To go alongside these details, we sat down for a short but (too) sweet interview with Lynell Jinks and Brian Williams from Visual Concepts, talking about the challenges with bringing Wargames to the series as well as the future of WWE 2K showcases. While John Cena may be the most obviously exciting star for WWE 2K23, you may want to pause for a minute and consider Wargames. For non-wrestling fans, it’s wild....
In the same blog post where Microsoft announced that Project xCloud will soon be included in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, the company also reiterated its commitment to making its games available on as many Xbox consoles as possible. The platform holder expressed a desire not to “force” players into buying an Xbox Series X, which is in stark contrast to Sony’s approach with PS5, where it is more interested in creating games not possible on today’s hardware....
The previously rumoured announcement was officially made via a post published by the Xbox blog. “Far more than a typical app update, we’ve rebuilt the [Microsoft Store] experience from the ground up to be faster, safer and easier to use than ever before,” it reads. The post mentions that the new Microsoft Store is over twice as fast as the previous iteration, and launches in less than two seconds....
Microsoft has yet to officially unveil the Xbox Series S, but the company seemingly has no problem confirming its existence on official pamphlets, repeatedly. A recent leak for the new Xbox controller packaging mentioned Series S by name. Today, the console’s name has once again been spotted on an official Microsoft product document. Twitter user @BraviaryBrendan shared a photo of a Game Pass Ultimate trial card that specifically mentions compatibility with Xbox Series X/S as well as Xbox One and PC....
Quick Resume is a feature that lets players jump back into a game within seconds, zipping through different save game states, rather than having to load up the game. The Digital Foundry reports states that they watched this feature cycle through four games; Forza Motorsport 7 running in 4K60 Xbox One mode, State of Decay 2, Hellblade and Xbox 360 title The Cave. The lower the memory the game uses, the more titles can be cached in this way for Quick Resume....
The GDC 2020 session will “dive deep” into the audio design pipeline and its relationship to dedicated hardware-acceleration on newer generation Xbox consoles. According to Wccftech, having dedicated audio hardware-acceleration will improve spatial sound. The session, according to its description, will include Microsoft’s senior technical audio specialist Rober Ridihalgh, and the audio designers of Borderlands 3 and Gears of War 5. As far as audio improvements go with PS5, the console is said to feature 3D audio integration....
As well as revealing what platforms it’s heading to, the rating gives us some more details about the game. We already know some bits, since the game has been out in Japan for a while, but it’s nice to see it down in English. Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a departure for the series, leaving its action game roots behind in favour of turn-based RPG combat. That means more stats....
HBO’s live action adaptation of The Last of Us is doing very well for itself. It’s already been renewed for a second season, despite only having two episodes out in the wild so far, but that’s not too surprising considering it’s HBO’s second biggest debut ever. While viewers in the US can easily watch it on HBO Max after it airs on HBO, it’s a bit tougher to watch in the UK, as you need to do so at 2am on Sky Atlantic, before being made available to stream on NOW....
Super Mario Bros. 35, Nintendo’s take on the battle royale genre with Mario’s platforming fundamentals, has been popular with players since its release. When the game was announced, Nintendo only showed it off with Mario as the playable character. Now, however, players have discovered that Luigi is hidden within Super Mario Bros. 35, and you can even play as him. As reported by Eurogamer, the community came together to try and figure out Luigi’s unlock requirements....
While the sentiment among your average competition-minded fighting game player is easily found on Twitter, we wanted to reach out to the tournament organisers whose businesses and livelihoods would be directly affected by the implementation of this new licensing agreement to find out their initial reaction, what parts of this new agreement are of particular note to them, whether this affects their ability to run Street Fighter events, and their hopes going forward....
Apex Legends developer Respawn announced last month that it opened a new Vancouver branch that will focus entirely on the battle royale shooter. The studio had actually existed for close to a year before the news was made public. As part of a larger interview with us, the developer touched a little bit on what that means for the game and the studio’s culture. “There’s 60 devs up there, with 80 or 85 as their target,” revealed game director Chad Grenier....
This figure notably does not include their FPS Valorant, which launched all the way back in June 2020 and has continued to grow since thanks to constant updates and a sizable competitive scene. While not included, communications director at Riot Game Joe Hixson replied to queries about Valorant’s player count with “Well…. The last number we gave for VAL [was] 14 million MAU. Do with that what you will.” referring to official figures released in June....
Over the weekend, a brief Elden Ring gameplay video leaked online. Even though it was quickly taken down, mirrors continue to exist. The footage shows a character jumping up some rocks, but that’s about it. It would usually be a meaningless leak for any game, but not for FromSoftware’s highly-anticipated action RPG. The original leaker said that the footage came from an Xbox One build, and that’s about all the context we have....
Other than the announcement of the game’s development, nothing is currently known about the project. The studio is, however, hiring and there are numerous openings for roles in writing, programming, design, and in the art department. Some concept art of what we assume is the project was posted on the studio’s official website. Hudson left BioWare in December 2020 to form the studio based out of Canada with offices in British Columbia and Alberta....
The sequel to the critically acclaimed A Plague Tale: Innocence by Asobo Studio and Focus Entertainment, the video shows off some the game’s narrative elements. The game is set six months after the first game, and it seems as though Hugo’s curse is under control. To that end, the siblings head south seeking both to start a new life and find a cure for Hugo’s affliction. But, when his powers reawaken, all hell breaks loose forcing the duo to run once more....
Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought a case against Activision Blizzard, which the company responded to with an $18 million dollar settlement. The DFEH issued a formal objection to this settlement, saying that it could cause “irreparable harm” to its own ongoing legal proceedings. Because things are never simple, the EEOC responded to that objection by noting that the DFEH had formerly worked with the EEOC on its own investigation into Activision Blizzard — and evidence from that case lead to the settlement from the defendent company (thanks, PC Gamer)....
Minecraft developer Mojang has announced that a Microsoft account will be required to play its various games going forward. This includes Minecraft Java Edition, which has long existed on its own without being integrated into Microsoft’s larger ecosystem. In a blog post, Mojang explained that having a Microsoft account log-in increases security because of its support for two-factor authentication, not to mention connect all the Minecraft PC games under one account....
The pages seem to have been removed, but our search skills may be lacking today, but at any rate, resetera grabbed shots of the boxes before they could be pulled. Box art, as you can see, was posted for previously announced titles Demon’s Souls, Gran Turismo 7, Returnal, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and Destruction Allstars. The art for Demon’s Souls and GT7 are not final. A release date was not provided for the games, but that will likely change once the launch date is announced for PS5....
The ‘higher energy Analogue system,’ which will launch at $199, can play games via a cartridge slot or CD-ROM drive, and also features an original-style controller port. Long story short, the device is compatible with Hucards, TurboChips, and CD-ROM games. A retro gaming enthusiast’s dream, the hardware allows players to sync up to four 8BitDo Bluetooth or 2.4g controllers for wireless play – and you can connect it to your TV via HDMI cable that supports 1080p video and digital audio....
From today until April 10th (which also happens to be the date of this year’s Spring Fishing Tourney, just FYI…) you can catch cherry blossom petals as they waft by gently on the island breezes. During this ten-day period, you can also collect 14 cherry blossom themed DIY recipes to help you get in the mood for spring. These dates apply to the northern hemisphere only. Players in the southern hemisphere will get their chance to admire the cherry blossoms from October 1st-10th instead....
