Since it acquired Activision Blizzard, we’ve heard a lot of hedged words from Microsoft about potential Xbox exclusivity for Call of Duty in the years to come. In contrast, Sony is being much more upfront regarding its newly announced plan to acquire Bungie: Destiny 2 will remain multiplatform, as will the studio’s…
It’s a universally agreed-upon truth that the Wii Shop Channel music is a banger. No doubt about it. One of the best pieces of music humanity has ever created. And now, thanks to a nifty and clever little browser add-on, you can have this wonderful song play wherever you go, provided it’s on the internet. So for…
And the video game adaptations keep a-coming, this time with the news that Hazelight Studios' acclaimed co-operative platformer It Takes Two is the latest in an increasingly long line of games to be making the journey to the big and small screen.
It Takes Two - which released for PC and consoles last March, and featured in many a Game of the Year list as 2021 drew to a close - follows the adventures of Cody and May, a human couple preparing to divorce, who are forced to work together after being turned into living dolls.
Rocket Panda Games released a new trailer of the upcoming 2D fighting game Phantom Breaker: Omnia focusing on showcasing another playable character.
To be precise, we get the introduction of Ria. This follows another trailer featuring Mikoto, one showcasing Itsuki, one featuring Waka, one starring Yuzuha, and one showcasing Ren.
You can check her out in action below.
Naughty Dog and Dark Horse Direct are teaming up once again to bring Last of Us Part II fans some amazing new statues. This collaboration will focus on two key figures in the game, Joel and Abby.
Each of these statues will be released on July 27, 2022, and are available for the price point of $59.99. While these statues are indeed new individual purchases, it should also be noted the Abby figure was a part of a bundle last year and the Joel figure has a larger version available that comes out around the same time. These statues are much more accessible and affordable than those models are, though.
Hazelight Studios is looking to adapt its 2021 co-op romp It Takes Two to film or television thanks to a partnership with dj2 Entertainment. The news of this deal comes from an exclusive report from Variety.
Outspoken Hazelight creative director Josef Fares sounds excited for the opportunity to bring It Takes Two to another medium. “Creating the world and story in ‘It Takes Two’ was so much fun for me and the team,” Fares said to Variety. “Since it has a strong narrative with many crazy characters and just as crazy co-op action moments, the potential is huge for a great adaption to film or television.”
Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced it is purchasing Bungie for $3.6 Billion. That means the studio that created Halo and Destiny is coming under the PlayStation umbrella. Sony’s announcement caps off an acquisition-heavy January that saw Take-Two buy Zynga for $13 billion and Microsoft announce plans to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion.
Bungie posted a blog post discussing the acquisition, saying that it will “continue to independently publish and creatively develop our games” and that SIE’s first, most immediate influence will be an acceleration in the studio’s hiring process. Bungie states that it’s staffing up for Destiny 2 as well as “all new worlds beyond", hinting at a new IP. Bungie is currently working on Destiny 2’s upcoming expansion, The Witch Queen, which is slated to launch on February 22. The game’s next big update, Lightfall, is tentatively set for later this year.
With the news that Sony is acquiring Halo and Destiny creator Bungie for $3.6 billion, the games industry is reacting with a mix of incredulity, cautious optimism, and concern. Though nowhere near as seismic a deal as Microsoft's purchase of Activision-Blizzard, which clocked in at a massive $68.7 billion, the Bungie deal will still have interesting implications for the future of Bungie and Sony's position in the ongoing competition with Microsoft.
Bungie and PlayStation both trumpeted the deal as a beneficial partnership that will allow the Destiny developer to retain its creative independence. Bungie CEO Pete Parsons said the deal will support Bungie's efforts to become a "global multimedia entertainment company" in a blog post following the announcement.
"In SIE, we have found a partner who unconditionally supports us in all we are and who wants to accelerate our vision to create generation-spanning entertainment, all while preserving the creative independence that beats in Bungie’s heart," Parsons wrote.
Parsons later added that Bungie's games will remain multiplatform, tamping down concerns that the deal would mean Bungie's games would only appear on PlayStation in the future.
