Pipes Feed Preview: Polygon & VG247 Latest Articles Feed & Eurogamer.net Latest Articles Feed & VentureBeat & Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Avowed director packs up and leaves Obsidian for one of Netflix's game studios

Wed, 21 May 2025 09:14:34 -0000

Obsidian veteran Carrie Patel has announced her departure from the acclaimed RPG studio after roughly 12 years of service. Avowed's director has packed up her stuff and shuffled on over to Night School: A Netflix Games Studio.

Despite low Steam turnout, Doom: The Dark Ages is id Software's most popular game at launch, clearly thanks to Game Pass

Wed, 21 May 2025 09:14:55 -0000

It’s been nearly one week since the launch of Doom: The Dark Ages, id Software’s latest entry in the classic shooter series, and the third in a trilogy of games that started out with the 2016 reboot.

Fortnite is back on the US App Store, as Epic and Apple's legal battle royale over it concludes with a 55-year-old exec tweeting the word "fam"

Wed, 21 May 2025 10:10:18 -0000

Fortnite's available on iOS in the US again, with Epic and Apple's legal tussle over it seemingly having concluded, at least for now. Epic Games has at least managed to get one of the outcomes it wanted out of all the hoohah, and its CEO has reponded as only he could - by letting all know we're his "fam".

That rage-inducing Borderlands 4 price tweet hasn't stopped Randy Pitchford posting, as he declares an indie game is "cheaper than a point of meth"

Wed, 21 May 2025 11:39:02 -0000

Yep, this is a thing the Gearbox exec has tweeted. He's posted that indie shooter Mycopunk is "cheaper than a point of meth" and "probably has fewer side effects, too", in response to publisher Devolver Digital making a joke about Borderlands 4 potentially costing $80.

Following the breakout success of Metaphor Refantazio, Atlus’ only action-RPG gets a second lease of life on Switch 2 (and it’s pretty good, too)

Wed, 21 May 2025 13:00:00 -0000

By now, you should know what to expect from an Atlus game. Whether you’re wading into the Boschian fever dream of Metaphor Refantazio or winding your way down the seven circles of hell in Shin Megami Tensei, Atlus likes it dark. Dark and weird. Unconstrained by the trappings of normalcy. A bit edgy and a bit juvenile, but all provocative and goth.

Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut Red Light Raid Mode is baffling, totally on-brand, and a weirdly good fit as part of a Nintendo Switch 2 launch game

Wed, 21 May 2025 13:05:48 -0000

In Sega’s offices, seated in front of a Nintendo Switch 2 console running Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut, I was told: “Right, now it’s time to make a lobby.” Jesus. I don’t know these people here at the event with me (I’m pretty sure I’m the only member of the UK press, actually). This is going to be awful. S**t. S**t. S**t.

Rayman isn’t dead: against all odds, Ubisoft has started hiring for a “triple-A Rayman game” at the same studio that made Mario + Rabbids

Wed, 21 May 2025 13:06:31 -0000

It looks as though, against all odds, Rayman is still alive after all. Job postings spotted for a "AAA Rayman game" have been hastily taken down, but not before they were archived by eagle-eyed Reddit users.

Cyberpunk 2077's sequel includes a new city that "feels more like Chicago gone wrong", and I'm now wondering how the USA's collapse might have affected Michael Jordan's legacy

Wed, 21 May 2025 14:40:09 -0000

Cyberpunk 2077's sequel will let us take a detour from the returning Night City to visit a new location which feels a bit "like Chicago gone wrong". Naturally, this news has me questioning how Cyberpunk's timeline might have affected the most prominent basketball dynasty of the 1990s.

Mario Kart World started off as an OG Switch game, and don't worry, its driving cow is "still in touch with her animal nature"

Wed, 21 May 2025 16:13:25 -0000

Mario Kart World started development back in 2017 as a game for the original Switch, but ended up becoming a Switch 2 one because it devs felt the tech boost was necessary to deliver the world bit of it. Said devs have also offered us some more info about its most important character - Cow.

It's taken years, but Dune Awakening is finally getting an end-game info dump next week, so we'll finally know how the rest of the game plays

Thu, 22 May 2025 08:58:32 -0000

Finally, Dune Awakening fans can expect a dedicated live stream to show off the real meat of any MMO: the endgame. This event will cover what players will be up to once they've progressed through the story and prepped themselves for the Deep Desert, something that has remained a bit mysterious upo until now.

Oblivion Remastered gets unlimited elixir and staff crafting thanks to a massive mod that makes the Mages Guild all about "unraveling the mysteries of magic"

Thu, 22 May 2025 09:23:20 -0000

If you've ever thought Oblivion's Mages Guild questline didn't do enough to help your roleplay as a proper scholar of magic, a new Oblivion Remastered mod that casts an alteration spell on the faction looks like it's got you covered. It adds a bunch of new systems, including infinite elixir and staff crafting.

Battlefield Labs just introduced its most controversial change yet, and the community is split on whether it belongs in the EA’s in-development game

Thu, 22 May 2025 10:10:55 -0000

The Battlefield community is abuzz with discussion about a new mechanic in a game most of them have not played. The next Battlefield Labs test, which only few players have access to, is going to experiment with something that struck a nerve for many, and caused a bit of a stir.

Geoguessr pulls out of the Esports World Cup following mass protest from map creators and community alike

Thu, 22 May 2025 10:38:04 -0000

Geoguessr has pulled out of this year's Esports World Cup following a mass protest from players and map creators alike yesterday. A wave of protest posts filled the offical Discord, and many of the most popular maps were set to private, leading the company's behind the game's CEO to announce the withdrawal on Twitter and Discord.

Helldivers 2 players struggled with Heart of Democracy's massive flying Illuminate Leviathans at first, so naturally they're now surfing them through Super Earth's skies

Thu, 22 May 2025 10:46:47 -0000

Of all the new enemies Helldivers 2's Heart of Democracy update brought in when it deployed players onto the war-torn streets of their home planet, the flying Leviathan might have been the most intimidating.

Watch Blizzard, hopefully, distract you from Diablo 4 Season 8 by showing off what’s coming with Season 9 in dev livestream

Thu, 22 May 2025 11:13:36 -0000

Blizzard is hoting the latest edition of its Campfire Chat developer livestream tonight. This one is going to be all about Diablo 4’s upcoming Season 9. Or, more specifically, it’s going to cover the patch 2.3.0 PTR (Public Test Realm), which will be opening its doors soon.

Embracer Group says it'll put out 76 different games in the coming year, as it ditches friends for a fellowship and spins off Goat Sim publisher Coffee Stain

Thu, 22 May 2025 14:15:39 -0000

Damn, the nice little friendship thing Embracer Group had decided to morph into after earning the ire of lots of folks by going hard on the layoffs, closures and sales is no more.

After Rogue Trader proved so popular, Owlcat is working on another Warhammer 40k CRPG: Dark Heresy

Thu, 22 May 2025 16:02:53 -0000

Owlcat Games has announced another Warhammer 40K CRPG, titled Warhammer 40,000: Dark heresy. Announced during today's Warhammer Skulls livestream, it's in development for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Total War Warhammer 3 teases its upcoming Tides of Torment, as well as a new legendary lord

Thu, 22 May 2025 16:10:44 -0000

Total War Warhammer 3 has just released a neat little teaser trailer during the Warhammer Skulls event just now, hinting towards some exciting new additions to the Immortal Empires campaign.

Blood Bowl 3 is getting a bloody big update with a new Khorne team

Thu, 22 May 2025 16:14:27 -0000

Blood Bowl 3 is getting a new team, though perhaps one more interesting in collecting skulls than actually scoring goals. Announced during today's Warhammer Skulls event, Khorne is making his gorey debut to the field with a new faction, all wearing red, and all out for blood.

Boltgun 2 is real, and it's bringing Doom to Chaos cultists in 2026

Thu, 22 May 2025 16:15:54 -0000

Boltgun 2 has just been announced during today's Warhammer Skulls event! The sequel to the 2023 Doom-inspired Warhammer 40k shooter, it's set for a 2026 release with the bloody and bombastic return of the absurdly strong Malum Caedo.

Praise the Omnissiah, Warhammer 40,000; Mechanicus 2 just got a new gameplay trailer, featuring a short glimpse at a new faction

Thu, 22 May 2025 16:17:41 -0000

A gameplay trailer for Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus 2 has just been revealed during today's Warhammer Skulls event, and it features a special surprise for fans of the newer era of the 40k narrative. The Leagues of Votann, the newest faction added to the tabletop game, are making their video game debut.

Supremacy: Warhammer 40,000 is bringing a Grimdark spin to the War Sim series

Thu, 22 May 2025 16:21:58 -0000

Supremacy: Warhammer 40,000 has just been revealed at the Warhammmer Skulls event. Developed by Stillfront, the game is a Warhammer spin on the Supremacy epic strategy game, in-development for PC, iOS, and Android.

Warhammer 40,000 Darktide is getting a playable space cop, and a trusty cyber dog

Thu, 22 May 2025 16:33:08 -0000

Fatshark has revealed the next class for Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, as part of today's Warhammer Skulls event. The Adeptus Arbites - essentially Warhammer 40K's version of space police - is getting some representation, bringing with them a trusty cyber mastiff companion.

Space Marine 2 is getting cosmetics for sad space vampires and cool bikers, as well as an endless PvE Siege mode

Thu, 22 May 2025 16:34:45 -0000

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 got a chunky announcement during today's Warhammer Skulls event. Siege Mode, an endless PvE mission type, will be added to the game across all platforms for free on June 26. The pefect option for those wanting to take on the horde.

Dawn of War Definitive Edition - a modern version of the best Warhammer strategy game ever made - has just been announced

Thu, 22 May 2025 16:36:59 -0000

This is not a drill, check on the closest 30+ year old Warhammer fan you know. Dawn of War Definitive Edition has just been revealed during the Warhammer Skulls event! A modern remaster of the legendary RTS game, it'll come with all expansions packaged together in a shiny new package, and is set to release later this year.

A cult classic gets some love with the Space Marine Master Crafted Edition, launching June 10

Thu, 22 May 2025 16:39:40 -0000

After Space Marine 2 released to a supurb level of consumer and critical acclaim, it should be no shocker that the Space Marine Master Crafted Edition has just been announced during the Warhammer Skulls event.

Diablo 4's Season 9 finally lets us fight Astaroth in the endgame, but the rest of what it brings feels like a re-skin of old systems

Fri, 23 May 2025 08:42:44 -0000

Right on schedule, Blizzard delivered a long and detailed livestream covering Diablo 4’s upcoming patch 2.3.0 PTR (Public Test Realm). The developer revealed when the PTR will be going online, and what it’s actually going to include.

Elden Ring live-action movie now confirmed to be on the way from A24 and director Alex Garland, so now we wait to find out which boss gets the Chicken Jockey treatment

Fri, 23 May 2025 09:05:02 -0000

The long-rumoured Elden Ring live-action movie has now been officially confirmed, with production house A24 and director Alex Garland at the helm. Yep, watch out Super Mario Bros and Minecraft, FromSoft is sending a legion of souls-loving nerds after your box office records.

The FTC has dropped its lawsuit against Microsoft following the Activision Blizzard acquisition, letting the tech giant loose

Fri, 23 May 2025 09:19:28 -0000

The FTC has officially dropped its legal case against Microsoft following the American tech giant's aquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023. Microsoft is now free from scrutiny, and can now proceed with all manner of business shenanigans with Activision Blizzard in tow without worrying about the courts.

Elden Ring Nightreign director says Fromsoft "kind of overlooked and neglected" playing as a duo, but 2 player-friendly "post-launch support" is being considered

Fri, 23 May 2025 10:12:11 -0000

Elden Ring Nightreign's director says that while FromSoft prioritised getting the three-player and solo experiences the game offers just right for launch, folks who prefer to take on the challenges of the night as a pair might be getting some duos-focused "post-launch support".

Monster Hunter Wilds' Street Fighter collaboration is all about Akuma

Fri, 23 May 2025 13:44:21 -0000

Capcom has officially announced that, yes, in case all the teasers weren’t clear enough, the first Monster Hunter Wilds collaboration event will be with none other than Street Fighter. Collaboration events provide an opportunity for Capcom to bring elements and characters from other games into Wilds.

Eagleopolis has fallen despite Helldivers 2 players slapping up 2.5 billion squids for an opening victory in the battle for Super Earth, leaving six Mega Cities to defend

Fri, 23 May 2025 14:24:21 -0000

Do you want the good news or the bad news first? Well, good news, Helldivers 2 managed to win the first major order of the battle for Super Earth by slaughtering over two billion Illuminate. The bad news? It's not stopped Eagleopolis from falling.

There's now an Oblivion Remastered mod that lets you eat rocks

Fri, 23 May 2025 15:50:17 -0000

Thrempshs npmopw apnn Oblmpmphon Rmphstrpmshrd mphd aphmt etmphing rshks. Sorry, I've finished chewing. There's now an Oblivion Remastered mod that lets you, the almighty Hero of Kvatch and saviour of the empire (well, in the short-term), eat rocks. Leave room for dessert - there are gemstones too.

“What if I was the bad guy?” Oblivion Remastered’s best new faction quests so far exist because a modder was doing evil stuff, and they’re now teasing “a secret project”

Fri, 23 May 2025 16:00:00 -0000

If there’s one thing us folks who love a good RPG can never have enough of, it’s quests. Oblivion Remastered has plenty in its base form - The Elder Scrolls 4 not being short on stuff to do - but of course modders were always going to add to that.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 lives, as a massive community return campaign results in a new Steam player record

Tue, 27 May 2025 10:39:30 -0000

Star Wars Battlefront II has been granted a new lease of life. With a community-led effort to storm back into a war-torn galaxy, far, far away, players have flocked back to EA's sci-fi shooter in great numbers, breaking concurrent player records on Steam.

This year's Oblivion remasters got you desperate for a more modern Morrowind? Then come Nerevar, Skywind's just put out a fresh gameplay showcase

Tue, 27 May 2025 10:50:34 -0000

Sure, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered and Skyblivion either already have dropped this year or are set to arrive before 2025 is done. But the people crave more revamps of classic TES games, and the modders behind Skywind - a remake of Morrowind in Skyrim's engine - have just dropped a fresh gameplay showcase.

F1 25's Braking Point 3 delivers more Butler drama than a Downton Abbey battle royale, but I wish it had pumped the brakes a bit more often

Tue, 27 May 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Warning: Spoilers for F1 25’s Braking Point 3 mode lie head

"This is the endgame" Helldivers 2's battle for Super Earth has entered its "final phase", with agonising failure triggering an "all-out assault" on the final four cities

Tue, 27 May 2025 16:08:13 -0000

Time must fly when you're having fun. Or at least when you're defending Super Earth from a huge Illuminate invasion. Helldivers 2's latest major order is the "final phase" of the battle for the divers' home planet that's been raging since the Heart of Democracy update dropped on May 20.

"We are aiming to do it all over again!" Warhammer 40K: Boltgun 2 principal designer chats what's new with the sequel, and the team's love of Malum Caedo kitbashes

Tue, 27 May 2025 17:03:27 -0000

One of the coolest reveals at last week's Warhammer Skulls event was Boltgun 2, a sequel to the lovingly made blend of Warhammer 40K and retro Doom games. That first game earned itself a place in many people's hearts, a loving homage to two worlds. But now there's a sequel cooking away, and all eyes are on the future.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sells 3.3 million in 33 days - and this is not a joke, it's your feelgood news of the day

Wed, 28 May 2025 08:55:21 -0000

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 developer Sandfall Interactive has announced that the turn-based RPG never stopped selling well. The game, which came out just over one month ago, has now sold over 3.3 million copies worldwide.

Nintendo Switch 2 has reportedly ended up in some online folks' hands early, but don't worry, it currently looks to only be "a very nice paperweight"

Wed, 28 May 2025 09:02:35 -0000

Well, it's happened. The Nintendo Switch 2 has reportedly emerged into the wild ahead of time, into the hands of people on the internet who're keen to make videos showing off the fact that you open the box and boom - there's a Switch 2 in there. It doesn't look like any such folks are actually able to play games on the console though, thanks to an impending update.

Diablo 4 Masterworking is now less expensive, but only when it comes to materials

Wed, 28 May 2025 10:05:28 -0000

Diablo 4 received a new update overnight that delivered a small, but effective change to the cost of Masterworking in the game. More specifically, Masterworking items in Ranks 1 through 4 will now be less expensive.

UPDATE: With Super Earth on the line, Helldivers 2's developed a glitch that's stopping speedy-inputting players' stratagems from working, but Arrowhead says it'll be fixed "ASAP"

Wed, 28 May 2025 10:05:53 -0000

UPDATE (30/05/25, 10:30 AM BST): Arrowhead community manager Miitchimus has just announced via the Helldivers 2 Discord server that Arrowhead has issued an "emergency hotfix" to curb this issue with "fast input of stratagem commands not working correctly".

The Nintendo Switch 2's latest discourse asks an important question: will your grandparents notice a massive number two right under their noses?

Wed, 28 May 2025 11:31:57 -0000

You. You've asked an elderly or non-gaming person to buy you either games or a console before, right? Well, the Nintendo Switch 2's latest discourse is all about whether doing that with Ninty's latest hardware is likely to result in you accidentally getting an OG Switch instead.

Elden Ring Nightreign review: FromSoftware's weirdest experiment yet, and its most powerful message to loyal fans

Wed, 28 May 2025 14:00:02 -0000

Elden Ring Nightreign is weird. But not in a bad way. FromSoftware has taken Elden Ring as a foundation and joyfully experimented with all its individual components to create something new. Something weird. Something great. The result is a small but punchy experience, rogue-like in nature and rough around the edges. It's also, at least to me, a perfect send off for Elden Ring and The Lands Between.

Pokemon Presents locked in for July, as Pokemon Legends Z-A finally catches a proper release date for Switch 2 and OG Switch

Wed, 28 May 2025 14:00:05 -0000

Attention all Bulbasaur plushie owners and potential future Bulbasaur plushie owners. The Pokemon Company has officially announced a Pokemon Presents showcase set to take place in July. Plus, we finally know for sure when exactly Pokemon Legends Z-A will be arriving for Switch 2 and original Switch.

MindsEye is a GTA/Cyberpunk-ish game about shooting AI robots, and its co-ceo claims there's "concerted effort" involving evil bots to make people think it's rubbish

Wed, 28 May 2025 14:59:12 -0000

Yesterday, Build A Rocket Boy - the studio helmed by Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies - showed off some gameplay from the GTA-ish, Cyberpunk-ish, FarCry map editor-ish action thriller MindsEye, which is set to let you shoot a bunch of evil AI robots. Now, BARB's co-ceo has claimed that there's a real life "concerted effort to trash the game and the studio" going on, involving evil bots.

The latest tease about gaming's latest worst kept secret, Persona 4 Remake, comes from - you guessed it - a pissed-off voice actor

Wed, 28 May 2025 15:24:26 -0000

Voice actor Yuri Lowenthal has offered a tease - well, perhaps more of a vicious peeling back of the curtain - about the Persona 4 Remake on BlueSky. Persona 4 Remake, a game that has not been officially announced yet, will not be having him back as the voice of Yosuke, the actor claims. Bummer!

UPDATE: Wahey, Cyberpunk 2077's sequel has entered pre-production, and is now being called Cyberpunk 2

Wed, 28 May 2025 16:00:19 -0000

UPDATE (29/05/25, 9:00 AM BST): In the investor call accompanying these results, CD Projekt co-CEO Michał Nowakowski responded to a question speculating that Cyberpunk 2 might release around late 2030 or early 2031-ish time by saying the following:

"I can reiterate in a way what I said in one of the previous calls, which was basically that our journey from the pre-production to the final release takes four to five years on average, so a little bit less than I think what you said in the question. Having said that, keep in mind that each project is unique and there are many variables that influence the final outcomes. So, so I will not uh lead you into specific years, but yeah, I mean this is this is pretty much [what] it looks like."

Meanwhile, CDPR's senior PR manager Ola Sondej has told The Verge that Cyberpunk 2 isn't the game's official title, adding that it "just means it’s another game in the Cyberpunk universe".

Original story follows:

Dune Awakening's creative director speaks on the end game, and how the Landsraad will give key roles to crafter and killer alike

Wed, 28 May 2025 20:00:14 -0000

As of writing, Dune Awakening just got its final dev stream going over the mid and end game. These large chunks of the experience have been largely mysterious for the longest time, aside from brief mentions of the Deep Desert and the massive community effort required to interact with arguably the game's most exciting feature: The Landsraad system.

Elden Ring Nightreign's latest trailer uses Bring Me To Life by Evanescence to supercharge its early 2000s AMV energy

Thu, 29 May 2025 09:17:48 -0000

A new trailer for Elden Ring Nightreign has been released and it's, uh, an interesting one. Titled the "Bring Me To Life" trailer, it's packed full of gameplay that's cut to go alongside Evanescence's legendary song of the same name, very much like an AMV.

Black Panther game reportedly canned as EA closes Cliffhanger Games, resulting in an unspecified amount of layoffs and role switches

Thu, 29 May 2025 09:39:07 -0000

EA's decided to go back to the cutting well. Its execs have decided to cancel a Black Panther game that was in the works at Cliffhanger Games, and close the studio for good measure. An unspecified number of people will lose their jons or have to transition to other roles within EA as a result.

Only two cities are still standing in Helldivers 2's battle for Super Earth, and Arrowhead's kicked off an extra mission that might heal the player base's biggest divide

Thu, 29 May 2025 11:06:24 -0000

The last stage of Helldivers 2's battle for Super Earth is coming down to the wire, as we all expected, wth just two of the planet's seven mega cities still holding out against The Illuminate. Cue another extra major order to help the major order, and one that'll cater to the folks who've spent the whole squid invasion half a galaxy away.

Elden Ring Nightreign gets a pre-day one patch to deliver some cheeky last minute build tweaking before your first steps in Limveld, and offer advice on some PC issues

Thu, 29 May 2025 14:09:20 -0000

Elden Ring Nightreign comes out tomorrow, May 30, meaning that your wait to sample a thing we thought was quite good is almost over. Before you hop into classic ER to fight one last Malenia battle for the road, it's worth checking out the contents of the game's first patch - Version 1.01 - which FromSoft has handily deployed about a day early.

Shuhei Yoshida warns of the dangers of subscription services for video game developers, as I stare soullessly at the five monthly bank charges for games I don't play

Thu, 29 May 2025 14:55:08 -0000

Speaking to Game Developer, former head of Sony Interactive Entertainment Shuhei Yoshida has outlined his concern regarding video game subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus, especially their potential impact on third party and indie developers alike.

Quantum Witch is a story of religious oppression, queer emancipation, and a dancing skeleton that hopes to popularise the ‘plotformer’ genre

Thu, 29 May 2025 15:00:00 -0000

You might not have heard of Quantum Witch, but if you’ve an affinity for pixel-art platformers with engaging story-beats, meta-narratives, and an array of kooky characters, then you should be all over it. To just call Quantum Witch a colourful platformer with a strong narrative (read: ‘plotformer’) is to do it a disservice, though.

MindsEye studio confirms its map editory bits come from the weird "community-driven gaming platform" that was originally set to host it, clearing up like 5% of the confusion

Thu, 29 May 2025 16:13:45 -0000

MindsEye, the GTA-ish, Cyberpunk-ish action game about fighting killer AI bots that also includes UGC systems that'll let you create your own races and levels actually pulled those systems from the weird platform thingy it was originally planned to launch as part of.

Battlefield fans are convinced something big is happening on June 17

Fri, 30 May 2025 07:38:24 -0000

The Battlefield community, and general shooter fans, continue to have little to work with when it comes to news about the next Battlefield. The game has yet to be revealed, or even be given a proper title.

EA, fresh from killing a big Marvel game, reassures fans it still has three other Marvel projects it could kill in the future

Fri, 30 May 2025 08:55:54 -0000

Yesterday, EA announced it was cancelling its in-development Black Panther game, and closing down Cliffhanger Games, the studio making it. But don't worry gang, EA and Marvel have come forward to reassure fans that there are still other games in development that have yet to be suddenly and unceremoniously killed.

Elden Ring Nightreign has a killer first day on Steam, but reviews are surprisingly mixed

Fri, 30 May 2025 09:18:05 -0000

The moment many FromSoftware fans have been waiting for has arrived. Elden Ring Nightreign, the studio’s experimental, multiplayer-only off-shoot is here, having launched worldwide overnight.

