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A canceled GameBoy Advance game set in the Dune universe has finally been released twenty years later.

As spotted by Twitter account The Spaceshipper, Dune: Ornithopter Assault has been released on Steam as Elland: The Crystal Wars.

“Elland: The Crystal Wars will be released today on Steam,” they said. “This Game Boy Advance game was developed by Hungarian studio Soft Brigade 2 decades ago as Dune: Ornithopter Assault, before being canceled by Cryo Interactive in 2002. This is an unexpected return!”

Elland: The Crystal Wars ↖↗ will be released today on Steam.

This Game Boy Advance game was developed by Hungarian studio Soft Brigade 2 decades ago as Dune: Ornithopter Assault ↙↘, before being canceled by Cryo Interactive in 2002.

This is an unexpected return! pic.twitter.com/w9ap9Kfnxo

— The Spaceshipper 🚀 (@TheSpaceshipper) October 3, 2022

Dune: Ornithopter Assault was originally developed for the GameBoy Advance with gameplay focusing on the iconic ornithopters from Frank Herbert’s Dune universe. Unfortunately, the game was shelved in 2002 with most of the game completed and all of the missions completable.

Here’s the game’s original synopsis (via unseen64):

Final Fantasy and Assassin’s Creed will be joining the planes of Magic: The Gathering.

Announced during Hasbro’s Investor Day, as reported by Dicebreaker, the upcoming partnerships will see characters from both Final Fantasy and Assassin’s Creed head to the popular trading card game.

Wizards of the Coast president Cynthia Williams revealed that Final Fantasy and Assassin’s Creed will join the game via its Universes Beyond initiative – allowing MTG to include characters and such from outside of its own realms.

Unfortunately, there were no other details provided, but it certainly isn’t the first time MTG has seen crossovers from other successful franchises.

A well-received Secret Lair set based on The Walking Dead was released in 2020, bringing the likes of Rick, Daryl, Glen, and Negan into the game as legendary creatures. Although a popular seller, the set turned out to be pretty controversial – featuring unique cards instead of reprints.

Many MTG players argued that the cards should have been silver-bordered, making them not tournament-legal. However, Wizards of the Coast argued that an MTG version of these unique cards could be reprinted any number of times in future sets. Since they’re not part of a set, they were never standard legal but could be used in Commander decks.

Other crossovers to date have included Fortnite, Street Fighter, and an upcoming Warhammer 40,000 set.

Bayonetta voice actress Hellena Taylor won’t be returning for Bayonetta 3.

A statement from PlatinumGames to Game Informer (via Nintendo Everything) has confirmed that Taylor, who voiced Bayonetta in the first two games, won’t be back.

“Various overlapping circumstances made it difficult for Hellena Taylor to reprise her role,” they confirmed. “We held auditions to cast the new voice of Bayonetta and offered the role to Jennifer Hale, whom we felt was a good match for the character.”

Hale is perhaps best known as the female voice of Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect series, as well as voicing Samus Aran in the Metroid Prime series.

“I understand the concerns some fans have about the voice change at this point in the series, but Jennifer’s performance was way beyond what we could have imagined,” they said. “I’m confident that her portrayal of Bayonetta will exceed our fans’ expectations.”

Bayonetta 3 is currently due for release at the end of the month. A sequel to Bayonetta 2, the game sees the titular heroine tackling Homunculi as she travels to the island of Thule to stop an evil entity known as The Singularity.

If you're in the market for expanding your Xbox's potential storage, then this deal is specifically for you. Right now you can pick up the Seagate Official Xbox Storage Expansion Card for $199.99 at multiple retailers. That's $20 off the MSRP, and the lowest price we've seen on the SSD expansion card in 2022.

Amazon, Best Buy, and Target all have the 1TB expansion card down to $199.99 at the moment, so you've got plenty of options when it comes to your retailer of choice. The only thing I'd take into account is that both Target and Amazon have got big sales set to start soon, so it might be worth holding out a couple of days to see if you can get it cheaper then. Otherwise, I'll leave the relevant links for the deal just below.

Xbox Seagate Expansion Card 1TB for $199.99 (was $219.99)

The 2TB card has also dropped to $359.99 (was $399.99) if you're after that, but the price is still a little high on that one for us to make any kind of song and dance about it for now.

If you're on PlayStation, Switch, or SteamDeck, there's also some extra storage on sale for you right now as well, check it out in our latest deals roundup.

For a while now, the PlayStation brand has been evolving. No longer simply meaning the console that sits under your television, the word "PlayStation" now applies to movies, television shows, or even the brand's console exclusive games appearing on PC.

Now, speaking to a handful of media outlets, Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst has outlined a bit more of what's in store for PlayStation's expanding future.