With SIE's support, the most immediate change you will see is an acceleration in hiring talent across the entire studio to support our ambitious vision. Bungie will remain creatively independent and multiplatform. https://t.co/FTz5qlzt8S
PlayStation owners will be able to connect their accounts to Discord starting today, making it easier to share their activity and connect with other users using the popular social platform.
As detailed in Discord's blog post, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 owners will have the option to link their PSN accounts to Discord. Once the PSN account is linked, they will have the option to display their activity when playing a game on either console. Players will also be able to display their PSN username on Discord, making it easier for other users to find them and play along.
Discord says the feature will be "gradually rolling out" to U.S. Discord users first, with additional countries coming soon. The feature itself will be available on every platform that supports Discord; this includes Windows, the web app, and iOS, to name a few.
Fans of It Takes Two can look forward to seeing more of its world and characters in upcoming adaptations for film and television. Variety reports that It Takes Two developer Hazelight Studios has partnered with dj2 Entertainment to work on potential projects featuring last year's breakout hit. dj2 Entertainment has worked on the Sonic the Hedgehog movies, as well as other video game properties including Tomb Raider.
It Takes Two is a cooperative platformer game that focuses on a couple on the verge of divorce getting transported to a fantasy world, where they're forced to work together to repair their relationship. The game received lots of praise upon its release, getting a 9/10 in our review, and taking home the Game of the Year award at The Game Awards 2021. Hazelight founder and creative director Josef Fares said he's looking forward to the adaptation.
"Creating the world and story in It Takes Two was so much fun for me and the team," Fares said. "Since it has a strong narrative with many crazy characters and just as crazy co-op action moments, the potential is huge for a great adaption to film or television."
The writers of 2020's Sonic the Hedgehog movie adaptation, Pat Casey and Josh Miller, are attached to write the It Takes Two adaptation for television. Right now, there is no studio or network on board with the project, but reports say that's because of a multi-party bidding war for the rights.
After 18 years, World of Warcraft is finally relaxing its deep, historical faction divide between Alliance and Horde players, and letting them play together at last.
As Blizzard announced today, an update is currently in the works that will allow Alliance and Horde players to form parties together for dungeons, raids, and rated PvP. Though not available yet, the change is planned for release as part of an eventual 9.2.5 update sometime after the upcoming major patch, Eternity's End.
The shift is, by necessity, somewhat limited in scope. It has to be. World of Warcraft has always followed its Warcraft heritage in dividing the Alliance and Horde into warring factions — in fact, the majority of the game is built on and around that divide. It has historically pursued storylines that set the two groups at odds, pit the two against one another in PvP, and separated out the groups completely for social structures like guilds, parties, and even communication out in the world. One of its more recent expansions, Battle for Azeroth, explicitly centered around that faction conflict, though its resolution ended in a tenuous truce.
Sony has announced that it will acquire Bungie for $3.6 Billion. As with many of these blockbuster acquisitions, there are questions regarding what this means for the future of that studio when it comes to exclusives. According to Bungie, future games in development will not become PlayStation exclusives.
Following news of the acquisition, Bungie released a Q&A addressing some common questions players and fans might have for the future of the company. One of the big questions is whether Bungie's future games currently in development will become PlayStation exclusives? To which Bungie responds flatly: No.
"No. We want the worlds we are creating to extend to anywhere people play games. We will continue to be self-published, creatively independent, and we will continue to drive one, unified Bungie community."
Bungie is currently developing a new franchise. Last we heard the studio is hoping to become a "multi-franchise" company by 2025, meaning Bungie is aiming to have at least one new franchise to go alongside Destiny 2, which the studio continues to develop.
Destiny 2, for that matter, will also remain multiplatform and Bungie released a roadmap detailing the future of the franchise after Sony's acquisition.
PlayStation boss Jim Ryan says we should expect more studio acquisitions in the future, in the wake of today's news that Sony is buying Destiny developer Bungie for $3.6 billion. GamesIndustry.biz's Christopher Dring tweeted that Ryan said, "we should expect more" when it comes to further PlayStation acquisitions.
