Gaming News

Redfall Gets May Release Date, Reveals New Gameplay Footage

Developer Arkane Studios will be releasing their story-driven shooter, Redfall, on May 2, they announced at today's Xbox Developer Direct. They also revealed some new gameplay footage, showing off more details on the players' unique abilities, as well as the titular setting of Redfall, Mass, giving a glimpse at a lighthouse story mission. Redfall features both single-player co-op multiplayer modes, with players choosing from one of four protagonists — cryptozoologist and inventor Devinder Crousley, telekinetic student Layla Ellison, combat engineer Remi de la Rosa, and supernatural sharpshooter Jacob Boyer — to fight off vampires who took over and ruined Redfall after a failed scientific experiment. Redfall was initially...

View full article »

Forza Motorsport Details and Gameplay Revealed During Xbox Developer Direct

During today's Xbox Developer Direct, Turn 10 Studios showed off some new details about Forza Motorsport, the upcoming 8th mainline entry in the long-running Xbox racing franchise. The game will feature more than 500 cars for players to collect and race, including more than 100 cars that are new to the game. There will also be more than 800 unique upgrades available to trick out those rides. Forza 8 looks to be a visual treat, with the power of the Xbox Series X paving the way for the best-looking Forza we've seen yet. Turn 10 says that real life car paints are captured using a spectra-photometer in order to develop paint models that have realistic light responses that vary depending on the color and type of paint used. Damage and...

View full article »

Minecraft Legends Reveals Its Big Online PvP Mode

Developer Mojang went in-depth on the upcoming online PvP mode for the upcoming Minecraft Legends. The developers also announced the release date which will be April 18, 2023. Minecraft Legends is an action strategy spinoff of Mojang's popular open-world crafting-survival game. A core part of the experience is the online PvP mode which Mojang detailed today during the Xbox Developer Direct. Like the world of Minecraft itself, the PvP mode will be procedurally generated, meaning the world where players face off against each other will be random and different every time you play. While the core gameplay seems to revolve around two teams of players invading each other's camps, Minecraft Legends appears to be encouraging a wide range...

View full article »

Xbox and Bethesda Developer Direct January 2023: Everything Announced

The Xbox and Bethesda Developer Direct for January 2023 aired earlier today, as Microsoft and its partners shared updates on games including Redfall, The Elder Scrolls Online, Forza Motorsport, Minecraft Legends, and more. Read on to learn about everything announced at today's event. Redfall Gets Extended Gameplay Showcase, Coming May 2 Redfall finally has a release date. The co-op vampire shooter from Arkane and Bethesda is coming on May 2. We also got a look at some extended gameplay, showing Arkane's trademark level design that allows players to take on combat situations in multiple ways. Minecraft Legends Gets April Release Date, PVP Details Revealed Minecraft Legends is the upcoming action strategy game set in the Minecraft...

View full article »

Former Blizzard Manager Opens Up About Being Fired for Protesting Ranking System

World of Warcraft Classic co-lead software engineer Brian Birmingham has claimed he was terminated from Blizzard for protesting a forced employee ranking system. As first reported by Bloomberg, Birmingham sent an email to his former colleagues saying he was terminated after revealing his intentions to resign instead of deeming certain staff members inadequate to fill a quota. Birmingham said in a Twitter thread (below) that he didn't share the email himself but "[believes] the quotes are accurate". The "stack ranking" system asks managers to rank their employees under different labels, with the poorer "developing" status potentially affecting bonus money, raises, and promotions in the near future. Birmingham claimed that Blizzard...

View full article »

Disney Dreamlight Valley to Add Lion King's Simba, Encanto's Mirabel in Coming Updates

The next stage of Disney Dreamlight Valley is almost here. Posting on their blog today, Gameloft Montreal gave us one of our first glimpses into the 2023 roadmap for their Disney-themed life simulation adventure game. The roadmap includes new characters like Mirabel from Encanto, Simba from The Lion King, and Olaf from Frozen, as well as the promise of new "realms" to explore, which are in-game worlds that can be visited as part of the story. Gameloft Montreal also confirmed one of the game's most-requested features, multiplayer support, which is a major part of genre peers like Animal Crossing, though the roadmap did not offer any specific timing for when that would be added. Dreamlight Valley, which has yet to receive its 1.0...

