Gaming News

Palworld's Daily Active Players Briefly Surpassed Fortnite on Xbox in the US

Palworld may have just come out recently, but its popularity is growing daily as the open-world survival game's US daily players briefly surpassed Fortnite on Xbox. Spotted by NPD's Mat Piscatella, according to the Circana's Player Engagement Tracker, on Monday, January 22, US Xbox players playing Palworld surpassed Fortnite on the same platform. Piscatella also notes that US-based Palworld players played the game for "more than 200 minutes on average," reiterating that this record only happened for one day, "and it was close." It's no surprise, considering Palworld has already sold 7 million copies five days after it was released in Early Access. Fortnite is not the only game it surpassed in terms of player count. Yesterday, it was...

View full article »

Baldur's Gate 3 Wins Game of the Year From New York Video Game Critics Circle

Baldur's Gate 3 has taken home Game of the Year at this year's New York Video Game Critics Circle 2024 New York Game Awards, as well as an award for Best Writing. The remainder of the awards were fairly evenly spread, with Chants of Sennar winning Best Indie Game, Alan Wake 2 winning Best World, Hi-Fi Rush winning for best music, and Melanie Liburd winning Best Acting for her work as Saga Anderson in Alan Wake 2. As previously announced, Neil Druckmann received the Andrew Yoon Legend Award for his contributions to the industry. All award winners are listed below: Big Apple Award for Best Game of the Year: Baldur’s Gate 3 Off Broadway Award for Best Indie Game: Chants of Sennar Herman Melville Award for Best Writing in a Game...

View full article »

Palworld Interactive Map Is Live With Merchant Locations, Fast Travel Points, and More

As you head out on your adventures across the Palpagos Islands, the in-game map will gradually unfog and reveal itself - but the only things marked are the fast-travel waypoints and Alpha Pal spawn locations you’ve come across. Palworld Interactive Map Whether you’re scouting out dungeon locations, looking for egg spawns, or you’re simply curious about what else is out there, IGN's Palworld Interactive Map allows you to locate and track every collectible, NPC, item spawn, and more. You can filter the map by the following categories: Collectibles, to help you find Memo pages and Lifmunk Effigies. NPCs, such as Merchants and Black Market Dealers. Item Spawns, for Egg spawn locations, Skill Fruit trees, and Treasure Chests. Enemy...

View full article »

Alone in the Dark: Here's What Comes in Each Edition

Alone in the Dark, the highly-anticipated reimagining of the classic '90s horror game, is officially up for preorder with a release date of March 20. You can choose between a Standard Edition of the game, which will set you back $59.99, or a Collector's Edition, which comes to $199 but is strictly limited to 5,000 units, so is selling out fast. Below, you can find additional details on each of these editions along with information on the game itself. Preorder Alone in the Dark (Standard Edition) - Releases March 20 Get it at Amazon (Xbox Series X) - $59.99 Get it at Best Buy (PS5/Xbox Series X) - $59.99 Get it at Target (PS5/Xbox Series X) - $59.99 Get it at GameStop (PS5/Xbox Series X) - $59.99 Preorder Alone in the Dark...

View full article »

Death Stranding-Themed Limited Edition Controller Announced by Backbone

After teasing it last month, Backbone has officially announced today that it has collaborated with Kojima Productions to create a new, limited edition controller inspired by Death Stranding: Director's Cut. In a press release, Backbone revealed that the new controller will be available to purchase on January 30th at 9am PT / 12pm ET the same day that Death Stranding: Director's Cut releases on Apple devices. To make this even more of a collector's item, Backbone revealed that those who order this controller will also receive an iOS copy of Death Stranding: Director's Cut. As 505 Games confirmed yesterday, this version of Death Stranding is a universal purchase, meaning it will also work on iPads and Macs powered by an M-series chip...

View full article »

Nexus Mods Refuses to Host Palworld Pokemon Mods Out of Fear of Legal Action From Nintendo

Nexus Mods will not host Pokemon mods for Palworld out of a fear of legal action from Nintendo. Speaking to PCGamesN, Nexus Mods community lead Mathew Elliott said the platform is “not comfortable” hosting Pokemon mods for the phenomenally successful Palworld, but will allow other mods for the game. Nexus Mods’ stance stems from a fear of potential legal action from Nintendo, Elliott said. “As you may know, Nintendo (who jointly own the Pokemon franchise) has a consistent record of mercilessly submitting legal challenges, DMCAs, and takedowns against fan-made content,” Elliott pointed out. “Given Palworld’s similarity to the Pokemon franchise as a base game, hosting content that adds copyrighted characters or assets into the game...

