EA will seemingly make The Sims 5, or Project Rene as it's currently officially known, a free to play game that allows user generated content in a monetisation model similar to Fortnite's.
As reported by Sims Community, EA posted a job listing looking for a head of marketplace and monetisation for Project Rene which described it as a "free-to-enter" game.
The candidate will "own pricing of all content in this free-to-enter game, ensuring we have an optimal pricing and content architecture [and] provide guidance to content teams on in-game content needs to meet player demand.
Another responsibility mentioned the in-game marketplace and management of user generated content. The candidate will "own Project Rene's in-game marketplace of...
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Star Wars Jedi Survivor, the sequel to Jedi Fallen Order (2019), was a critic and fan hit despite a few typical bugs that have generally been ironed out since. Its RRP at launch was £69.99, which still feels a little steep despite it being the new trend for AAA games, but you can now buy the game for just £48 on sale. That's over 30% off the latest Star Wars adventure and the cheapest retail price for a new copy of the game since launch.
This year already feels like it's been stacked with a great selection of new video games, and there's more on the way. But, if you haven't had the chance to pick up one of the Game of the Year contenders just yet, then here's your chance. We'll leave the links to both the Xbox and PS5 listing just...
Another busy court day in the books, with the FTC v. Microsoft trial set to conclude tomorrow. It was a surprisingly quiet day compared to some of the previous ones, with Microsoft head Satya Nadella giving relatively mild testimony, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick calmly parrying his FTC inquisitors, and a lot more economist talk.
We also got to see, briefly, Nadella and Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley bond over a mutual love for Candy Crush. Delightful.
Exclusivity For Me, But Not For Thee
Console exclusivity has been a part of how video game releases work effectively since video games came into existence. But to hear Xbox and friends tell it over the last few days, everyone in the industry just hates the idea.
Figures like Microsoft...
An internal document from Sony revealed a ton of highly confidential information about its PlayStation brand. More specifically, we learned a lot about the Call of Duty revenues for PlayStation platforms alone.
The document, which was submitted as evidence for the ongoing trial between the Federal Trade Commission and Microsoft, focuses on a letter sent by PlayStation boss Jim Ryan. In the letter, which was poorly redacted, it mentions how much Call of Duty was worth to PlayStation alone. Specifically, the widely-popular first-person shooter franchise "directly generated over $800 million" in the United States alone in 2021, according to the document.
It's no surprise how popular Call of Duty is as the most recent installment in...
Blizzard tech support has recently suggested players utilize a VPN if they're ever experiencing issues while connecting to Battle.net or Diablo 4 servers. This comes after Blizzard spent considerable time fighting a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that recently rendered Diablo 4 unplayable for hours. If you're interested in using a VPN with Diablo 4, then we're here to guide you through the relevant steps as well. Then, in the future, you could be well-prepared enough to tackle any server issues or potential DDoS attacks that may arise during your gaming sessions, ensuring uninterrupted gameplay as much as possible.
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How to Connect to Diablo 4 With a VPN
Is Diablo 4 Down? - Current Server Status
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Microsoft FTC Trial: Activision CEO Bobby Kotick on Call of Duty Exclusivity and Other Key Takeaways
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick took the witness stand during today's portion of the Microsoft FTC trial. Kotick shot down questions about making Call of Duty exclusive, admitted he wasn't impressed with Nintendo Switch prototypes before the system launched, and revealed a release window for Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile. Here's everything you need to know from Kotick's time in court today.
Kotick Doesn't Want to Make Call of Duty Exclusive
Call of Duty was obviously the big focus of Kotick's testimony and cross examination, and when the Activision CEO was asked if he's ever thought about making Call of Duty exclusive to one platform, he said "No."
“You would alienate over 100 million monthly active players," Kotick said. "Half of them...
Stardew Valley is coming to Apple Arcade on July 21.
Apple announced yesterday that the popular farming sim game by ConcernedApe will come to its subscription gaming service under the name Stardew Valley+, packed with 50 hours of content to explore and mobile-specific features such as auto-save. It will also include the latest updates from the game's console and PC versions.
You can already download Stardew Valley on your iPhone or iPad from the App Store for $5. However, if you're subscribed to Apple Arcade, you can download it to your device free of charge.
Stardew Valley is among four games being added to Apple Arcade in the upcoming month, including Slay the Spire (July 7), Ridiculous Fishing EX (July 14), LEGO Duplo World (July...
Blizzard has announced that it will be introducing a new way to play World of Warcraft: Classic, by adding Hardcore realms where every death is permanent.
Hardcore realms will be added to the public test realm (PTR) starting tomorrow, June 29, and are planned for official release later this summer. On Hardcore realms, characters cannot run back to their corpses and revive after dying, or be resurrected by a spell. Character that have died can linger in the game world as a ghost, communicate with other players, explore, and do certain actions such as passing on guild leadership to living characters.
