Eurogamer

Rocket League's next big event, the Nike FC Cup, kicks off on 17th November.

"Celebrating Football's biggest event" - that'll be little known kickabout called the World Cup - the FC Cup will run right up until 6th December, featuring a bunch of new things to do, including a Fan Clash Event, a new Nike-flavoured limited-time mode (LTM), lots of in-game challenges and rewards, plus new goodies in the shop, too.

"Football kicks off in Rocket League!" Psyonix exclaims. "Compete for international glory by joining your country’s team in Fan Clash: Nike FC Cup. Top-placing countries will receive huge rewards including the Titanium White Nike FC 2022 Goal Explosion.

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Most Mac game ports are pretty simple: take an existing Windows title, run it through a compatibility layer like Wine, make some UI tweaks and you're most of the way to a half-decent Mac version. This approach often leads to performance and stability issues, but it's a reasonably easy way to convert a popular game to MacOS. However, with the advent of Apple Silicon - Apple's custom ARM-based Mac SoCs - we're starting to see a different approach. A handful of popular games have been released or are planned for release for Macs with Apple Silicon, and these are full-blown native versions that use Apple's high-performance Metal graphics API. This is good news, but more interesting still is that the MetalFX upscaling technology showcased in Resident Evil Village is genuinely good - indeed, it looks like a proper DLSS/FSR2 competitor.

Resident Evil Village seems like a pretty unassuming Mac port at first glance. It looks like a feature-complete port of the existing game with little to distinguish it from the existing console and PC versions, but there is something curious nestled away in the settings menu: an option for MetalFX Upscaling with selections for quality and performance. Apple's initial MetalFX demo videos from June didn't exactly impress, showing remarkably simple content that lacks much in the way of perceptible detail increases in its scaling. However, the reality in this shipping game is somewhat different - it's very impressive.

Baldur's Gate 3 is still on track for a 2023 release - and we may get a formal release date as early as next month.

That's according to a new dev blog on Baldur's Gate 3's Steam page, which also promises we'll get a peek at new features "before the year is out" courtesy of Patch 9.

"The good news is that we’re on track for release in 2023 – and we’ll have more on that in December," the blog confirms. "Acts 2 and 3 of the story are being actively playtested to ensure they’re up to the same level of polish and you’ll soon discover that there’s much more in the works (or already complete) than what you’ll encounter in an Early Access playthrough.

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Sea of Thieves season 8 kicks off on 22nd November.

Developer Rare tweeted the news late yesterday, along with confirmation that a full reveal of what's coming up will be streamed next Friday, 18th November, at 7pm UK time (4pm UTC, 8am PT / 11am ET).

Hopefully we'll find out more about the community's decision in the current Adventure, Return of the Damned, too, alongside sneaky peeks about other new Adventures and Mysteries, the Plunder Pass, and usual bug and QoL fixes.

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EA and Motive have revealed the voice actors cast in its Dead Space remake.

Although we already knew that previously silent protagonist Isaac Clarke would now be voiced by Gunner Wright - the original voice of Isaac in Dead Space 2 and 3 - Motive has now revealed the rest of the cast.

Tanya Clarke - no relation to Isaac - is back as Nicole Brennan, having provided her voice and likeness in the first game and Dead Space 2. Former NHL athlete Anthony Alabi is on board to portray the no-nonsense Zach Hammond, fresh from his roles in Shameless and Family Reunion.

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I recently heard the story of Fighting Fantasy and Games Workshop firsthand, from creators Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. You can listen to it in podcast form or read an article I wrote about it. But there was something I couldn't do, an element of the story I couldn't give, and it's one that Ian Livingstone's brand new book Dice Men: The Origin Story of Games Workshop absolutely nails - and that is to show you the history.

Through dozens of photos and letters and ledgers and scribbled ideas for business names, Livingstone finds a way to transport us back into history in a way I never could. Dice Men is rammed with memorabilia - and rare, valuable memorabilia at that. How about pictures of the first Dungeons & Dragons printing runs ever to hit the UK? They're here - check. How about the first editions of the iconic White Dwarf magazine, or the Owl & Weasel newsletter that predated it? Check. Photos of the very first Warhammer-like miniatures the company made: check. This is a treasure trove of nostalgia.

It's these historical mementos that really bring the history Livingstone recounts, which can sometimes be a bit dry, to life - though I did particularly enjoy the anecdote about Steve getting shat on by a bird one day and having no option but to sit with it on him while the pair drove somewhere, accompanied by the sight and smell of the bird's bottom. It prompted a deep dive into why bird's poo is white, which Livingstone recounts his findings on - so it's an educational book, too.

