April 2023

The Last of Us Part 1 on PC puts us in a somewhat difficult situation at Digital Foundry. How can you produce a technical review for a game that is essentially unfinished and - at the time of writing - has already received two hotfixes? We're told that a further patch is coming next week that should have more significant improvements, so the best we can provide is a snapshot of how the game looks right now, based on testing conducted last Friday. We'll return to the game if there's a noticeable improvement, but in the short term, we've got to move on to other projects.

Our snapshot - taken on Friday, March 31st - is embedded on the page below, taking the form of a limited playthrough of the game carried out on three systems. At the forefront sits the game as it plays on what is close to best-of-the-best PC hardware. That's my own test kit, featuring a Core i9 12900K, 6000MT/s DDR5 and Nvidia's RTX 4090. Alex Battaglia plays through simultaneously using a more mainstream-level PC system based on a Ryzen 5 3600, with 3200MT/s DDR4 and an Nvidia RTX 2070 Super. Meanwhile, sitting pretty on PlayStation 5 in performance mode is our #FriendAndColleague, John Linneman.

We've got an hour of real-time comparisons, CPU tests, GPU analysis and much more, in the embedded video below, but what I'm going to do in this piece is attempt to summarise how the port is right now and what needs to happen to get the code into shape, comparable with some of Sony's most impressive ports - including Marvel's Spider-Man and Days Gone.

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As part of the Evo Japan 2023 announcements, Bandai Namco shared Tekken 8 trailers for Asuka Kazama and Leroy Smith. Both are returning characters who will return to fight in the latest entry. They are each more recent additions to the cast, compared to some other revealed fighters. Asuka’s been around since Tekken 5, while Leroy joined in Tekken 7. A closed alpha test for the game appeared at the event as well.

First, here's the Asuka Kazama Tekken 8 trailer. Bandai Namco's Katsuhiro Harada discussed her costumes on Twitter and mentioned how she has a "renewed default costume" and past outfits will appear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p07h8qIsUd4&ab_channel=BandaiNamcoEntertainmentAmerica

Next, here's the Leroy Smith Tekken 8 trailer. Sugar also appears in a new outfit alongside him. His song, which appeared in the Tekken 7 reveal trailer, doesn't show up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvL5Rh6M4lM&ab_channel=BandaiNamcoEntertainmentAmerica

In case you missed some of the past Tekken 8 character trailers, here's a list of ones that appeared before Asuka Kazama's and Leroy Smith's.

Trackmania's new season is now available to play for free.

The spring 2023 campaign brings 25 new tracks to race and 100 additional medals to earn for free.

"Creativity and fun are the motto of this Spring 2023 campaign with welcoming tracks designed for the future console players," teases Ubisoft.

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It’s the end of an era. The 3DS eShop is closed, so people can’t buy anymore digital games. I mean, there’s a temporary reprieve for folks who still had download codes to redeem them until April 3, 2023. But it’s largely done. So in that mad rush to take advantage of the storefront while it was still around… what did you get? Let’s talk about our final purchases.

I'm pretty sure the last game that I bought on the 3DS was Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice. It had been after a conversation with my friend about how terrible Dual Destinies was compared to the first four games of the series, and then she insisted that Spirit of Justice is actually good. So I bought it and then gave up somewhere in the second case. The story was the level of ridiculous that I couldn't subscribe to in Dual Destinies and honestly, the new gimmick with the past memories felt like they made the cases a lot more complicated than they needed to be. Until the magic that is The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice killed my interest in the Ace Attorney series in the same way that Nintendo killed the 3DS and Wii U eShops. — Stephanie

Chilla’s Art announced the title of its new horror game: Night Security. There is no news on when it will come out. In Night Security, you will take on the role of a nighttime security guard who’s working alone. But when mysterious things start to happen, you have to go and investigate what’s going on. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

Night Security will be available in both English and Japanese. There’s not much detail on the plot or gameplay for it yet. Unlike Chilla’s Art games like Karaoke, which feature mini-games in it, Night Security one seems to go back to the more classic Chilla’s Art game roots of being a walking simulator with puzzle-solving and horror elements.

