October 2022

A GTA 5 player who failed their in-game driving test is only using public transport to get around Los Santos.

After failing their San Andreas driving test, redditor MotorDesigner reached out to the GTA subreddit for advice on the best way to get around the city without a car - legally, in other words, even though the concept is comically novel in any GTA game, of course.

Admittedly, the in-game driving test doesn't look too troublesome - questions include when it's permissible to run a red light, what the correct driving position is, and how best to drive when "getting serviced orally by a girl while driving" - MotorDesigner failed to meet the San Andreas Department of Motor Vehicles' low, low standards, and therefore cannot drive legally in the city.

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Activision Blizzard's chief compliance officer, Frances Townsend, is stepping down.

Bloomberg reports that Townsend - who also serves as executive vice president of corporate affairs - will step down ahead of Microsoft's billion pound deal to acquire Activision (if it goes through, of course).

Townsend will, however, remain with the company as an advisor to the board and CEO Bobby Kotick, although his future at the company is also in doubt if and when the acquisition goes through.

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Amazon Games is celebrating one whole year of New World with a snazzy new infographic.

Showcasing "key highlights from the launch", the summation of facts and figures looks back and reflects upon "our brave New World".

In the twelve months since the PC MMORPG launched, players have clocked up an astonishing 569.1 million collective hours played, and streamed 12.4 billion minutes on Twitch.

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Transformers are coming to Magic: The Gathering.

Announced at this week's Hasbro PulseCon, the first six double-sided cards feature your favourite Transformers in both vehicular and robot form, and there's two versions of each Transformer, as they come in both a retro 1980s style as well as their inversed Shattered Glass variant.

So far cards featuring Optimus Prime, Starscream, Soundwave, Slicer, Goldbug, and Flamewar have been confirmed, and will reportedly be available in The Brothers' War sets, as well as Bundle Box and collector boosters, too.

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Someone who works on Splatoon 3 at Nintendo must be a big fan of the popular 1989 movie Back to the Future Part II because for the second month in a row, the game’s monthly Salmon Run prize is a direct reference to the film.

Each month, a unique Grizzco gear item becomes available for players to earn exclusively through Salmon Run mode. September’s prize was the Bream-Brim Cap, a colorful neon baseball cap that some players thought looked awfully familiar: it strongly resembles the cap that Marty McFly wore in Back to the Future Part II.

It surely wasn’t just a coincidence because the prize for October resembles another item from the popular sequel. Players can earn the Lo-Vis Visor this month, which looks just like the chrome sunglasses worn by “Doc” Emmett Brown.

The double Kickstarter campaign for Armed Fantasia and Penny Blood has come to a successful close. Backers pledged a total of 379,328,385 yen over the course of the crowdfunding campaign, which ended on September 30, 2022. This number was against an initial goal of 100 million yen. At current exchange rates, that's just over $2.6 million USD against an initial goal of about $690,000 USD. The studios revealed some in-progress footage ahead of the campaign's "final push".

The Kickstarter campaign began on August 30, 2022, and ended on September 30, 2022. All in all, 17,920 backers donated to the campaign. Based on the Kickstarter page,  the most popular tiers for backing the campaign amounted to pre-orders of the digital or physical editions of both games. The "Combo Digital Deal" went for 11,000 yen (about $80 USD) and the "Combo Physical Deal" went for 15,200 yen (about $110 USD). Those backers will eventually receive copies of both games. Notably, at least 3 backers pledged more than 1 million yen (about $7,500 USD), the highest tier of pledge that includes a meeting with the dev teams.

Today third-party developers revealed releases and news about their upcoming add-ons for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

We start with a couple of impending releases. The M-346 Master by IndiaFoxtEcho is finally ready to release and will come in “a few hours.”

“We have been working very hard during this weekend to complete the release build of the Leonardo M-346 Master, and we think we have a build that is satisfactory.
However, in the past few days, we added several functions that were initially left out – we are currently testing them and adding them to the manual.