With the Illuminate now on the verge of defeat, Helldivers 2 was just hit with a fresh barrage of Steam review bombing apparently rooted in a Galactic War comms mix-up

Fri, 30 May 2025 09:31:46 -0000

Helldivers 2 has been hit with a fresh burst of negative reviews on Steam over the past couple of days, and it looks like the reason for this uptick is rooted in an alleged Galactic War messaging mix-up involving Chinese players keen to defeat the Illuminate.

Oblivion Remastered just got a full Skyrim-style smithing system thanks to a modder, in case you've missed making stuff by getting very good at banging hot things

Fri, 30 May 2025 11:02:11 -0000

Right, so. Oblivion Remastered modders continue to find ways to pull off really cool stuff despite not having any official tools. The latest interesting new mod to drop adds a whole Skyrim-style smithing system and skill to the game, and it's by someone who'd already blown us away with their faction overhauls.

The studio behind Atomic Heart is kicking up a publishing arm, looking to help get more "big and bold" games made

Fri, 30 May 2025 12:51:56 -0000

Mundfish, the studio behind Atomic Heart, has announced it's opening up a publishing arm it's calling Mundfish Powerhouse. This comes alongside the studio's celebratory declaration that Atomic Heart has sold over 10 million copies.

Surprise, The Witcher 3's getting one more cheeky patch ten years on so you can enjoy mod support across consoles and PC for Gerry's big adventure

Fri, 30 May 2025 13:44:15 -0000

The Witcher 3. It's a decade old now. CD Projekt's well on its way with The Witcher 4. However, in a really cool turn of events, the studio's now realed it'll be putting out one more patch for TW3 later this year, finally bringing mods for it to consoles.

Elden Ring Nightreign update offers solo players a helping hand not even 24-hours after launch because cowards cried too loud

Fri, 30 May 2025 14:48:13 -0000

Elden Ring Nightreign hasn't even been out for 24 hours, and already the game has been made easier for solo players. Those tackling solo runs will get one free revive during the Nightlord fight that's part of the run, and will get increased rune aquisition the entire time.

Wahey, Helldivers 2 players have seen off the squids and saved Super Earth (for now), cue an over 500 comment-long train of salutes that's still growing

Fri, 30 May 2025 14:53:16 -0000

It's over. Well, for about ten minutes. Helldivers 2's battle for Super Earth has ended, with the Helldivers emerging from the siege victorious and seeing off the Illuminate. For now.

The battle to play Borderlands Online continues, as dedicated archivists ask for help in pursuit of the long lost MMO

Fri, 30 May 2025 15:00:12 -0000

The Borderlands Online archival saga continues, with the small group of people hoping to get the game playable putting out a call-to-action for those with coding experience (specifically with software like DNSpy and Unity Ripper) in order to break through the game's character selection screen.

Elden Ring Nightreign's been out less than a day, and a Souls legend is already showing off a duos mod demo for it, because of course they are

Fri, 30 May 2025 15:53:52 -0000

Boy, that escalated quickly. Elden Ring Nightreign, as I write this, has been out less than a day. So, of course someone's already put out a video demonstrating a duos mod for it.

Elden Ring Nightreign players spent the weekend battling the game's online quirks, and its many baffling omissions

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 11:13:36 -0000

Elden Ring Nightreign is here, and after selling 2 million copies in its first day and becoming developer FromSoftware’s second-biggest launch on Steam, the dust is starting to settle, giving rise to thousands of player impressions.

Elden Ring Nightreign patch to help out solo players arrives early, but those changes aren't massive

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 12:16:06 -0000

Elden Ring Nightreign servers are back online following brief maintenance earlier today. During that downtime, FromSoftware rolled out the first major-ish post-launch patch for the game, which does come with a welcome addition for solo players.

007 First Light officially revealed as the title for Hitman dev's James Bond game, and we'll see it in action later this week

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 06:54:22 -0000

IO Interactive has officially dropped the first real news on its in-development James Bond game since it was initially announced back in 2020. The game is called 007 First Light, and IO revealed it with nothing but a single piece of art on Twitter.

Duo Expeditions will officially come to Elden Ring Nightreign, as the game passes 3.5 million players

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 08:49:56 -0000

Elden Ring Nightreign launched missing many, many features most of us expect in modern multiplayer games. The co-op action RPG is designed for three players, and that’s about the only optimal way to play it.

Get ready to grind: there’s not a lot going on in the Monster Hunter Wilds Event Quests scheduled for the next couple of weeks

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 11:07:03 -0000

A new week brings with it a fresh set of Monster Hunter Wilds Event Quests, just like we’ve gotten used to since the introduction of the feature a little while after the game launched. This is somewhat of a quiet batch, however, possibly because Wilds recently received a big update that introduced Akuma as a playable character, as part of the game’s Street Fighter cross-over event.

Want to improve your Elden Ring Nightreign runs? You should really stop sleeping on your consumable items

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 13:34:51 -0000

I’ve been playing a lot of Elden Ring Nightreign… and I mean a lot. At the time of writing, I’ve ploughed around 70 hours into chaotic Expeditions and touching Remembrance quests, experimenting with what each Nightfarer is capable of and getting to know the Nightlords all too well.

After many bet against it, a PS5 State of Play is coming tomorrow with over 40 minutes of game reveals

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 14:33:40 -0000

Sony has officially announced that it’s going to be hosting an event in June after all. It’s going to be of the State of Play variety, and it will be airing live tomorrow. Sony has, in recent years, made a habit of announcing those livestreams one or two days before the event’s scheduled date.

Christmas came early because CDPR just showed over 12 minutes of The Witcher 4 gameplay

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 07:24:22 -0000

As the developer of one of the largest, most prestigious, and highly anticipated Unreal Engine 5 games currently in the works, CD Projekt Red was invited to the stage of the latest edition of State of Unreal to deliver an updated look at The Witcher 4.

With technical improvements, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet are utterly transformed on Nintendo Switch 2

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 10:28:20 -0000

I can scarcely think of a game as hampered by its performance as the original Nintendo Switch release of Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. I can think of loads of games that perform worse, of course - broken, shattered releases - but I struggle to think of a great game so thoroughly compromised just from how it runs.

Nioh 3 officially revealed - and it's not a PlayStation exclusive, even if there's a demo you can only play on PS5

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 08:02:08 -0000

As part of the PlayStation State of Play, we got treated to the surprise reveal of the next game in the Nioh action RPG series. It’s simply titled Nioh 3, and it’s going to be changing so much of what we know about Nioh.

Look who's back from the dead: Capcom's Pragmata returns with some gameplay, but still no release date

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 10:15:06 -0000

One of Capcom’s most mysterious projects currently in development has ben Pragmata, the sci-fi action game first announced all the way back in 2020 - five years ago! Pragmata was initially set to launch two years later, in 2022, but it kept vanishing off Capcom’s release calendar.

Silent Hill revival continues with Silent Hill f, set to release on original game’s anniversary

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 10:26:59 -0000

We’ve had a few glimpses at what Konami has been cooking in terms of the latest Silent Hill instalment, and while things look wholly different to that of the Silent Hill 2 Remake (or even the original Silent Hill 2), there’s no denying that the upcoming game looks promising.

Sony wheels out Ghost of Yotei just to tease a dedicated State of Play for it in July

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 11:56:16 -0000

When we first got confirmation of this week’s State of Play, Sony’s official description provided little to go on. PlayStation’s first-party output is quite slim this year, but some of us expected the company’s biggest game in 2025 - Ghost of Yotei - to make some sort of appearance.

FromSoftware is finally doing something about quest matchmaking in Elden Ring Nightreign

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 08:26:46 -0000

One of the most confusing aspects of Elden Ring Nightreign’s design don’t have much to do with in-game mechanics, or the loads of key pieces of information the game does not communicate.

Summer finally gets going in The Sims 4 with a roadmap, and the reveal of a new expansion next week

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 10:40:51 -0000

Maxis has, as promised, delivered some news about some of the content coming to The Sims 4 in the very near future. We’ve been expecting the June-August roadmap to be detailed this week, and that’s exactly what’s been revealed.

Zenless Zone Zero celebrates its first anniversary (ish) with major Version 2.0 update and launch on Xbox Series consoles

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 10:55:26 -0000

It's a big day in New Eridu as Zenless Zone Zero goes all-in on its first anniversary celebrations, including the launch of Version 2.0, a long-hoped-for Xbox port, and a log-in event that gifts players with their choice of a free S-Rank Agent and free S-Rank W-Engine from the gacha's standard banner, along with 1,600 Polychrome (currency that can be exchanged for 10 pulls on any Agent or W-Engine banner in the gacha), and an exclusive profile title and avatar so you can show off that you were there at the party.

Hopium turns into reality: Arc Raiders will be arriving in October this year

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 21:46:06 -0000

As part of today’s Summer Game Fest kick-off show, what many Arc Raiders players and fans hoped would happen did, in fact, take place. Ever since the end of the second Tech Test in early May, many of those who took part never wanted to stop playing.

Lies Of P: Overture gets surprise release right now, so you can play it instead of staring at Geoff's awful shoes

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 22:11:28 -0000

Lies Of P: Overture, the first story expansion for soulslike puppet 'em up Lies Of P, is out right now, this very minute, at this exact moment in time, for you to exchange money for on Steam. We got our first trailer for it back in February, and we got our last trailer for it just now, which was probably actually twenty or so minutes ago by the time you're reading this. Here's that first trailer.

Fractured Blooms is a cosy game about tending your garden and-- oh god that's a lot of blood

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 22:13:24 -0000

Too many cosy games about mindlessly planting turnips. Not enough cosy games about the house slowly being taken over by viscera. Fractured Blooms is tagged on Steam as "cute" and "anime" and "psychological horror". It was announced at the Summer Game Fest, where presenter Geoff Keighly described the game as "Doki Doki Literature Club meets Silent Hill". There's no release date, but here's a trailer.

Dying Light: The Beast is coming in August with the usual mix of rooftop parkour and zombie blasting

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 22:17:17 -0000

Zombie survival spin-off Dying Light: The Beast has ground down a release date into powder and injected it straight into your brainstem. It's August 22nd. Oh, there's a new trailer too.

You can soon take down James Bond's Le Chiffre in Hitman: World Of Assassination's latest Elusive Target

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 22:35:31 -0000

Earlier this week, IO Interactive showed the first trailer for their long-awaited Bond game, 007: First Light. Now they're bringing a bit of Bond back to their most famous creation, Hitman: World Of Assassination. Starting today, a new Elusive Target has been added to the game: Le Chiffre, as depicted Mads Mikkelsen in Casino Royale. There's a trailer below.

Someone else's idea of being a teenager 'em up Mixtape gets a new trailer

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 22:39:24 -0000

The Artful Escape developers Beethoven & Dinosaur announced Mixtape last year, a nostalgic (providing you're nostalgic for very specific, suburban American teenager things) skating adventure set to "soundtrack of a generation" (providing you were a suburban American teenager during that specific generation). Here's a new trailer for it.

Resident Evil 9 is real, arriving next year, and it's looking like it'll be amping up the horror once more

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 22:48:35 -0000

The impending announcement of Resident Evil 9 has been sort of hovering around for what felt like months. Insiders have been claiming for a while that we were about to see it at this or that show, but it somehow never materialised - and it looks like today's the day that's finally changed.

Body horror shooter Ill shows more of its naked monsters getting de-limbed

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 22:50:35 -0000

Cronenburgian body horror shooter Ill shared more sick filth at the Summer Game Fest, with a trailer that shows the freakish pale abominations you'll be dismembering as you travel through some horrifying concrete manifestation of your own unwellness. Ah, no wait, it's a fort where bad experiments happened. My bad, too much Silent Hill going around. Anyway, here's the trailer. There's a bit where a monster gets his arm blown off and I actually whince. Poor freak.

Jurassic World Evolution 3 brings baby dinosaurs with it this October

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 23:03:00 -0000

Jurassic World Evolution has always been an 'almost' series for me. On paper, it's such a slam dunk of a concept it feels to hard to imagine it being anything other than brilliant. In practise, the games have always felt a bit thin and tedious, even while boasting some undeniably impressive dinos. Could the third time be the charm? We'll find out later this year, anyway. Jurassic World Evolution 3 releases 21st October. Here's a trailer.

Big Walk shows off the communal joys of booting your friend's binoculars into the ocean

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 23:08:47 -0000

That spuriously attributed Henry Ford quote comes for us all, in time. If asked back in 2019 what I'd want House House to follow up Untitled Goose Game with, I would have said "bastardier gooses". I wouldn't have suggested "co-op hangout game where you solve team puzzles and shout at your mates with a megaphone from halfway across an open world when you get lost", but you know what? Now House House have explained Big Walk, I have to admit this a better idea than a terrorising hedgehog or whatever. There's never been a good game about a hedgehog, and there never will be.

Resident Evil 9 announced: it's called Requiem and it's coming February 2026

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 23:09:39 -0000

Resident Evil 9 - aka Resident Evil Requiem - is in development, there's a substantial trailer below, and most surprisingly, it already has a specific release date: February 27th, 2026.

Yakuza studio's historical action brawler is revealed as Stranger Than Heaven

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 23:28:59 -0000

The makers of the Yakuza games have revealed the title of the historical brawler they teased at last year's Game Awards, then known as "Project Century". The full name is Stranger Than Heaven, as unveiled at the Summer Game Fest. It's got a new trailer set in a smokey 1943, in which we meet the game's protagonist, and nod approvingly as he smashes a nose or two.

Please, Watch The Artwork is a "psychological spot the difference" with Edward Hopper's realist paintings

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 23:37:03 -0000

Please, Watch The Artwork is the follow-up to difference 'em up puzzler Please, Touch The Artwork 2. As hinted by creator Thomas Waterzooi, it's likely coming this October. He performed the announcement in ASMR, which almost relaxed me enough to not be annoyed by the press release's use of the word 'liminal', which in game terms usually just means 'bit spooky, innit'.

Still, it is quite spooky. The idea here is that you're a museum worker reporting anomalies in paintings. There's also a sad clown spreading melancholy throughout the art. Waterzooi is keen to point out there's no jumpscares, but you might feel "paranoid, melancholic, isolated and nostalgic". I know how much you all love making "and in the game" comments, so I won't take that away from you.

The multiplayer robot havoc of Mecha Break gets a release date

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 23:37:58 -0000

What's this? A game with big robots smashing each other to tiny little pieces above a large sci-fi cityscape, and we have not yet covered it. For shame. Mecha Break is a free-to-play multiplayer robo-battler in which you fly around and wreck online foes at speeds no mere human should ever be exposed to, and it now has a release date, as announced in a flashy trailer at the Summer Game Fest. I have no idea if playing this will be as intense as the visual heart attack it looks to be. But maybe when it comes out next month I'll try it out.

Warren Spector's Thick As Thieves shows off sneaking in emergent thunderstorms and grappling hooks

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 23:50:35 -0000

Nothing makes me feel like a sneakers-for-sneaking wearing master thief in video games more than discovering a window on a roof that the developers left in a very obvious spot precisely so I'd feel clever for using it, and in this at least, Otherside's PvP stealth game Thick As Thieves looks to have me covered. Deus Ex creator Warren Spector introduced some pre-alpha footage this evening, and while I won't pretend I'm actually likely to play anything PvP anytime soon that isn't Mechabellum, I enjoyed seeing how they've adapted some of that classic immersive sim DNA Spector is known for into a competitive format.

The demons are both tragic and hot in Possessor(s), the Hyper Light Drifter studio's new fantasy platformer

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 00:00:00 -0000

Heart Machine’s side-scrolling metroidvania platformer Possessor(s) is Hollow Knight with a splash of Amanita Design’s Creaks. The bulk of your enemies are household objects - vending machines, plant pots, office printers and other fittings that have become vessels for demons. From this premise springs a note of tragedy powerful enough to conquer my outrage at a game title that has brackets in it. The demons are not, in themselves, violent - it’s inhabiting the inanimate that maddens them. “Possessing something cold and dead is agony… so they lash out,” explains Rhem, a mortally wounded devil you meet in the prologue.

What are we all playing this weekend?

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Sometimes, the stoic, ruminant gaze and flowing mane of a himalayan tahr goat is just what we need to get us through the week. Sadly, very few of us can pull off such a look. But we can at least aspire to embody its temperament on the inside. Probably best that way - a Dualshock controller doesn't have the same oomph on a quartet of cloven hooves.

So, fellow ungulates - here's what we're all clicking on this weekend!

Pondering Geoff’s orbs

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 14:48:56 -0000

Partly in the absence of real surprises, and partly because the auditorium bass notes were making me feel queasy and dissociative, I spent a lot of this year’s Summer Games Fest showcase transfixed by Geoff Keighley’s balls. I am, of course, referring to the show’s animated backdrops, in which glutinous, gleaming orbs floated like nitrogen bubbles in a cosmic brain - sometimes tossed upon a tide of marbled petro-vomit, sometimes drifting over a scree of lava lamp effluence, sometimes hovering against sherbety silver Bermudas of arches and plinths. Immersive!

Arc Raiders prepares to stake its claim in making extraction shooters popular with an October release date

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:00:18 -0000

Arc Raiders! It's an extraction shooter! A fact that will leave many with the question, "is this the one that'll push the genre to the mainstream?" Personally I haven't the foggiest, and I don't have a horse in that race either. That kind of nonsense matters more to shareholders than it does to little old me. Still, we've not got a huge amount of time to wait to find out if Arc Raiders is the one to make extraction shooters big, as during Geoff's Livestream of Questionable Quality and Orbs, it got a release date.

Patapon spiritual successor Ratatan musically marches towards an early access release next month

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 16:52:43 -0000

If we're being honest with ourselves, the original PSP was a sort of Proto-Switch too, no? As in it was home to a lot of odd, smaller-scope games that not many other platforms might have featured outside of Nintendo's earlier handhelds. Patapon was one such tiny oddity, one of the most charming games on the platform, if not to ever outright exist. It did go on to get a couple of sequels, but the series (outside of an upcoming remaster of the first two) is sort of dead. Luckily, Ratatan, a spiritual successor from Patapon's creator is here to satisfy your tiny-guy-chanting-to-music needs with a newly revealed release date!

GameBoy style digging game about a cat with a big drill gets a release date

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 17:00:00 -0000

GameBoy-styled fantasy adventure Everdeep Aurora has dug deep enough to uncover a release date. If you've missed this pretty retro platformer, it looks sort of like a monochromatic SteamWorld Dig but with friends to meet instead of enemies to smash. You are a cat, and your cat mum has gone missing. The only clue is a note from her telling you to dig down and find her. It's a little bit Spelunky, a little bit Gato Roboto, and it's coming out in a month's time.

A courtroom drama deckbuilder about avenging a murdered river? Why not

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 17:05:00 -0000

While the upcoming Slay the Spire 2 hovers threateningly over the deckbuilding landscape, one game in the genre is replacing the usual boney arithmetic with harsh words, legal loopholes, and subtle threats. All Will Rise is a "narrative deckbuilder" set in a tense courtroom where you play a lawyer cross-examining those who may or may not be involved in the brutal murder of a holy river.

Toem 2 looks just as lovely as the first one, and a bit more 3D, in its first gameplay trailer

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 17:59:40 -0000

Remember Toem? That was a bloody lovely game. I'm always partial to a game where photography is the core mechanic, there's such a specific joy in navigating a space attempting to capture a fracture of its essence. Photo modes just aren't the same, I want someone to textually give me a camera and send me on my way. A sequel was announced last year, quite simply called Toem 2, and during yesterday's Day of the Devs, some gameplay was shown off for the first time.

Rogue Trader devs Owlcat are making an Expanse RPG with Mass Effect-style combat

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 20:05:00 -0000

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader and Pathfinder: Kingmaker developers Owlcat Games are venturing into the realm of "hard sci-fi" with The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, a new RPG based on the James S. A. Corey novels and Syfy TV adaptations. It's an original story that casts you as a Pinkwater Security mercenary, who starts out trapped on Eros Station - an asteroid base that undergoes cataclysmic upheaval in the TV show - and later takes charge of an advanced starship, so as to quest around the solar system. The game is inspired by BioWare's Mass Effect series, with "tactical" third-person combat featuring two ally characters and cover mechanics. Also, crew romances. Here's a trailer.

Neverway continues to make a compelling case for horror farming-sims in a new showcase from its devs

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 20:42:07 -0000

I don't think you can more easily sell me on a game than by saying it was made by one of the artists behind Celeste, and has music from Disasterpeace, i.e. the composer behind Fez, Hyper Light Drifter, and It Follows. But that's exactly what Neverway is, a horror RPG in the vein of Stardew Valley first announced back in April, back with a nice little look-in at yesterday's Day of the Devs presentation.

Constance is a beautiful, hand-drawn metroidvania that actually has a release date

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 21:35:36 -0000

Now, I'm not naming any names here, but there's a certain hand-drawn metroidvania that everyone's a bit sick of waiting for by this point, and could really do with a release date. OK, fine, yes it's Hollow Knight: Silksong, and if those recent Steam backend updates mean anything, I expect it'll get some kind of update sometime in the next few days. In the meantime, here's Constance, also a hand-drawn metroidvania, that actually does have a release date.

A Roman Sands RE:Build release date and a tease for a new edition of Paratopic is exactly what the doctor ordered

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 21:51:42 -0000

I've been excited about Roman Sands RE:Build since the moment I laid my eyes on it, particularly because it's from the same studio behind the ever-haunting Paratopic. Roman Sands just has a ridiculously strong art direction to it, very much one that could easily be dubbed Y2K, but I think more accurately should be seen as an evolution of the aesthetic/ era. Almost as if this is the direction it could have gone in.

The Sunday Papers

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 10:00:00 -0000

Sundays are for playing around with the Nintendo Switch 2, of course. Let's round up some writing from across the week first.

Jon Hicks, the former fifth Beatle of RPS and current co-host of Alice Bell's post-RPS podcast Total Playtime, has launched a newsletter. It's called Screen Grab and he's beginning it with a series of missives about the not-E3 showcases. You should subscribe, because Jonty is smart and funny and I want him to write more.

What's on your bookshelf?: you are safe to lick the green books again edition

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week - our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! No cool industry person this week. Instead, fantastic news: thanks to a new device that identifies trace levels of the arsenic once used to make book covers green, you can go back to laying fat St. Bernards on every sour lime flavoured tome you see, safe in the knowledge that the ones liable to give you the rare nosebleeding condition known as the 'hungry librarian' have been safely quarantined. Huzzah.

Resonance: A Plague Legacy leaks early with a short teaser video

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 15:58:53 -0000

The rats have escaped, and one of them is clutching a fifteen second teaser trailer for a new Plague Tale game from Focus. The teaser briefly squeaked its way to the sunlight on Focus's Threads account before being swiftly shooed back into its hole, but the rapscallions over at the gaming leaks and rumours subreddit grabbed the details. Of course, we don't say rapscallions here. We say rapspringonions. Here's the trailer, via our great mates Eurogamer.

Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream breaks cover to reveal a release date

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 16:17:51 -0000

Nordic stealth game Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream crept out from behind some barrels during last night's Future Games Show and hit audiences over the back of the head with a release date. Some of the developers also showed up to share their enthusiasm for the game's lighting effects, which to be fair are quite nice.

The Outer Worlds 2 gets a release date

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 17:12:55 -0000

The Outer Worlds 2 has a release date. It was shown in a new trailer at the Xbox Games Showcase, and featured something several unnamed scientists are calling "humour".

High On Life 2 comes to run the joke further into the ground this Winter

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 17:22:37 -0000

High On Life 2, the FPS from former Rick And Morty actor Justin Roiland's Squanch games, is coming this Winter, as per tonight's Xbox showcase. The trailer looked heavily doctored despite the "in-game footage' claim, but it looks to be more of the same with the volume turned up: talking guns, aliens, weird abilities like a turtle with flamethrower breath, and the same two or three jokes stomped so far into the ground they end up melting in the glow of the earth's core.

Ninja Gaiden 4 gets October release date

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 17:27:04 -0000

Ninja Gaiden 4 will be released on 21st October this year, across Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PS5.

Xbox's handheld is coming this year, is also really a new Asus ROG Ally

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 17:30:03 -0000

Xbox are making a handheld - sort of, more on that in a bit - and it'll launch this year. Every game shown during this evening's Xbox Games Showcase will also be playable on it, we're told. That includes Hollow Knight: Silksong when it releases, which was shown repeatedly during the handheld's trailer, which you'll find below.

Bloober's Cronos: The New Dawn gets release window

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 17:30:21 -0000

Bloober's next game, Cronos: The New Dawn, will be released this autumn - presumably in time for Halloween.

