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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Sony and Lego are collaborating on a project based on Guerilla's Horizon franchise, leaker teasesVikki Blake
    Sony and Lego are collaborating on a "well-known" IP, and rumour has it, it's Guerilla's Horizon franchise.Earlier today, noted leaker Kurakasis suggested that "Sony is preparing something in collaboration with Lego", adding that it was "related" to a well-known series and that an announcement is "expected soon".Shortly thereafter, Tom Henderson – a "Tier 1 / very reliable source" as determined by the Gaming Leaks and Rumours subreddit community – chimed in to concur with Kurakasis' claim, chee
     

Sony and Lego are collaborating on a project based on Guerilla's Horizon franchise, leaker teases

11. Květen 2024 v 19:03

Sony and Lego are collaborating on a "well-known" IP, and rumour has it, it's Guerilla's Horizon franchise.

Earlier today, noted leaker Kurakasis suggested that "Sony is preparing something in collaboration with Lego", adding that it was "related" to a well-known series and that an announcement is "expected soon".

Shortly thereafter, Tom Henderson – a "Tier 1 / very reliable source" as determined by the Gaming Leaks and Rumours subreddit community – chimed in to concur with Kurakasis' claim, cheekily adding "an announcement is on the horizon".

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Cyberpunk 2077 director thanks fans as the game hits a 95% positive review rating on SteamVikki Blake
    Cyberpunk 2077 associate game director Paweł Sasko has thanked the game's community for the thousands of positive Steam reviews it has received in the last 30 days.The open-world action-adventure game had a release so disastrous, CD Projekt investors considered suing the studio for "materially misleading information", and Sony refunded Cyberpunk 2077 players unhappy with the game's performance on PS4 even beyond the typical two-hour playtime limit before pulling the game from sale co
     

Cyberpunk 2077 director thanks fans as the game hits a 95% positive review rating on Steam

11. Květen 2024 v 18:44

Cyberpunk 2077 associate game director Paweł Sasko has thanked the game's community for the thousands of positive Steam reviews it has received in the last 30 days.

The open-world action-adventure game had a release so disastrous, CD Projekt investors considered suing the studio for "materially misleading information", and Sony refunded Cyberpunk 2077 players unhappy with the game's performance on PS4 even beyond the typical two-hour playtime limit before pulling the game from sale completely shortly after it launched.

Now, in the wake of its acclaimed Phantom Liberty DLC, 95 per cent of the 7000+ reviews left in the last month are positive, something Sasko said they "always believed" but "never thought [he] would actually see it".

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • God of War: Ragnarök is the next Sony game coming to PC, leaker suggestsVikki Blake
    God of War: Ragnarök is reportedly the next Sony game coming to PC.Leaker billbil-kun – who has regularly, and correctly, let Sony-shaped cats out of the bag before – purports that they have "managed to determine" that a PC port of the hugely successful sequel to 2019's God of War will be announced "sometime in May".Billbil-kun says they're unsure of the game's release date but reckons we may find out more at the next PlayStation State of Play showcase, which is also rumoured – but yet to be co
     

God of War: Ragnarök is the next Sony game coming to PC, leaker suggests

11. Květen 2024 v 16:04

God of War: Ragnarök is reportedly the next Sony game coming to PC.

Leaker billbil-kun – who has regularly, and correctly, let Sony-shaped cats out of the bag before – purports that they have "managed to determine" that a PC port of the hugely successful sequel to 2019's God of War will be announced "sometime in May".

Billbil-kun says they're unsure of the game's release date but reckons we may find out more at the next PlayStation State of Play showcase, which is also rumoured – but yet to be confirmed – to be taking place later this month.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Steam is now banned in VietnamVikki Blake
    Steam has been banned in Vietnam.As first reported by Game Developer and spotted by our sister site, GamesIndustry.biz, it's unclear exactly why the PC platform has been banned, but GI.biz proposes it may be due to "Valve's business operations".However, as reported in Vietnam.net, it's possible Steam has been taken down in Vietnam after local game developers complained about the scope and size of Steam's vast portfolio of games, claiming Vietnamese devs cannot compete with Steam's releases give
     

Steam is now banned in Vietnam

11. Květen 2024 v 15:05

Steam has been banned in Vietnam.

As first reported by Game Developer and spotted by our sister site, GamesIndustry.biz, it's unclear exactly why the PC platform has been banned, but GI.biz proposes it may be due to "Valve's business operations".

However, as reported in Vietnam.net, it's possible Steam has been taken down in Vietnam after local game developers complained about the scope and size of Steam's vast portfolio of games, claiming Vietnamese devs cannot compete with Steam's releases given they are subject to government approval and thousands of international games on Steam are not.

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Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut PC players are getting auto-refunds if they cannot legally sign up for PSN

11. Květen 2024 v 13:48

Steam is auto-refunding players who bought Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut in countries where PSN isn't available.

Last week – around the same time Helldivers 2 was being pulled from sale in 177 countries following the disastrous rollout of mandatory PSN linking – Ghost of Tsushima developer Sucker Punch confirmed that Steam players were not required to sign up to PSN if they only wanted to play the Director's Cut's singleplayer campaign on Steam.

Now, however, it seems digital storefronts like Steam and Green Man Gaming have either decided – or been instructed to – automatically refund pre-orders from people who live in territories where players cannot legally sign up for PSN.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • V Rising hits 100,000 concurrent players on SteamVikki Blake
    V Rising was finally released in full this week, and so many players have jumped into the open-world survival game, it's breached 100,000 concurrent players for the first time since it released as an early access two years ago.Developer Stunlock Studios marked the milestone on social media with a "Thank you!" and a simple graphic that confirmed there were "100,000 vampires in-game".So far, the 1.0 edition is sitting on a "very positive" Steam rating, with almost 4000 recent reviews bolstering t
     

V Rising hits 100,000 concurrent players on Steam

11. Květen 2024 v 13:11

V Rising was finally released in full this week, and so many players have jumped into the open-world survival game, it's breached 100,000 concurrent players for the first time since it released as an early access two years ago.

Developer Stunlock Studios marked the milestone on social media with a "Thank you!" and a simple graphic that confirmed there were "100,000 vampires in-game".

So far, the 1.0 edition is sitting on a "very positive" Steam rating, with almost 4000 recent reviews bolstering the early access release's similarly positive score.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • One last stroll through Redfall, at the pace it was always meant to be playedChristian Donlan
    Calm seas and sunny skies. I had not been back to Redfall in a while before this week, when events meant I suddenly knew I had to check in again. Spring has finally arrived in Sussex, so when I turned the game on one morning and sat down to play, a warming sun was already slanting in through the windows. The promise of summer! Redfall, of course, worked its spell. On the screen, a US flag hung limply from a pole against louring skies, while a stray breeze gathered and then scattered dry leaves,
     

One last stroll through Redfall, at the pace it was always meant to be played

11. Květen 2024 v 09:51

Calm seas and sunny skies. I had not been back to Redfall in a while before this week, when events meant I suddenly knew I had to check in again. Spring has finally arrived in Sussex, so when I turned the game on one morning and sat down to play, a warming sun was already slanting in through the windows. The promise of summer! Redfall, of course, worked its spell. On the screen, a US flag hung limply from a pole against louring skies, while a stray breeze gathered and then scattered dry leaves, eddying, dithering, round and round. It was like stepping out on an Autumn evening. October Country. Everything that I wanted.

My idea was just to wander. Like a lot of people I struggled with Redfall as a fast-paced co-op action game, because it so clearly didn't want to be a fast-paced co-op action game. In my mind, perhaps unfairly, I see the pitch that I imagine was handed down from above as being something like: can you get us Stranger Things and Left 4 Dead in a single package? Arkane Austin was - feels weird and grim to say "was" - a famously smart bunch of people. I cannot believe the team didn't know where its strengths lay. Its strengths lay in slowing down, savouring the environmental storytelling and tactical options. Slow down, and this is still the game that Redfall is - the storytelling part at least. But you have to play across the game design to see it. You can't meet it head on. You have to go hunting for the magic, ducking around the gunfights, which are fine, and the bottlenecks they create. But the magic is here waiting for you.

My favourite moments playing Redfall the first time around were all on the first of two open-world maps. I loved the locations that spoke to a realistic, slightly up-itself seaside town in New England. There were boss fights and magical-realism moments in which you travelled inside a doll's house, but I preferred finding the gorgeously restored old cinema, itself a kind of doll's house contrivance with its brass railings and tip-up seats and classic movie posters. My favourite bit of storytelling wasn't about how vampires had taken over and messed with the sun. It was about a safe house that had once been a painfully contemporary smoothie bar where influencers could film themselves drinking luminous protein-and-berry blends filled with activated almonds.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Destiny developer Bungie's original sci-fi shooter Marathon hits Steam for freeMatt Wales
    Marathon, the 1994 video game that marked Halo and Destiny developer Bungie's first foray into the world of first-person sci-fi shooters, is - as Bungie previously said it would be - now available on Steam for free. And the remaining two titles in the series are due at a later date. Marathon Classic, as the Steam release is known, has been developed by the team behind Aleph One - a fan-created engine based on the Marathon 2 source code - and promises "authentic gameplay using the original [Ma
     

Destiny developer Bungie's original sci-fi shooter Marathon hits Steam for free

10. Květen 2024 v 21:45

Marathon, the 1994 video game that marked Halo and Destiny developer Bungie's first foray into the world of first-person sci-fi shooters, is - as Bungie previously said it would be - now available on Steam for free. And the remaining two titles in the series are due at a later date.

Marathon Classic, as the Steam release is known, has been developed by the team behind Aleph One - a fan-created engine based on the Marathon 2 source code - and promises "authentic gameplay using the original [Marathon] data files". However, it also features optional widescreen HUD support, 3D filtering/perspective, positional audio, and 60+ fps interpolation, "just in case," as the team puts it, "the original is too authentic."

"Alien forces have boarded the colony ship UESC Marathon in the Tau Ceti system, in orbit around humanity’s first interstellar colony," reads the scene-setting blurb for Marathon Classic. "The situation is dire, and as a security officer assigned to the Marathon, your duty is to defend the ship and its crew from the alien threat."

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Among Us teases new roles, better lobby filtering, and more in new roadmapMatt Wales
    Among Us, the sci-fi social deduction game that singlehandedly brought the phrase "sus" back into style, has just received a new roadmap teasing a fresh set of features for 2024 as developer Innersloth continues its murderous rampage across the stars. It's probably the announcement new roles are on the way - the first since 2021 - that'll be met with the most fan excitement. And while Innersloth has offered no hints as to what they might be, it notes each will feature "their own little quirk
     

Among Us teases new roles, better lobby filtering, and more in new roadmap

10. Květen 2024 v 18:34

Among Us, the sci-fi social deduction game that singlehandedly brought the phrase "sus" back into style, has just received a new roadmap teasing a fresh set of features for 2024 as developer Innersloth continues its murderous rampage across the stars.

It's probably the announcement new roles are on the way - the first since 2021 - that'll be met with the most fan excitement. And while Innersloth has offered no hints as to what they might be, it notes each will feature "their own little quirk that makes for some very interesting lobbies." New roles, it says, are coming "soon".

Further into the year, Innersloth is adding better lobby filtering that'll feature a "more refined" set of search settings, alongside a bit of beatification for the lobby settings menu. "Say hello to snappy menus so you can easily see all the settings you can change as a host," it writes, "and have a quick view of the important ones as you join lobbies."

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Another Fallout 4 graphics update coming to all platforms next weekVictoria Kennedy
    Fallout 4 will be getting another update next week, across all platforms.While Bethesda hasn't been too specific about what this update will include, it has promised new options for graphics and performance settings, something many may still be looking forward to following the game's somewhat botched 'next-gen' patch earlier this year.In addition, the studio has also promised general fixes and improvements across the board. We will update you when we get the full notes from the Fallout 4 team,
     

Another Fallout 4 graphics update coming to all platforms next week

10. Květen 2024 v 17:41

Fallout 4 will be getting another update next week, across all platforms.

While Bethesda hasn't been too specific about what this update will include, it has promised new options for graphics and performance settings, something many may still be looking forward to following the game's somewhat botched 'next-gen' patch earlier this year.

In addition, the studio has also promised general fixes and improvements across the board. We will update you when we get the full notes from the Fallout 4 team, so stay tuned for more.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Unreal Engine 5.4: Epic's latest revision delivers big performance and feature winsAlex Battaglia
    Unreal Engine 5 has reached a new milestone release, version 5.4. Alongside technology that sets the groundwork for future iterations of the engine, developer Epic Games is promising substantial performance improvements with better CPU utilisation, potentially solving a common bugbear we've seen on PC and consoles this generation. Of course, the new release also includes visual improvements, including to the Nanite geometry system and Temporal Super Resolution (TSR) upscaling. We've tested this
     

Unreal Engine 5.4: Epic's latest revision delivers big performance and feature wins

10. Květen 2024 v 15:57

Unreal Engine 5 has reached a new milestone release, version 5.4. Alongside technology that sets the groundwork for future iterations of the engine, developer Epic Games is promising substantial performance improvements with better CPU utilisation, potentially solving a common bugbear we've seen on PC and consoles this generation. Of course, the new release also includes visual improvements, including to the Nanite geometry system and Temporal Super Resolution (TSR) upscaling. We've tested this latest engine revision to see how everything works and to get a sense of the kind of performance improvements that might be possible in the new version.

As stunning as it was, the first Matrix Awakens Unreal Engine 5.0 demo back in 2021 already exhibited the core performance issues that Epic is looking to address with 5.4. Moving through the Matrix demo city at speed on PlayStation 5 was enough to cause precipitous performance drops, as the engine grapples with loading in new areas. This is just a demo, of course, not a shipping game, but the sub-30fps readouts and frame-time stutters coupled with dynamic resolution scaling suggested a severe CPU limitation on console hardware. This was confirmed with the City Sample demo on PC in 2022, where simple CPU and GPU utilisation metrics show severe CPU bottlenecking even on powerful modern CPUs like the Ryzen 7 7800X3D.

Logically, this makes sense. A lot of the most prominent UE5 features have significant CPU components, like MetaHuman, open world streaming, hardware ray tracing and Nanite, and therefore place a heavy demand on CPU performance. More critically, you tend to be limited by single-thread performance, so higher core count CPUs aren't able to meaningfully scale by spreading the load across multiple cores and threads. Given that both budget PCs and consoles tend to have core counts in the six to eight range and an increasing number of Unreal Engine 5 games are coming to market, that's a lot of untapped performance potential.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • You can try Eurogamer's subscriber offering free for a month right nowRobert Purchese
    In conjunction with what appears to be warm weather in the UK, we've decided to do another free trial month on Eurogamer. This means you can try a month of being a Supporter for free, and make use of things like no adverts on the site and access to our exclusive Supporter content, which includes Five of the Best, Game of the Week, my Let's Get Evil series, and the Inside Eurogamer podcast. I just recorded an Inside Eurogamer episode with Ian and Ed all about streaming, which I found very illumi
     

You can try Eurogamer's subscriber offering free for a month right now

10. Květen 2024 v 15:40

In conjunction with what appears to be warm weather in the UK, we've decided to do another free trial month on Eurogamer. This means you can try a month of being a Supporter for free, and make use of things like no adverts on the site and access to our exclusive Supporter content, which includes Five of the Best, Game of the Week, my Let's Get Evil series, and the Inside Eurogamer podcast. I just recorded an Inside Eurogamer episode with Ian and Ed all about streaming, which I found very illuminating.