We expect to release the plane as soon as these tests are complete – it will probably take a few hours.”

Xbox Game Studios’ latest survival game, Grounded, has finally exited early access after two years. Despite this, players may be having a few issues with accessing the multiplayer features depending on the platform they are on. This may be a massive inconvenience for players who are looking to jump into multiplayer with their friends on other platforms. Here’s how to fix Grounded’s multiplayer issues.

How To Fix Grounded Multiplayer Not Working

If you’re currently having issues with Grounded’s multiplayer features, the easiest way to fix them will be to use the Xbox Live settings on your computer. To access them, go to the search box on the bottom left of your screen and enter Xbox or Xbox Networking, or access the Xbox Networking tab from the Settings menu on your console.

Once you access this menu, there will be an option that allows you to run a check to see if the Xbox servers are having any problems. After doing so, if you are told that the connection is blocked, simply hit the button that says “Fix It” to correct the problem. Once the issues are fixed, remember to restart your device before trying to jump back into the game.

That’s all we’ve got on how to fix Grounded’s multiplayer issues. If you’re just getting started with the game and need some pointers, Twinfinite’s got a guide to help you find some grub.

Intrepid Studios released a new video of its upcoming MMORPG Ashes of Creation, showing more gameplay.

This time around, we get to take a look at some new ranged attack mechanics that the developers have been working on.

We get to see various abilities, including an opener that lets you hurl several shots in succession and a sniping attack that requires you to hold the attack button for a while, but can deal lots of damage is successful.

Of course, the extensive video also provides another glimpse at the beautiful world of the game.

The new mechanics are scheduled to go live in the upcoming Alpha 2 phase as development of this highly-anticipated MMORPG progresses.

You can check the video out below.

Ashes of Creation is a very promising fantasy MMORPG coming to PC. If you want to hear more, you can check out our hands-on preview from last year.

Today Spike Chunsoft released a new trailer of the upcoming western version of the Science Adventure visual novel Chaos;Head Noah.

The trailer provides a quick overview of the game, which is still coming to Nintendo Switch despite the untimely cancellation of the PC release on Steam due to the fact that Valve demanded censorship that Spike Chunsoft is not willing to accept.

The Switch release will happen on October 7 regardless of Valve’s stance, as Nintendo doesn’t appear to have found issues with the game, so there’s still a chance for western players to enjoy it alongside Chaos;Child.

You can check out the trailer below.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Science Adventure franchise, it includes series like Steins;Gate, Chaos;Head Noah, Chaos;Child and Robotics;Notes. Basically, if it comes from Mages and has a semicolon in the middle of the title, it’s a Science Adventure visual novel.

Overwatch 2 is set to make a massive change to the voice chat system. In this game, Blizzard will record a player’s voice chat logs while playing a game. This is an unprecedented move for any video game, and Blizzard is set to go full force in enforcing it. But why are they keeping voice logs? Here’s everything you need to know about why Overwatch 2 records your voice chat.

Can You Turn Off Voice Recording in Overwatch 2?

Overwatch 2 will record voice chat in-game to help identify disruptive, insensitive and dishonest players and take action against them. This will be done through an automated service (with minimal human intervention in some special cases) that uses voice-to-text technology to transcribe a player’s words.

Once the transcription is complete, Blizzard will use this to identify harmful language, and the audio file will be deleted. The algorithm is also said to be able to act contextually: it understands the difference between a player shouting a curse word in excitement or using a slur in a derogatory way against another player.

Currently, it doesn’t appear there will be any ability to turn this feature off. Blizzard seems set on trying to ensure the safety of players and crack down on cheating by making this a permanent part of the game. The only way players will be able to skirt around the rules and chat in a system that won’t keep such logs will be to use outside chat services, such as Discord. Naturally, Blizzard will not have access to these chat logs, and will not have the power to enact bans in those ways.

