Gaming News

Diablo 4 Launches on Steam to ‘Mixed’ User Reviews, Concurrent Players Slowly Climbing From Low Base

Diablo 4 launched on Steam last night and saw users jhave dished out a “mixed” review rating of 55%. Blizzard’s action role-playing game launched on PC exclusively on its own Battle.net platform back in June and saw record-breaking sales that secured Diablo 4’s place as Blizzard’s fastest-selling game of all time. Four months later, Diablo 4’s Steam launch is altogether more muted, with users taking advantage of the platform to tell the world what they think about developer Blizzard as much as the game itself. Diablo 4’s “most helpful” review posted in the past day, according to Steam, comes from a user who said: “During my childhood Blizzard couldn’t get it wrong. As an adult, they can’t get it right.” Other reviews call out a...

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CD Projekt Releases Its Final Update to Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, Giving Community Control

CD Projekt Red has released its final proper update for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game as full development ends and control of the game is handed to the community. Gwent's October season began October 17 and a blog post on the game's website confirmed the simultaneous release of Update 11.10 would include the final card changes made by CD Projekt Red. "This means that moving forward, you will have control over all the changes made to the cards of Gwent," the developer said. In an unusual, if not unprecedented, move, CD Projekt Red is putting Gwent's monthly balance changes directly in the hands of the community by letting players vote for which cards deserve an increase in strength and which deserve a decrease. This will be...

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Top 10 Metal Gear Solid Bosses

Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series is known for having incredible boss fights. Whether the gameplay itself was fun or the character just stuck in our mind as particularly awesome, here are the top 10 Metal Gear Solid bosses. What do you think of our list? Have your say by casting your own votes in our audience ranking of the top Metal Gear Solid bosses here: 10. Metal Gear REX - Metal Gear Solid The big encounter with the nuclear-armed bipedal tank, dubbed Metal Gear REX, brought a chilling edge to the final moments of the Shadow Moses Incident. Kojima and his team spent a lot of the story building up this potential nuclear threat. The fight itself was quite a spectacle, even by the graphics standards of 1998. The DARPA-built...

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Nintendo Shares First Look at Hogwarts Legacy Running on Switch

Nintendo has shared a first look at the long-delayed Switch version of Harry Potter spin-off Hogwarts Legacy, due out in just a few weeks on November 14. Shared on Nintendo's website, six screenshots for the game show a handful of familiar scenes running on Switch hardware. These include magic lessons in the classrooms of Hogwarts, seating by the Black Lake, and some of the game's baddies and monsters. Hogwarts Legacy was announced for Switch way back in March 2022 but, while the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S versions of the game only suffered a short delay, the Switch version is almost a year late. Not launching alongside the more powerful consoles' versions, the Switch version was instead set for July 2023 before being...

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Phil Spencer 'All in' on Xbox Studios Revisiting Older, Owned IP

Phil Spencer really, really wants someone within Xbox Game Studios to make a new Hexen game. First, he wore that Hexen T-shirt at the Xbox Games Showcase earlier this year. And now, he's name-dropping Hexen repeatedly as a franchise he wants someone within Xbox to revisit somehow. But, Spencer notes, only if the team doing so is genuinely passionate about it — or whatever other older franchise they're plucking from Xbox's catalog to refresh. Speaking on the Official Xbox Podcast, Spencer spoke on the company's strategy for how it allocates its owned catalog of IPs to its development studios, reassuring that Xbox isn't out there compelling anyone to revive older franchises they aren't interested in. He said he frequently meets with...

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Diablo IV Battle Axed by 25%, 70 Bucks off a Marvel Great, Surprising Spidey Deals, and More!

Though the average Wednesday is as mid as it gets, the deals this one brings are highly interesting. I'm tracking some pretty amazing Spider-Man bargain, not to mention a Midnight Suns discount that's worth taking a shine to. The biggest catch, however, has to be basically all of the eshops dropping Diablo IV down to an unprecedented price. If you've somehow resisted Lilith's charms, now could be the time for a sweet surrender. This Day in Gaming Aussie birthdays for notable games and hardware - Street Fighter Alpha 2 (PS) 1996. Get - No One Lives Forever 2 (PC) 2002. - The Orange Box (PC,X360) 2007. Get - Doom 3: BFG Ed. (PC,PS3,X360) 2012. Get Table of Contents Nintendo Switch PC Xbox PlayStation Nice Savings for Nintendo...

