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A job listing states that 343 Industries is looking to fill a senior producer position to “help develop a new project in the Halo universe.” “This is your chance to work on one of the most exciting and creative intellectual properties in the industry with one of the industry’s most talented teams,” reads the notice which was found on Twitter by Klobrille (via Windows Central). The next game in the series, Halo Infinite, is slated for release this holiday alongside Xbox Series X....

But this all begs the question, what does the future hold now that this deal is in play? What possibilities could now maybe be a reality now that these two giants are coming together? Well, we’ve got a few ideas ourselves, things that we’d love to see in the future as a result of this crazy announcement. Crash Bandicoot/Spyro/Banjo Kazooie crossover Let’s start with a wild one. As a result of this deal, we’ve got three OG video game IPs all under one roof....

Skyrim’s so good at this style of environmental storytelling that a portion of its player base has been cataloging and uncovering its mysterious scenes, unexplained phenomena, and tiny details that hint at wider conspiracies since its release. What’s especially impressive, on the part of virtual detective and developer alike, is that many of them do have solutions and conclusions, like the ‘treasure foxes’ whose AI pathfinding routines take you towards high-volume treasure areas through a programming quirk....

Sony announced at the end of March that it’ll be shutting down digital stores for PS3, Vita and PSP over the course of the summer, beginning July 2. This shutdown should not affect players who already own digital games, as Sony confirmed they’ll continue to be able to download them in the future. Unfortunately, for a few games at least, they’re not grabbing their latest patches. It’s not clear whether this is related to Sony’s imminent shutdown of the PS3 PlayStation Store, but a number of PSNProfiles forum users have been putting together an updated list of games that, for one reason or another, do not download their most recent patches....

Earlier today, a large number of videos and screenshots of what looks to be an early build of what is presumably an early build of GTA 6 have cropped up online. If these leaks are real, what has been shown lines up with what Bloomberg reported earlier this year on the upcoming sequel from Rockstar. GTA 6, or whatever the next game in the series will be called, was confirmed to be in active development....

A store listing for The Last of Us Part 2 has appeared over at Best Buy that suggests a next-gen update for the game could be in the works at Naughty Dog. The Best Buy store listing for the PlayStation 4 physical copy of one of 2020’s biggest games includes a tag that reads “includes next-gen upgrade”. The development studio itself hasn’t formally announced any specific upgrades for The Last of Us Part 2 on PS5 – though the game does benefit from all the usual system-side upgrades backwards compatible games enjoy if you boot it up on the new hardware (including faster loading times and so on)....

An Epic Games Store exclusive for one year, A Total War Saga: Troy will be released on August 13. It will also be a free download during its first 24 hours of availability. “Thanks to Epic, we’re able to offer a Total War title for free on its launch day," said Tim Heaton, chief studios officer at Sega Europe in the press release. “It’s a hugely exciting thing for us to be able to do for our players....

The walkout will take place tomorrow, July 28, at Blizzard’s campus in Irvine, California. Along with news of the walkout, employees of the company released an official statement with a list of demands it wants company executives to adhere to (thanks, GI.biz). According to the employees, the walkout can be partially attributed to statements made by Activision Blizzard last week regarding the lawsuit along with comments made by Frances Townsend in an internal email....

In the interview, Kotick tells VentureBeat that he had a “really cool vision” for the next Guitar Hero game, but unfortunately, Activision didn’t have “the resouces” to do it. “Phil [Spencer] and I started riffing on things for the future,” said Kotick. “I wanted to make a new Guitar Hero for a while, but I don’t want to add teams to do manufacturing and supply chain and QA for manufacturing....

Announced back at the Guerrilla Collective showcase, Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo is being developed by Pendulo Studios and is “an exclusive, original story, freely inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece Vertigo.” Interesting. The game will follow the life of Ed Miller, a man that manages to somehow survive a lethal car crash and walk away unharmed. After the trauma of the crash, Miller insists his wife and daughter were with him in the accident, though the bodies of his family are never found....