In the full GamesIndustry.biz interview with Ryan and Bungie CEO Pete Parsons, which was published after Dring's tweets, Ryan said that Sony has "many more moves to make." He also talked about Sony's ambition to grow its live services and grow beyond PlayStation's "historic console heartland."
"I've been on record talking about increasing the size of the PlayStation community, and expanding beyond our historic console heartland. This can take many forms," Ryan said. "We are starting to go multiplatform, you've seen that. We have an aggressive roadmap with live services. And the opportunity to work with, and particularly learn from, the brilliant and talented people from Bungie... that is going to considerably accelerate the journey we find ourselves on."
Parsons added that Bungie is "working on more than Destiny" and that the studio sees its partnership as an opportunity "to build."
Bungie will retain "full creative control and publishing independence of the Destiny universe" following its blockbuster $3.6 billion acquisition by PlayStation, a roadmap that the duo are calling their "shared vision" for the future.
The three point plan guarantees that Destiny 2 will remain on all current platforms, with the potential to expand to still more platforms in the future. Bungie's ultimate goal is a "single global community, that you can play anywhere, on any device."
Bungie's article includes a short FAQ that answers questions concerning its immediate impact on Destiny 2 players, its effect on announced seasons and expansion packs, and what it will mean for The Witch Queen. In short, Bungie says that nothing will change in the short-term, and that it remains committed to cross-platform play.
Bungie's reaffirmation of its to commitment to cross-platform play is notable in light of Sony's famous reluctance to allow PlayStation games to integrate with other consoles. Sony held back PS4 cross-play for years, blocking Rocket League, Minecraft, and Fortnite even as Nintendo and Xbox moved ahead. Sony did eventually acquiesce, with PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan saying that the platform holder supports and encourages cross-play.
The 2022 Genshin Impact Lantern Rite is here. Since it’s the Lunar New Year event, that means all sorts of activities and rewards. But aside from being a Primogem goldmine and way to get some Intertwined Fates for the gacha, it also means all sorts of activities and side stories. For this year’s Fleeting Colors in Flight, there’s more of a considerate feel. By which I mean, it seems like all Liyue region characters and different kinds of players are considered. The storylines all involve major and minor figures in some way. Not to mention the events don’t only involve taking your favorite characters into battle to beat bad guys up for event currency.
January 31, 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of a fantastic Sunsoft platformer known as Gimmick, released for the Famicom all the way back in 1992. Excuse me while I spend a few paragraphs gushing about it.
Pokémon. It’s the biggest multimedia franchise on the planet. Everyone knows what a Pikachu is. The Pokéball, a red-and-white sphere bisected by a black line, is immediately recognizable to even your most out-of-touch aunts and uncles. But it all started with a game: 1996’s Pokémon Red and Blue versions, for…
Sony's previously announced partnership with Discord has finally reached fruition, and PlayStation users can start linking their PSN accounts with the chat platform from today.
Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan formally announced Discord integration for PlayStation Network last May, saying the companies were aiming to bring "the Discord and PlayStation experiences closer together on console and mobile starting early next year". At the time, it wasn't entirely clear how far that integration might actually go, but now, in a new post on the Discord website, all has been revealed.
Bandai Namco is resurrecting its Dark Pictures Anthology Friend's Pass promotion once more, enabling owners of the three-strong horror series to invite a friend to play through any Shared Story mode for free until the end of February.
All three Dark Pictures Anthology titles - Man of Medan, Little Hope, and House of Ashes - are eligible this time around, and players that own any of them on Steam, Xbox, or PlayStation can invite one friend to complete one full playthrough of the co-operative Shared Story mode for free per game. Own all three games and that's three full playthroughs.
Today Microsoft released another of its major World Updates for Microsoft Flight Simulator, focusing on Australia.
The update requires three separate downloads on PC (and of course, it’s also available on Xbox). A small 500 MB update on the Windows Store or Steam is the first step, followed by a 1.88 GB update within the sim. Lastly, to get all the goodies, you’ll need an optional download from the in-sim marketplace which weighs 2.51 GB.
The update enriches the scenery in Australia considerably, and you can read the full patch notes here.