One clear pillar of PlayStation's business strategy moving forward is live service games, as previously proven by Sony's $3.7 billion acquisition of Bungie. According to Hulst, Bungie's role in the PlayStation family will partially be to serve as an example of how to handle the live service model.

“I've been a long-time admirer of Bungie,” the executive told GQ. “They speak our language and so they've been doing this for a decade since the original release of Destiny. So the battle scars that they have earned, coupled with their absolute transparency means I can’t think of a better partner to have in that space.”

Update: Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller has revealed that, while the team works on server issues, the game has now suffered a second DDoS attack on its launch day.

"We’re steadily making progress on server issues and stability, as well as working through a second DDoS attack," Keller wrote. "We’re all hands on deck and will continue to work throughout the night. Thank you for your patience - we’ll share more info as it becomes available."

At time of writing, I've been able to access the game for the first time in around 12 hours, so service may be resuming.

We’re steadily making progress on server issues and stability, as well as working through a second DDoS attack. We’re all hands on deck and will continue to work throughout the night. Thank you for your patience - we’ll share more info as it becomes available.

— Aaron Keller (@aaronkellerOW) October 5, 2022

If you're struggling to find a match in Overwatch 2, Blizzard shared that it is currently under a mass distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, preventing successful matchmaking.

Blizzard president Mike Ybarra shared that the Overwatch 2 servers are under a mass DDoS attack and that the teams are working to mitigate the damage.

Sega and Relic Games have announced that Company of Heroes 3 is being delayed to February 23, 2023.

“As we approach the November 17th launch for Company of Heroes 3, our team has decided the game is not quite up to our players’ or our own high standards. There are still bugs to squash, pixels to polish, gameplay to adjust, and feedback to address,” the development team explained on Twitter.

Important Company of Heroes 3 Update pic.twitter.com/z0Pg7PsE10

— Company Of Heroes (@CompanyOfHeroes) October 4, 2022

They continued, “As a result, we’ve decided to move the launch date to February 23, 2023. While we know many of you are itching to get your hands on the game, we believe this to be the best decision for CoH3, our players, and our studio. This provides our hard-working team and partners with the necessary time to deliver CoH3 in a better overall state.”

Company of Heroes 3 has joined the list of many games being delayed to the next year, which includes titles such as Forspoken, Starfield, and Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals.

Is Overwatch 2 truly a sequel? It’s a question that has lingered around the second iteration of Blizzard’s multiplayer shooter ever since its unveiling in 2019, and one that intensified when it was revealed that it will fully replace the existing Overwatch, not exist alongside it. Well, now it’s finally in our hands, and I can say that while it’s less of a reinvention and more of an evolution of the intense, nuanced, and brilliantly colourful team-based battle that made its predecessor so enjoyable, it still brings enough new things to the table that it feels like its own distinct game and not simply Overwatch 1.5.

The bigger question, as Overwatch 2 begins to open up to the public as a free-to-play game, is how many of those new ideas are positive changes – different is, after all, not synonymous with better, and there are definite improvements here, just not universally so. I don’t mean to sound too negative – the original Overwatch is genuinely among the most fun I’ve ever had with a video game (and one of only two 10s I’ve ever given at IGN), so a step down from that is still something very enjoyable. Blizzard has simply set an incredibly high bar for itself here.

Soaring above the clouds in an airplane – or, if you’re extra adventurous, a hot air balloon – is often a joy for anyone inclined toward the excitement of travel. You get to see the world from up above, and not to mention, airline food isn’t always half-bad. Now imagine the very same experience, but the world is absolutely and utterly destroyed. Welcome to Earth in the future: a total garbage pile where the sky is bright green and poisonous. Oh, and don’t forget the brutal thunderstorms and the ravenous roving swarms of giant moths. And that’s saying absolutely nothing about what lives beneath the giant dust storm blanketing the Earth’s lower atmosphere. It all seems so interesting that I can’t help but wonder – and fear – what I might find when I eventually build the right components on my airship to get down there. That’s the feeling drummed up by Forever Skies, an airborne survival (and, eventually, horror survival)-slash-airship building sim that I got the pleasure of experiencing in the form of a closed test.

If you’re interested in tons of combat and moment-to-moment action, you might want to look somewhere else. At least in its opening moments, Forever Skies is a slow-burn survival game that does its absolute darndest to make you feel insect-sized in its ravaged world. You start off by scrounging for the basics: food, water, health kits, crafting materials like metal and synthetics, and other tools you’ll need for survival. Very shortly after that, you get an airship that serves as your customizable home base and primary method of navigating through the world.

