As noted on NeoGAF, the Taiwanese PSN store briefly showed a listing for Ryu Ga Gotoku Kiwami 2, otherwise known as the Yakuza series in the west. This leak also mentions that the game would be landing in Asia November of this year. It will be utilizing the Yakuza 6 engine, bringing about all of the updated technology that title has.

While nothing is official (and this may just be a placeholder listing), it makes a lot of sense. With 6 having released just last year in Japan and being the last in Kiryu's story, Ryu Ga Gotoku studio had to be planning something to continue his legacy. They also have been making Yakuza games on a yearly basis, so this was bound to be inevitable.

While I'm in love with the series, I've somehow not managed to play the second entry. My first game was 3 and I then continued to follow the series in release order. With Sega not releasing the HD collection over in the West, I would gladly welcome a total overhaul of 2 to finish off the series. Seeing as how I found Kiwami to be an improvement on the original, I certainly don't see why Kiwami 2 wouldn't end up possibly being the best game in the series (if fan reaction to the original is to be believed).

Yakuza Kiwami 2 announcement leaked [NeoGAF]

Up until now, we've seen three different gameplay styles for Sonic Forces, Sonic Team's newest project. Modern Sonic plays similarly to how he did in recent years, a mix of 3D and 2D platforming with homing attacks and a boost gauge that allows you to move quickly while dealing damage around you. The cuter, rounder Classic Sonic is restricted to a 2D plane and has his new Drop Dash move from Sonic Mania. There's also a custom Avatar that plays similarly to Modern Sonic... Except they're slower and are equipped with special weaponry. Feeling overwhelmed yet? Well then, better stop reading.

A new gameplay trailer came out for Gamescom 2017, showcasing yet another way to play Sonic Forces. Modern Sonic and the Avatar are shown working together, combining the former's speed and the latter's gadgets. Don't be fooled though, this is single-player footage. They traverse a desert filled to the brim with machines (NieR: Automata much?) as they head towards a pyramid-shaped factory.

Ever dreamed of a video game related wedding with your button mashing sweetheart? These two lovebirds in Japan did, and they made it a reality. An entire arcade was reserved with red carpet and all for these two game lovers to tie the knot before their first face-off as husband and wife in Tekken 6 Bloodline Rebellion for their "matrimonial fight." They probably checked for arcade squatters before hand.

We don't know who won, but hopefully the fighting stays in the game world. What would be the first game you'd want to play with your new husband or wife? Would you let them win?

Donut County has been in the works for a while. Jordan previewed it a couple of years ago, and at the time it looked relaxing and engaging, just the kind of thing I like to sink hours into. Now, it still looks relaxing and engaging but with a little more chaos thrown in, much like Katamari Damacy, and the raccoon isn't just riding a scooter anymore. It's also talking. And riding a drone. 

The trailer asks what the nature of a hole is and explores its purpose. Ask a simple question and receive a simple answer: to put things in. That's exactly what you'll be doing in Donut County, a game where you play as a hole in the ground. 

Creator of the acclaimed Life is Strange and not-so-acclaimed Remember Me, Dontnod Entertainment is teaming up with publisher Bandai Namco to create a brand new adventure game. Beyond two images and its genre, nothing is known about the game. The images look somewhat grim, hopefully not post-apocalyptic or zombie grim.

Bandai Namco VP of marketing says "By signing a new partnership with such a talented studio we’ll advance the rolling out of our strategic plan to create local content targeted to new market segments, which has already started with the releases of Little Nightmares and Get Even. It is a great opportunity to explore the narrative adventure genre with the creative minds at Dontnod."

The official website for the upcoming Fire Emblem Warriors has detailed some of the mechanics included. In particular, the Pair Up mechanic, which rose to prominence with Awakening and Fates. There was also a bit of detail revealed about using magic attacks.

Both mechanics are pretty faithful to their original counterparts to put it bluntly.

Howdy y'all. It's your resident cave-dweller ooktar here taking the reigns of the CotW machine for the first time. It's the 13th edition and 13 is an unlucky number so if your comment didn't make it this week then don't direct your angry Skeletor gifs towards me as it's all up to fate now. Now let's all gather 'round and take a look at what our silly Dtoiders said this week.

We've seen trailers and even off-screen footage for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on Nintendo Switch, but there's still plenty we don't know about this version. Bethesda hasn't exactly been forthcoming.

