Gaming News

Dead Island 2 DLC Expansions Revealed Amid Parent Company Restructure

Publisher Deep Silver and developer Dambuster Studios have announced the first wave of DLC for Dead Island 2, the same day parent company Embracer Group announced a drastic restructure that may impact both companies. A number of free and paid-for additions to the zombie kill ‘em-up are out today alongside a quality of life patch. Players can now access the new Cosplay feature, unlocked during the Call The Cavalry quest. This includes new character skins. Elsewhere, there are six new premium character packs available. The patch adds several bug fixes and improvements revolving around client co-op, performance, and stability improvements. Deep Silver detailed two expansions coming to Dead Island 2, each of which includes brand new...

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Microsoft Flight Simulator's Dune Expansion Lets Players Actually Fly Around Arrakis

Microsoft Flight Simulator's upcoming Dune expansion will actually let players fly around the planet of Arrakis. Given a deep dive at the Xbox Extended Showcase 2023, Asobo Studio showed more of their collaboration with Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures to bring Dune to Microsoft Flight Simulator. Beginning in the real world of all places, the team showed a real life and to scale Atreides Ornithopter before switching over to a model of one area of Arrakis from the film franchise. The model was extensively detailed, featuring the should be miserable yet beautiful environments of Arrakis, from its dusty rock formations to its sprawling desert. It also represented an area of the map being added to Microsoft Flight Simulator...

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Mr. Run and Jump Will Be Atari's First New 2600 Cartridge in Over 30 Years

Mr. Run and Jump may be coming out on consoles and PC later this year, but the action platformer will also come packaged in an Atari 2600 cartridge, marking it the first new 2600 cartridge game in over 30 years. Atari announced on Tuesday that the Atari 2600 version of Mr. Run and Jump, made by the company in collaboration with John Mikula, a developer from St. Louis-based indie studio Graphite Lab, will be sold in a limited-edition cartridge. The new game will be sealed in a high-quality box and come with an instruction manual. The cartridge is also engineered to operate on older hardware, especially the Atari VCS — if you still have one of those. The Atari 2600 cartridge version of Mr. Run and Jump features 80 new screens across...

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Phasmophobia Coming to Consoles in August

Announced during today's Xbox Games Extended Showcase, Phasmophobia will get a Console Early Access launch on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation VR2 in August of this year. A reveal trailer confirmed a whole host of features, including optional crossplay, free content updates, seasonal events, and trophies. It also listed "unique ghost personalities," although it's not clear yet if that meant unique to consoles or was simply an exisiting feature of Phasmophobia, as other selling points included stuff like the rather ambiguous "customization." The extended showcase also revealed both that Hi-Fi Rush will get a big update with new modes next month and that High on Life will get paid DLC. You can see everything that was...

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Hi-Fi Rush Arcade Challenge Update Is Coming Next Month - Xbox Games Showcase Extended 2023

Hi-Fi Rush is one of the biggest surprises of the year so far, and more content is on the way for Tango Gameworks' rhythm action game. Revealed at today's Xbox Games Showcase Extended, two new game modes are coming to Hi-Fi Rush through the new Arcade Challenge Update. The first is a roguelite mode called "Power Up! Tower Up!", where Chai is downgraded at the start of a run, and players select rewards to level him up as they make their way through the Rhythm Tower. Beating challenges will unlock rewards, and this mode is intented to be a post-game challenge. The second new mode is called "BPM RUSH!", which ramps up the BPM speed as you defeat endless waves of enemies and special targets. If you're good, you can ramp the tempo all...

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High on Knife is a New Paid DLC for Squanch Games' High on Life

At the Xbox Extended Showcase today, Squanch Games announced High on Knife, a new paid DLC for its 2022 first-person shooter High on Life. In a new post on Xbox Wire, Squanch Games CEO and studio director Mike Fridley confirmed that the DLC is set two years after the events of the base game and that "everything is totally cool until Knifey gets a package from home. Don’t ask how or why Knifey is getting mail. It’s mysterious for a reason." The Xbox Wire post also notes that the DLC will introduce new guns. One of them is named Harper, voiced by SNL's Sarah Sherman, and another confirmed is B.A.L.L., who is "a weird little pinball gun operated by a gaggle of tiny gibberish-speaking freaks" who is voiced by Alex Robbins, the narrative...

