steeply as the Windows version. Discounted to $40, the Mac edition is compatible with the current version of macOS (Sonoma) as well as the previous two major revisions: Monterey (12) and Ventura (13).

Microsoft Office 2019

$25 (was $229) for PC | $40 for Mac

There are a few caveats to these two incredible deals. The first is that they're for Microsoft Office 2019--which is obviously a few years old and lacks some modern features found in the current version. The second is that this can only be installed on one PC or Mac. But considering how budget-friendly this deal is, those potential snags can probably be overlooked. Even for just the most popular trio of programs--Word, Excel, and PowerPoint--$25 is a really low price. Heck, it's a good price for the ubiquitous word processor on its own.

Get Office for PC

Get Office for Mac

Both the PC and Mac versions of Office 2019 come with the following five programs:

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero was revealed during June's Nintendo Direct, giving fans of the series their first look at this quirky strategy RPG from the makers of Disgaea that's set to launch on PS5, PS4, and Nintendo Switch sometime in 2025. Ahead of its arrival, you can now preorder Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero Deluxe Edition, which comes with a few collectibles. Here's everything you need to know before placing a preorder.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero Preorder Bonuses

There are currently no preorder bonuses for Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero. The game doesn't yet have a firm release date, so it's possible preorder bonuses could be revealed once a specific date is set. We'll be sure to update this section if anything is announced.

Preorder Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero Deluxe Edition

$60

Oddly enough, there's no standard edition of The Lost Hero up for preorder. That makes this deluxe edition the cheapest (and only) way to get your hands on the game. Along with the game, you'll get a download code for a digital soundtrack and a softcover art book. Preorders are available for PS5, PS4, and Switch. Along with Amazon, you can place your order at Best Buy.

Preorder for PS5

Preorder for PS4

Preorder for Switch

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is a strategy RPG that follows the game's heroine, Marona, venturing out to save her friend, Ash. Along the way, she'll use a special power to interact with phantoms scattered through the world, enabling her to unleash unique abilities in combat. Throughout the journey, you'll meet over 50 characters and attempt to master over 300 skills--giving you plenty of ways to customize your fighting style. Toss in a tactical turn-based system that uses free movement on a gridless map, and you've got a strategic RPG that's shaping up to be a great successor to the original Phantom Brave from 2004.

Like everything else in Destiny 2 in the aftermath of The Final Shape, the Iron Banner has been altered. The PvP event now sports a two-week duration instead of one and is adding two weapons to its current pool of rewards--both of which are former Iron Banner weapons that now have new perks and rolls. The first of those, Claws of the Wolf, is an extremely deadly pulse rifle with a lot of aim assist that might help you snap some headshots over the next two weeks of competition.

You can get Claws of the Wolf easily enough from Iron Banner, but there are a lot of combinations you probably won't want, especially with its mixed-up perk pool. Here's how you can nab Claws of the Wolf and what perks are worth chasing on it.

How To Get Claws Of The Wolf

Now that Claws of the Wolf is back in the Iron Banner loot pool, there are a couple of ways to get ahold of one. The simplest is to just play Iron Banner matches--there's a chance that, with each match, you'll get a random weapon or armor drop, and that drop might be Claws of the Wolf. Even with only playing a handful of matches, I've already nabbed two, and since there are so many Pinnacle rewards and Iron Banner challenges to complete, odds are good that you'll get a few without any thought required.

Blaze Entertainment has kept busy this year, with Street Fighter and Mega Man countertop cabinets arriving on November 28 and the Evercade EXP-R and VS-R dropping later this month. As if the team wasn't busy enough, two new Super Pocket handhelds from Hyper Mega Tech, an Evercade spin-off, are arriving this October--the Super Pocket Atari Edition and Super Pocket Technos Edition. They'll be available to preorder on July 31, and like the Evercade EXP-R and VS-R, we'd expect these retro handhelds to be quite popular at Amazon and Best Buy--the two major US retailers that currently carry the Super Pocket.

If you you like the look of these Game Boy-style handhelds and don't want to wait, Taito and Capcom Super Pockets are available now for $60 each at Amazon.

