Eurogamer

FIFA 23 on Nintendo Switch is once again a "Legacy Edition", EA has confirmed.

In news that is perhaps unsurprising, FIFA 23 on Switch, due out 30th September, is basically the same as FIFA 22 on Switch.

As EA puts it in its own words: "Gameplay features and modes will have parity with FIFA 22 on Nintendo Switch and will feature the same gameplay from FIFA 22 Legacy Edition without any new development or significant enhancements."

Read more

EA is finally bringing FIFA on PC in-line with the current-gen versions.

The PC version of FIFA 23 is the same as the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S and Google Stadia versions, EA confirmed today.

That means FIFA 23 on PC benefits from all the new HyperMotion 2 (yes, FIFA features have sequels now) gameplay, new animations and graphics improvements.

Read more

FIFA 23 has crossplay in 1v1 modes only, EA has announced.

It's a feature a long time coming for the FIFA series, which has up to this point limited matchmaking to players on a single platform.

Here's how crossplay works in FIFA 23:

Read more

FIFA 23's big new gameplay feature is a power shot.

The power shot, which is available across generations (so, for example, PS4 and PS5), is a new skill-based, risk versus reward shooting mechanic.

EA wanted to introduce more skill to shooting, the company said during a recent presentation attended by Eurogamer, so in FIFA 23, if you carve out enough space for yourself and aim precisely, you can score impressive-looking goals that have more power and accuracy, but with the risk of a longer animation.

Read more

A new update for Xbox owners brings Discord voice chat to consoles.

This will allow for users to "chat with anyone on Discord via voice channels or group calls directly from your console". Xbox says this will make it easier for us all to connect with fellow users across its various platforms.

"Planning a few rounds of multiplayer action in Halo Infinite with buddies on both console and PC? Exploring new biomes with your friends in Minecraft? See them already playing a game that supports crossplay? Connect to their voice channel and chat as you all play," it explained.

Read more

Blizzard is giving away beta access to Diablo 4, as well as a digital copy of the game, for free. The price? A permanent place on your skin. Talk about branding in all sense of the word.

Blizzard's Diablo Hell's Ink takeover event began in Los Angeles on Saturday and will continue until 10th September. During this time, fans can get a free Diablo tattoo, whilst also nabbing their beta access and digital copy of the game in the process.

The campaign will hit eight cities in total, across North America, Europe and Australia, with each pop-up opening for one day only. A competition ran in June which gave fans the chance to win a custom Diablo tattoo, but anyone who missed out on one of those can still get involved.

Read more

Stray has gotten off to an incredible start on Twitch and Steam, with player numbers skyrocketing since the game's launch. However, it turns out it's not just us humans that have fallen for this new release.

Our cats and dogs have also become enamored with the four-legged cuties on screen, with many owners now taking to the internet to share their pets' felines on the whole thing.

First up, let's give the cats their time to shine. It is, after all, the game of their kin.

Read more

With less than a month to go until No Man's Sky's sixth birthday, developer Hello Games has finally, as of today, hit the big two-oh in terms of post-launch updates for its ever-expanding exploratory space sim, and the studio's latest addition - titled Endurance - takes aim at space bases, aiming to make freighters great again.

Freighters were, of course, one of No Man's Sky's very first post-launch additions, arriving all the way back in November 2016 as part of its game-changing Foundation Update.

While the Foundation Update's other major addition, base building, has undergone several revisions in the year's since its debut, freighters - those giant, habitable, expandable space vessels Travellers are now given early on in their adventures - have not, and their limited building blocks have remained an ongoing frustration for players like me who've long dreamed of constructing something a bit more lavish for their home among the stars.

Read more

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake is now 32 years old (I know, I am just as surprised as you and even did a quick Google to check). To honour the occasion, series creator Hideo Kojima has shared a little titbit about its naming.

"I had planned to make this sequel title in the style of 'Indiana Jones' only with the name of the main character," he revealed via Twitter.

"I didn't want to put 'Metal Gear 2' in the title, but the sales staff said to put 'Metal Gear 2' in the title!"

Read more

Netflix lost almost a million subscribers over the past three months, the company has revealed, although this was not as many as it had feared - having forecasted a drop of two million subscribers previously.