View full article »

FINAL FANTASY: The One and Only Official Piano Concert Coming to America March 2023

Last year, to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the critically-acclaimed FINAL FANTASY franchise, Square Enix and The Wild Faery Company began touring more than 45 cities around the world with a brand new, intimate piano concert. CRYSTALLINE RESONANCE: FINAL FANTASY Piano Concert is a celebration of the best of the franchise, with music from FINAL FANTASY I-X, XIV, and XV. Now, in only a few weeks, the show is coming to 22 cities in America! Check out the concert trailer below: CRYSTALLINE RESONANCE is an all-new program featuring some of the most iconic music from the FINAL FANTASY franchise accompanied by HD visuals projected on screen. For the first time ever on piano, fans will be able to enjoy Heavensward from FINAL FANTASY...

View full article »

Knives Out, Infocom Games, and L.A. Noire: Rian Johnson on the Inspiration Behind Poker Face

The new Peacock mystery series Poker Face premieres January 26, and Executive Producer Rian Johnson has revealed which classic video games helped inspire the show and his career in general. Poker Face stars Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale, who travels the country and solves mysteries thanks to her innate ability to tell if someone is lying. Johnson created the show with Lyonne and serves as both a writer and director of several episodes. “When I was a teenager, the computer games I was playing were Infocom games. And those were the text-based adventures like Zork and Planetfall,” Johnson says of a pair of games that contained no graphics or images, just a series of prompts where the player would type in commands to keep the story...

View full article »

Hogwarts Legacy Developers Respond to Controversy Around Creator's Anti-Transgender Views

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Legacy allows players to zoom around on broomsticks, master exotic spellbooks, and break bread with their fellow students on the castle grounds. There are millions of Harry Potter fans on the planet, and after years of middling movie tie-ins and app-store flotsam, Portkey Games promised the first full-throated, big-budget embrace of the Wizarding World. Unfortunately, the author and primary rights holder of the Harry Potter franchise, J.K. Rowling, has recently reinvented herself as one of the most prominent anti-transgender voices in the cultural gestalt, which has torpedoed much of the dizzy goodwill that Hogwarts Legacy was supposed to offer. As the game inches closer to release — only two weeks away —...

View full article »

Hogwarts Legacy: The Final Preview

We do not live in a world rich with great Harry Potter games. Nobody harbors warm feelings for the horde of chintzy, cynical movie tie-ins that plagued the PS2 and Xbox during the mid-2000s. So, when Portkey Games unveiled the big-budget Hogwarts Legacy in 2020, it was clear that the studio was aiming spectacularly high with its interpretation of Harry Potter. After a two-hour hands-on, I can say with confidence that the Wizarding World has rarely looked better. The lilting charm, cockeyed whimsy, and high-fantasy hijinks of Hogwarts Legacy is rendered with dogmatic servitude to the books, while the combat and exploration — the game part of this video game — is robust enough to rope in more casual fans of the fiction. Unfortunately...

View full article »

Marvel's Avengers Dataminer Finds Scrapped Plans for She-Hulk and Captain Marvel

A Marvel's Avengers dataminer has seemingly found scrapped plans to add both She-Hulk and Captain Marvel to the game. Community insider Miller on Twitter (below) shared unused dialogue hidden within Patch 2.7.2 (that was released on January 24) in which Jane Foster interacts with She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters) and Capatin Marvel (Carol Danvers). The dialogue for these two characters was fully written but only appeared in the game files as text-to-speech voices, though a Marvel's Avengers streamer leaked that at least some of She-Hulk's dialogue had already been recorded back in July. The conversations are available in full, however, and include various references to other heroes intended as banter between characters in the Outpost hub...

View full article »

Dragon Ball Z Kakarot Needs a Prequel, Not a Sequel

Dragon Ball Z Kakarot has had a steady trickle of DLC since it launched three years ago, the most recent of which tells the story of Goku’s dad, Bardock, which goes to show you there are plenty more stories to tell in that universe. Kakarot isn’t perfect, but it’s one of the best representations of Akira Toriyama’s awesome colorful world in interactive form. All the pieces are there for a massive sequel that builds on established systems and mechanics and raises the stakes even higher, probably recounting the events of Dragon Ball Super and its various new hair colors. However, I’m strongly of the opinion that the most potential for a follow-up to Kakarot lies in Goku’s earlier years, a game that retells the original Dragon Ball...

