Today both Microsoft and third-party developers had Microsoft Flight Simulator news in store, including releases and new reveals.
We start with Microsoft itself, which released a new build of the Beta version of Sim Update 10, numbered 1.27.13.0.
Below you can read the patch notes.
A guy gets a mysterious letter from his girlfriend, arrives at a castle to find her missing, and loads of rooms full of monsters... It’s the setup to 1996's classic Super Mario 64, sure, but it’s also very much also a survival horror pitch, which is why this new fan-made project is such a perfect fit.
Set yourself up for the best possible start in Wordle when you make your six guesses. In this guide, we’ll go through all of the 5-letter words starting BU to give you a good idea of where to start and aid you on the quest to maintain your streak.
Note that the following list of words has been tested and will work in Wordle. However, if you spot any missing or incorrect words, please inform us via the comments below so we can take a look at the list and update it if necessary.
Stop thinking too much about the potential answers and get some guidance in Wordle instead. In this guide, we’ll go through all the 5-letter words with G as the third and fourth letters to lend you a hand on your quest to maintain a hot streak.
Note that the following list of words has been tested and will work in Wordle. However, if you spot any missing or incorrect words, please inform us via the comments below so we can take a look at the list and update it if necessary.
You may be used to Atlus’ upcoming JRPG getting one trailer a day, but today a whopping three have been released.
The first comes from the western arm of Atlus, showcasing some of the characters from both sides of the conflict (heroes and antagonists) and how their fates are deeply intertwined.
The second comes from the Japanese arm of Atlus and it focuses on showing plenty of aspects of the game like the COMP weapons, dungeons, demon negotiations, and various shops and venues, then moving to another look at the characters.
The third is what would usually be the daily trailer, and it reveals a returning demon that has not been featured in the Shin Megami Tensei series for a long time, Doppelgänger.
It also comes with the usual horoscope, listing Taurus as the luckiest sign of the day and Gemini as the least lucky one.
You can watch all three trailers below.
While there may be too many words to think of when it comes to an answer for Wordle, knowing the letter configurations might just be the clue you’ll need. In this guide, we’ll go through all of the 5-letter words starting with B and ending with Y to give you a good idea of where to start and aid you on the quest to maintain your streak.
Note that the following list of words has been tested and will work in Wordle. However, if you spot any missing or incorrect words, please inform us via the comments below so we can take a look at the list and update it if necessary.
In the mobile and gacha community, Zenless Zone Zero might very well be the most highly anticipated game release of the year. It was unveiled with an almost Persona-esque stylish trailer with colorful characters decked out in hip streetwear, complete with the kind of AAA shine you just don’t see in a lot of free-to-play mobile games.
If you were lucky enough to get selected for the game’s Tuning Test, it starts today, giving players the chance to mess around with the combat and various gameplay elements. If you weren’t, well, miHoYo released a new trailer to celebrate the start of the Tuning Test, so we can just watch it and weep, I suppose.
You can check out the trailer down below:
Zenless Zone Zero features fast-paced action combat, not dissimilar to what we’ve seen in the Honkai Impact games. Except, this game features a completely different setting, shying away from the fantasy elements of Honkai and Genshin Impact, and instead adopting a more modern and cyberpunk style.
Zenless Zone Zero has no set release date yet, but we’ll keep you updated as more info comes our way.
Several popular installments have been featured on Xbox’s subscription service upon their initial release, including As Dusk Falls and the upcoming Minecraft Legends. So, now that Cult of the Lamb is finally making its debut, will the game be available on the Xbox Game Pass? Here are the latest details you should know about this cutesy animalistic title.
Although Cult of the Lamb will be available on the platform, it will not be on Xbox Game Pass at this time. Fortunately, the game’s price is relatively reasonable at the cost of $24.99, which is the same value for Steam, PlayStation, and the Nintendo Switch.
Cult of the Lamb was first announced during Gamescon 2021, where Massive Monster Studios and Devolver Digital showcased a trailer with a unique art style and dark story.
In the game, you’ll have the opportunity to run your own cult and continuously devise plans to increase your popularity. Players can build a flock, eliminate non-believers, and spread the good word about your plot for world domination.