In Netflix's latest financial results, the streaming giant revealed that despite airing new seasons of front-runner Stranger Things and other popular series such as The Umbrella Academy.

In the UK, the cost of living crisis is one of the biggest issues currently faced by households, and streaming services are feeling the impact of it. The BBC reported that many people are choosing to cancel their subscriptions in order to compensate for increasing bills and prices. Netflix is likely one of the companies affected by this, with 300,000 of the total 970,000 subscribers lost residing in the EMEA region.

Read more

Marvel's Avengers looks to be getting a selection of beachwear skins, because of course it is.

Summer designs for Thor, Black Widow and Tony Stark have been unearthed in a new datamine of the game, from reliable leaker Miller (thanks, MP1st).

Square Enix is yet to announce the skins officially - and of course, being in the game's files doesn't guarantee they will be released.

Read more

Soulsborne players will be familiar with gargoyle enemies, which recur throughout the games.

Usually they're made of stone but in Elden Ring, they appear to be made of conjoined human flesh. Lovely!

YouTuber Zullie the Witch has made this latest grotesque discovery, zooming in on the Valiant Gargoyles bosses.

Read more

Undergrave reminds me a lot of Fights in Tight Spaces, which is a good thing. It's a turn-based fighting game where enemies move when you move, so if you move a tile, enemies move a tile, and if they end up next to you, you'll be hit - and you've got about eight hit-points so you can't take much punishment. If you die, it's back around again from the beginning.

There are no cards in the game, like in Fights in Tight Spaces, but you do have abilities. You can dash, jump, and throw your sword, assuming you have enough action points, and although they're powerful moves, there are drawbacks to using each one. Throw your sword and you have to go retrieve it, for example, and dash carelessly and you'll end up in trouble - you don't get to choose how many spaces you go.

Then again, you can dash through a line of enemies, which is incredibly satisfying. Like a samurai in a bamboo forest, you make your move and then watch as two halves of the enemies' bodies slide apart. It's also very satisfying to jump on someone's head, killing them if they're a weaker enemy, while pushing back and stunning enemies around you. Jump is great but it's an expensive ability to use.

Read more

Naughty Dog officially announced its plans to bring The Last of Us Part 1 to PlayStation 5 (and eventually PC) with a shiny new remake that will be a "total overhaul of the original experience" at Summer Game Fest last month.

The remake itself is not due out until September, however, we are already seeing gameplay leaks making their way out into the wild. Déjà vu anyone?

The most recent leaks, which have now been mostly removed from the internet by a very fast-moving Naughty Dog, showed off a scene from very early in the game's narrative.

Read more

Valve has detailed how the current heatwave will affect its Steam Deck hardware, which will shut down completely in high temperatures.

Even before this happens, performance will be "throttled" when the hardware is hot, Valve has said. Honestly, after the past couple of days, I can relate.

"For our friends in the midst of a heatwave, a quick note about Steam Deck in high temperatures," Valve wrote via Twitter last night. "Steam Deck performs at its best in ambient temperatures between zero and 35°C. If the temperature gets higher than this, Steam Deck may start to throttle performance to protect itself."

Read more

Some PlayStation Plus subscribers who own the base Final Fantasy 7 Remake game on PS5 are currently unable to download the Intermission DLC.

The game was recently added to Sony's subscription service having previously been available to purchase on the store.

Read more

QA (quality assurance) staff at Blizzard Albany, the studio behind Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, have announced plans to unionise.

The group, named GWA Albany, has said it is pushing for fairer pay, improved healthcare benefits and more transparency in addressing workplace issues.

Addressing crunch is another key demand, with staff asking for the establishment of "reasonable protocols" to address times when they are asked to work extended hours.

Read more

Stray, the adorable game that sees you take on the role of a lovable cat in a cyberpunk world, has been doing very, very, well since its launch. In fact, it has become the biggest PC launch ever for publisher Annapurna Interactive (which I feel should rename itself Anna-purr-na for the occassion).

At the time of writing, there are 34,139 players on Steam making their four-legged way around Stray's environments, with an overall peak of 62,963.

Figures posted by Steam tracker Benji-Sales show a launch far higher than other recent Annapurna titles.