In the sea of roguelites at our fingertips today, it’s pretty easy to get lost among the procedural tides. Luckily, Ravenbound seems to have found a unique and ambitious take on the genre with an open-world action-adventure that’s filled with clashing blades, incredibly nasty bosses, and, of course, birds – because if I can’t turn into a bird and back into a human at-will, what even is the point? The massive map filled with optional random encounters to tackle and loot to claim is a gimmick that helped break up some of the more familiar roguelite elements, like repeatedly confronting bosses and steadily unlocking upgrades after each attempt. After several hours running around the massive, Scandinavian fantasy-inspired world and getting myself killed with my unrelenting curiosity, I’m definitely interested in seeing more.

If you’re into roguelites, most of the notable elements are present and accounted for. I spent plenty of time rolling new characters, engaging in various upgrade systems to improve my stats in the short-term and long-term, and getting beaten down by enemies that were clearly beyond my current power level. But what sets it apart are the absolutely massive open-world hubs I explored as I made my way through the campaign. It’s a fresh twist that made it all feel unlike anything I’ve played before. If you’ve played any of the open-world games for which developer Avalanche is known, like Just Cause or Mad Max, then you might have a pretty good idea of how Ravenbound works as well: I was primarily roaming around an open-world fighting things and improving my character while causing as much mayhem as possible.

Reviving a much-loved series can be a gamble. Stick too close to the original, and the project can feel like a retread. On the other hand, reinventing it completely can alienate stalwart supporters. Over a decade after the last chapter of Square Enix’s Norse-themed JRPG series, Valkyrie Elysium departs from its predecessors’ turn-based roots in favor of a new action-heavy, hack-and-slash direction. In that transition, Elysium has established a fun and flashy combat system but sacrifices part of what made the original PlayStation game memorable: a focus on the characters and worldbuilding.

In many ways, Valkyrie Elysium feels like a Square Enix take on Falcom’s Ys RPG series rather than a return to Valkyrie Profile’s original PlayStation-era DNA. And in the way that modern Ys feels somewhat like a throwback to the PS3-era of games in terms of the structure of their worlds, combat, and progression, so too does Valkyrie Elysium. Although I’m largely satisfied with the action it serves up, Elysium is far less successful at establishing an intriguing tale.

EA Motive has unveiled a new trailer for its Dead Space remake, teasing some of the nightmarish horrors that await players in the sci-fi survival horror game.

The terrifying teaser follows Dead Space protagonist Isaac Clarke as he navigates the eerie, echoing corridors and workspaces aboard the mining ship, USG Ishimura, where something has gone horribly wrong. He is shown sidling around the vessel to investigate the situation while fighting off any Necromorphs that come into his seemingly treacherous path.

The game features a new damage system called peeling, which actually allows players to shoot the flesh off of Necromorphs. It's a grotesque visual treat that also serves as a sort of diegetic health bar for enemies, much like Isaac Clarke's spine-mounted lights, which deplete as the user takes damage from the deadly ship-dwellers.

Motive's take on Dead Space has been rebuilt from the ground up in EA's Frostbite engine, with Assassin's Creed Valhalla game director Eric Baptizat at the helm alongside creative director Roman Campos-Oriola, who previously promised "all new assets, new character models, [and] new environments" based on the original game designs.

The game's developers turned to diehard fans to help keep them on track in offering all-new gameplay content and improvements while staying faithful to the vision of the original game. The remake team consulted with their very own community council every six weeks to get their opinions on a variety of "polarizing" topics during the project's development.

Our October IGN First "cover story" is with High on Life, the upcoming Xbox and PC comedy first-person shooter from Rick & Morty co-creator Justin Roiland and his Squanch Games development studio. To kick things off, we sat down with executive producer Matty Studivan and chief design officer Erich Meyr and roamed around the previously unseen Zephyr Paradise biome.

We discussed Roiland's comedic influence and how there's so much funny dialogue in the game that not even Matty and Erich have heard it all, the unique talking guns and their abilities, and much more. Take a look in the video above, and check out some screenshots in the gallery below.

We'll have exclusive coverage of High on Life all month long through IGN First, including more about the weapons and enemies, an in-depth interview with Roiland about video games and Rick & Morty, and much more!

High on Life will be released on December 13 for PC and Xbox consoles, including day-one availability in Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass. We got our first proper look at gameplay back in August at Gamescom – where it totally blew up.

CD Projekt Red has announced the codenames and brief descriptions for five new games, including 3 Witcher games, a new Cyberpunk, and a brand new IP.

Revealed on Twitter, it marks a major next step for the developer in multiple respects – from developing its own IP from scratch, to developing multiple 'full-size' games at one time. In a separate release, the company says it is also "adding multiplayer to the majority of future projects." This also marks the first time that we've learned the new Witcher trilogy will not be the only new games set in that universe.