While the gaming future of FromSoftware’s Armored Core series remains in limbo among vague hints and rumors, manufacturers have continued to produce models of its mecha. Kotobukiya just revealed a rather special example.

The popular manufacturer announced a new action figure of the Rayleonard 03-AALIYAH Supplice from Armored Core 4 to kickstart its new high-end brand “Decoction Model.”

The figure is non-scale and rather larger compared to the existing plastic model kit. It comes with better materials including metal alloy for the joints, plenty of movable parts for high possibility and customization, LED lights, and the following equipment

• Rifle: “051ANNR”
• Assault Rifle: “04-MARVE”
• Grenade Cannon: “OGOTO”
• Flare: “051ANAM”
• Stabilizer: “03-AALIYAH/LBS1”

It’s basically the ultimate quality that Kotobukiya is able to offer and still doesn’t have an announced price or release window.

Below you can check out a video, official images, and more pictures I personally shot during the weekend at the All Japan Model & Hobby Show 2022 in Tokyo.

Speaking of Armored Core, if you’re a fan of the series, you may remember the widely reported time in which Hidetaka Miyazaki appeared to confirm a new game in development, a statement that was then immediately retracted by FromSoftware with a press release to Japanese media.

For a series that is largely about episodic hijinks and shenanigans, Spy x Family is host to a surprising amount of lore and worldbuilding. The different political factions, past government initiatives, and organizations aimed at throwing the world off balance all play into the plot regularly, meaning you’ll need to know all you can about them to keep up with the story. This is easier said than done though, and after first hearing of it, you’re probably wondering: What is Project Apple in Spy x Family?

Luckily, we’ve compiled this explainer guide to help get you up to speed.

What Was Project Apple in Spy x Family? Answered

For the most part, Project Apple is exactly what it is described as in the Spy x Family manga and anime.

While the original Ostanian regime was still in power, they funded a secret series of experiments on dogs and other animals. The end goal of these experiments was to make said animals more intelligent, after which they could be given more intricate commands and be used for covert military purposes.

Exactly what these military purposes would have been, though, is unknown. The program proved to be less than worthwhile, with the resulting experiments yielding limited successes at best. Even then, said successes weren’t fully realized by the scientists in charge of the program, resulting in animals like Bond being sent out into the world despite having abilities that far exceeded their goals.

As such, Project Apple falls into the camp of events that are mainly meant to hint at the past evils committed in the name of protecting Ostania. Whether or not it will prove more important as the story goes on is currently unknown.

The addition of Bond to the Forger clan in Spy x Family is a worthwhile wrinkle to the plot, not least of which because of his special abilities. Host to just as many secret abilities as any of the other family members, he’s more than capable of helping them solve extraordinary problems in the blink of an eye. With all this in mind though, a question does arise: What are Bond’s powers in Spy x Family, and how do they play into the larger plot of the series’ story?

Fortunately, we’re here with this explainer guide to shed some light on the topic.

What Powers Does Bond Have in Spy x Family? Explained

As it currently stands, Bond’s powers in Spy x Family fall under two key designations; those being super intelligence and the ability to see into the most likely future.

Both are the result of being a test subject in Project Apple, a secret initiative by the former Ostanian government to create super intelligent animals for military purposes. Though its overall results were minimal at best and only produced a scant few successes, Bond is arguably the animal who benefited the most from said experiments. He’s now about as intelligent as a human being, and his ability to see into the future allows him to help prevent tragedies that would otherwise befall people.

However, these abilities also come with disadvantages he has to work around. His intelligence doesn’t extend to his ability to communicate, meaning most people still only take him to be an unusually smart dog. This is why Anya is the only one who can fully grasp how smart he is, as her telepathy allows her to read his thoughts and understand exactly how much he comprehends about the world around him.

The PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One versions of The Legend of Tianding are now available for pre-order. As well, you can test your skills against major enemies in the game in the new “Boss Rush” mode. This will also appear for the already-released Nintendo Switch and Windows PC versions as a free update.