Though a nighttime security guard experiencing paranormal activities while working the graveyard shift alone is certainly not a new concept in horror, Five Nights at Freddy’s popularized it among modern audiences. But whereas FNAF focuses on jump scares, Chilla’s Art games leans more on psychological J-Horror. So Night Security will use the atmosphere to scare the players.

Because Final Fantasy XIV has somehow evolved into one of the biggest video games on the planet, Square Enix has decided to grab some of its older content out of the back of the fridge, reheat it in the microwave for a bit and serve it up to a whole new audience of players who probably weren’t around when it was first…

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Ryuichi Sakamoto, the famed Japanese musician and composer, has died at the age of 71.

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A new and cheaper option to expand the capacity of your Xbox Series X/S now looks to be on the horizon.

That's according to a swiftly-deleted retailer listing for a fresh 1TB expansion card in Western Digital's WD_Black range, which popped up on US site Best Buy before being removed.

The appearance of this expansion card is notable as it will be the first alternative option to the initial Seagate-made expansion cards launched alongside the Xbox Series X/S themselves.

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Pinch punch...third of the month! It was April Fool's Day over the weekend which meant a deluge of fake news across the internet.

There were certainly some amusing ones this year, though, from joke videos to entire, playable games.

Let's take a look at the best.

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Ark 2, the upcoming Vin Diesel-fronted dinosaur survival game, has been delayed until the "end of 2024". In its stead, we have a remaster of the first game heading our way, with Ark: Survival Evolved's current online servers set to shut down later this year.

In an update over the weekend, developer Studio Wildcard stated it needs more time to work on Ark 2, as the team is still getting to grips with Unreal Engine 5.

"Unreal Engine 5 is incredibly new technology to us (and all developers), and we aim to use this cutting-edge tech to its fullest potential while creating a game with never-before-achieved scope at Studio Wildcard," it wrote.

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Mortal Sin is a recently early access first-person roguelike that blends a boomer shooter's ferocious speed with an oppressive dark fantasy world. It's bleeding with style, but it starts off quite simply: a black screen and text that reads "You have retained your sense of self. And that is my gift to you. But who are you really? If not a part of me." That question echoed in my mind from then on.

A similarly cryptic, almost threatening message greets you at the start of every new run, which is appropriate, considering how unpredictably bloodthirsty this world's cave, dungeon, and forest levels are. In underground passageways, looking up will reveal an unnatural starry skyline. In the silence, you'll hear far-off whispers. Walking a little closer will reveal that a mountain of flesh was the source of those hushed noises, flailing out of the wall with an outstretched hand. Huge, vacant eyeballs similarly bulge out of the walls, rivaling Junji Ito's impressive collection of dilated pupils.

Every static-dotted sight is obviously beautiful, but also haunting. Every sign of life is skewered and distorted. Those eyes I mentioned a moment ago, for instance, look tangentially human. Step closer though, real close, and their pupils will reveal an empty cosmic blackness. Corpses are also sewn into the walls, overlapping like a Satanic recreation of Michelangelo's Catholic paintings.

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Developer Landfall - the studio behind wobbly strategy game Totally Accurate Battle Simulator - have released its next game, although game (singular) might be inaccurate. Landfall Archives is a digital museum of sorts, compiling 23 playable prototypes and demos from unreleased projects that never crossed the finish line. It’s out now, and best of all, it’s free.

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April is the time for foolish jokes, seasonal showers, and World Rat Day. But another month also means another batch of Game Pass leavers. This time we wave goodbye to summertime fishing escapades and cold treks through frozen wildlands - truly mirroring April’s zig-zagging weather.

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UPDATE 4/4/23: UK consumer rights group Which? has called on Nintendo to go further in its attempts to compensate customers with faulty Switch Joy-Con. Yesterday, Nintendo quietly confirmed it would now offer free Joy-Con repairs regardless of warranty. But for Which?, that offer does not go far enough.