The five games are:

The Medium is heading to TV as a new psychological horror series.

A statement from developer Bloober Team has confirmed that its 2021 horror game The Medium is being adapted for TV, in a partnership with Platige Image.

“Both the film industry and the video game industry are close to my heart,” said Bloober Team president, Piotr Babieno. “I am very happy that there is finally an opportunity to bring them both together… The story we told in the game was appreciated by players, and now more people will be able to hear about it.”

Oscar-nominated Polish director Tomasz Bagiński will act as creative supervisor for this project. “Connecting the world of movies and games is a huge, but also fascinating challenge,” said Bagiński. “I am glad that I have the pleasure of working on a project like The Medium with such a fantastically talented team.”

According to Babieno, Bagiński’s involvement highlights how seriously the team is taking the adaptation. “The whole team working on the concept of the series felt they were working on something special,” he said. “We hope that this enthusiasm will be visible in the quality of the series.”

The Medium will be a co-production between Bloober Team and Platige Image, with both companies sharing the costs should the series make it into production.

The tattoo artist who designed wrestler Randy Orton's tattoos has won a lawsuit against Take-Two Interactive for recreating her artwork in the WWE 2K video games.

As reported by Reuters, tattoo artist Catherine Alexander received $3,750 in damages after her designs being used without her permission in WWE 2K16, 2K17, and 2K18.

WWE and Take-Two had claimed the artwork was recreated in fair use but a jury voted in favour of Alexander, whose lawyer said the verdict set an important precedent in protecting tattoo artists' copyrights.

Xbox has officially announced its next round of Xbox Game Pass entries for 2022. Game Pass is set for another strong month this October, after September saw the introduction of Deathloop, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Grounded 1.0, and Shipbreaker to the service.

This month, we'll be getting some even more big hitters, such as Scorn, Persona 5: Royal, A Plague Tale: Requiem, The Walking Dead Season 1 and 2 on PC, Chivalry 2, and a whole lot more (see everything else below). But remember, Xbox has so far only announced the first wave of Xbox games at the moment, so you can expect another round of entries to get revealed near the middle of October. For now, here's everything coming to Xbox Game Pass in October (for now).

When is Scorn on Xbox Game Pass?

This month, we'll be getting Scorn, a new horror experience largely inspired by the work of painters H.R. Giger and Zdzisław Beksinski. It was originally set to release on October 21, but will now arrive a whole week earlier on October 14 instead for Xbox Series X|S, PC, and cloud - which is great news.

Microsoft has launched a website to show the benefits of Xbox's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a deal that's been widely scrutinised for its potential effects on the industry.

The website outlines Xbox's "vision for gaming" and states what it claims are the benefits of the $68.7 billion deal for players, game developers, and the gaming industry as a whole.

According to Xbox, it will lead to more games on more devices, more choice when it comes to purchasing games, and more variety for mobile gamers.

On the development side, Xbox said the deal will make it easier for studios to get their games in front of players, lead to fairer marketplace rules, and provide greater flexibility in payment systems, while the industry overall will benefit from increased competition. Xbox specifically point out that Sony and Nintendo will remain the largest publishers.

Earlier this year Fort Solis, a sci-fi thriller game from new developer Fallen Leaf, was announced at Summer Game Fest. Starring Troy Baker and Roger Clark, it certainly looks like it has the potential to have a dramatic story, but beyond a short trailer almost everything about Fort Solis is shrouded in mystery.

Looking to learn much more about this fascinating project, we sat down with Fallen Leaf's studio director, James Tinsdale, who told us much, much more about the game in an exclusive interview, including the gameplay styles we can expect, how we’ll explore its massive space station location, and what it’s A-grade acting talent brings to the story.

But first let’s establish the basics. “Fort Solis is a third-person, sci-fi thriller set on the Solis Planum of Mars at an isolated mining post,” says Tinsdale.

As a story-focused game, Fort Solis is inspired by the biggest studios working in interactive fiction. “We look a lot at the brilliant narrative games that came before us, [they] are certainly an inspiration,” Tinsdale says, name checking developer Quantic Dream and Supermassive Games. “We wanted to look at narrative techniques that were used in those games really successfully, but also add elements of gameplay.”

PlayStation boss Herman Hulst has said working with FromSoftware on a movie or TV show is "not unthinkable", meaning a silver screen adaptation of Elden Ring, Dark Souls, or Bloodborne could be on the cards.

Hulst told Reuters that, while game development will always be the priority, Sony's recent investment in FromSoftware may lead to opportunities beyond gaming too, even with its PlayStation Productions movie and TV rm.

