November 2022

The number of people subscribed to PlayStation Plus has dropped by two million over the past year, despite Sony's big summer revamp of the service and the launch of several new pricing tiers.

PlayStation Plus had 45.4 million subscribers as of 30th September this year, down more than two million from the 47.2 million signed up at the same point in 2021.

Sony relaunched its PlayStation Plus subscription in June, when it split the service into three tiers and launched a Game Pass-style catalogue of games for those paying more.

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Blizzard is seemingly polling Overwatch 2 players to get their views on the game's Battle Pass and in-game store.

That's according to u/FelineXJunkie, who posted on the game's subreddit community reporting that they'd received an email from Blizzard, inviting them to feedback on their experiences with the game so far, touching "heavily" on the shooter's in-game store and battle pass.

"I got an email from Blizzard requesting that I fill out a survey. It heavily touched on topics regarding the Battle Pass and the Overwatch Store," they wrote. "If you haven't already, be sure to fill it out. I really hope this is a first step towards change."

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Netflix has announced The Witcher Season 4 and Henry Cavill's exit from the show.

Season 3 has yet to air on the streaming service, but already we have confirmation that for Season 4, Cavill is set to be replaced as titular monster-hunter Geralt of Rivia by Liam Hemsworth, most famous for playing Gale Hawthorne in The Hunger Games movie series.

Cavill, who recently announced his return to the role of Superman for DC, issued a statement praising his replacement:

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Ubisoft has unveiled Rainbow Six Extraction's fourth Crisis Event, After Effect.

Available now until 17th November, the new content will be a "thrilling culmination" to the last three events, bringing "more post-launch content" which includes an all-new enemy, REACT tech, challenges, and cosmetic items.

"In After Effect, Operators must search for the invaluable Parasite Nucleus, carry it, and wield its power; or escort and protect the carrier against incoming threats – including the Amber Sprawl," Ubisoft explains.

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10 years after its introduction, Steam's Big Picture mode has received a long overdue overhaul, with Valve finally making good on last year's promise to replace the ageing UI with its decidedly more modern Steam Deck interface - albeit initially only for testing prior to a general release.

Steam's Big Picture mode first surfaced back in 2012, introducing an optional new UI for Valve's storefront specifically designed for use with televisions and controllers. It's changed in barely noticeable increments since then, lagging far behind Valve's recent major overhaul for Steam's desktop mode, but as of today, it's out with the old and in with the new.

Just as it promised last July, Valve has now replaced the old Big Picture mode with the far more modern UI created for its handheld gaming PC, Steam Deck. "This controller-first interface was designed for Steam Deck in handheld and docked mode," Valve explains, "and is perfect for all the scenarios Big Picture mode currently handles."

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Behaviour is launching its first Dead by Daylight comic book.

The first issue, set for release in March 2023, will focus on the Killers The Legion who comprise "a close-knit group of four troubled teenagers" and explores "The Legion's relationship as they navigate the darkness within themselves and the world around them".

The comic has been written by Harvey Award winner Nadia Shammas (Squire, Where Black Stars Rise), with art by Dillon Snook (Bluefall).

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Pioneering Sega developer Rieko Kodama has passed away at the age of 58.

A memorial message for her was spotted in the credits of the Mega Drive Mini 2 and later confirmed by Sega producer Yosuke Oskunari.

Sega subsequently confirmed Kodama passed back in May, but was unable to share details in respect to her family, as reported by IGN.

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Toem is a photography adventure. You wander around taking pictures and solving simple problems. It's fitting, I guess, that after playing through the recent Basto update yesterday, the first thing I did before writing today was look back through all my pictures.

Cor. Here's me at a camp fire listening to a spooky story. Here I am helping a mermaid sing a song. Here I am judging a royal sandcastle competition. Here I am stuck in some kind of pipe. Understand this: Toem is already one of my favourite games in years. Basto just makes it all even better.

The free update provides an entirely new region with a bunch of new objectives to tick off, but also a new bit of Toem's newsprint world to explore, new characters to meet, new whimsy to engage in. Basto's a tropical region, with lovely palm trees laden with fruit waiting to be collected and turned into ice cream. There's a new day and night mechanic that sees the tides changing and bringing different paths into play. There's a new attachment that allows you to fire water balloons from your camera. There are mountainy bits, camps, oddballs, and even a spooky cave. Get in.

