March 2023

Epic Games have married their two money makers, creating holy matrimony between battle-royale mainstay Fortnite and Unreal Engine 5. As part of the company’s State Of Unreal presentation, Epic unveiled Unreal Editor For Fortnite (UEFN), a UE5-powered version of the game’s Creative mode which the community has been referring to as Creative 2.0 for the past few months. UEFN is out right now in beta form, and some of what’s possible with these tools are downright wild.

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AMD's Ryzen 7000 "Zen 4" CPUs are brilliant performers, but as they use a new AM5 socket, upgrading to the new CPU means picking up a new motherboard - and DDR5 RAM. Thankfully, we've started to see a host of discounts on CPU and motherboard combos, including this one from Newegg that bundles a Ryzen 5 7600 CPU and MSI Pro B650M-A WiFi motherboard for $324.99, an $84 savings compared to buying both separately.

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UPDATE 4.00pm UK: An official trailer for Sonic Origins Plus has now been released, confirming the information in the previous report.

You can check out the trailer below to see Amy in action and more. I'm personally excited to play the Game Gear games - their Master System equivalents were my introduction to Sonic and gaming all those years ago!

The expansion will cost £7.99 in the UK, or £34.99 for the whole package.

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Among the critters you'll draw from the deepest depths of direful fishing sim Dredge is the snailfish, an unhappy sea sausage which, as the game's encyclopaedia explains, starts to implode as it's reeled up into a tortuously low-pressure world. It's a fleeting reminder that being transported from abyss to surface is always a transformation. Beautiful aquatic creatures become abominations, crushed and deformed by the vicious operating parameters of a reality they aren't built for.

In Dredge's case, they acquire right angles, each lush 2D fish illustration the core of a clump of blocks, which must be slotted into a cargo hold represented as an expandable grid. It's a bloodless short-cutting of real-world commercial fish processing, where creatures are hacked up into tradeable morsels on the deck before they've even finished suffocating. Smaller critters like the snailfish (which doesn't in fact implode here, despite the description) fill a couple of squares, and are easily plugged into gaps between your ship's engine or headlamps and the hull. Chunkier hauls like sharks form awkward, rectilinear Christmas trees of fins and jaws: cramming in more than one is always a challenge, but perhaps if you reshuffle your mackerels a bit, you'll magically make room.

This touch of spatial puzzling lends Dredge's fishing expeditions their difficulty curve as much as the threats that roam the game's 19th century archipelago by night. Each voyage is sort of like deliberately filling up the board in Tetris, risking a game-over only to clear multiple lines in one fell swoop when you drop your catch off at the market. It's the One Clever Mechanic at the heart of a 10-hour game of fishquests and upgrading, which is disquieting in many ways but seldom as actively, rewardingly horrific as it might seem at first.

In a former casino on the outskirts of Edinburgh, ex-Grand Theft Auto producer Leslie Benzies is readying his next big gamble: a creation-fuelled game platform with blockbuster experiences built in. It's called Everywhere, and seems almost too ambitious; a constructed attempt to beat the likes of Fortnite and Roblox at their own game, with the horsepower of big budget game development under its hood.

The stakes are high. Everywhere is the long-awaited debut from Build a Rocket Boy, the company Benzies set up six years ago after his acrimonious exit from Rockstar, and the project he and other GTA veterans have been quietly building ever since. Fuelled by investment from NetEase, Build a Rocket Boy now has more than 400 staff building various bits of Everywhere, housed in multiple sites across Edinburgh, Budapest, Montpellier and in China. The current plan is to have Everywhere publicly playable at some point later this year.

You may remember Everywhere from its rather nebulous unveiling at Gamescom last year - when it was teased via a brief trailer that did little to explain what it actually was. Following that, rumours swirled suggesting it would contain cryptocurrency and NFTs - something Benzies and his team now flatly denies. So what exactly is Everywhere? After a day inside the studio, I still have questions. Lots and lots of questions. But they are different questions now - more hopeful ones, I think - than those I went in there with.

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The Lords of the Fallen is now going to be known as Lords of the Fallen, and we just got a fresh look at the upcoming dark fantasy RPG thanks to last night's State of Unreal technical showcase.

As you may have guessed given where this latest footage comes from, Lords of the Fallen will run on Unreal Engine 5. Developer Hexworks explained the goal has "always been to create the most immersive game experience possible", and Unreal Engine 5 will help make this a reality.

And, I have to say, what has been shown so far certainly does look impressive. In the words of Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale: "This is how fans wanted Elden Ring to look".