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Gord Preview: A Dark and Unforgiving Survival Game from Former Witcher Devs

If there’s one thing Gord makes clear right from the get-go, it’s that surviving its dark and dangerous woods will not be an easy or comfortable experience. In my time playing this settlement-building survival game, I raised a village from nothing, fought off barbaric invaders, and made a dark pact with an evil God – all of which were equal parts stressful and rewarding. Covenant, an indie studio founded by a handful of former CD Projekt Red developers, clearly borrows a lot from the Slavic dark fantasy setting of their Witcher roots. But instead of playing an all-powerful warrior who makes his living slaying dangerous monsters, Gord asks you to manage a group of peasants fighting to survive against impossible odds, and that managed to...

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Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Here's What Comes in Each Edition

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is set to release for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on January 18, 2024. A new side-scrolling entry in the long-running series, The Lost Crown is a stylish, fast-paced Metroidvania-style game. It’s available for preorder now in a couple of editions (see it on Amazon). Below, you’ll find details about what comes in each edition, what the game is, and more. Let’s get to it. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Nintendo Switch Get it at Amazon - $49.99 Get it at Best Buy - $49.99 See it at Nintendo eShop - (not yet available) PS5 Get it at Amazon - $49.99 Get it at Best Buy - $49.99 Get it at PS Store (digital) - $49.99 PS4 Get it at Amazon - $49.99 Get it at Best Buy...

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Respawn Worked on Titanfall 3 for 10 Months Before Pivoting to Apex Legends, Ex-Dev Reveals

Respawn Entertainment worked on Titanfall 3 "in earnest" for ten months before ditching it for Apex Legends, a former developer has revealed. Mohammad Alavi, who became narrative lead designer on Titanfall 3 before it was cut, told The Burnettwork that much work on the sequel had been done. “Titanfall 2 came out, did what it did, and we were like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna make Titanfall 3,’ and we worked on Titanfall 3 for about ten months, right? In earnest, right? "We had new tech for it, we had multiple missions going, we had a first playable, which was on par to be just as good if not better than whatever we had before, right? But I’ll make this clear: incrementally better, it wasn’t revolutionary. And that’s the key thing, right...

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Xbox Game Studios Head Says Redfall Team Should Have Better Prepared to Be 'First-Party'

Xbox has had a challenging couple of years, to say the least. Redfall recently launched to middling reviews and criticism of the game's bugs, co-op issues, and performance, at a time when Xbox was already suffering from concerns and criticisms regarding a multi-year silence from many of its 23 internal studios. Up until yesterday's showcase at least, the narrative has been that Xbox's AAA efforts have been floundering. But it all begs the question: what could Xbox reasonably have done differently? Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty, like his fellow executives, recognizes that Xbox has a lot to prove to those who have been watching it closely since its late 2010s acquisition spree. So following the Xbox Game Showcase, I ask him if...

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Lies of P's Demo Is Successfully Scratching That Bloodborne Itch

It’s been about eight years since From Software introduced us all to Bloodborne and its horrifying blood-soaked streets, and I don’t mind telling you I’ve spent every waking minute since then thinking about its world, and waiting for news of a sequel. While there have been many offerings by other developers of games that seek to capture the “Soulsborne” vibe in various ways, few manage to capture the entire package. After spending a few hours with the Lies of P demo, I came away with the realization that I may have finally found something to scratch that itch I’ve had for so long. I’ll admit, having Pinocchio as the protagonist wouldn’t have been my first pick, but it’s also obvious that developer NeoWiz isn’t exactly taking many cues...

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Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Adds a New Ending to the Base Game

Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty expansion adds a whole new ending to the base game when it launches this September. Game director Gabe Amatangelo told WCCFTech that, while Phantom Liberty itself has multiple endings and narrative paths to choose from, making certain decisions within it can unlock a sixth mainline ending in Cyberpunk 2077. It has "different endings based on how things play out", Amatangelo said. "Then, based on the ending within Phantom Liberty, you can unlock a new ending in the base game." This ending "has to do with your new relationships and characters and situations". Amatangelo added to this in an interview with IGN as part of Summer of Gaming. "As the trailer shows, Songbird brings you in with the promise of...