All Hardcore realms are considered PvE realms, with Blizzard stating it wants PvP to be "optional and intentional" given the stakes. A...
Bohemia Interactive is apparently working on a sequel to DayZ, according to a new court document.
An internal Xbox document submitted as evidence as part of the evidentiary hearing between Microsoft and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) showed the company's acquisition strategy as of May 2021. On the slide focused on Bohemia Interactive, the document's additional notes revealed the company was working on DayZ 2.
The document also revealed the developer is working on Arma Reforger and Arma 4, but those games have already been confirmed to be in development, while DayZ 2 has not. "While we are expanding our focus regarding the possibilities of the DayZ game, brand, and team itself, we can't offer too many details at the moment," a...
The team behind ambitious mod Fallout London has delayed its release to avoid the “elephant in the room” that is Starfield.
In a video update, project lead Prilladog admitted the delay of Bethesda’s upcoming behemoth to September caused Fallout London to move from launching around the same time to the fourth quarter of this year (some time from October to December).
“Initially we had hoped for it to be in the third quarter, as in the one that’s coming up,” Prilladog said. “However a certain space game got delayed, and is now scheduled to come out around the same time we had planned.
“So, as a result, we’re making our release for the last quarter. This not only gives you all more time to play Starfield, but also allows us more time...
Spoiler Warning: The below article features major spoilers for Final Fantasy 16 and Kingdom Hearts 3.
Donald Duck is no longer the most powerful mage in the history of Final Fantasy thanks to a new big bad taking the title in Final Fantasy 16.
The long awaited RPG is full of humongous, powerful monsters called Eikon that represent Summons from the series' past — Ifrit, Shiva, Phoenix, and so on — and one of these beasties has now wielded the series' most powerful spell.
That Eikon is, final spoiler warning, Bahamut, the legendary dragon king from all the way back in 1987's original Final Fantasy. Bahamut has since appeared in most games in the franchise though, and is considered one of the most powerful magic users.
At a...
The magic of a park sim is its ability to make time disappear. When you are in the zone building your park, managing the wants and needs of your attendees, and creating a self-sustaining financial juggernaut, there’s potential for an almost euphoric Zen from the best of the genre. At its best, Park Beyond hits these highs with interesting rides, a simple and compelling upgrade system, and a whimsical sense of imagination. But, like a poorly maintained rollercoaster, there’s a looming threat that things will fall apart with disastrous results. It’s this tendency for things to come off the rails that left me feeling queasy after spending a few days in this park.
A game like this lives and dies by its building mechanics, and Park Beyond...
In the 1980s, 16-time world champion Ric Flair popularized the expression, “To be The Man, you gotta beat The Man.” In professional wrestling games, “The Man” has been the WWE 2K franchise, existing completely unchallenged for the better part of a decade. Newcomer AEW Fight Forever’s challenge does not change the balance of power, but its audacity to try by leaning into arcadey design ideas from yesteryear and embracing a pick-up-and-play philosophy should be praised. It’s the noticeable lack of genre-standard features, an underwhelming single-player campaign, and a smattering of mechanical bugaboos that take the legs out from under it. This fighter isn’t ready for the main event just yet.
In the style department, Fight Forever comes...
July’s PlayStation Plus Essential games line-up has leaked online by way of the regularly reliable Dealabs user billbil-kun.
According to billbil-kun, July’s line-up includes Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Alan Wake Remastered, and Endling: Extinction Is Forever and will go live July 2.
Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War is the 2020 first-person shooter developed primarily by Treyarch and Raven. IGN’s review returned a 7/10, saying “Cold War's quiet times are more memorable than the loud ones, even if the story’s ambition outweighs its execution”.
The timing of Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War’s inclusion in PlayStation Plus is interesting given the focus on Call of Duty’s exclusivity amid the FTC’s ongoing battle to block Microsoft...
The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 update has finally arrived in FIFA 23 alongside the Lead Your Country mode that lets players fill the shoes of any star player from the 32 international teams.
Those looking to truly revel in the glory themselves can also create a custom character and essentially star as themselves in the journey to become a world champion. The classic Kick Off and Tournament modes will be available too, with local co-op and competitive multiplayer available in both.
"In our most expansive EA Sports FIFA Women’s World Cup update ever, we are excited to celebrate the remarkable achievements of the teams competing in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, and to create an authentic in-game experience for players to lead their...
Free-to-play extraction shooter The Cycle: Frontier shuts down in September, developer Yager has announced.