Read more

I've been lucky enough to test out a bunch of weird and wonderful tech, but I don't always get a chance to share my discoveries in a full review or roundup. That's why this column exists, to highlight bits of tech that might not fit elsewhere but nonetheless deserve a mention. Enjoy!

It feels like there's something of a mechanical keyboard renaissance recently, with boutique brands producing some stunning keyboards with unique designs and advanced features for surprisingly little money. I've selected five of the best that have passed over my desk in the first half of the year, from ultra-premium numbers to more affordable options, so take a look - even if you're not a mechanical keyboard fan, you might find something that sparks something here.

The Lofree 1% is a keyboard looks like a giant ice cube - what more do you want?! Almost everything here is at least partially transparent, from the keycaps and the switches to the chassis, while other components like the PCB are coloured white or silver to add to the gleaming effect. Combined with strong white backlighting behind each key, and you get a keyboard that looks like no other on the market. The only disappointment? The USB-C cable is a standard black affair, so I'd recommend picking up an aftermarket cable if you're going to use it wired.

Read more

Rez is a terribly good video game - a synaesthesic shooter from Tetsuya Mizuguchi and United Game Artists, originally released for the Dreamcast and PS2. Donlan has been a fan for years, and he wondered what Ed Nightingale, who loves music games but had never played Rez, would make of it. Ed played the game, and then they had a nice chat.

Chris: Ed! I am so glad you've finally played Rez. Before we get into the game, I wondered: do you remember when you first heard about Rez? And going in, what was your conception of it? What did you assume you were about to play?

Ed: I have a vague recollection of a wireframe figure and lots and lots of beats from years ago, which immediately seemed distinctive and something I’d want to play. Sadly I never owned a Dreamcast so it just passed me by. I was expecting something experimental, something mesmerising, something trippy. Now I’ve finally played, it didn’t disappoint.

Read more

Xbox veteran and Halo Infinite head of design Jerry Hook has unveiled his new "AAA" studio Jar of Sparks, a first-party developer for Chinese publisher NetEase that will focus on creating the "next generation of narrative-driven action games".

Hook, who announced his departure from 343 Industries and Microsoft back in May, has a long and notable career in the games industry, having joined the Xbox Live team in 2003. He would later take on an executive producer role at Microsoft after a brief sojourn at Bungie, gaining credits on numerous 343-Industries-developed titles including Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians.

Hook's new studio, Jar of Sparks, is based in Seattle and, according to NetEase's press release announcing the formation of the company, already boasts a "team of industry veterans who have worked on some of the biggest franchises in video game history".

Read more

It's been a long and eventful road for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, but despite its troubled development, which has included the removal of its original developer Hardsuit Labs, Paradox Interactive has popped up to assure fans that work continues on the project, although it won't be shown at the publisher's upcoming PDXCon.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, a sequel to developer Troika Games' much-loved 2004 cult-classic RPG, was initially announced for PC and consoles back in 2019, when it was expected to release the following year. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for the project to run into trouble and, later in 2019, Hardsuit Labs announced the first of several delays.

By the end of 2020, lead narrative designer Brian Mitsoda and creative director Ka'ai Cluney had been fired from their roles, senior narrative designer Cara Ellison had quit the project, and Paradox had revised Bloodlines 2's release date once more, pushing it into 2021. Then, things went from bad to worse; as 2021 got underway Paradox announced it had removed Hardsuit from the project, delayed the game indefinitely, and cancelled new pre-orders.

Read more

Three weeks after the US Supreme Court overturned key legislation granting individuals the constitutional right to choose an abortion, Take-Two Interactive - which publishes the likes of Grand Theft Auto, Borderlands, BioShock, Mafia, and XCOM through its various subsidiaries - has issued a statement saying it "acknowledges" the decision "is a significant event".

Following the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v Wade at the end of June, publishers and developers around the world - including Microsoft, Ubisoft, EA, Bungie, Naughty Dog, Double Fine, and Bethesda - released statements in support of reproductive rights. Take-Two was one of the few major publishers, alongside Activision Blizzard, not to respond publicly to the news.

Three weeks on, though, Take-Two has now released its own statement across a limited number of social media channels, including its own LinkedIn page and subsidiary Zynga's Twitter feed.

Read more

Twitch is testing a new built-in charity fundraising tool to streamline charity streams on the platform.