Microsoft's Xbox-branded ASUS handheld finally gets an official reveal

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 17:30:52 -0000

It wasn't much of a secret, but Microsoft's Xbox-branded third-party handheld is finally official. As rumoured, it's been made in partnership with ASUS, and is launching later this year.

The Blood Of Dawnwalker, the vampire RPG from former CD Projekt folks, is coming out 2026

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 17:32:50 -0000

Vampires always come out at 6pm BST, that's a fact. At tonight's Xbox Showcase, for example. Rebel Wolves showed off more of their vampiric RPG, The Blood Of Dawnwalker, in a trailer that schedules it for a 2026 release.

Ninja Gaiden 4 is out this October

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 17:34:27 -0000

Ninja Gaiden 4 has painted a release date in hot blood upon the floor of the Xbox showcase. Which is fitting, blood being premium currency for Microsoft these days. The character action game is out this year, October 21st. Catch the trailer below before it slinks back into the shadows

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of Giants DLC coming September

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 17:36:00 -0000

If you can't wait to crack the whip for another round with everyone's favourite fedora wearing professor, I have good news. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's DLC - The Order of Giants - is set for release this autumn.

Clockwork Revolution resurfaces with a detailed new trailer, but no release date yet

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 17:41:51 -0000

Tick tock, that's the sound of your life marching ever closer to the grave. Better squeeze in another video game. Clockwork Revolution is the steampunk time travel shooter from RPG folks InXile Entertainment. The developers of this have been quiet the last couple of years, but it's back with an appearance at Xbox showcase, this time with an extensive trailer you'll find below.

The Outer Worlds 2 gets October release date, £70 price tag

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 17:52:59 -0000

Obsidian Entertainment has announced the release date for The Outer Worlds 2.

Rumoured Persona 4 remake officially revealed, as director hints at more from the series

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 17:58:40 -0000

The rumoured Persona 4 remake has finally been officially revealed at today's Xbox Games Showcase.

Dontnod are working with the European Space Agency to make sci-fi adventure game Aphelion

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 17:58:58 -0000

Of all the space exploration agencies to consult while making a videogame, perhaps the European Space Agency is the best bet. Dontnod, the makers of Life Is Strange, have teamed up with the organisation of euronauts to create a third-person action adventure about an astronaut struggling to survive after crash landing on an alien planet. It's called Aphelion, and it'll be out sometime in 2026. Here's a trailer from the Xbox Games Showcase.

Indiana Jones And The Great Circle's first DLC arrives September

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:01:37 -0000

Indiana Jones And The Great Circle contained at least one big lad, that I remember. Now it's expansion is sending you to the land of the big lads. At this evening's Xbox Game Showcase, Machine Games announced the first DLC for their first-person archaeol-'em-up, titled The Order of Giants. The trailer below doesn't show much, but there's a release date: September 4th.

Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake are finally on Xbox, but is it too late?

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:05:05 -0000

At today's Xbox Showcase, Square Enix revealed Final Fantasy 16 is finally available right now on Xbox. Further, Final Fantasy 7 Remake will also make its way to the platform this winter.

Grounded's inch-high garden survival is getting a sequel, and it's out soon

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:05:12 -0000

Just as I was starting to being able to walk by hedges again without getting terrible spider-based flashbacks, Obsidian has announced a sequel to its wonderful 2020 garden survival game, Grounded, and it's launching surprisingly soon.

Persona 4 remake announced at Xbox showcase

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:08:34 -0000

Atlus have announced a remake of Persona 4, called Persona 4 Revival, possibly because they have run out of ideas, just like everyone else. I snark, I snark, it's the summer of video games, we're allowed to do a bit of that. Here's the short trailer showing the flashified protag-kun running through the city streets in his school uniform.

Here's a new trailer for Gears of War: Reloaded, as Xbox teases revivals of Forza and Halo

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:12:04 -0000

At tonight's Xbox showcase, we were all treated to a rather bombastic showing for Gears of War: Reloaded.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 announced, promises to be "most mind-bending" Black Ops ever

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:15:01 -0000

As is tradition, the Call of Duty series is returning once again for its annual dollop of guns and ammunition, and today Activision has announced Black Ops 7.

Grounded 2 brings big bug survival to Game Preview this July

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:15:40 -0000

Grounded 2, the sequel to Obsidian's Honey I Shrunk The Kids 'em up, has been announced for a July 29th release into Xbox's Game Preview program - effectively early access. It's looking very similar to the previous game so far - a creative survival game where regular garden features like spiders and plants becoming terrifying foes and imposing megastructures. Trailer below. It's got some early Offspring in it! God. Smash is 21 years old. Shrink me into a pile of dust (Edit: It's 31. Forgive these ancient, useless eyes.)

Pokémon developer Game Freak reveals Beast of Reincarnation at Xbox Games Showcase

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:27:28 -0000

Game Freak, the developer of the Pokémon series, has revealed its new game Beast of Reincarnation at today's Xbox Games Showcase.

Double Fine's next game looks gorgeous and is coming in October

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:27:47 -0000

Double Fine's next game is called Keeper and it's about steering a four-legged lighthouse through a lush 3D world, with some puzzle-solving along the way. Its creation is being led by Lee Petty, who was previously project lead on Double Fine's RAD and Headlander. There's a trailer below, which also brings news that it won't be long before it releases.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 has been announced - can someone please explain the plot of these games to me?

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:31:02 -0000

A gruff man appears and gruffly tells you to gruff 'em up. You grimace, gruffawingly. It can only mean one thing: Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 has been announced, showing off a flashy sci-fi trailer at the Xbox showcase.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 gets pre-order exclusive demo and a Ninja Turtle

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:43:57 -0000

With its July arrival almost upon us, Activision has announced a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 demo, but it's a pre-order exclusive, making it very much the opposite of 'try before you buy'.

Everything announced in Microsoft's Xbox Games Showcase

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:47:22 -0000

The Xbox Showcase 2025 has just concluded, and with it a bunch of new reveals and updates for existing Xbox games have just been thrown out for your viewing pleasure. It was a hefty show, with plenty to look over, marking a lot to look out for those Xbox fans out there.

There Are No Ghosts At The Grand was a real highlight of tonight's Xbox showcase

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:50:53 -0000

'Weird' is one of those words I try to avoid because it usually just means "I'm not going to even attempt to understand or unpack the specific thing this is going for", but supernatural hotel renovator There Are No Ghosts At The Grand really stood out to me this evening for a tone that felt pretty singular in a weekend weighed down by soulslikes and shooters. Broadly, it looks like your Powerwash Sims and House Flippers, but with the added wrinkle that neither of the games feature dapper old gents crooning ska ditties at you. Here's a trailer.

Gorgeous 2D adventure Planet of Lana is getting a sequel

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:55:26 -0000

Planet of Lana is getting a sequel called Children of the Leaf and it's due out next year.

Super Meat Boy 3D will give the bloody mascot a new dimension in 2026

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 19:02:27 -0000

A 3D sequel to the masochistic 2010 platformer Super Meat Boy was announced at the Xbox showcase. It's simply called Super Meat Boy 3D and it basically looks exactly how you'd expect in the trailer below.

Upcoming creature catcher Aniimo draws Palworld and DokeV comparisons

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 19:02:57 -0000

There's another creature-catching game on the horizon. This one is known as Aniimo, and is described as a "new free-to-play, next-gen creature-catching open-world ARPG", which is set for Xbox Series X/S, PC and mobile some time next year.

Mudang: Two Hearts is a stealth action thriller, like Splinter Cell with K-pop and rage zombies

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 19:10:29 -0000

Ubisoft are nowhere to be found during this year's not-E3 season, meaning there's no opportunity for the French publisher to announce six new games they'll never release. I still crave a Splinter Cell fix, however, and Mudang: Two Hearts delivered, kinda. It's Korean, it's got fast-moving rage zombies, but it's also got men shimmying up pipes, cinematic brawls, and a rapid-cut montage of knife crimes. You should watch the trailer.

Here's a fresh look at Clockwork Revolution, coming "in due time"

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 19:29:39 -0000

An extended look at Clockwork Revolution was shown at today's Xbox Games Showcase, which is "coming in due time".

Psychonauts studio returns with sentient lighthouse adventure Keeper

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 19:30:07 -0000

Four years after the release of Psychonauts 2, developer Double Fine has returned with Keeper. It's a third-person action-adventure charting the mysterious journey of a suddenly sentient lighthouse, and it's launching for Xbox Series X/S and PC this October.

Don't Nod's next game sends us out of this world, with a little help from European Space Agency

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 19:48:25 -0000

Don't Nod - the studio behind the likes of Jusant, Life is Strange 1 and 2, and Lost Records: Bloom & Rage - has revealed its next game.

Ocean 4X strategy sim Endless Legend 2 will release in early access this August

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 20:45:00 -0000

The wait for Endless Legend 2 is no longer without end. Developers Amplitude and publishers Hooded Horse have announced that the 4X strategy game will release into early access on 7th August 2025.

GOG announce a new new one-click system aiming to "take things to another level entirely" for fuss-free modding

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 21:00:00 -0000

After providing a go-to place for very big and very buggy Fallout 4 mod Fallout: London last year, GOG have just announced that they're expanding their efforts to be a go-to place of you want to easily play high-profile or must-have mods for certain games.

The old and also new game merchants have revealed a new initiative aimed at offering "seamless mod integration", as well as announcing that they'll be hosting Skyblivion - the modding project remaking Oblivion in Skyrim's engine that currently targeting a release this year - when it arrives.

Skyblivion project lead and GOG chat about partnering up to release the massive Elder Scrolls mod following Fallout: London's troubled success

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 21:00:00 -0000

Skyblivion’s been on track to come out in 2025 for a little while now, and now we know at least one of the places you’ll be able to grab it when it arrives - GOG.com.

The massive modding project that’s remaking The Elder Scrolls 4 in Skyrim’s engine has been in the works for over a decade. Having not had their hard work torpedoed by Bethesda and Virtuos’ own Oblivion remaster, its team are currently grafting hard to ensure they’re ready when the time comes to pull the release trigger.

With the mod now confirmed by GOG to be arriving on the PC storefront in 2025, assuming it makes its current release goal, I reached out to Skyblivion project lead Kyle 'Rebelzize' Rebel and GOG themselves. We chatted about what went into the decision for the same PC storefront that hosted Fallout: London’s release last year to handle this Oblivion-remaking Skyrim mod, and where progress is at on the road to release.

Sunless Sea studio Failbetter's Mandrake is a rural life sim with a folklore twist

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 21:55:36 -0000

Sunless Sea and Mask of the Rose developer Failbetter Games has unveiled Mandrake, its very first project away from the Fallen London universe. It's a rural life sim set in a "world of old, wild powers" where horticulture is forbidden, and it'll eventually be making its way to PC.

Star Trek Beyond co-writer joins Mass Effect TV series as a showrunner

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 07:55:27 -0000

Things are picking up on the Mass Effect TV series. Over the weekend, it was announced that Doug Jung - known for his work on the upcoming Chief of War and as a co-writer for Star Trek Beyond - has joined Amazon's Mass Effect TV series as a showrunner.

The Persona 4 remake is definitely real, and it's called Persona 4 Revival

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 08:01:29 -0000

The days of speculating about, and pouring over Persona 4 remake leaks are over, because the game has been officially announced. Earlier today, we got our first (and very brief) look at an updated version of one of the most beloved Persona games.

Black Ops 7 is a sequel to Black Ops 2, and it's bringing co-op campaign back to Call of Duty

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 08:52:57 -0000

Xbox couldn’t end its summer Games Showcase without teasing the next Call of Duty, which, just like rumours and reports have long suggested, is a Black Ops sequel. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is the first consecutive release within the Black Ops series, and it arrives later this year.

The Rogue Prince of Persia finally leaving early access

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 08:59:00 -0000

The Rogue Prince of Persia is finally leaving early access with a full 1.0 release set for August.

Xbox finally cracks the Summer Game Fest special - the cost is them owning everything

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 09:16:48 -0000

It feels quite apt that Xbox has really started to nail this summer showcase business these past few years. Those few years being right when the summer showcase as a concept is starting to look just a little out of date. Back in the heady E3 days, team green used to pack out their LA Live Microsoft theatre, just along from the main show floor, and then frequently go on to, most of the time, sort of biff it. In the post E3 years that moved to the slightly smaller-still-swanky Grammy Museum, as Xbox stubbornly refused to give up an inch of ground in a fight that had, actually, really ended quite a long time ago. Sony and Nintendo had long since moved to doing everything via some version of pre-recorded direct. And now this year, when it feels like it's finally cracked the summer game showcase formula for good, finally listened and learned and done all of that good stuff, it also clocked on that it might be time to follow its peers in sagely ducking out of the in-person wrestlefest at last.

Alien city explorer Bernband reemerges from a sci-fi alleyway

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 10:01:19 -0000

The appearance of Bernband during last night's PC Gaming Show had a few of us at RPS clicking our fingers and pointing at our monitors yelling: "Bernband! Bernband!" This remake of the best sci-fi walking sim of 2014 has been in the works for a while. Creator Tom van den Boogaart has dipped in and out of working on the alien wanderer, often switching focus to other projects such as Grunn. But now it looks like we are once again getting a trickle of sweet extraterrestrial wanderlust. Here's a trailer.

Persona-inspired Demonschool gets release window following last year's delay

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 10:05:10 -0000

The Persona-inspired horror game Demonschool has a new release window, following a delay last year.

Paralives, the long-anticipated indie Sims-like, finally announces an early access release date, adding to 2025's already packed life sim line-up

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 10:15:48 -0000

It's been almost exactly six years since developer Alex Massé (of PewDiePie's Tuber Simulator fame) announced his indie life sim Paralives; now, the game finally has an early access release date, courtesy of its appearance at last night's PC Gaming Show at Summer Game Fest. And, as promised, it's going to be coming out this year – although you're going to have to wait until December 8 to get your hands on this painterly Sims-like.

Mewgenics, the cat breeding roguelike from The Binding Of Isaac creator, has been delayed to avoid fighting other big moggies

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 10:28:08 -0000

Mewgenics, the long-in-development endless cat breeding game from devs Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel, has just had its release pencilled in for February 10th, 2026, by a fresh trailer. Yes, it’s still looking very weird and nigh impossible to explain to a mate in less than two minutes.

Following on from the trailer it got in April, this latest one roped in the most fitting collab Binding of Isaac developer McMillen and co could have landed, in the form of sinewy surrealism expert and YouTuber MeatCanyon. We’ve also gotten a nice overview of where the devs are at in assembling their weird feline with two heads.

Team Cherry confirms Hollow Knight: Silksong is coming this year following Xbox Games Showcase

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 10:36:39 -0000

Team Cherry has confirmed that Hollow Knight Silksong will be coming out before the holiday season this year, following the game's appearance at last night's Xbox Games Showcase.

Mario creator left out of Mario Kart World credits

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 10:58:15 -0000

Shigeru Miyamoto may well be a Nintendo legend, known for giving the world iconic characters such as Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong, but even so, fans have noticed that his name has been omitted from the credits of Mario Kart World.

Say hello to the new Eurogamer team

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 11:01:00 -0000

Let's cut to the chase, if you're reading this you've probably been wondering what is going on at Eurogamer. There have been a fair number of changes recently, but work has been going on behind the scenes to build out the team, and, dare I say it, things are looking good.

inZOI's May update finally gets June release date - here's what to expect

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 11:26:42 -0000

The next major gameplay update for inZOI, Krafton’s very successful life sim (basically a modern The Sims), was initially set to arrive in May. However, it kept getting pushed back, so much so that it's already June, and it has yet to arrive.

Nintendo's Switch 2 has a secret GameCube startup sound

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 11:30:53 -0000

The launch of Nintendo's Switch 2 has finally brought GameCube games to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, but there's also a secret startup sound.

Don't worry, confused skongers, Hollow Knight: Silksong's release definitely isn't tied to that Xbox handheld

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 11:53:51 -0000

The collective desperation for Hollow Knight: Silksong has evolved. Rather than people getting all up a height about the prospect of getting any news about it, they've now been left up a height due to confusion around some news they have gotten about the game. Cue Team Cherry having to step in to offer a bit of clarification about Silksong's Xbox Showcase cameo yesterday.

In case you were washing your hair, Silksong popped up during the bit that saw Microsoft introduce its handheld, the ROG Xbox Ally. There was the usual hardware spinning around and looking cool, plus Xbox's Sarah Bond saying when Silksong popped up on the handheld's screen that the game'll be "available at launch and in Game Pass when the Ally releases later this year".

Indie Sims-like Paralives launches in early access this December

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 12:00:44 -0000

Indie Sims-like Paralives has landed itself an early access release date.

Obsidian's Dungeons & Dragons RPG Neverwinter Nights 2 gets an Enhanced Edition next month

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 13:22:59 -0000

Neverwinter Nights 2 - the 2006 RPG from Obsidian based on D&D 3.5 - is getting an Enhanced Edition, and it's out next month. 'Enhanced' in this case means nicer textures, camera improvements, Steam Deck and controller compatibility, and Steam Workshop mod integration. It's out next month, July 15th.

At Fate’s End is a witchy swordy slashy from the Spiritfarer developers

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 13:27:57 -0000

Hey, that's the Gary Oldman Dracula armour, I thought to myself as I watched the trailer for At Fate's End last night. That's the raddest and reddest armour anyone has ever worn, and any game with armour that looks like it has my interest. Oh, oh. It's from Spiritfarer developers Thunder Lotus? You can ride a giant bull who looks like it subsists entirely on HGH and Weetabix? Yeah, go on then. Go on all the way.

A review of the Switch 2 as much as you can review a new console after a weekend in its company

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 13:35:00 -0000

For years, the rule in Hollywood was pretty simple: familiarity but with a twist. Cheers, but it's in a coffee shop, and everyone's in their twenties. Lost, but it's in LA with Joseph Fiennes. Sure, this didn't always work - I still think fondly of you, FlashForward - but it worked a lot of the time. Crucially, it was easy to grasp why it should work. We love formulas, and we love gentle variations on the formula to keep us guessing, to keep us nimble. But at the heart of it there's familiarity, and familiarity is a very, very lovely thing in the right circumstances.

I don't know how good Mario Kart World's Free Roam actually is, but it's perfect for me

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 13:35:00 -0000

A caveat here first, explaining why my thoughts on this are probably irrelevant, and then some thoughts on this. Caveat: I don't think I've ever truly loved Mario Kart since one magical evening at university in which a bunch of us played Mario Kart 64, then newly released, on split-screen all night long and into the morning. I loved that game so much - each moment was such a hectic joy. And it used me up a bit. I haven't really been able to engage with the series with quite the same thrill since.

The Blood of Dawnwalker is vampire Witcher, and it looks rad in its latest gameplay trailer

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 13:38:14 -0000

The Blood of Dawnwalker is a title many fans of The Witcher series have had an eye on even before it was given its name. That’s because it comes from Rebel Wolves, a team of CD Projekt Red veterans, and one that revealed its presence back in 2022.

Ending the Xbox Summer Game Fest Showcase with COD: Black Ops 7 was a terrible decision, even though it no doubt made perfect sense

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 14:08:36 -0000

Xbox had a really good showing on Sunday, its showcase at the tail end of a Summer Game Fest period that has at times felt rather glib managing to make people feel happy about video games again - at least for a little bit. It was full of the kind of quirky and interesting-looking games that in years past would have been reserved for PlayStation's E3 showcase, with only a smattering of what you might call Big games with a capital B. That was until the end.

Nintendo has delayed its Legend of Zelda film

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 14:11:08 -0000

Nintendo has delayed its Legend of Zelda film to later in 2027.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and Silent Hill f livestream announced by Konami

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 14:30:18 -0000

Here's a new date for your bumper summer line up of video game showcases: Konami has today announced its own livestream, which will give us all a fresh look at both Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and Silent Hill f.

Few trailers were as cool as Stranger Than Heaven's Summer Game Fest reveal, and not just because the Yakuza dev's DNA is all over it

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 14:37:58 -0000

Though you may not vibe with every one of their games, it’s hard to deny that the people behind the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series have an abundant sense of style. It’s not every year, however, we get a new franchise from the legendary Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, but damn if this next title doesn’t look special.

007: First Light's Bond plays "more reckless" than Agent 47's murder chess, and after scissoring Mads Mikkelsen before diving off a balcony, I think I get it

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 15:26:36 -0000

As soon as Hitman devs IO Interactive were revealed to be making a Bond game, I was on board with it. Agent 47 and 007 have a bunch in common, at least in terms of the sneaky, shooty, or stabby stuff their jobs entail, so IO'd be putting a fresh twist on a kind of game it's already proven great at making. There is a difference though, and having killed Le Chiffre in Hitman over the weekend, I feel like I understand it better than before.

IO exec Hakan Abrak has offered his view on how 007: First Light's Bond will play differently to 47 in an interview with IGN, which I'm glad to see also saw him emphasise that the studio aren't done with the Hitman series.

Call of Duty team "committed" to bringing series to Nintendo, as Black Ops 7 release omits Switch 2

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 16:38:14 -0000

The next Call of Duty installment was announced over the weekend, along with its release platforms: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is slated to debut across Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PS4, and PC.

Gorgeous stealth adventure Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream gets July release date and demo

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 17:52:38 -0000

Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream - the stealth adventure that's been eliciting all sorts of oohs and ahhs thanks to its lovely looks and impressive motion capture - finally has a release date. It's coming to PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on 15th July, with a demo available now.

Crimson Desert is a dork ass enormity of an open world action-RPG

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 00:02:46 -0000

Some game demos, you write up after the expo because they need a bit of reflection; some game demos, you write up immediately because they are easy to digest, even through a droning fugue of jetlag; and some game demos, you write up immediately because they synchronise perfectly with your swivel-eyed, hyper-caffeinated delirium.

Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon is better than I expected it to be, and piggybacks on the small-team RPG momentum of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 08:12:50 -0000

There's a strong and immediate sense of Elder Scrolls to Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon. In so many ways it feels like the exact same experience. First-person: check. Fantasy: check. Begins in a prison cell: check. Skills increase as you use them: check. Stealth works the same (even the icon is identical), combat and dialogue feel familiar. This is a copy of Elder Scrolls barely concealed.

Lies of P: Overture will have difficulty reduced in future update

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 09:01:56 -0000

Lies of P is set to receive further updates, including "difficulty reduction", following the release of its Overture DLC.

SAG-AFTRA union reach "tentative agreement" with game companies that could end the latest voice actor strike

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 09:55:00 -0000

Video game voice actor union SAG-AFTRA say they've reached a "tentative agreement" with a group of games companies that could bring an end to the latest voice actor strike, providing it gets approved by the union's National Board and members.

This tentative deal "puts in place the necessary AI guardrails that defend performers’ livelihoods in the A.I. age, alongside other important gains," say SAG-AFTRA. That's been the key issue at the heart of this strike, with the union citing a desire to push for protections against VAs being replaced or imitated by AI, though it has previously faced some criticism for how it's handled striking deals with companies that use AI.

Gears of War: Reloaded multiplayer beta coming this weekend

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 10:09:45 -0000

The Gears of War team is hosting a beta for Reloaded, which will allow participants to "experience all the curb-stomping mayhem of the versus multiplayer" across platforms.

Twisted Metal Season 2 finally teases actual Twisted Metal race, plus brief look at Axel

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 10:26:06 -0000

An exclusive clip of the upcoming Twisted Metal Season 2 has been released exclusively by IGN. In it, we see the hectic start of the show's version of the Twisted Metal tournament.

Elden Ring Nightreign players are currently obsessed with an ultra-rare item they believe hides a major secret

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 10:43:08 -0000

It wouldn’t be a FromSoftware game without some deep, deep lore, and secrets that send you down rabbit holes, and it looks like Elden Ring Nightreign players have come across the first one of those in the co-op game.

For the Switch 2, Zelda, in all its forms, has become the perfect in-between game

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 10:59:00 -0000

Considering it’s a console that didn’t launch with a brand new Zelda game, it’s fascinating that the Switch 2 is somehow still the Zelda-est console Nintendo has ever made. That’s what it feels like anyway. Just look at the Nintendo Switch Online offering, which covers everything from the original Zelda on the NES to absolute classics like Link to the Past and Ocarina as well as weirdo off-shoots like the Oracle games, Four Swords and the Minish Cap.

UK actor's union Equity applauds "tenacity and persistence" of SAG-AFTRA members as tentative agreement over AI reached

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 11:03:19 -0000

UK actors' union Equity has applauded the "tenacity and persistence" of SAG-AFTRA video game performers, following news the US union has reached a tentative agreement after almost a year on strike. It now calls upon the industry to negotiate for UK performers too.