With so many sports anime maintaining their success, fans have wondered what happened to Baby Steps Season 3. The famous tennis show was relatively popular in the community in 2015, but updates have been quiet since its second season. So, to answer your questions about the next installment, this guide will explain the current status of the anime.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like there will be a Season 3 of Baby Steps, with no news or updates from Studio Pierrot.
Fans have wondered why the series suddenly stopped because it did fairly well with reviews and was beloved by the community. In addition, some have claimed that Baby Steps is a more realistic sports anime with a main character (Eiichirou Maruo) that works hard and thinks of creative methods to utilize in tennis matches.
In 2017, Anime News Network revealed a message from the creator of the series, Hikaru Katsuki, that confirmed the manga’s cancelation after 10 years. In this note, the writer states, “With this 47th volume, it’s exactly 10 years. And it’s become the last volume.”
Fans of the series had hoped to see the next journey of the Davis Cup, including the continuation of Natsu Takasaki’s arc, but it looks like this won’t happen.
Bandai Namco released a new trailer if its upcoming action game SD Gundam Battle Alliance.
The trailer is the third of the series introducing the mobile suits available in the game, and this time around we get to see the actual SD Gundam, the sentient ones who don’t need a pilot.
Among them, we see the classic trio Musha Gundam, Knight Gundam, and Command Gundam, on top of three more inspired by Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei Unicorn Gundam, Cao Cao Wing Gundam, and Sun Jian Gundam Astray.
For all of them, we get to see how they fight, on top of their special moves.
You can check the trailer out below.
SD Gundam Battle Alliance is coming for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC and will release on August 25, 2022.
The game depicts a world in which the stories of the Gundam universe have been distorted by a phenomenon named “Breaks.” In order to correct this false history, players have to lead platoons of three mobile suits and pilots and take on a variety of missions.
You can acquire new mobile suits and various parts to develop your favorite mobile suits into the most powerful machines.
Deathverse: Let It Die, the tongue-in-cheek survival multiplayer game, was previously a PlayStation exclusive. Now it's also coming to PC.
Deathverse: Let It Die takes place years after the events of its 2016 predecessor Let It Die. As described in its 2021 State of Play trailer, players in Deathverse: Let It Die are set up in survival matches against other players in a reality TV setting.
Players get a Wilson device, a weapon that comes in a variety of forms from katanas to what looks like a scissor-saw combination. The Wilson can also become a protective drone, serve as a skill activator, and shoot electric bullets. Upgrading the Wilson will lead to unlocking a variety of other weapon forms, but as of now, the process is a secret.
Your battles will be narrated by Bryan Zemeckis, a charismatic presenter with a mouthful of gold teeth and lots of gold elsewhere, and Brenda Miller--a former champion who now has switched to commentating.
There's also a third party in survival rounds--a mysterious gunman called Hunters who assassinates contestants. For fun? For money? For the ratings? Who knows?
Deathverse: Let it Die had its first two days of open beta in May and June. On August 3 at 3 PM PT / 6 PM ET, Supertrick and Uncle Death (Let it Die's mascot-esque character) will hold a gameplay livestream and share more info about details learned from the beta period.
Deathverse: Let it Die will release on PC and PlayStation sometime in 2022. The full game originally had a Spring 2022 release window, but now that we're entering Summer, it's unknown what the game's new release period will be.
Thanks to a new software development kit, Xbox Series S developers will now be able to create games that use more memory than ever before. The recent upgrade was implemented with the intention of giving developers more control over performance on the next-gen console.
As The Verge reported, this update is specifically for optimizing the Series S, which has lower memory and graphical power than the more expensive Series X. While the Series X has access to 16 GB of RAM, its smaller cousin has around 10 GB. Developers are further constrained to 8 GB, because around 2 GB of that total is used for the operating system. The recently released June Game Development Kit frees up hundreds of additional megabytes of memory. In a video explaining the update, this additional memory "can improve graphics performance in memory constrained conditions."
As pointed out by the Verge, developers told YouTube hardware experts Digital Foundry that memory constraints were a particular problem in developing and optimizing for the Series S. The previously-mentioned video also states that many of the changes in the June Game Development Kit were the direct result of developer feedback.
