December 2023

The fifth game in our 2023 Advent Calendar is "future-proof" in a different kind of way.

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Square Enix has restocked the Kingdom Hearts Photo Albums based on the Memory Archive from Kingdom Hearts 3 on their official e-Store. The albums originally released in 2019 to commemorate the release of KH3.

The Kingdom Hearts Photo Albums are a book-shaped case with 20 pockets that can hold photos and postcards. The photo albums cost ¥3,300 (~$22 USD) and are available to purchase right now from the Square Enix e-Store.

Final Fantasy Tactics is one of the best games Square Enix ever produced, and it’s not available anywhere on modern consoles or PC. A remaster is an obvious way to fix that problem, and it seemed like all signs were pointing to one getting announced any day now. So it’s an especially cruel twist of fate that the…

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Flock, the next game from the developers behind Hohokum, now has a free demo available on Steam.

The game will be published by Annapurna and was first revealed in 2022. A gameplay trailer was then shown at the publisher's showcase earlier this year.

The demo is single player only and available as part of Wholesome Games' Wholesome Snack showcase ahead of The Game Awards on Thursday.

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Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham titles are some of the best superhero games of all time. The trilogy - Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and the spectacular Arkham Knight - are polished and beautiful action games. Their recent Switch ports, however, seem a little curious. The first two titles make sense, as PS3/Xbox 360-era games, but Arkham Knight was a boundary-pushing PS4/Xbox One title with visuals that require careful retooling to run effectively on Nintendo's low-power hybrid console. As you might have grasped from the headline, that hasn't happened with the Arkham Trilogy release - so what exactly went wrong and how do the two less-demanding titles hold up in comparison?

Let's start with Batman: Arkham Knight - which is an unmitigated disaster on Switch. There are a lot of problems here but performance is by far its biggest flaw. In broad strokes, we're looking at sub-30fps frame-rates with near-constant drops, especially during open-world traversal. Readouts in the 20-25fps region are common as we glide above the city, with frame-rates stabilising somewhat once we're on the ground.

Looking at the frame-time graph, it's clear that frame delivery is highly variable with frequent stutters over 100ms - so the game feels subjectively worse than the average frame-rate would indicate. We even saw Batman momentarily jerk back in our footage every so often as the frame-rates drop, which seems to be a byproduct of the camera continuing to move while Batman remains stationary for a frame. It feels a lot like the rubber-banding effect players of some online multiplayer games might have experienced, like in older Battlefield titles.

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Naughty Dog has revealed the characters we will be able to play as in The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered's No Return mode.

As a reminder, No Return is an all new roguelike survival mode, which is set to feature a range of playable characters from Part 2. This will include those we haven't played as before.

Each of these characters has their own traits tailored for different playstyles. As players progress, more characters and skins can be unlocked. You can see a trailer for it all below.

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It's just one trailer. Let's get that bit out of the way first. It's a single trailer, 90 seconds long - or really, about 77 seconds of actual footage - and of all the world's video game developers now, none are granted more benefit of the doubt, more pre-loaded, automatically qualified hype, than Rockstar. Nobody needs a breathless reaction to one trailer less. As other studios scrambled to meme Rockstar's announcement-of-an-announcement post the other day, dipping their own reveals and posts in neon pink and orange, Christian Donlan described it as like being in Jurassic Park. A herd of already majestic Brachiosaurus and Gallimimus quietly minding their business in a field - and suddenly: T-Rex. A whole ecosystem scatters.

Its arrival - especially its nice and early one, like a dinner guest before you've done the Hoovering - means we've had to scatter in our own way too. We've run through what it suggests will feature in GTA 6 already, and the magic thread it points to at the heart of its story, and gathered everything we could possibly know about GTA 6 and put it in one place as a guide. But what struck me about it is less what it says about what might be in the next Grand Theft Auto, than what it says about Rockstar - and what Rockstar thinks of Grand Theft Auto itself.

The first season for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is set to arrive tomorrow, 6th December, across platforms. This will see a variety of in-game content added, including new Warzone map Urzikstan. This map will launch with 100 player count and, as noted by CharlieIntel, it is 20 percent smaller than the series' Al Mazrah map.

This has led some players to lament the comparatively condensed player numbers for each match. Typically, Warzone hosts 150-player lobbies. However, developer Raven Software explained its decision in a post on X, formerly Twitter, stating it will ensure a good gameplay balance.