"You should think of collaborations on the game development side first and foremost," he said about the FromSoftware investment. "But it's also not unthinkable with our PlayStation Productions efforts that we explore opportunities."

FromSoftware hasn't been shy when it comes to adaptations either, especially following the success of Elden Ring. It's been turned into a manga (that's a comedy, weirdly), and just last month an official board game was announced.

Sony is currently doubling down on films and TV but has so far only made adaptations based on its own first party IP, with Tom Holland and Mark Walberg's Uncharted movie kicking things off earlier this year.

My desire for a new Pikmin game is borderline rabid, so I got very excited when I saw that Tinykin’s army of adorable followers might potentially fill the sprout-shaped void in my heart. But while its simple environmental puzzles may not have entirely sated that craving, its joyous world and extremely satisfying platforming unexpectedly fed a different hunger. Tinykin feels more like a modern evolution of the N64-era 3D platformer formula than most other attempts I’ve played, and its laidback exploration and collectible hunting was an absolute delight from start to finish.

You control a space explorer named Milodane as you wander your way through a fairly regular two-story home – of course, doing so is made decidedly irregular by the fact that you’re the size of a bug. Along the way you’ll meet the literal bug citizens of this enormous house who have repurposed its rooms into a thriving and elaborate kingdom, complete with an amusement park, nightclub, and slightly worrying church. Each of the six rooms is a distinct level to complete, and the designs of both the environments and the charming bugs that occupy them are a consistent high point of Tinykin.

From its debut in 1992 through April 1995, the Mortal Kombat franchise generated over $1 billion in revenue between coin-op machines and cartridges for home systems. That figure accounts for the first two games; their sequels earned billions more. At a moment’s notice, hardcore fans and collectors can scour Amazon, eBay, and Craigslist for any of those versions and browse page after page of listings, giving them plenty of time to find the best deal on MK games and merchandise.

Mortal Kombat Nitro will never appear in those listings. Only two copies exist, and their owners have no plans to part with them.

Over the winter and spring of 1993, Sculptured Software and Acclaim struggled to meet Nintendo’s stringent demands for a sanitized version of Mortal Kombat on Super NES. By release, blood had been changed to sweat, and tamer finishing moves had replaced their grisly arcade counterparts. Early on, however, the Super NES port looked markedly different.

“There were versions from Sculptured that had blood,” says Rob Holmes.

Jeff Peters was the project manager at Sculptured Software charged with leading a small team in converting the arcade game to the 16-bit console. While he understood Nintendo looking out for its family-friendly reputation, he thought MK’s violence wasn’t worth all the fuss.

“The blood and guts were so over the top that they were cartoonish,” says Peters.

An Elden Ring streamer has managed to defeat the game's toughest boss, Malenia, Blade of Miquella, using a dance mat... at level one.

Twitch user MissMikkaa captured the feat on stream (and shared it on Twitter, below), showing off the incredibly impressive accomplishment that took exactly 553 tries across more than 15 hours.

Using her feet to control everything from the direction of movement to sword swinging and the use of items, MissMikkaa was also only hit a handful of times on the final attempt, pointing out that she only used four healing flasks during the fight.

I DID IT! I killed Malenia LEVEL 1 with a DANCE PAD! It took me 553 tries and over 15 hours. I only used 4 healing flasks on the kill. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! W pic.twitter.com/Z8jNMUQcXY

— MissMikkaa (@MissMikkaa) October 2, 2022

Malenia has emerged as the toughest boss in Elden Ring, with all sorts of storylines emerging from the fight. Developer FromSoftware didn't help the situation by removing a popular way to defeat her, and a glitch made her ridiculously overpowered.

Crystal Dynamics has released a survey asking fans if they'd like to see a return to the Legacy of Kain franchise.

As reported by Eurogamer, the survey poses several questions that show the Tomb Raider and Deus Ex developer is at least thinking about a potential return for the beloved, long dormant series. The survey asks users what consoles they play on, if they've heard of or have played a Legacy of Kain game before, or if they've watched someone play the games on YouTube or Twitch.

Speaking quite explicitly, it also asks how fans would feel if a new Legacy of Kain was announced, and if they'd prefer to see a remake, remaster, reboot, or sequel, and what specific features they'd like a new game to include.

Testing the waters further, the survey also asks fans how they feel about games featuring vampires in general, a concept that's seen recent viral successes with the likes of V Rising and Vampire Survivors.

Sony appears to be expecting a successful PlayStation VR2 launch, as it's reportedly making two million units of the headset ahead of its early 2023 release date.

According to Bloomberg, sources familiar with Sony's operations said the company is hoping to produce the two million units between September 2022 and March next year.