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Phil Spencer Explains Why There Won't be any Activision Games on Game Pass in 2023

So, Xbox owns Activision-Blizzard now, right? So why are Call of Duty and Diablo not on Game Pass yet? That's been a question on many people's minds lately now that Xbox's massive acquisition has finally closed. And today, Xbox head Phil Spencer showed up on the Official Xbox Podcast to try and answer it. During the podcast, Spencer was questioned about the recent news that we wouldn't see a massive drop of Activision-Blizzard games on Game Pass immediately after the deal finalized, as many had expected. As it was pointed out, a major flood of Game Pass newcomers happened when Xbox acquired Zenimax. Twenty Bethesda games dropped onto the service just days after, including some of the company's biggest franchises. Where, then, are...

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Phil Spencer Reiterates 100 Percent Parity for Call of Duty, No Exclusive Skins or Betas

Xbox's Activision Blizzard merger is finally done, but that doesn't mean that Phil Spencer is suddenly ready to reverse course and make Call of Duty an Xbox exclusive. Speaking on the Official Xbox Podcast, Spencer reiterated that the platform's goal is "100 percent parity" on content across all platforms. "The players on PlayStation and in the future on Nintendo... I want you to feel 100 percent part of the community. I don't want you to feel like there's content you're missing out on, skins you're missing out on, timing you're missing out on. That's not the goal," Spencer said. "The goal is 100 percent parity across all platforms as much as we can for launch and content." That means no exclusive betas, skins, or other content will...

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Wizard with a Gun Review

With a ridiculous on-the-nose title like Wizard with a Gun, you know exactly what you’re getting into. You’re a wizard, and you have a gun. But the gun is also your wand, so even though you’re shooting all manner of creatures, it’s magical shooting. This silly premise has a lot going for it, opening the door for plenty of unique combat scenarios in its sandbox world. But despite a great opening, Wizard with a Gun starts losing momentum once it becomes clear that it just doesn’t feel finished. Pulling off spell combos and crafting new bullets can be a lot of fun with a friend in co-op, and there is a good amount to explore for fans of survival sandboxes, but balance issues and the lack of a proper ending leave it feeling like it’s...

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Diablo 4 Season 2 Delayed at Last Second as Blizzard Scrambles to Address Technical Issues

Diablo IV fans will have to wait just a tiny bit longer to dig into Season of Blood, which is scheduled to launch today. Blizzard says that technical issues have forced it to delay the new vampire-driven season's release by "a few hours." "We have encountered some technical issues with our current build and will be delaying Season of Blood’s start time by a few hours to remedy these issues," a Diablo IV representative wrote. "Once we have more information, we’ll update you right away. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate the feedback you have provided and your patience." Season of Blood introduces vampires to Blizzard's popular dungeon crawler along with a host of fundamental changes to its mechanics. Its release...

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Halo Infinite Season 5: How Forge's New AI Toolkit Works

Halo Infinite Season 5 is finally here and Forge is got a huge update. Since Forge launched in Halo Infinite in November 2022, there have been over two million user-generated creations added. Now with Season 5, Forge has a new AI Toolkit to help players make even more content and include PvPvE content. The Forge developer team sat down with me to demo the new update so here’s what I learned. Spawning Campaign AI The new AI Toolkit allows players to spawn specific AI from the campaign to fill out their custom game creation. Players can choose from 43 AI types and can have up to 32 AI and 24 players in one game mode. In order to spawn AI, you have to put down the AI Spawner where you’d like it to be.You can also drop an AI Phantom...

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Paradox and Harebrained Schemes 'Parting Ways' After Lamplighters League

Paradox Interactive and developer Harebrained Schemes have announced they are parting ways on January 1, 2024, following the commercially disappointing release of The Lamplighters League. In a press release, the two entities stated that the split was the result of a "mutual agreement" related to "strategic and creative priorities", and would result in Paradox retaining ownership in The Lamplighters League, and Battletech. Harebrained will continue supporting Lamplighters League through the end of this year. “Paradox has refocused its strategy towards its core niches within strategy and management games with endless qualities,” said Charlotta Nilsson, COO of Paradox, on the separation. “We and HBS’ leadership have been discussing...