"This morning we announced that the player count for Warzone Battle Royale is 100 players," reads the statement. "Our top priority is creating an optimal and fun experience for all of our players based on critical metrics.

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UPDATE:Saber Interactive has confirmed to Eurogamer that New World Interactive has not been closed down.

The original story continues below.

ORIGINAL STORY: The latest studio to be affected by Embracer's "comprehensive restructuring programme" is Insurgency and Day of Infamy developer New World Interactive.

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Spare a thought for any game attempting to compete with GTA 6 today. It can't be easy when big hitters like that inevitably suck all the air out the room, but bless the folks at Hollow Ponds for poking their heads above the 4K flamingo parapet anyway by releasing a lovely new demo for their upcoming critter collect 'em up Flock today. I've just been giving it a go over lunch, and it is truly a very relaxing way to decompress after a morning of poring over GTA gubbins.

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When first I learned of Born Of Bread, it was getting towards lunchtime - yes, 10.30am absolutely counts as "getting toward lunchtime" - and my brain was immediately filled with savoursome thoughts of simulated baking. Born of Bread isn't actually a baking sim. Even better than that: it's some kind of spin on vintage Ninty RPG Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, except that instead of being made of paper, the main character Loaf is made of living dough... but kind of looks like he's made of paper, this being a 2.5D game with flat character art. Look, just watch the trailer while I make myself a sandwich.

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The latest character trailer for Persona 3 Reload features Shinjiro "Shinji" Aragaki. He's considered the “lone wolf” party member for a number of reasons. This was uploaded to the official Atlus English and Japanese YouTube channel.

In this new trailer, we can see how Shinjiro tries to save face with the other S.E.E.S members save for Koromaru, with whom he lets his guard down. His Persona, Castor, was also briefly previewed. With its help, Shinjiro can cast "Bloody Charge." That's an ability that increases his critical rate and physical strength.

Justice Slocum is Shinjiro’s new voice actor in Persona 3 Reload. You can hear his new performance for the character in the English trailer. This is one of his major breakout roles, as he has not voiced too many video game characters just yet. He did provide the voice of Tetsuro Kuromazaki in Lost Judgement in 2021.

Watch the new Persona 3 Reload character trailer featuring Shinjiro Aragaki below:

While Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora launches on December 7, 2023, some people already got physical copies and are reporting they allegedly need a patch to play. On both Reddit and Resetera, reports about being unable to play the PS5 version and its box art appeared bringing up the issue. [Thanks, Reddit and Resetera!]

The reports first came in on Reddit, with user Interesting-Squash81 showing a photo of the PS5 version. It showed that there would be a black screen with the game’s logo in white and the December 7, 2023 release date. That user reported their physical copy arrived early and was apparently unplayable. That person also noted that changing the console date and playing offline didn’t work.

Universal Studios Japan will open a new Donkey Kong-themed zone in 2024. Situated inside Super Nintendo World in the USJ theme park, the zone will be known as Donkey Kong Country. The Japanese press release provided a more detailed launch window in Spring 2024. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

The Donkey Kong expansion zone has been teased since September 2021—half a year after Super Nintendo World officially opened in March 2021. The new announcement suggests that the new zone's launch will stay on track with the initial 2024 release window.

After a long and tumultuous road, Cyberpunk 2077 appears to be getting its final major update today. The sprawling patch includes a new ridable metro system and more romance options, as well as a host of other tweaks, changes, and additions. Unless it ends up breaking something big in the game, consider patch 2.1…

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The Last of Us Part II Remastered will add a fair bit of new features to Naughty Dog’s PlayStation 4 swan song when it comes to PlayStation 5. This includes cut levels, a guitar free-play mode, and commentary from the development team. But the big headliner of the re-release is a roguelike mode akin to Resident Evil’s…

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UPDATE 06/12/23: Former employees of TinyBuild's internal developer Hakjak Studios say it has been shut down.

Writing on X (née Twitter), narrative director Colin McInerney confirmed the studio had been shut down by TinyBuild. On Bluesky, producer Amanda Farough said Hakjak was "unceremoniously shuttered" and all employees lost their jobs.

Hakjak was formed in 2020 with solo developer Jed "HakJak" Steen (Guts and Glory) and was working on Pigeon Simulator, which was expected to release into early access on Steam in 2024.

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Amazon Prime's Fallout TV adaptation will not arrive with any references to bugs and glitches in its first season.