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Sackboy: A Big Adventure hasn't had a big start on Steam.

Originally released on PlayStation consoles in November 2020 (launch window for PS5), the game arrived on PC via Steam last week on 27th October.

However, so far it's highest concurrent player peak is just 610 players, according to SteamDB.

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As the Fortnitemares 2022 event is coming close to an end, Epic Games has dropped Fortnite 22.30 patch, adding a brand new set of Horde Rush Quests. As a result, Horde Rush mode will remain in the game for two more weeks so that players can complete the challenges and earn exclusive rewards. So without any further delay, here’s a detailed rundown of all the Fortnite Horde Rush quests and rewards.

Fortnite Horde Rush Quests and Rewards

Fortnite Horde Rush week features 11 challenges in total and here’s a list of all of them:

Make way for the month of legacy sequels

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Spooky season continues — this time with some Christmas flair

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Bandai Namco is running full-tilt to get some small-sized Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury figures to market. The newest entries in the company's super-deformed Figuarts Mini line will represent the series in the form of Suletta Mercury and her fiancé, Miorine Rembran. They're now up for pre-order in Japan [Thanks, Hobby Watch!]

The Suletta Figuarts Mini figure brings a cute, super-deformed rendition of Gundam: The Witch From Mercury's protagonist Suletta Mercury to shelves. She appears dressed in her Asticassia School of Technology uniform. The uniform is colored in the distinct black, white, and gold color scheme worn by the "Holder," the top-ranked mobile suit duelist at the school. The figure stands 90mm tall (about 3.5" inches). It's manufactured with what Bandai calls its proprietary "Glittering EYE" method to enhance the coloring and liveliness of the figure's eyes. It also includes a stand and replacement arms. Buyers can recreate Suletta's anxiety-ridden posture with a simple swap of the hands.

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Meanwhile, the Miorine Figuarts Mini stands at the same height, but bears the confidence only the scion to the Benerit Group, one of the Solar System's largest corporate behemoths, can muster. Like Suletta's figure, Miorine's Mini comes with replacement arms to pose with. It's also dressed in the standard Asticassia uniform, only wearing the usual sea green, black, and orange scheme.

Eric "Concerned Ape" Barone took to Twitter to offer another progress update on the Stardew Valley Android 1.5 patch. Back in February 2021, he mentioned being committed to getting the major free addition on Android devices. Especially since that version is now self-published. In the latest update, Barone again committed to the update debuting on the platform before 2023 ends.

Here's the full statement, which confirms development continues and the 1.5 Stardew Valley Android update is "still on track" to release in 2023.

Hey everyone, happy 'ween (spirit's eve). I know I haven't been too active lately, but don't worry, I'm still here. And mobile 1.5 update is still on track for what I said last: "Before the end of the year". Thank you

— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) October 31, 2022

After a major update such as Patch 5.08, which introduced the new Agent Harbor, it’s no surprise that today’s patch isn’t especially substantial. Patch 5.09 is focused on issuing a bunch of fixes to various aspects of several Agents’ utilities; most notably, Skye’s seekers, which now track targets more effectively and affect enemies who are intangible.

You can check out the full overview below.

Agents

Like clockwork, Activision’s latest entry in its long-running military shooter franchise is back with a (flash) bang, and while the majority of players are busy getting their dubs, the mystery over what the new gun meta is continues to perplex the fanbase. If you’ve arrived here, however, you’re likely curious as to how to unlock the Vaznev-9K in Modern Warfare 2. So, without further ado, let’s get down to business, shall we?

Valorant is getting into the spirit of the spooky season this week with a Halloween-themed weapon bundle that’s set to hit the storefront later today. It’s called Soulstrife, and as you can see above it’s somewhat reminiscent of the Reaver skin line, with a ghoulish design that has a wraith-like quality to it. One thing that does set it apart from the Reaver, though, is the Scythe melee weapon, which is most commonly associated with the grim reaper.

We don’t yet know whether this skin bundle will feature special effects or what price tier it will fit into, but if we had to bet we’d say it probably doesn’t and so will therefore fall under the Deluxe Edition (DE) tier, costing 1275 VP ($16) per individual skin, 5,100 ($62) per bundle.