View full article »

Cyberpunk 2077 Player Discovers a Very on Brand Secret Message Hidden Within the Game

A Cyberpunk 2077 player has discovered an Easter egg more than three years after the game launched, denoting a very on-brand theme of the game hidden within a secret message written in Latin. Reddit user CommercialLeg2439 spotted the secret message in Pacifica, specifically on the Grand Imperial Mall. As the sun sets in Night City, the lights of the mall flicker, and only a select few in its name actually light up. Instead of Grand Imperial Mall, the sign instead reads "gra d imperi l mali". Fans have debated a little how this translates exactly, but "gra imperi mali" means "thanks to the evil government". Another possible solution keeps the first "d" in, translating to "degree of evil government". One user even suggested the random...

View full article »

Pixel Art Five Nights at Freddy’s Game Revealed

An unannounced upcoming Five Nights at Freddy’s game has been revealed early, although Scott Cawthon, creator of the indie horror hit franchise, has addressed the leak and given his blessing to discussion around it. The trailer for a FNAF game based on the Fazbear Frights story Into the Pit leaked this week. It shows a new type of FNAF game in the 16-bit style, with side-scrolling gameplay set in Jeff's Pizza. We see Oswald and his dad, who appears to meet an unfortunate end in a ball pit. Cawthon took to the FNAF subreddit to address the leak. "No need to keep it all hush-hush,” he wrote. “It's okay! Yes, I was trying to keep it a secret for a bit longer, but now that it's out, that's fine. This game has been in development for a...

View full article »

Fortnite Now Has Metal Gear Solid 2 Raiden as Well as Snake

Like Solid Snake stealthily escaping Shadow Moses, Epic snuck out Metal Gear’s famous sidekick Raiden as part of the V28.10 update. The Raiden currently available to buy in Fortnite is the version of the character from Metal Gear Solid 2, not, as some had wondered (hoped?), from the more recent and eternally memed Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. You can catch Fortnite's Raiden working with Snake in the video below: And while you can choose to play as Raiden with his helmet on or off, Fortnite does not include a naked Raiden skin, unfortunately. Still, that hasn’t dampened some of the... enthusiastic reaction to Raiden’s Fortnite incarnation, with fans pointing out he looks ever so slightly different in the waist and, ahem, bulge...

View full article »

The Witcher: Corvo Bianco Comic Is a Direct Sequel to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Spoiler Warning: The following article contains spoilers for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and its Blood and WIne expansion. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is getting a direct sequel in the form of a Dark Horse comic book called The Witcher: Corvo Bianco. Revealed on Dark Horse's website, the Corvo Bianco name will be familiar to those who played the Blood and Wine expansion, which took players to Toussaint and rewarded protagonist Geralt of Rivia with his own vineyard. That vineyard was called Corvo Bianco, and while Geralt retired there with his beloved Yennefer (or Triss), the comic will see that lush life uprooted as he must return to the rugged life of a witcher once more. "For a witcher, the simple life can be hard to come by, and even...

View full article »

The Finals Update 1.5.5 Makes Balance Changes, Adds Crash Fixes, and More

The Finals developer Embark Studios has released update 1.5.5, which makes a number of significant balance changes. The balance changes for weapons and gadgets include a decrease in the length of invulnerability after revival, Embark said in a post on Steam. The full notes can be seen below. Elsewhere, there are crash fixes and an adjustment to tournament matchmaking “that will lead to tighter player skill-gap in tournaments”. There’s also a fix to the crossplay settings “so it can be turned off successfully”. There’s some new content in the store, too. Embark added that it now recognises that the Recon Senses ability for the Medium build needs an overhaul. The developers are working on that right now, and changes should be made in...