You can find a full list of features and a trailer below. Incidentally, we recently learned that the next world update in March will feature Spain and Portugal.
Today Square Enix announced details and timing for the next Final Fantasy XIV Letter from the Producer Live broadcast.
The livestream will be aired on February 18, 2022 at 6:00 pm PST on Twitch and YouTube (for which you can already find an embed below).
This time around, Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida will be sharing information on “what’s in store for the future” the game.
Yoshida-san had already teased such a reveal for February, and looks like he’s keeping his promise.
The first part of the livestream will be aptly titled “Newfound Futures: The Next 10 Years of FFXIV” while the second part will see Yoshida-san answer questions about the Endwalker expansion.
Few video games launched last year to as much critical acclaim as EA and Hazelight Studios’ co-op action-adventure title, It Takes Two. You don’t even have to look too far for fans of the wholesome platformer as it made appearances in our very own ‘Best Of’ lists for Multiplayer and Platformers in 2021.
Today, however, we’ve now learned that It Takes Two is set to receive its own film and TV adaptations. As reported by Variety, the game’s developer, Hazelight Studios, has teamed up with production company, dj2 Entertainment, to bring the project to fruition.
“Creating the world and story in ‘It Takes Two’ was so much fun for me and the team,” said Hazelight founder and creative director Josef Fares. “Since it has a strong narrative with many crazy characters and just as crazy co-op action moments, the potential is huge for a great adaption to film or television.”
In some ways, the decision to bring It Takes Two to the big and small screen makes sense. The game’s director, Josef Fares – who some gamers may recognise for making that speech at the Game Awards back in 2017 – is a former film director who cut his teeth creating indie comedy-drama pics throughout the ’00s.
Announced back in May of last year, Sony and Discord formed a partnership to bring the PlayStation and Discord ecosystems together. Today, we're finally seeing some movement in bringing Discord integration to Sony's consoles, or rather the other way around.
As of today, you can now link your PlayStation account to your Discord ID. This lets your friends or other server mutuals see when and what you're playing on PS5 or PS4. The service works like any others, such as Steam, Blizzard, Xbox, Spotify, etc. The setup is the same as well.
Here's how Discord says to connect a PlayStation account:
"To connect your Discord account to your PlayStation Network account, open up Discord and head into User Settings > Connections on either desktop or web. On mobile, go to User Settings > Connections." From there, you'll enter your login information for your PlayStation account. Pretty easy. It also notes that you can toggle whether anyone can see your PlayStation status in case you need to keep something hidden for whatever reason.
Click to watch embedded media The gaming IP arms race continued today as Sony bought vaunted developer Bungie for a whopping $3.6 billion. But what does that mean for Destiny fans and the industry at large? Join us on this discussion video as we talk about all of that and so much more.
Alex Stadnik is here with associate editor Jill Grodt and Magazine Content Director, and huge Bungie fan Matt Miller to break down today's breaking news. We start by discussing the particulars of the deal as we know it now, including how Bungie is maintaining its independence. The studio has said that it still can self-publish and choose where its games can release. The studio's blog post also outlined that the goal is to keep Destiny communities intact and not strip the game away from Xbox users now or in the future.
Shadow Warrior 3 has been a long-time coming for fans, but developer Flying Wild Hog finally confirmed the game is launching on March 1. A stylish (and self-aware) cinematic trailer celebrates the occasion in over-the-top fashion.
Hero Lo Wang returns and has some new traversal tricks up his sleeve such as a wall run, grapple hook, air dash, and double jump. You’ll still be slicing apart enemies with your katana or riddling them with bullets using a variety of firearms. He'll need all the help he can get as he teams up with a powerful witch to slay a colossal dragon and hordes of demons.
Flying Wild Hog also announced a new voice cast consisting of Mike Moh (Lo Wang), Andromeda Dunker (Motoko), and SungWon Cho (Zilla). Alex Dobrenko reprises his role as Hoji. Shadow Warrior 3 was first announced in the summer of 2020 for a 2021 release, a window that obviously came and went. Fans have waited somewhat impatiently for an updated launch date, making this a good way to start the week.