Super Pocket Atari Edition

$60

The Super Pocket Atari Edition is loaded with 50 classic games, including arcade hits like Asteroids, Berzerk, Crystal Castles, and Frenzy, as well as home console and handheld games including Adventure and Dark Chambers. You'll also be able to find a special edition of the handheld featuring a woodgrain shell, which features the same games but is limited to just 2600 units. Unlike preorders for the other two Super Pockets, preorders for this limited-edition model are now open.

Note: The Amazon and Best Buy links below are placeholder links, but once preorders go live, you should be able easily spot them using these links.

Preorder at Amazon (Not Live Yet)

Preorder at Best Buy (Not Live Yet)

Preorder Special Edition

Super Pocket Technos Edition

$60

The Super Pocket Technos Edition comes with 15 built-in games:

• Double Dragon (Arcade)
• Double Dragon II: The Revenge (Arcade)
• Double Dragon 3 -The Rosetta Stone (Arcade)
• Block Out (Arcade)
• The Combatribes (Arcade)
• Minky Monkey (Arcade)
• Mysterious Stones: Dr John's Adventure (Arcade)
• Renegade (Arcade)
• Super Dodge Ball (Arcade)
• Super Double Dragon (16-bit)
• Double Dragon (8-bit)
• Double Dragon (8-bit handheld)
• River City Ransom (8-bit)
• Crash ‘N’ The Boys: Street Challenge (8-bit)
• Super Spike V’Ball (8-bit)

Note: The Amazon and Best Buy links below are placeholder links, but once preorders go live, you should be able easily spot them using these links.

Preorder at Amazon (Not Live Yet)

Preorder at Best Buy (Not Live Yet)

These slim handhelds feature a 2.8-inch IPS display, work with existing Evercade cartridges, and use an innovative UI that lets you quickly dive into your favorite games. Support for Evercade cartridges is a big part of the Super Pocket's appeal, as it gives you access to a library of over 500 games across 50 cartridges, including remastered versions of classic Duke Nukem games, the first three Tomb Raider games (upcoming), arcade and home computer classics, and modern retro games like the gorgeous platformer Goodboy Galaxy.

Code the Classics aims to teach new programmers and nostalgic fans alike how to create retro games inspired by classics from the '70s and '80s. Published by Raspberry Pi Press, and featuring games coded by Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton, Code the Classics will be published across two volumes in the coming months. Volume 1 is set to release on August 27, while Volume 2 will be available starting November 12. Both books are available to preorder now for $30 at Amazon.

• Code the Classics Volume 1 (2nd Edition) -- $30
• Code the Classics Volume 2 -- $30

It's worth noting that Volume 1 originally released in 2019. The upcoming release is the second, revised edition, with more content. Volume 2 is a brand-new release. The first edition of Volume 1 was well-received at launch and currently holds a 4.5/5 star user review average at Amazon.

Code the Classics by Raspberry Pi Press

The First Descendant launched today for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. Given its free-to-play and multiplayer structure, The First Descendant would benefit from mechanics such as cross-play and cross-progression with different platforms. Cross-play lets players play with and against each other, regardless if they're on PC, PlayStation, or Xbox. Cross-progression lets players carry over progress from one platform to the other.

The good news is that The First Descendant supports both cross-play and cross-progression between PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. However, players must sign up for a Nexon account in order to use cross-progression. Here are step-by-step instructions on how to activate cross-save.

1. Go to the Nexon account linking page
2. Click on the icon of the platform you're playing on (Steam, PlayStation, Xbox)
3. You'll redirected to the login page for that platform and now enter your credentials
4. When you're logged in, authorize the link between your game account and platform
5. Follow the rest of the instructions and complete the authorization process

The First Descendant has had a strong start so far, with over 200,000 concurrent players today on Steam, peaking at #5 on the Steam's most played games list. The Destiny-like game follows the Descendants who have special powers to fight against the Vulgus, a race of aliens seeking the destruction of the fictional world of Ingris.