There's plenty more coming through May and into early June. My next instalment in the Let's Get Evil series will likely bring my Dark Urge playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3 to an end. It's been a deliciously horrid ride but will I hold my nerve and remain monstrous or succumb to nagging morals? We'll see. Also, once it finishes, there's the question of which game to terrorise next. I have a Dragon Age: Inquisition rampage to return to, which would be very well timed with a new Dragon Age game maybe dropping later this year, but what about something else? I'd love to hear your suggestions.

Five of the Best and Game of the Week will continue on their weekly schedules, and there should be time before the trial is over to squeak another episode of Inside Eurogamer in. And remember: it's on that podcast we answer your questions. I'll make sure you have a day or two's notice before we record so you can ask them. I'm also working on a key giveaway for a game that we loved last year, and that should land later in May or early June. But remember, key giveaways are for yearly Supporters so people don't sub for a month (for £3/€3/$3) and run. I have some other Supporters bits and pieces in the works, too, which I hope I can tell you about soon.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Just how cosy is Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator?Zoe Delahunty-Light
    Are you a cosy game addict? Welcome in and take a seat among your fellow enablers as I, fellow addict Zoe Delahunty-Light, kick off my new weekly series Cozy Corner! This series follows me as I finally try to clear my backlog of 47 (and counting) cosy games in my steam library, and decide whether these games are relaxing enough to warrant the label 'cosy' at all. Cosy games have blown up over the last four years and because of it, there are more to try than ever before, and thus more competing
     

Just how cosy is Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator?

10. Květen 2024 v 15:35

Are you a cosy game addict? Welcome in and take a seat among your fellow enablers as I, fellow addict Zoe Delahunty-Light, kick off my new weekly series Cozy Corner! This series follows me as I finally try to clear my backlog of 47 (and counting) cosy games in my steam library, and decide whether these games are relaxing enough to warrant the label 'cosy' at all. Cosy games have blown up over the last four years and because of it, there are more to try than ever before, and thus more competing for your attention. I'm going to find the best of the best so tune in for this new weekly series full of blankets, relaxation - I hope - and surprisingly harsh judgement.

Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator is the first game that's being subjected to the cosy interrogation. In it, you are responsible for bringing back life to the dilapidated garden belonging to the previous gardener Robin, and the spirit of the local community as they convene around you, the new gardener. But you're not on your own - Robin is unable to move on while the garden remains uncompleted and neglected, so they'll be there to guide you as you find your green thumbs. From creating bouquets to opening up new sections of the community garden, Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator is dedicated to gradual floral farming with heartfelt story elements. But just how cosy is Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator? Even though the word 'cozy' is in the name, it's time to put it to the test!

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Hi-Fi Rush physical editions still coming following studio closureVictoria Kennedy
    Physical copies of Hi-Fi Rush are still on the cards following the closure of developer Tango Gameworks earlier this week.These physical copies of the rhythm-action game are coming from Limited Run Games, having first been announced back in February for both Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.Following the shocking news that Microsoft was closing down the game's developer earlier this week, some wondered if these copies would ever actually be released. However, Limited Run has assured fans that, "
     

Hi-Fi Rush physical editions still coming following studio closure

10. Květen 2024 v 14:31

Physical copies of Hi-Fi Rush are still on the cards following the closure of developer Tango Gameworks earlier this week.

These physical copies of the rhythm-action game are coming from Limited Run Games, having first been announced back in February for both Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

Following the shocking news that Microsoft was closing down the game's developer earlier this week, some wondered if these copies would ever actually be released. However, Limited Run has assured fans that, "unless we say otherwise, Hi-Fi Rush is a go!"

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • The Rogue Prince of Persia delayed to avoid popularity of Hades 2Ed Nightingale
    The forthcoming The Rogue Prince of Persia has been delayed by developer Evil Empire to allow players more time with Hades 2. The roguelite game was originally set for early access release next week on 14th May, but has now been delayed to later in the month, with a precise date coming on Monday. Why? Hades 2 entered early access at the start of the week and Evil Empire doesn't want to compete. Read more
     

The Rogue Prince of Persia delayed to avoid popularity of Hades 2

10. Květen 2024 v 14:18

The forthcoming The Rogue Prince of Persia has been delayed by developer Evil Empire to allow players more time with Hades 2.

The roguelite game was originally set for early access release next week on 14th May, but has now been delayed to later in the month, with a precise date coming on Monday.

Why? Hades 2 entered early access at the start of the week and Evil Empire doesn't want to compete.

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Xbox president responds to studio closures as "commitment to make sure that the business is healthy for the long term"

10. Květen 2024 v 13:51

Xbox president Sarah Bond has responded to the recent studio cuts at Bethesda, describing the decision as "our commitment to make sure that the business is healthy for the long term".

Bond was interviewed at the Bloomberg Tech Summit yesterday, following the news earlier this week Microsoft has closed a number of Bethesda studios: Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Games.

However, the interview has since gone viral due to Bond's seemingly weak answers that provide little insight into the decision.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Netflix unveils "digital theme park" Nextworld on RobloxVictoria Kennedy
    Streaming giant Netflix has teamed up with Roblox to launch its own "digital theme park" on the gaming platform.It's called Nextworld, and essentially acts as a hub where players can access areas, characters and games based on Netflix properties, such as Stranger Things (header image above) and One Piece (see image below).Mini games include the likes of Is It Cake?, which is where players have to - yes - guess whether objects shown in the game are cake or not. It also has a Cobra Kai Miyagi-Do
     

Netflix unveils "digital theme park" Nextworld on Roblox

10. Květen 2024 v 13:32

Streaming giant Netflix has teamed up with Roblox to launch its own "digital theme park" on the gaming platform.

It's called Nextworld, and essentially acts as a hub where players can access areas, characters and games based on Netflix properties, such as Stranger Things (header image above) and One Piece (see image below).

Mini games include the likes of Is It Cake?, which is where players have to - yes - guess whether objects shown in the game are cake or not. It also has a Cobra Kai Miyagi-Do Balancing Board mini game.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Why Xbox believes it must cut costs and close studiosChris Dring
    Investors that put money, or buy shares, in a business want to make money on their investment. And for that to happen the company's 'value' needs to go up. It needs to grow bigger. Growth could be many things, but it typically refers to revenue (the amount of money a company generates) or profit (the amount of money a company makes after costs). And to investors, a loss-making company that is getting bigger every year is more exciting than a profitable business that is going the other way. T
     

Why Xbox believes it must cut costs and close studios

10. Květen 2024 v 13:00

Investors that put money, or buy shares, in a business want to make money on their investment. And for that to happen the company's 'value' needs to go up. It needs to grow bigger. Growth could be many things, but it typically refers to revenue (the amount of money a company generates) or profit (the amount of money a company makes after costs). And to investors, a loss-making company that is getting bigger every year is more exciting than a profitable business that is going the other way.

This may sound obvious, but we're about to get into why Xbox just closed three Bethesda studios. And it's important to keep in mind that focus on growth. Because ultimately it doesn't matter how rich Microsoft is, or how much profit it's making, it's all about getting bigger.

Let's pop back in time a bit. Xbox as a business has had a rough ride over the past decade. Following the calamitous launch of Xbox One, the company saw its popularity in the console space drop substantially. It's been stuck firmly in third place behind Nintendo and PlayStation. But despite the fall in popularity, the Xbox business saw its revenue increase as the games industry became more digital. Still, for long-term success, Xbox knew it needed to find new customers if it wanted to compete more strongly. It needed a new plan.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Poppy Playtime, the cult horror game, is getting a film adaptationEd Nightingale
    Just days after a Poppy Playtime book was released, a film adaptation of the cult horror series has been announced. The game's developer, Mob Entertainment, is working with Legendary Entertainment (which counts Dune: Part Two, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire among recent hits) as well as Angry Films (the Transformers series among others). The film is presumably a ways off yet, but is yet another move outside games for the Poppy Playtime franchise. Read more
     

Poppy Playtime, the cult horror game, is getting a film adaptation

10. Květen 2024 v 12:47

Just days after a Poppy Playtime book was released, a film adaptation of the cult horror series has been announced.

The game's developer, Mob Entertainment, is working with Legendary Entertainment (which counts Dune: Part Two, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire among recent hits) as well as Angry Films (the Transformers series among others).

The film is presumably a ways off yet, but is yet another move outside games for the Poppy Playtime franchise.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • 1000xResist review - a deeply personal exploration of diaspora politics and psychologyAlexis Ong
    Making sense of diaspora politics, regardless of culture and country involved, is a singularly painful dance with no fixed steps and no finale. It is a landscape littered with well-intentioned armchair warriors, white people, privileged expats, weird nationalists, and foetid trolls; everyone disagrees almost all of the time, with some blessed exceptions that bring people around the world together to ridicule a clown. Diaspora discourse might involve the fraying borders of a motherland or a mono
     

1000xResist review - a deeply personal exploration of diaspora politics and psychology

10. Květen 2024 v 12:40

Making sense of diaspora politics, regardless of culture and country involved, is a singularly painful dance with no fixed steps and no finale. It is a landscape littered with well-intentioned armchair warriors, white people, privileged expats, weird nationalists, and foetid trolls; everyone disagrees almost all of the time, with some blessed exceptions that bring people around the world together to ridicule a clown. Diaspora discourse might involve the fraying borders of a motherland or a monoculture, authenticity, racism, accents and code-switching, and dozens of other things that remain wholly untranslatable to an outside party. The psychology at play is a weird chimaera that can never be accurately captured in codified language of research and focus groups; the very idea of applying "accuracy" and objectivity to its study is a joke. It is also not the same repeated anecdote about white kids making fun of a stinky homemade lunch at school – friends, let's move past this as the core signifier of marginalised childhood. But it is always a mess, because the diaspora is chaotic by nature and necessity.

Sunset Visitor's speculative fiction adventure 1000xResist knows the fractal intensity of this mess well – so well that the game does an almost sociopathic job at mirroring the exhaustive cycles and repetition that define this world. At times it gets a little too solipsistic – understandable, given that the main premise is about clones facing the burden of existence – and at times I have to walk away because I'm just so damn tired. But it's also an extraordinary piece of work – one that places diasporic trauma front and centre in all its ugly glory.

This is a story that traces the echoes of Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution, which left a city-sized wound that hasn't yet closed or been allowed to scar with dignity. And as much as certain audiences might want to frame 1000xResist as a neat one-dimensional exploration of queerness, there is so, so much more to it than that. There is nothing especially unique about its structure or core concept – the difficult process of a character finding the man behind the curtain – and I certainly would not describe it as "the first game of its kind." What makes it so jarring and so open to these claims is the fact that it is simply not a game made for the white gaze, and I think that's beautiful.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Microsoft to open web-based mobile game store this summerVictoria Kennedy
    Microsoft is set to open its web-based Xbox mobile game store in the coming couple of months.The news comes from Xbox president Sarah Bond, who was speaking at yesterday's Bloomberg Technology Summit."In July, we are going to be launching our mobile store experience," Bond said. "We're going to start actually by bringing our own first-party portfolio to that." This will include games such as Candy Crush, which Microsoft now owns thanks to its acquisition of King's parent company Activision Bliz
     

Microsoft to open web-based mobile game store this summer

10. Květen 2024 v 12:37

Microsoft is set to open its web-based Xbox mobile game store in the coming couple of months.

The news comes from Xbox president Sarah Bond, who was speaking at yesterday's Bloomberg Technology Summit.

"In July, we are going to be launching our mobile store experience," Bond said. "We're going to start actually by bringing our own first-party portfolio to that." This will include games such as Candy Crush, which Microsoft now owns thanks to its acquisition of King's parent company Activision Blizzard last year, and Minecraft.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • David Gaider's game-musical Stray Gods gets Orpheus DLCEd Nightingale
    Stray Gods, the game musical from Dragon Age writer David Gaider, is getting surprise DLC. The DLC will focus on rockstar Orpheus, performed by actor Anthony Rapp (Star Trek: Discovery, Rent), as he's returned to the world of the living by Hermes. It's described as a "comedic feature length experience" and will continue the Greek myth story of the main game. It's set for release on 27th June on PC, with a console release to follow. Read more
     

David Gaider's game-musical Stray Gods gets Orpheus DLC

10. Květen 2024 v 12:19

Stray Gods, the game musical from Dragon Age writer David Gaider, is getting surprise DLC.

The DLC will focus on rockstar Orpheus, performed by actor Anthony Rapp (Star Trek: Discovery, Rent), as he's returned to the world of the living by Hermes.

It's described as a "comedic feature length experience" and will continue the Greek myth story of the main game. It's set for release on 27th June on PC, with a console release to follow.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Game of the Week: 2120 and books that contain mazesChristian Donlan
    I don't know if you're familiar with the Mr Gum books, but I read them with my daughter when she was seven or eight, and I don't think I'll ever get over them. They're ingenious and hilarious and weird, and they all have this lovely sense of having been written at great speed, just conjured on the spot, with jokes and characters and plots flinging themselves together on the page at the pace of the author's typing.Sadly, this isn't a Mr Gum fan-site - yet - but I want to talk briefly about one o
     

Game of the Week: 2120 and books that contain mazes

10. Květen 2024 v 12:00

I don't know if you're familiar with the Mr Gum books, but I read them with my daughter when she was seven or eight, and I don't think I'll ever get over them. They're ingenious and hilarious and weird, and they all have this lovely sense of having been written at great speed, just conjured on the spot, with jokes and characters and plots flinging themselves together on the page at the pace of the author's typing.

Sadly, this isn't a Mr Gum fan-site - yet - but I want to talk briefly about one of the books which has really stuck with me. I can't remember which book - oh no you'll just have to read them all then - but Polly, the hero, is lost in the woods, and whenever she tries to leave a landmark behind - it's a windmill - she walks off and then finds herself, moments later, back where she started.

It's a scene right out of The Prisoner, but what makes it special here is that each time she finds herself back at the windmill, we get a new chapter. So her confusion in the woods impacts the structure of the book, with a bunch of short repetitive chapters one after the other, while the joke is how long the book will keep this loop going.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • What we've been playing - legacies, flowers and lightsabersRobert Purchese
    Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've been playing over the past few days. This week, we celebrate one of the best characters in the Uncharted series, and perhaps in games; we live out our Star Wars fantasies; and we try a new Metroidvania in a well regarded series.What have you been playing?If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What We've Been Playing, here's our archive. Read more
     

What we've been playing - legacies, flowers and lightsabers

10. Květen 2024 v 11:56

Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've been playing over the past few days. This week, we celebrate one of the best characters in the Uncharted series, and perhaps in games; we live out our Star Wars fantasies; and we try a new Metroidvania in a well regarded series.

What have you been playing?

If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What We've Been Playing, here's our archive.

Read more

  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • V Rising makes me wonder: is it time to rethink the survival crafting template?Robert Purchese
    When Minecraft smashed down like a meteor all those years ago, the idea of chopping down trees in games - to make wood to make shelter - felt excitingly new. Before then, games weren't particularly concerned with the mundanities of survival, presumably in the name of what they thought was fun. Games were for extraordinary adventures, not ordinary ones. But Minecraft changed that. It made a feature of finding food and keeping yourself fed, and not thirsty, and it introduced us to a gameplay loop
     

V Rising makes me wonder: is it time to rethink the survival crafting template?