View full article »

Halo Infinite: 343's Statement Runs Against Deep Cuts in Halo Development Team

Halo developer 343 Industries says Master Chief and Cortana are staying under its roof, but reports of deep cuts to Halo's development staff calls into question the studio's ability to sustainably develop future Halo content. This saga began last week, when we learned that the Halo studio was impacted by Microsoft's plans to lay off 10,000 people. Since the news broke, speculation has run rampant about Microsoft's plans for its flagship franchise, including rumors that Microsoft could pass Halo development to another studio entirely, leaving 343 Industries in more of a producer role. These rumors prompted 343 Industries to speak out over the weekend to put the rumblings to rest. 343 Industries' studio head Pierre Hintze shared a...

View full article »

Warhammer 40K: Darktide Console Release Delayed: 'We Fell Short of Meeting Expectations'

Since Warhammer 40,000: Darktide's launch in November, players have issued complaints about its incomplete gameplay mechanics and unstable framerate, with just 35% of its 8,510 recent Steam reviews currently being positive. Now, Fatshark, the team behind the co-op shooter, is shifting its focus to address these complaints. Today, Fatshark CEO Martin Wahlund addressed the game's launch and outlined the team's plan moving forward with an open letter published on the @Darktide40K Twitter account. When creating Warhammer 40K: Darktide, according to the open letter, the team wanted to "create a highly engaging and stable game with a level of depth that keeps you playing for weeks, not hours." "We fell short of meeting those...

View full article »

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty: Watch the Opening Cutscene Now – IGN First

We end January’s IGN First coverage of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty by going back to the very beginning: Let’s have a look at the game’s opening cutscene. Watch it above. In the clip, we hear a man talking about an elixir sought by the sovereigns of ancient China. This elixir could grant immortality, but its power was overwhelmingly dangerous, and the elixir became the cause of conflicts and political machinations throughout the years. While China’s ancient leaders are known to have actually been in search of such an elixir of life, it appears that in Team Ninja’s newest action game the elixir is real. After the first phase in the battle against Zhang Liang – the boss in last year’s Wo Long demo – he swallows the elixir and becomes a...

View full article »

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Isn't Launching Until April at the Earliest

French games publisher Nacon, which is co-publishing Daedalic Entertainment's upcoming action-adventure game The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, recently released an earnings report that detailed yet another delay for the Tolkein-inspired adventure. The report lists Gollum as one of their titles that will be released in "the first half of the FY 2023-2024," which due to Nacon's offset fiscal calendar, places that window between April and September of this year. Previously, Daedalic Entertainment delayed the title from its initial 2021 window to 2022, then delayed it again "by a few months," offering no specific release date at that time, but not so far off as this new timeframe places it. Gollum is a stealth game with a narrative focus...

View full article »

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew Announced by Desperados 3 Developers

Mimimi Games, the developer behind 2020's great strategy game Desperados 3, has revealed its latest project. It's called Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, and the team at Mimimi describes it as a "stealth strategy" game. In Shadow Gambit, you'll "join a ghost ship with a living soul and assemble a cursed pirate crew. Embrace supernatural powers to defy the menacing army of the Inquisition, who stands between you and the mysterious treasure of the legendary Captain Mordechai." Your own ship is the Red Marley, described as a "ghost ship with a living soul." From it you can take on individual character missions to learn more about your crew, plan your next adventure, or just hang out with your crew. You'll also have the ability to pause...

View full article »

Tunic and Betrayal At Club Low Lead Independent Games Festival Nominations

Informa Tech has revealed the nominations for the 25th annual Games Festival Nominations, with Tunic and Betrayal At Club Low leading the way with three nominations each. Both games were among the nominees for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, with the final awards being announced during the Game Developers Conference which takes place from March 20 to 24. Six games in total were nominated for the Grand Prize, with Tunic and Betrayal at Club Low joined by The Case of the Golden Idol, Immortality, Neon White, and Not for Broadcast. Tinykin, Terra Nil, RPG Time: The Legend of Wright, Roadwarden, Hardspace: Shipbreaker, and Citizen Sleeper also receive honourable mentions. The full list of nominees can be seen below: Best Student Game...