Digital Foundry briefly went hands-on with Skyrim this week at gamescom, sharing both footage of the game in handheld mode and their thoughts about how the port is shaping up technically.

If you're just generally on board with "portable Skyrim," things are looking good. Otherwise, if you've had your fill of the game with prior versions, you'll likely want to sit this one out.

"It's the consistency in performance that's really impressive, especially compared to the last-gen versions of the game," notes Digital Foundry. "The wobbly frame-rates with hitching and stuttering during traversal and combat simply aren't an issue on Switch: that 30 frames per second is as close to locked as you're going to get. [...] To what extent Bethesda is tapping into the full range of Special Edition features for the Switch version remains unclear, but certainly the consistency in performance is very much like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 releases we saw last year."

When Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata revealed that there will be some form of mod support on PC, he mentioned that they want to do so "with as few limitations from our side as possible." Translation: they won't stop you from making or installing nude or sex mods.

When asked about such mods by PCGamesN, he told them "Obviously there's some worry about 'we've made this great world and people might try to stuff all kind of strange things into it and mess it up,' when we were getting together for discussion, all the people together in the project were airing out their worries, [nude mods] were something most people were really worried about."

The Journey was one of the best additions to FIFA 17, crafting a dramatic but believable story around a rookie football (sorry, soccer) player in England. With FIFA 18, EA is building on the mode with a "second season" for rising star Alex Hunter. It promises a "global" story with more football clubs, branching pathways and some character customisation, culminating in a campaign that should feel less scripted, but no less cinematic.

There is nothing I hate more than a shit controller. I am probably more serious about my controllers than I am games themselves; I spend an unreasonable amount of time researching input solutions for my retro gaming habit. And just a few years ago, it was almost impossible to find decent third-party solutions for old consoles, or for NES or SNES styled controllers that were compatible with USB.

All that has changed recently. With companies such as 8bitdo coming into the market and making fantastic wireless solutions, and hidden gems such as the Buffalo (formerly iBuffalo) Super Famicom styled USB controllers, there is now a far more decent variety of controllers to choose from.

For the next expansion to GTA: Online, Rockstar Games is looking to its past. "Smuggler's Run" will task you to move inventory for the perpetually paranoid Nervous Ron by land and air. "Smuggler's Run opens up the air corridors above Los Santos and Blaine Country, providing new business opportunities while introducing a range of planes, choppers and even ultralights as highly viable options for transporting criminal cargo across the state -- simultaneously opening up some creative new methods of dispatching any rival gangs along the way," a post on the Rockstar Newswire says.

Source: Rockstar

Conformity is a tricky thing when it comes to competition. Every basketball court is the same perfect rectangle with a 10-foot hoop. Every football field is 100 yards long. Conversely, baseball fields have their own unique outfield shapes; the one in Houston used to have a hill and a flagpole right in the field of play in centerfield.

Even though soccer -- which has a standardized pitch size -- is Rocket League's closest traditional sport analog, developer Psyonix has spent nearly two years with the mindset that the game did not necessarily need uniform arenas. Ever since the introduction of Wasteland in December 2015, Rocket League has featured "alternate" stadiums in ranked playlists. As long as both teams were saddled with the same arena oddities, Psyonix viewed it as fair play.

That will change with the next update. Starting sometime this fall, only standard arenas will be used for both competitive and casual online play. The two current alternate arenas, Wasteland and Starbase Arc, will be reworked to have uniform dimensions. There's already precedent here as Neo Tokyo, which featured elevated sides, was given the same treatment earlier this year. Moving forward, alternate maps won't make their way to online play in the first place.

As for why this decision was made, it seems as if Psyonix is finally committing to the stance that many competitive players have taken since the beginning. In a post on Steam, the developer says "We introduced non-standard arenas partly to provide variety for pro play, but they have not been embraced." It feels pertinent to note here that high-level Rocket League competition never deviates from the same few and familiar stadiums. "We no longer feel that map variety is needed or appropriate for the competitive scene," Psyonix continues.

But, it's the next point that drives home most people's frustrations: "Ultimately, the alternate layouts we devised simply didn't add enough strategically to offset the corresponding loss in predictability and muscle memory." Dedicated players will spend hundreds and thousands of hours learning every little nuance of how the ball will react in all situations. Trying to figure out Starbase Arc's angles because it's the one map that's an octagon feels counter-productive in a way.

Some sports and games thrive on environmental unpredictability, as they highlight the players who are best able to adapt and react on the fly. That's not the game Rocket League should try to be and Psyonix has apparently come to terms with that.