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Last year, Sonic Origins celebrated Sonic the Hedgehog's birthday by gathering Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD in one place with new features and some added bonuses. Despite some shortcomings, the compilation remains the best official way to experience those classic games from Genesis and Sega CD three decades following their original releases. Today, Sega announced the bundle is about to get better through Sonic Origins Plus, a premium upgrade that arrives a year after the collection's initial launch.

Sonic Origins Plus brings forward all the features of Sonic Origins delivered last year – Classic Mode, Anniversary Mode, widescreen support, added story animations, a virtual museum, and more – while adding a bunch of new content. First up, Sonic Origins Plus adds all 12 Sonic Game Gear games to the museum.

The full list of Game Gear games getting added is listed below.

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is already home to more than 380 songs, but soon, five more, this time from the Nier series, will be added to the game's playable soundtrack. 

The Nier: Automata tracks "Dependent Weakling," "Weight of the World Kowaretasekainouta – Marina Kawano," "Amusement Park," "A Beautiful Song," And "Emil's Shop," will be added to the game on March 29. That's next Wednesday, so you don't have to wait long. Check out Square Enix's trailer showcasing these songs in the Tweet below: 

The wait is NieRly over!

The @NieRGame Series pack for Theatrhythm Final Bar Line will launch on March 29th with the following songs:

- Dependent Weakling
- Weight of the World Kowaretasekainouta - Marina Kawano
- Amusement Park
- A Beautiful Song
- Emil’s Shop pic.twitter.com/4c52rjztKl

— FINAL FANTASY (@FinalFantasy) March 23, 2023

These five songs will join the recently-added six songs from The World Ends With You series. That DLC pack added "Someday," "Your Ocean," "World is Yours," "Breaking Free," "Twister," and "Calling." Song packs typically cost $3 to $6 depending on the pack, but you'll get all of these NEO songs and all of these Nier songs if you've purchased Season Pass 1. 

During Summer Game Fest last June, Alien fans were treated to the reveal of a new title called Aliens: Dark Descent. The real-time tactical shooter pits a squad of marines against dozens of deadly xenomorphs, though we hadn't seen any gameplay footage until the release of a new video today.

A gameplay commentary video walks players through the basics, in which players command a team of marines to investigate a xenomorph outbreak on Moon Lethe. You’ll issue commands for teammates to attack or execute skills and can also slow time during firefights to select orders. However, your squadmates can perish permanently, but you can raise your survival odds by outfitting soldiers with various weapons and upgrades to ensure the best team composition.

Aliens: Dark Descent is being devleoped by Tindalos Interactive, makers of the Battlefleet Gothic: Armada series, and will be published by Focus Entertainment. It arrives on June 20 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

In preparation for Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree, FromSoftware has dropped a new update for the successful kill-you-nonstop Soulslike. Dubbed patch 1.09, this update makes several changes, from introducing ray tracing effects to nerfing certain skills related to Bleed and Intelligence builds.

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After leaking ahead of schedule earlier this week, Lego 2K Drive has been officially unveiled.

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NIS America released The Caligula Effect: Overdose PS5 release date for North America, Europe, and Australia. It previously announced a 2023 release window. While the dates aren't too far apart from each other, depending on where you live it will arrive in either May or June. People in North America will get access to it first on May 30, 2023. Then a European release will follow on June 2, 2023. In Australia and New Zealand, people will see it on June 9, 2023. To go along with that reveal is also a new The Caligula Effect: Overdose character trailer.

While this The Caligula Effect: Overdose character trailer is new, it should look familiar. That’s because, due to this being a port, all of the people are ones who appeared in the game when it showed up in 2018 in Japan and 2019 worldwide. It focuses on members of the Go-Home Club after taking a quick peek at the player’s avatar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOCK1mMTpRI&ab_channel=NISAmerica
This means we could eventually see NIS America also release an additional trailer focusing on the Ostinato Musicians characters found in that route.

The Caligula Effect: Overdose PS5 version release date is May 30, 2023 in North America, June 2, 2023 in Europe, and June 9, 2023 in Australia. It is immediately available on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PC.

Bandai Namco shared the details of the latest Elden Ring patch, and ray-tracing is a part of the update. Support for it is most notable new feature. However, it will only be for the latest consoles. At the same time, PvP balance adjustments were made and many bugs were fixed.

This new patch, which brings the game to version 1.09, allows PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC players to activate ray-tracing for Elden Ring. To do so on consoles, simply access the Game Options and activate ray-tracing. For the PC, on the other hand, the adjustments are made from the graphics section and is enabled if the device is compatible with this technology.