It's worth noting that, while the ending of production in March suggests a release date of around the same time, it could also refer to the end of a launch window for the PlayStation VR2. Sony's official release window for the headset is still the somewhat vague "early 2023".

Unlike most other bits of gaming hardware, Bloomberg's sources said the PSVR 2 hasn't faced supply chain issues that have slowed production. In fact, Sony is reportedly in a position to adjust its production numbers depending on how the device sells at launch.

Sony’s PlayStation 5 seems to have been jailbroken – so of course, people are installing P.T.

PlayStation modder SpecterDev unveiled the new jailbreak earlier today – an experimental IPV6 kernel exploit for the PS5. This jailbreak relies on a WebKit vulnerability as an entry point, so it will only work on PS5’s running firmware 4.03 or lower… and even then, apparently only works around 30% of the time.

In simple terms, jailbreaking refers to reverse-engineering closed hardware, and is often used to unlock debug menus and allow the use of unauthorized software. Fellow modder Lance MacDonald showcased this new jailbreak in action by installing famous lost game P.T on his P55.

It's... beautiful.

The PlayStation 5 has been jailbroken. pic.twitter.com/54fvBGoQGw

— Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) October 3, 2022

As you can see in the video above, the jailbreak gives users access to the debug menu as well as the ability to install a PS4 PKG file – essentially a backup of a game. It seems McDonald couldn’t help installing the now-defunct Silent Hill demo, P.T. which has been in high demand ever since it was removed from the PS Store back in May 2015.

Vampire Survivors is leaving Early Access, with a major update on October 20 that marks the game's official launch.

Announced on its Steam page, version 1.0 will include a handful of new achievements, balance changes, new language support, and a wealth of surprises that developer Poncle said will "offer a little something for everyone".

It's unclear exactly what these surprises are, but hints will be shared over the two weeks before Vampire Survivors' official launch, with Poncle teasing something new each day starting October 7.

As for balance, only one weapon will receive a slight nerf: the Santa Water and its evolution La Borra. According to Poncle, "they tend to surpass almost everything else by an order of magnitude with little to no effort."

Increasing accessibility, Vampire Survivors 1.0 is adding more language support, featuring English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Turkish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Korean, and Japanese as official options.

One thing that won't be included with the game's official launch is its port over to an industry-standard engine. Development on this is still ongoing but Poncle hopes to release it by the end of 2022.

"The goal of the new engine is to have the exact same game, with increased performance and compatibility for more machines, and like most new things in Vampire Survivors it will remain optional," Poncle said.

Deals season is finally in full swing, and we've got a massive couple of months ahead of us, so stay tuned for all the best deals content in the UK. This includes Prime Day 2 (Prime Early Access), and the Black Friday sales hitting in November. For now, I've got a super deal for you on an Xbox Series X. It's down to £382.87, and it's pretty much completely new. It's an 'Open Box,' but you're getting a huge discount courtesy of Amazon (~£67 overall). Just add the 'Like New' console to your basket, which is listed at £425.41, and you'll receive an extra discount on top to bring it down to £382.87 in total - that's an absolute bargain!

You've also got to check out this new PS5 SSD deal from Samsung, as you can currently get the 980 Pro 2TB SSD for £150. That's an unreal price (maxing out your PS5 storage as well!), and all you need to do is claim cashback from Samsung (I'll include all the steps below as well to walk you through it). Comparatively, the best price we've previously seen on a PS5 SSD so far this year was £164 for the WD Black 2TB during Prime Day, and this Samsung deal is better.

TL;DR - Best Deals Right Now

Prime Early Access Sale: 3-Months of Kindle Unlimited for Free

A remaster of 2017's Horizon Zero Dawn is reportedly in the works for PS5 alongside a brand-new multiplayer game for PS5 and PC.

As reported by VGC and MP1ST, The Last of Us Part 1 Remake, in which we previously asked if that was worth its $70 price tag just nine years after its release, looks to be soon joined by an updated version Aloy's first adventure on PS4.

It isn't 100% clear if this would be a full remake like The Last of Us Part 1 or just a remaster, but some of the details make it seem like it is trending more towards the latter. The reports claim this new version will add "accessibility features, graphics modes, and quality of life improvements to the gameplay itself." In a sense, it appears to improving the original to the added upgrades of Horizon Forbidden West.

Horizon Zero Dawn saw a PC release in 2020 and it added such features as an improved draw distance and higher framerates, but it wasn't necessarily considered a remaster or remake of the original PS4 game.

Developer ZA/UM has responded to the news that key members of the Disco Elysium team have departed the studio involuntarily.

