October 2023

Somehow, it's been 20 years since the first WarioWare game, which means it's been 20 years since we all started catching toast, jumping over shark cars, and catching funny little bugs beneath glasses.

The first WarioWare is such a strange, singular game it feels like it hasn't aged at all. But for the 10th game in the series, Move it!, Nintendo is taking things back to Smooth Moves, the Wii instalment from 2007. I had a chance to play a few of the microgames at an event recently.

Move It! is one of those Wario games that ditches the immediacy of the single button input in favour of motion controls. It all comes down to stances, which are Nintendo's way of framing different ways of holding the Joy-cons. Choo-Choo stance sees you holding each one out and miming turning the wheels of a train, while elsewhere there's a sword stance, a bent-knee stance and a bunch of others.

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Epic has announced it's introducing individual age ratings for all playable first- and third-party content in Fortnite as part of what it calls its evolution into a "multi-game ecosystem".

Third-party developed content in Fortnite has become an increasing focus for Epic in recent times, and the company introduced its Unreal Editor for Fortnite tools - also known as Creative 2.0 - back in March. These enable creators to bring fully fledged Unreal Editor experiences into Fortnite, complete with custom assets, animations, audio, and advanced VFX effects, in a bid to turn the game into a creator-led platform closer to the likes of Roblox.

And now, as its "multi-game ecosystem" ambitions grow, Epic has announced it'll be making age ratings mandatory for all first- and third-party playable experiences in Fortnite as of 14th November this year.

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Sony has announced a PlayStation 5 bundle which includes Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

This bundle is set to release alongside the game on 20th October. As with earlier bundles for the likes of God of War: Ragnarök and Horizon Forbidden West, it will come with the standard PS5 console and a voucher to download a copy of the game.

While Sony hasn't officially released a price for this upcoming deal, according to Kotaku the bundle will cost $560 (so around £465), offering a small saving on buying the console and game separately. This is also cheaper than the previously announced Marvel's Spider-Man 2 limited edition bundle, which includes themed-hardware. That deal will set you back £569.99.

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The Last of Us studio Naughty Dog is the latest company to announce layoffs internally, with at least 25 developers to be affected.

Contractors for a range of departments, including art, production and QA, are being impacted, according to a report from Kotaku, with sources claiming at least 25 developers will be affected.

Naughty Dog is cutting contracts short for outsourced developers, and sources say no severance pay is being given to those laid off. Both remaining employees and laid off developers are allegedly "being pressured to keep the news quiet".

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NetherRealm has released its latest patch for Mortal Kombat 1.

This patch addresses a range of issues across PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, including general fixes and character specific adjustments. However, the Nintendo Switch version of the game remains left out in the cold, at least for now, despite Mortal Kombat boss Ed Boon previously promising fixes.

Sharing the patch notes online, Boon said the team will "kontinue to listen" and keep "lines of communication open" as it continues to improve its game (I just wish Boon would be a little more konsistent with his use of Ks).

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Rockstar is yet to share details about Grand Theft Auto 6, but fans are convinced an announcement of some sort is imminent. Why? Because of the moon.

The developer recently released a new image for GTA Online's Moon Festival, which you can see above. This image was shared as part of a blog post about GTA Online which - on the surface at least - was all fairly standard stuff.

But it's the Moon Festival image which is getting attention - as some fans believe Rockstar is actually teasing the series' next entry in this seemingly straightforward picture.

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Warner Bros. Games announced on social media that the Nintendo Switch version of Batman Arkham Trilogy will be delayed to December 1, 2023. The social media post announcing the delay stated that the game needed more time in development in order to offer the "best possible experience" to players.

Batman Arkham Trilogy was first announced during the June 2023 Nintendo Direct. It had been scheduled for release during Fall 2023. It was later announced to be releasing on October 13, 2023. The trilogy collection will contain the definitive versions of the games which includes the DLC story expansions released for each game.

The trilogy collection allows players to immerse themselves in gritty city of Gotham and play as the vigilante Batman to face off against iconic villains like the Joker, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Penguin, and beyond.

The collection is set to contain Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, and Batman: Arkham Knight. Batman: Arkham Asylum originally released on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC. Batman: Arkham City released on the same consoles as Arkham Asylum as well as the Wii U. Batman: Arkham Knight released only on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and PC.

Batman Arkham Trilogy will release on the Nintendo Switch on December 1, 2023.

MOVeLOT is in the midst of creating a mecha lover’s dream: a boardable and pilotable Ingram from the Patlabor series. The company will start posting about development status from January 2024. A public reveal of the robot will take place some time in Summer 2024 if everything goes according to plan. [Thanks, KaroshiMyriad!]