Aside from a Boss Rush mode, you can check out how you do in comparison with your friends and other players with online leaderboards. The game will also look slightly different than it did in the original release. It will have ultrawide monitor support (21:9). As well, it will run at 120 frames per second at 4K resolution. However, this will only be for the PS5, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC versions, as the Switch hardware does not natively support ultrawide or 4K.

You can watch the trailer for The Legend of Tianding here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtdkZBIa2Lo

With so many time jumps and little skips in House of the Dragon, characters age up, and it can be difficult to keep track of who’s who. Thankfully, the show makes an effort to color-code its key characters. Here’s who the “greens” are in House of the Dragon.

The Greens in House of the Dragon Explained

Towards the end of episode 7 in House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra proposes that she and Daemon get married. She explains that their marriage would make them stronger, and that she can’t face the greens alone. By “greens”, Rhaenyra is really referring to Alicent and the Hightowers.

We know this because just two episodes prior, Larys comments that when the Hightowers gather Oldtown for battle, they light their beacons, which then glow green. That also happens to be the main color of the Hightowers’ house, so when Rhaenyra refers to the “greens”, she means her inevitable conflict with Otto and Alicent.

It’s clear that Rhaenyra feels threatened, especially since her children have been very publicly outed as bastards in episode 7, and Otto himself has been reinstated as Hand of the King. As Alicent gathers more allies and grows in power in King’s Landing, Rhaenyra realizes that she needs more allies of her own if she is to fight back.

That’s all you need to know about who the greens are in House of the Dragon. Be sure to search for Twinfinite for more news and information on the show, including who died in Driftmark, and why Rhaenyra wanted to align with Alicent previously.

Random character deaths flow like wine in House of the Dragon. There’s been at least one death in each episode so far, and it doesn’t look like that trend will be stopping anytime soon. Here’s who died at the end of episode 7 in House of the Dragon.

Who Died in the Velaryons’ Hall in House of the Dragon?

As we see at the very end, Qarl did not actually kill Laenor in Driftmark, as he rows out on a boat, presumably to escape across the Narrow Sea. So who died in Driftmark? As it turns out, it was probably that random guard that Daemon killed on his way up the stairs.

Towards the end of the episode, Rhaenyra and Daemon start up a plot about getting Laenor out of the picture so that they can get married. Daemon is then seen talking to Qarl, asking him to deliver a quick death in exchange for gold. After that, Daemon is seen killing a guard in the halls of Driftmark, and Qarl and Laenor get in a sword fight in front of another guard.

By the time Corlys and Rhaenys arrive on the scene, we only see a charred corpse on the ground. Since both Laenor and Qarl made it out, it’s safe to assume that the corpse left behind was that of the guard that Daemon killed. This was done so that Laenor and Qarl could escape together and live in peace, leaving all the politics of Westeros behind.

That’s all you need to know about who died at the end of episode 7 in House of the Dragon. Be sure to search for Twinfinite for more news and information on the show, including why Rhaenyra wanted to align with Alicent last week, and if Rhaenyra actually cheated on Laenor.

With Overwatch 2 releasing later this week, Blizzard will be shutting down the original game. However, there are some perks that come with this release, including cross-play and cross-progression. Here’s how to merge your Overwatch account with Overwatch 2.

Overwatch 2 Account Merge Explained

Do note that you have to complete this process before the 4th.

New reports claim a remaster of Guerrilla's Horizon Zero Dawn is currently in the works for the PS5.

Originally revealed by MP1st, this remaster will allegedly bring Zero Dawn closer in terms of visuals to its successor, Forbidden West.

While, at the time of writing, it is unclear whether this is a "from the ground up" remake of the 2017 title, it is claimed that this version of Zero Dawn will see new character models, improvements to the game's lighting system and animations, and "overhauled textures".