When Sony unveiled release details for PSVR2 earlier this month, it only confirmed two launch day titles - Horizon: Call of the Mountain and Quest 2 port Cities VR: Enhanced Edition. However, it turns out No Man's Sky fans also have something to look forward to, with Hello Games confirming to Eurogamer that its previously announced PSVR2 update will be arriving alongside Sony's new hardware on 22nd February next year.

Hello Games revealed a PSVR2 update for No Man's Sky was in the works back in June, teasing an enhanced VR experience that would utilise the power of PlayStation 5, PSVR2, and its new Sense controllers to build on the game's 2019 VR implementation, and "take that sense of immersion and believability up by several major notches."

Evidence that PSVR2 owners wouldn't have to wait long for No Man's Sky's promised VR upgrade first surfaced earlier this week when sharp-eyed PS5 Store users (by which I mean Eurogamer's resident VR aficionado Ian Higton) spotted an updated description on Hello Games' PSVR2 reveal trailer, pointing to a February release.

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Asymmetric, the developer behind browser-based MMO Kingdom of Loathing and 2017's marvellous wild west comedy West of Loathing, has surprise-launched a follow-up on Steam in the form of tentacular open-world adventure Shadows Over Loathing.

In Shadows Over Loathing - which sports the same eye-searing black and white stick-figure aesthetic as its predecessors - players are summoned to Ocean City at the behest of their Uncle Murray in order to help run his antiques shop.

Unfortunately, on arrival, Murray is nowhere to be found, and so begins an investigation into his disappearance that might just bring about the end of the world as players uncover a terrible (and almost certainly entirely ridiculous) eldritch plot.

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Kevin Conroy, perhaps best known for his much-loved portrayal of Batman in TV's Animated Series and the Arkham series of games, has died aged 66 following a short battle with cancer.

Conroy, whose acting career began in the late 70s, first voiced Batman in Fox Kids' Batman: The Animated series, which would go on to run for 85 episodes between 1992 and 1995. His portrayal has remained a fan favourite ever since, with Conroy later voicing the role across a multitude of mediums, including 15 films.

In video games, he made his mark on the likes of developer Rocksteady's acclaimed Arkham trilogy, NetherRealm's superhero fighter Injustice, and, more recently, MultiVersus.

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Krafton, the South Korean company behind PUBG: Battlegrounds, has announced it's buying The Ascent developer Neon Giant.

Krafton made the announcement in its latest earnings report, saying the acquisition was part of an ongoing investment in its "development and service capabilities [that would] ensure a steady pipeline of premium titles".

Although Neon Giant only has one title to its name so far - last year's cyberpunk action-RPG The Ascent - the Swedish studio was founded by industry veterans with credits on the likes of Doom, Wolfenstein, Gears of War, and Far Cry 3.

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God of War Ragnarök is already pulling in some impressive numbers for Sony.

According to charts firm GfK, the game's day one physical sales in the UK were greater than "any other full-week launch sales for other titles in this franchise".

Speaking to GameIndustry.biz, GfK boss Dorian Bloch stated "God of War Ragnarök will debut at No.1" on next week's sales charts, while noting it is the "first cross-gen title in the series".

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Ash Ketchum, the protagonist of the Pokémon animated series, has finally become the Pokémon world champion.

In the latest episode, which aired today in Japan with the rest of the world to follow, Ash wins the Masters Eight Tournament of the Pokémon World Coronation Series.

This is the culmination of 25 years since Ash and his Pikachu began their journey in the Kanto region - and he's barely aged.

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Final Fantasy 14's next patch, 6.3, is called Gods Revel, Lands Tremble and will be released in early January 2023.

Among its various updates, the duty support system will now be extended to include remaining Heavensward dungeons. That means almost the entire game, besides Stormblood, will be playable solo.

Further changes will also come in patch 6.35, including an update to the farming sim mode Island Sanctuary.

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Earlier this week we heard the unusual news that player-versus-player MMO Crowfall, which launched in the summer of 2021, will be taken offline and taken back to the drawing board, where it will be rethought. There's no word on how long this will take, only that "nothing is off the table" in terms of what potentially may change.

Game operator Monumental said this was because it didn't have the headspace or resources to rethink the game while it was running it, and suggested Crowfall could return looking quite different indeed. If, that is, it returns. Crowfall has struggled since launch, and it was sold to Monumental in December 2021 partly because of this - because it needed significant change.

I cannot ever remember an MMO ever doing something similar. In this article, I talk to Monumental about the decision and what it could mean. But first, a bit of background.