10. Květen 2024 v 10:00

When Minecraft smashed down like a meteor all those years ago, the idea of chopping down trees in games - to make wood to make shelter - felt excitingly new. Before then, games weren't particularly concerned with the mundanities of survival, presumably in the name of what they thought was fun. Games were for extraordinary adventures, not ordinary ones. But Minecraft changed that. It made a feature of finding food and keeping yourself fed, and not thirsty, and it introduced us to a gameplay loop revolving around it. Make a shelter to survive the night, make a set of equipment, and then when you've got a stable footing in the world, you can find myriad ways to upgrade every part of that.

To say that the idea caught on would be an enormous understatement. Minecraft was an era-defining moment. It propelled the whole gaming movement on YouTube, and YouTube with it, and helped launch the careers of so many gaming influencers there. It showed that there was a massive, captive audience for this kind of open-ended, multiplayer, crafting survival thing, and a stampede of other game-making companies rushed to follow it. Years later, there are many really successful games in this area: Ark, Rust, Terraria, Valheim, Palworld, Grounded, The Forest, Enshrouded, Don't Starve, to name a few. The genre has become so influential it's spread to brands like Fallout, and elements of it can be found in huge games like Fortnite. The concept is now so familiar it's understood implicitly wherever it's used. We know the loop, we know what to do. But why have I never questioned it?

This rushed to mind while playing V Rising, which just fully launched in version 1.0. You might remember it having a moment a couple of years ago in early access. Time has passed but even now, it's got a really compelling pitch. You are a newly arisen vampire who must build a castle and make your Castlevania-inspired mark on an unsuspecting world. A world in which you'll worry about the daytime rather than nighttime and where you'll suck blood to absorb powers and wield powerful magic. A land filled with bosses to beat and where a PvP endgame awaits, based around territorial dominance, should you want it - there are private servers and PvE servers if you don't. V Rising has bulked out in early access and is a full package now. The problem is, it locks its really good stuff away.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Gorgeous hiking adventure A Highland Song returns to the hills with free Harmony content updateMatt Wales
    A Highland Song, the acclaiming hiking adventure from 80 Days and Heaven's Vault developer Inkle Studios, is tempting players back into its rolling Scottish hills with its free new Harmony update, introducing new stories, new music, and more. A Highland Song, which launched late last year on Switch and PC, tells the story of teenager Moira McKinnon who runs away from her life of relative seclusion on the edge of the Scottish Highlands after receiving a letter from her uncle inviting her to hi
     

Gorgeous hiking adventure A Highland Song returns to the hills with free Harmony content update

9. Květen 2024 v 22:46

A Highland Song, the acclaiming hiking adventure from 80 Days and Heaven's Vault developer Inkle Studios, is tempting players back into its rolling Scottish hills with its free new Harmony update, introducing new stories, new music, and more.

A Highland Song, which launched late last year on Switch and PC, tells the story of teenager Moira McKinnon who runs away from her life of relative seclusion on the edge of the Scottish Highlands after receiving a letter from her uncle inviting her to his lighthouse on the coast.

What follows is an often magical blend of gentle narrative and exploratory platforming ("deeply, richly evocative, poetic", is how Eurogamer's Chris Tapsell put it in his four star review) as players guide Moira along one of A Highland Song's many potential routes, each revealing new stories and secrets to encourage further playthroughs.

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Frontier making third Jurassic World game, has two additional management sims coming over next three years

9. Květen 2024 v 20:32

Elite Dangerous studio Frontier Developments has signed a deal with Universal Products & Experiences to make third Jurassic World title - and it'll be one of three new management games coming from the studio over the next few years.

While Frontier hasn't explicitly referred to the new game as Jurassic World Evolution 3, it seems unlikely it'll be anything else given the studio goes on to note its Jurassic World Evolution series is currently one of the strongest in its portfolio. Jurassic World Evolution 1 & 2 rank first and second respectively in terms revenue generated over their first two years - and that's despite Frontier previously admitting to "lower than expected" sales for the sequel on PC.

All Frontier has so far said about its next Jurassic World game is that it'll be another "creative management simulation" - and that it's one of three management sims the studio is planning on releasing over the next three consecutive years.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Dead by Daylight teases dark fantasy era with Dungeons & Dragons themed collaborationEd Nightingale
    It looks like the next chapter of Dead by Daylight will be based on Dungeons & Dragons. Behaviour Interactive, the studio behind the multiplayer horror game, released a teaser trailer for the next chapter today ahead of a full anniversary showcase next week where further details are expected . While this may seem like a move away from the horror franchises the game is known for, there's presumably plenty of dark fantasy elements that could easily work in the horror setting of Dead by Day
     

Dead by Daylight teases dark fantasy era with Dungeons & Dragons themed collaboration

9. Květen 2024 v 18:20

It looks like the next chapter of Dead by Daylight will be based on Dungeons & Dragons.

Behaviour Interactive, the studio behind the multiplayer horror game, released a teaser trailer for the next chapter today ahead of a full anniversary showcase next week where further details are expected .

While this may seem like a move away from the horror franchises the game is known for, there's presumably plenty of dark fantasy elements that could easily work in the horror setting of Dead by Daylight.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Former Xbox console exclusive just topped Europe's PS5 download chartsVictoria Kennedy
    Sea of Thieves, the piratical live-service romp from Rare, just topped the PS5 download charts in Europe following its debut on Sony's console.The Xbox Games Studios-published title recently made the jump from Xbox to PlayStation, as part of Microsoft's plans to make more of its games multiplatform. Outside of Europe, it was also the third most downloaded PS5 game in the US and Canada for April.Not bad, considering it only arrived on PlayStation towards the end of the month! Read more
     

Former Xbox console exclusive just topped Europe's PS5 download charts

9. Květen 2024 v 18:14

Sea of Thieves, the piratical live-service romp from Rare, just topped the PS5 download charts in Europe following its debut on Sony's console.

The Xbox Games Studios-published title recently made the jump from Xbox to PlayStation, as part of Microsoft's plans to make more of its games multiplatform. Outside of Europe, it was also the third most downloaded PS5 game in the US and Canada for April.

Not bad, considering it only arrived on PlayStation towards the end of the month!

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Corsair announces plan to acquire troubled sim racing brandWill Judd
    PC component and peripherals business Corsair has announced plans to acquire Endor AG, the parent company of sim racing brand Fanatec. The move comes a month after Fanatec announced a new CEO amidst widespread condemnation from the sim racing community over botched product launches, shipping delays and customer service failings, which have soured the reputation of a company that produces otherwise well-regarded sim racing gear, from wheels and direct drive wheelbases to pedals and other accesso
     

Corsair announces plan to acquire troubled sim racing brand

Od: Will Judd
9. Květen 2024 v 18:00

PC component and peripherals business Corsair has announced plans to acquire Endor AG, the parent company of sim racing brand Fanatec. The move comes a month after Fanatec announced a new CEO amidst widespread condemnation from the sim racing community over botched product launches, shipping delays and customer service failings, which have soured the reputation of a company that produces otherwise well-regarded sim racing gear, from wheels and direct drive wheelbases to pedals and other accessories.

There's clear logic behind the move, as Corsair doesn't currently have a sim racing brand in their (extremely wide) ecosystem, unlike rivals Logitech who launched their first direct drive wheelbase last year and Turtle Beach who did the same earlier this year. Corsair is also extremely proficient when it comes to the logistics of actually producing and selling its products worldwide, something that Fanatec has struggled with historically and has come to a head over the past six months.

As well as Fanatec having only EU and US stores, leaving UK buyers to face significant import duties and long shipping times, the firm also faced controversy over its policy of charging up-front for orders which may not be fulfilled for months. Black Friday discounts in November 2023 in particular resulted in a huge amount of interest, with the Fanatec website toppling over for much of the day, but many customers of the sale reported not receiving their orders well into 2024 and support queries going unanswered.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Elite Dangerous accused of becoming pay-to-win with introduction of new shipVictoria Kennedy
    This week, Elite Dangerous - the multiplayer space sim from Frontier Developments - has been met with a spate of negative reviews on Steam, resulting in a recent average rating of 'Mixed'. This is all in reaction to the introduction of a new ship known as the Python Mk II. This ship is described as a "sleek" medium class vessel, with a focus on powerful combat. It also promises a smoother ride thanks to its advanced Supercruise Overcharge capabilities. So, why the upset? Well, it is becaus
     

Elite Dangerous accused of becoming pay-to-win with introduction of new ship

9. Květen 2024 v 17:00

This week, Elite Dangerous - the multiplayer space sim from Frontier Developments - has been met with a spate of negative reviews on Steam, resulting in a recent average rating of 'Mixed'.

This is all in reaction to the introduction of a new ship known as the Python Mk II. This ship is described as a "sleek" medium class vessel, with a focus on powerful combat. It also promises a smoother ride thanks to its advanced Supercruise Overcharge capabilities.

So, why the upset? Well, it is because the developer has essentially put this new ship behind a paywall for a few months. "The Python Mk II is available in shipyards for all Odyssey owners on PC from 7 August or you can unlock early access today via the ARX store!" reads the update post.

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Devolver believes in "selling games first" over day one launches in Game Pass-esque subscriptions, says co-founder

9. Květen 2024 v 16:19

Nigel Lowrie, co-founder of indie game publisher Devolver, believes in "selling games first" over launching in subscription services like Game Pass and PS Plus.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Lowrie provided his stance on the current state of the industry, describing large-scale game development as "crushing under its own weight a little bit".

Further, he noted the growth of subscription services has tapered off and deals for indie developers to be included are getting worse.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Final Fantasy 14's long-awaited Xbox version has black screens and an overactive chat filterMarc Duddleson
    Final Fantasy 14 has finally arrived on Xbox Series X/S consoles more than a decade after the MMO's relaunch in 2013, joining players on PC and two generations of PlayStation consoles. With an ever-expanding free trial and plenty of positive buzz, how does the game fare on Microsoft's current-gen consoles ahead of a big graphical update scheduled for July, and what's the score with the recently updated PS5 version? Let's start with that relatively more mature PS5 version as the basis for our co
     

Final Fantasy 14's long-awaited Xbox version has black screens and an overactive chat filter

9. Květen 2024 v 16:00

Final Fantasy 14 has finally arrived on Xbox Series X/S consoles more than a decade after the MMO's relaunch in 2013, joining players on PC and two generations of PlayStation consoles. With an ever-expanding free trial and plenty of positive buzz, how does the game fare on Microsoft's current-gen consoles ahead of a big graphical update scheduled for July, and what's the score with the recently updated PS5 version?

Let's start with that relatively more mature PS5 version as the basis for our comparisons, given that the game has been available on Sony's current-gen platform since 2021 - and had some baffling performance issues even then. The PS5 version ran at a comfortable 60fps at 1440p, but suffered from distracting and regular frame-rate dips during traversal, even in basic areas, away from other players or when set to a 1080p output. This was fixed a year later, but the game still ran with a frame-rate in the 30s and 40s at 4K.

Now, the PS5 version finally seems (mostly) playable at that native 4K. Frame-rates seem to have improved by ~10fps in most scenarios, which is enough to (usually) stay within the PS5's 48Hz-60Hz VRR window and therefore avoid judder. The PS4 version also benefits from these optimisations, and the 'high draw quality' toggle is now a viable option when it tanked performance heavily before. A locked 60fps still isn't on the table on PS4, with plenty of judder evident, but at least things have improved somewhat.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Animal Well review - this one gets deepChristian Donlan
    In the dripping midnight glade there is a telephone resting on the earth. It's an antique. I can tell that from the limited 2D pixel art. Although it's just a few lines and dots and smudges of light, I can imagine the weight of the receiver in my hands, almost feel that strange matte chill of the Bakelite.The telephone is important here in Animal Well. It's how you save the game, for starters. But the more I have explored, making those long looping journeys left, right, up and down, the more I
     

Animal Well review - this one gets deep

9. Květen 2024 v 15:00

In the dripping midnight glade there is a telephone resting on the earth. It's an antique. I can tell that from the limited 2D pixel art. Although it's just a few lines and dots and smudges of light, I can imagine the weight of the receiver in my hands, almost feel that strange matte chill of the Bakelite.

The telephone is important here in Animal Well. It's how you save the game, for starters. But the more I have explored, making those long looping journeys left, right, up and down, the more I have found myself heading further out in these directions than I had assumed was possible, and the more I worried that I had left the actual game design behind and was moving through a landscape of personalised glitches and oddities? The more I did all this, the more the sight of another telephone came as a sweet relief. A save point, yes, but also a sign that someone had been this way before me. A sign that even as I navigated bright mysteries, I was still on the right track.

There's more. The telephone is also a sign of a second world imposed on the first one, of technology, communication, cablings and wires and electrons, of messages buzzing through an artificial network threaded into this glade and into this world of trees and grass, rock and ruin that lies beyond it. If you're trying to understand Animal Well, to get to the bottom of it - good luck with that one by the way - or if you're trying to just get even the slightest grip on this game's dense, intriguing, endlessly playful and engrossing world, the telephone is probably a good place to start.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Mark Hamill's Joker is back for MultiVersusVictoria Kennedy
    MultiVersus is set to make its return later this month, and - as previously rumoured - Mark Hamill's Joker will be joining the line up.The news of Joker's upcoming MultiVersus debut comes with a reveal trailer, titled "Get a Load of Me". It all begins with Batman - voiced by the late Kevin Conroy - striding purposefully through an underground cavern-like area as green smoke billows around him. Other MultiVersus characters, such as Bugs Bunny and Arya Stark (I still find the whole line up quite
     

Mark Hamill's Joker is back for MultiVersus

9. Květen 2024 v 14:07

MultiVersus is set to make its return later this month, and - as previously rumoured - Mark Hamill's Joker will be joining the line up.

The news of Joker's upcoming MultiVersus debut comes with a reveal trailer, titled "Get a Load of Me". It all begins with Batman - voiced by the late Kevin Conroy - striding purposefully through an underground cavern-like area as green smoke billows around him. Other MultiVersus characters, such as Bugs Bunny and Arya Stark (I still find the whole line up quite bizarre) are also here, and look a little worse for wear. What, or who, could be doing this?

Of course, it's The Joker at the root of all this chaos. "Oh Batman, we have got to stop meeting like this," he teases with a laugh, before emerging from the smoke. You can check it out for yourself in the video below.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • GTA 6 fans scouring Rockstar's website for clues to imminent updateVictoria Kennedy
    It seems like Rockstar is readying up to share some more GTA 6 news with us very soon.As spotted by the aptly named X account @GTAVI_Countdown, the developer's page was recently updated to include GTA 6 in its database. This update included placeholder spots for four screenshots, cover art, and a release date.This page was subsequently removed by Rockstar, but not before @GTAVI_Countdown managed to grab a screenshot. In a followup post, the account noted the code with placeholders still remains
     

GTA 6 fans scouring Rockstar's website for clues to imminent update

9. Květen 2024 v 13:19

It seems like Rockstar is readying up to share some more GTA 6 news with us very soon.

As spotted by the aptly named X account @GTAVI_Countdown, the developer's page was recently updated to include GTA 6 in its database. This update included placeholder spots for four screenshots, cover art, and a release date.