View full article »

Hogwarts Legacy Discussion Banned From ResetEra Forum Site Over J.K. Rowling Controversy

Discussion of Hogwarts Legacy has been banned from popular forum website ResetEra due to the controversy surrounding Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. As reported by PC Gamer, ResetEra general manager B-Dubs has released a statement from the moderation team that bans all mention of the Harry Potter-universe video game on their platform. ResetEra had previously banned any promotional posts around the game - things like new trailers and announcements - but has now extended this to include any discussion. "The mod team has decided to expand our prior ban on promotion for the Hogwarts game to include the game itself," the statement read. "There will be no [off topic chat] and no discussion of this game." Rowling has been criticised...

View full article »

Wanted: Dead - Exclusive Hands-On With This Bonkers PS2-Era Throwback

I didn’t know that I wanted to be a katana-wielding police officer in a cyberpunk version of Hong Kong who fights a giant spider tank and then eats five bowls of ramen, but that’s what I got with upcoming slasher/shooter Wanted: Dead, and I haven’t been able to put it down. Everything from its bizarre story and tone to its challenging and chaotic combat reminds me of the PS2/OG Xbox era of games from my youth, where experimentation and style was prioritized over polish. And there’s something awesome about that approach that’s captured my attention and kept me smiling ear to ear after over 15 hours with it. One of the main ways in which Wanted: Dead nails its old school feel is in the high level of difficulty of its fantastic combat...

View full article »

Save Big on Hundreds of Video Games During the Lunar New Year Sales

It's a new year, and that means it's time to start loading up on games that you may or may not ever get around to playing. But, with so many great deals, it's worth picking up at least a few, right? To celebrate the Lunar New Year, there are sales on many of the major storefronts including Steam, Ubisoft, Green Man Gaming, and more. You can score some of the biggest games of 2022, or fill out your backlog with some older titles you may have missed out on. Check out our handpicked selections for the top games you can buy this Lunar New Year from each digital storefront below. Steam - Lunar New Year Publisher Sales While Steam isn't running an all-encompassing Lunar New Year sale, there are a number of smaller sub-sales happening across...

View full article »

The Lord of the Rings Returns to Netflix Next Month

Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy is finally coming back to Netflix in the U.S. on February 1. As reported by GameSpot, Netflix announced the return of all three films on Twitter (below), meaning The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King will once again be available to watch. Somewhat oddly, this will also be the first time all three films have appeared on the streaming service at the same time. The Fellowship of the Ring was available for two brief stints in 2018 before being removed in January 2019, and its sequels appeared from September 2019 to March 2020, but none of the films have been available since. Though what's considered by many to be the best fantasy film trilogy of all time...

View full article »

Aussie Deals: Discounted Ways to Experience Peak The Last of Us, Tons of Half-off AAAs and More!

Not gonna lie. I was mighty sceptical in the lead up to HBO's The Last of Us series. (Chalk it to an absolute adoration of the source material.) That said, even I am pretty damn impressed with this new TV take. At minimum, it's making me want to replay The Last of Us Part I (most likely by preordering the forthcoming PC version). I'm also keen to give Part II another crack as well. If you find yourself in the same (or similar) boat, cheap ways to achieve all that exist below... Table of Contents Nintendo Switch PC Xbox PlayStation LEGO Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch Recent Deals Expiring Soon Back to top Purchase Cheaply for PC Recent Deals Expiring Soon Back to top Exciting Offers for XO/XS Recent Deals Expiring Soon...

View full article »

A Popular Steam Game is Raising Its Price Due to Inflation

Factorio, a very popular factory-building sim, is joining a wave of much, much larger game franchises such as Call of Duty, Star Wars Jedi, Final Fantasy, and others in getting a price bump due to inflation. But unlike the massive AAA audiences of those other games, much of Factorio's community seems...surprisingly cool with the idea. But not all. While companies like Ubisoft, Take-Two, Xbox, and Sony have all effectively set a new standard for game prices over the last year, Factorio is a bit of an oddball because it's a much smaller game. Its developer, Wube Software, is a much, much smaller studio than any of the other companies that have announced price increases, and Factorio itself isn't increasing from $60 to $70, it's going...