Twitch Charity will allow streamers to select a charity, set a fundraising goal and collect donations from within the creator dashboard. Twitch does not take a cut of donations or receive any tax incentives.

The US-only closed beta is available now for selected streamers and for a limited number of charities, with the aim to roll it out globally across the platform soon.

Read more

Legendary game maker John Romero - best known for his work on developer id Software's seminal run of 90s shooters including Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake - has announced he's working on a new FPS in collaboration with an as-yet unnamed "major publisher".

Romero shared the news in a statement posted to Twitter, revealing the project is being handled by Romero Games - which most recently worked on mafia strategy title Empire of Sin for publisher Paradox Interactive - and that it would be built around an "original, new" IP.

Beyond that, details are thin - the official FAQ says "it's way too early to share any other information" - with the remainder of the announcement only noting Romero Games is currently hiring across a range of positions for its new FPS, and that it's particularly keen to hear from those with experience using Unreal Engine 5.

Read more

Lego has officially announced an Atari 2600 set in celebration of Atari's 50th anniversary. More details of the set have been released, following from rumours first reported on in April.

The main component of the set is the life-size replica model of the console, but that's not all.

The 2532-piece kit will also include a joystick, three game cartridges, and a small diorama display for each of the games included.

Read more

Assassin's Creed Origins and Assassin's Creed Odyssey feature stunning open worlds based on Egyptian and Greek history, with a fanatical attention to detail - and now it's possible to experience those worlds on console at 60fps, double the frame-rate of the initial releases. Harnessing the power of the new machines for smoother gameplay definitely sounds appealing, but with the massive scale and complexity of these titles, is a stable 60fps really achievable?

Going back to test these 2017/2018 releases, Origins and Odyssey still visually impress. Lighting is beautifully saturated, with strong volumetrics and great global illumination, while while cutscenes feature a solid depth of field that cascades into beautiful bokeh shapes, all aided by a stable temporal anti-aliasing (TAA) that gives the titles a clean, filmic quality. Even against contemporary open-world titles, there's little to complain about - perhaps some spotty texture work in places, but that's a minor blemish on an otherwise spotless work by the developers at Ubisoft.

The move from 30 to 60fps is the headline feature here, and it is delivered with surprising reliability. In most circumstances, Series S, X and PS5 all hug that 60fps line perfectly, without any dips or deviations. There are some exceptions though, and curiously most of them apply to all current-gen machines, from the powerful PS5 and Series X to the more constrained Series S.

Read more

No More Heroes 3 will (Travis) touchdown on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S (both supported with Smart Delivery), PlayStation 5, PS4 and PC via Steam and the Microsoft Windows Store on 11th October.

The launch of the game on these devices will bring with it improved HD visuals and framerates, with faster loading times to "keep players dishing out eye-popping ultraviolence" throughout (how lovely).

To accompany this announcement, we also got a nice shiny new trailer to pour over. This is full of beam katanas, a general sense of mass destruction and Travis' cat Jeane - what's not to love?! You can check it out for yourself below.

Read more

Set photos from Amazon's upcoming TV adaption of Fallout have begun to circulate online.

Yesterday, Collider published photos taken by a reader from Staten Island in New York.

The photos show the exterior set of a Super Duper Mart with some sleek, round-bodied cars ripped straight from the 1950s parked outside, rusted all over. The building itself isn't doing much better, sporting the grime and abandoned wear you would expect to see roaming around Fallout 4's post-apocalyptic Boston.

Read more

An incoming update for Mario Strikers: Battle League Football will add Daisy and Shy Guy to the game's frenzied pitches.

This free update, which will be available on 21st July, will also bring a new stadium called Desert Ruin and additional Knight gear to tackle the game's frantic football frays (say that three times quickly after a few drinks!).

You can check out the new trailer, including a closer look at Daisy and Shy Guy's various stats, celebrations and techniques, below.

Read more

Tekken will be adapted into a Netflix animated show, releasing on 18th August.

Tekken: Bloodline will of course feature all your favourite fighters competing at The King of Iron Fist Tournament.

Check out the trailer below to see Jin Kazama, Heihachi Mishima, King and more in action.

Read more

New footage has given us all a first little sneaky peak at Yakuza 8.