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Alan Wake: Flashback is a Fortnite Experience That Recreates Remedy's Iconic Story

In an unexpected fusion of gaming franchises, Epic Games announced Alan Wake: Flashback, a new Fortnite experience that revisits Remedy Entertainment's 2010 cult classic. A new trailer was released today announcing that Fortnite players can now check out the Alan Wake: Flashback Island by entering the code 3426-5561-3374 at no cost. "Rediscover the mysteries of Bright Falls and shine your light on events from Alan Wake in Alan Wake: Flashback," the trailer's YouTube description says. The island was a collaboration between Remedy Entertainment, Spiral House, and Zen Creative. The launch comes 10 days ahead of the release of Alan Wake 2, the long-awaited sequel, and is ideal for those who play Fortnite and are interested in Alan Wake...

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Payday 3 Dev Apologises for Lack of Communication as Mid-October First Patch Still a No Show

Payday 3 developer Starbreeze has apologised for its lack of communication surrounding the game's highly anticipated first patch, which promises to address the disastrous launch. The update, which was originally due to arrive October 5, was delayed the same day to a vague "mid-October". Starbreeze hasn't said much about it since, however, but apologised to players today while failing to offer a concrete date. The message came from PayDay's Twitter account. "Heisters, we’re sorry for the lack of communication regarding the first patch. We have identified some issues that need to be fixed before we can bring it to you, but rest assured that this is the main priority for our teams," Starbreeze said. Payday 3's launch was plagued with...

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Assassin’s Creed Nexus Is a Captivating First-Person Assassin’s Creed Game in VR

I’ll admit I entered my hands-on demo with Assassin’s Creed Nexus with a bit of pessimism – could Assassin’s Creed work as a first-person VR game? And then I found myself repeatedly answering that key question with “Yes!” for an entire hour. Not only does Assassin’s Creed Nexus seem to be a full-featured Assassin’s Creed game that incorporates stealth, combat, and parkour, but from what I played so far, each of those pieces works surprisingly well and comes together to capture the entire assassin fantasy with shocking efficacy. I brought a lot of skepticism onto that demo floor, but by the time I left it I was grinning ear-to-ear. There’s perhaps no franchise better-suited for virtual reality than Assassin’s Creed, starting with the...

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Assassin's Creed's Wild Meta Story Might Be Getting Even Stranger Soon

This article features mild spoilers for Assassin's Creed Mirage, though nothing players won't become aware of beyond the opening hours of the game. A dataminer has found what they claim is a cut post-credits scene in Assassin's Creed Mirage that sets up an even more complicated twist coming to the already convoluted Assassin's Creed meta story. As reported by Eurogamer, YouTuber and dataminer Sliderv2 uploaded a video of what they claim to be a cut tease for Assassin's Creed Hexe, the upcoming spooky-looking entry seemingly connected to witchcraft. Assassin's Creed Mirage, like most games in the franchise, features some minor connections to the meta story that links the historic events of each game to a vaguely connected modern-day...

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Sony Picks Up Silent Hill: Ascension for Weekly Episodes on PS5 and PS4

Genvid’s interactive streaming series Silent Hill: Ascension will have weekly episodes on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, the Bravia Core app for Bravia TVs, and Xperia app on select Xperia smartphones as part of a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment. PlayStation owners can watch weekly packaged episodes of the audience-influenced storylines via the Sony Pictures Core app. This is the rebranded Bravia Core app that Sony recently used to add a curated catalogue of ad-free movies to a PlayStation Plus subscription. Silent Hill: Ascension’s premiere is set for 6pm Pacific / 9pm Eastern on October 31 on the mobile app or at the official Ascension website. “Audiences will be taken on a mind-bending, interactive journey as they follow the...

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Xbox Game Pass Late October 2023 Lineup Announced

Microsoft has announced the second wave of games coming to Xbox Game Pass in October 2023, headlined by Dead Space, Like a Dragon Ishin, and F1 Manager 2023. Revealed on Xbox Wire, the already-announced Like a Dragon: Ishin is available today, October 17. This Yakuza spin-off doesn't take place in the canonical modern story but instead reimagines its characters as samurai in a fictional version of 1860s Kyoto. IGN gave it a 7/10 in our review: "Like a Dragon: Ishin is an enjoyable and interesting spin-off from the Yakuza series, but not an essential one." Here’s what’s coming next to Game Pass: F1 Manager 2023 | Cloud, Console, and PC - October 19 Cities: Skylines 2 | PC - October 24 Dead Space | Cloud, Console, PC, EA Play -...