In a fresh statement, Which? stated Nintendo needed to address the underlying mechanical fault which it said was to blame for the frequent cases of Joy-Con 'drift' which have been "plaguing gamers for years". It also called on Nintendo to offer compensation to those who had been affected ever since the Switch launched back in 2017.

Here's that statement in full:

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The Super Mario Bros. Movie had its premiere over the weekend, and so far the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

In the words of KindaFunnyVids Tim Ghetty, the film was "awesome", with the creator stating the "music is the star of the show".

"Nintendo fans are gonna be obsessed. I'm not sure ANY movie in history has ever had THIS MANY easter eggs. AND GOOD ONES," he wrote (his use of capitals, not mine).

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The modding community for Resident Evil 4 Remake remains hard at work, giving us more costume and character swaps to enhance the experience.

We've already seen Shrek and shirtless Leon (I am looking respectfully), but since our last scour of Nexus Mods some quintessential and hilarious mods have been uploaded.

Here's some more of the best mods which have caught our attention.

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From April 7-10, 2023, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players will be able to participate in a new Tera Raid featuring Ditto. The Dittos that you can get during this event will have a large variety of Tera Types. However, what makes this Ditto stand apart from the rest is in its EVs. Players will be able to get Dittos with five max Individual Values from these raids. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

This Tera Raid event will be useful for players who wish to breed strong Pokemon. If you use a Destiny Knot, you can pass down whatever perfect IVs your Ditto has. These Pokemon only know Transform. This means that your Raids will be as easy or as hard as whatever Pokemon your host brings.

In Pokemon, IVs determine the stats of your Pokemon. A Pokemon’s IV can have an effects on its gender and whether or not it’s a Shiny. For some Pokemon, it can also have to do with more species-specific differences, such as what letter your Unown is or what pattern your Smeargle is. They do not matter so much in game play if all you wish to do is beat the story. But competitive Pokemon players often pick and choose Pokemon to breed using IVs as one of their deciding factors.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available on the Nintendo Switch, and the perfect IVs Ditto Tera Raid will run from April 7-10, 2023. It will run on the same days as the 7-star Samurott Tera Raid.

Lasengle will introduce a new Evocation Leaf item in Fate/Grand Order (FGO) that will let players get event-exclusive Servants they might have missed out on. You will be able to collect Evocation Leaves in limited Evocation Celebration events. The first of these Evocation Celebration events is happening right now on the Japanese server, and it will run from April 2-16, 2023.

The first three Servants that will appear in Da Vinci’s Workshop are Sakata Kintoki (Rider), Shuten-Douji (Caster), and Quetzalcoatl Santa (Ruler). More Servants will appear in Da Vinci’s Workshop later. As well, there is no time limit on when you can get them. Even after this Evocation Celebration ends, they, as well as their Ascension Materials and Servant Coins, will be in the store. You can get Evocation Leaves as log-in bonuses and as awards for completing Master Missions.

Some limited-time events in FGO hand out free SR Servants that you can keep so long as you finish the story. While events re-run on occasion to allow players who missed the original run to try again, many events are too old to re-run. The Rider form of Sakata Kintoki, for example, came out during the Onigashima Event. Onigashima debuted in 2016, making it much too old at this point to re-run.

Welcome to Exp. Share, Kotaku’s weekly Pokémon column in which we dive deep to explore notable characters, urban legends, communities, and just plain weird quirks from throughout the Pokémon franchise. This week, we’re going to attempt to rank all the starters from Red and Blue to Scarlet and Violet.

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Square Enix shared the 6.38 Final Fantasy XIV patch notes. This update isn’t as extensive as the earlier Gods Revel, Lands Tremble updates. It primarily focuses on PvP and Crystalline Conflict updates. However, there are also some raid updates and general fixes as well.

The PvP Final Fantasy XIV patch notes for 6.38 apply to 11 jobs. The Astrologian, Black Mage, Dancer, Dragoon, Monk, Ninja, Paladin, Reaper, Red Mage, Scholar, and Warrior actions are all being adjusted. The biggest changes came to the Ninja and Red Mage.