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Ever since Riot launched Valorant, many third-party tools have surfaced on the internet to make players’ lives much easier. One such third-party tool, in particular, is the Valorant Raw Accel which many professional players and content creators are using to refine their gameplay experience. So what is Valorant Raw Accel, and how can you install it on your system? With that said, let’s dive into the details.

Slime Rancher 2 offers a unique and cute adventure and, well, a ton of slimes. These slimes are your ooey gooey companions and what the entire gameplay loop centers around. While you are out exploring you may come across a big immobile slime. These are Gordos; they block the passages to hidden areas, new islands, and unique treasures and lore. If you’re curious as to where all these big guys are then look no further as we show you all of the Gordo Slime locations in Slime Rancher 2.

Where Are All the Gordo Slime Locations in Slime Rancher 2?

Here are all the Gordo Slime locations in Slime Rancher 2:

Rainbow Fields

There are three Gordos in the Rainbow Fields. These are the Pink Gordo, the Phosphor Gordo, and the Cotton Gordo.

Pink Gordo: This guy is tucked into a recession between two cliffs. He’s pretty easy to find and sitting on a geyser that leads you to the device to unlock the Ember Valley.

Microsoft Flight Simulator has a whole, beautiful world to explore, but most aircraft may not as be slow enough to catch all the details.

The good folks at Hype Performance Group, whom you may know for their Airbus H145 helicopter, have decided to fill this gap by releasing a fully functional hot air balloon.

The vehicle will release on Friday, October 7, and it’ll cost $15. At the moment, it’ll launch only for PC on Hype Performance Group’s own website, and an Xbox Version has not been announced.

Here’s a list of the features you can expect:

Highly Detailed 3D Model, Textures, and Animations

• Professionally modeled with incredible interior and exterior details
• 17 liveries included, all at 4K resolution and with PBR textures inside and out
• Fully animated cockpit and animations for inflation, deflation, stall, and collapse
• Animated 3D humans including a hot air balloon operator and 2 passengers
• Designed and optimized for VR with great FPS performance, working VR Cockpit Zoom, and proper visual scaling throughout the model

Avionics & Systems

• Steam gauges showing barometric altitude, vertical speed and envelope thermometer
• Available AI pilot that can control the hot air balloon based off terrain or altitude
• EFB tablet included with maps and additional apps available
• Balloonist Maps App: shows GPS speed and track
• Little NavMap App: connect to LNM, the free open source flight planner, navigation tool, moving map, airport search and airport information system
• Nearby Radio Stations: listen to radio stations local to the area you’re currently flying in

Hot Air Balloon Flight Model

Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev is hailed as one of the best FPS players of all-time. The 24-year-old CS:GO veteran is a part of the renowned Ukrainian professional esports organization called Natus Vincere and has won multiple tournaments during his career. No wonder, then, that many players are curious to learn about s1mple’s CS:GO settings that he is using in 2022. So without any further delay, let’s jump into the details.

s1mple Mouse Settings for CS:GO

s1mple has a Logitech G Pro x Superlight mouse, and here are the mouse settings that he is currently using in CS:GO:

s1mple Crosshair Settings for CS:GO

Players can enter the following command to copy the s1mple’s crosshair settings in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive:

• cl_crosshair_drawoutline 0; cl_crosshairalpha 255; cl_crosshaircolor 0; cl_crosshaircolor_b 0; cl_crosshaircolor_g 0; cl_crosshaircolor_r 255; cl_crosshairdot 1; cl_crosshairgap -3; cl_crosshairsize 0; cl_crosshairstyle 4; cl_crosshairthickness 2; cl_crosshair_sniper_width 1;

s1mple Video Settings for CS:GO

Although s1mple has an incredibly powerful gaming setup with top-of-the-line hardware, he likes to play CS:GO on lower graphic settings with a stretched screen resolution.

An exclusive membership tier for PlayStation Stars, Sony's new console customer loyalty programme, has been glimpsed.