This page was subsequently removed by Rockstar, but not before @GTAVI_Countdown managed to grab a screenshot. In a followup post, the account noted the code with placeholders still remains in the database, as do mentions of digital purchases.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Nintendo removing X support from SwitchTom Phillips
    Nintendo Switch owners will no longer be able to upload images and videos directly to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, as of 10th June. The removal of posting to X was detailed by Nintendo today, in a blog post on the changes. You'll also no longer be able to find friend suggestions using your X login. Changes specific to certain games include the ability to post Smash Bros. Ultimate screenshots to the Nintendo Switch Online app's Smash World section, which will become unavailable
     

Nintendo removing X support from Switch

9. Květen 2024 v 13:06

Nintendo Switch owners will no longer be able to upload images and videos directly to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, as of 10th June.

The removal of posting to X was detailed by Nintendo today, in a blog post on the changes. You'll also no longer be able to find friend suggestions using your X login.

Changes specific to certain games include the ability to post Smash Bros. Ultimate screenshots to the Nintendo Switch Online app's Smash World section, which will become unavailable. Images posted via Splatoon 3's mailbox in Inkopolis square will be sent to Nintendo servers. Posting images to Splatoon 2's mailbox will no longer be possible.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • What is the point of Xbox?Chris Tapsell
    The 360 years feel like a lifetime ago. This week, Xbox stunned the industry by announcing it had closed three studios, and repurposed a fourth into another service game support team. This follows the 1900 people laid off across Xbox at the start of this year, and those Xbox employees quietly caught up in the 10,000 layoffs Microsoft made the year before. It has been a disastrous piece of PR self-sabotage, particularly with the reputations of these studios in mind.Arkane Austin struggled with t
     

What is the point of Xbox?

9. Květen 2024 v 12:41

The 360 years feel like a lifetime ago. This week, Xbox stunned the industry by announcing it had closed three studios, and repurposed a fourth into another service game support team. This follows the 1900 people laid off across Xbox at the start of this year, and those Xbox employees quietly caught up in the 10,000 layoffs Microsoft made the year before. It has been a disastrous piece of PR self-sabotage, particularly with the reputations of these studios in mind.

Arkane Austin struggled with the uncharacteristic co-op, online shooter elements of Redfall, but before that made the excellent 2017 reboot of Prey and the first, fantastic Dishonored that led to the immersive sim's modern mini-revival. Tango Gameworks, Microsoft's only Japan-based studio that was led, until earlier this year, by horror legend Shinji Mikami, made The Evil Within games and the critically acclaimed, BAFTA-winning breakout Hi-Fi Rush. Roundhouse Studios was founded by the makers of the original Prey, but is now presumably destined to make different coloured leather boots for The Elder Scrolls Online. Alpha Dog made mobile games, an area where Microsoft has been specifically looking to expand. More broadly, for two console generations now, Xbox has floundered under a clear and obvious lack of inventive, attention-grabbing exclusive games. It just bought these studios in 2021.

If it weren't for the people involved, in 2024, these closures would almost feel routine. This is far from the end of Xbox, of course - in Los Angeles next month, it'll hold yet another make-or-break press conference, that maps out yet another plan for rescuing a lost generation. But be it through exasperation or exhaustion - or the wider industry's sheer, pent-up rage - this feels like something of a nadir. Xbox has spun its wheels for more than a decade, lurching from U-turn to U-turn, strategic reboot to strategic reboot, acquisition to acquisition, closure to closure. The good times have always felt just over the horizon. Project Scorpio will set the tone; Game Pass is the future; the Series X will have the games; Starfield will jump-start Game Pass now it's stalled. The growing sentiment today is that they'll probably never come.

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Hi-Fi Rush creator praised "good situation in our studio" and freedom of risk-taking a month before closure

9. Květen 2024 v 12:37

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced the closure of a number of Bethesda studios, including Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks. Directed by studio creative director John Johanas, Hi-Fi Rush was lauded for being a smaller, original game that went on to win a BAFTA at last month's awards.

Yet following the closure of Tango, head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty told Microsoft employees: "We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards," as per internal remarks shared with The Verge.

That's exactly what Hi-Fi Rush was. At the BAFTAs last month, Johanas told Eurogamer the game was "an intense labour of love" and there was a "good situation" at the studio due to the ability to take risks and own creative freedom.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Helldivers 2 balancing has sometimes "gone too far", CEO admitsVictoria Kennedy
    Arrowhead CEO and Helldivers 2 creative director Johan Pilestedt has said that, at times, the team has "gone too far" when trying to balance the game. Pilestedt's comments come in response to one Helldivers 2 player, who said they were no longer finding the game fun due to balance changes. In fact, they felt the game had become "unplayable" with the amount of changes over recent months. "Yeah I think we've gone too far in some areas," the CEO subsequently replied, adding he will now talk t
     

Helldivers 2 balancing has sometimes "gone too far", CEO admits

9. Květen 2024 v 12:28

Arrowhead CEO and Helldivers 2 creative director Johan Pilestedt has said that, at times, the team has "gone too far" when trying to balance the game.

Pilestedt's comments come in response to one Helldivers 2 player, who said they were no longer finding the game fun due to balance changes. In fact, they felt the game had become "unplayable" with the amount of changes over recent months.

"Yeah I think we've gone too far in some areas," the CEO subsequently replied, adding he will now talk to the rest of the team about its approach to in-game balancing. "It feels like every time someone finds something fun, the fun is removed," Pilestedt said.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Hellblade 2 is only two weeks away, and fans feel Xbox should be making more noiseTom Phillips
    Seven years on from the launch of the first Hellblade game, Ninja Theory's long-awaited Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 launches this month - in just two weeks' time, on 21st May. It's one of only a handful of games from Xbox Game Studios to arrive in 2024 - and yet fans have commented that Microsoft hasn't yet made much of a deal about it. The idea that Hellblade 2 might slip out under the radar would be a concerning one, considering the fate that befell Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks earli
     

Hellblade 2 is only two weeks away, and fans feel Xbox should be making more noise

9. Květen 2024 v 12:02

Seven years on from the launch of the first Hellblade game, Ninja Theory's long-awaited Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 launches this month - in just two weeks' time, on 21st May. It's one of only a handful of games from Xbox Game Studios to arrive in 2024 - and yet fans have commented that Microsoft hasn't yet made much of a deal about it.

The idea that Hellblade 2 might slip out under the radar would be a concerning one, considering the fate that befell Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks earlier this week. Despite a positive critical response to its award-winning game, its impact was apparently not enough to save the studio from being closed alongside Redfall maker Arkane Austin and others as part of sweeping Microsoft cuts.

Writing on social media platform X last night, Xbox marketing mouthpiece Aaron Greenberg told fans that Hellblade 2's "global paid media campaign started yesterday", and noted there was a "special Iceland creator event" happening now - where the company has apparently flown some YouTubers to visit the game's setting (not to the supermarket).

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Microsoft's Perfect Dark reboot reportedly in "a very rough state" and a "big, protracted mess"Matt Wales
    Closing in on four years since Microsoft's Perfect Dark reboot was announced, and a year since it was reported that "little meaningful progress" had been made on the project since its unveiling, it's now being claimed the reboot remains in "a very rough state". That's according to journalist Jeff Grubb who, while discussing Xbox's surprise recent studio closures on the Giant Bombcast, told co-presenters, "I've been hearing for years that Perfect Dark is in a rough state, [but] it sounds like
     

Microsoft's Perfect Dark reboot reportedly in "a very rough state" and a "big, protracted mess"

9. Květen 2024 v 01:32

Closing in on four years since Microsoft's Perfect Dark reboot was announced, and a year since it was reported that "little meaningful progress" had been made on the project since its unveiling, it's now being claimed the reboot remains in "a very rough state".

That's according to journalist Jeff Grubb who, while discussing Xbox's surprise recent studio closures on the Giant Bombcast, told co-presenters, "I've been hearing for years that Perfect Dark is in a rough state, [but] it sounds like it's in a very rough state. It doesn't sound like it's really come together in any way since then."

In the wake of Grubb's comments, several other industry pundits (as spotted by VGC) took to social media with similar claims. VG247's Alex Donaldson wrote, "I have some crazy stories about the development of that game I have not put in print out of respect for a team really trying hard to push a boulder up a steep hill. But my patience is getting thin." Meanwhile, video game historian Liam Robertson wrote, "From what little I have heard about the development of the new Perfect Dark, it sounds like... a big, protracted mess."

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Hi-Fi Rush 2, potential new Dishonored game were reportedly being pitched by now-closed Xbox studiosMatt Wales
    Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks were reportedly in the process of pitching sequels to two much-loved titles - namely Hi-Fi Rush 2 and a potential new Dishonored game - when Microsoft made the shock decision to close the studios, and more Xbox cuts are said to be on the way. That's according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier who, citing sources familiar with the matter, says Arkane had been looking to return to its roots following the release of last year's critically panned multiplayer shooter
     

Hi-Fi Rush 2, potential new Dishonored game were reportedly being pitched by now-closed Xbox studios

8. Květen 2024 v 23:42

Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks were reportedly in the process of pitching sequels to two much-loved titles - namely Hi-Fi Rush 2 and a potential new Dishonored game - when Microsoft made the shock decision to close the studios, and more Xbox cuts are said to be on the way.

That's according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier who, citing sources familiar with the matter, says Arkane had been looking to return to its roots following the release of last year's critically panned multiplayer shooter Redfall, and had pitched a new single-player 'immersive sim' - "such as a new entry in the Dishonored series" - to Xbox executives.

Tango Gameworks, meanwhile, was also in the pitching process, hoping to make a sequel to last year's critically acclaimed rhythm-action hit Hi-FI Rush - a game Microsoft previously called "one of the most successful launches for Bethesda and Xbox in recent years".

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Sega unveils Fall Guys-like Sonic Rumble as Sonic Mania Plus hits mobileMatt Wales
    There's a distinct whiff of hedgehog over in the world of mobile gaming today; not only has Sega just unveiled the Fall Guys-like Sonic Rumble, the very excellent Sonic Mania Plus is now available on iOS and Android via a Netflix subscription. Starting with Sonic Rumble, it's being developed in conjunction with Angry Birds studio Rovio and promises "32-player battle royale challenges" that'll see competitors thundering across elaborate toybox-themed, Fall Guys-esque obstacle courses in a bid
     

Sega unveils Fall Guys-like Sonic Rumble as Sonic Mania Plus hits mobile

8. Květen 2024 v 20:09

There's a distinct whiff of hedgehog over in the world of mobile gaming today; not only has Sega just unveiled the Fall Guys-like Sonic Rumble, the very excellent Sonic Mania Plus is now available on iOS and Android via a Netflix subscription.

Starting with Sonic Rumble, it's being developed in conjunction with Angry Birds studio Rovio and promises "32-player battle royale challenges" that'll see competitors thundering across elaborate toybox-themed, Fall Guys-esque obstacle courses in a bid to collect the most rings.

It'll feature "iconic characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe" - albeit presented in toy form - which players can customise to create their own unique avatars. If that appeals, Sonic Rumble will be available for iOS and Android this "winter" - and a (currently US-only, unfortunately) closed beta test is set to run from 24th-26th May if you fancy signing up.

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Is the closure of Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall's studios a sign the Xbox Game Pass publishing model is failing?

8. Květen 2024 v 18:10

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the future of Xbox after the announcement Microsoft is shutting a swathe of Bethesda game studios. Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall once seemed primed to benefit from being available via Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's much-touted subscription service often seen as the best reason to own the company's console. Now, the studios behind both are gone forever.

Last year, Microsoft's marketing mouthpiece Aaron Greenberg declared Hi-Fi Rush "a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations". Redfall, meanwhile, despite being less-favourably received, had a multiplayer roadmap and a promise of single-player, with hope the Game Pass audience would still prop it up.

But Microsoft's reasoning for closing Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin - to focus on bigger bets - suggests Game Pass is no longer a place where creativity can reign without fear of being too niche, and where fun-if-a-bit-mid multiplayer games can't be supported long enough to receive updates just days from completion.

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Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition announced for Switch with 'over 150 challenges from 13 NES games'

8. Květen 2024 v 16:45

Following last week's ratings board sighting, Nintendo has officially unveiled Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, which promises "over 150 challenges from across 13 different NES games" when it launches on 18th July.

While last week's ESRB listing suggested we might be looking at some sort of NES Remix revival - and that game's spirited does at least seem to be partially reflected in Nintendo's latest release - today's official reveal points to something a little narrower in focus.

As per Nintendo's announcement, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is specifically concerned with speedrunning, featuring 150 "byte-sized" challenges that can be tackled across several modes. Alongside the single-player Speedrun Mode, which features new challenges and pins to unlock, there's World Championships Mode - where players compete for a spot on the global online leaderboards - plus a speedruning Party Mode for up to eight local players.

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Hi-Fi Rush available in Humble Choice subscription this May

8. Květen 2024 v 14:16

Hi-Fi Rush is one of eight games available as part of the Humble Choice subscription this May.

The rhythm-action game was developed by Tango Gameworks, which was sadly closed by Microsoft yesterday.

The full list of Humble Choice games for May is as follows:

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Microsoft once tried to nab LittleBigPlanet from Sony after a few drinksVictoria Kennedy
    Many moons ago, Microsoft once had its eye on the Sony-published LittleBigPlanet series.Speaking with MinnMax, Mark Healey - who co-founded LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule back in 2006 - revealed that during the early stages of the game, the Xbox maker was "on the prowl" and was "kind of trying to steal" the studio from going with Sony."The funny thing is, we actually didn't have anything in writing to say that we were actually going to continue with [Sony] or that they even owned what
     

Microsoft once tried to nab LittleBigPlanet from Sony after a few drinks

8. Květen 2024 v 14:01

Many moons ago, Microsoft once had its eye on the Sony-published LittleBigPlanet series.

Speaking with MinnMax, Mark Healey - who co-founded LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule back in 2006 - revealed that during the early stages of the game, the Xbox maker was "on the prowl" and was "kind of trying to steal" the studio from going with Sony.

"The funny thing is, we actually didn't have anything in writing to say that we were actually going to continue with [Sony] or that they even owned what we were doing, is my memory of it," Healey said of LittleBigPlanet, before sharing more on Microsoft's poaching efforts.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Five of the Best: GodsRobert Purchese
    Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It's a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked. It's also about having your say, so don't be shy, use the comments below and join in!Oh and if you want to read more, you can - you can find our entire Five of the Best archive elsewhere on the site.The more I've tried to pin down the definition of a god in a game, the harder time I'm having with it. I began by thinking 'out-and-out gods only',
     

Five of the Best: Gods

8. Květen 2024 v 13:37

Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It's a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked. It's also about having your say, so don't be shy, use the comments below and join in!

Oh and if you want to read more, you can - you can find our entire Five of the Best archive elsewhere on the site.

The more I've tried to pin down the definition of a god in a game, the harder time I'm having with it. I began by thinking 'out-and-out gods only', the kind that represent the dominant powers in the games we play, whether we fight against them or with them. But the more I thought about it, the more that definition broadened, because aren't we always a kind of god when we play a game - don't we always have a kind of godlike power? We are able to die and keep trying until we've - usually - defeated a godlike boss or bosses, depending on what the game is. What does that make us if not a god? I am open to any and all arguments here, so have at it. Which gods in games do you think are the best?