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Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Includes a Clever Nod to The Witcher

CD Projekt Red has snuck a subtle reference to the original Witcher game into the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 expansion Phantom Liberty. The DLC, which arrives on September 26, features a new area called Dogtown that's led by Colonel Kurt Hansen. This former military man leads his own faction of baddies called the Barghest, which also happens to be the ghostly dog monsters from the original Witcher. Players who picked up 2007's The Witcher will remember Barghest as the glowing green dogs that haunted Geralt during his adventures around the Outskirts of Vizima, and their namesake in Cyberpunk sounds just as nasty. "Barghest, which is the faction that's under Hansen, they'll knock you around if you get out of line," game director Gabe...

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Embracer Plans to Turn Lord of the Rings Into ‘One of the Biggest Game Franchises in the World’

Embracer has said it needs to be "exploiting Lord of the Rings in a very significant fashion" by turning it into “one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world”. The comments come amid a costly restructure of the gargantuan game business, which this morning announced plans to cancel in-development projects, shut studios, and lay off an unspecified number of staff. In an open letter to the company’s 17,000 staff, CEO Lars Wingefors said Embracer will decrease spending across the board, reduce third-party publishing, and “put greater focus on internal IP and increase external funding of large-budget games”. "We know we need to be exploiting Lord of the Rings in a very significant fashion and turn that into one of the biggest...

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Xbox Says Starfield Has Fewer Bugs Than Any Other Bethesda Game

Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty has claimed Starfield already has fewer bugs than Skyrim, Fallout 4, or any other Bethesda game. Speaking to Giant Bomb, Booty reassured fans concerned over the state of Starfield (perhaps following Redfall's shaky launch) who are more familiar with Bethesda games launching with several issues. "We have an awful lot of people internally playing Starfield, working with Todd and the team," he said. "I see bug counts and just by the numbers if it shipped today, Starfield would already have the fewest bugs of any Bethesda game ever shipped." Xbox boss Phil Spencer chimed in too, adding: "we have every QA person in our entire company playing Starfield right now, looking at bug counts, looking at the...

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Diablo 4 Earned Over $666 Million in the Five Days Following Launch

Diablo 4 eaned over $666 million dollars in sales in less than a week following its full June 6 launch. Activision Blizzard also revealed that customers have already sunk the equivalent to 30,000 years of playtime into the game, while wiping out a staggering 2.73 billion monsters. “On behalf of Blizzard, we want to thank the millions of players around the world who are immersing themselves in Diablo 4,” said Blizzard Entertainment president Mike Ybarra. “Diablo 4 is a result of our incredible teams working together to craft and support genre-defining games, build legendary worlds, and inspire memories that will last a lifetime. We’re humbled by the response, proud of the team, and remain committed to listening to our players and...

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BioWare Announces and Immediately Pulls Super Bizarre Mass Effect Statue

Spoiler Warning: This article features spoilers for the Mass Effect franchise and the opening of Mass Effect 2 in particular. BioWare's merchandise department is causing chaos again after releasing an incredibly bizarre Mass Effect 2 statue depicting, spoilers, Shepard floating dead in space. As reported by Kotaku, The Mass Effect Shepard's Death Statue was revealed by BioWare and almost immediately pulled due to fan reaction. The statue was pitched as a "conversation starter" that depicts "Commander Shepard expelled from a crumbling Normandy and hurtling through space to her untimely demise." The statue prompted fan outcry, or at least mass confusion, which resulted in BioWare announcing it would be pausing sales on the statue...

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Embracer to Close Studios, Cancel Games, and Lay Off Staff After $2 Billion Deal Falls Through

Embracer Group has announced plans to close studios, cancel games, and lay staff off just weeks after a $2 billion contract deal fell through. In an open letter to the company’s 17,000 staff, CEO Lars Wingefors said Embracer will decrease spending across the board, reduce third-party publishing, and “put greater focus on internal IP and increase external funding of large-budget games”. “This morning we announced a restructuring program across the Embracer Group that will make us a leaner, stronger and a more focused, self-sufficient company,” Wingefors said. Embracer is known as a massive games holding company that's gobbled up developers, publishers, and properties over the last decade. "It is painful to see talented team members...

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Slice $470 Off an Assassin's Creed Pack, Deep Discounts on Far Cries, and More!