The service has already launched in Asia and is set to be rolled out in Europe on 13th October.

Dataminers have found references both in the PlayStation mobile app and the PlayStation website to a fifth membership level called Diamond.

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Lance Reddick, the man behind Horizon's Sylens, has teased upcoming content for Forbidden West.

In a now-deleted tweet, the actor shared a short video of himself "hard at work" doing "face capture".

Reddick captioned this tweet: "... in a session for [Horizon Forbidden West]".

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Boss of PlayStation Jim Ryan travelled to Brussels to meet EU regulators in person to discuss Microsoft's impending Activision Blizzard purchase.

Ryan has been vocal in his criticism of the proposed $68bn deal, which would see Xbox own the Call of Duty publisher.

Dealreporter (via VGC) reports that Ryan flew to Europe on 8th September to meet regulators and express his concerns face-to-face.

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The full version of the opening theme for Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury is now available on YouTube. It is YOASOBI's "The Blessing," and the music video heavily features Suletta and her Gundam. There is also a short story based on the song. You can read it from the official website for The Witch from Mercury. [Thanks, ryokutya2089!]

According to the YOASOBI Twitter account, the short story helps to further accentuate the lyrics of “The Blessing.” The lyrics focus on the bond between Suletta and her mobile suit, Gundam Aerial. In the song, Aerial thinks about Suletta's past and present, and how they are always going to be together. It also details Aerial's wishes for her to make her own way through life, free from Elnora's influence.

You can watch the music video for the opening of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eytpBOkOFA

After a year of anticipation, FIFA 23 has finally been launched across all the platforms. The brand new FIFA installment by EA Games is filled to brim with plenty of new features and changes compared to the previous version. From the World Cup mode to the new Crossplay feature, there’s no shortage of content for the loyal FIFA fans. With that said, we’ll provide a detailed breakdown of all the new features in FIFA 23.

FIFA 23 New Features Explained

Here’s what’s new in FIFA 23, with HyperMotion2 Technology, both men’s and women’s FIFA World Cup tournaments, cross-play features, and more.

With everything that’s gone on in the world over the course of the last few years, a society-ending disease that ushers in a new age for mankind is seemingly more believable than ever, right? Yes, echoing the global pandemic that we’re still in the midst of recovering from, a certain post-apocalyptic movie has rocketed into the Top 10 most-viewed movies on Hulu, according to FlixPatrol.

More specifically, the film in question is I Think We’re Alone Now, and no, we’re not talking about Richie Cordells’ catchy ’60s hit song. Au contraire, we’re talking about the 2018 sci-fi drama that centers on two survivors of a catastrophic disease that has ripped through society and has left the world in pieces.

Starring Game of Thrones‘ Peter Dinklage and I Am Sam’s Elle Fanning as the unlikely duo, the feature is more of an understated emotional reflection on loneliness, survival, and trauma than an all-guns-blazing actioner, which makes sense considering the director is Reed Morano. For those unaware, Morano is the Emmy award-winning director responsible for the first three episodes of another post-apocalyptic Hulu drama, The Handmaid’s Tale.

A remake or remaster of 2017's Horizon Zero Dawn is reportedly in the works alongside a new Horizon multiplayer game. 

This news comes by way of MP1st, which reports that its sources tell the publication that this remake/remaster will feature an improved lighting system, overhauled textures, better animations, and character models more in line with those of Horizon Forbidden West, Zero Dawn's sequel that released back in February. However, MP1ST notes that its sources didn't say whether this was a "built from the ground up" remake or a remaster – it might fall somewhere in between for all we know. 

According to MP1st, one of the project's big focuses (ha) is bringing Forbidden West's accessibility features over to Zero Dawn, something Sony did with The Last of Us Part II and Part I. As far as gameplay changes go, the publication says its sources say those will be mostly quality-of-life improvements. It also says it's unclear if this remake/remaster will be at the scale of The Last of Us Part I or something lesser. Only time will tell. 