MindsEye launches in a matter of hours, but day one patch still unavailable for Xbox version

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 11:30:58 -0000

UPDATE 4.26pm: Build A Rocket Boy has confirmed to Eurogamer that launch day patches for MindsEye are now available across all platforms, ready for the game's 6pm release. That's PlayStation, Xbox and PC.

Xbox Ally handhelds: Microsoft takes its next step towards a Windows-driven future

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 12:00:32 -0000

After reports that Microsoft is "sidelining" its own first-party developed handheld, the new Xbox Showcase revealed two new mobile devices - Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X. These machines are hardware collaborations with Asus, bringing Xbox hardware design ideas to the table in combination with a revamped version of Windows that puts gaming first. There are profound, welcome changes here - but one big question needs to be addressed. Is this the first new Microsoft offering no backwards compatibility with the Xbox digital library? Is this an Xbox that doesn't play Xbox console games? If so, this is a bump in the road in Microsoft's journey forward - and must be addressed.

Wizards of the Coast will make "CRPGs that are going to be as serious as BG3", and their D&D action game wants to be the stuff of gelatinous cube dreams

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 12:15:50 -0000

Wizards of the Coast knows the people thirst for more more Baldur's Gate 3-ish CRPGs, and the company's president has made it clear they still plan on making those kinds of things, even if the D&D action game they recently announced will be a different kettle of magic frogs

"Don’t get me wrong," said President John Hight when speaking to Polygon about the different possibilities making a D&D game offers being a factor in going that route with this latest game, "we are going to do CRPGs that are going to be as serious as BG3."

Splatoon Raiders announced for Switch 2, plus a chonky Splatoon 3 update incoming

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 13:03:12 -0000

Nintendo has announced Splatoon Raiders for Switch 2.

Elden Ring Nightreign's latest patch casually nerfs a couple of things, but the Demon Merchant will now spawn when they should

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 13:04:38 -0000

Earlier today, Elden Ring Nightreign servers went offline for an hour of maintenance to prepare for the release of a new patch. This one is on the smaller size, bearing the version number 1.01.2, so you know it’s not going to be massive.

InZoi primed for August Mac debut, as Steam numbers plummet

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 13:38:12 -0000

Early access life sim InZoi will be releasing on Mac this August, the team has announced.

Switch 2 is reportedly Nintendo's biggest UK launch, but sits behind PS5 and Xbox Series X/S

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 14:19:52 -0000

Switch 2 has been Nintendo's biggest launch here in the UK, but sits behind the launches of Sony's PS5 and Microsoft's Xbox Series X/S.

Amazon has dropped $100 off this Alienware 360Hz refresh rate monitor today, and I think it's a top pick for competitive gamers

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 14:50:31 -0000

Esports pros aren’t the only gamers who need higher frame rates these days, with advancements in GPUs squeezing more and more frames out of games.

Helldivers 2 just rolled out mega city battles against the Terminids, kicking off an "unprecedented assault" of bug fascism

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 14:52:01 -0000

Helldivers 2 developers Arrowhead have unleashed the latest twist in the game's Galactic War, with urban battles against the Terminids now on the cards. Rather than defending cities on Super Earth, this time the task is swatting bug invasions of population centres across multiple planets.

A tough assignment, but to be fair, successfully protecting their home planet against the still-at-large Illuminate should have given players plenty experience of street fighting (not the Ryu and Chun-Li kind).

Obsidian's The Outer Worlds 2 looks to fix the problems it always knew the original had

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Brandon Adler, The Outer Worlds 2's director, tells me the team at Obsidian knew exactly what would and wouldn't go down well with the original. "Before the first game even shipped, I did a full breakdown of: here's what I think people are going to like and dislike about the game," he says. "And here's what I think the press is going to like and dislike. And I think we should address these things in the next one."

Hi-Fi Rush rhythm-action rival No Straight Roads is getting a sequel

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 15:11:22 -0000

Rhythm action game No Straight Roads is set to receive a sequel across PC and consoles next year.

You're not alone in thinking Lies of P: Overture is a bit tough, but an update is coming to smooth things over

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 15:59:57 -0000

Finding Lies of P: Overture a bit too hard? Don't worry, I'm not going to tell you just "get good" like those randos you see littered all over Twitter. I'm actually here to say that you're not alone on this one. The story expansion for the conceptually weirdest Soulslike in town dropped during Geoff's Onslaught Of Generally OK Announcements (aka, Summer Game Fest) as a surprise release, and it seems like the general feedback so far has been "please make it a bit easier so Twinkocchio doesn't get battered so hard."

Dune Awakening is the perfect blend of survival, MMORPG, and house envy

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 16:00:03 -0000

Dune Awakening is out at last, and it's a strange, wonderful blend of an MMORPG and an open world survival game. This melding of genres results in a game of two halves, weaved together with a rich and deep care for the source material. Funcom, somehow, has managed to juggle these components expertly. The result? A game unlike any I've really played before.

Elden Ring Nightreign's latest update is here to save you from frame drops, buggy bosses, and more

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 16:53:12 -0000

When you have a game that is so run focused like Elden Ring Nightreign, balance is the key to not getting someone to throw their controller at a wall, cursing their own birth as they do so. Up until now, there were parts of Elden Ring Nightreign that certainly weren't balanced, though that mostly came down to a few bugs. As of today though, there's a new update you can download for the roguelike which brings in some much needed fixes.

Where's our MindsEye review?

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 19:09:55 -0000

It's that time again! You might have noticed that MindsEye, the new game from former Rockstar North studio head and GTA producer Lezlie Benzies and his studio Build a Rocket Boy, is out in the world and available to buy, while we don't yet have a review.

Travel back to the days of cable TV with Blippo+, a time-hopping FMV game about... I'm not entirely sure, actually

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 20:23:55 -0000

We don't really get to write about Playdate, that bespoke games console with a built in crank, here on RPS very much because it is very much not a computer (though former EIC Katharine did review it back when it launched). Well, not in the way we need it to be for our purposes. But I have an excuse to do so today! Over the weekend at the PC Gaming Show, a trailer for the Panic-published, faux-streaming service Blippo+ was shown off, one that captured my attention quite quickly.

After overseeing thousands of layoffs and numerous studio closures, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors is stepping down

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 21:52:49 -0000

Lars Wingefors, the Embracer Group CEO who oversaw thousands of job cuts and a significant number of studio closures following a turbulent few years for the company, has announced he's stepping down from his role. Wingefors is not, however, parting ways with Embracer, and will instead become its executive chair of the board.

Herdling is a strangely captivating narrative herding simulator with a new demo you can check out now

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 21:57:27 -0000

Herdling is an odd little game. How do you begin to sell the idea that a (presumably emotional) herding simulator might be quite interesting? Yes, people love their farming sims as a band aid form of escapism, but a lot of those games are in the first instance much more about farming and not farm animals, nor the way you interact with said animals. Herdling is all about that, as the whole goal is to guide a group of strange horned beasties up a mountain.

Splitgate 2 director apologises for causing "division" following controversial Summer Game Fest appearance

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 23:51:41 -0000

Splitgate 2 game director Ian Proulx has apologised for causing "division in the community" following his controversial Summer Game Fest appearance, in which he wore a MAGA-style "Make FPS Great Again" hat while onstage.

The full-size keyboard round-up: four shiny new 100% layout boards reviewed

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 07:00:00 -0000

We review a lot of keyboards here at Digital Foundry, but my most recent shootout featured a distinct lack of full-size keyboards - something that we're only happy to redress with this new 100 percent full-size review round-up.

MindsEye launches with myriad of glitches and issues, as developer promises performance update

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 08:04:50 -0000

MindsEye released last night, and within a matter of hours gameplay footage was going viral online. However, this was not because players were sharing their positive experiences. Rather, it was because they were sharing a multitude of glitches and error screens which were appearing as they attempted to make their way through the game.

Dune Awakening hits 142,000 concurrent players during full launch, smashing past record

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 08:31:25 -0000

Dune Awakening has soared past 142,000 concurrent players on Steam following its full public release.

Days Gone studio Sony Bend announces layoffs following live-service cancellation

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 08:48:33 -0000

UPDATE 5.58pm: Following Bend Studio's confirmation of layoffs earlier today, Sony has shared its own statement. "Earlier this year, Bend Studio wrapped development on a live service concept," the company told Eurogamer. "After careful consideration, we chose not to move forward with it. As the team shifts focus to its next project, we’ve made strategic changes to better position the studio for long-term success."

Switch 2 is Nintendo's fastest-selling hardware ever

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 08:48:46 -0000

Nintendo's Switch 2 is the company's fastest-selling hardware ever, having sold 3.5m units worldwide in its first four days on sale.

Mad Metal is a wonderfully janky Mad Max-like with a big robot eye that says you need some milk

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 08:50:34 -0000

One minute you’re flicking through Steam’s Next Fest demos, and finding one that looks to be included despite having come out in May. The next, you’re desperately firing missiles into the rear end of giant monster truck, a sole red light glaring out from its metallic behind, as though it’s mega-pissed that it seems to have gotten stuck in a cluster of trees. Given that, it should be easy prey for the ordnance strapped to the bonnet of my very Mad Max-ish muscle car coated in enough sheets of metal to fence off several allotments.

This is Mad Metal, though, an indie game whose murderous enemy cars have minds of their own and move more like automotive animals than simple machines.

Your character's attribute letter grades in Elden Ring Nightreign don't really mean much, but you can still use them to your advantage

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 10:00:50 -0000

Elden Ring Nightreign is, at its core, an RPG with character stats that grow each time you level up. Because of the rapid pace of runs, however, FromSoftware simplified that process and turned it into a one-button affair.

Haunted Chocolatier will have a larger world than Stardew Valley, creator confirms

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 10:47:01 -0000

Stardew Valley creator Eric 'Concerned Ape' Barone has taken a brief break from working on the highly anticipated Haunted Chocolatier to drop a bombshell.

MindsEye publisher doesn't believe negative comments were paid for, despite developer suggesting otherwise

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 10:50:59 -0000

Towards the end of last month, the co-CEO of MindsEye developer Build a Rocket Boy suggested the game's negative reactions up until that point had been paid for in a "concerted effort" against the studio. These bold comments from a studio exec raised a number of eyebrows, to say the least.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds might be the most mechanically rich kart racer ever made - hands-on

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 11:00:27 -0000

When I saw that the hands-on demo for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds at Summer Games Fest was a full hour long, I was sort of taken aback. An hour? For a kart racer? Our time is pretty limited at these events, and in the interest of trying to squeeze as much in as possible one always tries not to spend more time with a game than is strictly necessary to get a broad idea of what it's trying to do and how it's coming together.

I am enthralled by Dune: Awakening's in-game radio drama and bad sitcoms

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 11:04:47 -0000

We've already reported on the hidden radio stations you can listen to as you traipse about cutting up rocks in survival MMO Dune: Awakening. They play chiptuney classics from the original, 1992 Dune games that will drive you slightly mad even without huffing spice. But they also include full-blown radios drama based on various backstory events which unfolded before you arrived on-planet. It is like listening to a really intense episode of The Archers on BBC Radio Arrakis.

Splitgate 2 boss admits the Trumpish hat he wore at Summer Game Fest was a publicity stunt after it goes sour

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 11:07:50 -0000

Ian Proulx, the CEO of Splitgate 2 developers 1047 Games, has apologised for wearing a 'Make FPS Great Again' cap while talking about the game's battle royale mode on stage at Summer Game Fest. As you might have guessed, the hat drew unfavourable comparisons to US president Donald Trump's MAGA hats.

It'd have been a pretty dumb, controversy-baiting stunt for a games company CEO to pull at any point in recent history, but especially hasn't gone over well given the timing. As the SGF show happened, a large number of anti-ICE protests also began in response to violent immigration raids, and later that weekend Trump deployed the National Guard onto the streets."

Nintendo provides solution to incorrect Switch 2 battery display

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 11:26:03 -0000

Nintendo has provided a solution to an issue causing the Switch 2's battery indicator to display incorrectly.

Infinity Nikki is getting a big update this week, but will that be enough to turn its Steam review rating around?

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 11:51:08 -0000

Infinity Nikki, the visually impressive, open-world dress-up game that came out late last year, continues to grow with new updates. The game's latest, arriving this Friday, June 13, is one of its biggest, kicking off a new seasonal chapter.

MindsEye launches to clips of ATVs glitchily spaghettifying a bloke named Seb, but a patch is on the way

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 12:43:13 -0000

Mindseye, the game from ex-Rockstar president Leslie Benzies-helmed studio Build a Rocket Boy, has arrived. Its launch has gone, er, a bit glitchily, currently landing the game at a mixed reception on Steam. That said, the studio have at least confirmed an update designed to improve Mindseye's performance is on the way.

If you're out of the loop, the sort of GTA-ish/Cyberpunk-ish game's road to release had been plenty weird prior to it breaking cover. Build a Rocket Boy co-CEO Mark Gerhard had seemingly suggested on the game's Discord server that he believed people were being paid to say negative things about Mindseye, and two other high-profile execs had departed the studio not long before release.

Mario Kart World review

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 13:00:00 -0000

Mario Kart World offers neat twists on the classic Mario Kart formula, but its open-world ambitions are somewhat let down by some classic Nintendo quirkiness.

Fast Fusion may be the most technically impressive Switch 2 launch title - but image quality is an issue

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 14:19:22 -0000

While many of Switch 2's launch games are merely ports of existing games, the platform currently excels in one key area - racing games. For my money, there's nothing better than a system launch packed full of arcade racing action and, in that sense, Switch 2 doesn't disappoint. Mario Kart World is the system's biggest title, while the original arcade version of Ridge Racer also makes its appearance - finally another system launch with a Ridge Racer game! Yet perhaps the most impressive racer on the system thus far, and also one of the most enjoyable games period, is Fast Fusion from Shin'en Multimedia.

I played Resident Evil 9 and they heard me scream in the booth next door

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:00:00 -0000

If you're well into following video game news, you're likely going to see a lot of new information about Resident Evil 9/Requiem today - to be clear, Capcom has done its usual trick of giving the game a title, but changing a letter (q in this instance) to the entry number in its reveal trailer. Over the weekend, hundreds of critics and influencers filed into a darkened theatre to witness a pre-recorded first gameplay video of Summer Games Fest's biggest reveal. But hidden just meters away was something even better: a hands-on demo that only a handful of people got to play.

Onimusha: Way Of The Sword is a moody demon parry fest, but Sekiro can sleep easy for the moment

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Towards the end of my hands-off demo for Onimusha: Way Of The Sword, Capcom introduced me to a bunch of ragamuffin ninjas who moult their injured selves when struck. It looks like they're springing out of their own dying heads, like Athena bursting from the skull of Zeus. That's the kind of freak factor I want from an action-horror series whose last major instalment released in 2006. A bit of gentle madness to blow the dust off. A generous pinch of vicious little weasels who won't fight fair, to lift this Edo-era yokai hunt above the ranks of action games that just want you to combo and parry ad nauseum.

Resident Evil: Requiem has its own version of Lady Dimitrescu, but I doubt you'll be thirsting for this hag

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Resident Evil: Requiem's first trailer tied it unambiguously to the wider Resiverse, with sweeping footage of a nuked and abandoned Raccoon City, but the slice of zombie survival I saw at this year’s Summer Game Fest felt like a pocket horror experiment in the vein of P.T. and Amnesia: The Bunker. I hope it’s not a one-off. I hope the whole game is like this.

Capcom's Pragmata is a clean and pleasant lunar shooter with a touch of God Of War

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:00:00 -0000

In Capcom’s sci-fi third-person shooter Pragmata, you are a gruff and gun-toting astronaut called Hugh Williams who is exploring an AI-operated moon base with the help of a juvenile android, Diana. She rides on your back like a sinister blue-eyed goblin, her enormous mop of blonde hair flapping in the wind as Hugh jets around on his suit thrusters.

The notes of God Of Warlike deuteragonism here betray Pragmata’s dragged-out development – it was announced in 2020, when Dad & Sprog action games were all the rage, but was delayed "indefinitely" in 2023. Still, the game I played at this year’s Summer Game Fest didn’t seem greatly the worse for its long spell in cryostasis. It’s a slick thinking girl’s shooter and a gratifyingly bright and clicky piece of lunar set dressing, with shattering robot enemies that put me wistfully in mind of Binary Domain.

Familiar choppiness makes Dune: Awakening’s PC performance less of a smooth wormride

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:03:16 -0000

I’ve always found Dune: Awakening an oddball concept – it’s been repeatedly made clear, by Zendaya no less, that Arrakis will immediately kill, flay, and digest anyone who pokes a toe into its sands without an impossible sci-fi techsuit and a lifetime of edged weapons training. Not, you'd suspect, an obvious setting for a survival crafting game where genre conventions demand you begin life as some naked loser picking up sticks.

And yet, Awakening has turned out alright, hoisting desert exploration and ominous sci-fi atmospherics above the tedious 24/7 resource gathering that has choked out certain peers. PC performance is workable too, with enough concessions towards low-end rigs, though it’s not crysknife-sharp either: some technical mishaps need a prompt patching, while Unreal Engine 5 is up to its usual stuttering nonsense.

An Elder Scrolls voice actor is teaming up with top Fallout 4 modders to livestream a 48-hour modding jam for charity

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:23:36 -0000

A group of prominent Fallout 4 modders will be livestreaming the creation of a big mod over a single weekend later this month. It's part of a charity drive led by voice actor Wes Johnson, probably most famous for providing the dulcet tones of mad Daedric prince Sheogorath in Oblivion and Skyrim.

The gang - led by Kinggath and the team behind the popular Sim Settlements mod - will be letting viewers decide the specifics of the mod via a stream this weekend, with the actual mod creation streams then taking place on Twitch across June 28th and 29th.

Epic Games continues war against Fortnite cheaters, files lawsuit against another cheat developer

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:47:24 -0000

Epic Games has announced publicly it has filed a lawsuit against an individual it alleges has developed and sold cheats for Fortnite.

MindsEye hotfix planned for PC this week, but console players may have to wait

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 16:02:55 -0000

Developer Build A Rocket Boy has shared details on an upcoming hotfix for MindsEye.

Street Fighter 6 sells five million copies, on track to be best-selling Street Fighter ever

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 16:23:07 -0000

Capcom has announced that Street Fighter 6 has sold over five million copies, just as the game has been released on the Nintendo Switch 2. At this pass, the game is on track to be the best-selling game in the series.

New Dragon Age: The Veilguard report reveals more about turbulent development, including Forspoken-prompted shift from snark to seriousness

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 16:33:29 -0000

A fresh report has shed a bit more light on Dragon Age: The Veilguard's famously difficult time in development, offering info on culture clashes between BioWare's different teams, and revealing that the game was re-written due to concerns about its banter being too snarky.

The report, from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, goes through the whole sordid story of Veilguard's journey from in-the-works single player game, to in-the-works online thing, back to in-the-works single player thing, parts of which you're likely familiar with at this point. There's also a bunch of context as to how wider events across the studio and publisher EA influenced the game that ended up hitting shelves after a decade or so of development.

Here're your PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium games for June

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 19:10:14 -0000

In case you hadn't noticed, what with Switch 2's launch and the annual Summer Geoffs causing all sorts of distractions, June is well and truly upon us. And Sony is marking the occasion - much as it does every month - with a fresh batch of additions to its PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium catalogue, which this time include Control spin-off FBC: Firebreak, Battlefield 2042, and more.

US actors union suspends year-long video game strike following "tentative agreement" over AI

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 20:39:19 -0000

Days after announcing a "tentative agreement" had been reached with key video game companies, US actors union SAG-AFTRA has suspended its nearly year-long strike, instructing members to return to work on productions that fall under its Interactive Media Agreement.

Stellar Blade PC debut welcomes record numbers for a PlayStation published single player release

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 08:59:31 -0000

UPDATE 13/6/25: Stellar Blade really has got off to a stellar start on PC, and has now reached a concurrent player peak of 183,830 over on Steam.

Mass layoffs at Days Gone studio Sony Bend after Sony pull the plug on live service game

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 09:26:52 -0000

Sony have confirmed the cancellation of a live service project amid mass layoffs at Sony Bend, the team behind open world zombie biker Days Gone.

Pragmata is a fascinating genre mash-up, and Capcom at its experimental best - hands-on

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 10:00:00 -0000

I love it when Capcom experiments. It's true that with a staple of franchises and characters like those it has, there isn't all that much pressure on Capcom to experiment. It has most of what it needs to make that corporate profit line go up, in truth. But every now and then the company nevertheless experiments with something new - and usually, backed up by those successful franchises, the company can strike gold.

Don't mind the rogueliting, Ball X Pit's new demo channels the joys of vintage Breakout

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 10:20:50 -0000

As yet another Balatro-style roguelite hybrid emerges raging from the volcanic portals of Steam Next Fest, as the smaller-scale gamedev scene at large threatens to melt into a soup of RNG and deckbuilding, I want you to picture me leaning over you like Samwise Gamgee leaning over Frodo, trying through his tears to remind the Ring-bearer of life back in the Shire, before the horror of Mordor.

"Do you remember the taste of strawberries?" Sam whispers. I do not want you to remember the taste of strawberries. I want you to remember how good it felt to sneak a ball behind the blocks in Breakout. It is the only thing that will save you now.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time gets a visual boost thanks to Switch 2 update

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 10:32:11 -0000

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time has received an update that offers visual improvements when played on the Switch 2, a nice bonus for fans who want to pick up and play the RPG on the new console.

Poppy Playtime Chapter 4 coming to consoles this month

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 10:33:34 -0000

Mob Entertainment has announced that Poppy Playtime Chapter 4 will be making its unsettling way onto consoles later this month.

Elden Ring Nightreign players have created the ultimate cheat sheet for the weaknesses and resistances of every Nightlord

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 11:26:18 -0000

Elden Ring Nightreign has been out for just under two weeks now. Usually, that’s enough time for some prevailing strategies - and clever discoveries - to emerge. Because of the way the game is structured, however, it’s not always easy to replicate your experience, which makes it a lot more difficult to pin down those things.

Dune Awakening PvP is being dominated by one busted technique - crushing people with helicopters

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 12:49:13 -0000

Dune Awakening is currently in the primordial ooze phase of its PvP meta, as players hit the end game and figure out which weapons and strategies are the best for taking out their fellow man. In this soup they've discovered a busted technique that's strong - so strong that the developers are stepping in to fix it.

Oil rig horror Still Wakes the Deep is trading the 70s for the 80s in new Siren's Rest story DLC

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:00:00 -0000

The Chinese Room's impressively choreographed oil rig horror Still Wakes the Deep is making a return, in a brand-new bit of story DLC that'll pick up the action almost a decade after the events of the main game. It's called Siren's Rest, and it's coming to all platforms on 18th June.

Daiko will launch blockchain-based virtual pets game

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:00:00 -0000

Daiko said it plans to launch its blockchain-based Virtual Pet game to bring real-world dog care into gaming.

<img width="578" height="354" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/daiko.jpg?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="Daiko is unleashing a blockchain-based Virtual Pet." decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/daiko.jpg 1200w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/daiko.jpg?resize=300,184 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/daiko.jpg?resize=768,470 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/daiko.jpg?resize=800,490 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/daiko.jpg?resize=400,245 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/daiko.jpg?resize=750,459 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/daiko.jpg?resize=578,354 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/daiko.jpg?resize=930,570 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>Daiko said it plans to launch its blockchain-based Virtual Pet game to bring real-world dog care into gaming.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/daiko-will-launch-blockchain-based-virtual-pets-game/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Mythical Games launches FIFA Rivals worldwide touting digital ownership

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:00:00 -0000

FIFA Rivals, the officially licensed arcade-style mobile soccer game, is now available for download on the App Store and Google Play

<img width="578" height="326" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/fifa-rivals.jpg?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="FIFA Rivals has debuted worldwide." decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/fifa-rivals.jpg 1200w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/fifa-rivals.jpg?resize=300,169 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/fifa-rivals.jpg?resize=768,433 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/fifa-rivals.jpg?resize=800,450 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/fifa-rivals.jpg?resize=400,225 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/fifa-rivals.jpg?resize=750,423 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/fifa-rivals.jpg?resize=578,326 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/fifa-rivals.jpg?resize=930,524 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>FIFA Rivals, the officially licensed arcade-style mobile soccer game, is now available for download on the App Store and Google Play<a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/mythical-games-launches-fifa-rivals-worldwide-touting-digital-ownership/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Anzu advances in-game ad offerings with Amex Ventures investment

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:00:00 -0000

Anzu announced it has received an investment of an undisclosed amount from Amex Ventures to support its in-game advertising solutions.