This update comes alongside several changes to Xbox development tools and resources. The other significant change is improved performance for graphics allocation, allowing developers to use memory more efficiency without taking a graphics performance hit.
In NBA 2K23, the court is bigger than just the three-point arc. That should be obvious, but with last year's game, Visual Concepts admitted shooters had too much of an advantage. Talented shooters made shots consistently and with less-than-lifelike effort, while even lesser-skilled players could drain long jumpers and three-pointers if they only got an open look. Among a host of other gameplay changes in NBA 2K23, the focus in this fall's game is about bringing balance back to the offensive game, and empowering players to work in the paint and attack the rim.
"We looked at how virtual games were playing out compared to the real-life NBA," said NBA 2K gameplay director Mike Wang. "And it was clear that we needed to give more love to slashers who love to finish at the rim. This meant expanding the tools for attacking the basket." With that in mind, NBA 2K23 starts with an improved Pro Stick, meant to give players more maneuverability in the paint.
New gesture combos, such as double throws and switchbacks, are meant to provide shooting windows in tight quarters, when the defense is bearing down on you. Double-throw gestures are used for hop-step layups, while switchback gestures are used for Euro-step and cradle layups.
The 2K team is also very excited about a new physics-driven rim-hanging mechanic, allowing you to get ultra-flashy at the end of a dunk. You might think this is more like celebrating than actually playing, and you'd be right, but it further suggests the game's guiding light is to inspire paint beasts to reclaim their territory.
When you're hanging on the rim, the left and right controller sticks correspond to a hand, giving you a way of freestyling after a score. The 2K team said it's been working on this tech for a few years now, and everyone is elated to get it out there with 2K23.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a massive JRPG, filled with different systems, resources, and classes. While the game does offer tutorials for most of its systems, sometimes it can be overwhelming or certain bits of information are left out. In order to get the most out of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, it's important to know which systems to engage with which ones you can gloss over. Here are some tips to help you through Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 asks you to manage six main party members, along with a seventh hero character. There are six interlinked skill trees to manage, along with accessories and gems for each character. Here are some tips to help make these menus a bit more manageable.
First, make sure you are constantly switching classes once they are maxed out. A major system in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is that you can change each party member's classes and that each character has a number of Art slots reserved for moves outside of their current class. In order to equip these arts, you need to "Master" the arts by using the other class. On this same note, you should pay attention to the letter grades for each class. This tells you how each class fairs in the four slots, Attacker, Defender, Healer, and Tactics. This information will allow you to balance out your party a bit more than just selecting two of each class.
As for all of the options in each character's menu, you will need to manually set each character's Arts and Master Skills, although when each slot is unlocked it will be autofilled. As for accessories and Gems, pressing the Y button will auto-build each character. This will apply gems and accessories that make sense for the character's class. It won't be the perfectly optimized build you can make yourself, but it will certainly get the job done.
Destiny 2's Iron Banner PvP event swapped the Control mode for Rift during Season of the Haunted, but for Season 18, it'll be getting more chaotic with the new Eruption mode. Eruption tasks players with earning kill streaks, with each new elimination providing significant power-ups as a match goes on.
Bungie describes Eruption as "Clash with energy boosts based on kill streaks" that starts out with regular team deathmatch rules. One kill earns you one point, but two kills in a row will apply the "Surging" buff to your Guardian. With this effect active, players will begin to glow and each new kill in their streak will generate 10% Super energy and 20% grenade, melee, and class energy. They'll also earn three points per elimination, and on the fifth kill, will become "Primed."
If they glow, then they must dieOnce Primed, everyone on your team will gain 5% Super and 10% grenade, melee, and class energy, while you'll gain 12% Super and 5% grenade, melee, and class energy per kill, and three points per kill. The catch here is that you'll have a 15-second timer applied which will cause you to "erupt" once it reaches zero, resetting your streak and ending the perks for your teammates. And also killing you. For the opposing team, you'll be visible to them on the map and they'll gain three points each time they eliminate you.