Click here to watch embedded mediaShadow Warrior 3 will be available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Those who pre-order receive the exclusive Koromodako Katana in-game weapon. Purchasing early on consoles also rewards players with Shadow Warrior 1 and 2 for free.
Wordle, the browser game that makes all your Twitter friends post strange colored blocks to your feed, has been purchased by The New York Times.
NYT announced the deal Monday, saying they paid Wordle creator Josh Wardle, a software engineer, in the "low seven figures" for the rights to his game.
NYT also says the popular word game will remain "initially" free to new and existing players, suggesting it may become a part of the newspaper's subscription plan in the future.
Wordle is a puzzle game that asks players to correctly guess a five-letter word. Each failed guess potentially offers new clues as to what the true answer is using a color-coded block system. “New York Times Games play a big part in its origins,” Wardle said in the company’s statement, “and so this step feels very natural to me.”
Wardle previously told an NYT reporter that he and his partner got into word games like the NYT crossword and Spelling Bee during the COVID pandemic.
Wordle was originally published in October 2021, sporting 90 users on November 1. Millions now play the game, and numerous clones appeared on the iOS and Android app stores looking to ride its coattails.
The year 2022 – to be henceforth known as The Year Where Everything Got Consolidated – is only a month old and already the video game industry has seen three major acquisitions totaling $85 billion. The latest of those sees first-person shooter powerhouse Bungie joining Sony and PlayStation Studios in a $3.6 billion move. And while both Bungie and Sony say that the studio will continue to be a multiplatform developer, that may only end up proving true for Destiny, which continues to enjoy a thriving community and long-term support. Bungie has other projects in the works, and even as Bungie says those will remain multiplatform games, now that Bungie is with Sony, that could change sooner or later.
Regardless of whether it does or doesn’t, though, this move marks, in spirit at least, the end of an era for Xbox fans. Bungie has joined PlayStation, which is the video game equivalent of Red Sox great Wade Boggs signing with the Yankees. And as an Xbox fan who has covered the Microsoft console beat for nearly 20 years, I want to look back at what Bungie has meant for the Xbox platform and community.
A new fan-made "demake" of Bloodborne was released on itch.io on Monday, transporting the world of Yharnam into the PSX era, complete with polygonal werewolves, D-pad controls, and MIDI synth.
Created by developer Lilith Walther AKA b0tster, the game can be downloaded here on their itch.io page. You can also watch the official trailer here or in the tweet below.
BloodbornePSX: NOW AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD
— 🪄💫 Lilith Walther🏳️⚧️ (ps1 goth girl) BLM ACAB (@b0tster) January 31, 2022
➡️Get it here: https://t.co/40oWAplt4y
Thank you for the support over the 13 month dev period. It means so much to me💜
➡️Discord: https://t.co/kzxCUCCn44
➡️Extended Launch Trailer: https://t.co/qUn6qLdkhi#BloodbornePSX #Demake pic.twitter.com/FTxl8YlFVC
While many PSX "demakes" are typically short demo-length experiences, the Bloodborne PSX demake is a surprisingly fully-featured ride. I took the game for a spin and managed to get to the giant troll that bangs on the central Yharnam gate door on the corpse-riddled street that runs through the city.
Dying Light 2 Stay Human is almost here: it's set to release for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on February 4. A cloud version for Nintendo Switch will release sometime later. Dying Light 2 is a sequel to the 2015 zombie survival game that takes place 20 years later, in one of the last remaining large human settlements, called The City.
The game is up for preorder now (see it on Amazon, or Amazon UK). Read on to see where you can find it, how much it costs, and what comes in each edition.
After selling out quickly after its announcement, the collector's edition is back in stock. In addition to the game itself, here's what will be in it:
Physical items
The much-anticipated Pokémon game has finally arrived, and while it isn't perfect, it brings loads of new ideas to an already fun series. You can read our full Pokémon Legends: Arceus review for more details about gameplay and more. If you're just wondering how much time you'll end up sinking into the game itself, we can help break that down.
So how long does it take to beat Pokémon Legends: Arceus? If you focus mostly on reaching the first credits without going out of your way to catch new Pokémon or take on side quests, our experts say you can likely beat the game with about 25 - 30 hours of playtime.