In a statement to IGN, a ZA/UM spokesperson put emphasis on Disco Elysium being a team effort, and said development continues on the studio's next game:

"Like any video game, the development of Disco Elysium was and still is a collective effort, with every team member’s contribution essential and valued as part of a greater whole. At this time, we have no further comment to make other than the ZA/UM creative team’s focus remains on the development of our next project, and we are excited to share more news on this with you all soon."

Following Martin Luiga's message, Robert Kurvitz, Helen Hindpere and Aleksander Rostov confirmed that they were no longer with the studio. No further information has been offered about the circumstances of the departures.

According to Martin Luiga, an editor on ZA/UM's Disco Elysium, key members of the company, including lead writer and designer Robert Kurvitz, writer Helen Hindpere, and lead of art and design Aleksander Rostov, have left the company in an "involuntary" manner.

Activision Blizzard chief compliance officer Frances Townsend, who was previously criticized for her actions following the news of the company's sexual harassment lawsuit, has stepped down from her role at the company and will now serve as an adviser to the board and to CEO Bobby Kotick.

As reported by Bloomberg, Townsend has chosen to step down prior to the $68.7 billion deal that, if it goes through, will see Microsoft acquire Activision Blizzard and its many iconic franchises, including Call of Duty, Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, and more.

For the second month in a row, Vampire Survivors has risen above the likes of Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077, and Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered to become the most-played Steam Deck game in September 2022.

Valve shared the news on Twitter, confirming that Vampire Survivors, which is set to get its v1.0 update on October 20, was the most-played game in terms of total hours played. While we weren't given an exact number, we do know that it held off the behemoth that is Elden Ring to take the top spot.

Behind those two games, in order, were Stardew Valley, Cyberpunk 2077, Hades, No Man's Sky, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition, Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered, Cult of the Lamb, and Disney Dreamlight Valley.

BioWare has shared several codex entries from the upcoming Dragon Age: Dreadwolf as part of its ongoing developer diaries for the next fantasy RPG.

In a new blog, Bioware has shared a few codex excerpts from the upcoming Dragon Age: Dreadwolf as well as an interview with two members of the game’s narrative team, narrative editor Ryan Cormier and senior writer Sylvia Feketekuty.

The first entry is about the Necropolis from an unnamed character’s diary. While the text cites Brother Genitivi from Dragon Age Origins and Nevarra from Dragon Age: Inquisition, the codex entry is meant to set the scene for what players might expect from the next Dragon Age.

We also get some insight into what the process is like for writing the next Dragon Age game. According to Feketekuty, “Dragon Age: Dreadwolf has been a balance of providing answers to long-standing questions for veteran fans while making a game that new players, or someone who only played [Inquisition] years ago, can also get into.”

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will return to Thesdas where players will run into familiar friends and places.

While we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see more of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, the codex entries should paint some picture of what to expect from the game’s lore. These will be presented “in-world” through notes, letters, books in Dreadwolf to add layers to the RPG for players who want them.

Ubisoft, Bungie, and others are working on letting players transfer Google Stadia saves.

After the unexpected shutdown of Google Stadia, developers from across the industry are trying to help players by allowing them to transfer game saves to other platforms.

“While Stadia will shut down on January 18, 2023, we're happy to share that we're working to bring the games you own on Stadia to PC through Ubisoft Connect,” said Ubisoft. “We'll have more to share regarding specific details as well as the impact for Ubisoft+ subscribers at a later date.”

While Stadia will shut down on January 18, 2023, we're happy to share that we're working to bring the games you own on Stadia to PC through Ubisoft Connect. We'll have more to share regarding specific details as well as the impact for Ubisoft+ subscribers at a later date.

— Ubisoft Support (@UbisoftSupport) September 30, 2022

Google Stadia unexpectedly announced yesterday that it’s shutting down on January 18, 2023. Additionally, Google will be refunding all hardware and game purchases made through the service.

“We're grateful to the dedicated Stadia players that have been with us from the start,” said Google. “We will be refunding all Stadia hardware purchases made through the Google Store, and all game and add-on content purchases made through the Stadia Store.”

FIFA is dead; long live FIFA. EA’s football simulation behemoth has returned for one last hurrah after a nasty public divorce with its licensor, calling itself ‘The World’s Game’ ahead of a painful name change to EA Sports FC, coming next year. But the tagline transcends its bittersweet pomp because, for all intents and purposes, FIFA 23 fittingly does feel like the same game the world has been playing for the past few years, with its reliable end-to-end gameplay and familiar frustrations.

Even at the end of an era, FIFA 23 marks another year of careful attrition from EA, as several tactical and aesthetic revisions supplement its sturdy gameplay blueprint. Yet it’s also an entry that feels both propped up and consumed by its Ragnarok status, begrudgingly pulling down a ruby-red final curtain as the football game genre descends into a maelstrom of chaos.