Bethesda is somewhat infamous for releasing some rather buggy games. These bugs are often amusing, and, in an odd way, an almost endearing feature that fans have come to expect with each release.

But, despite them being a common Bethesda occurrence, the first season of Fallout will not include any playful references towards these unintentional video game issues, showrunners have now confirmed.

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GTA 6 has finally been revealed. See the first look at Grand Theft Auto 6 in action in this debut trailer from Rockstar Games. Get a look at the new characters and see an overview of the locations you’re going to be exploring.

GTA 6 is set to release in 2025 on PS5 and Xbox Series consoles.

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Bandai Namco will cease online services for Mobile Suit Gundam: Bonds of the Battlefield II on March 28, 2024. The arcade first-person shooter game will still be playable as long as arcade centers have not removed it, but it will no longer receive new content updates and gain access to online-exclusive modes after the date.

When the game enters Offline mode, players will still be able to access the single-player Score Attack mode and the 4v4 local versus. However, they will no longer be able to make payments with electronic money sources or record their progress into IC cards.

The official Sonic the Hedgehog social media account posted a comic created by Hololive Vtuber Inugami Korone. Korone was announced as an official Sonic ambassador back in 2022 and has since been involved with several collaborations with Sega.

The comic appears as part of the "Fast Friends Forever" segment, which presents comics drawn by notable Sonic fans followed by short segments where they talk about their relation to the franchise. The segment has previously featured voice actress Yuuki Aoi (Shuten Douji in Fate, Madoka Kaname in Puella Magi Madoka Magica), and VOFAN (Illustrator for the Monogatari light novels).

In her question segment following the comic, Inugami Korone stated that her first experience with Sonic the Hedgehog was in 2021, when she played the original game on Mega Drive/Genesis. She also noted that her favorite character is Knuckles, citing his cool name and gloves as reasons.

You can find Korone's comic, as well as the Q&A segment, in the tweets below:

On December 4, 2023, Hololive EN Vtuber Nanashi Mumei announced on social media that she is taking a brief break. She noted that she will offer an update “soon.”

Mumei’s announcement was a very brief one. She didn’t offer any update on what the break will entail or how long it will last. However, it seems that it will be a short one, as she did mention it will only last for “a bit” and that she will offer more information “soon.”

It isn’t uncommon for a Hololive Vtuber to take a brief break due to things like health or personal reasons. For example, Holostars EN member Gavis Bettel took a brief break in November 2023. He’s since returned and uploaded a new schedule on December 4, 2023 going over upcoming activities.

Nintendo published a new Bayonetta 3 blog post detailing some of the game's hidden trivia, such as rare combat techniques. One of the segments in this post focused on easter eggs from Astral Chain, which just like Bayonetta 3, was developed by PlatinumGames.

The newer game's Shibuya stage features an indestructible statue of Lappy, the mascot dog of Astral Chain's police force, which can drop Halos when attacked. However, the stage also has more easter eggs from the same title other than just that.

One of the advertisements that appear in the Shibuya 101 building features the fictional jewelry brand Ilyndho. The same brand and items also appeared in Astral Chain, as shown on the right side screenshot.

The Xbox Wireless Controller is my top recommendation when it comes to to the best PC gamepads over at Eurogamer, so I hope you don't mind me mentioning you can now pick up Microsoft's latest Xbox Series-era controller for just $35 instead of the usual $60 in the US. To get this incredibly low price, you need to use the code MXBOXWH in your shopping cart at Lenovo's US online store.

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Insurgency developer New World Interactive are the latest Embracer Group-owned studio to lay off staff, as part of the Swedish conglomerate's efforts to reduce their debts after a series of reckless studio acquisitions. It's not clear how many people have been affected, but New World Interactive's direct corporate parent Saber Interactive have revealed that one unannounced project has been cancelled.

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By Nvidia’s count, there are now 500 games and applications that employ DLSS upscaling and ray tracing visual effects – or "RTX technologies," in GPU superpower speak. While there’s arguably some cheekiness behind that count, as ray tracing in particular is not an RTX-exclusive feature, it is nonetheless quite the feat for a set of tools that launched in subjectively auspicious circumstances back in 2018.