<img width="578" height="325" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Anzu-official-announcement-banner.jpg?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Anzu-official-announcement-banner.jpg 1920w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Anzu-official-announcement-banner.jpg?resize=300,169 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Anzu-official-announcement-banner.jpg?resize=768,432 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Anzu-official-announcement-banner.jpg?resize=800,450 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Anzu-official-announcement-banner.jpg?resize=1536,864 1536w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Anzu-official-announcement-banner.jpg?resize=400,225 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Anzu-official-announcement-banner.jpg?resize=750,422 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Anzu-official-announcement-banner.jpg?resize=578,325 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Anzu-official-announcement-banner.jpg?resize=930,523 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>Anzu announced it has received an investment of an undisclosed amount from Amex Ventures to support its in-game advertising solutions.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/anzu-advances-in-game-ad-offerings-with-amex-ventures-investment/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

How brands can pursue the $11B in-game ad opportunity | Orange 142

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:00:00 -0000

In-game advertising is an $11 billion market, and Orange 142 has released a guide to help marketers unlock the opportunity. Orange 142 released a new best practices guide focused on in-game advertising. The guide is designed to help marketers unlock the full potential of gaming as a marketing channel, connecting with audiences in immersive environments without […]

<img width="578" height="355" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/orange-142.jpg?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="Orange 142 has guide for advertising in games." decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/orange-142.jpg 1200w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/orange-142.jpg?resize=300,185 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/orange-142.jpg?resize=768,472 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/orange-142.jpg?resize=800,492 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/orange-142.jpg?resize=400,246 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/orange-142.jpg?resize=750,461 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/orange-142.jpg?resize=578,355 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/orange-142.jpg?resize=930,572 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>In-game advertising is an $11 billion market, and Orange 142 has released a guide to help marketers unlock the opportunity. Orange 142 released a new best practices guide focused on in-game advertising. The guide is designed to help marketers unlock the full potential of gaming as a marketing channel, connecting with audiences in immersive env…<a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/how-brands-can-pursue-the-11b-in-game-ad-opportunity-orange-142/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Samsung Ads expands its GameBreaks with 4 new titles

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:00:00 -0000

Samsung Ads, the advanced advertising arm of Samsung Electronics, today announced a major expansion of its award-winning GameBreaks portfolio.

<img width="578" height="326" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Riplash_16x9_full.jpg?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="mad-lib style trivia game" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Riplash_16x9_full.jpg 1200w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Riplash_16x9_full.jpg?resize=300,169 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Riplash_16x9_full.jpg?resize=768,433 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Riplash_16x9_full.jpg?resize=800,450 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Riplash_16x9_full.jpg?resize=400,225 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Riplash_16x9_full.jpg?resize=750,423 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Riplash_16x9_full.jpg?resize=578,326 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Riplash_16x9_full.jpg?resize=930,524 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>Samsung Ads, the advanced advertising arm of Samsung Electronics, today announced a major expansion of its award-winning GameBreaks portfolio.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/samsung-ads-expands-its-gamebreaks/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Maestro Media launches Kickstarter for Clash of Clans: The Epic Raid tabletop game

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:15:00 -0000

Maestro Media is launching a Kickstarter for Clash of Clans: The Epic Raid, a new tabletop game based on Supercell's top-selling mobile game.

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart hid a prototype mini game Easter egg so well, no one actually found it

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:29:10 -0000

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, which was initially released four years ago (four years ago!), has a prototype mini game hidden away so well within it, that apparently nobody found it.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater taking "hide-and-go-seek to the next level" with original multiplayer mode

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:30:25 -0000

Konami has announced Fox Hunt mode for its upcoming release, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater.

A Silent Hill remake has been announced as "in development" during Konami Press Start showcase

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:43:12 -0000

A Silent Hill remake has just been announced during Konami's Press Start showcase.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree | hands-on preview

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 14:00:00 -0000

Bandai Namco showed off a rogue-lite game from develper Brownie: Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater Xbox players can indeed chase down Bomberman

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 14:22:47 -0000

As we suspected, but couldn't say 100 percent for sure until now, Bomberman has been confirmed for the Xbox version of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater.

Silent Hill 1 remake announced with the briefest of teaser trailers

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 14:32:57 -0000

Well well well, Silent Hill 2 remake developers Bloober Team are working on a remake of the very first Silent Hill in collaboration with publishers Konami. Please give me a few seconds to pat myself furiously on the back for asking Bloober about the prospects of an original Silent Hill remake, way back in August last year. Oracular insight, thy name is Edwin. OK, that's enough patting, my shoulders are starting to hurt. You can watch the teaser trailer now, which surfaced during Konami's Press Start showcase today. Lovely to hear that gut-twisting banjo melody again.

Silent Hill f gets development deep dive at Konami game showcase

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 14:34:49 -0000

Silent Hill f just got a comprehensive deep dive during today's Konami Press Start showcase.

Best PC gaming deals for today: Alienware prebuilds, SteelSeries discounts, and more

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 14:42:04 -0000

I’ve been tracking deals closely this week, and there are some solid ones across gaming hardware that deserve a proper look. A few brands are running deeper discounts than usual, and some of the better-value picks are getting buried under the usual noise.

Jurassic World Evolution 3's low system requirements spoiled by mention of AI-generated scientists

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 14:46:46 -0000

Recently announced dino management sequel Jurassic World Evolution 3 already has some system requirements, well in advance of its October 21st release. You can give them a peep on the game’s Steam page, where they’re revealed as a refreshingly light list of relatively attainable cards 'n' chips, with a mere 25GB storage requirement – a welcome bucking of recent trends for 100GB-plus SSD installations and extravagant GPU demands.

In less encouraging news, the same Steam page also includes one detail that the Summer Game Fest trailer didn’t mention: Jurassic World Evolution 3 makes use of generative AI, specifically to create "Scientists' avatars" among your park staff.

Google DeepMind just changed hurricane forecasting forever with new AI model

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Google DeepMind launches Weather Lab platform for AI hurricane forecasting, showing improved accuracy in early tests with U.S. National Hurricane Center partnership.

<img width="578" height="324" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/nuneybits_Vector_art_of_hurricane_map_3d4ec51e-43e1-42e0-aafa-4beb2b4deaba.webp?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="Vector illustration of AI predicting hurricane track with data overlays." decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/nuneybits_Vector_art_of_hurricane_map_3d4ec51e-43e1-42e0-aafa-4beb2b4deaba.webp 1372w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/nuneybits_Vector_art_of_hurricane_map_3d4ec51e-43e1-42e0-aafa-4beb2b4deaba.webp?resize=300,168 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/nuneybits_Vector_art_of_hurricane_map_3d4ec51e-43e1-42e0-aafa-4beb2b4deaba.webp?resize=768,430 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/nuneybits_Vector_art_of_hurricane_map_3d4ec51e-43e1-42e0-aafa-4beb2b4deaba.webp?resize=800,450 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/nuneybits_Vector_art_of_hurricane_map_3d4ec51e-43e1-42e0-aafa-4beb2b4deaba.webp?resize=400,224 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/nuneybits_Vector_art_of_hurricane_map_3d4ec51e-43e1-42e0-aafa-4beb2b4deaba.webp?resize=750,420 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/nuneybits_Vector_art_of_hurricane_map_3d4ec51e-43e1-42e0-aafa-4beb2b4deaba.webp?resize=578,324 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/nuneybits_Vector_art_of_hurricane_map_3d4ec51e-43e1-42e0-aafa-4beb2b4deaba.webp?resize=930,521 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>Google DeepMind launches Weather Lab platform for AI hurricane forecasting, showing improved accuracy in early tests with U.S. National Hurricane Center partnership.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/ai/google-deepmind-just-changed-hurricane-forecasting-forever-with-new-ai-model/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Out of Words is an emotional co-op adventure illustrated with beautiful stop-motion animation

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 15:00:00 -0000

The two characters of Out of Words are young teens who are falling in love. But then disaster strikes as they lose their mouths.

MindsEye crashes caused by a memory leak, developer says, as it remains committed to ensuring all players have a great experience

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 15:06:16 -0000

UPDATE 13/6/25: The MindsEye team has now released a hotfix, which will be the first of a series.

Baby Steps isn’t about humiliation, but the joy of disobedient flesh

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 15:20:07 -0000

Many years ago, my brother and I climbed the moor above our town and, for reasons that elude me, decided to roll to the bottom of it. We hugged each other and threw ourselves off the path into an ocean of heather and bracken. This was, to be clear, a bloody stupid thing to do. That moor is full of potholes, sheep bones, barbed wire and animal turds of all flavours. If there were any justice in the cosmos, I'd have banged my bonce on a boulder and be pushing up daisies. But somehow, we reached the outskirts of the town basically unscathed, and it was glorious.

We went tumbling over ledges and into ditches, sucking in careless lungfuls of spores and laughing like seals. I felt a sense of para-Wordsworthian abandon and intimacy with rocks and stones and trees, that I haven't ever felt since. I caught a trace of that feeling in Baby Steps, the new open world fail 'em up from a team led by Bennett Foddy, in which you move each leg of a body subject to believable physics, and the challenge is therefore to walk more than two paces without keeling over.

Lil Snack makes a snackable Scattergories game in partnership with Hasbro

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 15:30:00 -0000

When we last talked with Lil Snack, they were a two-person company making little games that were like snacks. Now they have over 10M plays.

<img width="578" height="355" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/lil-snack-4.jpg?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="Lil Snack has teamed up with Hasbro." decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/lil-snack-4.jpg 1200w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/lil-snack-4.jpg?resize=300,184 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/lil-snack-4.jpg?resize=768,472 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/lil-snack-4.jpg?resize=800,491 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/lil-snack-4.jpg?resize=400,246 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/lil-snack-4.jpg?resize=750,461 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/lil-snack-4.jpg?resize=578,355 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/lil-snack-4.jpg?resize=930,571 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>When we last talked with Lil Snack, they were a two-person company making little games that were like snacks. Now they have over 10M plays.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/gaming-business/lil-snack-makes-a-snackable-scattergories-game-in-partnership-with-hasbro/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature gets an official reveal trailer confirming that fairies are so back

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 15:51:37 -0000

Our first look at Enchanted by Nature, the new expansion coming to The Sims 4 next month, has officially arrived. Maxis and EA previously confirmed that the first trailer would be dropping today, before we get a deep look at gameplay on June 26.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater isn't getting Metal Gear Online, but it is getting its own quite fun looking online mode

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 15:58:19 -0000

Metal Gear Online! I'm assuming that's the first thing you thought of when you heard that Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is getting an online mode, but I need you to throw that thought in the bin. The MGS3 remake is getting a multiplayer mode, but as shown off in today's Konami Press Start showcase, it'll be its own, original thing called Fox Hunt.

Still Wakes the Deep: Siren's Rest is a surprise bit of submechanophobia-inducing DLC that's washing ashore next week

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 16:56:00 -0000

There are two reasons you shouldn't watch the trailer for Still Wakes the Deep's just announced DLC Siren's Rest. The first is that, well, it'll probably spoil at least some of the events of the base game given that the expansion is set more than a decade on. The other is for the subset of you that have just the worst case of submechanophobia, because the trailer is absolutely full of man-made objects under water. You've been warned, don't come crying to me if you don't heed me, I'll just say I told you so.

Disney Pinnacle unveils Genesis Keys quest with Web3 support from Dapper Labs

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 17:50:00 -0000

Disney Pinnacle by Dapper Labs, the digital pin collecting and trading platform, has now announced its Genesis Keys quest.

<img width="578" height="303" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/disney-pinnacle.jpg?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="Disney Pinnacle is coming from Dapper Labs." decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/disney-pinnacle.jpg 1200w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/disney-pinnacle.jpg?resize=300,157 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/disney-pinnacle.jpg?resize=768,403 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/disney-pinnacle.jpg?resize=800,419 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/disney-pinnacle.jpg?resize=400,210 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/disney-pinnacle.jpg?resize=750,393 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/disney-pinnacle.jpg?resize=578,303 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/disney-pinnacle.jpg?resize=930,487 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>Disney Pinnacle by Dapper Labs, the digital pin collecting and trading platform, has now announced its Genesis Keys quest.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/disney-pinnacle-unveils-genesis-keys-quest-with-web3-support-from-dapper-labs/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

The Sims 4 is away with the fairies in new Enchanted by Nature expansion

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 18:21:39 -0000

The Sims 4 is striding purposefully into the verdant splendour of summer with a new nature-loving expansion, which also happens to mark the return of fairies as a playable Sim-type.

TensorWave deploys AMD Instinct MI355X GPUs in its cloud platform

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 18:30:00 -0000

TensorWave, a leader in AMD-powered AI infrastructure solutions, today announced the deployment of AMD Instinct MI355X GPUs in its high-performance cloud platform.

<img width="578" height="310" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/tensorwave.jpg?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="TensorWave is deploying AMD's latest Instinct AI chips in its AI cloud platform." decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/tensorwave.jpg 1200w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/tensorwave.jpg?resize=300,161 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/tensorwave.jpg?resize=768,412 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/tensorwave.jpg?resize=800,429 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/tensorwave.jpg?resize=400,215 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/tensorwave.jpg?resize=750,403 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/tensorwave.jpg?resize=578,310 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/tensorwave.jpg?resize=930,499 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>TensorWave, a leader in AMD-powered AI infrastructure solutions, today announced the deployment of AMD Instinct MI355X GPUs in its high-performance cloud platform.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/tensorwave-deploys-amd-instinct-mi355x-gpus-in-its-cloud-platform/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

AMD debuts AMD Instinct MI350 Series accelerator chips with 35X better inferencing

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 18:30:00 -0000

AMD announced its new AMD Instinct MI350 Series accelerators, which are four times faster on AI compute and 35 times faster on inferencing.

<img width="578" height="362" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/amd-instinct.jpg?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="AMD Instinct MI350 Series accelerators are debuting now." decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/amd-instinct.jpg 1200w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/amd-instinct.jpg?resize=300,188 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/amd-instinct.jpg?resize=768,481 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/amd-instinct.jpg?resize=800,501 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/amd-instinct.jpg?resize=400,251 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/amd-instinct.jpg?resize=750,470 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/amd-instinct.jpg?resize=578,362 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/amd-instinct.jpg?resize=930,583 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>AMD announced its new AMD Instinct MI350 Series accelerators, which are four times faster on AI compute and 35 times faster on inferencing.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/amd-debuts-amd-instinct-mi350-series-accelerator-chips-with-35x-better-inferencing/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

The Sims 4's next expansion Enchanted by Nature looks perfect for cottagecore lovers on TikTok circa 2020

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 19:05:25 -0000

Despite having received a plethora of updates, bits of DLC, and expansion packs over the course of the past 11 years, there are still things that featured in The Sims 3 that The Sims 4 is yet to receive. Seriously, The Sims 4 has been supported for twice the length of time The Sims 3 was, and yet it's only this year that it's getting a pack that features fairies. They'll be coming in the just announced Enchanted by Nature pack, which includes a bit more than just a new supernatural designation for your Sims.

Shooty Shooty Robot Invasion looks like a boomer shooter for the Newgrounds generation, and it's out next month

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 20:32:07 -0000

I feel like every time I write about shooters, I always have to add a caveat along the lines of, "I don't really like shooters… but!" There often is a but, because occasionally one of 'em rolls around that feels like it just gets me, you know? This week, it's a shooter that feels like it was born to be a Flash game on Newgrounds in the mid-2000s that you'll sometimes bring up to your friends saying "man, remember that one game?" It's called Shooty Shooty Robot Invasion, and as simple as its title is, there's a lot going for it.

The thing that's sold me most on Silent Hill f so far is its slightly outdated UI

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 21:54:46 -0000

Okay, now, I know you've probably read that headline and thought to yourself "why on earth would outdated UI in Silent Hill f be a good thing?" Allow me to explain! To be a contrarian for a moment, I think that a large amount of triple-A games have incredibly boring UI. It's very much because of that late 2010s trend of simple, emboss-free graphic design you see in logo design everywhere these days, and I hate it.

Cloud collapse: Replit and LlamaIndex knocked offline by Google Cloud identity outage

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 22:05:33 -0000

Many AI developers started their morning amid a Google Cloud outage affecting many of the tools they use to build products.

<img width="578" height="385" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/everything-is-fine-ai.png?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="Credit: VentureBeat, generated with ChatGPT" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/everything-is-fine-ai.png 1536w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/everything-is-fine-ai.png?resize=300,200 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/everything-is-fine-ai.png?resize=768,512 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/everything-is-fine-ai.png?resize=800,533 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/everything-is-fine-ai.png?resize=400,267 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/everything-is-fine-ai.png?resize=750,500 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/everything-is-fine-ai.png?resize=578,385 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/everything-is-fine-ai.png?resize=930,620 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>Many AI developers started their morning amid a Google Cloud outage affecting many of the tools they use to build products.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/ai/cloud-collapse-replit-llamaindex-knocked-offline-by-google-cloud-identity-outage/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Meta’s new world model lets robots manipulate objects in environments they’ve never encountered before

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 22:22:07 -0000

A robot powered by V-JEPA 2 can be deployed in a new environment and successfully manipulate objects it has never encountered before.

<img width="578" height="315" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/robot-world-models.png?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="Image credit: VentureBeat with Gemini" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/robot-world-models.png 2816w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/robot-world-models.png?resize=300,164 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/robot-world-models.png?resize=768,419 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/robot-world-models.png?resize=800,436 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/robot-world-models.png?resize=1536,838 1536w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/robot-world-models.png?resize=2048,1117 2048w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/robot-world-models.png?resize=400,218 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/robot-world-models.png?resize=750,409 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/robot-world-models.png?resize=578,315 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/robot-world-models.png?resize=930,507 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>A robot powered by V-JEPA 2 can be deployed in a new environment and successfully manipulate objects it has never encountered before.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/ai/metas-new-world-model-lets-robots-manipulate-objects-in-environments-theyve-never-encountered-before/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

SAG-AFTRA board approves agreement with game companies on AI and new contract

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 00:04:00 -0000

The SAG-AFTRA National Board approved the tentative agreement with the video game bargaining group, setting up a membership vote.

<img width="578" height="335" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sag_5acd9a.jpg?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="SAG-AFTRA's board has approved a deal with game companies, setting up membership vote." decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sag_5acd9a.jpg 1200w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sag_5acd9a.jpg?resize=300,174 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sag_5acd9a.jpg?resize=768,445 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sag_5acd9a.jpg?resize=800,464 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sag_5acd9a.jpg?resize=400,232 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sag_5acd9a.jpg?resize=750,435 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sag_5acd9a.jpg?resize=578,335 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sag_5acd9a.jpg?resize=930,539 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>The SAG-AFTRA National Board approved the tentative agreement with the video game bargaining group, setting up a membership vote.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/sag-aftra-board-approves-agreement-with-game-companies-on-ai-and-new-contract/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Elden Ring Nightreign's new "enhanced" boss fights have leaked early, thanks to nosy modders

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 09:31:50 -0000

Elden Ring Nightreign will be updated sometime this month with "enhanced fights against existing Nightlords", but as is often the way of updates, some of the relevant boss files are already in the current version of the game, and yes, there's a mod if you want an early crack at them.

Oblivion Remastered becomes Mudcrab Nintendogs, thanks to this beast master mod

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 09:56:25 -0000

If you're desperate for some company of a non-Adoring Fan kind as you run around Cyrodiil in Oblivion Remastered, odds are the base game'll leave you wanting. Enter a new mod, which adds in a beast master system that'll let you tame a furry or scaly pet.

After all, one could argue you've not really experienced Tamriel unless you're having to stop after every fight to give your precious wild boar Bobo some heal minor wounds-infused tummy tickles

inZOI is on sale for the first time to celebrate the big June update

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 10:25:21 -0000

It seems like things are getting exciting in the world of inZOI once again, after what felt like months of no comms and some patch delays. Earlier this week, the team behind the life sim finally announced a release date for its next update.

Silent Hill revival is far from over, with the original 1999 cult classic finally being remade

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 10:41:14 -0000

Off the back of the success of the Silent Hill 2 Remake – a remake that blew my initial low expectations out of the water completely – Konami has announced that it is working with Bloober Team once more to remake the original Silent Hill from 1999. We don’t yet have a release window, however, with the game being announced as ‘in development’ from Bloober Team and Konami, with no additional details.

PlayStation remaining "thoughtful" about "how and if" it brings games to additional platforms

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 11:01:51 -0000

PlayStation will remain "thoughtful" with which of its games it brings to other platforms.

Netflix anime boosts Devil May Cry 5 sales to over 10m

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 11:10:31 -0000

Devil May Cry 5 is the latest Capcom game to surpass the 10m units sold milestone.

Voice actors "relieved to have the freedom to work again", says Jennifer Hale, as SAG-AFTRA strike ends

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 11:20:48 -0000

The newly agreed terms of the Interactive Media Agreement between SAG-AFTRA and the video game industry represent "an enormous effort on both sides and a real desire to move forward in a constructive way", said voice actor Jennifer Hale.

You can now search for Steam games by adjustable difficulty, mouse-only options and other accessibility tags

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 11:26:03 -0000

As promised earlier this year, Valve have given Steam developers the power to tag their games as having certain accessibility features, including narrated game menus, ways of differentiating visual elements that don't rely on colour, and touch-only interaction. You'll now be able to search for games with these tags, and view the full list of accessibility features on each game's Steam page.

Sony remains committed to "diverse and resilient" live service games, including forthcoming Marathon and Fairgames, despite high profile failures

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 11:50:59 -0000

During an annual Sony business presentation, CEO Hermen Hulst stated the company remains committed to building "a diverse and resilient" portfolio of live service games, which includes the unreleased Marathon and Fairgames. That's despite high profile live service failures, in addition to controversy with these two forthcoming games.

40% of Stellar Blade mods are NSFW, but don't worry, we've narrowed that down to three guaranteed to raise your heart rate

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 11:58:32 -0000

Right, put your hands on the table. Please. I won't ask again. Thank you. Stellar Blade arrived on PC as of June 11th, and naturally that's brought a new lease of life the the modding community who'd only had a demo to play with up until that point. Around 40% of the game's mods over on the Nexus right now are a bit risqué, so we've done you a favour and picked out the three filthiest on offer.

Don't feel you have to thank us. Well, me. This is all part of the job description, alongside all of the holding power to account and providing a service to the consumer stuff. Odds are my Pulitzer's already in the post.

Control multiplayer spin-off FBC: Firebreak has two major updates planned for this year

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 12:17:46 -0000

Remedy already has two major updates for its Control multiplayer spin-off FBC: Firebreak planned for this year, with more to hopefully follow.

Sony will "continue to add more value to PS Plus", says company president, but it may come with price changes too

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 12:47:03 -0000

Sony president Hideaki Nishino has stated the company is open to adjusting the price of PlayStation Plus in the future, as the company aims to "maximise profitability".

Red team AI now to build safer, smarter models tomorrow

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 13:00:00 -0000

AI models are under attack. Traditional defenses are failing. Discover why red teaming is crucial for thwarting adversarial threats.

<img width="578" height="280" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/red-team-hero-image.jpg?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="AI Red Teaming and Adversarial Testing: Stress-Testing AI Security Defenses" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/red-team-hero-image.jpg 1402w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/red-team-hero-image.jpg?resize=300,145 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/red-team-hero-image.jpg?resize=768,372 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/red-team-hero-image.jpg?resize=800,387 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/red-team-hero-image.jpg?resize=400,194 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/red-team-hero-image.jpg?resize=750,363 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/red-team-hero-image.jpg?resize=578,280 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/red-team-hero-image.jpg?resize=930,450 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>AI models are under attack. Traditional defenses are failing. Discover why red teaming is crucial for thwarting adversarial threats.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/security/red-team-ai-now-to-build-safer-smarter-models-tomorrow/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Gamefam brings FIFA Club World Cup 2025 to Roblox

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 13:00:00 -0000

Gamefam and FIFA are bringing the World Cup to Roblox via Super League Soccer from June 14 through July 13.