Patlabor is a Japanese science fiction franchise. It includes a manga, a TV series, two OVA series, and two light novel series. It is episodic in nature, taking place in the “near future” of the late 1990s and early 2000s. People use giant robots called "Labors" in fields such as construction. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police also employ its own Patrol Labors to deal with crime. The Ingram model was the Patlabor most commonly seen in the series.

Nintendo revealed that when they go through the Super Mario RPG remake, there will be different soundtrack options. People will be able to hear the original soundtrack from the Super NES version, or go with a new orchestral arrangement. A new video showed the differences, with a few specific songs cited.

Here’s the latest Super Mario RPG soundtrack trailer. It begins first by comparing the original version of “Bandit’s Way” to the updated option. The second song featured is “Forest Maze.” Again, it begins with the original song before showing the new arrangement. The announcement confirmed that people can switch between the two or listen to the tracks outside of the actual game by going to the jukebox-like Sound Player.

After 14 years, the magical girl manga Shugo Chara will finally make its return with a new sequel series called Shugo Chara Encore. This was announced in the latest November 2023 issue of Nakayoshi magazine, a Japanese publication aimed at young girls. Serialization for the new Shugo Chara series will begin in Summer 2024. [Thanks, Oricon News!]

The announcement for the new series was also shared on the Nakayoshi magazine official social media account. Following the news, Shugo Chara became the number one trending topic on X (formerly known as Twitter).

The new artwork shown for the announcement includes text that reads “a new story of Amu-chan and her friends begins!” Peach-Pit, the original artists and writers, will be working on the new sequel and illustrated the new artwork.

The first chapter of Shugo Chara was originally released in the February 2006 issue of Nakayoshi magazine. The story centers around Amu Hinamori, a “cool and spicy” girl with great potential to hatch multiple guardian characters. With the power of these guardians, Amu protects the eggs in childrens’ hearts by transforming and preventing them from becoming x-eggs.

October’s first batch of Game Pass titles aren’t necessarily spooky, but they’re no less exciting. The long-awaited Forza Motorsport leads the pack as it crosses the finish line to release next week. Like A Dragon: Ishin, the historical drama and remake of the formerly Japan-exclusive Like A Dragon spin-off, is also on the way. 

Check out the list of what’s joining and what’s exiting the library as well as links to our reviews of applicable titles.

What’s Coming To Xbox Game Pass

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (Xbox Series X/S, Coud) – October 4

Forza Motorsport (Xbox Series X/S, PC, Cloud) – October 10

From Space (Console, PC,Cloud) – October 12

Like A Dragon: Ishin (Console, PC, Cloud) - October 17 | Our Review

What’s Leaving Xbox Game Pass on October 15

Eville (Console, PC, Cloud)

Overwhelm (PC)

Shenzhen I/O (PC)

The Legend of Tianding (Console, PC, Cloud)

Trek to Yomi (Console, PC, Cloud) | Our Review

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (Console, PC, Cloud)

Even with all of Cyberpunk 2077’s fancy updates and technical fixes, there are still some bugs slipping through the cracks in the mostly-excellent Phantom Liberty expansion. One such crack which seems to be giving players a bit of trouble appears in the “New Person, Same Old Mistakes” mission, due to a…

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Xbox has announced its next special edition wireless controller called Gold Shadow.

The controller is inspired by the official Shadow range of controllers released during the lifetime of the Xbox One. It has a gold-to-black metallic finish on the front, creating an illusion of a shadow cast at the bottom of the grips, while the rest of the controller is carbon black.

The gold metallic finish extends to the D-pad. There are rubberised diamond-pattern side grips, unlike your bog standard Xbox controller.

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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so Lies of P may be most glowing Dark Souls tribute yet. Built on Unreal Engine 4, From Software fans will feel right at home with Lies of P's mechanics, its focus on learning attack patterns and timing parries. While developers Neowiz Games and Round8 Studio are hardly playing coy about their inspirations, they've delivered a well-executed recreation of a core blueprint that we know works - while arguably surpassing recent From releases in terms of technical polish.

Lies of P's unique setting deserves a few words before we get to how the game performs in its various modes on PS5 and Series X/S, as it represents the biggest twist on the Souls formula. The ruined gothic world of Krat is loosely inspired by the 19th-century, pre-Disney story of Pinocchio; it's a game universe where mechanised puppets have risen up against their human rulers. You'll face deranged creations, from mannequin policemen wielding stop signs to robotic dogs and rogue circus masters. Perhaps the biggest draw of Lies of P is letting that familiar Soulslike blueprint play out while exploring a brand new world.