Since its 2013 release, there’s been an Uncharted easter egg in one of The Last of Us’ multiplayer maps. Former Naughty Dog game designer Rodney Reece took to Twitter to highlight that the remains of a plane in The Last of Us’ Beach map in the game’s Faction mode is in fact Victor “Sully” Sullivan’s plane, Hog Wild, from the first Uncharted title. “Not saying that’s canon,” Reece wrote. “But I took it from [Uncharted], broke it into pieces and put it there....

Unlike typical topiary, you can only plant money trees in specific spots on your island - but luckily they’re quite common. Once you’ve planted a money tree, you can move it to better fit your aesthetic. If it’s still a nursery tree, you can dig it up with a shovel. Or if it’s already fully grown, you’ll first need to eat fruit to give you fruit power - then dig it up....

Replying to a query on the subject on Twitter, the Bronx and Queens Rep said that she planned to appear on Twitch once more, but maybe after she’s had some rest. The politician – popularly known as AOC – is coming off the back of winning a second term as the representative in her New York district this week as part of the elections in America. At the time of writing, the presidential race is still on-going and like Ocasio-Cortez, the whole world is very tired and just wants a break right now....

From March 29 to April 12, the Warriors Collection Event will showcase the return of the 9v9 Control mode, a new map,cosmetics, and more. With the event, the limited-time 9v9 mode Control is returning for two weeks, this time with the addition of Caustic Treatment on Kings Canyon. The Caustic Treatment has been converted into a three-point battleground for control over Kings Canyon. The battleground now comes with additional cover, ziplines, skydive launchers, a hover tank and more for increased balance and improved flow....

Apex Legends’ Season 4 kicks off tomorrow on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. As we previously reported, Season 4 is being dubbed “Assimilation” and will take place on the World’s Edge map originally seen in Season 3. New characters and weapons have been teased over the past few weeks, including the MMA-style fighter Forge and the high-damage sniper rifle Sentinel. But last week it appeared Forge was killed off, with his place being taken by a character known as Revenant....

In this trailer, we see Maggie dropped into the Apex Games on Olympus by the judge who played an antagonistic role in the previous trailer. Once on the ground, she finds her way into an underground bunker, where the mysterious character responsible for sending her to the games in the first place is found toiling away at a computer. Eagle-eyed Apex fans will see him engaging a program by the name of Defiance on said console - the namesake of the season - before teleporting Olympus above an as of yet unidentified city....

“ALL DRAGON SKINS ARE BAD. DELETE THEM FROM GAME” said another. A pretty bold start to us trying to answer the “are skins pay-to-win” question for Valorant, then. Valorant is a tactical shooter that pits five attackers against five defenders, bearing similarities to the likes of Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Rainbow Six Siege. As each team tries to either lock down a site or to retake it, players must use a combination of skill, communication, and their characters abilities to secure a win....

The 2019 Nintendo Switch game was another well-received PlatinumGames title that was directed by Takahisa Taura, which we lauded as an action masterclass from the esteemed developer. Platinum had stated before that Astral Chain was co-owned by itself and the game’s publisher, Nintendo – though the latter held the game’s publishing rights. Now, in an interview with VGC, studio head Atsushi Inaba said the situation is “as it looks.” “It’s as it is written on the website: Astral Chain is their IP and as such there are limitations on how much we feel we should talk about,” said the PlatinumGames developer....

This sort of thing is par for the course for games like this - but what sets Avengers apart is that the developers promised they’d never do this. “We’ve also committed that content purchasable with real money in Marvel’s Avengers will be aesthetic-only additions, which will ensure we can keep the game fresh for years to come,” reads a year-old post on the official Avengers site. This wasn’t the only time this claim was made, either - this talking point about the game’s non-cosmetic content all being free was hammered at in interview after interview; and I remember it being a key talking point of my very first hands-on, around a year before the game’s release....

Furthermore, the team is also determined to provide new content for the game and make improvements based on player feedback to keep existing players playing and to attract newcomers. The live-service game isn’t a very big hit. At least on PC, as we’re not sure what the players numbers are on PS4 and PS5. On Steam, the game’s peak concurrent player count was 1,166 when the game was released. As of press time, it’s not on the top 100 games being played list and the player count sits at 296 players....