<img width="578" height="325" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FIFA-Club-World-Cup-Roblox-Key-Art-2.png?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FIFA-Club-World-Cup-Roblox-Key-Art-2.png 1920w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FIFA-Club-World-Cup-Roblox-Key-Art-2.png?resize=300,169 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FIFA-Club-World-Cup-Roblox-Key-Art-2.png?resize=768,432 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FIFA-Club-World-Cup-Roblox-Key-Art-2.png?resize=800,450 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FIFA-Club-World-Cup-Roblox-Key-Art-2.png?resize=1536,864 1536w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FIFA-Club-World-Cup-Roblox-Key-Art-2.png?resize=400,225 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FIFA-Club-World-Cup-Roblox-Key-Art-2.png?resize=750,422 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FIFA-Club-World-Cup-Roblox-Key-Art-2.png?resize=578,325 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FIFA-Club-World-Cup-Roblox-Key-Art-2.png?resize=930,523 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>Gamefam and FIFA are bringing the World Cup to Roblox via Super League Soccer from June 14 through July 13.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/gamefam-brings-fifa-club-world-cup-2025-to-roblox/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

The latest state of the game jobs market | Amir Satvat

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 13:30:00 -0000

Amir Satvat said in a LinkedIn post that hiring remains concentrated among professionals with five to 15 years of experience.

<img width="578" height="269" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/amir-satvat-6.jpg?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="Amir Satvat has a big community of helpers." decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/amir-satvat-6.jpg 1200w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/amir-satvat-6.jpg?resize=300,140 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/amir-satvat-6.jpg?resize=768,357 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/amir-satvat-6.jpg?resize=800,372 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/amir-satvat-6.jpg?resize=400,186 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/amir-satvat-6.jpg?resize=750,349 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/amir-satvat-6.jpg?resize=578,269 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/amir-satvat-6.jpg?resize=930,432 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>Amir Satvat said in a LinkedIn post that hiring remains concentrated among professionals with five to 15 years of experience.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/the-latest-state-of-the-game-jobs-market-amir-satvat/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

MindsEye's first hotfix plugs up its memory leak, and pledges to pop up PC hardware-related crash warnings

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 14:16:19 -0000

Good news, people who're still interested in giving MindsEye a go for reasons that don't involve gleefully watching as a poor NPC undergoes a sudden glitchy elongation. Developers Build A Rocket Boy have just pushed out the first in a series of updates designed to swat a bunch of the performance and crash-related issues that've plagued the game's launch.

If you were busy with other hobbies such as arctic exploration or hardcore spelunking earlier this week, the GTA/Cyberpunky Mindseye suffered a pretty nightmarish debut. The user reviews weren't totally negative right out of the gate, but it's fair to say it didn't land in the fashion ex-Rockstar bigwig Leslie Benzies' studio probably hoped.

Cyberpunk 2077 on Switch 2: a cutting-edge game translates well to Nintendo's console hybrid

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 14:55:22 -0000

Few games among the Nintendo Switch 2 launch line-up can match Cyberpunk 2077 in putting the system through its paces. It's a staple of our PC benchmarking suite for good reason: the open world design is a solid stressor for any CPU, while its effects-heavy battles challenge GPU resources as well. This Switch 2 release has clearly been a big undertaking for developer CD Projekt Red too, who produced the port in-house with unique optimisations for Switch 2's ARM-based architecture. It's also remarkably the Ultimate Edition of the game, with both the core adventure and the more taxing Phantom Liberty expansion bundled in - an extra portion that proved too demanding to justify a last-gen console release, and was instead restricted to PS5 and Series X/S, and yet here it is running on Switch 2.

Senator’s RISE Act would require AI developers to list training data, evaluation methods in exchange for ‘safe harbor’ from lawsuits

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 14:59:24 -0000

The developer must also publish known failure modes, keep all documentation current, and push updates within 30 days of a version change.

<img width="578" height="324" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_low_angle_hitchcockian_suspensful_view_bold_lines_retro_7d3c29b6-84c6-489d-b22e-863844dd098f.png?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="Silhouette of masculine person holding shield stands in background as gave hits pad in foreground in blue toned 2D AI illustration" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_low_angle_hitchcockian_suspensful_view_bold_lines_retro_7d3c29b6-84c6-489d-b22e-863844dd098f.png 2912w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_low_angle_hitchcockian_suspensful_view_bold_lines_retro_7d3c29b6-84c6-489d-b22e-863844dd098f.png?resize=300,168 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_low_angle_hitchcockian_suspensful_view_bold_lines_retro_7d3c29b6-84c6-489d-b22e-863844dd098f.png?resize=768,430 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_low_angle_hitchcockian_suspensful_view_bold_lines_retro_7d3c29b6-84c6-489d-b22e-863844dd098f.png?resize=800,450 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_low_angle_hitchcockian_suspensful_view_bold_lines_retro_7d3c29b6-84c6-489d-b22e-863844dd098f.png?resize=1536,861 1536w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_low_angle_hitchcockian_suspensful_view_bold_lines_retro_7d3c29b6-84c6-489d-b22e-863844dd098f.png?resize=2048,1148 2048w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_low_angle_hitchcockian_suspensful_view_bold_lines_retro_7d3c29b6-84c6-489d-b22e-863844dd098f.png?resize=400,224 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_low_angle_hitchcockian_suspensful_view_bold_lines_retro_7d3c29b6-84c6-489d-b22e-863844dd098f.png?resize=750,420 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_low_angle_hitchcockian_suspensful_view_bold_lines_retro_7d3c29b6-84c6-489d-b22e-863844dd098f.png?resize=578,324 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_low_angle_hitchcockian_suspensful_view_bold_lines_retro_7d3c29b6-84c6-489d-b22e-863844dd098f.png?resize=930,521 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>The developer must also publish known failure modes, keep all documentation current, and push updates within 30 days of a version change.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/ai/senators-rise-act-would-require-ai-developers-to-list-training-data-evaluation-methods-in-exchange-for-safe-harbor-from-lawsuits/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

The Trolley Solution is a moral quandary that suddenly turns into a tragically touching tale of tram love

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 15:03:53 -0000

There aren't many games lately which have compelled me to do a tweet, or skeet, or whatever you prefer to call ejaculating one's thoughts out onto the socials. The Trolley Solution's Steam Next Fest demo not only did that, it convinced me to post a tweet I didn't even write.

It's a game from indie dev byDanDans that starts off as a series of moral quandaries, each inspired by philosopher Philippa Foot's famous and now also thoroughly memed-to-death Trolley Problem. That being a thought experiment which forces you examine the ethics of either letting nature take its course to deliver one outcome that could cause harm to others, or actively intervening to cause another that might do the same in a different fashion. I didn't go in expecting to become enraptured in what I can only describe as a tragic rail romance.

Cronos: The New Dawn trailer shows off Dead Spacious combat and merging enemies

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 15:58:53 -0000

If you pine for the rotting corridors and tactical limb-surgery of Dead Space, it looks like Bloober's upcoming Cronos: The New Dawn may have you covered. Fresh from revealing that they're remaking the first Silent Hill, the Polish team have released a new trailer for Cronos that shows off more of its bubble-suited third-person gunnery.

In particular, it spotlights the Merge mechanic, whereby guttural tendril beasts known as Orphans devour the corpses of their brethren to enhance their abilities. It's implied that they can do this more than once, so be sure to clean up after yourself. As in so many other walks of life, punctual incineration may be the cure.

The Alters review

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 16:08:12 -0000

The Alters achieves something tense and new by merging strategy base-building with third-person exploration and a sci-fi story about cloning yourself. But repetition and complicated busywork mar the overall effect.

Jump Ship’s demo grants a taste of its cheerfully shambolic space raids

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 16:15:02 -0000

My personal pick of this week’s Steam Next Fest demos is Jump Ship, which you might already know as that co-operative, 'Left 4 Dead meets FTL meets Sea of Thieves' space crew shooter previously known as Hyperspace. Godspeed, Captain Farts.

All our previous looks at Jump Ship, including Edwin’s GDC 2024 preview, have seen it in varying states of unreadiness, with more missing parts than the game’s own spaceship after one of its many 1 vs. Loads dogfights. This public demo, however, looks and feels fairly polished, allowing it to serve as a rather moreish showcase of its mission loops. Which, at least for me and a couple of crewmates, seem to involve a lot of swishing around on grappling hooks while our vessel melts from within.

Same-date PC ports of PS5 games remain unlikely, as Sony talk up "thoughtful" multiplatform approach despite Xbox comparisons

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 16:18:57 -0000

PlayStation's bigwigs are content to stick with their current approach to multiplatform releases for now, making it unlikely we're going to see a sudden switch to day-and-date PC ports of Sony's big single-player games anytime soon.

SlayPtation have been bringing their studios' multiplayer and live-service games to PC at release for a while now, it making sense with the likes of Helldivers 2 and, er, Concord, to try and ensure the maximum potential player base possible right out of the gate. On the other hand, for single player stuff like God of War Ragnarok and Ghost of Tsushima they've been content to wait a year to bring over to the other video game boxes.

Wizards of the Coast and Giant Skull: ‘Gamers are telling us what they have always told us’ | The DeanBeat

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 17:00:00 -0000

I talked to Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro division, and Giant Skull about their upcoming Dungeons & Dragons game.

<img width="578" height="355" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/wizards-and-skulls.jpg?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="Giant Skull is making a D&D game for Wizards of the Coast." decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/wizards-and-skulls.jpg 1200w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/wizards-and-skulls.jpg?resize=300,184 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/wizards-and-skulls.jpg?resize=768,472 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/wizards-and-skulls.jpg?resize=800,491 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/wizards-and-skulls.jpg?resize=400,246 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/wizards-and-skulls.jpg?resize=750,461 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/wizards-and-skulls.jpg?resize=578,355 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/wizards-and-skulls.jpg?resize=930,571 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>I talked to Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro division, and Giant Skull about their upcoming Dungeons & Dragons game.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/wizards-of-the-coast-and-giant-skull-gamers-are-telling-us-what-they-have-always-told-us-the-deanbeat/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

With Borderlands 4 nearly here, a community of archivists are racing to revive a dead Borderlands MMO

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 17:00:28 -0000

Video game archival is a noble act, especially in this day and age where always-online games vanish when their servers are turned off, or when niche but beloved games disappear alongside the services they're locked to. There are libraries of indies locked to Apple Arcade, the PS Vita, and elsewhere, never to be played again; and then there's Borderlands Online.

The case for embedding audit trails in AI systems before scaling

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 20:13:09 -0000

With more AI applications and agents going into production, enterprises need robust and auditable AI pipelines more than ever.

<img width="578" height="385" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pipeline-computer-code-ai.png?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="Credit: VentureBeat, generated with ChatGPT" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pipeline-computer-code-ai.png 1536w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pipeline-computer-code-ai.png?resize=300,200 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pipeline-computer-code-ai.png?resize=768,512 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pipeline-computer-code-ai.png?resize=800,533 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pipeline-computer-code-ai.png?resize=400,267 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pipeline-computer-code-ai.png?resize=750,500 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pipeline-computer-code-ai.png?resize=578,385 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pipeline-computer-code-ai.png?resize=930,620 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>With more AI applications and agents going into production, enterprises need robust and auditable AI pipelines more than ever.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/ai/the-case-for-embedding-audit-trails-in-ai-systems-before-scaling/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Beyond GPT architecture: Why Google’s Diffusion approach could reshape LLM deployment

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 21:48:11 -0000

Gemini Diffusion is also useful for tasks such as refactoring code, adding new features to applications, or converting an existing codebase to a different language.

<img width="578" height="385" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-02_35_20-PM.png?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="Created by VentureBeat using ChatGPT" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-02_35_20-PM.png 1536w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-02_35_20-PM.png?resize=300,200 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-02_35_20-PM.png?resize=768,512 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-02_35_20-PM.png?resize=800,533 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-02_35_20-PM.png?resize=400,267 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-02_35_20-PM.png?resize=750,500 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-02_35_20-PM.png?resize=578,385 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-02_35_20-PM.png?resize=930,620 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>Gemini Diffusion is also useful for tasks such as refactoring code, adding new features to applications, or converting an existing codebase to a different language. <a href="https://venturebeat.com/ai/beyond-gpt-architecture-why-googles-diffusion-approach-could-reshape-llm-deployment/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Do reasoning AI models really ‘think’ or not? Apple research sparks lively debate, response

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 22:02:22 -0000

Ultimately, the big takeaway for ML researchers is that before proclaiming an AI milestone—or obituary—make sure the test itself isn’t flawed

<img width="578" height="324" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_pen_drawing_black_ink_on_white_background_technical_sch_27601b38-b730-4322-98fb-371d1318a22f.png?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="Black stylized Apple Inc logo surrounded by glitchy artifacts on white backdrop" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_pen_drawing_black_ink_on_white_background_technical_sch_27601b38-b730-4322-98fb-371d1318a22f.png 2912w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_pen_drawing_black_ink_on_white_background_technical_sch_27601b38-b730-4322-98fb-371d1318a22f.png?resize=300,168 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_pen_drawing_black_ink_on_white_background_technical_sch_27601b38-b730-4322-98fb-371d1318a22f.png?resize=768,430 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_pen_drawing_black_ink_on_white_background_technical_sch_27601b38-b730-4322-98fb-371d1318a22f.png?resize=800,450 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_pen_drawing_black_ink_on_white_background_technical_sch_27601b38-b730-4322-98fb-371d1318a22f.png?resize=1536,861 1536w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_pen_drawing_black_ink_on_white_background_technical_sch_27601b38-b730-4322-98fb-371d1318a22f.png?resize=2048,1148 2048w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_pen_drawing_black_ink_on_white_background_technical_sch_27601b38-b730-4322-98fb-371d1318a22f.png?resize=400,224 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_pen_drawing_black_ink_on_white_background_technical_sch_27601b38-b730-4322-98fb-371d1318a22f.png?resize=750,420 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_pen_drawing_black_ink_on_white_background_technical_sch_27601b38-b730-4322-98fb-371d1318a22f.png?resize=578,324 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/cfr0z3n_pen_drawing_black_ink_on_white_background_technical_sch_27601b38-b730-4322-98fb-371d1318a22f.png?resize=930,521 930w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>Ultimately, the big takeaway for ML researchers is that before proclaiming an AI milestone—or obituary—make sure the test itself isn’t flawed<a href="https://venturebeat.com/ai/do-reasoning-models-really-think-or-not-apple-research-sparks-lively-debate-response/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

How to find and get Flour Sand in Dune: Awakening

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 22:45:01 -0000

Flour Sand is one of the most dangerous items in Dune: Awakening, as the only area to collect it puts you at high risk of getting eaten by a sandworm. Flour Sand is a rare instance where you almost have to team up with others or get very lucky, though there are, occasionally, a few […]

<figure> <img alt="A player character approaching Flour Sand in Dune Awakening" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="Image: Funcom via Polygon" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/dune-awakening-flour-sand-locations-how-to-get.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> Flour Sand is one of the most dangerous items in <a href="https://www.polygon.com/dune-awakening-guides" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.polygon.com/dune-awakening-guides">Dune: Awakening</a>, as the only area to collect it puts you at high risk of getting eaten by a sandworm. Flour Sand is a rare instance where you almost have to team up with others or get very lucky, though there are, occasionally, a few safer areas to grab what you need. Below, we explain where to find Flour Sand in Dune: Awakening and how to get it safely. <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Dune: Awakening Flour Sand locations</h2> <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/dune-awakening-flour-sand-locations-how-to-get-2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="A map showing where to find Flour Sand spawn points in Dune Awakening" title="A map showing where to find Flour Sand spawn points in Dune Awakening" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="Image: Funcom via Polygon" /> Flour Sand seems to only show up in the Vermillius Gap region, both east and west, and you’ll spot it from a ways off. White dust clouds indicate areas where you can collect Flour Sand, though the specific locations change each week after the Coriolis Storm sweeps through. The catch is that they’re almost always located in or near drum sand, patches of sand that resonates when you walk or ride across it and summons the sandworm. Sometimes, you’ll get lucky and find a patch of Flour Sand on the northern or southern edge of Vermillius Gap, where there isn’t any drum sand. In general, though, if the Flour Sand is on a patch of red sand, you can guarantee the sandworm will show up. In some very lucky scenarios, you’ll have flour sand spawn in areas where the worm can’t go. Those spawns aren’t guaranteed, but it’s worth looking around the edges of rock formations just in case one showed up. <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">How to get Flour Sand in Dune: Awakening</h2> <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/dune-awakening-flour-sand-locations-how-to-get-3.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="A lone Dune Awakening player gathering Flour Sand" title="A lone Dune Awakening player gathering Flour Sand" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="Image: Funcom via Polygon" /> The easiest way to get Flour Sand is to use the compactor tool — unlocked after you complete the second <a href="https://www.polygon.com/dune-awakening-guides/606703/trials-locations-all-where-to-find" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.polygon.com/dune-awakening-guides/606703/trials-locations-all-where-to-find">Trial of Aql</a> — and work together with others. The Static Compactor forms clumps of sand and spice, which makes gathering faster and more efficient. The ideal situation is that one or more people lure the worm away with thumpers while the Flour Sand gatherer gets to work. If you’re playing solo, there are still a few methods you can try, though make sure you only take as much as is necessary in case the worm eats you. Store a backup vehicle in the backup tool, and leave that at your base as well. <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>Take a bike or other fast vehicle, and equip a booster on it</li> <li>Park it near the edge of the Flour Sand, and point it toward rocks or safety</li> <li>Gather the sand, assuming the worm hasn’t started breaching before you get there</li> <li>Once the worm appears, get back on your back and boost to safety</li> </ul> The extra speed should be enough to get you away, though there’s still a chance the worm might catch up. Some players have reported being able to use the Bene Gesserit’s dash skill — learned natively or through a <a href="https://www.polygon.com/dune-awakening-guides/606856/skill-trainer-locations-all-basic-advanced-where-to-find" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.polygon.com/dune-awakening-guides/606856/skill-trainer-locations-all-basic-advanced-where-to-find">skill trainer</a> — to get to safety, though that won’t work if the Flour Sand location isn’t close to safety. <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> If you’re just landing on Arrakis for the first time, check out our <a href="https://www.polygon.com/dune-awakening-guides">19 essential Dune Awakening beginner’s tips</a> to help you get started. Brush up on <a href="https://www.polygon.com/dune-awakening-guides/606094/plant-fiber-locations-where-to-find">where to find plant fiber locations</a> to help make staying hydrated with your <a href="https://www.polygon.com/dune-awakening-guides/606391/blood-purifier-how-to-build-unlock">blood purifier </a>easier and how to snag a <a href="https://www.polygon.com/dune-awakening-guides/606724/worm-tooth-how-to-get-use">Worm Tooth</a> to make your own Crysknife.

Just add humans: Oxford medical study underscores the missing link in chatbot testing

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 00:34:19 -0000

Patients using chatbots to assess their own medical conditions may end up with worse outcomes than conventional methods, according to a new Oxford study.

<img width="578" height="385" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-05_21_52-PM.png?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="Created by VentureBeat using ChatGPT" decoding="async" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-05_21_52-PM.png 1536w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-05_21_52-PM.png?resize=300,200 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-05_21_52-PM.png?resize=768,512 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-05_21_52-PM.png?resize=800,533 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-05_21_52-PM.png?resize=400,267 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-05_21_52-PM.png?resize=750,500 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-05_21_52-PM.png?resize=578,385 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-13-2025-05_21_52-PM.png?resize=930,620 930w" sizes="(max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>Patients using chatbots to assess their own medical conditions may end up with worse outcomes than conventional methods, according to a new Oxford study.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/ai/just-add-humans-oxford-medical-study-underscores-the-missing-link-in-chatbot-testing/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

What are we all playing this weekend?

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 07:00:00 -0000

What's that? Sorry, mate. Can't hear you over all the sighs of relief now that Summer Game Fest is over and done with. You'd better write it down instead. Here's what we're all playing this weekend!

What we've been playing - lessons in communication and, um, trash-talking

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 09:29:10 -0000

Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've been playing. I bet you didn't even notice it's a couple of hours late this week. Shh, don't say if you did. This time, Bertie learns a lesson or two about communication while Tom O tackles Mario Kart World's Free Roam missions.

Switch 2 Joy-Con drift is already haunting Nintendo

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 12:00:00 -0000

Stick drift comes for everyone, but Nintendo Switch hardware has a reputation for being particularly prone to failure. Naturally, everyone is wondering if the Nintendo Switch 2 and its new Joy-Con controller is any better than its predecessor. News that at least one person purchased a brand new Switch 2 that appeared to come out […]

<figure> <img alt="" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/switchjoycon2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> Stick drift comes for everyone, but Nintendo Switch hardware has <a href="https://www.polygon.com/nintendo-switch/2019/9/28/20888540/nintendo-switch-joy-con-drift-lawsuit-switch-lite-repairs">a reputation</a> for being particularly prone to failure. Naturally, everyone is wondering if the <a href="https://www.polygon.com/nintendo-switch-2/606757/review">Nintendo Switch 2</a> and its <a href="https://www.polygon.com/nintendo-switch-2/551761/joy-con-switch-2-mouse-hands-on-review">new Joy-Con controller</a> is any better than its predecessor. News that at least one person purchased a brand new Switch 2 that appeared to <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Switch/comments/1l5oo0k/i_got_joycon_stick_drift_out_of_the_box/">come out of the box with stick drift</a> isn’t helping paranoia around drift. So, what’s actually going on — and should you be worrying, too? Stick drift refers to the phenomenon where a controller’s joystick seemingly has a mind of its own. Your machine will interpret input that isn’t actually happening, often causing characters or cursors to perpetually move in a specific direction. You can play around it through new input that overrides the drift, but it’s a nuisance that begets inaccuracy during gameplay. Usually, you have to either repair the controller or buy new gear. Stick drift is not unique to Nintendo, but there are many potential reasons for the stigma. “Joy-Con drift” is a punchy term compared to something like “DualSense drift” or “Xbox wireless controller drift.” The detachable controllers also have more of a culture around them where people will buy new colors simply to have a rad system. While all platforms provide unique colorways, those on the Switch are more whimsical. Beyond pastel options, sometimes one set of Joy-Con will come in two totally different colors that give the console an air of artistic asymmetry. The portability allows Joy-Con to function more as a fashion accessory compared to controller that is always stuck at home. Joy-Cons are also slightly more expensive than the basic controllers from competitors, so defects can feel like a bigger deal on the Switch. There’s no perfect way to collect data around it, but anecdotally, more people have searched for PlayStation-related drift than Nintendo-specific drift, even accounting for different search terms, over the last five years. <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/dirft.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,1.4961230035125,100,97.007753992975" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" /> People will cite statistics like the one <a href="https://www.gamesindustry.biz/uk-watchdog-says-two-in-five-switch-joy-cons-affected-by-drift">where an apparent 40% of controllers</a> eventually experience the issue, but the investigation in question polled just over 900 people. The first <a href="https://www.polygon.com/nintendo/555598/has-nintendo-just-set-up-the-original-switch-to-be-the-best-selling-console-of-all-time">Switch has sold more than 150 million units</a>, and is currently on track to become the best-selling system of all time. The good news is that the person who unboxed a Switch 2 with stick drift appears to be an uncommon experience. You have to scroll dozens of posts to see anyone else claiming to have the same issue, and even then, that commenter says they were able to recalibrate the controller manually. Elsewhere, there <a href="https://x.com/search?q=switch%202%20drift&src=typed_query&f=live">are errant reports of Joy-Con 2 drift which</a>, while Polygon cannot individually confirm, don’t meaningfully alter the prevalence of the issue if taken at face value. Nintendo’s sold millions of Switch 2 consoles. If even a fraction of a percent of those consoles have drift, that could mean thousands of people. It’s awful for anyone experiencing it, of course, but that doesn’t mean the average Switch 2 owner has to worry about Joy-Con drift. At least, not this early on. Most of the time, stick drift will happen after extended wear and tear. The Switch 2 hasn’t been out for even a month yet. <a href="https://www.nintendolife.com/features/we-really-want-to-future-proof-the-nintendo-switch-2-interview">Nintendo claims</a> that the system as a whole was designed from the ground-up, including the Joy-Con, but experts who have broken down the tech say the <a href="https://www.ifixit.com/News/110926/switch-2-teardown">innards are largely similar to the original Joy-Con</a>. This would suggest that Joy-Con 2 will be just as susceptible to drift in the long term. Like the first time around, Nintendo offers <a href="https://insider-gaming.com/nintendo-offering-free-replacements-for-faulty-switch-2-joy-con-controllers/">free Joy-Con replacements for the Switch 2</a>, provided they’re still under warranty. The fine print stipulates that warranty only lasts a year, but historically Nintendo has been amenable to fixing controllers with an inactive warranty. Experiences around <a href="https://www.resetera.com/threads/what-was-your-experience-like-sending-nintendo-faulty-switch-joycons-us.1104129/">Joy-Con repair online are largely positive</a>, with users noting that at best, they had to make due without a controller for a couple of weeks. There are plenty of reports of people who have sent in Joy-Con multiple times, all free of charge. Unfortunately, a much smaller segment of that population say that their controllers started drifting even after repairs. At least Nintendo will take those back for free, which is a much better option than shelling out another $79 for a fresh pair. It’s possible to <a href="https://www.polygon.com/deals/23627127/nintendo-switch-joy-con-drift-gulikit-stick-hall-effect-fix-installation-buy">personally fix Joy-Con for much cheaper</a>, and fans have relied on low-tech methods that merely require a piece of cardboard. But if you elect that route, you’ll also be voiding your warranty while chancing the possibility of making a mistake. You can expect similar circumstances on the Switch 2. <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25537635/joy_con_charging_stand.jpeg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,23.821989528796,100,52.356020942408" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" /> In the past, furor around Joy-Con drift prompted lawsuits that caused <a href="https://www.polygon.com/2020/6/30/21308085/joy-con-drift-apology-nintendo-president">Nintendo to apologize to customers</a> over the issue. As Nintendo tells it, the Japanese company has <a href="https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/11/doug-bowser-comments-on-the-battle-against-joy-con-drift-says-nintendo-are-making-continuous-improvements">continually been improving Joy-Con durability </a>throughout the lifecycle of the first Switch, and enhancements were a consideration when developing the Switch 2. “The control sticks for Joy-Con 2 controllers have been redesigned and have improved in areas such as durability,” a <a href="https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/will-switch-2-also-suffer-from-joy-con-drift-we-asked-nintendo/">Nintendo spokesperson told VGC</a>. When asked by <a href="https://www.polygon.com/nintendo-switch-2/553626/switch-2-joy-con-2-hall-effect-unconfirmed">Polygon about wear and tear on the Joy-Con</a>, Nintendo was mum on what players could expect on Switch 2, allegedly out of worry that specifics would be akin to sharing proprietary information. Things might unfold differently for the Switch 2. The magnetic strips mean that the hardware comes together in slightly different way, and mouse controls also mean that people will be using Joy-Con 2 on all sorts of unusual surfaces. The potential for friction is higher by these factors alone. It won’t be surprising if we see more reports of Joy-Con drift on the Switch 2. You might even experience Joy-Con 2 drift yourself. Then again, all of my PS5 controllers have succumbed to drift while none of my Joy-Con on the Switch have had issues. Your mileage will vary, but for now, there’s no reason to believe the Switch 2 will have a pervasive hardware flaw any more than its rivals do.