With that said, what's the best graphics mode to employ on your visit to this curious land of puppetry and pageantry? No matter which console you're playing on, PS5, Series X or S, you have three modes to choose from - each with a slightly different blend of fidelity and performance. There's a 30fps quality mode, a smoother 40fps quality mode for those using 120Hz displays, and a 60fps performance mode. It's rare to see Series S in particular get a full spread of three modes - often, Microsoft's three-litre console has only one or two options.

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Microsoft has announced the next wave of titles coming to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

As previously confirmed, from today (3rd October) you can get your hands on Gotham Knights (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X S) and The Lamplighter's League (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X S).

Gotham Knights got a mixed response from our Chris Donlan upon its release last year. He called it a "slight muddle of a game", but noted it still "has its pleasures" in Eurogamer's review.

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Imagineer will hold a new Medabots S collaboration with the Zoids franchise on October 5, 2023. The new crossover event will primarily convert five Zoids into playable Medabots. They will be the Blade Liger, Shield Liger, Command Wolf, Geno Saurer, and Death Saurer. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

Players will be able to obtain the Shield Liger by playing an event battle that runs until November 26, 2023. The remaining units will be available from rotating gacha banners. The crossover will also feature custom skins colored after the Lightning Saix, Blade Liger Mirage, Bloody Death Saurer, and Geno Breaker.

Imagineer has also uploaded a new trailer showcasing the Zoids collaboration on the Medabots S YouTube channel.

Konami revealed that it will add new content based on Hololive's Shirakami Fubuki in Sound Voltex Exceed Gear. While the new collaboration will primarily add new playable songs, it will also include more exclusive time-limited content modeled after the VTuber.

A total of five songs will newly appear in both the arcade and PC versions of Sound Voltex Exceed Gear on October 5, 2023. In addition to Fubuki's solo songs "Say! Fanfare!" and "KingWorld," Konami will include the "Happiness World" duet with Houshou Marine and "Onikemo Dance" trio with Nakiri Ayame and Ookami Mio. Fubuki will also provide a new cover of the BEMANI song "Oboro" to complete the lineup.

On the official Final Fantasy VII Remake social media account on October 3, 2023, Square Enix showed off the new Synergy Abilities mechanic that will make its debut in the upcoming game FFVII Rebirth. Essentially, it explained the feature in a little more detail. A video was also included that previewed what Aerith and Tifa, Red XIII and Yuffie, and Barret and Cloud’s synchronized abilities will look like in the game while working together as a team.

You can view the video in the post below:

[embed]https://twitter.com/FFVIIR_CLOUD/status/1709147027492467082[/embed]

According to the post and what we’ve learned so far, FFVII Rebirth players can pair two party members together for Synergy Abilities. When doing so, players can synchronize their skills to unleash a powerful paired skill. When using Synergy Abilities, each character drains the ATB gauge. Additionally, the number of potential techniques that can be used increases as the party level also increases. We already received an introduction to some of Red XIII’s abilities with Barret, Aerith, and Cloud in a gameplay preview for the now fully playable character.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will be released on PS5 on February 29, 2024. Its exclusivity arrangement ends on May 29, 2024. FFVII Remake is available for the PS4, PS5, and PC. You can also find FFVII Ever Crisis on mobile devices.

The latest Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 trailer is here, and it features Peter Parker and Miles Morales pondering their responsibilities in addition to a fight against Venom. More quiet moments from the game are interspersed with scenes of the two people who take on the role of Spider-Man face the opponent. We can likely expect to see it fairly often, as this will be the new TV spot for the upcoming game.

The footage begins with both Parker and Morales swinging in to face Venom. After they do, we see a shot of Parker in a graveyard. He wonders if he’s “strong enough to save” the city. After that, we see Morales in his bedroom wondering if he can “protect the people [he] loves.” It cuts back to the fight against Venom, before again showing the more introspective side of the heroes. Both of them prepare to head out and fight as they think of the loved ones they lost. The two then fight Venom in earnest while each echoes the sentiment, “I am Spider-Man.” 

Here's the Marvel's Spider-Man 2 "Be Greater Together" trailer:

Where to Buy Spider-Man 2 Adidas Sneakers

Mark your calendars for October 20 if you want to gear up like your friendly neighborhood Spidey; with select retailers (TBC), Adidas online, the Adidas app, and some physical stores all expected to carry the Spider-Man 2 collection. For more immediate updates when the collection goes live, follow @IGNDeals now on Twitter/X or join our dedicated Deals Discord server.

Ghostrunner 2 is just a couple of weeks away now, hitting PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 26. Developer One More Level released the first Ghostrunner in 2020, and announced its sequel a year later. We saw some gameplay during a PlayStation Showcase earlier this year. But as fans of the first game know, the series' music is one of its best aspects and we haven't learned much about Ghostrunner 2's soundtrack yet – until now. 