View full article »

The Day Before Dev Says Game Suffered From 'Hate Campaign' in Bizarre Statement

Fntastic, the allegedly shut down developer of The Day Before, has claimed its controversial and catastrophic game suffered from a hate campaign in a bizarre statement published online. Fntastic, which supposedly closed its doors just a few days after The Day Before launched on December 7, 2023, took to X/Twitter to address "misinformation" published online surrounding the game's development. Answering its own question of, "Why do they say that the released game is not the same as that in the trailers, and why was the game closed?", Fntastic claimed it "implemented everything shown in the trailers" before admitting it didn't include some "minor features" like parkour. It then likened The Day Before to "the experiment where you're...

View full article »

Palworld Dev Reveals What's Coming in Future Updates

Palworld is getting PvP, raid bosses, and new islands in future updates, developer Pocketpair has said. Pocketpair unveiled Palworld’s roadmap of future updates, confirming plans to target critical issues before moving on to improvements. Palworld’s huge launch has seen seven million sales in just five days. In a post on the Palworld Discord, community manager Bucky said those sales “have far exceeded the development team's expectations, and we are currently experiencing many problems due to excessive access congestion, among other challenges.” Pocketpair said it will prioritise these issues first before moving on to adding new in-game features during the early access period. Speaking of new in-game features, Palworld will get PvP...

View full article »

Palworld’s Incredible Launch Continues, Sells Over 7 Million in Just 5 Days

Palworld’s explosive launch shows no sign of slowing down, with the ‘Pokémon with guns’ crafting and survival game selling another million copies in a day. According to developer Pocketpair, Palworld has now sold over seven million copies in just five days. “Thank you very much!!” a tweet from the developer read. “We continue to be hard at work addressing the issues and bugs some users are experiencing. “Thanks for your support!” The Game Awards boss Geoff Keighley tweeted to say he had confirmed with Pocketpair that the seven million sold figure is for Steam sales only, and so does not include Xbox and Windows PC sales. It’s worth noting Palworld launched day-and-date on Game Pass, too. “That translates into approximately $189...

View full article »

Stargate: Timekeepers Review

You never quite know what you're going to find on the other side when you step through the stargate, and when it came to Stargate: Timekeepers, I certainly wasn't expecting a very competent stealth tactics game. All the same, slinking across varied alien worlds and setting up well-timed tactical ambushes ended up feeling like a natural fit for the types of budget-constrained capers SG-1 got up to in earlier seasons of the show. The story isn't anything to report back to command about, but the vibes and presentation hit the spot. Timekeepers definitely takes its cues from the Stargate: SG-1 television show – though it focuses on a completely new team of quippy characters. The slightly campy tone is pleasantly reminiscent of an era...

View full article »

Netflix Games Engagement Tripled in the Last Year, in Part Thanks to GTA

Netflix Games is doing better than ever, says Netflix. But that may not be saying much, given past data on the streaming service's gaming offering. Today, Netflix reported its full-year earnings for fiscal 2023, during which it reported that gaming engagement "tripled" last year. This was in part due to the release of the Grand Theft Auto trilogy on the service near the end of the year. Netflix calls the GTA Trilogy its "most successful launch to date in terms of installs and engagement, with some consumers clearly signing up simply to play these games." But while that's all well and good for Netflix, don't expect to see the streaming service competing with Sony and Xbox anytime soon. CNBC reported data from Apptopia back in October...

View full article »

How Dragon’s Dogma 2 Creators Crafted Its High-Fantasy World

The world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 might seem strangely familiar, even if you never played the original. A lush, forested terrain speckled with hidden caves and cobblestone ruins; inhabited by beasts and creatures you could probably name on sight. That’s because director Hideaki Isuno intended to create a high-fantasy world that looks and feels like one that everyone would imagine a real-life fantasy world to look like. This intention has carried over from the original Dragon’s Dogma, and is why they focused on creating a European and northern English feel, down to the vegetation and structures. The creature design has also remained grounded – as grounded as a fantasy creature can be. “Our approach to design is to think about what a...

View full article »

Palworld: Is It Fair to Call It a Pokémon Rip-Off?

Palworld – the brand new, sort-of-Pokémon, open-world, third-person, shooting, action adventure, crafting, survival, animal collecting, and other popular buzzwords – game launched on Steam and Xbox on January 19. It immediately blew up, selling six million copies in four days and instantly becoming a force to be reckoned with while simultaneously opening the floodgates of discourse surrounding intellectual property theft in video games. Since being revealed two years ago, Palworld – created by a developer named Pocketpair – has been commonly referred to as “Pokémon with guns” by anyone who has looked at it for more than three seconds. But as people dig deeper, they are discovering that Palworld is both a game that does enough to...