Short week this week, but it's filled with big bargains already. If you can tear yourself away from the Final Fantasy XVI demo for just two seconds, you can score deep discounts on a bunch of Ubisoft franchises. It's also a preem time to spend some Eddies on Cyberpunk 2077 (in preparation for the Phantom Liberty DLC). This Day in Gaming Aussie birthdays for notable games. - Civilization Revolution (PS3,X360) 2008. - Lollipop Chainsaw (PS3,X360) 2012. - Cadence of Hyrule (DS) 2019. Get - Persona 4 Golden (PC) 2020. Get - Resident Evil 7 (PS5, XS) 2022. Get Table of Contents Nintendo Switch PC Xbox PlayStation Nice Savings for Nintendo Switch Expiring Deals From Yesterday Hardware Watch How much to make the switch to...

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Overwatch 2 Charging $15 for Permanent Access to Upcoming Story Missions

Overwatch 2 players will have to pay $15 for permanent access to the PvE story missions in the upcoming sixth season, Invasion. Blizzard wrote in a blog post published today that the $15 price tag is attached to the Invasion Bundle, which will launch alongside the upcoming season of the same name. Purchasing the Invasion Bundle will also give you 1,000 Overwatch Coins, which usually cost $10, and the Sojourn Legendary Skin. The most expensive bundle to come out of Overwatch 2: Invasion is the Ultimate Invasion Bundle, which will run you $40. Getting that bundle in addition to the regular Invasion Bundle will net you another 1,000 OW Coins, Legendary skins for Cassidy and Kiriko, and the Null Sector Premium Battle Pass with 20 Tier...

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How Ubisoft Is Bringing Prince of Persia Back as an Anime-Like Metroidvania

A brand new Prince of Persia was fully revealed at this year’s Ubisoft Forward, and it’s quite literally in a different dimension to the beloved Sands of Time games. Made by the folks behind Rayman, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a 2D game that revisits the series’ platformer roots. To find out more about this unexpected return we spoke to three developers from Ubisoft Montpellier, who told us how they’re relaunching Prince of Persia as an anime-inspired Metroidvania. “At Ubsioft Montpellier we have the experience of 2D games on Rayman, of course,” says world director Christophe Pic about the decision to go back to two dimensions for The Lost Crown. “So first of all it was [that] we had the experience, for us it was natural to...

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Dragon's Dogma 2 Is Four Times the Size of the Original

Capcom has revealed that Dragon's Dogma 2's map will be four times that of the original game. Shared during a deep dive as part of the 2023 Capcom Showcase, game director Hideaki Itsuno revealed more on the game's mechanics as highlighted in a recent trailer. Built in the RE Engine, players will engage with action RPG fighting across the sprawling, medieval open world that promises a high graphical fidelity. Alongside revealing Dragon's Dogma 2's map size, Capcom confirmed the sequel would be a single player game but would feel like a cooperative experience thanks to Pawns: the NPC characters that fight alongside the player. Itsuno also shared some of Dragon's Dogma 2's almost Dungeons and Dragons-like mechanics, where players can...

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Exoprimal Shows Off New Trailer, Characters and Features

Capcom showed of a new Exoprimal trailer during its Showcase today, outlining new features, new characters, and more. Capcom also briefly showed off the post-launch roadmap, as well as announcing a new beta beginning June 16. During the trailer, we had our first introduction to Dr. Synes, the developer of the Exosuits. It's not clear what role Dr. Synes plays in the overall game. We also got a look at the "Stratovater," a new map based on a space elevator linking Earth to space. The Stratovater has the game's signature dinosaur battles, the ones we all initially thought were the sign of a new Dinocrisis game when we first saw it last year. Capcom used the Stratovater level to introduce a new type of dinosaur enemy, a mutated and...

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Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy Announced During Capcom Showcase 2023

Capcom has announced Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy, due out early 2024 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy includes the 4th, 5th, and 6th mainline Ace Attorney games from Capcom’s courtroom battle series. “Join Apollo on his journey to bring order to the courts and bring an end to the dark age of the law!” reads the game description. Languages include Japanese, English, French, German, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney launched first on Nintendo DS in 2007, before coming out on mobile and, most recently, on Nintendo 3DS in 2017. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies first came out on Nintendo 3DS in 2013 before...