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Doom scrolling social media looks to have replaced the age-old pasttime of watching TV in GTA 6, which has prompted feelings of alternating despair and increasing irrelevance in me this morning. I barely understand how TikTok works in real-life, let alone a video game pastiche of it, and oh god, how did I get so old and craggy? I'm just here for the nice-looking flamingos, Rockstar, not a 24/7 twerk stream I can access from the palm of my hand. Of course, TV watching may yet have been preserved beyond what we've seen so far in the first trailer for GTA 6, but even if it's been consigned to the bin of modern history, there might yet be one light in the TikTok-esque darkness to make GTA 6's in-game social media network worthwhile.

Upon closer inspection of the account names seen in the trailer, it's "PlanetLeonidaMan" that gives me hope, because if this isn't a riff on the Florida Man meme, I'll take a dump on a dead possum during rush hour traffic, hurl Oreos at Matthew as we argue over our empty coffee maker (teapot, come on), and try to cross the Atlantic in a hamster wheel vessel to demand some answers.

The GTA 6 trailer is finally here. Check out what Rockstar Games has been creating in this debut look at Grand Theft Auto 6, confirmed to be releasing for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S – let's assume a PC version is coming later on.

GTA 6 isn’t currently announced for PC, but it’s due for release on consoles in 2025.

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GTA 6’s bombastic trailer may have only been a minute and a half long, but for that brief period of time I felt like I was in Florida, sweating in a sun-soaked swamp, interacting with its daft denizens, slapping mosquitos off my ankles with a paper fan. GTA 6 is set in the fictional state of Leonida (Florida) and the…

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Grand Theft Auto 6 looks gorgeous. Unless its debut trailer this week was faked, it might end up being one of the best-looking games of this console generation when it comes out in 2025. By that time, my Xbox Series S will be five years old. I shudder to think of that sleek little white box trying to play Rockstar…

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On December 2, rock legends Kiss played a final live show as part of their farewell tour. But before they called it a day, the make-up-wearing rockers made one final, vague announcement: They said they would live on forever as digital avatars…somewhere. Probably.

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Historically, TV and film adaptations of video games don’t have the greatest track record. The last few years, however, have started turning that around. Pikachu, Sonic, and Mario have all starred in successful movies, and earlier this year The Last of Us got a proper prestige adaptation that certainly left a mark on…

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December 4 was Dragon Age Day, BioWare’s officially unofficial celebration of the studio’s fantasy RPG series that has been missing in action for almost an entire decade at this point. But at least, on this most recent Dragon Age Day, BioWare announced Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, the long-anticipated follow-up to 2014’s Inq…

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Platform: PlayStation 5
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Developer: Naughty Dog
Release: January 19, 2024
Rating: Mature

The Last of Us Part II Remastered arrives in January, and we got to take a hands-on tour of its new roguelite mode, No Return. The mode tasks players with surviving a randomized series of levels as their favorite The Last of Us characters with ever-changing stipulations, enemies, and perks. Join Marcus Stewart and Charles Harte as they break down No Return's features and give their overall impressions so far.

Head over to Game Informer's YouTube channel for more previews, reviews, and discussions of new and upcoming games. Watch other episodes of New Gameplay Today right here.

Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration, the acclaimed interactive history of Atari from developer Digital Eclipse, has just added 12 more retro games as part of a free Holiday Content Update.

Atari 50, if you're unfamiliar, released at the tail-end of last year, drawing immediate acclaim for its wonderfully rich delve into Atari's 50-year history, mixing extensive interviews with designers, developers, and other prominent industry figures with archival content include documentary footage, design documents, and original artwork.

That in itself is an absolute treat, but Atari 50 also includes more than 90 playable arcade and console games from the company's illustrious, industry defining back catalogue, ranging from Pong and Breakout to the likes of Asteroids, Adventure, and more. It even features a number of previously unreleased titles, including Akka Arrh - which received an acclaimed reimagining from legendary developer Jeff Minter earlier this year.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the first ever trailer for GTA 6 which was finally released following a tease from Rockstar, after the trailer leaked online ahead of schedule.

That means we've got a look at the game's two protagonists, its modern day Vice City setting, and the general vibe of the game's story. We also know it's set for release in 2025 across PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles, with no news yet of a PC release.

So what did we make of the trailer and the news? What are we hoping to see in GTA 6? And what's the future of GTA Online? Tom's away, so this week's podcast is hosted by me. I'm joined as ever by Eurogamer's Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan, as well as GTA Online expert Marie Pritchard from the Eurogamer guides team.

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