Yager, developer of Spec Ops: The Line and Dreadnought, set the shutdown for September 27, 2023, calling the decision “very difficult” but “necessary”. Real money purchases are now disabled. Any purchases made from June 13 will be refunded.
The Cycle: Frontier is described as a “competitive quest shooter”, with player versus environment versus player combat. It launched in early access form in 2019, before launching proper last year.
“We are incredibly grateful for all your support during this wonderful journey, we couldn’t have done it without you!” Yager said in a tweet. “From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.”...
As the debate about the chances of getting Diablo 4’s most powerful and rare items rages on, one player has confirmed the world first drop of the Andariel's Visage super rare unique item.
WowHead reported a Diablo 4 Barbarian called YesYou was the lucky recipient of the coveted helm. Polish streamer NadinWins subsequently shared the drop on YouTube, showing off its powerful, one-of-a-kind Life Steal modifier.
The player behind YesYou, called Lithie, is the first in the world the community knows about to get Andariel's Visage. As Blizzard recently confirmed, there are currently six of these super rare unique items in the game, and only a handful of finds have surfaced since Diablo 4 went live earlier this month.
Given the hundreds of...
A fresh Red Dead Redemption rating in South Korea has sparked rumours about a possible remake or remaster.
As spotted by Idle Sloth on Twitter (below), South Korea's Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) could be at the centre of another leak after listing something simply titled "Red Dead Redemption" earlier in June.
The listing is completely separate from the original 2010 Red Dead Redemption as the rating for this can still be seen on GRAC's website, as well as Red Dead Redemption 2, which is also listed as its own entity.
Nothing else is given away in the listing, except that this version of Red Dead Redemption has also been rated as an 18.
The South Korean ratings board has been the source of many leaks in the past...
The enhanced versions of Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate II going for nada is nutso. Even if you only have a passing fancy for epic RPG-ing, you still owe it to yourself to make a quick (free) Prime account to claim them. Then, kick back and enjoy several hundred hours of the kind of writing that makes one wonder what happened to modern era BioWare.
This Day in Gaming
Aussie birthdays for notable games and hardware
- Frequency (PS2) 2002.
- Gauntlet: Dark Legacy (XB) 2002.
- Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (PC) 2012. Get
- Resident Evil 5 (PS4,XO) 2016. Get
Table of Contents
Nintendo Switch
PC
Xbox
PlayStation
LEGO
Nice Savings for Nintendo Switch
Expiring Deals From Yesterday
Hardware Watch
How much to make the switch...
Three years after it exploded into a pandemic-era sensation, an Among Us animated series is in development at CBS Studios, Variety reports.
The new series will be based on the premise of the game, with a murderous Impostor sabotaging the ship, backstabbing crewmembers, and generally sowing chaos. Who will be the Impostor? Maybe we'll find out in the season finale.
Among Us developer Innersloth is involved with the project. It is being led by Owen Dennis, who worked on Regular Show as a writer and storyboard artist before creating Infinity Train, a Cartoon Network series about an endless train filled with impossible worlds. Titmouse, the studio behind Big Mouth and Star Trek: Lower Decks, is handling the animation.
Since Among Us...
The final new card release of the Marvel Snap Spider-Versus season is none other than Spider-Man 2099. The Spidey of the future gives some serious firepower to the Move archetype, but is it enough to justify its cost of 3000 Collector's Tokens? To find out, we’re going to break down what the Spider-Man 2099 card does, explore what strategies best suit it, and what decks it can be used in.
Just like last week’s Spider-Ham card (that we highly recommend), Spider-Man 2099 is starting out in Series 4 instead of Series 5 and will cost 3000 Tokens. This is part of Marvel Snap’s efforts to make new cards more accessible to players upon release.
Miguel O’Hara became a very different kind of Spider-Man after his sabotaged Alchemax science...
Diablo 4 Patch 1.03 is here, and it's a big one.
In a lengthy list of patch notes posted to their blog, Blizzard detailed Diablo 4 Patch 1.03, which included an enormous list of gameplay improvements and some hotly requested changes to address the endgame XP grind.
Many issues that have bothered players have been addressed, like rogues becoming invisible indefinitely in the PvP-focused Field of Hatred zones, and disappearing corpses when using Corpse Tendrils as a necromancer.
But the most notable changes can be found in a section called "Experience Rewards," where numerous improvements to the endgame XP grind can be found.
A major issue with the endgame grind is that Nightmare Dungeons, which are meant to be one of the main...
PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has admitted he does not view Starfield's Xbox console exclusivity as "anti-competitive".
During the ongoing trial between Microsoft and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the head of PlayStation took the stand. During his testimony, he was asked if anything was wrong with Arkane Studios' Redfall and Bestheda Game Studios' Starfield being console exclusives on Xbox.