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • "My throat is still raw": Redfall's Harvey Smith reflects on the end of Arkane AustinEd Nightingale
    Redfall co-director Harvey Smith has reflected on his 16 years at Arkane, "a small company created in 1999 by 'six French guys in a room'". His lengthy thread on X, formerly Twitter, follows yesterday's news Microsoft is closing a number of Bethesda studios, including Arkane Austin following development of the vampire co-op shooter Redfall. Smith was at Arkane for 16 years after becoming co-creative director alongside company president Raphaël Colantonio in 2008. He worked on the likes of Di
     

"My throat is still raw": Redfall's Harvey Smith reflects on the end of Arkane Austin

8. Květen 2024 v 13:36

Redfall co-director Harvey Smith has reflected on his 16 years at Arkane, "a small company created in 1999 by 'six French guys in a room'".

His lengthy thread on X, formerly Twitter, follows yesterday's news Microsoft is closing a number of Bethesda studios, including Arkane Austin following development of the vampire co-op shooter Redfall.

Smith was at Arkane for 16 years after becoming co-creative director alongside company president Raphaël Colantonio in 2008. He worked on the likes of Dishonored and Prey. Colantonio left the company in 2017 and founded WolfEye Studios.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • EA amassing "largest Battlefield team in franchise history" to double down on live-service multiplayerEd Nightingale
    EA is amassing its "largest Battlefield team in franchise history" to work across "connected multiplayer and single-player experiences". Yesterday, EA released its latest financial report, with CEO Andrew Wilson sharing his excitement for the future of the shooter franchise. "Our teams have listened to the community, have learned valuable lessons, and are driving to the future," said Wilson. "Motive, armed with cutting-edge Frostbite technology and compelling storytelling, is joining DICE, C
     

EA amassing "largest Battlefield team in franchise history" to double down on live-service multiplayer

8. Květen 2024 v 13:05

EA is amassing its "largest Battlefield team in franchise history" to work across "connected multiplayer and single-player experiences".

Yesterday, EA released its latest financial report, with CEO Andrew Wilson sharing his excitement for the future of the shooter franchise.

"Our teams have listened to the community, have learned valuable lessons, and are driving to the future," said Wilson. "Motive, armed with cutting-edge Frostbite technology and compelling storytelling, is joining DICE, Criterion, and Ripple Effect to build a Battlefield universe across connected multiplayer and single-player experiences. This is the largest Battlefield team in franchise history."

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Xbox rushes to fix 'Feel the Burn' controller promotion following studio closuresVictoria Kennedy
    Yesterday, Xbox released a post for a new Fire Vapor Special Edition wireless controller, proclaiming it was time to "Feel the Burn". On any other day, this would not have raised any eyebrows particularly. The controller headlining the announcement featured a fiery-theme with burnt orange colours, so the introduction made sense when you read it in total isolation.However, yesterday was far from just another day at Microsoft, as the company left many reeling when - just hours before it published
     

Xbox rushes to fix 'Feel the Burn' controller promotion following studio closures

8. Květen 2024 v 12:50

Yesterday, Xbox released a post for a new Fire Vapor Special Edition wireless controller, proclaiming it was time to "Feel the Burn". On any other day, this would not have raised any eyebrows particularly. The controller headlining the announcement featured a fiery-theme with burnt orange colours, so the introduction made sense when you read it in total isolation.

However, yesterday was far from just another day at Microsoft, as the company left many reeling when - just hours before it published this controller blog post - it announced it was closing a number of Bethesda studios, including Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks.

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft's controller announcement was met with criticism due to its timing and insensitive nature. "That's how you know when a company is tone deaf," came one reply to the initial post.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • The Baldur's Gate 3 victory tour has been extraordinary, but feels like it's finally coming to an endRobert Purchese
    It's just occurred to me that Baldur's Gate 3 is shy of being a year old, and I'm struggling to come to terms with that because it feels like the game just came out. I know in my rational mind it didn't, but where did those months go? Why didn't I feel them in the way I normally would? I think I have an inkling why.I felt it while watching an orchestral performance of Baldur's Gate 3 at the weekend. It was part of the Game Music Festival and featured a special concert arrangement of the game's
     

The Baldur's Gate 3 victory tour has been extraordinary, but feels like it's finally coming to an end

8. Květen 2024 v 11:47

It's just occurred to me that Baldur's Gate 3 is shy of being a year old, and I'm struggling to come to terms with that because it feels like the game just came out. I know in my rational mind it didn't, but where did those months go? Why didn't I feel them in the way I normally would? I think I have an inkling why.

I felt it while watching an orchestral performance of Baldur's Gate 3 at the weekend. It was part of the Game Music Festival and featured a special concert arrangement of the game's score, and it was sublimely done. There was a large choir and full orchestra and it gave oomph to the dramatic music from the game. Even the vocalists were there to reprise their iconic "down, down, down by the river" motif. Not that any of this is unique; we've had orchestral video game concerts before - Ed was just at one for Elden Ring - and earlier in the day at the Southbank Centre, there was a recital for The Last of Us. I saw people milling around in The Last of Us T-shirts when I arrived. So I expected much of this. What I didn't expect, however, or what I wasn't prepared for, was the Baldur's Gate 3 effect.

Remember what the event itself was: an orchestral performance by the Philharmonia Orchestra. It's not where you would expect to see cosplay, as you would a games convention, but as the afternoon unfolded, that's what it resembled. Shadowhearts and Astarions gathered, as did copies of other characters from the game, and a palpable feeling of excitement crackled around. This quietened for the start of the performance, as people sat sensibly and clapped in the correct places, but the further it went on, the less it could be contained.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • EA has two 'unannounced' games to launch this year, one is Dragon Age: DreadwolfTom Phillips
    Mega publisher EA has laid out its slate of games set to launch between now and the end of the financial year - 31st March 2025. It's a pretty thin slate, outside of the usual sports titles, albeit with two mysterious 'unannounced' games still to be named. One of these is Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, Eurogamer understands, which will be fully revealed this summer after years of teases. The other game is a "Partner title" - typically a game which EA is publishing but not developing itself, similar
     

EA has two 'unannounced' games to launch this year, one is Dragon Age: Dreadwolf

8. Květen 2024 v 11:35

Mega publisher EA has laid out its slate of games set to launch between now and the end of the financial year - 31st March 2025. It's a pretty thin slate, outside of the usual sports titles, albeit with two mysterious 'unannounced' games still to be named.

One of these is Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, Eurogamer understands, which will be fully revealed this summer after years of teases.

The other game is a "Partner title" - typically a game which EA is publishing but not developing itself, similar to the just-released Tales of Kenzera, or last year's Immortals of Aveum. This project is set for the financial year's fourth quarter - so between 1st January and 31st March 2025.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Redfall studio was reportedly working on offline mode for May release before closureMatt Wales
    Arkane Austin - one of four studios closed as part of a shock announcement by Microsoft earlier today - was reportedly working on a major update for its embattled vampire shooter Redfall that was set to introduce an offline mode this month. That's according to IGN's Wesley Yin-Poole, who reports Arkane Austin was working on DLC and updates for the game "until very recently". These included features promised as part of Redfall's long-awaited Hero Pass and a more general update adding an offlin
     

Redfall studio was reportedly working on offline mode for May release before closure

8. Květen 2024 v 01:57

Arkane Austin - one of four studios closed as part of a shock announcement by Microsoft earlier today - was reportedly working on a major update for its embattled vampire shooter Redfall that was set to introduce an offline mode this month.

That's according to IGN's Wesley Yin-Poole, who reports Arkane Austin was working on DLC and updates for the game "until very recently". These included features promised as part of Redfall's long-awaited Hero Pass and a more general update adding an offline mode.

As per IGN, Redfall's Hero Pass was set to add two new characters this "Halloween" - almost a year and a half after the game's critically panned launch - while an offline mode was due to release sometime this month, until Microsoft's closure decision put an end to those plans.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Former Blizzard boss Mike Ybarra defends Xbox's Phil Spencer following Arkane, Tango Gameworks closuresMatt Wales
    Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has rallied around Xbox boss Phil Spencer following Microsoft's shock decision to close four of its game studios - including Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks - saying, "I know this hurts him as much as anyone else." Ybarra made the comments on Twitter/X amid widespread condemnation of Microsoft's move and as anger over the closures continued to grow. "I see a lot of shots at Phil over today's Xbox announcements," he wrote on social media. "I get it. But
     

Former Blizzard boss Mike Ybarra defends Xbox's Phil Spencer following Arkane, Tango Gameworks closures

8. Květen 2024 v 01:00

Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has rallied around Xbox boss Phil Spencer following Microsoft's shock decision to close four of its game studios - including Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks - saying, "I know this hurts him as much as anyone else."

Ybarra made the comments on Twitter/X amid widespread condemnation of Microsoft's move and as anger over the closures continued to grow. "I see a lot of shots at Phil over today's Xbox announcements," he wrote on social media. "I get it. But knowing him as a human, I know this hurts him as much as anyone else. I can't speak for all of the leadership there, but I do know him and I do know what he is likely going through."

"I'm not trying to defend the decisions," Ybarra continued. "I think we all get ourselves into situations that are tough and unexpected (certainly I have). It's part of the job, as is the accountability for the outcomes. But he's a good human and he cares deeply for the creative process and developers. That's my first hand experience in working closely with him for 8+ years and knowing him for 24+."

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Destiny 2 giving all PlayStation and PC players free access to three expansions ahead of The Final ShapeMatt Wales
    Sony is giving all Playstation and PC players limited-time access to three Destiny 2 expansions - The Witch Queen, Beyond Light, and Shadowkeep - ahead of The Final Shape's arrival in June. Additionally, Destiny 2's current expansion, Lightfall, is available to PlayStation Plus subscribers. The promotion, which Sony is calling Expansion Open Access, begins today, 7th May, and runs until 3rd June - just one day ahead of The Final Shape expansion's launch. Until then, all PlayStation players ha
     

Destiny 2 giving all PlayStation and PC players free access to three expansions ahead of The Final Shape

7. Květen 2024 v 23:03

Sony is giving all Playstation and PC players limited-time access to three Destiny 2 expansions - The Witch Queen, Beyond Light, and Shadowkeep - ahead of The Final Shape's arrival in June. Additionally, Destiny 2's current expansion, Lightfall, is available to PlayStation Plus subscribers.

The promotion, which Sony is calling Expansion Open Access, begins today, 7th May, and runs until 3rd June - just one day ahead of The Final Shape expansion's launch. Until then, all PlayStation players have free rein of The Witch Queen, Beyond Light, and Shadowkeep, alongside Destiny 2's past four seasons of content. That's a lot to be getting on with, then, even moreso for PlayStation Plus subscribers, who can also pick up Destiny 2's Lightfall expansion as part of May's monthly games line-up - but only within the same time period.

Sony is evidently eager to ramp up excitement for The Final Shape's impending arrival, having forked out $3.6bn for Bungie back in 2022. And it's a big promotional push that follows reports last year painting a bleak picture of Bungie's fortunes, when pre-orders for The Final Shape were said to be disappointing, amid claims the studio's revenue was 45 percent below projections due to a "sharp drop" in the popularity of Destiny 2.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Apple's new iPad line-up includes first OLED model and 13-inch AirMatt Wales
    Apple has announced a refresh of its iPad line-up, introducing, among other things, a 13-inch iPad Air and the company's first-ever OLED iPad model. As revealed during today's Let Loose event, Apple's most substantial iPad makeover has been reserved for its top-end iPad Pro, which now features a "tandem" OLED display capable of 1,600 nits for HDR content. It's paired with Apple's M4 chip - promising up to 50 percent faster CPU and four times faster rendering performance - plus camera changes
     

Apple's new iPad line-up includes first OLED model and 13-inch Air

7. Květen 2024 v 19:34

Apple has announced a refresh of its iPad line-up, introducing, among other things, a 13-inch iPad Air and the company's first-ever OLED iPad model.

As revealed during today's Let Loose event, Apple's most substantial iPad makeover has been reserved for its top-end iPad Pro, which now features a "tandem" OLED display capable of 1,600 nits for HDR content. It's paired with Apple's M4 chip - promising up to 50 percent faster CPU and four times faster rendering performance - plus camera changes and a slimmer design.

This new iPad Pro, available in silver or Space Grey, shifts the front-facing 12-megapixel camera to the side so it's centred while in landscape mode, and its rear camera now supports ProRes video recording and Smart HDR 4. As for the thinner form factor, the 13-inch iPad Pro (which starts at £1,299/$1,299 with 256GB of storage) is 5.3mm thick - down from 6.4mm - and weighs 579g, while the 13-inch model (£999/$999) is 5.1mm and weighs 444g.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Hades 2 early access debut on Steam reaches over 100k concurrent players 24 hours after launchVictoria Kennedy
    Hades 2 released in early access last night, and is already pulling in some impressive numbers on Steam for concurrent players. At the time of writing, there are over 100,000 players making their way through Supergiant Games' first-ever sequel. It has eclipsed its predecessor, with the first Hades game currently holding a concurrent player record of 37,749 (although, it is worth noting that Hades was a timed-exclusive on the Epic Games Store, before it arrived on Valve's PC storefront). Ad
     

Hades 2 early access debut on Steam reaches over 100k concurrent players 24 hours after launch

7. Květen 2024 v 17:58

Hades 2 released in early access last night, and is already pulling in some impressive numbers on Steam for concurrent players.

At the time of writing, there are over 100,000 players making their way through Supergiant Games' first-ever sequel. It has eclipsed its predecessor, with the first Hades game currently holding a concurrent player record of 37,749 (although, it is worth noting that Hades was a timed-exclusive on the Epic Games Store, before it arrived on Valve's PC storefront).

Additionally, it appears the launch of Hades 2 may eventually boost the concurrent player record of the first game. Figures on SteamDB show that the first Hades recorded a peak of 36,043 players in the last 24 hours, closing in on its record from four years ago.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Poppy Playtime book out now, promises exclusive secretsEd Nightingale
    A Poppy Playtime book, based on the cult-favourite horror game, is now available. The in-world Poppy Playtime Orientation Notebook, published by Scholastic, has been authored by "a brilliant biologist-turned-employee of Playtime Co." and promises exclusive secrets and backstory on the origins of popular character Huggy Wuggy, the Smiling Critters, and more. "This partnership with Scholastic marks a significant milestone for Mob Entertainment, solidifying our commitment to transmedia storytel
     

Poppy Playtime book out now, promises exclusive secrets

7. Květen 2024 v 17:22

A Poppy Playtime book, based on the cult-favourite horror game, is now available.

The in-world Poppy Playtime Orientation Notebook, published by Scholastic, has been authored by "a brilliant biologist-turned-employee of Playtime Co." and promises exclusive secrets and backstory on the origins of popular character Huggy Wuggy, the Smiling Critters, and more.

"This partnership with Scholastic marks a significant milestone for Mob Entertainment, solidifying our commitment to transmedia storytelling," said co-founders Zach Belanger, CEO and Seth Belanger, CCO of Mob Entertainment. "Each chapter of our video game series exposes more about Playtime Co. and we are excited that this book gives our fans a new way to go deeper into the story."

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Arkane Lyon boss leads widespread condemnation of Bethesda closuresEd Nightingale
    Arkane Lyon boss Dinga Bakaba and others from across the industry have reacted to today's news of devastating closures at Bethesda. Earlier today, news broke that Microsoft is making huge cuts at Bethesda, including closing Redfall studio Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush studio Tango Gameworks, and Mighty Doom studio Alpha Dog Games. Bakaba, Arkane Lyon's studio and co-creative director, described the decision as "absolutely terrible" in an irate thread on X, formerly Twitter. Read more
     

Arkane Lyon boss leads widespread condemnation of Bethesda closures

7. Květen 2024 v 17:09

Arkane Lyon boss Dinga Bakaba and others from across the industry have reacted to today's news of devastating closures at Bethesda.