If you're in the market for a new PS5, PS4, or even PC controller, one of the best premium options available now is the Victrix Pro BFG. This high-end modular controller offers a wealth of versatility, superb ergonomics, and ample customization features that make it an ideal choice for those who want a more feature-rich controller than the standard DualSense (or most PC controllers). For a limited time, you can save on two different models of the Victrix Pro BFG's PlayStation edition at Amazon.

Stardew Valley, the massive indie farming simulator, lets you and up to three friends run a farm together, via online play or couch co-op. However, since multiplayer was added post-launch and the majority of development is done by one person, there are a few modern features missing from the multiplayer. One of those features is cross-platform play, which isn't in Stardew Valley.

Stardew Valley cross-platform details

Stardew Valley currently does not have cross-platform multiplayer, and it seems likely that it never will. That means if you want to play multiplayer, everyone will need to be in the same family of platforms, like Xbox or PlayStation. If one person is on Nintendo Switch and the other is on PC, you cannot play together.

Stardew Valley developer Eric Barone--also known as ConcernedApe--has not commented on cross-platform multiplayer in recent years, but did mention back in 2018 that "technical barriers are very high," expressing that it's a feature that he would want to add, but it might not be possible. The developers comments are reminiscent of those from Bethesda's Todd Howard, who discussed why Fallout 76 doesn't have cross-play, citing difficulty in adding it to a game that wasn't initially designed for it.

Another month has dawned, and that means Humble has another bundle of PC games available for its Humble Choice subscribers ($12/month). This month, there are eight games available in the bundle, including some big-name indie sequels like A Plague Tale: Requiem and Ghostrunner 2, plus a selection of shooters, strategy games, and action games, all of which are yours to keep forever, even if you cancel your Humble Choice subscription. On top of the games, this month's bundle also includes a surprising bonus: a month of DC Universe Infinite, which lets you read thousands of DC Comics in the DC Universe app.

Humble Choice July 2024 games

• Ghostrunner 2
• A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Starship Troopers: Terran Command
• Sticky Business
• Zoeti
• Figment 2: Creed Valley
• Heretic's Fork
• Hyperviolent
• Bonus: One-month subscription to DC Universe Infinite

This month's headliner is A Plague Tale: Requiem, a steath/action sequel about a teen girl and her little brother trying to survive during the Black Death. It's a particularly fascinating sequel, because the first game came out in late 2019 just months before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Reqiuem was released in 2022--you can see in this game a bit of that shift in perspective that we all experienced over the past four years.

Ghostrunner 2, another glossy indie, is a parkour-based action game in which the player and their enemies alike die with a single hit from a blade--this franchise is like Mirror's Edge and Dishonored had a baby that was really intense but also fun. And it's nice to have a hardcore action game that skews away from soulslike norms.

BioWare's upcoming fantasy RPG, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, has a lot of changes to the way combat works, and one of them is a "no death" setting that allows players to avoid having their character die mid-combat.

"[None of the difficulty settings] are a cheat," game director Corrine Busche recently explained (via Game Informer). "It's an option to make sure players of all abilities can show up."

The game includes four difficulty settings: Storyteller, Adventurer, Nightmare, and Unbound. Nightmare offers an intense challenge, and once you select that mode, it's permanent, unlike the other difficulty options. Meanwhile, Unbound exists as a customizable mode where players can tweak specific aspects of combat, like the amount of damage done to enemies and the amount of damage received by them.

3-2-1 Chicago.

Rocket Racing, the actually-pretty-good arcade racing mode within Fortnite, now has some NASCAR content. Yes, the American motorsport is officially represented in Epic's metaverse thanks to a collaboration with developer Karta, and it's playable in the game right now.

Read the full article on pushsquare.com

This is a raid.

Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream now has a confirmed 4th October release date on PS5, and it's set to take Sword Art Online games in a somewhat new direction. In case you missed the initial reveal, this is primarily an online co-op adventure, as groups of up to 20 characters can take part in raid-style battles.

Still, despite its focus on large-scale action, Fractured Daydream does have its own story, complete with a cast of recurring Sword Art Online characters. In fact, it sounds a lot like a crossover game, as it incorporates characters from a number of different seasons.

Read the full article on pushsquare.com