Here’s a look at some Soulstrife gameplay:

It’s somewhat normal for a cheaper skin bundle to follow on from a more expensive one, and since we’ve only just had the Ion 2.0 bundle it seems likely this will be a more entry-level, cheaper one. That’s probably going to come as a bit of a disappointment to many given how cool the Soulstrife design is. It might end up being another sad case of untapped potential, but we’ll just have to wait and see later today if we’re proven correct.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the fastest-selling game in the decades-old franchise to date.

Activision has announced that worldwide sell-through for the first three days passed $800 million – more than the previous record holder, 2011's Modern Warfare 3, managed in five days.

It's the biggest opening weekend in the series' history, and even surpassed two of the year's most successful films. Citing figures from Box Office Mojo, Activision claimed that Modern Warfare 2 outperformed the opening weekends of both Top Gun: Maverick and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness combined.

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If you like brash, explosive, Brosnan-era Bond action with outrageous, blockbuster set-pieces and peak Michael Bay spectacle, then boy do I have the game for you: it's available now on next-generation hardware, it's called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and it came out in 2009.

The original Modern Warfare 2 was huge, a cultural event after the breakout debut of the first Modern Warfare subtitle but also a remarkable reflection of that culture itself at the time. It was a bleak reflection of the west's shared headspace in the late noughties, playing up on jingoism and melodrama and a general post-9/11, mid-forever war, Pearl Harbour-esque fear of American vulnerability to surprise attack. There was an argument, too - not that many tend to agree with it - that a close reading might find something almost, nearly, verging on an anti-imperialist message, what with its tale of ultra-nationalists inciting invasions and warmongering commanders-in-chief using their window to take the world for a ride.

Microsoft loses up to $200 on each Xbox console it sells.

Speaking at the WSJ TechLive event on 26th October, Xbox head Phil Spencer admitted its Xbox Series X/S consoles are sold at a loss, with the expectation that revenue will be made up elsewhere on accessories and games.

"Consoles as a business model, in the overall scope of gaming, is fairly small relative to the places people play. Consoles evolved to a business model much different from phones where consoles are actually sold at a loss in the market," he said.

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With Halloween behind us, the spooky season is now winding down as we enter November.

To celebrate, developers and fans alike joined in the annual festivity of pumpkin carving.

Here's some of the delightfully devilish designs we've seen over the weekend!

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The game will feature thousands of sprites, a full soundtrack, a functioning tutorial, and even mouse support

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10 games rolling out, starting Tuesday

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It’s been a week or so since Riot Games launched Valorant’s newest Agent, the water-bending controller named Habor, and I think it’s safe to say his impression on the meta has so far been underwhelming. Actually, I’d go so far as to say he’s perhaps the worst-performing Agent at launch the game has seen yet, and I won’t be at all surprised if he’s given a buff in quick order.

Update 11/15: The latest Valorant Patch 5.10 has brought about a buff for Harbor. His Cascade (C) ability now has two charges instead of one. What do you think? Is this likely to change Harbor’s place in the meta? We’re not sure, but at a glance, the buff doesn’t seem enough. We’ll revisit this topic again soon once we’ve had a chance to play with him.

The problem with Harbor’s kit is multifaceted but mainly boils down to the fact that he’s a controller who can’t really control areas of the map effectively. Ironically, almost all of his abilities are focused on blocking vision, and yet he doesn’t work at all on the defensive half. He’s much better suited to attacking when he almost feels like an initiator. As a result, Harbor is only really serviceable as a secondary controller on most maps when there’s an Omen, Brimstone, or Astra to do the defensive heavy-lifting with conventional smokes.

A new Casio G-Shock watch themed after the original Super Mario Bros. game is set to release in Japan. The Super Mario Bros. G-Shock DW-5600SMB will cost about 17,600 Yen (about $120 USD) and is part of a limited series that debuts in November 2022. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

The Super Mario Bros G-Shock watch specifically evokes the original game from the NES and Famicom era. Its strap is decorated with Mario's in-game sprite. The face also features with the Super Mario Bros. game title in Famicom-original screen font, and a Koopa Trooper shell in the centerpiece. The housing and buckle are also done in bright red, to further evoke the bright colors of the era. The backlit watch display also displays Mario's sprite and a 1 Up when lit. The sprite is also engraved on the backplate of the watch. The watch also comes in a special package that evokes the now iconic stage 1-1 from the game on both the box and the metal canister.