Starbase ARC and Wasteland Redesigned as Standard Arenas [Steam]

Yes, this is real. Square Enix and Ubisoft revealed at Ubisoft that they are teaming up for collaboration between Final Fantasy XV and Assassin's Creed Origins. On August 30, players who earn a Dream Egg from the Moogle Chocobo Carnival event will obtain an Altair costume for Noctis. Then, from August 31 through January 2018 a free Assassin's Festival will take over the city of Lestallum.

In the festival Noctis will gain Assassin abilities like parkour and hidden blades to tackle all new activities and try to unlock new items and Assassin's Creed outfits for the whole party.

It's time to get the old Destiny gang back together.

Ahead of Destiny 2's console launch on September 6, Bungie has opened clan creation and searching on its website. You can pick out your clan name, shorthand name, motto, and a "phrase or slogan that represents your clan's culture." There's a banner editor, too. (I can't wait to see what y'all come up with.)

The studio also updated the Destiny companion app on iOS and Android.

• Added the EXPLORE section -- All new experience -- keep you apprised of what's happening in the world of Destiny
• Added the PROGRESS section -- All new experience -- view your active game milestones and rewards (available at launch of Destiny 2)
• Updated CLANS experience - Full refresh of clans with added integration with in game progress, clan level and rewards, and clan banner creation (game integration available at launch of Destiny 2)
• Updated GEAR experience - Completely refreshed gear browsing, sorting, and details for Destiny 2. Includes new screenshot representations for each item and a quick action button for item management (available at launch of Destiny 2)
• Updated FIND FIRETEAM experience -- modified with the latest activities for Destiny 2
• Updated PROFILE section -- Consolidated all your profile management options into one location

If you encounter any weirdness in the app, Bungie is looking into it.

In the lead-up to October's launch of Forza 7, Microsoft will be giving out Forza 5 on Games with Gold next month. Alongside their flagship racing series comes Oxenfree on Xbox One, while 360 gamers will get Hydro Thunder Hurricane and Battlefield 3 (also available for backward compatibility).

I love it when games are willing to go to goofy or otherwise strange places with their extra modes, and Ultimate Tekken Bowl is a good example. Like, I don't own Tekken 7. Not yet. But I'll be tempted to pick it up sooner than latter for the chance to go bowling in a non-bowling video game similar to how instead of ever clearing Super Monkey Ball 2's story mode, I just endlessly play Monkey Baseball.

The paid add-on mode (sign of the times!) is due out on August 31 with Tekken 7's DLC #1.

This DLC is part of the $25 season pass, but it'll also be up for purchase on its own. Bowling is the main draw and none of you can convince me otherwise, but DLC #1 also comes with new costumes:

• Blood Vengeance School Uniforms (for Xiaoyu & Alisa)

• Swimwear

  • Swimsuits (All female fighters)

  • Vintage 1920s bathing suits

• Idol Master themed outfits (All female fighters)

• Traditional Japanese Fundoshi (All male fighters)

This past week in Japan saw the PlayStation 4 surpass the Nintendo Switch for the first time since the launch of the Switch back on March 3, 2017. Switch shortages could be the major cause, as the only two new releases on PlayStation 4 were online games Dragon Quest X: All in One Package and Dragon's Dogma Online Season 3 which only sold 14,052 and 4,590 copies respectively.

The newest Dragon Quest game still occupies the throne of game sales followed by Splatoon 2 and Level-5's latest game, The Snack World.

Atlus is rolling out teasers for new classes that will be appearing in Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth, and the latest is the Botanist, or "scholar of the medical arts" if you want to get real fancy. Don't underestimate people who love plants, though, because not only can the Botanist heal your entire party, but they can also wreak havoc on enemies by crippling them with poison, paralysis, blindness, and other fun afflictions.

Botanists can choose between two specializations: The Merciful Healer or The Graceful Poisoner, depending on whether you want to do more helping or hurting. The trailer shows both healing and poisoning in action.

Continuing their conquest to make Crusader Kings II the longest DLC supported game ever, Paradox Interactive announced at Gamescom 2017 a new expansion for the five-year-old game.

Jade Dragon will bring the Empire of China into the mix in an odd way.

