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‘Pac-Man Championship Edition 2’ coming to Xbox One, PS4, PC in September

By Danny Cowan July 20, 2016

Video game icon Pac-Man is set to star in a new pellet-munching maze game for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PCs that recalls his earliest arcade adventures from the 1980s, publisher Bandai Namco announced this week.

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 will update the classic Pac-Man formula with new gameplay mechanics and a collection of tricky neon-tinted levels that will challenge die-hard arcade fanatics.

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Footage shown in a trailer released Wednesday reveals that Championship Edition 2 will stick closely to the gameplay style introduced in 2007’s Pac-Man Championship Edition, which featured a series of timed challenges across varied mazes. Racing against a ticking timer, players must gobble all of the onscreen dots in their path and complete as many consecutive levels as possible while evading a gang of pursuing ghosts.

Championship Edition 2 will also retain many gameplay mechanics seen in the series’ 2011 follow-up Pac-Man Championship Edition DX and its expansion DX+, such as equipping players with bombs that they can drop to temporarily stun their pursuers. Championship Edition DX‘s sleeping ghosts will also return, giving players a chance to rack up high-scoring combos after consuming power pellets.

New features in store for Championship Edition 2 include teleporters, tilted mazes, and giant ghosts that lurk behind the playing field. This week’s trailer also suggests that boss battles will play a role in Pac-Man’s latest adventure – a rarity for the series.

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 follows up on the recent multiplatform release of Pac-Man 256, an endlessly scrolling action game in which Pac-Man must flee from a world-devouring glitch. The original 1980 arcade version of Pac-Man was also recently reissued for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 alongside its popular sequel, Ms. Pac-Man.

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 launches digitally for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows PCs via Steam in September.

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Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit’s studio has made an AR Hot Wheels game

Key art highlighting the mixed reality nature of Hot Wheels: Rift Rally.

Velan Studios, the developers behind Knockout City and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, has announced Hot Wheels: Rift Rally, a mixed-reality racing game that uses actual RC Hot Wheels cars and will launch on March 14.
It very much looks like a spiritual successor to Home Circuit, but uses the popular toy car brand instead of Mario Kart characters and items. However, it's not on Nintendo Switch; Rift Rally will only be available for iOS, PlayStation 4, and PS5. Rift Rally comes with a Chameleon RC car that can transform into over 140 different Hot Wheels vehicles in-game, as well as four Rift Gates that players can use to set up the boundaries of a racetrack.

From there, players can participate in various races and challenges, with the RC car moving around in the real world as flashier-looking gameplay takes place on the player's screen. Rift Rally looks like it improves upon the formula Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit established, though. There is more challenge variation -- we saw gameplay footage of one challenge where players had to clear as many flower petals from a track as possible, and Stunt Mode allows players to just drive and perform tricks around their home without the need for the Rift Gates.
Hot Wheels isn't a stranger to the video game industry. There have been lots of licensed Hot Wheels games over the years, with the recent Hot Wheels Unleashed and themed expansion for Forza Horizon 5 being particular standouts. But no Hot Wheels game before now has looked and functioned quite like Rift Rally.
Hot Wheels: Rift Rally will launch for iOS, PS4, and PS5 on March 14. The game will cost $130, although a Collector's Edition that comes with a black and gold Chameleon RC car and a regular McLaren Senna Hot Wheels car will also be available for $150.

Gaming

MLB The Show 23 returns to Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch this March

Jazz Chisholm's cover art for MLB The Show 23.

Sony San Diego Studios announced MLB The Show 23 today, and confirmed that it will launch across all major PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo systems on March 28.
No new platforms were added this year, so PC players aren't getting in on the fun. Still, this announcement makes it clear that MLB The Show is a multiplatform series across PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo platforms for the foreseeable future. Xbox's version of the trailer also confirms that MLB The Show 23 will be on Xbox Game Pass at launch, making this first-party Sony series a day-one Game Pass title three years in a row.
MLB The Show 23 - Cover Athlete Reveal
As is typically the case with sports games, MLB The Show 23's reveal was primarily focused on its cover athlete. We learned that Jazz Chisholm Jr., a second baseman for the Miami Marlins, will grace the cover of the game. Like last year, the PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch versions of the game will cost $60, while players on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S without Xbox Game Pass will need to pay $70. So far, no new gameplay features have been teased, although a blog post confirms that cross-platform multiplayer, saves, and progression across all versions of the game will return this year.
So far, there's not a lot that actually seems new about MLB The Show 23, but this reveal concludes the genesis of a new era for the long-running baseball series. MLB The Show 23 will be released for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch on March 28.

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7 PlayStation VR2 launch window games you’ll want to grab on day one

Horizon Call of the Mountain key art.

The VR space is ever-expanding with new headsets and technology pushing the medium forward in impressive ways, but it's usually the games and how they take advantage of each headset that matters most. That's why Sony is ensuring that its upcoming PlayStation VR2 -- set to launch February 22 -- has a diverse lineup of titles that showcase what its new device is capable of achieving.

While many of these titles are updated ports from other headsets, the sheer number of unique experiences in the PSVR2 launch window means there should be a bit of something for everyone. If you're planning to snag the headset next month, here are seven launch games that you'll want to keep on your radar as you plan out what to buy first.
Horizon: Call of the Mountain