View full article »

GTA 5 Exploit is Soft Locking Player Accounts, Rockstar Promises Fix

Rockstar says it's preparing a title update for Grand Theft Auto Online in response to an exploit that is effectively locking some players out of the popular multiplayer game. First spotted late last week, the remote code execution exploit [RCE] allows cheaters to effectively corrupt accounts from afar. Players affected by the exploit will finding themselves permanently trapped in Grand Theft Auto's loading screen. RCEs have been an ongoing concern in several multiplayer games, most notably Dark Souls, which saw its PvP servers shut down for months due to the issue. While a firewall rule can help, fans are currently being encouraged to take a break since RCE expoits can be quite dangerous, allowing hackers to do significant damage...

View full article »

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is Bringing Back Hardcore Mode for Season 2

Infinity Ward is bringing back Call of Duty's Hardcore mode for Modern Warfare Season 02, drawing cheers but also some grumbling from a community has been calling for more multiplayer support for the popular shooter. The news was revealed in a tweet confirming that Hardcore is back and also encouraging players to follow the studio's blog for additional updates. As the name implies, Hardcore mode is for Call of Duty players who want greater realism, removing the HUD and making bullets far deadlier. It has been a Call of Duty staple since 2007's original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, but it was absent from the launch of last year's Modern Warfare 2. Hardcore mode is part of a long wishlist for Modern Warfare 2 players, including red...

View full article »

The Last of Us HBO Series Drove 238 Percent Jump in PlayStation Game's UK Sales

It's not enough to just watch The Last of Us — viewers are ready to play, too. As The Last of Us makes its television debut, the first chapter in Joel and Ellie's journey are reaping the benefits with a hefty jump in UK sales on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. According to GamesIndustry.biz, the game's 2022 PS5 remake, The Last of Us Part 1, reentered the UK sales charts at the No. 20 spot after a 238% jump in sales for the week of January 21, 2023. Its PS4 predecessor, The Last of Us: Remastered, also saw a sizeable boost with a 322% sales bump that placed it at No. 32. Perhaps the least surprising detail is that those numbers coincide with the first episode of its live-action The Last of Us series, which debuted on January 15...

View full article »

WWE 2K23: Here’s What Comes in Each Edition

WWE 2K23 is set to release for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC on March 17. John Cena graces the cover of this year’s installment, which features the debut of the 3v3 and 4v4 WarGames mode. It comes in standard, deluxe, and icon editions and is now available for preorder now (see it on Amazon). Read on for details about what comes in each edition, how much it costs, and where to find it. Preorder WWE 2K23 Standard Edition PS5 Get it at Amazon - $69.99 Get it at GameStop - $69.99 Get it at PS Store (digital) - $69.99 PS4 Get it at Amazon - $59.99 Get it at GameStop - $59.99 Get it at PS Store (digital) - $59.99 Xbox Series X Get it at Amazon - $69.99 Get it at GameStop - $69.99 Get it at Xbox Store (digital) -...

View full article »

Sonic Designer Shares Concept Art From Before the Blue Blur Was a Hedgehog

In an alternate universe, Sonic the Hedgehog instead looks like a little human boy with spiky blue hair. That's according to the original Sonic character designer, Naoto Ohshima, who recently shared some concept art of what would go on to become the iconic Blue Blur as we know him. On Twitter (via CBR), Ohshima posted two images of concept art for early versions of the original Sonic the Hedgehog game. Ohshima wrote that the concepts were for "an action game about twin brothers who protect the dream world from Nightmare World's boss 'Thirteen'. Ultimately, this concept evolved into Sonic. Taking a look at the images, it's easy to see how this concept eventually morphed into Sonic. The nature in the background is reminiscent of...

View full article »

Ken Block’s Lasting Racing Legacy

If your first real exposure to Ken Block was his collaboration with Codemasters for Colin McRae Dirt 2, released on PC and seventh-generation consoles way back in 2009, you may not have known what to make of him at the time. Pitched as the new face of the franchise in the early promotional materials, Block cut a drastically different figure on screen to the late Colin McRae. McRae had a famous reputation as a madman behind the wheel, but outside of a rally car the Scot always appeared calm, natural, and low-key. Perched behind a set of sunglasses indoors and flanked by Monster Energy models, Block certainly seemed like a contrasting character; a hot dog hand grenade set to blow up Codemasters’ conventions. Scotland’s South Lanarkshire...

View full article »