2025's Summer Game Fest is its biggest to date, with viewer numbers up 89% on last year's show

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 12:58:19 -0000

Summer Game Fest saw its peak viewership jump 89 percent year-over-year, making 2025's show the biggest to date.

Marvel vs. Capcom spawned a new generation of tag fighters — by not showing up

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 13:00:00 -0000

It’s been nearly 30 years since Capcom popularized tag-based fighting games with X-Men vs. Street Fighter — and to a lesser extent, SNK with Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle. But now, the subgenre appears to be thriving in the vacuum left by Capcom itself, which hasn’t delivered a new tag-based fighting game since 2017’s Marvel vs. […]

<figure> <img alt="" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7579511/mvc.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> It’s been nearly 30 years since Capcom popularized tag-based fighting games with X-Men vs. Street Fighter — and to a lesser extent, SNK with Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle. But now, the subgenre appears to be thriving in the vacuum left by Capcom itself, which hasn’t delivered a new tag-based fighting game since 2017’s <a href="https://www.polygon.com/2017/9/18/16323994/marvel-vs-capcom-infinite-review">Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite</a>. Even still, this month alone, two major new tag-based fighting games were announced: <a href="https://www.polygon.com/gaming/603972/marvel-fighting-game-tokon-fighting-souls-arc-system-works-ps5-pc">Marvel Tokon: Fighting Spirit</a> from Guilty Gear developer Arc System Works and Quarter Up’s <a href="https://www.polygon.com/preview/605933/invincible-vs-developer-interview-quarter-up">Invincible VS</a>. These titles will join a long list of recent tag-based games including <a href="https://www.polygon.com/24006317/hunter-x-hunter-video-game-eighting-8ing-marvel-vs-capcom-3">Hunter x Hunter: Nen Impact</a>, <a href="https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/23/16924526/dragon-ball-fighterz-review">Dragon Ball FighterZ</a>, and the <a href="https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23186682/capcom-fighting-collection-review-games-platforms-street-fighter-6">Capcom Fighting Collection games</a>. It’s clear we’re entering a new era of tag-based fighters. It’s a revival that took years to materialize, and it likely wouldn’t have happened if a true Marvel vs. Capcom 4 had ever arrived to reclaim its throne. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <div><div><iframe title="MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls | Announce Trailer" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6fbfrV5qqnU?rel=0" allowfullscreen allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div> </div></figure> There’s been a hunger for tag-fighters for years, sated somewhat by games like <a href="https://www.polygon.com/game/skullgirls/5448">Skullgirls</a> and <a href="https://www.polygon.com/game/blazblue-cross-tag-battle/40391">BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle</a>, but the pioneers of the format couldn’t or wouldn’t deliver. The fighting game community has been starved for Marvel vs. Capcom 4 since 2017, when the next installment in the franchise, Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, almost immediately failed upon release. Its lack of X-Men characters, lack of previous comic book influences, and poorly received art direction resulted in it being perceived as a sequel unworthy of the series. Keeping the MvC franchise alive fell to fans. It took fighting game content creator Maximillion Dood and the fighting game community to <a href="https://www.polygon.com/22648751/marvel-vs-capcom-2-classic-quest-retro-gaming-capcom-fighting-game-community">start the #FreeMvC2 campaign</a> in 2021 for Disney and Capcom to pay attention — and realize that the IP is still a profitable franchise to explore.  Although it may have resulted in Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection being released, it also propelled Max to begin work on <a href="https://www.mvcib.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite & Beyond</a> in 2024, a fan-modded version of Infinite that addressed most problems fans had with the original. When asked if he believed Infinite & Beyond got Disney and Marvel’s attention more than the #FreeMvC2 campaign, Max told Polygon in an email, “If anything, I’d like to think so.” But more than anything, Max believes “the positive reception of our work allowed for further confidence to Capcom and Marvel, that investing into the Marvel Vs. Capcom series is a worthwhile venture.” But instead of an announcement for a new game, we just got a compilation, which, while a great gesture, wasn’t the advancement of the franchise most craved. Other developers have recognized an opportunity even Capcom couldn’t; it was open season to breathe new life into the tag-fighter subgenre.  “The past several years and [a] large multitude of 1v1 fighters left a gap created by the MVC series and DBFZ, that have led us to where we are today,” Max said, “with several large tag fighters on the horizon.” <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <div><div><iframe title="Launch Trailer | Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite & Beyond" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5HMFWbVrP98?rel=0" allowfullscreen allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div> </div></figure> But crafting a hit that could rival one of the most legendary tag fighters ever made is no easy task. Developer Quarter Up — and even Max— faced their own set of challenges stepping into the development process of a tag fighter.  “I simply had no idea how much of my year this project was going to occupy until we were at the end,” Max said. “At that point, we started to make individual teams for textures, models, art, interface, audio, and gameplay. Each one of these departments, full of fans just wanting to add something to the project, was able to work towards our pre-determined goals. At several points, we realized the scope of the project would become much too large, so we pulled back and focused hard on a 2024 release.” As Quarter Up’s foray into the tag-fighter genre, Invincible VS comes with some unexpected advantages. “The great thing about our particular process is that we weren’t shackled by having to adhere to any previous titles,” said Bau Bautista, lead combat designer for Invincible VS. “We were free to pick and choose features and mechanics that fit the vision of what we were trying to create. That freedom allowed us to hone in on a direction and rapidly iterate as we moved forward.” Invincible Vs is being built with a clean slate — there’s no legacy version for fans to compare it to. That’s a luxury Capcom didn’t have when developing Infinite. Even <a href="https://www.polygon.com/game/mortal-kombat-1/40907">Mortal Kombat 1</a> flirted with tag-based mechanics with its Kameo system, a kind of half measure that ultimately didn’t add the depth that NetherRealm and its fans were looking for. “Tag-fighting is also an interesting hook conceptually,” Max said. “Allowing for more general gameplay and character interaction than the typical 1v1 game. I feel that developers like to be challenged. And the tag-fighter sub-genre has mostly been stuck to the concepts that <a href="https://www.polygon.com/game/marvel-vs-capcom-2-new-age-of-heroes/6323">Marvel Vs. Capcom 2</a> created all the way back to the year 2000.” Fans of the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise are understandably wary about Marvel handing its IP to a <a href="https://www.polygon.com/gaming/604203/marvel-tokon-anime-inspirations-capcom-xmen">different dev team for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Spirit</a>, but Capcom has largely abandoned the tag-fighter format it helped pioneer, opting for safer, more traditional projects like <a href="https://www.polygon.com/game/street-fighter-6/40838">Street Fighter 6</a>. Maybe Capcom didn’t have the gumption to evolve its tried and true format the way newer developers are doing with their own tag-based games.  <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <div><div><iframe title="Invincible VS | Official Reveal Trailer | Xbox Games Showcase 2025" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/girNiXE-4E8?rel=0" allowfullscreen allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div> </div></figure> “With a team-based, 3v3 tag fighter, based on a long-standing and beloved IP, it adds so many more factors to the formula that it gets downright daunting at times,” Bautista said. “That being said, innovation and evolving a genre will always be one of the biggest challenges involved in the process. Tag fighters are a very specific sub-genre of fighting games, with a pretty solid history of established and familiar mechanics, where deviating too far from that formula will quickly lose you your player base.” Arc System Works stepped in with Dragon Ball FighterZ and proved itself with its successful gameplay innovations, making Marvel’s move to choose ArcSys as its new dev team feel like a no-brainer. Meanwhile, Invincible VS, another superhero IP, recognized the appeal and demand for the format and jumped in as well, however daunting it may be. Even if it’s not quite built for high-level tournament play, Nen Impact shows that the anime crowd is moving away from arena fighters and yearning to see their favorite shows get the tag-fighter treatment as well. Call it a breakup if you want, but both ArcSys and Quarter Up saw the demand, and they see the subgenre as a worthy investment. Whether Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Spirit and Invincible VS can break through like the Marvel vs. Capcom games did remains to be seen. “Several of the games coming in the near future are trying something unique in this space. It’s exciting,” Max said. “But the bigger question remains…is 4v4 fighting going to push the barrier and create a bright future? Or is it going to be too much for the masses to comprehend? I can’t wait to find out.”

Keep an eye on Planet of Lana 2 — the first one was a secret gem of 2023

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 14:00:00 -0000

May 2023 was kind of a big deal. A little ol’ game called The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (ring any bells?) was released, and everyone was playing it; Tears sold almost 20 million copies in under two months. However, it wasn’t the only game that came out that month. While it may […]

<figure> <img alt="A screenshot of Planet of Lana depicting a young girl and her tiny black cat in a forest" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/PoL_Screenshot_32.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> May 2023 was kind of a big deal. A little ol’ game called <a href="https://www.polygon.com/game/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom/40874" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.polygon.com/game/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom/40874">The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</a> (ring any bells?) was released, and everyone was playing it; <a href="https://www.polygon.com/23818423/zelda-totk-sales-nintendo-profits">Tears sold almost 20 million copies in under two months</a>. However, it wasn’t the only game that came out that month. While it may not have generated as much buzz at the time, Planet of Lana is one of 2023’s best indies — and it’s getting a sequel next year. Planet of Lana is a cinematic puzzle-platformer. You play as Lana as she tries to rescue her best friend and fellow villagers after they were taken by mechanical alien beings. She’s accompanied by a little cat-like creature named Mui (because any game is made better by having a cat in it). Together, they outwit the alien robots in various puzzles on their way to rescuing the villagers. The puzzles aren’t too difficult, but they still provide a welcome challenge; some require precise execution lest the alien robots grab Lana too. Danger lurks everywhere as there are also native predators vying to get a bite out of Lana and her void of a cat companion. Mui is often at the center of solving environmental puzzles, which rely on a dash of stealth, to get around those dangerous creatures. Planet of Lana’s art style is immediately eye-catching; its palette of soft, inviting colors contrasts with the comparatively dark storyline. Lana and Mui travel through the grassy plains surrounding her village, an underground cave, and through a desert. The visuals are bested only by Planet of Lana’s music, which is both chill and powerful in parts. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <div><div><iframe title="Horizons" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AzGnAHYIESo?rel=0" allowfullscreen allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div> </div></figure> Of course, all ends well — this is a game starring a child and an alien cat, after all. Nothing bad was really going to happen to them. Or at least, that was certainly the case in the first game, but the trailer for Planet of Lana 2: Children of the Leaf ends with a shot of poor Mui lying in some sort of hospital bed or perhaps at a research station. Lana looks on, and her worry is palpable in the frame. But, Planet of Lana 2 won’t come out until 2026, so I don’t want to spend too much time worrying about the little dude. The cat’s fine (Right? Right?). What’s not fine, however, is Lana’s village and her people. In the trailer for the second game, we see more alien robots trying to zap her and her friend, and a young villager falls into a faint. Children of the Leaf is certainly upping the stakes and widening its scope. Ships from outer space zoom through a lush forest, and we get exciting shots of Lana hopping from ship to ship. Lana also travels across various environments, including a gorgeous underwater level, and rides on the back of one of the alien robots from the first game. I’m very excited to see how the lore of Planet of Lana expands with its sequel, and I can’t wait to tag along for another journey with Lana and Mui when Planet of Lana 2: Children of the Leaf launches in 2026. You can check out the first game on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC.

Pokémon Go ‘Phantom Ruins’ event guide

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 14:00:00 -0000

Pokémon Go’s third lead-up event for Go Fest 2025 is called “Phantom Ruins,” and it runs from June 14-18. The event features bonuses like Incense attracting some specific Pokémon, doubled catch XP, and bonuses for Max Particle collection — which comes just in time for Gigantamax Inteleon’s debut. Below, we list out the perks of […]

<figure> <img alt="" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/unnamed_e2f5fb.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> <a href="https://www.polygon.com/game/pokemon-go/38713">Pokémon Go</a>’s third lead-up event for Go Fest 2025 is called “Phantom Ruins,” and it runs from June 14-18. The event features bonuses like Incense attracting some specific Pokémon, doubled catch XP, and bonuses for Max Particle collection — which comes just in time for <a href="https://www.polygon.com/pokemon-go-guide/606143/gigantamax-inteleon-counters-weaknesses-battle-tips">Gigantamax Inteleon</a>’s debut. Below, we list out the perks of Pokémon Go’s “Phantom Ruins” event, including the paid research, Collection Challenge, and more. <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <h2 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-none" id="pokemon-go-phantom-ruins-event-premium-timed-research-and-reward">Pokémon Go ‘Phantom Ruins’ event premium Timed Research and reward</h2> While, yes, this research is worth the $1.99 price tag in coin value, I wouldn’t buy this ticket unless you’re shiny hunting Gothita and/or Phantump, or if you’re running really low on Incense. You do get doubled catch Stardust once you clear the research until the end of the event (June 18 at 8 p.m. in your local time), so if that’s appealing to you, that could also be worth grabbing the ticket for. <h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-none" id="phantom-ruins-premium-research-step-2-of-2">‘Phantom Ruins’ premium research step 1 of 2</h3> <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>Catch 10 Pokémon (Phantump encounter)</li> <li>Use 5 berries to help catch Pokémon (Phantump encounter)</li> <li>Transfer 5 Pokémon (Phantump encounter)</li> <li>Catch 20 Pokémon (Phantump encounter)</li> <li>Use 10 berries to help catch Pokémon (Phantump encounter)</li> <li>Transfer 10 Pokémon (Phantump encounter)</li> <li>Spin 3 PokéStops or gyms (Phantump encounter)</li> </ul> Rewards: Phantump encounter, 2 Incense, 500 Stardust <h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-none" id="phantom-ruins-premium-research-step-2-of-2">‘Phantom Ruins’ premium research step 2 of 2</h3> <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>Catch 10 Pokémon (Gothita encounter)</li> <li>Use 5 berries to help catch Pokémon (Gothita encounter)</li> <li>Transfer 5 Pokémon (Gothita encounter)</li> <li>Catch 20 Pokémon (Gothita encounter)</li> <li>Use 10 berries to help catch Pokémon (Gothita encounter)</li> <li>Transfer 10 Pokémon (Gothita encounter)</li> <li>Use an Incense (Gothita encounter)</li> </ul> Rewards: Gothita encounter, 3 Incense, 500 Stardust <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <h2 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-none" id="pokemon-go-phantom-ruins-event-collection-challenges">Pokémon Go ‘Phantom Ruins’ event Collection Challenges</h2> The following Collection Challenges will be live throughout the duration of the event: <h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-none" id="phantom-ruins-collection-challenge-3">‘Phantom Ruins’ Collection Challenge 1</h3> <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>Catch a Drilbur</li> <li>Catch a Rhyhorn</li> <li>Catch a Duskull</li> <li>Catch a Skorupi</li> <li>Catch a Phantump</li> <li>Catch a Golett</li> </ul> Rewards: 2,000 XP, Phantump encounter <h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-none" id="phantom-ruins-collection-challenge-3">‘Phantom Ruins’ Collection Challenge 2</h3> <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>Catch a Drilbur</li> <li>Catch a Rhyhorn</li> <li>Catch a Duskull</li> <li>Catch a Skorupi</li> <li>Catch a Gothita</li> <li>Catch an Archen</li> </ul> Rewards: 2,000 XP, Gothita encounter <h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-none" id="phantom-ruins-collection-challenge-3">‘Phantom Ruins’ Collection Challenge 3</h3> <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>Catch a Phantump</li> <li>Catch a Gothita</li> <li>Catch a Chimecho</li> <li>Catch a Sableye</li> </ul> Rewards: 2,000 XP, 1 Incense <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="pokemon-go-phantom-ruins-event-field-research-and-rewards">Pokémon Go ‘Phantom Ruins’ event Field Research and rewards</h2> Spinning a PokéStop during the event period may yield one of these tasks: <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>Catch 10 Pokémon (Gothita, Rufflet, Phantump, or Greavard encounter)</li> <li>Catch 7 different species of Pokémon (Gothita or Phantump encounter)</li> <li>Catch a Gothita (Phantump encounter)</li> <li>Catch a Phantump (Gothita encounter)</li> <li>Explore 2 km (2 Rare Candy)</li> </ul> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="pokemon-go-phantom-ruins-event-boosted-spawns">Pokémon Go ‘Phantom Ruins’ event boosted spawns</h2> These Pokémon will spawn more frequently during the event period: <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>Rhyhorn</li> <li>Sableye</li> <li>Duskull</li> <li>Chimecho</li> <li>Skorupi</li> <li>Drillbur</li> <li>Archen</li> <li>Gothita*</li> <li>Golett</li> <li>Phantump*</li> </ul> These will show up more often via Incense during the event: <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>Sableye</li> <li>Chimecho</li> <li>Gothita*</li> <li>Rufflet</li> <li>Phantump*</li> <li>Greavard</li> </ul> *There is an “increased chance” of finding this shiny in the wild as part of the event.

Sony quietly removes PC sale restrictions in dozens of countries for four huge PlayStation games

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 15:07:59 -0000

Sony has seemingly loosened regional restrictions on a number of its PC games, including God of War Ragnarök, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and Helldivers 2.

FBC: Firebreak will keep you busy fending off a bunch of weird stuff right through to 2026 with multiple free updates

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 15:53:00 -0000

There's still a few days to go until Remedy Entertainment's latest entry into their Connected Universe, FBC: Firebreak, is unleashed onto the world. Whether it's any good or not in its entirety, we probably won't know for a while yet given that online shooters of its ilk are always guaranteed to receive numerous patches to iron out some kinks. Our own Nic found a good bit to like about the game in his preview, ignoring the at the time rubbish guns, at the very least.

Fallout Shelter has been downloaded over 230 million times in 10 years

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 15:54:17 -0000

On the tenth anniversary of the release of free-to-play Fallout Shelter, Bethesda has revealed the management sim game has been downloaded 230 million times across all platforms.

Helldivers 2, Spider-Man 2, and more PlayStation titles have been freed from their region lock prison on PC

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 16:56:08 -0000

Sony have been making a lot of mistakes over the past couple of years, including things like mistakenly thinking they could release 12 live service games by 2026, but the more immediately annoying one is its whole PSN thing. I probably don't need to remind you of that whole Helldivers 2 fiasco, where they tried to make logging into a PSN a requirement for those on PC and later scrapped this because it went down horrendously. However, there has been one other snag that came with all this PSN nonsense: region locking.

Nier: Automata creators deny characters "were problematic overseas" and blame mistranslated subtitle for censorship rumours

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 16:56:54 -0000

Nier: Automata producer Yosuke Saito and director Yoko Taro have denied that any of their character designs were restricted for Western audiences.

Hell is Us terrifies in all the best ways

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 17:00:00 -0000

Hell is Us has been on my radar since it was first announced in April 2022, and I’ve finally been able to spend some time with it via its demo. The war-torn world of Hell is Us is immediately chilling and the demo’s brief glimpse of the gameplay, despite some minor hang-ups, has me eager […]

<figure> <img alt="A hooded figure wields a sword in a dark dungeon in Hell is Us" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Hell-Is-Us-demo-impressions-thumb.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> Hell is Us has been on my radar since it was first announced in April 2022, and I’ve finally been able to spend some time with it via its <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1620730/view/515211349279640513">demo</a>. The war-torn world of Hell is Us is immediately chilling and the demo’s brief glimpse of the gameplay, despite some minor hang-ups, has me eager for more. You play as Remi as he ventures to the fictional country of Hadea. A civil war has broken out, dividing and devastating Hadea’s people. Remi must travel through the war zone in search of his parents, and quickly comes across a farmer who exposition-dumps plenty of information that may or may not stick. Essentially, shit is bad, tragically so, and Remi is about to discover just how bad. You wander around a forest while an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-YWkwm9L5Q">unsettling Returnal-esque score</a> accompanies you. Eventually you gain access to ruins that turn out to have been some sort of dungeon for prisoners long ago. It’s here that Remi encounters the first of hopefully many “oh, shit!” moments. He comes across a creepy-ass enemy I can best describe as if Spot from <a href="https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23742233/spider-man-across-spider-verse-review">Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse</a> was designed to horrify — a pale white humanoid with a black circle for a face who contorts around the level like a marionette. A mask-wearing woman shows up out of nowhere to take down the creepy foe, but dies saving Remi. Without explanation, Remi decides to don her poncho, take her drone, and wield her BGS (big glowing sword). <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Hell-Is-Us-enemies.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="Creepy white enemies approach in a dark dungeon in Hell Is Us" title="Creepy white enemies approach in a dark dungeon in Hell Is Us" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" /> Turns out he’s pretty good with a sword. Remi will encounter a couple dozen enemies throughout the demo; the combat is easy to pick up and is somewhat standard third-person-melee, though it does rely heavily on stamina management. Your max stamina is also reduced when you take damage, so you really don’t wanna get hit much. You can heal using consumable med kits as well as a pulse mechanic. Attacking enemies creates floating particles around Remi and once those particles form into a circle, you can press your controller’s right bumper to activate a healing pulse. It’s an interesting mechanic, and I like how Hell is Us is giving players a way to recoup health in the midst of combat. However, actually doing it is a bit clunky; keeping one eye on an enemy and the other on the particles around Remi is distracting, and timing the pulse is a challenge — you can only activate it during a brief window, and you’ll likely be in the middle of a combo when a pulse opportunity presents itself. While Hell is Us’ combat has surface similarities to Soulslikes — like parrying blows from creepy enemies — it felt less punishing and more forgiving than what you’d expect from a FromSoftware title. I only died once in the demo, compared to countless deaths in the opening hours of Soulslikes such as <a href="https://www.polygon.com/game/lies-of-p/40918">Lies of P</a> or <a href="https://www.polygon.com/game/elden-ring/40546">Elden Ring</a>. Notably, enemies don’t respawn when you save your game, so you don’t have to worry about repeatedly striking down the same foes. <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Hell-Is-Us-exploration.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="The player character wearing a cloak, explores a bleak ruin in Hell Is Us" title="The player character wearing a cloak, explores a bleak ruin in Hell Is Us" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" /> Because dead enemies remain dead, exploration is encouraged in Hell is Us. Developer Rogue Factor boasts that the game has “no map, no compass, no quest markers,” so you’re free to wander around the game’s world without a guiding hand and discover its secrets. For example, that farmer I mentioned earlier told Remi about how three of his sons died in this war. Later on, when exploring the World War I-like trenches outside of the ruins, I found a note from a soldier on the other side of the conflict bragging about killing three brothers “cowering in a farmhouse.” The note also mentioned taking a gold watch from one of the boys, which I grabbed and returned to the farmer — without a quest marker to guide me or a journal entry saying “give this item to the farmer.” This completed a “Good Deed” and I was told a reward may come from it later in the game; I’m curious how these types of quests will play out in the full release. The prospect of doing good deeds in this torn-asunder country is especially appealing. A Soulslike-adjacent game placing greater emphasis on user-guided exploration than combat sounds enticing, and Hell is Us is delivering on that promise so far. Its demo is available on Steam through June 16 before the full game launches Sept. 4 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X.