Earlier today, news broke that Microsoft is making huge cuts at Bethesda, including closing Redfall studio Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush studio Tango Gameworks, and Mighty Doom studio Alpha Dog Games.

Bakaba, Arkane Lyon's studio and co-creative director, described the decision as "absolutely terrible" in an irate thread on X, formerly Twitter.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Redfall Hero Pass cancelled following Arkane Austin closureEd Nightingale
    In the wake of devastating closures at Bethesda, Arkane Austin has confirmed the Hero Pass DLC for Redfall will no longer be released. Instead, players who purchased the pass as part of the £100 Bite Back Edition or £30 upgrade will receive credit to the same value as the pass. As Eurogamer reported last week, it's been a year since Redfall's launch and its promised Hero Pass was yet to be released. Now, players are being directed to sign up to receive credit, with details currently being fi
     

Redfall Hero Pass cancelled following Arkane Austin closure

7. Květen 2024 v 16:02

In the wake of devastating closures at Bethesda, Arkane Austin has confirmed the Hero Pass DLC for Redfall will no longer be released.

Instead, players who purchased the pass as part of the £100 Bite Back Edition or £30 upgrade will receive credit to the same value as the pass.

As Eurogamer reported last week, it's been a year since Redfall's launch and its promised Hero Pass was yet to be released. Now, players are being directed to sign up to receive credit, with details currently being finalised.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Xbox shuts slew of Bethesda studios, including Redfall, Hi-Fi Rush developersTom Phillips
    Xbox has today announced stunning cuts and studio closures affecting a slew of development houses under the Bethesda banner. Redfall and Dishonored developer Arkane Austin will close, and its online co-op vampire shooter will not be updated further. Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks will also close. Mighty Doom studio Alpha Dog Games will close and see its game switched off on 7th August. Read more
     

Xbox shuts slew of Bethesda studios, including Redfall, Hi-Fi Rush developers

7. Květen 2024 v 15:30

Xbox has today announced stunning cuts and studio closures affecting a slew of development houses under the Bethesda banner.

Redfall and Dishonored developer Arkane Austin will close, and its online co-op vampire shooter will not be updated further.

Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks will also close. Mighty Doom studio Alpha Dog Games will close and see its game switched off on 7th August.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • The Witcher's Ciri actress says she feels sorry for Liam Hemsworth, hopes viewers give him a chanceVictoria Kennedy
    Freya Allen, who plays Ciri in Netflix's Witcher adaptation, has said she feels sorry for Liam Hemsworth ahead of his turn as Geralt, and hopes viewers will give him the "time of day" when the show's fourth season makes its debut.Speaking with Collider, Allen said the Witcher's fanbase "can be very attack-y", adding that Hemsworth's situation is not an "ideal" one. Allen is, of course, referring to Hemsworth taking over the role of the show's white-haired monster hunter, after original actor He
     

The Witcher's Ciri actress says she feels sorry for Liam Hemsworth, hopes viewers give him a chance

7. Květen 2024 v 14:35

Freya Allen, who plays Ciri in Netflix's Witcher adaptation, has said she feels sorry for Liam Hemsworth ahead of his turn as Geralt, and hopes viewers will give him the "time of day" when the show's fourth season makes its debut.

Speaking with Collider, Allen said the Witcher's fanbase "can be very attack-y", adding that Hemsworth's situation is not an "ideal" one. Allen is, of course, referring to Hemsworth taking over the role of the show's white-haired monster hunter, after original actor Henry Cavill called it a day at the end of season three.

"I don't want to speak for him, but from what I've understood, I feel like he's really wanting to try and bring the heart. He's been training," Allen said. "But I'm really excited to see what he does. And he's such a lovely guy. I just hope that people give him the time of day, you know?"

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Witcher 3 mod editor gets official Steam release this monthEd Nightingale
    CD Projekt Red's official mod editor for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt now has a release date. The Witcher 3 REDkit, as it's known, was made available last month for playtesting ahead of a full release. Now we know from a Steam post that's later this month: 21st May. The editor will be available for free for anyone who owns the game on PC. Read more
     

Witcher 3 mod editor gets official Steam release this month

7. Květen 2024 v 14:23

CD Projekt Red's official mod editor for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt now has a release date.

The Witcher 3 REDkit, as it's known, was made available last month for playtesting ahead of a full release. Now we know from a Steam post that's later this month: 21st May.

The editor will be available for free for anyone who owns the game on PC.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Lego minifigure revealedTom Phillips
    Cal Kestis, the main character from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor, will soon be available as a Lego minifigure for the first time. After various teases, including his appearance in a recent Lego Star Wars anniversary video, Lego has now confirmed Kestis' minifigure will be part of the upcoming Imperial Star Destroyer (75494) set, due to launch on 1st August. Priced at £150, the set will primarily consist of a Star Destroyer from A New Hope, accompanied by minifigures of Darth V
     

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Lego minifigure revealed

7. Květen 2024 v 13:59

Cal Kestis, the main character from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor, will soon be available as a Lego minifigure for the first time.

After various teases, including his appearance in a recent Lego Star Wars anniversary video, Lego has now confirmed Kestis' minifigure will be part of the upcoming Imperial Star Destroyer (75494) set, due to launch on 1st August.

Priced at £150, the set will primarily consist of a Star Destroyer from A New Hope, accompanied by minifigures of Darth Vader, Commander Praji, an Imperial Gunner, Imperial Navy Trooper and a Stormtrooper.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Beat Saber support on Meta Quest 1 VR headsets ending this yearEd Nightingale
    Beat Saber will no longer be supported on Meta Quest 1 VR headsets later this year. According to an FAQ on the game's website, the developer is aiming to "raise the bar of what's possible", meaning it will focus on more recent and powerful devices instead. Beat Saber will remain playable on Meta Quest 1 devices, but from 2nd November support will end. This means no multiplayer or leaderboard functionality, and no further updates, although the game will remain accessible. Read more
     

Beat Saber support on Meta Quest 1 VR headsets ending this year

7. Květen 2024 v 13:38

Beat Saber will no longer be supported on Meta Quest 1 VR headsets later this year.

According to an FAQ on the game's website, the developer is aiming to "raise the bar of what's possible", meaning it will focus on more recent and powerful devices instead.

Beat Saber will remain playable on Meta Quest 1 devices, but from 2nd November support will end. This means no multiplayer or leaderboard functionality, and no further updates, although the game will remain accessible.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Manor Lords mods add Shrek and Witcher's Geralt, no sign of Thomas the Tank Engine yetVictoria Kennedy
    Medieval city-building strategy Manor Lords released in early access last month, and already its community has modded in DreamWorks Animation's great green ogre as a playable character. After all, what really is a new PC release without the swift implementation of a Shrek mod?The mod in question comes from NorskPL, who states: "Shrek is lord, Shrek is life."As you can see in the image above, this mod replaces the playable character in Manor Lords' third-person mode with that of the ogre. Read m
     

Manor Lords mods add Shrek and Witcher's Geralt, no sign of Thomas the Tank Engine yet

7. Květen 2024 v 13:22

Medieval city-building strategy Manor Lords released in early access last month, and already its community has modded in DreamWorks Animation's great green ogre as a playable character. After all, what really is a new PC release without the swift implementation of a Shrek mod?

The mod in question comes from NorskPL, who states: "Shrek is lord, Shrek is life."

As you can see in the image above, this mod replaces the playable character in Manor Lords' third-person mode with that of the ogre.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • PS1 inspired survival horror game Crow Country releases this week and first impressions are really goodIan Higton
    Stone the crows! London-based indie studio, SFB Games is probably best know for its Nintendo Switch launch title Snipperclips, but its newest release, Crow Country couldn't be any more different. Heavily inspired by PS1 survival horror games in both graphics and gameplay, Crow Country sees you exploring an abandoned theme park in search of its missing owner Edward Crow, and you can watch me play through the opening 90 minutes of the game on the player above!The games' nostalgia-inducing aesthet
     

PS1 inspired survival horror game Crow Country releases this week and first impressions are really good

7. Květen 2024 v 13:03

Stone the crows! London-based indie studio, SFB Games is probably best know for its Nintendo Switch launch title Snipperclips, but its newest release, Crow Country couldn't be any more different. Heavily inspired by PS1 survival horror games in both graphics and gameplay, Crow Country sees you exploring an abandoned theme park in search of its missing owner Edward Crow, and you can watch me play through the opening 90 minutes of the game on the player above!

The games' nostalgia-inducing aesthetics definitely have the potential to feel a bit gimmicky, but they actually work really well and only serve to accentuate the creepiness of the story. The visuals have the same vibe as the pre-rendered backgrounds of PS1 games of old, such as Resident Evil, but Crow Country gives you the freedom to fully rotate the camera. This means you can easily explore all corners of the game's spooky theme park setting for the many items and lore drops that litter the environment. That's not the only quality of life improvement that Crow Country makes over the games that inspired it though, there's even the option to choose a modern control scheme, which is great news for those of us who find old-school tank controls more frustrating than fun to use.

Other standouts I noticed during my first 90 minutes of play time include the excellent audio design that contains sound effects and audio stings that made my skin crawl and a lot of imaginative but fairly simple to solve (so far!) puzzles. This is all wrapped up in a narrative that at first seems rather clear-cut but, by the end of the 90 minute stream at least, begins to hint at some much wierder goings-on with both the theme park and the game's protagonist Mara Forest.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Nintendo forecasts Switch will overtake Nintendo DS this year, becoming company's best-selling platformTom Phillips
    Nintendo expects Switch to sell another 13.5m units during the coming financial year - enough that it will overtake Nintendo DS to become the company's best-selling platform. In total, Switch is now on 141.32m units sold. In financial results published today - alongside which Nintendo mentioned Switch 2 for the first time - Nintendo forecast enough Switch 1 sales to take the aging console to 154.82m sold. As a reminder, Nintendo DS finished its sales run on 154.02m. PlayStation 2, the best-s
     

Nintendo forecasts Switch will overtake Nintendo DS this year, becoming company's best-selling platform

7. Květen 2024 v 12:08

Nintendo expects Switch to sell another 13.5m units during the coming financial year - enough that it will overtake Nintendo DS to become the company's best-selling platform. In total, Switch is now on 141.32m units sold.

In financial results published today - alongside which Nintendo mentioned Switch 2 for the first time - Nintendo forecast enough Switch 1 sales to take the aging console to 154.82m sold.

As a reminder, Nintendo DS finished its sales run on 154.02m. PlayStation 2, the best-selling video game platform of all time, sold 160m.

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Alan Wake developer cancels premium co-op multiplayer Codename Kestrel, despite "early promise"

7. Květen 2024 v 11:58

Remedy has cancelled its premium co-op multiplayer game, Codename Kestrel.

The project - which started life as codename Vanguard, before it was rebooted last year - was being developed by the Alan Wake and Control studio, with Tencent set to handle the publishing side of things.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Final Fantasy 14 suffers DDoS attack ahead of Dawntrail releaseEd Nightingale
    Final Fantasy 14 has suffered a DDoS attack, though issues appear to now be fixed. Yesterday, technical difficulties were experienced in all data centres across the globe, including issues with logging into the game or being disconnected. In a blog post, Square Enix stated it is "investigating the attack and taking countermeasures". It seems the issue may now have been fixed. This morning I had no issue logging in following a short game update. Eurogamer has contacted Square Enix to confirm.
     

Final Fantasy 14 suffers DDoS attack ahead of Dawntrail release

7. Květen 2024 v 11:48

Final Fantasy 14 has suffered a DDoS attack, though issues appear to now be fixed.

Yesterday, technical difficulties were experienced in all data centres across the globe, including issues with logging into the game or being disconnected. In a blog post, Square Enix stated it is "investigating the attack and taking countermeasures".

It seems the issue may now have been fixed. This morning I had no issue logging in following a short game update. Eurogamer has contacted Square Enix to confirm.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Nintendo makes first Switch 2 announcementTom Phillips
    Nintendo has officially discussed Switch 2 for the first time, and laid out a rough timetable for when we'll see the much-discussed but still under-wraps console publicly unveiled. A message from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa, posted this morning to social media platform X, confirms we'll hear of Switch 2 "this fiscal year" - before the end of March 2025. But the message also damps down any expectation we'll hear about Switch 2 in the next few months - as Furukawa rules out any furt
     

Nintendo makes first Switch 2 announcement

7. Květen 2024 v 10:10

Nintendo has officially discussed Switch 2 for the first time, and laid out a rough timetable for when we'll see the much-discussed but still under-wraps console publicly unveiled.

A message from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa, posted this morning to social media platform X, confirms we'll hear of Switch 2 "this fiscal year" - before the end of March 2025.

But the message also damps down any expectation we'll hear about Switch 2 in the next few months - as Furukawa rules out any further details being shared in an upcoming Nintendo Direct scheduled for June.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Hades 2 early access review - polish and terrifying power from some of the best out thereChristian Donlan
    Sequels are always difficult, I imagine. How to capture the core brilliance of a thing and build on it? What to add, what to remove? I've always loved Sid Meier's rule of thirds for Civilisation games: one third remains the same, one third is improved, one third is totally new. But not every game is Civilisation.Sequels for roguelikes, though? Cor. Difficulty cubed. This is because roguelikes, with campaigns composed of endlessly repeated runs, all with their own fine chances for variation? Rog
     

Hades 2 early access review - polish and terrifying power from some of the best out there

6. Květen 2024 v 19:00

Sequels are always difficult, I imagine. How to capture the core brilliance of a thing and build on it? What to add, what to remove? I've always loved Sid Meier's rule of thirds for Civilisation games: one third remains the same, one third is improved, one third is totally new. But not every game is Civilisation.

Sequels for roguelikes, though? Cor. Difficulty cubed. This is because roguelikes, with campaigns composed of endlessly repeated runs, all with their own fine chances for variation? Roguelikes are games that already carry an infinite number of sequels within them. I have Spelunky runs even now which feel like sequels to the first game, where something unprecedented happens, and where I feel like I see the whole challenge in a new way, completely reframed. If Spelunky struggles with this, what hope for everyone else?

Hades 2 seems very happy being a sequel, even a sequel to a roguelike. Everything from the swift-pen art style and the evocative, pensive soundtrack, down to the menus and the fonts and the UI choices speak of a desire for continuity. After years of racing through baddy-filled rooms packed with classical horrors as Zagreus, there was almost no period of reorientation needed before I started racing through baddy-filled rooms packed with classical horrors as Melinoë. I've spoken to a few people about this, actually, and it's almost perverse: the sense of being right at home from the off is almost the most confusing thing about Hades 2.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • DF Weekly: New PS5 Pro GPU details emerge - including a 2.35GHz max boost clockRichard Leadbetter
    A new week and a fresh Monday brings with it the hopefully welcome prospect of a new episode of DF Direct Weekly - and this week, the team sit down to discuss topics as diverse as Starfield's planned performance upgrade for Xbox Series X, the latest Switch 2 rumours, more path tracing in Capcom RE Engine titles and some new information on the PlayStation 5 Pro's GPU - such as a max clock speed of 2.35GHz.It's the PS5 Pro graphics details I'm going to concentrate on today because the information
     

DF Weekly: New PS5 Pro GPU details emerge - including a 2.35GHz max boost clock

6. Květen 2024 v 17:00

A new week and a fresh Monday brings with it the hopefully welcome prospect of a new episode of DF Direct Weekly - and this week, the team sit down to discuss topics as diverse as Starfield's planned performance upgrade for Xbox Series X, the latest Switch 2 rumours, more path tracing in Capcom RE Engine titles and some new information on the PlayStation 5 Pro's GPU - such as a max clock speed of 2.35GHz.