Here are those changes from the official patch notes:

After players complete the Fell Xenologue DLC in Fire Emblem Engage, Nintendo noted they will be able to use their new characters in the main story. As a reminder, the Fell Xenologue chapters will not take place in the Elyos we are familiar with. Not only will you be able to recruit them into your army, they will also appear in Somniel and act like other units.

Somniel is the main hub of Fire Emblem Engage. You will be able to gift your characters items or speak with them. If you wish, you can also gift them new accessories or outfits that they will wear. This means that characters such as Lady Nel and Nil, who will be guest characters in the Fire Emblem Engage Fell Xenologue, will be at the mercy of your fashion sense. The official Twitter account has not yet clarified whether or not you will need to complete a particular chapter in the main story yet in order to access the DLC units.

The Fell Xenologue DLC will be part of Wave 4 of the Fire Emblem Engage Expansion Pass. You will be able to play as the Four Hounds (or the Four Winds). Your units will have their own starting levels and classes separate from however you’ve built them in-game. You will be able to level them up though as normal as you progress through the maps.

Fire Emblem Engage is available on the Nintendo Switch. The Fell Xenologue DLC will come out on April 5, 2023.

A new trailer for Sand Land came out, revealing for the first time the voice actor for some of our protagonists. The trailer is sixty minutes long and you can watch it from the official Sand Land YouTube channel. It introduces Beelzebub, the strongest and most evil prince of the underworld, who’s so bad that he would stay up late and go to sleep without brushing his teeth. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

The cast for Sand Land will include:

• Beezelbub: Mutsumi Tamura (Okino in 13 Sentinels: Aigis Rim; Hiro Amanokawa in Digimon Ghost Game)
• General Are: Satoshi Tsuruoka (Arash, Spartacus, Caligula, and Gilles de Rais in Fate/Grand Order; M. Bison in Street Fighter IV)
• General Zeu: Nobuo Tobita (Kamille Bidan in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam; Kazami in Detective Conan)
• Rao: Kazuhiro Yamaji (Todo in Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga; Makoto Date in Yakuza series)
• Thief: Cho (Jaken in Inuyasha series; Ramon Salazar in Resident Evil 4 Remake)

You can watch the voiced trailer for Sand Land here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvf84dACGZ0&

A fist fight broke out during an advance showing of Ensemble Stars Tsuioku Selection Element. The reason behind the fight is unknown, though some spectators suggested it had to do with doutan kyohi. Not only did the fighters use their fists, but they also pulled each others’ hair and threw items like other fans’ binoculars. [Thanks, Matomebu!]

There are no pictures or videos of the incident. However, many people who went to the Ensemble Stars Tsuioku Selection Element showing reported what happened via Twitter. Some Twitter users guessed that the fight started after one of them told the other not to cross their legs. Others stated that it was because they were doutan kyohi over Rei Sakuma. Doutan kyohi is a Japanese fandom term in which fans of a character dislike others who also love that same character.

This act of public misdemeanor caught the attention of the voice actors on stage. Several Twitter users noted that Toshiki Masuda (Rei Sakuma) started staring in the direction of the fight. Hikaru Midorikawa (Eichi Tenshouin) also acted unnaturally, such as suddenly raising his voice.

The brilliant Tetris Effect Connected, perhaps the best Tetris version of all-time, has temporarily unlocked its two secret levels for general play in celebration of the new Tetris movie.

If you're late to the party, yes, there's a movie about Tetris - though it's less about the blocks themselves and more the game developer who dreamt them up.

It's available on Apple TV+ now, if you have that. If not, just go play some more Tetris Effect Connected - now with two additional levels!

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UPDATE 6/4/23: The curious matter of Quantum Break's expired licensing issues continues today, with the game's (temporary) removal from storefronts.