All Verso Outfits in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and how to unlock them

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 17:00:00 -0000

Verso is more than just a Devil May Cry stand-in. In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Verso’s combat playstyle evokes this feeling of style, but style doesn’t have to stop at combat. With the right fit, you can defeat the paintress in style. Verso’s outfits unlock many combinations of expression. As you play Clair Obscur: Expedition […]

<figure> <img alt="Verso stares solemnly in key art for Clair Obscur Expedition 33" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/clair-obscur-expedition-33-.webp?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> <a href="https://www.polygon.com/clair-obscur-expedition-33-guides/601154/best-verso-build-attributes-skills-weapon-luminas-pictos" data-type="post" data-id="601154">Verso</a> is more than just a Devil May Cry stand-in. In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Verso’s combat playstyle evokes this feeling of style, but style doesn’t have to stop at combat. With the right fit, you can defeat the paintress in style. Verso’s outfits unlock many combinations of expression. As you play Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, you’ll find both outfits and hairstyles to experiment with. Many of them will be directly in your path, but many of them are missable — hidden behind Mimes, side quests, or complex challenges. In this Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 guide, we offer a list of all Verso outfits and hairstyles and how to unlock them. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="all-verso-outfits-in-clair-obscur-expedition-33">All Verso outfits in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33</h2> <div class="c-image-slider alignnone wp-block-vox-media-image-slider"> <div class="c-image-slider__caption"> <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-13-130559.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="Verso" data-portal-copyright="" /> <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-13-130705.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="Baguette" data-portal-copyright="" /> <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-13-131121.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="Expedition" data-portal-copyright="" /> <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-13-131343.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="Pure" data-portal-copyright="" /> <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-13-161213.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="Renoir’s Suit | Image: Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive via Polygon" data-portal-copyright="Image: Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive via Polygon" /> <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-13-161251.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="Sakapatate | Image: Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive via Polygon" data-portal-copyright="Image: Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive via Polygon" /> <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-13-131749.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="Simple" data-portal-copyright="" /> <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-13-161326.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="Swimsuit I | Image: Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive via Polygon" data-portal-copyright="Image: Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive via Polygon" /> </div> </div> There are 12 outfits you can unlock for Verso. We’ve only unlocked eight so far, though, we can confirm through community sources how to unlock the other four. Included above are screenshots of the Verso outfits we’ve unlocked to date, with an asterisk (*) below to indicate those we’ve yet to unlock. Here’s how you unlock the following Verso outfits in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: <ol class="wp-block-list"> <li>Verso — Available from the beginning of the game.</li> <li>Baguette — Defeat the Mime in the Joy sub-section of Visages.</li> <li>Expedition — Unlocks automatically once you reach Act 2.</li> <li>Civilian* — Found in the Manor. Access the Manor through the continent north of Lost Woods once you unlock swimming with Esquie, and it’s behind a secret door you find after checking the upstairs bookcase.</li> <li>Clair* — Complete Stage 11, Trial 3 in Endless Tower.</li> <li>Pelerin* — Purchase from Verogo the Merchant in Frozen Hearts.</li> <li>Pure — Purchase from Granasori the Merchant on the island next to the Monolith.</li> <li>Renoir’s Suit — Defeat Renoir in the Monolith.</li> <li>Sakapatate — Purchase from Delsitra the Merchant in Gestral Village.</li> <li>Simple — Purchase from Rubiju the Merchant on the island next to the Visages on the World Map.</li> <li>Swimsuit I — Reach relationship level 6 with Sciel.</li> <li>Swimsuit II* — Achieve the Gold Medal in the Time Trial at Gestral Beach.</li> </ol> <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="all-verso-hairstyles-in-clair-obscur-expedition-33">All Verso hairstyles in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33</h2> <div class="c-image-slider alignnone wp-block-vox-media-image-slider"> <div class="c-image-slider__caption"> <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-13-130559-1.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="Verso" data-portal-copyright="" /> <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-13-132505.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="Gustave’s Haircut" data-portal-copyright="" /> <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-13-132742.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="Baguette" data-portal-copyright="" /> <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-13-132712.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="Bun" data-portal-copyright="" /> <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-13-132638.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="Samurai" data-portal-copyright="" /> </div> </div> There are 10 hairstyles you can unlock for Verso. Similar to his outfits, we’ve only unlocked five, but through the community, we have confirmed how to unlock the other six. We’ve included screenshots of the Verso hairstyles we’ve unlocked so far, and have added an asterisk (*) below to indicate those we’ve yet to unlock. Here’s how you unlock the following Verso hairstyles in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: <ol class="wp-block-list"> <li>Verso — Available from the beginning of the game.</li> <li>Bald* — Defeat the Mime in Sunless Cliffs with Verso.</li> <li>Curly* — Purchase from Sodasso the Merchant, northwest of Visages.</li> <li>Gustave’s Haircut — Purchase from Papasso the Merchant on the beach next to Monoco’s Station.</li> <li>Baguette — Defeat the Mime in the Joy section of Visages.</li> <li>Bun — Purchase from Blackora the Merchant next to Monoco’s Station.</li> <li>Expedition White* — Complete Stage 9, Trial 3 of Endless Tower.</li> <li>Gestral* — Received from Sastro once you find 5 Lost Gestrals.</li> <li>Samurai — Reach relationship level 3 with Monoco and select “Fine” when you’re able during the dialogue.</li> <li>Renoir Haircut* — Get the Verso ending at the end of the game. You must choose “Fight as Verso” in the final battle.</li> </ol> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> For more Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 guides, here’s our recommendation for <a href="https://www.polygon.com/clair-obscur-expedition-33-guides/599159/endings-all-how-to-get-true-ending" data-type="post" data-id="599159">how to get all endings</a>.

Peak is a small, goofy co-op climbing game from the devs behind Another Crab's Teasure and Content Warning

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 19:04:04 -0000

It's a crossover episode! Like the great team-ups of the past (Scooby-Doo and Batman, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Batman), Totally Accurate Battle Simulator and Content Warning developer Landfall, and Another Crab's Treasure developer Aggro Crab have come to make Peak. As in it's literally called Peak, not a qualitative descriptor that's been more widely adopted into Gen-Z slang that you have to Google because you're not a spring chicken anymore.

Rethinking AI: DeepSeek’s playbook shakes up the high-spend, high-compute paradigm

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 19:05:00 -0000

DeepSeek's advancements were inevitable, but the company brought them forward a few years earlier than would have been possible otherwise.

<img width="578" height="324" src="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/upscalemedia-transformed_8252b7.webp?w=578" class="attachment-single-feed size-single-feed wp-post-image" alt="VentureBeat/Midjourney" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/upscalemedia-transformed_8252b7.webp 2744w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/upscalemedia-transformed_8252b7.webp?resize=300,168 300w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/upscalemedia-transformed_8252b7.webp?resize=768,430 768w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/upscalemedia-transformed_8252b7.webp?resize=800,450 800w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/upscalemedia-transformed_8252b7.webp?resize=1536,861 1536w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/upscalemedia-transformed_8252b7.webp?resize=2048,1148 2048w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/upscalemedia-transformed_8252b7.webp?resize=400,224 400w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/upscalemedia-transformed_8252b7.webp?resize=750,420 750w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/upscalemedia-transformed_8252b7.webp?resize=578,324 578w, https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/upscalemedia-transformed_8252b7.webp?resize=930,521 930w" sizes="(max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px" /><hr/>DeepSeek's advancements were inevitable, but the company brought them forward a few years earlier than would have been possible otherwise.<a href="https://venturebeat.com/ai/rethinking-ai-deepseeks-playbook-shakes-up-the-high-spend-high-compute-paradigm/" target="_blank">Read More</a>

Starlight Re:Volver is an upcoming anime as hell Hades-esque, MMO inspired roguelite that already has the vibe

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 20:27:56 -0000

I'm not much of an MMO person, I've dabbled over the years like with RuneScape in my youth, and a bit of Final Fantasy 14. These days it's the level of commitment that puts me off, even though I really do love being able to partake in what feels like living, breathing worlds, the hustle and bustle of actual people going to and fro. Luckily, I think I have a lower-key way to get this kind of feeling in the upcoming action roguelite Starlight Re:Volver.

GTA Online's next update will let you pull off a classic, if slightly dull, type of crime: money laundering

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 21:55:29 -0000

I feel like money laundering is one of those concepts you see in a lot of crime TV shows but it's not really something that seems to come up much in games. I certainly can't think of any games that feature money laundering as an actual mechanic, but I'll be able to add one to the list next week: GTA Online. The multiplayer game is getting a new update this coming June 17th called Money Fronts, and is literally all about buying up small but generally lucrative businesses that you can sneak some money through.

The Sunday Papers

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 10:00:00 -0000

The weather is supposed to be pretty nice by Sunday afternoon, according to the forecast as I write this, which means that Sundays are for going to the park to read. I'm making my way through Tokyo These Days, a short manga series by Tekkonkinkreet and Ping Pong author Taiyō Matsumoto, about a manga editor who quits his job at a publisher after his magazine folds, but decides to enlist the creators he admires to launch something of his own. Hm.

If you don't understand the Switch 2, you won't understand the modern world, argues Stephen Bush in the Financial Times. The FT paywall their content and there's nothing I can do about that, but I'm sure you can figure it out.

Mario Kart World wouldn’t be in the running for Game of the Year even if it was perfect

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 13:00:00 -0000

Following Grand Theft Auto 6’s retreat into 2026, last week’s launch of Nintendo Switch 2 will likely stand as the gaming event of 2025. And at the center of that launch is Mario Kart World, an ambitious sequel to one of the best-selling games of all time from perhaps the single most revered game studio […]

<figure> <img alt="" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/NintendoSwitch2_MarioKartWorld_Character_SCRN_25.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> Following Grand Theft Auto 6’s retreat into 2026, last week’s launch of Nintendo Switch 2 will likely stand as the gaming event of 2025. And at the center of that launch is <a href="https://www.polygon.com/game/m/552651">Mario Kart World</a>, an ambitious sequel to one of the best-selling games of all time from perhaps the single most revered game studio in the world: Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development (to give Nintendo’s game development arm its full title). You’d think such an auspicious title would be a near-automatic contender for Game of the Year at The Game Awards in December. Not so. Mario Kart World has gone down well with critics, if not as well as its predecessor or as <a href="https://www.polygon.com/awards/599594/goty-2025-clair-obscur-split-fiction-aa">some other 2025 games</a>. But the fact is that even if it had a Metacritic rating of 96, trouncing all its competition, it still wouldn’t be a credible contender, and probably wouldn’t even get nominated. That’s because it’s a racing game. I’ve <a href="https://www.polygon.com/awards/450688/what-makes-game-of-the-year-tgas">discussed The Game Awards jury’s genre bias before</a>: the short version is that action-adventures and role-playing games are strongly favored, especially if they have a strong focus on story. Sports, sim, strategy, fighting, and racing games are clean out of luck. It doesn’t matter how good they are and how much reviewers loved them — they will not get nominated in the GOTY category. It has never happened. As far as racing games are concerned, there are two cases that provide conclusive precedent for their status as absolute no-hopers in the Game of the Year competition. The first is, appropriately enough, Mario Kart 8, widely considered the perfect expression of this vastly popular series. Its original Wii U incarnation was released in 2014, the first year of The Game Awards. It reviewed well, with a rating of 88 on both Metacritic and Opencritic — not as high as some of that year’s games, like Bayonetta 2 and Dark Souls 2, but at least on a par with the eventual winner, Dragon Age: Inquisition. It won both the Best Family and Best Sports/Racing Game categories handily, but wasn’t nominated for Game of the Year. (Neither was Nintendo’s other big game that year, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS, which did have a 92 Metascore, better than any of the nominated games.) <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/ForzaHorizon5_Launch_Preview-06-1x1_WM.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,10.732984293194,100,78.534031413613" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="Forza Horizon 5." data-portal-copyright="" /> An even more damning example is Forza Horizon 5. It was one of the best-reviewed games of 2021, if not the very best. And that was a pretty soft year for new releases, resulting in one of the weakest Game of the Year fields in The Game Awards’ history, and a surprise win for Hazelight’s co-op adventure, It Takes Two. Forza Horizon 5, as the only game in contention with a 90-plus Metascore, should have walked it. But again, it wasn’t even nominated. Sealing Mario Kart World’s fate is the fact that it’s not in Forza Horizon 5’s class, critically speaking. Reviews have appeared gradually — no early access was provided to press — but have now settled at 87 on Metacritic and 86 on Opencritic. Reviewers (<a href="https://www.polygon.com/review/605637/mario-kart-world-review-nintendo-switch-2" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.polygon.com/review/605637/mario-kart-world-review-nintendo-switch-2">like me</a>) admire it, but have some criticisms of the implementation of an open world in a game that turns over a new page for Mario Kart. Nintendo’s slim hope for repeating its GOTY triumph in the Switch’s launch year with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild now rests with Donkey Kong Bananza or perhaps Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. If they turn out well, either could score a nomination; last year, winner Astro Bot opened the GOTY door to family-friendly platform games, and Metroid has been nominated before (Metroid Dread in 2021). But Mario Kart World’s chances of a GOTY nomination or win were zero before anyone had played it. The strange genre blindness of the GOTY jury sees to that. It could be argued that genres like racing games are too niche to be considered, or at least too niche to be widely played enough among The Game Awards’ large jury. But Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s 68 million sales put the lie to that; everybody plays Mario Kart. Instead, the uncomfortable truth is that the critical community for video games, of which The Game Awards’ jury is a pretty broad sample, does not consider racing games — or fighting games, or sims, or the rest — to be capable of greatness or a true representation of the art. That’s surely an assumption worth challenging.

Red Dead Redemption star teases he "cannot wait" for us to know about a big announcement that's coming "before Friday"

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 13:47:19 -0000

Another day, another Red Dead rumour, but this one comes from John Marston himself - or, at least, the actor who brings him to life, Rob Wiethoff.

Clair Obscur only gets better after you beat its final boss

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 14:00:00 -0000

Amidst all the Summer Game Fest announcements and shadow drops, there’s still one game holding my attention like none other: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Specifically, its postgame, which includes more content than some AAA full releases. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is divided into three acts (missed opportunity not to have 33 acts), but there is […]

<figure> <img alt="" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/clairobscur-fight.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> Amidst all the <a href="https://www.polygon.com/gaming/604574/summer-games-fest-2025-news-announcements-trailers">Summer Game Fest announcements</a> and <a href="https://www.polygon.com/news/604422/lies-of-p-dlc-overture-release-date">shadow drops</a>, there’s still one game holding my attention like none other: <a href="https://www.polygon.com/game/clair-obscur-expedition-33/548832">Clair Obscur: Expedition 33</a>. Specifically, its postgame, which includes more content than some AAA full releases. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is divided into three acts (missed opportunity not to have 33 acts), but there is so much more to do after you beat the story’s final boss. While you can explore the continent and all its late-game reveals immediately after Act 2, the recommended route is instead to head straight to Lumiere and its climactic showdown. The story’s final boss won’t scale with you, so if you wait and level your crew up some more, what should be a challenge becomes a trifle, especially with <a href="https://www.polygon.com/clair-obscur-expedition-33-guides/599822/best-maelle-build-attributes-skills-weapon-luminas-pictos">how powerful Maelle becomes</a> (<a href="https://www.polygon.com/gaming/598287/clair-obscur-expedition-33-nerfs-maelle-stendhal-patch">even post-nerf</a>). After seeing <a href="https://www.polygon.com/clair-obscur-expedition-33-guides/599159/endings-all-how-to-get-true-ending">one of the game’s two endings</a> (or both — just go ahead and reload a recent save to make a different ending choice), the game will put you back outside the final boss’ arena. From here, you’re free to explore the continent, further Verso’s relationships with companions at camp, battle the game’s toughest fights, and discover several secret story bosses. Clair Obscur has a massive postgame hiding behind its “Act 3” descriptor. <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Clair-Obscur-Expedition-33-postgame-combat.jpeg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" /> Now that Esquie can fly, there are plenty of sky islands to find floating around the fractured continent — and plenty of them will be red “danger” areas as you have a lot of leveling up to do if you want to battle everything. Thankfully, the Endless Tower is here for that. The Endless Tower — whose location was right there teasing you as flightless Esquie could only swim past it earlier — is now accessible and delivers on its name. It offers 33 (of course) battles of increasing difficulty. My party’s levels started in the low 70s when I entered and needed to be just under 90 for me to finish the Tower, making the battles a fun way to grind as well as to get Nevron feet for Monoco and some high-level Pictos. And grinding you’ll need to do if you want to battle all the game’s bosses (and collect all the trophies); the boss at the bottom of Renoir’s Drafts is undoubtedly the toughest in the game, and will still prove quite the challenge when you hit level 99. A fading version of Clea stands sentry in the Endless Tower. After popping up during the flashbacks following Act 2, she finally gets to become more of a character in the postgame. Her voice shines in dialogue with Maelle at the Endless Tower, teasing her sister while later offering her view on the grief that has consumed the Dessendres. Clea, or rather yet another version of her, again makes an appearance upon completing the Flying Manor, a high-up sky island not too far away from the Endless Tower. Like the Endless Tower, the Flying Manor has several tough boss fights to take on before you can interact with Clea (and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VbLG22k3U8" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VbLG22k3U8">listen to her theme, which is one of the soundtrack’s best</a>). The version you meet is quite tragic and is good for one of the game’s tougher boss fights, and certainly one of the most fun. If you thought the tears were done flowing after rolling credits, you’d be wrong; be prepared for some very heavy emotional story content at the end of the Flying Manor. <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Clair-Obscur-Expedition-33-postgame-dialogue.jpeg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" /> Even down on the ground, there’ll be a few new areas Esquie can now reach. By the exit to Forgotten Battlefield, you’ll find two journal entries that are some of the more illuminating entries in the game. After starting as a filthy liar, Verso may have spilled most of the beans to your crew at this point, but there are a few major events from his past he’s holding close to his vest, and the “Julie” and “Verso” journals will build out his character and lay his heart bare. Don’t miss them. As Verso, continue speaking with companions at camp. Not only will you unlock the most powerful gradient attacks, but progressing their storylines — particularly Maelle’s — proves essential to getting the most out of Clair Obscur. Plus, you don’t want to leave Noco hanging, so get talking to Monoco! But not everything in Clair Obscur’s postgame is doom and gloom; there are still plenty of gestral merchants to find, a final gestral beach to conquer, and Petanks to break. Even after credits are rolled, Clair Obscur won’t stop. Like its expeditioners, it is relentless in pressing forward and offering up new content for you to enjoy. While you can best its final boss after 40 or so hours, Clair Obscur has almost another game’s worth of content to enjoy after its credits roll. The battles will challenge even the best of players, and new story revelations will provide more context to the games’ narrative — alongside more emotional gut punches. No matter how hard a postgame enemy hits, Clair Obscur’s narrative hits even harder.

Minecraft's "Vibrant Visuals" update finally has a release date

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 14:44:03 -0000

Minecraft's Vibrant Visuals update finally has a release date: 17th June.

What's on your bookshelf?: dispassionate analysis of the eldritch runes edition

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week - our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! No cool industry person this week. Instead, you are stuck with me. In an elevator. And I have eaten nothing but cabbage-wrapped beans for a week. You'll doubtless want something to keep your mind off that, so let's talk about books instead.

Dispatch offers something new for superhero video games — engaging deskwork

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 16:00:00 -0000

While we’ve had plenty of superhero games come out over the past decade and a half (and I’m always down for more), most have either been open-world adventures or fighting games. I’m as excited as anyone for the upcoming Marvel Tōkon and Invincible VS, but I’m also ready for a little something different. That’s where […]

<figure> <img alt="" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/DIspatch-demo-impressions-thumb.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption></figcaption> </figure> While we’ve had plenty of superhero games come out over the past decade and a half (and <a href="https://www.polygon.com/comics/600993/superhero-video-games-we-need">I’m always down for more</a>), most have either been open-world adventures or fighting games. I’m as excited as anyone for the upcoming <a href="https://www.polygon.com/gaming/604203/marvel-tokon-anime-inspirations-capcom-xmen">Marvel Tōkon</a> and <a href="https://www.polygon.com/preview/605933/invincible-vs-developer-interview-quarter-up">Invincible VS</a>, but I’m also ready for a little something different. That’s where Dispatch from AdHoc Studio comes in. Dispatch is a game made for people who enjoy watching a rerun of <a href="https://www.polygon.com/tv/2020/3/24/21190708/the-office-comedy-politics-still-watchable-on-streaming">The Office</a> as a palate cleanser after the bloody battles of <a href="https://www.polygon.com/reviews/22350925/invincible-amazon-prime-review">Invincible</a>. So, me. You’re cast as Robert Robertson, the former superhero known as Mecha Man. He has to step away from frontline superheroics as the mech suit he relied on was destroyed in battle. Needing a job, he starts work at a dispatch center for superheroes, and the demo takes you through a small, 30-minute chunk of his first day. You’ll notice Dispatch’s crude humor early on. The first thing you can do in Dispatch is give a colleague a “bro fist” at a urinal, and the juvenile jokes don’t stop there. Middle school boys are going to love it, though I’d be lying if I said a few of the jokes didn’t get chuckles from me. <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Dispatch-gameplay.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" /> Another of Robertson’s co-workers, who also used to be a superhero until his powers caused him to rapidly age, introduces Robertson’s team of misfit heroes, though that term should be used loosely. He notes they’re a “motley crew of dangerous fuck-ups” as Robertson examines their files, each with a mugshot and rapsheet. Robertson isn’t in charge of the Avengers — he’s leading a D-List Suicide Squad. The cast, however, is full of A-listers: Laura Bailey, Matthew Mercer, Aaron Paul, and Jeffrey Wright are among those lending their voices to Dispatch. Much like The Boys, Dispatch plays with the idea of the corporatization of superheroes (though without the satire of and parallels to modern-day politics). These heroes aren’t a lone Spider-Man swinging through Manhattan on patrol — they’re employees waiting for an assignment. Gameplay consists of matching the right (or perhaps “good enough”) hero to the job. Some assignments I saw in the demo included breaking up a robbery, catching a 12-year-old thief, and grabbing a kid’s balloon from a tree while also making sure the kid didn’t cry. Seeing as how one of your misfits is a literal bat man and another looks like a tiefling, you have to choose wisely. <img src="https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Dispatch-dialogue.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,3.4613147178592,100,93.077370564282" alt="" title="" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="" /> The real draw of Dispatch for me isn’t the point-and-click assignment gameplay, but rather the choice-based dialogue. It’s developed by AdHoc Studio, which was formed in 2018 by former developers who had worked on Telltale titles like <a href="https://www.polygon.com/2013/10/10/4824252/fables-the-wolf-among-us">The Wolf Among Us</a>, <a href="https://www.polygon.com/2013/1/24/3741174/the-walking-dead-episode-one-review-a-running-start">The Walking Dead</a>, and <a href="https://www.polygon.com/2014/11/25/7277923/tales-from-the-borderlands-episode-1-zer0-sum-review">Tales from the Borderlands</a>, and you can easily see the throughline from those titles to Dispatch. At various points, you have a limited time to select Robertson’s dialogue, and occasionally a pop-up saying a character “will remember that” appears. How much Robertson’s choices actually have consequences or influence his relationships with others remains to be seen, though I have no doubt those choices will be fun to make. After its reveal at The Game Awards six months ago, Dispatch will be coming to Windows PC and unspecified consoles sometime this year. You can check out its demo now on <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/3674060/Dispatch_Demo/">Steam</a>.

Dune: Awakening and Stellar Blade both set new concurrent user records on Steam this weekend

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 17:04:21 -0000

Both Dune: Awakening and Stellar Blade have set new concurrent user records on Steam over the weekend.

Nintendo fans are compiling a master list of what games run better - or worse - on Switch 2

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 17:32:43 -0000

Industrious Switch fans have started compiling a fan-made list that tracks which Switch 1 games have seen an improvement - or a decline - in performance when running on their new Nintendo Switch 2 consoles.