View full article »

Solid Snake Now Available in Fortnite With v28.10 Update

Solid Snake from the Metal Gear franchise is now available in Fortnite. Fortnite's V28.10 update introduces the iconic character into Epic's widely popular free-to-play battle royale game. Players who own a battle pass subscription will be rewarded with the skin after they complete Snake's quests. Snake is equipped with all his well-known gear, including his iconic cardboard boxes, allowing him to evade enemies. If you complete all the Page 2 Quests, you’ll unlock Solid Snake’s Old Snake style. (The Quests will remain available until March 8, 2024, at 2 AM ET.) Prior to Snake being playable in Fortnite, many were quick to criticize his design. Specifically players were criticizing the character's lack of plump to his rear end...

View full article »

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Season 1 Patch Takes Aim at Aftermarket Parts

Activision has released an update for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 that makes significant balance changes to weapon customisation. The target here is to balance the Aftermarket Parts feature, which gives players a way to interact with weapons they've already mastered. It lets players convert weapons into entirely new guns, a step beyond the capability of regular attachments. To access the kits, you’ll need to complete in-game challenges that become available once the supported weapon reaches max level. In a post on the Call of Duty website, co-developers Sledgehammer Games and Treyarch said the design team aimed to create Conversion Kits “that offer players fun and unexpected experiences with familiar Weapons.” “A part of this goal...

View full article »

Death Stranding: Director's Cut Arrives on iPhone 15 Pro Next Week

After missing its initial release window last year, publisher 505 Games announced today that Death Stranding is coming to Apple devices on January 30. Death Stranding: Director's Cut will arrive on January 30 for the iPhone 15 Pro series and Apple Silicon-powered iPads and Mac computers (e.g., devices with an M1 series chip or newer). The biggest takeaway is that Death Stranding will be available natively on iPhone 15 Pro thanks to the smartphone's A17 Pro chip. Like Resident Evil 4 Remake's Apple devices port, Death Stranding: Director's Cut will be a universal purchase; if you buy it once for one device, you can access the other versions, too, so long as you have a compatible device to run the game. The game will retail for...

View full article »

Nier Mobile Game Shuts Down in April

Nier mobile game Nier Reincarnation shuts down in April, Square Enix has announced. Nier Reincarnation is a 2021 free-to-play role-playing game for Android and iOS that spun off from the main Nier series. The Nier Reincarnation story concludes with the release of the Finale: Reincarnation update on March 28, with the app service itself going dark on April 29. “We would like to express our deepest gratitude to our players for your patronage over the 2.5 years since we launched on July 28, 2021,” Square Enix said. Square Enix said it will continue to add content and characters, as well as hold various events and campaigns, “so we hope you will continue to enjoy Nier Reincarnation until the end.” Blockbuster hit Nier: Automata is...

View full article »

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Review

As a longtime fan of the series, 2020’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon came as a bit of a shock to my system. Fun as it was, the sudden switch to stop-start, turn-based JRPG attacks was a lot to get my head around after more than a decade of enjoying the series’ signature combo-based beat ‘em up action – a bit like spending over 10 years getting really good at thumb wrestling and then being asked to play chess. Thankfully its follow-up, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, substantially retools the combat system: it’s still turn-based, but the tactical decision-making introduced by its predecessor is enhanced with more flexible movement and proximity-based attacks that better reflect the rough-and-tumble tactility of the traditional Yakuza street...

View full article »

Palworld Overtakes Counter-Strike to Become the Second Most-Played Game Ever on Steam

Palworld’s astonishing launch success has grown further: it’s now the second most-popular game ever on Steam. Palworld posted an incredible 1,853,216 concurrent players on Steam today, January 23, a figure that sees Pocketpair’s controversial 'Pokémon with guns' crafting and survival game overtake Valve’s own Counter-Strike, according to SteamDB. Palworld, then, is second only to PUBG, whose remarkable Steam concurrents peak of 3,257,248 was set during the game’s glory days amid the battle royale boom. It seems unlikely that Palworld will hit those heights, although its increasing sales success suggests a bigger concurrents peak is still to come. And let’s not forget Palworld launched in early access form, where Pocketpair said it...