The original Jetpack Joyride released in 2011 and was a huge mobile hit for developer Halfbrick, who was already enjoying a great deal of success with 2010's Fruit Ninja. The game was ported to many platforms, including PlayStation consoles, and was still receiving updates as recently as a month ago. Even for hits, sequels are not inevitable in the world of mobile games, as most of them are treated as ongoing platforms, but more than a year ago, Halfbrick surprise announced Jetpack Joyride 2… and then it disappeared.
Despite having an announcement trailer and official channels sharing details about the game, Jetpack Joyride 2 went dark shortly after announcement. It turns out the reason was Halfbrick was working out details with Apple to make it an Apple Arcade game. “We started creating this game a long time ago. I think it was in 2020. And we soft-launched the game in three or four countries just for initial testing purposes, but when we started the conversations with Apple Arcade we felt the better platform to develop this game was the Apple Arcade platform," product manager and lead game designer Francisco Gonzalez told us shortly after Apple announced the game was coming to its subscription platform. "That way we could really make the game that we wanted to create. We focused on making the game fun and forgot for a while about the business model and IAPs [in-app purchases].”
Overwatch 2 will not receive a third beta prior to the game's launch, Blizzard has confirmed.
The news comes via tweets from Overwatch commercial leader Jon Spector. Instead of running another beta, the team will be using feedback received from the game's alpha and two public beta tests to focus on "launching the best game possible on Oct. 4," Spector writes.
Today marks just 2 months until Overwatch 2's launch! We know players are eager to dive in and have seen questions about the possibility of a third public Beta. While we will continue testing OW2 daily internally, we're not planning any additional public Beta tests. (1/2)
— Jon Spector (@Spex_J) August 4, 2022
With all the valuable feedback we received from our alpha and 2 public beta tests, we will be focusing our efforts on launching the best game possible on Oct. 4. (2/2)
— Jon Spector (@Spex_J) August 4, 2022
Players could sign up for a chance to play in Overwatch 2's two beta periods (or preorder the game's Watchpoint Pack for instant beta access), but it was only for the last few days of the game's most recent beta period when all players who signed up were granted access.
If you’ve been holding out on purchasing Far Cry 6, your patience has paid off. From now until August 7 you can check out the open-world shooter for free on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. You’ll have access to the entire base game along with every bit of free DLC Ubisoft has released since launch. The game is also on sale for the next few days, letting you save 60% if you decide to pick it up after the free-play days.
Far Cry 6 follows in the footsteps of its predecessors, giving you a tyrannical enemy to battle against in the form of dictator Anton Castillo (played by Giancarlo Esposito). In order to end his reign, you’ll need to trek across the unforgiving island of Yara, reclaiming hostile encampments along the way. The game looks impressive on new-gen platforms and high-end PCs, but the action is just as free-form and chaotic as usual. Whether you want to sneak up on foes or sprint into the line of fire with overpowered weapons, Far Cry 6 won't hold you back.
While the free-play days only run until August 7, most of the Far Cry 6 discounts stick around much longer. Here’s a closer look at the current sales for Far Cry 6:
Microsoft has begun testing an Xbox Game Pass family plan in two countries, which will allow users to share their subscription with other people. Available in Colombia and Ireland, subscribers can add up to four people in their country to their membership.
"Starting today in Colombia and Ireland, Xbox Insiders can begin to preview a plan that allows multiple people to share Game Pass Ultimate benefits," Microsoft's Tyler Mittleider wrote on Xbox Wire. "This makes it even easier to play the best Game Pass games with friends and family across console, PC, and cloud by enabling you to add up to four people to your subscription, all with their own unique access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate games, content, and benefits."
Rumors of an Xbox Game Pass family plan surfaced earlier this year, and this test will determine how the service can be applied to a wider range of users. Colombian and Irish testers will need to sign up for an Xbox Insider preview account to take part, and existing time on a subscription will be converted to a new plan based upon the monetary value of the old membership. "For example, a full month of Ultimate will be converted to 18 days of membership for this plan," Mittleider explained.
A $20,000 Halo 2 challenge issued by streamer and YouTuber MoistCr1tikal has finally been completed, with streamer Jervalin claiming the bounty.