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After months (and months) of anticipation, God of War Ragnarök finally released this week. Now that it is out in the world, many - myself included - are taking some time to marvel at how truly packed the nine realms really are.

The amount of detail Sony Santa Monica has put into its game is astounding, from animals scurrying through trees right down to Kratos' wrinkled elbows. But some of these details and Easter eggs are easily missed, so here is a small selection of ones that I have noticed so far.

Please note, some of these details could be considered spoilers. If you're still reading and want to go into the game blind, this is your cue to head elsewhere now.

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After a lengthy development period, Sonic Team's latest creation has finally arrived and after doubts and fears about the quality of the title based on early trailers, I'm happy to say that Sonic Frontiers is a good game - a really good game. However, there is a massive asterix attached to that in that it depends very much on where you play the game. The experience ranges from sublime to, well, Nintendo Switch, where the compromises made are problematic in many ways.

As a Sonic fan, I have much to say about the game design - and all of that commentary is in the embedded video below - but for the purposes of this piece, I'm going to focus on the core technology and the best way to play. At its core, Sonic Frontiers is powered by Sonic Team's internal Hedgehog Engine 2 - the latest iteration of the technology that debuted in Sonic Unleashed. This time, the team was challenged with building much larger environments than any prior Sonic game, while implementing a full time of day cycle complete with an impressive global illumination solution and long-distance shadow rendering. The result is far from perfect but, overall, it works.

In my early teens I went to see a big Magritte exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London. It was a real blockbuster - there were segments about it on the BBC, and Magritte fever fairly shook London to its roots. I went with my older brother Paul who loved Magritte. It was an incredible experience, so much Magritte in one space: bowler hats, apples, pipes. I was delighted and unnerved, both at once, both sensation feeding the other. It remains one of my primal experiences of art.

Delighted and unnerved. I alway bring that heightened combination of emotions to Vectorpark, whose classic puzzle-adventure-thingy Windosill has just landed on Switch. I bring this combination of emotions even though Magritte is, I suspect, only one of the influences at work. Vectorpark, also known as Patrick Smith, makes playfully unsettling toys. In his back catalogue, alongside Windosill, which I promise we'll get to in a bit, there's an alphabet toy in which you can play the ribs of a living creature like a xylophone. There's a sandcastle toy that takes exactly no words and only a few seconds of your day to remind you that all is vanity. Vectorpark's stuff is always a surprise, but somehow it's always coherent too. I play it and through my bedazzlement I still find myself saying: of course!

Ever since it launched in the summer of 2020, Microsoft Flight Simulator has been making magic happen. Back in those strange, scary months of lockdown it allowed us to take to perfectly modelled recreations of the then eerily quiet skies, traversing a globe that had been locked off for so many of us, allowing us to visit old haunts or go chasing down storms on the other side of the world. Now, as the series approaches its 40th anniversary - and as a new and expansive add-on is prepared to launch in celebration - it's about to pull off what might be one of its more impressive tricks yet.

On November 2 1947 the Hughes H-4 Hercules took its one and only flight. Setting off from just beyond the coastline of Long Beach, the Hughes H-4 - or Spruce Goose as it came to be known in deference to the wood that made up its duramold composite - was airborne for some 26 seconds, never getting above 100ft for a flight that saw it cover just over a mile.

And yet what an achievement, and what a sight it must have been. When Spruce Goose made flight it boasted the largest wingspan of any plane on the planet, a record made all the more impressive in that it would hold onto the record until 2019 when the Scaled Composites Stratolaunch took to the skies.

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One God of War Ragnarök fan has found, and subsequently unlocked, the game's unfinished photo mode.

Developer Sony Santa Monica recently stated that, while a photo mode would not be available on the game's launch, it would be coming further down the line by way of an update. This is much the same as with 2018's God of War.

However, prolific modder Speclizer (who was responsible for unearthing the canned multiplayer map files in the Last of Us Part 2) has managed to find Ragnarök's photo mode and get it working.

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Remedy has announced it's working on a sequel to Control, once more with 505 Games.

The developer had previously stated two Control games were in the works, including a multiplayer spin-off and Codename Heron, though a sequel was not formally announced.

In a blog post alongside the announcement, game director Mikael Kasurinen described the sequel as "the most exciting project I've ever worked on".

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It was recently revealed that filmmaker James Gunn was to become co-chairman and co-CEO of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran.

Their new roles would see the overall creative direction of films, TV and animation for the DC Universe united under a single banner.