Game Informer can exclusively reveal Ghostrunner 2's soundtrack list, and is excited to share that you can listen to one of its songs – "Road Zero" – right now. At the bottom of this article, beneath the tracklist, is a music player. Click play and enjoy artist Dan Terminus' "Road Zero" in full. 

Assassin's Creed Mirage hits PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Amazon Luna, and PC this week (and it's coming to iOS for certain devices next year, too). We've been covering it for a few weeks now as part of Game Informer's exclusive cover story coverage during September – check out our Mirage hub here for exclusive features, interviews, previews, and more – but everyone can play the game this week. 

Ahead of its release, we spoke to Basim voice actor Lee Majdoub about his entry into video game acting, what he brings to the character, and more. We also spoke to Mirage narrative director Sarah Beaulieu during the same interview to gain more insight into what fans of the series' lore can expect and more. We also spoke to Roshan voice actor Shohreh Aghdashloo and you can check that out here.

Enjoy our interview with Lee Majdoub and Sarah Beaulieu below!

In June, Nintendo revealed Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the first all-new 2D Mario platformer on consoles since the launch of the Wii U. In the 11 years since the last 2D game launched, we've received multiple re-releases, two Super Mario Maker titles, two mainline 3D titles, and even a mobile auto-runner. After nearly two decades of the New Super Mario Bros. series dominating the 2D side of the iconic franchise, Super Mario Bros. Wonder represents a new era for the Mushroom Kingdom crew. To celebrate the impending release of this new 2D adventure on Switch, Super Mario Bros. Wonder graces the cover of our latest issue of Game Informer.

I flew to both U.S. coasts – first New York, then Seattle – to get as much info about the game as possible. I've spent more than two hours playing Super Mario Bros. Wonder and have spoken with multiple key members of the development team. In this cover story, you'll get behind-the-scenes stories about the creation of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, exclusive hands-on with stages nobody else has played, and even a discussion on the legacy of the New Super Mario Bros. series. 

Our cover art this month features Elephant Mario, one of the new forms the company's mascot and his friends can take in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Director Shiro Mouri wanted to create a new form that would cause Mario to grow in stature, and this in-your-face representation of that vision pays homage to that earliest desire.

Elon Musk followed up on a September proclamation that he’d test out video game livestreaming on X (Twitter), with a run through Diablo IV’s most difficult Tier 100 Nightmare dungeon. The October 2 stream was an unprecedented success, in the sense that it happened with—as far as I can tell—zero race-baiting. However,…

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A Tokyo-based robot manufacturer is selling a pilotable mecha robot that looks like it came straight out of Mobile Suit Gundam (or Patlabor if you’re really cool) for a whopping $3 million.

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There’s an alternative world to Lego that few people have heard of. And no, we don’t mean Megablox or what-have-you, but instead a teeny-tiny alternative world: The miniscule world of Nanoblock, and its legions of knock-offs. Titchy blocks, a fraction of the size of Lego, but just as much fun to build, and one hell of…

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What are you doing later? Bit of a night out in a bleak post-Soviet city, maybe? Drink? Dance? Drugs? Pet giant rats? Chat with a back-alley cyborg tech? Catch a poetry reading? Have a blood pressure test? Contemplate your empty existence? Eat a kebab? All this and more awaits you with Neyasnoe, the new first-person explorer from the creators of It's Winter. While It's Winter had you so bored and lonely you might cook egg on toast only to flush it down the toilet, here you're surrounded by life, and I'm not sure that's much more comfort.

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Warner Bros Montreal's one-four-all superhero spin-off Gotham Knights hits Game Pass today. In his RPS review, Ed Thorn described it as "an action-RPG that wraps what could've been a wonderfully realised Gotham universe in a tired, slapdash mix of meaningless numbers and loot." I reviewed it myself as a freelancer and can't disagree with his verdict. Game ain't great. But I find myself itching to download and revisit this muddled open world contender all the same.

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I'm a fan of the modern Bethesda RPG, having spent nearly 100 hours with Fallout 4 - which, for me, is a lot more time than I'm usually willing to give up. My fondest memories lie with Oblivion, because I think it captured exploration beautifully. I liked emerging from a big cave as a big nobody and striking out along a cobbled path, excited to go for a summer's walk. Skyrim abandoned Oblivion's warmth for your average fantasyland, but kept the great outdoors.

If I don't have an objective in Starfield, I sort of freeze over and don't really know where to turn. And even if I do, I perform a deep sigh and open up my menus and curl myself into a pinball, ready to get pinged around the innards of whatever can lies beyond the airlock in front of me. So far, Starfield's adventuring forces me indoors and it's a shame.

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