It's the PS5 Pro graphics details I'm going to concentrate on today because the information casts an interesting new light on the upcoming console - and may deliver clarity on some of the question marks surrounding GPU performance and backwards compatibility with the existing PS5. Leaked specifications, derived from Sony's developer portal, suggest that the PS5 Pro has 30 WGP (Work Group Processors) delivering 33.5 teraflops of performance. This is up against the standard model with 18 WGP offering up an equivalent 10.23 teraflops.

On the surface level, that's an extra 227 percent of performance, except that the same Sony documents suggest only an extra 45 percent of actual game throughput. Part of the explanation comes from the RDNA 3 architecture with its dual-issue FP32 support, which doubles the amount of instructions processed, but which does not typically double game performance.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • How many of these forgotten Fallout crossovers do you remember?Ian Higton
    Recently, because I hate myself, I was browsing Twitter (I’m not calling it X) and I stumbled across an incredible conceptual video from an artist named DEVINK that shows what they imagine a potential Fortnite X Fallout crossover could look like.This crossover seems like a bit of a no-brainer to me and I wouldn't be surprised if something like this happened in the future, but what about Fallout crossovers from the past? Well that's what I'm exploring in today's video (above) so please do give i
     

How many of these forgotten Fallout crossovers do you remember?

6. Květen 2024 v 15:00

Recently, because I hate myself, I was browsing Twitter (I’m not calling it X) and I stumbled across an incredible conceptual video from an artist named DEVINK that shows what they imagine a potential Fortnite X Fallout crossover could look like.

This crossover seems like a bit of a no-brainer to me and I wouldn't be surprised if something like this happened in the future, but what about Fallout crossovers from the past? Well that's what I'm exploring in today's video (above) so please do give it a click and see if you remember any of the seven forgotten Fallout crossovers that feature within.

These crossovers range from an excellent and highly detailed Minecraft mash-up and some fairly fancy, but almost definitely forgotten cosmetics for Brink, through to what can only be described as one of the most haunting pieces of headwear for the Xbox 360 Avatars that I ever did see.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Sony overturns Helldivers 2 PSN requirement following backlashVictoria Kennedy
    Following backlash from its community, Sony has overturned plans to enforce mandatory PSN linking for Helldivers 2 players on Steam.On Friday, the publisher announced Helldivers 2 players on Steam would soon be required to link to a PSN account for safety and security. It said this was always going to be a requirement for players on PC, but due to issues at launch, linking was made optional for a period.The news was immediately met with intense backlash, which resulted in an influx of negative
     

Sony overturns Helldivers 2 PSN requirement following backlash

6. Květen 2024 v 08:29

Following backlash from its community, Sony has overturned plans to enforce mandatory PSN linking for Helldivers 2 players on Steam.

On Friday, the publisher announced Helldivers 2 players on Steam would soon be required to link to a PSN account for safety and security. It said this was always going to be a requirement for players on PC, but due to issues at launch, linking was made optional for a period.

The news was immediately met with intense backlash, which resulted in an influx of negative reviews from Helldivers 2 players on Steam. Many asked for a refund as Helldivers 2 was pulled from sale in 177 countries where PSN is not available.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Helldivers 2 PC players secure refunds as Steam waives playtime limitVikki Blake
    Steam is refunding players with hundreds of in-game hours in Helldivers 2 after publisher Sony and developer Arrowhead told PC players that in order to keep playing after next month, they would have to link to a PSN account.One player managed to secure a Steam refund despite having played Helldivers 2 for 90+ hours by simply submitting a refund request with the message: "Sony has retroactively changed how the game works and forced legal agreements upon me I do not accept".Earlier today, we lear
     

Helldivers 2 PC players secure refunds as Steam waives playtime limit

5. Květen 2024 v 20:43

Steam is refunding players with hundreds of in-game hours in Helldivers 2 after publisher Sony and developer Arrowhead told PC players that in order to keep playing after next month, they would have to link to a PSN account.

One player managed to secure a Steam refund despite having played Helldivers 2 for 90+ hours by simply submitting a refund request with the message: "Sony has retroactively changed how the game works and forced legal agreements upon me I do not accept".

Earlier today, we learned that Helldivers 2 has been pulled from sale in 177 countries and territories as its PlayStation Network (PSN) linking requirement rolls out, even where PSN is not available.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Activision's Vicarious Visions worked on a cancelled 3D Donkey Kong gameVikki Blake
    Vicarious Visions – the Activision studio now known as Blizzard Albany and perhaps best known for supporting the development of Destiny 2 and several Call of Duty titles, as well as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 – pitched a 3D Donkey Kong game to Nintendo.DK Vine reports that a Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze sequel – which has been heavily rumoured for some time now given Kong hasn't been treated to a game of his own since 2014's Tropical Freeze – was a platformer codenamed "Freedom", and had been
     

Activision's Vicarious Visions worked on a cancelled 3D Donkey Kong game

5. Květen 2024 v 19:49

Vicarious Visions – the Activision studio now known as Blizzard Albany and perhaps best known for supporting the development of Destiny 2 and several Call of Duty titles, as well as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 – pitched a 3D Donkey Kong game to Nintendo.

DK Vine reports that a Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze sequel – which has been heavily rumoured for some time now given Kong hasn't been treated to a game of his own since 2014's Tropical Freeze – was a platformer codenamed "Freedom", and had been slated to come to Switch.

You can check out the video below:

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • UK trade association TIGA calls for an independent games tax credit to support UK developmentVikki Blake
    TIGA, a trade association for the UK video games industry, is calling for an independent games tax credit to support game development.As part of a 10-point manifesto, TIGA proposes that the UK industry launch an independent games tax credit (IGTC), a new "National Games Accelerator" to enable more start-ups to scale up, and a video games investment fund to create "2660 additional game development jobs by 2028."TIGA's Manifesto – based on "new and recent primary research, surveys of TIGA members
     

UK trade association TIGA calls for an independent games tax credit to support UK development

5. Květen 2024 v 19:01

TIGA, a trade association for the UK video games industry, is calling for an independent games tax credit to support game development.

As part of a 10-point manifesto, TIGA proposes that the UK industry launch an independent games tax credit (IGTC), a new "National Games Accelerator" to enable more start-ups to scale up, and a video games investment fund to create "2660 additional game development jobs by 2028."

TIGA's Manifesto – based on "new and recent primary research, surveys of TIGA members and the wider video games industry, together with numerous discussions with game developers" – also calls for an industrial secondments programme to enable 20 lecturers a year to be seconded to studios to enhance teaching in video game development and further support of apprenticeships and BTEC and T-Level education.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Exploring Watch Dogs' Chicago map in REAL VR is an absolute treat for the eyesIan Higton
    I love a spot of virtual tourism, me. During the pandemic, I would scratch my travelling itches with some nice big sessions on Google Earth VR, where I would retrace my steps from holidays of old or explore new places I've always wanted to go.But those little imaginary expeditions pale in comparison to being able to actually wander around fully realised virtual worlds as a tourist, which is basically exactly what I did in this week's VR Corner thanks to a brand new update for Luke Ross' REAL VR
     

Exploring Watch Dogs' Chicago map in REAL VR is an absolute treat for the eyes

5. Květen 2024 v 15:00

I love a spot of virtual tourism, me. During the pandemic, I would scratch my travelling itches with some nice big sessions on Google Earth VR, where I would retrace my steps from holidays of old or explore new places I've always wanted to go.

But those little imaginary expeditions pale in comparison to being able to actually wander around fully realised virtual worlds as a tourist, which is basically exactly what I did in this week's VR Corner thanks to a brand new update for Luke Ross' REAL VR mod. By the way, REAL stands for 'Reality Enhancement Augmentation Layer' if you've ever wondered!

I've featured plenty of Luke's mods on VR Corner before, but my favourite ones of his are always the ones with open-worlds that feel almost like real places. Thanks to the level of detail in the Chicago map that Ubisoft built for it's open-world hack-em-up, Watch Dogs, it's easy to imagine that you're really there. There's so much variety to the environments and buildings and so many lovely little details for you to lean towards and inspect. These range from the first person interiors of the game's cars, through to some of the most delicious looking muffins I've ever seen and even Aidan Pearce's teeth!

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 will include a PvP mode according to this art book leakVikki Blake
    A Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 art book has leaked online, confirming the delayed game by Saber Interactive will include a PvP mode.YouTuber prdalien0 shared a full flick through the book, giving us a detailed dive into the game's various modes and customisations months ahead of Space Marine 2's scheduled release in September 2024.As well as confirming that the PvP mode will be Marine x Marine "only" and showing off its associated classes, the book also reveals that there's banner and clan cus
     

Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 will include a PvP mode according to this art book leak

5. Květen 2024 v 14:44

A Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 art book has leaked online, confirming the delayed game by Saber Interactive will include a PvP mode.

YouTuber prdalien0 shared a full flick through the book, giving us a detailed dive into the game's various modes and customisations months ahead of Space Marine 2's scheduled release in September 2024.

As well as confirming that the PvP mode will be Marine x Marine "only" and showing off its associated classes, the book also reveals that there's banner and clan customisation for PvP and a hub-type space from which you can pick up missions and upgrade your character.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Ghost of Tsushima developer wants you to know you can play it on Steam without linking to a PSN accountVikki Blake
    As Helldivers 2 is pulled from sale in 177 countries following the disastrous rollout of mandatory PSN linking, Ghost of Tsushima developer Sucker Punch wants you to know that PSN is not required if you want to play the Director's Cut's singleplayer campaign on Steam.As spotted by wccftech, the studio responded to a now-hidden Twitter/X message to the studio, assuring players that a PSN account is "not required to play the singleplayer game" – although you will need to link up if you'd like to
     

Ghost of Tsushima developer wants you to know you can play it on Steam without linking to a PSN account

5. Květen 2024 v 12:55

As Helldivers 2 is pulled from sale in 177 countries following the disastrous rollout of mandatory PSN linking, Ghost of Tsushima developer Sucker Punch wants you to know that PSN is not required if you want to play the Director's Cut's singleplayer campaign on Steam.

As spotted by wccftech, the studio responded to a now-hidden Twitter/X message to the studio, assuring players that a PSN account is "not required to play the singleplayer game" – although you will need to link up if you'd like to play online multiplayer mode, Legends.

"Just so you are aware, a PSN account is required for Legends online multiplayer mode and to use PlayStation overlay," the studio wrote.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Helldivers 2 has been pulled from sale in 177 countries as its PSN linking requirement rolls outVikki Blake
    Helldivers 2 has been pulled from sale in 177 countries as its PSN linking requirement rolls out in countries where PSN is not available.Developer Arrowhead said this linking requirement was made optional when the game released at the beginning of February due to technical issues. However, that initial "grace period" for Helldivers 2 players on Steam is now over, and on Friday, Helldivers 2's publisher Sony announced that players on Steam will soon be required to link to a PlayStation Network (
     

Helldivers 2 has been pulled from sale in 177 countries as its PSN linking requirement rolls out

5. Květen 2024 v 12:10

Helldivers 2 has been pulled from sale in 177 countries as its PSN linking requirement rolls out in countries where PSN is not available.

Developer Arrowhead said this linking requirement was made optional when the game released at the beginning of February due to technical issues. However, that initial "grace period" for Helldivers 2 players on Steam is now over, and on Friday, Helldivers 2's publisher Sony announced that players on Steam will soon be required to link to a PlayStation Network (PSN) account.

Since then, the game has been battered by almost 200,000 negative reviews from Helldivers 2 players on Steam.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • From creating D&D to making Baldur's Gate 3: meet the man who coined the term XPRobert Purchese
    "Role-playing games are only 50 years old. We're still inventing them every day. That's what's really exciting about it. We haven't found the boundaries of it yet, if there are any. We're still pushing out. That's what keeps me doing this stuff, years after most of my peers have retired or passed on."Do you believe in fate, that there's an invisible force steering us through our lives and that we end up in certain places for certain reasons? Perhaps after hearing Lawrence Schick's story, you wi
     

From creating D&D to making Baldur's Gate 3: meet the man who coined the term XP

5. Květen 2024 v 11:00

"Role-playing games are only 50 years old. We're still inventing them every day. That's what's really exciting about it. We haven't found the boundaries of it yet, if there are any. We're still pushing out. That's what keeps me doing this stuff, years after most of my peers have retired or passed on."

Do you believe in fate, that there's an invisible force steering us through our lives and that we end up in certain places for certain reasons? Perhaps after hearing Lawrence Schick's story, you will.

It's not a name I expect you'll recognise, but you'll know some of the things he's responsible for. Take the term XP, for example. It's ubiquitous in gaming and possibly beyond it, and Lawrence Schick created it. It's primarily the reason I set out to track him down, to hear how that came to be, because it fascinates me to think of a gaming landscape where there's no established term for experience points, and possibly no such thing as experience points at all. I find it really hard to even conceive of that, given where we are now.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Apex Legends drops a new gameplay trailer for season 21, "Upheaval"Vikki Blake
    Respawn has dropped a new teaser for the next season of its free-to-play battle royale, Apex Legends.The trailer shows off what to expect when season 21, Upheaval, drops next week, and gets us up close and personal with "the embodiment of disruption", new Legend Alter. You can check out the action for yourself in the trailer embedded below: Read more
     

Apex Legends drops a new gameplay trailer for season 21, "Upheaval"

4. Květen 2024 v 19:08

Respawn has dropped a new teaser for the next season of its free-to-play battle royale, Apex Legends.

The trailer shows off what to expect when season 21, Upheaval, drops next week, and gets us up close and personal with "the embodiment of disruption", new Legend Alter. You can check out the action for yourself in the trailer embedded below:

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No Rest for the Wicked's performance improvements are so good, Moon Studios has updated its recommended specs

4. Květen 2024 v 18:34

Moon Studios has outlined the changes coming to the first patch for its early access dark fantasy action RPG, No Rest for the Wicked.

"This patch brings significant CPU and GPU performance improvements (especially when it comes to traversal and “heavy” areas), keyboard control remapping, a new mouse/keyboard control scheme, increased inventory stacks, chest inventory access at vendors / crafting, bows using stamina, earlier housing access, Quality of Life and 45+ bug fixes," the team explained in the patch notes, saying the patch "celebrates" the game's two-week anniversary.

Given the long, long list of performance improvements and optimisations, Moon Studios has now revised its recommended PC specs for the RPG, the updated version of which is available below:

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Resident Evil 9 "should be revealed pretty soon and release next year", leaker suggests

4. Květen 2024 v 17:53

Resident Evil 9 "should be revealed pretty soon and release next year".

That's according to horror leaker Dusk Golem, who posted the news to Twitter/X yesterday.

"I have good news/rumours to deliver on Resident Evil 9," Dusk tweeted at the time.