But, it now looks like this is also going to include any future games, with Warner Bros Discovery head David Zaslav recently expressing his excitement for the new structure Gunn and Safran would bring to the studio along with their appointment.

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It's hard to believe, but GameCube classic Metroid Prime turns 20 this November.

In the run up to the anniversary, programmer Zoid Kirsch has been sharing stories and trivia about his time as senior gameplay engineer on the game.

Kirsch began on the 8th November and will continue until 18th November.

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GamesMaster is set to return next year, but this time with a social focus.

The iconic 90s TV show was revived last year, with three special episodes broadcast on E4 and the E4 YouTube channel. Sir Trevor McDonald took on the title role originated by Sir Patrick Moore.

Now it's set to return in 2023 as a "digital first series".

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Nintendo has shared information on the steps it has taken over the lifetime of the Switch family to reduce its environmental impacts.

The data was included in presentation materials used during a briefing with investors on the company's second quarter financial results. The presentation is available publicly from Nintendo's website.

The details of Nintendo's environment initiatives begin on page 51 of the uploaded PDF.

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Sonic Frontiers players have noted the game runs at a lower frame rate on Xbox Series S.

The game has been optimised for Xbox Series X/S to hit 60fps according to Microsoft, but on Series S it runs at 30fps with no performance mode option to change this.

Sega did provide a solution to TheGamer, involving amending the main console settings.

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Former WWE wrestler and Guardians of the Galaxy actor Dave Bautista really wants to play Marcus Fenix in Netflix's Gears of War adaptation.

Following the news of the adaptation's existence, Bautista took to Twitter to share his eagerness for the role, stating he "can't make this any easier" for the producers before tagging both Netflix and the Gears of War Twitter handles.

In addition to this little snippet of text, Bautista also shared old clips of himself promoting his part in Gears of War 5, where he was featured as a free unlockable skin for the multiplayer.

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Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've found ourselves playing over the last few days. This time: rats, gods and cards.

If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What We've Been Playing, here's our archive.

Vermintide 2 was free last week and my friends decided to give it a go. It's safe to say they enjoyed it! From the different classes to the wildness of co-op, it was a blast to mow down rats and Chaos Troops - especially the giant angry refridgerator bosses.

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Another Thursday means another glimpse ahead at the Epic Games Store's next set of weekly freebies, with Evil Dead: The Game and tactical turn-based RPG Dark Deity both now confirmed to be free from Thurday, 17th November.

Evil Dead: The Game, which released as an Epic exclusive back in May, is developer Saber Interactive's spin on the asymmetrical multiplayer horror genre. It sees four human Survivors (picking from a range of familiar Evil Dead characters, armed with everything from chainsaws to boomsticks) roaming a spooky forest in search of artefacts, while a fifth player gives chase as one of four powerful demons - the Warlord, Puppeteer, Necromancer, or Plaguebringer, all able to command undead armies of their own.

And it's good fun, effectively marrying the gleefully cartoonish horror of Sam Raimi's beloved franchise to a solidly entertaining multiplayer game.

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Dragon Age: Absolution, Netflix's latest stab at adapting a beloved video games series for the small screen, has a release date, with the six-part animated series airing from 9th December.

Announced back in June, Dragon Age: Absolution takes place in Tevinter - the setting for developer BioWare's highly anticipated next video game instalment, Dragon Age Dreadwolf - and stars a cast of fresh faces, including protagonist Miriam.

"With great power at stake, a group of mages, fighters, and thieves goes head to head against a sinister force possessing a dangerous artifact," Netflix teases beneath its newly released Absolution trailer. "Fear. Guilt. Pain. Can Miriam push aside her feelings to complete her mission - or will the trauma looming over her past finally catch up with her?".

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DICE has shared more on its future plans for Battlefield 2042, including the news it's coming to EA Play and Game Pass Ultimate when Season 3 launches in a "few weeks" time.

The studio made the announcement in its latest developer update, which highlights some of the new additions coming to Battlefield 2042 as part of Season 3 and beyond.

Season 3, which is yet to receive an official start date, includes a new multiplayer map, a new Specialist, new weapons - including Bad Company 2's XM8 and Battlefield 3's A-91 - plus a new Battle Pass. It'll also usher in map reworks for Manifest and Breakaway.

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While we continue to wrestle with the fact Henry Cavill has whipped off his white Witcher wig for the very last time, Netflix is forging ever onward into the Witcherverse, this time with a new trailer for its upcoming live-action prequel Blood Origin.