Earlier this summer, MoistCr1tikal offered $5,000 to anyone who could conquer what he called "the hardest challenge in all of gaming." That challenge? Complete Halo 2 solo, on legendary difficulty, with all of the game's difficulty-adding skulls turned on, without dying a single time. Though the feat surely has been accomplished by someone, somewhere, since the game's 2004 launch, there is no video record of it having ever been done, which is why MoistCr1tikal's challenge also stipulated the entire ordeal needed to be streamed live on YouTube or Twitch to qualify. When nobody stepped up to the plate for three weeks, MoistCr1tikal raised the bounty up to $20,000 for the first person to accomplish the deed.
A trailer for a brand-new Crypt of the Necrodancer DLC also unveiled an upcoming standalone game in the series: Rift of the Necrodancer.
The trailer showed off a logo and promised more news soon. Other details of the game are still upcoming, though the trailer confirmed that Rift of the Necrodancer is a new standalone rhythm game.
The DLC, Crypt of the Necrodancer: Synchrony, adds three new characters, multiplayer, and mod support to the beloved musical roguelite. It's also out now on Steam on Early Access. The new characters are Klarinetta, a knight wielding a massive Zweihänder, Chaunter, a ghostly being who can possess enemies, and Suzu, an oni with a quick dash and a powerful lance.
Multiplayer adds both cooperative and competitive modes for up to eight players simultaneously, with up to four local players. The game uses rollback multiplayer architecture and lets you join and create lobbies. You can even spectate matches. Modes include a straightforward versus mode, last one dancing, and co-op play.
The update also adds new items, enemies, and weapons. You can now carry a shield, deal damage with Onyx weapons, throw any weapon with a throwing charm, and use dash and charm spells, among many other new additions. Synchrony introduces full mod support, including a mod portal which allow you to install and browse mods in game.
Among Us VR's beta test signups are now live, according to an announcement on the game's Twitter account.
The signup process is pretty straightforward. The short survey asks if you have a VR headset, which one, and where you typically buy VR games. Note that filling out the application doesn't automatically guarantee a spot in the beta test.
It's currently unknown when applicants will be notified and how long this beta period will last.
Back in March, Among Us had a collaboration with Owlchemy Lab's Cosmonious High--a VR game set in an alien high school. It was up to the player to find an Among Us crewmate in the world of Cosmonious High.
do you own a VR headset?
do you have an internet connection?
do you want to try Among Us VR early?
sign up for Beta Test tasks here and help out the beans!https://t.co/oq5zynIVTA pic.twitter.com/EFbitLFKVO
Tactics Ogre: Reborn is a radically updated version of the iconic tactical RPG. It’s slated to launch on November 11 for PS5, PS4, Switch, and PC and will bring some big changes with it--such as voiced cutscenes, new graphics, and a reworked soundtrack. A few different editions are now available for preorder, and longtime fans might want to consider picking up the Digital Premium edition available on PlayStation and PC.
Preorder the standard digital edition and you’ll get three songs from the Tactics Ogre: Reborn Original Soundtrack, recorded live and composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto. Preorder the Digital Premium edition and you’ll get the original Tactics Ogre (1995) Digital Mini Soundtrack.
Tactics Ogre: Reborn is a sweeping remake of the 2011 PSP game Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. Of course, Let Us Cling Together was a remake of the 1995 classic that released on SNES. Beyond new graphics and sound, you’ll be treated to “updated game design” that speeds up the pace of battle, auto-saves, overhauledl UI. In other words, it’s modernizing a classic while keeping the core experience intact.
Sea of Thieves Season 7 is here, and with it comes one of the game's biggest updates since launch. The Season 7 update is headlined by its captaincy features, which create more ways to role-play as a legendary pirate, including the naming of your ship, custom ship loadouts that persist across playthroughs, brand-new Captain's Voyages, and a lot more. Here we'll be breaking it all down piece by piece so you know what's in store next time you awaken at an outpost. Unsheath your cutlass and top off your tankard, here's everything you'll find in Sea of Thieves Season 7.
The marquee new addition is the ability to purchase your very own Captain's ship. Whereas previously you'd load onto a ship the size of your choosing and customize it with your available cosmetics, now you have the option to exchange gold coins for your very own ship that you can then give a name and custom cosmetic loadout to. This then opens up a wealth of other new gameplay features.