However, the company also warned that using ray-Tracing in Elden Ring may affect elements such as resolution and frame rate. To ensure the best performance, these are the technical specifications on PC:

Minimum

• Operating System: Windows 10
• Processor: Intel Core i5-10600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600XT
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphic Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, 8 GB or AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, 12 GB
• Recommended Graphics Setting: 1080p - Low quality – Low Ray Tracing

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Even more new Pokemon are joining the trading card game, as the Pokemon TCG Scarlet and Violet Paldea Evolved expansion arrives on June 9, 2023. As the name suggests, people can expect cards to feature characters from the region. The booster packs even show art of Chien-Pao and Ting-Lu. The Pokemon Center is already taking pre-orders. This follows the first Scarlet and Violet expansion, which releases on March 31, 2023 and adds the new starters and characters like Fidough.

This will mark the appearance of new ex and Tera ex cards. There will 15 of the former and three of the latter. Special illustration and ultra rare cards will appear too. There will also be “hyper rare, gold etched” ones of certain characters.

Here's a look at the new Pokemon TCG Scarlet and Violet Paldea Evolved expansion Elite Trainer Box.
[gallery columns="1" size="full" ids="956812" link="file"]

And here are the details for the four booster packs. The final evolutions of Sprigatito and Quaxly, Meowscarada and Quaquaval, show up on two. The legendaries Chien-Pao and Ting-Lu also appear on the other ones.
[gallery columns="4" size="full" ids="956816,956817,956818,956819" link="file"]

Ahead of the release of the Resident Evil 4 remake, Capcom shared the first episode of a Resident Evil Masterpiece Theater promotional anime. Now that the game is about to release, there are two more episodes to watch. These once again follow Leon S. Kennedy and Ashley Graham in the Mysterious Village.

First, here’s the second episode of the show. In the first one, we saw Leon looking for Ashley. That didn't go so well for him. The second sees him finding her. Now that he has, It focuses on what happens after Ashley “promises” to stay with Leon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q99mSnhXbtM&ab_channel=capcomasia

In the third Resident Evil Masterpiece Theater anime episode, Leon and Ashley turn to a visitor for help. They ask if he can build them a vehicle to get out of town. The gentleman then grabs a chainsaw. Those who played the original game or the chainsaw demo will know where this is going.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgDgKfauShw&ab_channel=capcomasia

All three of the episodes so far continue a running gag. It is unknown how many more installments there could be in this series of promotional videos.

The Resident Evil 4 remake will appear on the PS4, Ps5, Xbox Series X, and PC on March 24, 2023.

Epic Games held their State Of Unreal presentation last night, where they talked about the new tech coming to Unreal Engine 5.2, unveiled Fortnite’s Creative 2.0 mode, and debuted new looks at upcoming UE5-developed games such as Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. The first hack-and-slashing adventure already had pretty lifelike faces, but the spooky sequel is taking things a step further with some frighteningly realistic tech.

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Something terrible lurks beneath the waves in Dredge. Actually, scratch that. There are a lot of terrible things that call the oceans of The Marrows home in this melancholy fishing adventure, but what they are, I couldn't possibly tell you. In all my hours sailing these cursed waters, I've only ever seen brief flashes of them - their ungodly, slippery masses, long spiny fins, and a dozen different combinations of glowing eyes, teeth and tentacles. They're forever fading in and out of view, cloaked by the thick fog that blankets the sea every evening. Sometimes your ship lights will catch them for a split second before they slip away, or maybe you'll only hear them hurtling toward you, with a scream of a jet engine and a maw that's white hot, ready for gnashing your flimsy wooden carcass into sawdust.

It's unnerving, being out at sea after dark, but that's the time when the rarest and most vile catches raise their scaly heads. So the question becomes: are you willing to risk your own sanity for the sake of a quick buck? Or are you too afraid of what you'll find in Davy Jones' locker? In Dredge, the answer is always yes. Yes, you will be frightened of what's out there, whether it's real or born from your own fearful imaginings, but you'll sputter out into the darkness regardless, because the allure of this supernatural fishing sim is just too good to resist.

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The Lord of the Rings: Gollum will finally be released on 25th May.

That's across PC, PlayStation and Xbox consoles. A Nintendo Switch version will follow "later in the year".

The game has been in development for some time and will be co-published by Daedalic Entertainment and Nacon.

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Prepare for a darker take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, in a video game version of well-regarded comic book The Last Ronin.

As reported by Polygon, this game will be a third-person action role-playing game in the style of God of War, with the last surviving Turtles member as its hero.

The Last Ronin tells a markedly different Turtles tale from usual. It's set in a grim future where three of the four superhero turtles are dead, alongside Master Splinter. The remaining Turtle - whose identity is only revealed at the end of the book - acts as a lone avenger, taking down The Foot Clan across New York City.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the bleeding-edge technologies on show this week at GDC 2023 - from Epic Games' eye-popping Unreal Engine to Ubisoft's intriguing new Ghostwriter dialogue tool.