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  • ✇Eurogamer.net
  • Sker Ritual's roadmap promises a new map, weapons, and a "Hardcore Easter Egg"Vikki Blake
    Wales Interactive has confirmed two free content updates are on the way for Maid of Sker spin-off, Sker Ritual in its latest roadmap overview.The round-based co-op survival FPS released as an early access title back in October 2022, and as a full 1.0 game just last month on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Now, in an update to players, developer Wales Interactive says there's a new map on the way, along with a new "special weapon", perks, and a "new Hardcore Easter Egg and Easter Egg music"."We ar
     

Sker Ritual's roadmap promises a new map, weapons, and a "Hardcore Easter Egg"

4. Květen 2024 v 17:26

Wales Interactive has confirmed two free content updates are on the way for Maid of Sker spin-off, Sker Ritual in its latest roadmap overview.

The round-based co-op survival FPS released as an early access title back in October 2022, and as a full 1.0 game just last month on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Now, in an update to players, developer Wales Interactive says there's a new map on the way, along with a new "special weapon", perks, and a "new Hardcore Easter Egg and Easter Egg music".

"We are committed to continually improving all areas of the game including: optimisation, bug fixes, balancing and networking," the team says, but admits that the release dates of PS4 and Xbox One ports of the game remain "TBC at the moment".

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  • Good Job developer Paladin Studios closes after nearly 20 yearsVikki Blake
    Paladin Studios has shut down.The indie studio – established in the Netherlands in 2005 – announced the closure earlier this week, saying its "quest [had] come to an end" and 45 people, "each and every one of them a brilliant mind and kind heart", have lost their jobs."For almost 19 years, we have poured our hearts and souls into creating games that make you smile," the team said in a heartfelt statement posted to its official website (thanks, VGC). Read more
     

Good Job developer Paladin Studios closes after nearly 20 years

4. Květen 2024 v 15:58

Paladin Studios has shut down.

The indie studio – established in the Netherlands in 2005 – announced the closure earlier this week, saying its "quest [had] come to an end" and 45 people, "each and every one of them a brilliant mind and kind heart", have lost their jobs.

"For almost 19 years, we have poured our hearts and souls into creating games that make you smile," the team said in a heartfelt statement posted to its official website (thanks, VGC).

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  • Helldivers 2's positive Steam score tumbles as PC players hit back at Sony's PSN requirementsVikki Blake
    The originally well-received Helldivers 2 now has a "mixed" review score on Steam following over 100,000 "mostly negative" review bombs from PC players unhappy about having to sign into Sony's PlayStation Network to keep playing.Developer Arrowhead said this linking requirement was made optional when the game released at the beginning of February due to technical issues. However, that initial "grace period" for Helldivers 2 players on Steam is now over, and yesterday, Helldivers 2's publisher S
     

Helldivers 2's positive Steam score tumbles as PC players hit back at Sony's PSN requirements

4. Květen 2024 v 14:41

The originally well-received Helldivers 2 now has a "mixed" review score on Steam following over 100,000 "mostly negative" review bombs from PC players unhappy about having to sign into Sony's PlayStation Network to keep playing.

Developer Arrowhead said this linking requirement was made optional when the game released at the beginning of February due to technical issues. However, that initial "grace period" for Helldivers 2 players on Steam is now over, and yesterday, Helldivers 2's publisher Sony announced that players on Steam will soon be required to link to a PlayStation Network (PSN) account. And the news has not gone down well.

Thousands of PC players have now hit back at both Arrowhead and Sony and changed their positive reviews to negative ones. Some cite Sony's data leaks as a reason not to link their account, while other blame Sony's "dictatorship" and "corporate greed".

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  • Let's go climbing in some gamesChristian Donlan
    It was Digital Foundry's John Linneman who first made me see the truth. The truth, in this case, being that Crackdown, the deliriously great open-world blaster, is not a platform game so much as it's a climbing game. Crackdown casts you as a supercop in a city in which you can race up skyscrapers as easily as if you're tooling down the street in a sportscar. Crackdown is all about the window-ledge grip, followed by the boost, followed by the grip and so on until you hit the troposphere. When yo
     

Let's go climbing in some games

4. Květen 2024 v 11:00

It was Digital Foundry's John Linneman who first made me see the truth. The truth, in this case, being that Crackdown, the deliriously great open-world blaster, is not a platform game so much as it's a climbing game. Crackdown casts you as a supercop in a city in which you can race up skyscrapers as easily as if you're tooling down the street in a sportscar. Crackdown is all about the window-ledge grip, followed by the boost, followed by the grip and so on until you hit the troposphere. When you scan the side of a building in Crackdown's Pacific City, you're not really looking for platforms, but handholds.

Funny it should take me so long to realise this. I've always been a fan of climbing - not doing it, although I have dabbled, skill-lessly, in my youth, but following it, reading about it, dreaming about it. I have friends who are climbers and I am always full of questions. I've read the complete works of people like Alex Honnold and Chris Bonington. Bonington was my mum's childhood - and adulthood - hero, incidentally. I'm named after him, and on my desk at home I have a postcard of him as a young man, wearing a dark, surprisingly formal jacket, up somewhere high, and with a thick cord of ropes over his shoulder. It's a picture of pure adventure. What a disappointment to him I must be.

At that desk, though, I do quite a bit of climbing. I climbed through Crackdown, without realising it, and recently I climbed through Jusant. With the release of a new climbing game this week, I've been thinking about how it all fits together. Climbing feels, of all activities, uniquely physical to me, because it's about rock and about hands and about clasping. It's about connections, points of contact, cleaving to a part of the natural world and holding on tight. How do games do that?

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  • How to stream, what to stream, when to streamRobert Purchese
    It's time for another episode of Inside Eurogamer, the podcast that's exclusively for Supporters and which takes you behind the curtains here to understand why we do the work we do, and some of the things we've learnt about doing it. Today we're on trend talking about streaming. I say on trend but I don't think I've been on trend about anything, ever. Fortunately for me, other people have been.Remember - advert voice - supporting Eurogamer is super easy and not that expensive. For £3/€3/$3 a mo
     

How to stream, what to stream, when to stream

4. Květen 2024 v 11:00

It's time for another episode of Inside Eurogamer, the podcast that's exclusively for Supporters and which takes you behind the curtains here to understand why we do the work we do, and some of the things we've learnt about doing it. Today we're on trend talking about streaming. I say on trend but I don't think I've been on trend about anything, ever. Fortunately for me, other people have been.

Remember - advert voice - supporting Eurogamer is super easy and not that expensive. For £3/€3/$3 a month (or £30/€30/$30 a year), you get an ad-free website, exclusive articles, this podcast - in which we also answer your questions - and if you're a yearly subscriber, some key giveaways. I'm working on a new one of those right now. End advert.

Today I have Ian Higton and Ed Nightingale with me. Ian's expertise in the area of streaming needs little explanation. He's been one of the faces of Eurogamer video for many years now; he's actually the longest serving member by a couple of years - he ran the channel alone for a while. And as we find out in this podcast, he was right there at the start of streaming on YouTube. Incidentally, if you're interested in Ian's fuller life story, as I like to think of it, check out the dedicated interview podcast he and I recorded as he reached his 10-year anniversary here.

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  • Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition for Switch spotted on US ratings board websiteMatt Wales
    There's something mysterious brewing over at Nintendo; a new listing for a previously unannounced Switch game, called Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, has been spotted on the US' Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) website. Helpfully, the ESRB - which has rated the game 'E' for 'Everyone' if you're curious - has a few details on Nintendo's mysterious new title, describing it as a "collection of 2D challenges and platformer games in which players traverse through various mode
     

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition for Switch spotted on US ratings board website

3. Květen 2024 v 19:56

There's something mysterious brewing over at Nintendo; a new listing for a previously unannounced Switch game, called Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, has been spotted on the US' Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) website.

Helpfully, the ESRB - which has rated the game 'E' for 'Everyone' if you're curious - has a few details on Nintendo's mysterious new title, describing it as a "collection of 2D challenges and platformer games in which players traverse through various modes (e.g., speedrun, survival)".

"Several challenges involve reaching specific points, while others prompt players to defeat small enemies or survive brief battles," the ESRB description continues. "Some games depict pixelated characters using small swords or arrows to strike at enemies; enemies typically get stunned or disappear in a flash."

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  • Apex Legends brings back Solos for Season 21Marie Pritchard
    Apex Legends: Upheaval releases on Tuesday 7th May, 2024 and is the 21st season of the ever-evolving battle royale. Alongside the arrival of the first villainous Legend to hit the games since Revenant in 2020, there are plenty of new and returning additions that promise to turn this season on its head including a revamped Broken Moon and Solos mode returning for a limited run.First things first, let's talk about the big addition - a Legend called Alter joining the Apex games at the launch of Up
     

Apex Legends brings back Solos for Season 21

3. Květen 2024 v 19:00

Apex Legends: Upheaval releases on Tuesday 7th May, 2024 and is the 21st season of the ever-evolving battle royale. Alongside the arrival of the first villainous Legend to hit the games since Revenant in 2020, there are plenty of new and returning additions that promise to turn this season on its head including a revamped Broken Moon and Solos mode returning for a limited run.

First things first, let's talk about the big addition - a Legend called Alter joining the Apex games at the launch of Upheaval. Alter is a dimensional traveller of the Skirmisher class and the first villain we've seen in a long time. Alter is from another dimension, though which one she's from is a mystery for now (she's not a reliable narrator). If she tells you something, chances are it's been altered to suit her needs at that very moment - though there are a few shreds of truth in some things that come out of her mouth if you pay close attention.

Alter's Passive ability 'Gift from the Rift' lets you see deathboxes through walls and take a single item from them. Her Tactical is 'Void Passage' which allows you to make bridging portals through surfaces that your squad can also use. Finally, her Ultimate is 'Void Nexus' where Alter puts a device down that allows you and your team to phase back to that point while the device is still active. Be wary of this one, enemies can also make use of it too.

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  • Fallout 4's next-gen upgrade: bugged on Series X/S, disappointing on PS5 and PCThomas Morgan
    In the wake of the massive success of the Fallout TV series, Fallout 4 has received a free next-gen upgrade for PC, PS5 and Series X/S that aims to bring the nine-year-old game up to modern standards. The prospect of native PS5 and Series games is tantalising but unfortunately the update arrives with a number of issues - and even at its best the result is somewhat underwhelming. The patch notes mention two main graphics modes on console: a dynamic 4K 60fps performance mode running at 'standard'
     

Fallout 4's next-gen upgrade: bugged on Series X/S, disappointing on PS5 and PC

3. Květen 2024 v 18:47

In the wake of the massive success of the Fallout TV series, Fallout 4 has received a free next-gen upgrade for PC, PS5 and Series X/S that aims to bring the nine-year-old game up to modern standards. The prospect of native PS5 and Series games is tantalising but unfortunately the update arrives with a number of issues - and even at its best the result is somewhat underwhelming.

The patch notes mention two main graphics modes on console: a dynamic 4K 60fps performance mode running at 'standard' settings and a 4K 30fps quality mode running at PC's ultra preset. The game itself presents this as a performance mode on/off toggle in reality, where the off setting is effectively the quality mode referred to in the notes. Beyond these two basic options, Bethesda also adds additional modes for those outputting the game at 1440p and/or 120Hz from your console system menu. As well as these new options, the patch notes mention bug fixes, new quests, new weapons and, on PC, official 21:9 ultrawide support.

To summarise the PC situation in brief, it's a disappointment on a number of levels. For a start, the new ultrawide display support is seriously lacking polish, with select elements of the UI stretched from 16:9 rather than offering a native 21:9 presentation. Worse still, I've noticed visual bugs in the UI at points, such as while naming your character or setting your SPECIAL stats - it looks wrong and needs a fix.

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  • Why you should play Manor Lords as a cosy gameZoe Delahunty-Light
    As a lover of medieval history and swords, I was attracted to Manor Lords from the very first time I heard about it. Manor Lords is a city builder strategy game that has you fostering a thriving medieval village and ushering it into a new dawn filled with trade, farming, and - of course - at least one Manor. After picking it up for myself and getting fully into the medieval ambience thanks to some tavern ambience YouTube videos, I was surprised to find that on peaceful difficulty it could actu
     

Why you should play Manor Lords as a cosy game

3. Květen 2024 v 17:51

As a lover of medieval history and swords, I was attracted to Manor Lords from the very first time I heard about it. Manor Lords is a city builder strategy game that has you fostering a thriving medieval village and ushering it into a new dawn filled with trade, farming, and - of course - at least one Manor. After picking it up for myself and getting fully into the medieval ambience thanks to some tavern ambience YouTube videos, I was surprised to find that on peaceful difficulty it could actually be considered a cosy game, just like Stardew Valley and similar farming simulators. Manor Lords also has surprising similarities to Cult of the Lamb, so if you're up for something less cult-like but still with lambs involved in one way or another, look no further.

Describing Manor Lords as a city builder is an oversimplification. It's much more than just putting buildings down and making the good numbers go up - over the seasons you can transform a bundle of tents to a thriving village in a thoroughly organic manner, from putting winding roads through the houses and workshops to planning out which of your fields are going to be fallow from year to year. At peaceful difficulty, Manor Lords really is a slow living cosy medieval game, with some valuable additions that make it novel amongst the typical city builder video game genre.

Don't believe me? Watch our video to see all the reasons Manor Lords should be your next go-to cosy game, or at the very least be in consideration - with a couple of caveats.

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  • Content Warning just got its first big update, with new monsters and an unlockable swimming poolVictoria Kennedy
    Content Warning - the Lethal Company-style co-op horror game that tasks players with filming their friends doing scary things to become famous on SpöökTube, and which shot up in popularity following an April Fool's Day promotion - has just received its first big update.This update adds in a new map for wannabe content creators to make their way around, as well as 13 new monsters. Yep, more weird and wonderful creatures are joining Content Warning's rather eclectic roster of foes.In addition, t
     

Content Warning just got its first big update, with new monsters and an unlockable swimming pool

3. Květen 2024 v 17:34

Content Warning - the Lethal Company-style co-op horror game that tasks players with filming their friends doing scary things to become famous on SpöökTube, and which shot up in popularity following an April Fool's Day promotion - has just received its first big update.

This update adds in a new map for wannabe content creators to make their way around, as well as 13 new monsters. Yep, more weird and wonderful creatures are joining Content Warning's rather eclectic roster of foes.

In addition, the team has added some new unlockable items for your sky island, such as a trampoline and a swimming pool. There is also a hat shop that will allow you to bedeck your intrepid crew with accessories such as a halo.

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  • Hellblade 2: Senua's Saga PC specs revealedEd Nightingale
    The required PC specs for Hellblade 2: Senua's Saga have been revealed and it looks like you'll need a beefy machine to have it running well. The game is a graphical showcase, but will only run at 30fps on Xbox Series X/S consoles. On PC this can be increased, but you'll need to use DLSS 3, FSR 3, or XESS 1.3 to achieve this. At the least, all players will require 70GB of SSD storage and 16GB of system RAM. Read more
     

Hellblade 2: Senua's Saga PC specs revealed

3. Květen 2024 v 17:33

The required PC specs for Hellblade 2: Senua's Saga have been revealed and it looks like you'll need a beefy machine to have it running well.

The game is a graphical showcase, but will only run at 30fps on Xbox Series X/S consoles. On PC this can be increased, but you'll need to use DLSS 3, FSR 3, or XESS 1.3 to achieve this.

At the least, all players will require 70GB of SSD storage and 16GB of system RAM.

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