A Captain's ship comes in the three usual sizes, and each has its own associated price tag:
You need only purchase the ship or ships you'd like to add to your character, and you need only purchase each ship once at most. Do note, however, that while your first time naming the ship is free, if you ever wish to change its name, you'll need to purchase a Ship Renaming Deed, much like a Pirate Appearance Potion, using the game's real-money currency, Ancient Coins. A Renaming Deed sells for about $5.
Fanatical is offering up a new bundle for August, letting you score seven games for just $20. You’ll choose from a roster of 16, which includes a combination of classic indies and AAA powerhouses. Two other tiers are available for the bundle--but opting for the seven-game pack means each game costs just $2.86.
If you don’t need seven games, you can pick up five for $15 or three for $10. The Platinum Collection is loaded with great titles (all offered as Steam keys), so unless you’ve already added most of them to your collection, it shouldn’t be hard to find seven good games. Also included with your purchase is a 5% off voucher for your next order through Fanatical.
A new study reveals that Belgium's ban on loot boxes within games has not been enforced.
In 2018, the Belgian Gaming Commission recommended criminal prosecution over illegal loot boxes, but loot box researcher Leon Y. Xiao found that many companies outright ignored the ban, and measures to comply with the law were easily circumvented.
The study noted that among the 100 highest-grossing Belgian iPhone games during May 2021, 82% had loot box features.
Why I Love is a series of guest editorials on GamesIndustry.biz intended to showcase the ways in which game developers appreciate each other's work. This entry was contributed by Chen Yamei (Script Planning) and Zou Mengxia (Script Planning) from developer Softstar Beijing, who in partnership with publisher Eastasiasoft are releasing their Chinese mythology-based action RPG Sword and Fairy: Together Forever on PlayStation 4 and 5 on August 4th.
When Nier: Automata was announced, our project team was thrilled, and all of us eagerly looked forward to its release. We had all played and loved Nier: Replicant on the PS3 (Editor's note: Nier: Replicant was originally released in the West simply as Nier), so we trusted that Automata would have a story that was just as incredible as Replicant's.
Our expectations were high, but Nier: Automata exceeded them. In addition to having an even better story, it also featured a vastly improved combat system that was both fluid and impactful, proving that Square Enix had made the right decision in choosing to work with PlatinumGames on Automata.
Tencent is looking to acquire a larger piece of Ubisoft and is willing to pay a significant premium for it, according to a Reuters report.
Citing "four sources with direct knowledge of the matter," Reuters says Tencent wants to become the single largest shareholder in the Assassin's Creed publisher, and is willing to pay up to €100 ($102) per share to make it happen.
Ubisoft shares opened today's trading at €42.24 ($43.03), making an offer of that size a 137% premium on the price. After Reuters published its report, Ubisoft shares were trading up 15% to €48.33 ($49.24).
As of today, Koch Media is no more. Instead, the company will now go by a new moniker: Plaion.
The 28-year-old games publisher unveiled its new logo today, and GamesIndustry.biz spoke to managing director Klemens Kundratitz about the motivations and implications of the overhaul. For starters, he tells us the process originally began as a visual upgrade to modernise Koch's look.
"But the more we thought about it, the more we wanted to go all the way," he told us. "It's more impactful, it's got an external statement but it's also an internal statement to our people. We're opening this new chapter, they're part of this, we're a modern, growing, ambitious, global company, and it's energising people internally.
Staff at Blizzard Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions) have accused Activision Blizzard of trying to undermine its efforts to unionise.
According to Albany Game Workers Alliance, the group rallying for better working conditions at the studio, the publisher has re-hired Reed Smith – an organisation that offers union-avoidance services, in order to stall the recognition of a union.
"Instead of following Microsoft’s lead and committing to a labour neutrality agreement, Activision has made the clear and conscious decision to deny us our basic labour rights while once again spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a union-busting firm," the group said on Wednesday.
In recent years we have seen a number of studios continuing to eschew traditional launch in favour of early access: Baldur’s Gate 3 and Valheim were some of last year’s strongest titles, neither of which have yet seen a full launch.