View full article »

Tekken 8 Review

The Tekken series is steeped in legacy. From the mechanical skills and knowledge needed to compete at the highest levels, to its iconic music and characters, to inside jokes spanning three decades and an ongoing story dating back just as far, each new entry has a heavy burden to bear. How do you honor that legacy without being chained down by it? That is the question Tekken 8 thoughtfully considers, and the answer it comes up with is a simple, yet profound one: you accept what’s come before, but you don’t let it stop you from moving forward. Whether it be a literal dash forward using the powerful new Heat system, impressive training tools, or the compelling story of a man trying to break generational shackles to create a brighter...

View full article »

Palworld Xbox Update Addresses Some Issues, but Not All

Palworld developer Pocketpair has released an update for the Xbox and Windows PC version of the game that addresses some of the issues players are having. The smash hit ‘Pokémon with guns’ survival and crafting game launched in early access form on January 19 on Steam as well as Xbox consoles and Windows PC, but the Xbox version lags behind the Steam version in a number of key areas. For example, Palworld players can create and join dedicated servers that enable up to 32 players to play in the same world and create guilds together. But on Xbox and Windows PC (so, everyone playing on Game Pass), Palworld players cannot create or join dedicated servers, which means online co-op is limited to 2-4 players. Crossplay between Xbox and...

View full article »

Damien Wayne Batman Game Canceled Following Leaks, Voice Actor Says

WB Games Montréal’s Damian Wayne Batman game was canceled following a series of leaks that revealed much about the unannounced project, a voice actor who worked on it has said. In a Twitch livestream, voice actor Josh Keaton said he almost played Damian Wayne in the Batman game, but it was canned after the details emerged online. Keaton, who voices Warcraft’s Anduin Wrynn, said he’d taken part in three or four sessions as Damian Wayne before the project came to an end. “It was a bummer,” Keaton said. “But they leaked everything, the whole plotline, not only the enemies and villains and the rogues gallery, but also the concept art for them. They were doing such a different take on so many of the rogues gallery it gave away everything...

View full article »

Modder Who Put Pokémon Into Palword Says 'Nintendo Has Come for Me'

The modder who put Pokémon into Palword has claimed “Nintendo has come for me” after a takedown of a tweet. Creator Toasted Shoes took to X/Twitter to tease a Palworld mod with a clip showing Pokémon’s Ash Ketchum in place of the player character, as well as famous Pokémon such as Pikachu replacing Palworld’s Pals. Palworld is a crafting and survival game dubbed 'Pokémon with guns'. It features monsters called Pals, which some people have said “rip off” Pokémon. Palworld developer Pocketpair has insisted Palworld is more akin to survival crafting games such as Ark Survival Evolved and Valheim than Pokemon, but that hasn’t stopped people from continuing to hit out at the game. Within 24 hours of Toasted Shoes’ tweet going live it...

View full article »

Riot Games Lays Off 530 or 11% of Staff, Axes Riot Forge Label

Riot Games is laying off roughly 530 people, or about 11% of its global workforce, in a move the company says is "a necessity" and not "to appease shareholders." In a letter to staff shared publicly, Riot Games CEO A. Dylan Jadeja explained that the layoffs are occurring because since 2019, the company has been making "a number of big bets," "broadening our portfolio," and growing "quickly," with the company size doubling in "just a few years." However, those big bets do not seem to be paying off in the way Riot hoped: Jadeja goes on to explain the plan for the layoffs rollout, which will begin over the next hour and finalize in the coming weeks depending on local laws. Riot is offering six months of salary minimum to all laid...

View full article »

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Free DLC Includes a Playable Joker

Joker, the infamous clown prince of chaos, is confirmed to not only appear in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. But he will also be a playable character. Announced in the third and final developer diary series for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Rocksteady Studios revealed the post-launch content plans for its upcoming game ahead of its release date. The studio detailed the roadmap for the first season of DLC, which will be released sometime in March. Some additional content in season one includes new boss fights and enemy variants, a new playable environment based on Joker, and two new episodes with new activities, missions, and strongholds to partake in. Three additional seasons of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice...

View full article »