Dangen Entertainment has announced that indie cult classic The Witch’s House MV will come out for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One on October 13, 2022. It will only be available as a digital purchase. This uses the MV version of the game, which has improved graphics and two new difficulty modes. [Thanks, Dengeki Gamer!]

In The Witch’s House MV, you play as Viola. She enters a manor – the titular Witch’s House – that uses puzzles in the place of locks, and has death lurking around literally every corner. The goal of the game is to escape the manor while solving the mystery of the Witch. The Witch’s House features jumpscares and gore, and the developer heavily recommends that you play with headphones.

The Witch’s House originally came out as a freeware horror game in 2012. MV is the remastered and paid version that came out in 2018. In the same vein as Ib (which will also come out for the Nintendo Switch for Spring 2023), The Witch’s House is an RPG Maker horror game that has become popular and well-known through word of mouth.

It's been another busy year for No Man's Sky. Not only has the exploratory space sim received three significant updates in 2022 - delivering some of the most meaningful revisions it's yet seen its six years of post-launch support, developer Hello Games has been working behind-the-scenes on bringing the game to a number of new platforms in the not-too-distant future: Switch, PSVR2, iPad, and MacOS. Of those, Switch comes first, arriving on Nintendo's console - alongside a major 4.0 update for all players - this Friday, 7th October. Ahead of release, Eurogamer sat down with Hello Games boss Sean Murray to discuss the 'madness' of porting to Switch, No Man's Sky's eagerly anticipated 4.0 update, the studio's future, and more.

ON THE STATE OF THINGS IN 2022

Somewhat incredibly, it's been over six years since No Man's Sky's infamously rocky launch, during which time the studio has released a staggering 20 free updates, massively changing the trajectory of the game, both in terms of its scope and reception. "In general," Murray tells me when I ask about the studio's outlook in 2022, "I think we're a really happy team. I think we're sort of the happiest and the most productive we've been in the last five or six years… The launch of No Man's Sky, if I was to plot that on a graph, it was maximum stress, and there's been a gradual but steady improvement year-on-year in how we do things and within the team. I think we're enjoying it, you know."

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High-profile mod maker Lance McDonald has released footage of what looks to be a working PlayStation 5 exploit that leaves the console "jailbroken".

McDonald's video appears to show custom code being read by a PS5 through an exploit in its online User Guide. Once run, the console is able to access debug settings and then install the infamous PT demo - which is, of course, no longer available under normal circumstances.

So, how bad is this for Sony? Well, for now, the use of this exploit is limited. Reportedly this method is still "fairly unstable" and offers "read/write access, but no execute" - so you could download the PT demo, for example, but not yet play it.

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Sony is reportedly planning to make 2m units of its upcoming PlayStation VR2 headset by March.

That's according to Bloomberg, which has reported that mass production of the headset began last month.

These high production figures show Sony has an "ambitious" roadmap ahead of the VR2's release, it was said.

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For those of you keen to hear more about the future of the Legacy of Kain series, this will be right up your street.

Developer Crystal Dynamics has released a survey asking its fans what they would most like to see if the series was to make a come back.

This survey (which you can complete yourself by following this link) asks about preferred platforms, whether users would like to see a reboot, remake or sequel to the Legacy of Kain series, and what it is about vampire games that captures your attention, among other things.

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The gaming press world has been in quite some turmoil of late. Tencent just gutted Fanbyte, G4TV just fired a bunch of its staff, and Future Publishing just let go a swathe of writers and editors, despite making hundreds of millions of dollars last year. So it’s with perhaps some trepidation we report the news that…

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Earlier today on YouTube, Marvel Studios released a brand-new trailer for the next MCU film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. This official trailer is filled with over two minutes of new footage featuring the Dora Milaje in combat with Namor and his army, the first look at Riri Williams in her Iron Heart armor, and the first full shot of Shuri as Black Panther.