An iterative release through early access is of course nothing new (think Minecraft circa 2009), and the benefits are undoubtedly appealing: developers can soft launch their game and test its viability directly with their target audience, all the while building a community and generating revenue for ongoing development.
However, what are the legal and practical considerations to launching in early access? And to what extent will developers/publishers’ obligations regarding their beta title differ compared to a version 1.0?
Tencent and Logitech have unveiled a partnership to create a handheld cloud gaming console.
The device, slated to release later this year, will support several existing cloud gaming services, including Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVidia GeForce NOW.
As of writing, the console does not have a retail price, and technical specifications and images are yet to be shown.
Japanese games giants Bandai Namco, Sega and Square Enix are meeting with indie developers at GI Live: London in September.
Bandai Namco will be meeting attendees on the digital-day only (Tuesday, September 20th), while Sega and Square Enix Collective will be connecting with creators in-person.
Also joining the event this year are Curve, ID@Xbox and Valve, with the latter answering questions about Steam via a livestream Q&A at the show.
A new report from Digital Development Management (DDM) reveals that video game investments during Q2 2022 reached $4.8 billion.
The video games agency notes that the figure represents an increase of 37% year-over-year at a volume of 217 deals.
Blockchain gaming investments totaled 25% of Q2 2022's value at $1.2 billion.
Activision Blizzard and NetEase have scrapped an unannounced World of Warcraft mobile spin-off, citing financial problems as the reason for the move.
A Bloomberg report unveiled that the title had been in development for three years, with business disagreements eventually leading to the project’s demise.
According to Bloomberg’s sources, over 100 developers assigned to the game were let go from NetEase, with an unknown number offered internal transfers.
2022 continues to be the year of shock acquisitions, with Supermassive Games snapped up by Nordisk just last month.
The UK developer already sold a 30% minority ownership stake to Nordisk Games in 2021, and has been working closely with the company for a couple of years. But given the success Supermassive has seen with ongoing horror series The Dark Pictures Anthology and most recent hit The Quarry, why would the studio give up its independence?
“I still consider us to be independent,” managing director Pete Samuels tells GamesIndustry.biz. “It depends how you define 'independent'.
As a parent of two children including an 11-year-old girl, Royelles CEO and founder Múkami Kinoti Kimotho noticed a shift several years ago that will likely be familiar to many parents. Her daughter and her friends transitioned from playing with toys to playing with mobile devices.
"It's how they create, it's how they connect, how they learn, and it's certainly how they have fun," Kimotho tells GamesIndustry.biz. "Mobile gaming is really at the heart of everything they do."
Kimotho had concerns about young girls spending so much of their time playing on mobile devices and in online worlds, and understood how their experiences there could feed into mental health issues, cyber bullying, body shaming, and other problems.
Unity is reportedly looking to create a separate Chinese unit independent from the rest of the business in order to strengthen operations there, according to people familiar with the matter.
As reported by Reuters, the company hopes to give Unity China more local ownership and autonomy over how it operates, which may improve and inspire relationships with the local government and state-owned partners.
It also allegedly hopes to see its development software used more in the country as a result of the separation. Many of China’s most popular games are developed in Unity — including Tencent’s Honor of Kings and MiHoYo’s Genshin Impact.
During EA's earnings call yesterday, CEO Andrew Wilson addressed recent rumours that the FIFA company was looking to be acquired.
Reports that EA had acquisition talks with NBCUniversal, Amazon, Apple, and Disney emerged in May, with Wilson asked about it during the Q&A portion of the call (as transcribed by Seeking Alpha).
First saying that he wouldn't comment on "rumours and speculation from some [little-read] media outlets," he then said that EA was in an "incredible position" and was soon to become "the largest standalone independent developer and publisher of interactive entertainment in the world."
Outsourcing firm Keywords Studios has acquired mobile development outfit Mighty Games for up to $6.9 million.
The deal is split into an initial cash consideration of $3.3 million and $800k in ordinary shares. A further $2.8 million may be awarded depending on company targets.
Melbourne-based Mighty Games was founded in 2013, and is behind several arcade and adventure titles including Piffle and Disney Crossy Road.