You can no longer purchase Quantum Break on either the Microsoft Store or Steam (thanks, RPS) while these unexplained issues are resolved. The news comes after Microsoft previously admitted Quantum Break would also go missing from the Xbox Game Pass catalogue.

There's still no detail on what the issue here is, or how long Quantum Break will remain unavailable.

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See Clive and Ifrit Fight in Final Fantasy XVI Footage

Now that Final Fantasy XVI’s release is drawing nearer, Square Enix is regularly sharing details and gameplay footage on the official Twitter account. Many of these new clips focus on major characters. For example, the last two Final Fantasy XVI videos showed fights involving Clive and Ifrit.

The first bit of footage appeared on April Fools’ Day. That involved Clive fighting the Final Fantasy XVI version of a Salamander. The clip began with him using the Megaflare attack against it. This chained into a Zantetsuken, which finished off the opponent.

敵を圧倒する、強烈な召喚獣アビリティ。

『ファイナルファンタジーXVI』
予約受付中https://t.co/6BciWXOhuV #FF16 pic.twitter.com/JIXsXPorRM

— FINAL FANTASY XVI (@FF16_JP) April 1, 2023

Next, here’s another peek at Ifrit fighting an Eikon in Final Fantasy XVI. This time, it’s an attack on Titan. The footage begins with Ifrit using a Precision Dodge to avoid Titan’s Geocrush attack, then performing a Precision Counter. Ifrit then uses Fireball Burst with a Burst Finish, then dodges another attack and counters again. The footage ends with a Combination Stomp and Pyrosault.

Shuichi Ikeda was the narrator for the recap episode of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury. Ikeda is the voice actor for Char Aznable in all of his appearances in Gundam and beyond. He also provided the voice of Gilbert Durandal in the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny.

You can actually watch the Shuichi Ikeda recap, as well as another Season 1 special, via the official Japanese Gundam YouTube channel. However, it is restricted to those within Japan. In order to watch it, you must physically be in the country or have a VPN. Ikeda’s recap goes over everything from the first episode to the last one of Season 1, so it obviously contains spoilers for what’s out so far in Gundam: The Witch From Mercury.

You can watch the recap here:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCnuf9GB9OI[/embed]

The other special on YouTube is the “Mobile Suit Gundam Witch From Mercury Special Alongside Season 1.” Mafia Kajita is the emcee. His guests are Yohei Azakami (Guel) and Shiori Izawa (Sophie). The special is a talk show in which the three of them discuss points from the show, as well as answer questions that fans sent in.

Back in May 2022, Ateam announced it would hold a second Hololive collab event in Valkyrie Connect. Now a new stream involved additional details about it. While we don't know all four of the performers who will appear, one did come up. The developers showed how Houshou Marine will look as a Valkyrie Connect character. In total, there will be two new characters based on VTubers from the Japanese branch and two based on Hololive English members.

First, here's the Houshou Marine Valkyrie Connect official art. Rather than a traditional pirate outfit, she has a new design and wields a lance.

／#hololive × #ValkyrieConnect
2nd Collab Info!
＼

Houshou Marine's illustration has been revealed!

Be sure to look respectfully 👀#ぺこマリとホロコネ pic.twitter.com/tKS7wsR3rl

Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Respawn Entertainment
Release: April 28, 2023
Rating: Teen

When Respawn Entertainment announced it was making a third-person action game in the Star Wars universe, many fans didn’t know how to react; the studio was critically acclaimed, but at the time, Respawn was purely known for shooters like Titanfall and Apex Legends. However, 2019’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order surpassed the expectations of many, delivering a terrific adventure full of exciting action and memorable moments. Now, with all the learnings of Fallen Order, Respawn is ready to top itself in hopes of creating another unforgettable Star Wars adventure.

Five years have passed in the Star Wars timeline since our last journey with Cal Kestis. In that time, the group he was traveling with in Fallen Order has split up, and Cal’s been working to further the cause of The Resistance.