That being said, there is a lot more to do in Pokémon Legends: Arceus than just finishing the main missions.
According to our resident Pokémon Legends: Arceus experts, it takes quite a bit more time to reach the true end of the game and complete your Pokédex .
Since 2004, World of Warcraft players have been asked to pick a faction and run with it. If you were Horde and your best friend was Alliance, your options for doing stuff in-game were practically zero. It made for a thematically strong experience, but also one that could kinda suck if family and friends were on the…
The New York Times just announced that it has bought Wordle, the surprise smash-hit word-guessing game that has taken over people’s browsers (and Twitter feeds) for the last month. They state the price is “in the low seven figures.”
Free browser-based puzzler and cultural phenomenon Wordle has been purchased by the New York Times for an undisclosed seven-figure sum.
Wordle - which challenges players to puzzle out a daily five-letter word within six guesses using colour-coded clues - was released last October by developer Josh Wardle. Initial interest was modest, but its popularity has skyrocketed in recent weeks, growing from 300,000 users around the middle of January to millions of players.
Since Microsoft Flight Simulator's stunning debut toward the end of 2020, developer Asobo has been steadily finessing its already breathtaking map with the introduction of numerous free World Updates, each focused on giving a new part of the globe a glorious makeover - and now it's Australia's turn to receive all the attention.
World Update 7 - which follows similar geographical makeovers for Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the United States - is available now on Xbox and PC, bringing with it updated satellite imagery, a new digital elevation model, four new airports (plus increased detail for over 100 others), 94 new custom points of interest, and 16 new activities.
The Lunar New Year, otherwise known as Chinese New Year, is upon us, and Riot Games has decided to mark the occasion in Valorant with only how it knows best: a new weapon skin bundle. Called ‘Enter the Tigris,’ the new bundle is a premium skin line that includes animations and sound effects to animate a snazzy design that is reminiscent of a cross between Prime and Reaver skinlines.
The bundle was today unveiled with a cinematic trailer that highlights its contents, which includes a Phantom, Operator, Spectre, Shorty, and the usual gun buddy, sprays, and player cards. You can check it out below.
The Enter the Tigris bundle is the latest to follow on from the Protocol 781-A and new battle pass that was included as part of Episode 4’s first Act of content. If you’re not yet up to speed with Valorant Episode 4, you can take a look at all the details on the latest Agent, Neon.
Today third-party developers had quite a few reveals to share about upcoming addons for Microsoft Flight Simulator.
We start with Fenix Simulation, which released an update about its Airbus A320. The aircraft is entering beta testing tomorrow.
According to the announcement, several members of the team are now working seven days a week to get through the atter stages of testing as swiftly as possible. Fenix has also assembled a sizable beta team from various backgrounds to get the aircraft tested thoroughly.
We also get a new screenshot and a video showcasing a walkaround of the aircraft.
Evil Dead: The Game is no stranger to delays. The asymmetrical multiplayer title based on the cult horror franchise was originally scheduled for 2021. Then it got delayed to an unspecified February 2022 date. It has now been pushed back once again, though this time it has a concrete release date: May (Friday) 13.
The game, developed by Saber Interactive, simply needs more time to come properly come together according to a message from the game’s official Twitter. The team does promise a new trailer to premiere in February.
Hey Evil Dead fans!
When we set out to create a brand new game worthy of the Evil Dead franchise, we knew it had to be groovy as hell. In order to deliver the best possible experience, Evil Dead: The Game is now coming on May 13, 2022. pic.twitter.com/BfuaOdcFVT
Cats and Dogs. Oil and Vinegar. Horde and Alliance. These pairs are in a constant primal (sometimes chemical) conflict, but an upcoming patch for World of Warcraft is about to make a seismic change. WoW director Ion Hazzikostas has a blog breaking down why and how these rival factions will soon be able to play on the same team.
Raven’s QA workers’ winning the right to unionize was a short-lived victory; in the days since returning from their strike, Activision announced plans to split everyone up, and then revealed a larger strategy that’s aimed at crushing this movement before it’s allowed to take hold.