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Casio's choice of model Super Mario Bros. G-Shock harkens back to the early 1980s. In that era both the game Casio's first line of G-Shock watches, the DW-5000 series were introduced. They've also kept the square design for more than 30 years.

Square Enix confirmed the 6.28 FFXIV patch is live and its notes mark the introduction of the Dynamis North American Logical Data Center and Halicarnassus, Maduin, Marilith, and Seraph worlds. This expansion means more places for people to play. It should also help fight congestion in-game.

As usual, there are incentives to encourage people to transfer or create a character on a new world. For example, when you first log into it with a new character, you’ll get double EXP until you hit level 80, 10 Silver Chocobo Feathers, 15 days of free play time, and 1,000,000 gil. Should you transfer to that world, you’ll get double EXP until you hit level 80, 10 Gold Chocobo Feathers, and the Home World Transfer will be free. If you made the transfer and had a house, you’ll get 3,000,000 gil on top of the full cost of the house. Those with apartments get the 500,000 initial gil and 500,000 gil for your non-recoverable furniture.

I recently got word there was a Monkey Island-like game in the works. This in itself is not exactly unusual - point and click games have always been around, even if they are not as prevalent as they once were.

But this Monkey Island-like game has something else going for it that made my ears prick up. Not only is it described as a "merry and macabre point and click adventure game" by its developers, but it also happens to have Jonathan Ackley (Curse of Monkey Island's co-director) giving it his seal of approval. Colour me interested!

The game in question is Foolish Mortals, and it comes from the minds at Inklingwood Studios - you can see a teaser for it below. Heavily inspired by the Monkey Island series, this game takes place in an exotic locale and, as luck would have it, there is a demo for it available right now on Steam. So, of course, I headed on over to give this upcoming release a whirl.

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Resident Evil producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi has established a new studio with NetEase.

GPTRACK50, as it's called, aims to create original IP that will "impress the whole world", not just games, but films and entertainment series.

Kobayashi, who will take the role of president, has been involved in the production of Resident Evil's live-action and CG animation series, as well as the Resident Evil games, Dino Crisis, Dragon's Dogma, Devil May Cry and more.

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At least two more Marvel superhero games are coming from EA as part of a long-term deal with Marvel. We already knew about Motive Studios’ single-player Iron Man action adventure game, announced in September, but the others are still just an amorphous blob of creativity that probably gives you the proportionate strength and speed of a badger on physical contact. The revelation that EA and Marvel are forging some kind of Marvel Gaming Universe may delight or frustrate you, depending on how fed up you are with the MCU.

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Myst developers Cyan have revealed they’re working on a “from-the-ground-up” remake of its sequel, Riven. The original puzzle adventure was released on PC on October 31st 1997, and Cyan made their remake announcement exactly 25 years later. The new version of Riven will adopt the Myst remake’s freely 3D movement, but there are very few details yet other than that. Watch the very short announcement teaser below.

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Putting together this list of the best early Black Friday SSD deals has proven trickier than expected, and not because Black Friday is still three weeks away. It’s because so many SSDs are subjected to dirty retailer tricks, mainly raising prices for the sole purpose of dropping them back down and calling it a “deal”. Naw, sir, not falling for that. What you’ll find here, then, are SSD offers with genuine discounts only – and with both lightspeed-fast NVMe SSDs and affordable SATA SSDs on early sales, there's something for all kinds of PC builds.

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HBO Max app quietly leaks show’s release date

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Paralives is a new take on the life sim genre

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The new Star Wars outfits will be available in the Item Store

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HoYoVerse released a new Teyvat Times for Genshin Impact. Each one of these newsletters goes over players’ recent actions and activities. For example, they can talk about new update stats or what folks did during events. In Vol. 5 of Genshin Impact Teyvat Times, it confirmed Sweet Madame is still the most produced food, even with Matsutake Meat Rolls’ popularity increasing.