Last night's startling State of Unreal presentation by Epic revealed a swathe of new features coming to the company's suite of game development tools - such as photo-realistic procedural generation on a massive scale, and the ability to translate iPhone video footage into pretty slick performance capture. Earlier this week, Ubisoft also showed off Ghostwriter, an "AI"-driven tool to suggest script lines for use in background dialogue.

But are these advancements the future of video game development, or are they an encroachment by AI into the kinds of work previously the domain of human writers and animators? Or both? Joining me to discuss all that are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy.

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An upcoming tech preview for CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 will show us the power of path-tracing. Move over ray- tracing, there is a new kid on Cyberpunk's block.

Path-tracing, which is also known as full ray-tracing, has been used in computer-generated imagery for films and TV for a while now, with notable examples including some Pixar animations. It "accurately simulates light throughout an entire scene", making things even more realistic.

Now, this tech is coming to Cyberpunk 2077 on 11th April, in the game's Ray-tracing: Overdrive Mode.

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Between Amazon's recent Rings of Power series and no less than five games on the way from Embracer, there's a wealth of Lord of the Rings stuff for fans to enjoy. But then, is Tolkien ever really out of fashion?

That includes The Lord of the Rings: Gollum from German studio Daedalic. It's been in development for some time and is due out later this year - I recently visited the Hamburg studio to go hands-on with the game.

Despite inspiring countless video games, only a couple based directly on Tolkien's work have truly stood out. After playing the game, I'm not so sure Gollum will reach the heights of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its innovative Nemesis system, but it's certainly shaping up to be an authentic take on the original source material that lore enthusiasts will pore over.

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A video game based on the hit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles graphic novel The Last Ronin is in the works, Polygon reports.

The news comes from Polygon's interview with Doug Rosen, senior vice president for games and emerging media at Paramount Global. According to Rosen, The Last Ronin video game will be a single-player action role-playing title in the vein of the Norse-themed God of War series. Like the story it adapts, the game will feature a mature tone. The game’s developer has not been named, and the project is years away from release. 

The Last Ronin was published in 2020 as a five-issue mini-series by IDW. It takes place in a dark futuristic New York, where three of the four turtles have been killed. The surviving turtle, whose identity is revealed at the end of the first issue (we won’t spoil it), dons a black mask and seeks revenge by fighting crime using both his and the weapons of his fallen brothers. 

It’s a cool (and very grim) story if you haven’t read it, and we’re excited to see it translated into a game. Rosen also mentions in the same interview that Paramount sees opportunities to create different types of TMNT games that target young and adult audiences. 

Daedalic Entertainment revealed The Lord of the Rings: Gollum way back in 2019, announcing that it would be released in 2021. In 2021, however, it was delayed to 2022. In May of last year, Daedalic revealed Gollum would release in September but then, in July, announced it had been delayed once more. Now, today, Daedalic has revealed that Gollum will finally be released this May. 

Arkane Studios, best known for creating the acclaimed stealth series Dishonored, has made a name for itself by realizing game worlds with rich lore, environmental storytelling, and curious, interweaving levels. Its specialty is developing immersive sims, a niche it’s helped cultivate since 1999. On May 2, Arkane releases its next project, Redfall, an open-world first-person shooter.

I’ve been a fan of Arkane Studios’ rich single-player worlds for years. Naturally, I had questions about Redfall’s position in the developer’s portfolio. However, after interviewing Studio Head Harvey Smith and playing the game for 90 minutes, I have the answers I was looking for – and I’m excited to share it all in this week’s episode of The Game Informer Show.

Yesterday, I came across a viral post from a Dragon Ball Z fan account called Dragon Ball Perfect Shots showcasing Vegeta’s victory over Goku in the after-credit scene in the new film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. In Vegeta and Goku’s cinematic fight, which served as the B-plot of the film, the all-powerful saiyans…

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On the newest episode of Disney+’s The Mandalorian, a cool Jedi appeared to save the day in a short but awesome flashback. However, what really made this sequence so memorable and exciting was that finally, after over two decades, the man who played the widely reviled prequel CG character Jar Jar Binks finally got his…

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Linus Tech Tips is one of YouTube’s most popular content creators for tech hardware, with over 15 million followers on the platform. That changed very quickly after the account was hacked by crypto scammers who used it to run Bitcoin ads. The account has now been “terminated,” according to an error page on individual …

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If you’ve played Destiny 2 at all in the weeks since Lightfall released, you’ve probably died more than once to a Thresher. The nondescript Cabal gunships have been utterly destroying players since the new expansion hit, but some much needed relief is finally on the way.

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