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Capcom Showcase 2023: Everything Announced

The Capcom Showcase 2023 is a wrap, and the publisher shared new details on Dragon's Dogma 2, Pragmata, Ace Attorney, and more. Read on to learn everything announced at today's Capcom Showcase 2023. Dragon's Dogma 2 Gets Gameplay Deep Dive Trailer Dragon's Dogma 2 got a gameplay trailer at today's showcase, showing off the large, wide fantasy world players will explore. We learned about the new Pawn system, where NPC characters will fight the game's giant beasts alongside you. Capcom also said the world is four times the size of the original, and that the gameplay is designed for players to creatively tackle combat in whatever way they can think of. The game is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam. Pragmata Delayed Indefinitely...

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Pragmata Delayed Indefinitely as Capcom Apologizes

Capcom has announced another delay for Pragmata at its showcase today... but at least the way they revealed it was pretty adorable. While showing a new look at the upcoming sci-fi third-person game, it showed a piece of paper that had 2022 and 2023 scratched out, and then "very sorry :(" At the end of Pragmata's time, Capcom posted a further statement apologizing for the delay, saying that it's with a "heavy heart" that they must postpone it once again. "Our team is currently hard at work making the best game that we possibly can, but we need more time," the statement went on. "We will continue to do our best to ensure that the final product is one that is worthy of your patience." This is only the latest delay for Pragmata...

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Reacting to the Xbox Showcase and Starfield Direct – Unlocked 599

Happy Summer of Gaming! In this special SoG episode of Podcast Unlocked, Ryan McCaffrey, Stella Chung, Destin Legarie, and Kat Bailey discuss their favorite reveals and surprises from the Xbox Showcase and the Starfield Direct. Xbox came out firing on all cylinders with some hot new reveals from their best studios. From Starfield to Clockwork Revolution and FINALLY a first look at Fable, there's a lot to cover, and it's all just icing on the cake! This show was recorded live, immediately after the Showcase. Enjoy! Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 of this week's episode. For more awesome content, check out my brand-new interview with Todd Howard, who discussed the realization of...

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Payday 3: Here’s What Comes in Each Edition

Payday 3 is set to release for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on September 21. This latest installment of this co-op shooter series has you coming out of retirement to play a masked criminal as you and your friends stage high-stakes heists. It’s available for preorder a handful of editions, including a collector’s edition, at the usual retailers (see it at Amazon). Below, we have full details about what comes in each edition, how much it costs, and more. Payday 3 Collector’s Edition PS5 Get it at Best Buy - $129.99 Get it at Amazon - SOLD OUT Xbox Series X|S Get it at Best Buy - $129.99 Get it at Amazon - SOLD OUT The collector’s edition comes with the base game, plus the following digital and physical items: Physical Items...

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Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora - Here's What Comes in Each Edition

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is set to release for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on December 7. It’s a first-person action-adventure game that’s set on the planet of Pandora, as seen in the Avatar movies. You play as a Na’vi who grew up in the clutches of the RDA, being trained in their militaristic ways. Now you’re free, and it’s time to fight back. The game is available to preorder in a handful of editions (see it on Amazon). Below, you’ll find details about what comes in each one, how much they cost, and where they’re available. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (Standard Edition) PS5 Get it at Amazon - $69.99 Get it at Best Buy - $69.99 Get it at PS Store (digital) - $69.99 Xbox Get it at Amazon - $69.99 Get it at Best Buy -...

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Assassin's Creed: Nexus Is a 'True, Proper, Full Assassin's Creed Game'

Assassin's Creed is headed into VR, with a new look at Assassin's Creed Nexus today showing the first-ever first-person VR parkour and assassination for the franchise. But while some AAA franchises dip their toes into VR with spin-offs, demo experiences, or other smaller-scale projects, Ubisoft is reassuring players that Assassin's Creed: Nexus is a full-fledged Assassin's Creed game. We sat down with creative director David Votypka to talk about Assassin's Creed: Nexus, which we learned today has an unusual story structure. It's split between three protagonists we've met in previous games: Ezio, Kassandra, and Connor, and ties their stories together through a player-insert protagonist looking for a hidden artifact that each may have...

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