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The Video Game Layoffs Continue, This Time at F1 Manager Developer Frontier

2023 continues to be an extremely difficult year for the video game development industry, with yet another wave of layoffs announced. This time, UK studio Frontier Developments has announced an organisational review of the business that includes a wave of redundancies, subject to consultation. A spokesperson for Frontier told IGN this morning that it was unable to share how many people will be affected as the review is not yet concluded. Frontier Developments is the veteran Cambridge-based studio behind 2014’s space sim Elite: Dangerous, Microsoft’s Zoo Tycoon, Planet Coaster, and the Jurassic World Evolution games. In recent years, it’s released two F1 Manager games, with real-time strategy game Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of...

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The Internet Is Already Roasting ‘Worst Game of 2023’ Skull Island: Rise of Kong

Skull Island: Rise of Kong is out today, October 17, and the $39.99 action adventure has already been called “the worst game of 2023”. Skull Island: Rise of Kong was developed by IguanaBee, the Chilean studio behind 2020’s G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout and Headsnatchers, and is published by Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl's GameMill Entertainment under licence from DeVito ArtWorks, which controls the King Kong / Skull Island universe. Announcing its release date, GameMill described Skull Island: Rise of Kong as an “exhilarating, third-person action-adventure game [that] lets you become Kong on a journey of vengeance as you fight to claim your rightful place as King of Skull Island”. The truth of Skull Island, however, is quite different...

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Markiplier Reveals Why He Had to Turn Down Role in Five Nights at Freddy's Movie

YouTuber Markiplier has revealed why he had no choice but to turn down a role in the upcoming Five Nights at Freddy's movie. Markiplier, real name Mark Edward Fischbach, is known as "the King of FNAF" for his hugely popular YouTube videos featuring the horror game series. He’d dropped one or two hints of his intended involvement in the movie, sparking excited fan speculation about what the role might have been. In a new video published to his YouTube channel, which boasts 35.6 million subscribers, Markiplier said a scheduling clash between the Five Nights at Freddy's Movie and his own movie, Iron Lung, ended his hopes of appearing in the film. "It was supposed to happen,” he said. “There was a time it was supposed to occur, and...

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Lies of P Sells 1 Million in Less Than a Month

Lies of P has sold one million copies since going on sale last month, publisher Neowiz has said. Round8 Studio’s well-received soulslike launched on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, PC via Steam, and Mac via the Mac App Store on September 18. It reimagines the classic fairy tale of Pinocchio in the Bloodborne style. IGN’s Lies of P review returned an 8/10. We said: “Lies of P might not branch out particularly far from its soulslike inspiration, but it plays the part extremely well.” Lies of P has a “very positive” user review rating on Steam too. "This incredible milestone for Lies of P proves the potential of Korean console games on the global stage,” said Seungchul Kim, co-CEO of Neowiz. “The Lies of P...

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Roblox's PlayStation Launch Behind Only Fortnite and Call of Duty According to Circana's Data

Roblox is off to a great start on PlayStation. This analysis comes from Mat Piscatella, executive director and leading analyst at Circana (NPD). In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Piscatella said Roblox "ranked 3rd in percentage of PlayStation players that played the title at least once" during its launch on the PlayStation, trailing only Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Fortnite. The statistics for the PS5 and PS4 versions of Roblox isn't too surprising. According to a September 15 post from the official Roblox account on X, more than 65 million play Roblox daily. Now that the game is available on PlayStation, the numbers may increase as new players discover it for the first time. Roblox has experience big growth in the...

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Scuf Envision Pro Review

If you’ve invested even a little into the competitive shooter community, then you’ve probably already heard of Scuf Gaming. Among console gamers its high-end gamepads have been a go-to choice for years; now, with the Envision Pro, it’s finally entering the world of PC gaming. And thanks to its new ownership by Corsair, it comes fully equipped with all the utility of iCUE and Slipstream Wireless, making it the most programmable gamepad I’ve ever laid hands on. In fact, it might just be the best controller Scuf has ever made. At $179, it doesn’t come cheap, but if you’re looking for something with significantly more programmability than the Xbox Elite Controller Series 2, this is a great option. Scuf Envision Pro – Design and Features...