The trailer begins with the somber funeral procession for T’chala, the former Black Panther and King of Wakanda. We then hear a voice-over of Namor saying, “Only the most broken people can be great leaders.” Since the scene where this line is spoken isn’t shown, it’s unclear who the leader of Talocan is talking to.

Then we see a handful of possibly Wakandan airships flying through a snowy mountainous region to convene with the Jabari leader, M’Baku. Here we see him talking about how powerful Namor is, “His people do not call him general or king. They call him Kukulkan, the feather serpent god.” During that sentence, Namor is seen descending from the sky using the wings on his ankles to fly.

The next time Namor is seen flying in the trailer it looks like he’s bobbing and weaving left and right to avoid shots from a Wakandan ship. Shortly after, Riri Williams is shown assembling her Iron Heart suit and finally flying around in it as well.

As the trailer draws to a close, Shuri’s full Black Panther costume is finally revealed.

Dragons are alive and well in House of the Dragon, not to mention greater in number than when Daenerys Targaryen hatched hers nearly 200 years later. These fire-breathing creatures are just as varied as the human characters themselves, each with their own unique design, coloring, screeches, and even their background. At least 17 dragons are still alive, but who is the biggest dragon in House of the Dragon?

How Big is Vhagar in House of the Dragon?

At this point in time, Vhagar is the biggest dragon in House of the Dragon. This comes according to a passage from a Dance with Dragons in Chapter 8, which states that “Vhagar had grown nearly as big as Balerion had been during Aegon’s Conquest, and had become the largest living dragon of her time.”

It’s during episode 6 of House of the Dragon that we truly get a sense of just how big Vhagar is. When Laena and Daemon ride together, Vhagar looks to be twice the size of Caraxes, who is still rather large himself.

At the time of House of the Dragon, Vhagar is also getting on in years, reaching nearly 200 years old, which is right around when Balerion passed. She was one of the three original dragons that united the six of the seven kingdoms during Aegon’s conquest; in fact, Vhagar is the last of the three still alive.

Nintendo has launched an official website for Nintendo Pictures, its visual media production company. The Japan-based game publisher revealed that the company will work on "unique and surprising" projects using Nintendo characters and properties. Furthermore, Nintendo Pictures will reportedly begin hiring new employees starting November 2022. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

The official homepage for Nintendo Pictures is separate from Nintendo's main website and features a message to fans at the beginning of the page. The message states, first and foremost, that Nintendo owns a 100% stake in Nintendo Pictures. Additionally, it states that the video production company's goal is to not only showcase Nintendo characters to a wide audience but also continue creating these works "across generations".

https://twitter.com/Nintendo/status/1576832742503124992?s=20&t=4PHoPH4amky1CKMNc8BQEg

Notably, the website also reveals that the production company was founded in 2011. That's because Nintendo Pictures was formerly Dynamo Pictures, which Nintendo purchased back in July 2022. The animation company previously worked on other media such as Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, and Final Fantasy XV. As such, the company's listed services include motion capture recording.

So, Stadia finally met its demise last week. After an unsuccessful launch with general apathy from the audience, there's an argument that the platform was doomed right from the very beginning - despite Google itself investing a gigantic amount of cash into the hardware and various publishing deals. Perhaps the writing was on the wall when Stadia shut down its own development studio, while the logical evolution of the platform - as a 'white label' cloud system that could be used by publishers - wasn't really compatible with the Linux/Vulkan foundation. Features failed to materialise (remember being able to access a game state by sharing a link?) while there were always doubts about the 10.7 teraflops of GPU power. If graphics performance was so high, how come Xbox One X at 6TF produced superior results? Was that GPU actually virtualised over two users? I'd love to know for sure.

The thing is, as many have stated, Stadia had much to commend it in terms of actually delivering a decent enough streaming experience - markedly better than xCloud in terms of quality. Regardless, the system did not attract much interest and it's time to face realities about the actual viability of cloud-based platforms in general.