Shared by Famitsu, mixed martial artist Mikuru Asakura recently uploaded a video in which he visited Sega's development headquarters.

His tour of the studio is interesting enough, but what has caught most people's attention is that within this video we also get our first look at Ichiban Kasuga (Like a Dragon's protagonist), Koichi Adachi and Yu Nanba in Yakuza 8. You can check it out for yourself below.

Read more

Star Wars: The Old Republic developer BioWare has recomitted itself to the future of its 10-year-old sci-fi MMO, as the project's creative director Charles Boyd - a veteran of the company - announces his departure.

Boyd had served at BioWare for 16 years, with the majority spent writing for and looking after its Old Republic team.

"It's always sad to see someone you appreciate go, but I wish Charles all the best in his next adventure," BioWare boss Gary McKay wrote in a new BioWare blog post.

Read more

We don't know when Return to Monkey Island will be landing on our shores, but we do know that it will be sometime this year. In anticipation of this release, its developers have been sharing little snippets of what we can expect, with the most recent one giving us a closer look at Melee Island's dock, an eerie-looking ship and the outside of the Scumm Bar.

"New surveillance video for #MonkeyIslandMonday!," tweeted developer Dave Grossman. "Strange man seen striding purposefully on Melee dock, ignoring the pelicans and bar as though he had somewhere to be, some devilish puzzle to solve..."

That strange man is, of course, none other than series hero Guybrush Threepwood. Can you believe he passed up the opportunity to quench his thirst with a healthy pint of grog? Something must be afoot.

Read more

EA has unveiled the standard edition cover of FIFA 23 - and in doing so revealed the last ever FIFA cover created by EA.

The two covers, below, show two different versions of the FIFA 23 standard edition. The first standard edition features PSG star Kylian Mbappé.

The second standard edition features Chelsea's Sam Kerr. Kerr features on the standard edition in Australia and New Zealand, and as a worldwide Amazon exclusive.

Read more

BAFTA Award winner Inscryption now has a release date on PlayStation. Publisher Devolver Digital has announced that the deck-builder roguelike game will be out on 30th August on PS4 and PS5.

As we've previously reported, the game will have PlayStation-exclusive features, such as haptic feedback, to ensure you feel the weight of every card you play.

This marks Inscryption's first release on consoles, so if you haven't given it a try yet, we would highly recommend it. The game earned an Essential rating from Bertie in Eurogamer's Inscryption review when the game first released last year on PC.

Read more

A hacker has posted internal documents from Roblox in an extortion attempt.

The documents, seen by Motherboard, appear to include personal information on Roblox-focused creators producing some of the platform's most popular games.

The hacker released 4GB of documents on a forum, stolen from a Roblox employee.

Read more

Hello everyone! Please give a warm welcome to Liv Ngan, the newest member of Eurogamer's team, who joins us this week as our work experience reporter.

Liv comes from a computer science background, though has a Masters in journalism up next on the horizon. She's based in Manchester, and tells me she likes attracting cats and understanding memes.

Do keep a look out for Liv's stories over the course of the summer as she works alongside myself and the rest of Eurogamer's brilliant news team (and I'm delighted to say Liv's first story is already live).

Read more

Alicia Vikander has revealed the sequel to 2018's Tomb Raider film adaptation is currently in some sort of limbo due to the "politics" involved with Amazon's purchase of MGM.

Vikander, who took on the axe wielding, bow and arrow shooting role of Lara Croft in the most recent Tomb Raider film, spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the sequel, saying that she has "no clue" how things will go from here. "With the MGM and Amazon buyout... its kind of politics," she explained.

That being said, Vikander is just waiting for the sequel to be given the green light once more. "I think Misha [Green, who is currently attached to the project as its writer and director] and I have been ready, so it's kind of in somebody else's hands, to be honest," she shared.

Read more

Hello everyone! Please give a warm welcome to Liv Ngan, the newest member of Eurogamer's team who joins us this week as our work experience reporter.

Liv joins us from a computer science background, though has a Masters in journalism coming up on the horizon. She's based in Manchester, and tells me she likes attracting cats and understanding memes.

Do keep a look out for Liv's stories over the course of the summer as she works alongside myself and the rest of Eurogamer's news team (and I'm delighted to say Liv's first story is already live).

Read more