The stars of The Super Mario Bros. Movie were out Saturday night for the film’s premiere in Los Angeles, with some of them sporting outfits inspired by their video game characters. Sadly, not all of the A-list celebrities’ fits were created equal, so we’ll be ranking each actor by how well their clothes personified…

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YouTuber Olajide “KSI” Olatunji and the Sidemen group have apologized after mining a racial slur for comedy during their parody of the Countdown game show. “There’s no excuse, no matter the circumstances, I shouldn’t have said it and I’m sorry,” the rapper and amateur boxer tweeted after the group published the…

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Seth Rogen joined Chris Pratt in the Super Mario Bros. shame corner last week during an interview. He revealed that he wouldn’t be “doing any voices” for his upcoming role as Donkey Kong, the gorilla antagonist who has been throwing barrels at Mario and kidnapping his girlfriend since 1981.

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Ark: Survival Evolved was humming along mostly fine until, just like that, the open-world survival crafting game was thrown into chaos with delays, server shutdowns, and an incredibly confusing “next-gen” upgrade bundle. Now fans will basically have to purchase the game all over again if they want to stay current with…

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At first, things weren’t going so well with EA and Star Wars: A decade of exclusivity seemed destined to be known as the Horsemen of the Loot Boxalypse. But in 2019, Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order saved the day just before the fade to credits. The deal between the two is pretty much over, but Respawn’s moment…

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Solitaire has been a constant fixture for professional procrastinators since time immemorial. Many households, including mine, used the casual card game to kill time - dragging cards, dropping them, and planning sets ahead of time, all in an effort to catch the final fireworks. I was never much good at Solitaire, but as an adult I do understand Word Solitaire, a remixed version of the classic from indie dev Petri Purho.

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There's a lot to be said for being consistent these days. After playing four hours of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor last week, I can tell you it is exactly what you probably already thought it would be: a competent, big-budget action-adventure sequel, well made by talented people, that isn't breaking the mould but expands upon the first game in the areas you liked best. If, like myself, you enjoyed Jedi: Fallen Order, this will probably be a solid follow-up for you. But if you were less well disposed towards that first game, you'd probably want to swap "consistent" for the word "predictable".

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Every weekend, indie devs show off current work on Twitter's #screenshotsaturday tag. And every Monday, I bring you a selection of these snaps and clips. This week, we have immersive sims spraying perfume and hurling fluorscent tube bulbs, motorbike murders, and several journeys with animal friends. Plus, I've been away a few weeks for various reasons, so this Monday I have a little catch-up on some bits and pieces I made notes of last month. Look!

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The Saudi Arabian government is reportedly planning to invest $38bn into the country's gaming industry.

Most recently, the Saudi government increased its stake in Nintendo to 8.26 percent through the Public Investment Fund, the state's sovereign wealth fund, and it also holds millions of shares in EA and Take-Two.

Savvy Gaming Group, a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund, hopes to work with the companies it has invested in to "work together on publishing, run their Esports business, or develop new IP together", Savvy's CEO Brian Ward told Bloomberg.

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Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order didn't launch in the best of states - or at least not if you were playing on the base versions of the PS4 and Xbox One. There were a few jitters here and there, a few crashes, and for me a couple of especially memorable, minutes-long hangs on those weird, Sonic-style slip-n-slides where I could genuinely get up and make a cup of tea and come back to the game just unfreezing itself again. But as much as the tea-break freeze was a novel feature, those things really aren't what stuck in the memory for me.

What stuck for me was the slides themselves, strange level design relics caught slightly out of time. And Oggdo Bogdo, the exceptionally-named, wild difficulty spike of a bog frog mini boss. And the byzantine, multi-layered holomaps. And all the weirdly edgy finishing moves Cal Kestis, a baby faced, good-to-the-core Jedi, would pull off when taking those mini bosses down. There is a word for this stuff, this scuzzy, late noughties not-retro vibe, but I can't find it. The lazy part of me thinks it's just "PlayStation 3", which makes sense when you realise much of the Jedi team at developer Respawn have PS3 action game pedigree with the original God of War series, including game director Stig Asmussen and design director Jason de Heras.