Blood Origin isn't Netflix's first Witcher prequel, of course; last year saw the streaming service release an animated movie called The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, focusing on Geralt of Rivia's friend and mentor Vesemir.

Blood Origin, though, goes some considerable way further back in the series' timeline, telling a story set 1,200 years before Geralt and the events we're familiar with from Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski's books, CD Projekt's games, and Netflix's existing TV show.

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Mick Gordon, known for his work on soundtracks for several games including the Wolfenstein and Doom series, has released a statement in response to accusations made against him by Marty Stratton in May 2020.

In April 2020, Gordon distanced himself from the soundtrack album for Doom Eternal after it received criticisms from fans on its quality. This led to speculation from fans about its production, and Stratton, who was working as executive producer on Doom Eternal, posted an open letter to the Doom subreddit to address rumours.

A year and a half later, Gordon has written a lengthy statement rebutting Stratton's claims, with screenshots of emails and legal documents (with sensitive information removed) as evidence of the true timeline of events. He posted his statement on Medium, in which he alleged abusive behaviour and manipulation by Stratton. Gordon stated he has released it to defend himself, and urged people to not use it as an excuse for a hate campaign.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we're discussing the now-widespread leaks of new Pokémon designs from the upcoming Scarlet and Violet games.

Pokémon details always leak - often months before launch, but especially in the last few weeks as retail copies begin appearing in the wild. Should you look at spoilers? For some, uncovering the many unannounced creatures as they play is a core part of the games. For others, knowing what your new Starter Pokémon will eventually evolve into is a big deal.

Whichever side of the debate you're on, there's no doubting the level of interest in new Pokémon designs - seen this week when the final evolution of Starter cat creature Sprigatito sparked an avalanche of dubious fanart after an image was posted by a leaker. Joining me this week to share their thoughts are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan.

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Yesterday, Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward detailed what's in store for players when its free-to-play Warzone 2.0 launches alongside Modern Warfare 2's first season on 16th November.

This included a little bit more on its brand-new "experience" known as DMZ.

This Escape From Tarkov-inspired mode is described as an "open-world, narrative-focused extraction mode where Operator squads have free rein to complete faction-based missions, take on additional side objectives, engage with enemy Operators or AI combatants, and search for valuable items, all while fighting to survive toward exfiltration".

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Iconic Halo map Blood Gulch has been recreated in the game's new Forge mode, just hours after its official beta went live.

The long-awaited Forge offering officially arrived yesterday as part of Halo Infinite's Winter Update, and of course Blood Gulch was one of the first things on anyone's mind to recreate.

Halo fan Epsilon_church_ posted word of their creation to Twitter yesterday evening and invited others to try the map for themselves. Amusingly, however, it needed to be named "Coagulation", as "BloodGulch" was blocked.

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Kynseed, the life sim RPG from ex-Fable developers, is soon to be released out of Early Access.

The full game will launch on PC on 6th December.

It's been developed by PixelCount Studios, comprising veterans of the Fable series, and chaired by Games Workshop founder Sir Ian Livingstone.

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Google has begun the long process of refunding all Stadia customers for their hardware, games and in-game purchases - something it hopes to have completed by 18th January 2023, the date Stadia servers are switched off.

A detailed FAQ page on the process is now available for Stadia customers to browse, but in a nutshell it boils down to: sit tight.

Google will attempt to refund you for most things you bought to do with Stadia - except for the Stadia Pro subscription. It'll keep your money for that.

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Nintendo has made a free demo available for Mario Strikers: Battle League Football.

The game previously had a demo shortly before it released on 10th June, but required a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.

The new demo is free to download for all Switch owners.

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Earlier this year, Sony gave its PlayStation Plus subscription service a makeover, adding three new tiers for users to pick between.

The cheapest of these tiers is Essential and is basically what PlayStation Plus once was. Users get online play, some other smaller perks and free PlayStation titles every month. Then we have Extra. This middle-ground tier includes everything that comes with Essential, but with the bonus of a catalogue of PS4 and PS5 games to have a go at.

Then, finally, we have the most expensive of these tiers, known as Premium. This was marketed as a way for users to replay some of PlayStation's classic games from days gone by. The service covers every PlayStation console - from the original PS1 through to the PS5, as well as the PSP and, thanks to streaming, PS3 support.

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The developers of Sonic Frontiers took "countermeasures" to ensure players wouldn't experience motion sickness.

The blue blur is known for going really fast, so it's appreciated that the developers took care to not let that negatively affect players.

Producer Sachiko Kawamura told Famitsu that the QA team were integral to this process and that it was important to take this aspect of the game seriously (thanks Siliconera).

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