The new data came up in a section discussing food folks made. It noted that the most popular dish in Genshin Impact is still the Sweet Madame. However, following the introduction of Sumeru, HoYoVerse noted a 12.43% increase in people cooking Matsutake Meat Rolls. It suggested this could be tied to more people getting Raw Meat from wildlife while exploring Sumeru. However, while those other two dishes are still popular, the new Pita Pocket was cited as the most popular new recipe from the Sumeru region. (Collei gives it to the Traveler as part of an Archon Quest.)

Sweet Madame is a kind of Genshin Impact food that’s been around since the game launched and is one of the recipes you know right away. To make it, someone needs two pieces of fowl and two sweet flowers. It is a recovery dish that restores 1,200 HP and 22% of max HP when you use it. The Matsutake Meat Rolls is another recovery dish with the same effect, though it requires two Matsutake mushrooms and two pieces of raw meat.

NetEase Games opened a new development studio in Osaka, Japan. It'll be led by former Capcom veteran producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi, who joined NetEase earlier in 2022. According to statements from NetEase and Kobayashi, the studio's focus will be on developing original IP. The company didn't make any specific project announcements [Thanks, Gematsu!].

According to the announcement, GPTRACK50 will bring together "experienced professionals" from both the game and film & television industries to develop content. NetEase also touted Kobayashi's experience in multimedia, such as his work helping produce live-action and animated Resident Evil series, manga adaptation, anime series, and more.

A message from Kobayashi praised NetEase as a "reliable business partner in developing high-quality games and entertainment projects." He vowed to build a strong team aiming to create original content that will satisfy global audiences. He said that the studio is "focused purely" on creating new content, innovative gaming experiences, and original IP. However, Kobayashi's aim is not solely to produce game IP, but "to go beyond those boundaries into live-action movies, animation, books including manga and novels, and various other forms of entertainment such as theater and events."

GPTRACK50 also debuted a brief launch video.

Today Kojima Productions updated its website revealing another actress who will appear in the next game by Hideo Kojima.

The actress revealed today was teased with a silhouette a few weeks ago alongside the reveal of Elle Fanning, and she’s Shioli Kutsuna.

You may know her for her roles in the recent Apple TV+ series Invasion and in Deadpool 2, and interestingly, she also voiced Lunafreya Nox Fleuret in the Japanese voice track of Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (but not in the game).

Her reveals come with another question, “How Come?” that also has a small design at the bottom that should be familiar to Death Stranding fans.

Of course, about what the question may mean, your guess is as good as mine. I’ve given up on interpreting Hideo Kojima’s cryptic teases long, long ago, for the sake of my sanity.

You can check the relevant pictures below.

If you’ve been looking for more information on the Sonic Frontiers story, a massive piece of it dropped in everyone’s laps this morning. An animated prologue titled Divergence gives a look at what Knuckles is up to before the events of Sonic Frontiers really get going.

True to his nature, the video begins with Knuckles protecting the Master Emerald on Angel Island, surrounded by the Chao he watches over.

As we mentioned, this prologue is animated, and it’s terrific. The YouTube video description credits Tyson Hesse, Ian Flynn, Powerhouse Animation Studios, Evan Stanley, Tee Lopes, Sonic Team, and Tomoya Ohtani. They did an amazing job and we’d seriously love a whole series done in this style.

You can find the video below. We will write more about the prologue after the embedded video as we don’t want to ruin it for you.

Fortnite’s 22.30 version went live today, bringing fans a fresh wave of exciting content. Aside from all the new features, Epic Games unvaulted a brand-new Pulse Rifle, a fully automatic AR when hip-fired, and slower shots when aimed down sights. However, many of you will have a hard time finding the Pulse Rifle on Fortnite island. Therefore, we’ve put together an essential guide to finding Pulse Rifle in Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 4 followed by its stats.

Genshin Impact has a massive collection of characters, and it is continuously evolving with every game’s update. In the most recent announcement, HoYoverse confirmed the arrival of a new playable called Kave,h who was initially known as the architect behind the Palace of Alcazarzaray. Similar to other characters, Kaveh’s voice lines are portrayed by two different voice-over artists. Although the name of the English voice actor hasn’t been revealed yet, we’re certainly aware of the artist who’s portraying Kaveh’s Japanese role in Genshin Impact.