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Epic Launches Program to Pay Devs to Bring Old Games to Epic Games Store

Fortnite maker Epic Games has launched a back catalog program to incentivize game developers and publishers to make their old games available on Epic Games Store. According to a blog post published on Monday, the company said the program, dubbed Now on Epic, was launched to make it easier for Epic Game Store users to discover back catalog games, and to better compete with Steam. Mainly, it will allow participating developers and publishers the opportunity to increase their net revenue from user spending from 88% to 100% for any eligible back catalog games they offer up on Epic Games Store. Titles that are eligible for the Now on Epic program will enjoy the 100% revenue boost for the first six months of their release on Epic Games...

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Tekken 8 Arcade Quest First Look: A Pocketful of Quarters and a Love of the Fight

I grew up in arcades, dumping quarter after quarter into machines like Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, and especially Tekken Tag Tournament – the first fighting game my arcade crew and I ever truly fell in love with. Arcades were special; you could make friends, fight rivals, learn new tricks, and build a community. Unsurprisingly, much of the Tekken 8 team, including producers Katsuhiro Harada and Michael Murray, feel the same way. Arcade Quest, the newest single-player mode in Tekken 8, is separate from the main story, but looks to teach new players the ins and outs of Tekken 8 and introduce players new and old to arcade culture. For people like me, it’ll be like going home; for people who didn’t get a chance to be a part of the...

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Cities: Skylines 2 Dev Admits Performance Issues, Will Launch the Game Anyway

The developer and publisher of Cities: Skylines 2 have admitted the game’s performance isn't up to scratch, but insisted they will launch the hotly anticipated city builder on PC as planned on October 24. Developer Colossal Order and publisher Paradox issued a joint statement to fans left concerned after Cities: Skylines 2’s minimum and recommended specs were raised. "Cities: Skylines 2 is a next-gen title, and naturally, it demands certain hardware requirements,” Colossal Order said. “With that said, while our team has worked tirelessly to deliver the best experience possible, we have not achieved the benchmark we targeted.” While it’s highly unusual for a developer to issue a warning about an upcoming game’s performance, Colossal...

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Bethesda's Pete Hines Announces Retirement

Pete Hines, one of the key executives at Bethesda Softworks, has announced his retirement from the company. In a statement published on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Bethesda announced Hines' retirement and thanked him for his contributions to the studio during his nearly 25-year tenure. "Pete's public presence was only a small part of his role at Bethesda," the company wrote, "although the way he represented us carried over into the values he nurtured here: authenticity, integrity and passion." Around the same time the statement went out from Bethesda, Hines posted his statement on his personal X account, confirming his decision to retire and thanking his colleagues and fans. "After 24 years, I have decided my time...

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Endless Dungeon Review

There’s a reason our cars aren’t also boats. It’s often as hard as it is risky to combine two very different functions into one package, especially when designing a system to do one thing well can be hard enough. That’s why, as I sat in front of my computer taking stock of the 20+ hours I spent playing Endless Dungeon, I couldn't help but smile at the sheer audacity on display. There’s no other way to describe the daring it must have taken to create this hybrid twin-stick shooting, tower defending, science fiction roguelite. Those are three very different genres all their own, so to take them all on simultaneously and make the result work so well is borderline miraculous. Endless Dungeon is set aboard The Station, a massive...

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Blizzard Pulls Error-Strewn Diablo 4 Season of Blood Video

Diablo 4’s road to recovery hit an embarrassing snag after developer Blizzard published a new video hyping up the upcoming season that was filled with mistakes. YouTuber Raxxanterax picked up on the video, which was published on the official Diablo Twitter account on Friday, October 13 — a day that proved unlucky for Blizzard. The video was meant to detail improvements coming to the action role-playing game with Season 2, dubbed Season of Blood. Instead it became the focus of a few laughs. As Raxxanterax shows, the video includes incorrectly labelled dungeon maps, a horse speed comparison that shows both before and after horses trotting along at the same speed, and maths blunders when calculating experience point boosts. “Blizzard...

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