So this is weird: Square Enix and Ubisoft have announced that this month will mark the beginning of crossovers between Assassin's Creed and Final Fantasy. Yup, really. "This collaboration is the result of being huge fans," Ubisoft Montreal game driector Ashraf Ismail says on the UbiBlog. "There's a lot of respect between the two teams and we couldn't be more thrilled with the opportunity to pay homage to each other's work."

Source: UbiBlog

The initial leak of Biomutant from last week had me a bit excited. While I'm not exactly big on anthropomorphic lead characters, I do love martial arts and kung fu films, so a nice open-world with those properties could have made for an intriguing setting. Sadly, this extended trailer from Gamescom doesn't show off the game in the best light.

I suppose this could be down to the game still being in development (and thus an early build), but this really doesn't evoke any kind of kung fu style that I was envisioning. It mostly just looks like Assassin's Creed or the Arkham games mixed with guns. At least it has a lot of color, which is certainly nice.

Mercy is one of the most-played heroes in Overwatch, but Blizzard doesn't like how people use her. As director Jeff Kaplan points out, Mercy turns into more of a passive experience once her ultimate ability is almost ready. It's beneficial for her to stop healing and to wait for the right opportunity to resurrect as many of her teammates as possible.

That's why Blizzard's reworking her build in a big way. The goal is to keep Mercy players engaged, and that's why her Resurrect ultimate is being moved to a common ability that's available on a 30-second cool-down timer. However, Resurrect will only be able to target one person at a time, so it adds a new strategic element of figuring out who's the best person to bring back to life.

Taking Resurrect's place is a new ultimate called Valkyrie. The most obvious trait about Valkyrie is that it lets Mercy fly. As Kaplan says "I don't mean she can Pharah boost in the air briefly, I mean she can fly. It's super fun and you have complete control of your character. Mercy has those wings, we might as well put them to real use."

Forma.8 is a delightful little Metroidvania that just made its way over to the Nintendo Switch. You play as a tiny, silent, robotic ball whose only real purpose is to murder things and solve environmental puzzles.

If you’re looking for a “story,” you’re shit out of luck. Seriously, there is not a single spoken word in the game. And you know what? That’s perfectly fine. After years of ham-fisted, forced dialogue, it’s actually a bit refreshing.

Twitter launched on the Xbox One last fall, and did so with a focus on video. Today, an update adds some new video types, most notably live 360-degree video. Given that just about every platform has been focusing on 360 video lately, so it's not surprising to see Twitter look to expand the places where users can watch it. The Apple TV has supported live 360-degree video for a while now, so it's not a huge surprise to see it arrive here as well.

Source: Microsoft (Twitter)

Japanese website Ryokutya has reported that a new DLC mobile suit for Gundam Versus will be announced in the upcoming issue of Gundam Ace. The mobile suit in question is rather out of left field, and no one really saw it coming as a result. It's a niche choice, even by Gundam standards.

The Phantom Gundam from the manga Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam: Ghost will be joining the fight.

We get it, Microsoft. The Xbox One X is a beast! It'll run games in native 4K! (Not like that sometimes-4K from the PlayStation 4 Pro.) It's basically everything we've ever wanted, spec-wise, from a video game console. And yet, many aspects of the Xbox One X still fall flat, even though we're just a few months away from its November 7th release. That was clearer than ever at Gamescom this week, where Microsoft kicked things off with an over-long presentation that didn't give us many reasons to actually get excited for the One X.

During the events of Gamescom, Ubisoft released eight minutes of gameplay footage from their upcoming open-world shooter Far Cry 5, taking its brand of survivalist mayhem to the fictional Hope County of Montana, currently under the thumb of doomsday preacher, Joseph Seed.

The footage features some shootin' some drivin' some flyin' and even some fishin' whilst showcasing the lush, green environment, juxtaposed with the creepy, cultish vibe that has plagued the county.

In true Ubisoft style, the footage is uncomfortably narrated by the game's scriptwriter and associate producer, both of whom sound thoroughly distracted as they read their carefully plotted scripts in-time with the on-screen action. It even contains some of that Ubisoft-trademark "real-life-sounding" banter.

And yes, something gets referred to as "iconic".

Y'all know me by now, I see as much good as I can in everything, and I certainly don't rag on games "just because", but Ubisoft are the gods of awkward "gameplay experience" videos. They always seem so scripted, so hollow, and it just comes across as disingenuous.

Regardless, the game appears to look and play like a Far Cry game, and they're pretty good. It will be intriguing to see what grim turns the ominous-sounding storyline takes when Far Cry 5 launches early next year on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.