"I don't like it, but I have fundamentally no quarrel with it," Ryan replied. When asked how he felt about Starfield skipping PlayStation 5 and being exclusive to the Xbox Series X/S on console, he said: "I don't like it, but I don't view it as anti-competitive."
Console exclusivity, particularly in relation to the Call of Duty, is at the heart...
Season: A Letter to the Future developer Scavengers Studio has been hit with layoffs after the game underperformed commercially.
As reported by GI.biz, Scavengers staff has been reduced from around 40 members to just 16, with its debut game Season only selling 60,000 copies since its launch in January on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.
"While Season received critical acclaim, it did not meet our commercial expectations," said CEO Amélie Lamarche in a message to staff, obtained by GI.biz. "Despite our efforts to boost sales through content updates and discounts, the game only sold 60,000 copies during its first five months, which falls far short of what the studio needs to survive."
Lamarche said that, because of "the current...
BioWare Confirms Undisclosed Number of Layoffs as Star Wars: The Old Republic Moves to New Developer
BioWare has confirmed layoffs within the Star Wars: The Old Republic development team as the game prepares to transition to a new developer.
Earlier this month, IGN revealed EA was nearing an agreement to move the ongoing development and operation of the long-running MMORPG from BioWare to third-party studio Broadsword Online Games.
The agreement sees SWTOR handed over to current Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot developer Broadsword Online, which is run by former Mythic Entertainment co-founder and BioWare VP Rob Denton, who previously worked on SWTOR in its early days.
At the time, IGN reported 70-80 people were part of the core development team of The Old Republic, more than half of whom were expected to move to Broadsword...
Spoiler Warning: The following article features full spoilers for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor including one of its major boss fights, taking place on Koboh during Cal's fourth mainline visit there.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has a ton of over the top moments, headlined by major boss fights against immortal aliens, ancient Sith, and even Darth Vader. Yet, somehow, it's a battle against Rick the Door Technician that's the most intense of all.
"That's the most unexpected boss in any video game I've played," said one Reddit user. "I was utterly flabbergasted," said another.
One of Jedi: Survivor's toughest fights sees protagonist Cal Kestis take on hoards of enemies in an Imperial hangar. It's gruelling, with players having to take down...
For a team whose bread-and-butter is stern and serious motorcycle simulations, Milestone’s 2021 toy-based racer Hot Wheels Unleashed certainly seemed like a quirky fit at the time. However, buried amongst 30-or-so iterations of the Supercross, MXGP, MotoGP, SBK, and Ride series, Hot Wheels Unleashed shone like a die cast diamond. Combining the impeccable speed brandished by the likes of arcade racing icon Burnout with the twisted madness of Trackmania, Hot Wheels Unleashed boasts toy-sized racing that’s small on scale and massive on fun. After the positive reception for the original, a sequel is no real surprise – but how does Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged improve on the 1:64 formula? At least, other than just adding motorcycles...
Microsoft would have kept Sega games multiplatform if it had bought the company, court documents have revealed.
As part of a strategy document released during the ongoing Federal Trade Commission (FTC) vs Microsoft trial to determine the fate of Xbox’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft outlined its operating plan for Sega, had its plan to buy the company behind Sonic came to be.
The document, reviewed by IGN, reveals Microsoft’s plan for Sega to report into Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty with the following operating principles:
We will continue to develop and sell all acquired games and franchises on all relevant platforms (e.g., Android, iOS, PlayStation, Steam, Switch, Windows, Xbox, etc).
We will bring...
Starfield on Xbox is getting a physical disc edition after all according to Bethesda, who caused confusion earlier in June by posting a tweet to the contrary.
As reported by Eurogamer, a breakdown of editions on Bethesda's website confirms the "game disc [is] included with physical purchases of Xbox's standard edition".
Bethesda was met with backlash on June 25 after its support account on Twitter said this wouldn't be the case and, just like the PC version, the physical copy of Starfield on Xbox would only include a download code.
The Constellation Edition, which costs $300 and comes with a real version of the in-game watch, a Constellation patch, and more, won't have a physical disc, however, even on Xbox, which perhaps sparked...
IO Interactive's upcoming online fantasy RPG may very well be an Xbox exclusive, according to internal Microsoft documents.
In evidence submitted in the ongoing FTC v. Microsoft trial over the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, one specific document detailed Xbox's research into potentially acquiring a number of companies, including Hitman developer IO Interactive. On a page listing "expected and previously shipped games," IOI was listed as working on something called "Project Dragon," an RPG shooter for PC and Xbox Series X and S. Elsewhere in the document, it is stated that Project Dragon is "for XGS Publishing," or Xbox Game Studios.
"Project Dragon" was previously leaked via a Windows Central report as an Xbox-exclusive fantasy...