Theatrical additions to gameplay, like the ferocious Power Shots, ensure that the FIFA name goes out with a bang rather than a whimper. Holding the bumpers and pressing shoot turns your striker into a raid boss with an interruptible attack, the camera pulling focus as they leather the ball, sending bootstrap shockwaves booming through the PS5’s controller speaker. If you get the angle wrong, FIFA 23’s newly improved acrobatic goalkeepers might be able to stop it with their individually simulated fingers, which have saved my bacon on a few occasions.

The latest trailer for The Callisto Protocol, dubbed “The Truth of Back Iron,” features Japanese-American actress Karen Fukuhara as Dani Nakamura. Fukuhara’s most notable roles include Kimiko in The Boys and Katana in Suicide Squad.

In the new trailer, protagonist Jacob Lee explores the Black Iron Prison on Jupiter’s moon, Calisto. He finds it crawling with disgusting creatures that can evolve and mutate as their limbs are cut off. One of the characters, Dani, is seen accompanying Jacob as they make their way through the maximum security facility.

Towards the end of the trailer, Dani exclaims to Jacob that just finding a way out of Black Iron Prison isn’t enough—they need to find answers to what happened to all of the prisoners and why the truth is being covered up.

Fukuhara previously hosted a panel at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year for The Callisto Protocol, but the extent of her involvement in the game was unknown. Now, we have confirmation that the character Dani will utilize her likeness for the game. This also looks to be Fukuhara's first video game credit as well.

The Callisto Protocol launches on December 2 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

The pile of mysteries, Xûr, is now live in Destiny 2 for the weekend until next week's reset. If you're looking to get your some shiny new Exotic armor or weapons for your Guardian, look no further.

Each week, Xûr has a random assortment of Exotic armor, one for each Guardian class, as well as a random Exotic Weapon and an Exotic Engram available for purchase. In addition to his Exotic wares, he's got a random collection of Legendary weapons and armor to deck out your Guardians.

We've rounded up all the info on Xûr for the week including where to find Xûr, which Exotic weapons and armor are available, as well as which Legendary weapons you should pick up, either for PvE or PvP.

Where Is Xûr Today?

Xûr's location can be found at The Tower on September 30 through October 3. To reach him, travel to the landing point at The Courtyard and make your way to the Hangar. You'll find ol' snake-face chilling near the stairs at the back of the Hangar area.

Ubisoft has just announced a new co-op shooter, Project U.

Almost nothing is known about the upcoming game, which was announced today, but Ubisoft has already opened registration for its upcoming playtests.

“Codename ‘Project U’ explores a new concept of session-based co-op shooter, where many players unite to prevail against an overwhelming threat!” says the game’s official announcement.

With two full single-player campaigns alongside skirmish and multiplayer, there's already a lot to do in Company of Heroes 3. But some of us would rather make our own fun. And we're in luck, since this third installment will be launching with mod tools and Steam workshop support on day one. Mods have been a huge part of the RTS scene going back to the ‘90s, with entire genres like the now wildly popular MOBA spawning out of user-generated maps. Relic is fully aware of this, and that's why they made a point of shipping the new Essence Editor at release.

"It has always been a priority from the beginning to have mod tools as part of our story. We've gone back and forth on what that could look like in terms of timing. But as we've seen over and over again with our really invested community group" … "It was such an important beat and hopefully a love letter to the creators who have stuck around for so long for us in our community, to have tooling and editors that are available day one."

To have it ready for launch, the initial release of the Essence Editor will be somewhat limited. Notably, custom unit skins and meshes won't be supported just yet – though you can mix and match different clothing items and accessories from the units already in Company of Heroes 3 to create custom kits.

"Our modding community really helped us understand what was the most impact and highest priority capabilities in the toolset. So what we initially thought would be super important, for example asset swaps or making skins, was actually lower on the priority list. And what was higher was being able to do tuning, to be able to do their own modes, scripting, and also their own maps."

Hideo Kojima was reportedly working on a follow-up to Death Stranding that was meant to be an exclusive title for Google Stadia. However, it was apparently canceled due to its single-player nature.

According to a report by 9to5Google, the next Death Stranding (there's no word on whether it was a sequel prequel, or spin-off) would not have had the first game’s collaborative and asynchronous multiplayer features, such as building bridges in your world that could show up in other players’.

This was reportedly the basis for Google’s decision to cancel the game, as the company believed that a solo experience wouldn’t sell very well. The game was reportedly in early development as Google greenlit the project, but when the company was shown mockups in 2020, the project was subsequently canceled. The final decision was reportedly made by Stadia general manager Phil Harrison.

We've contacted Kojima Productions and Google for comment. [Update: Kojima Productions declined to comment]

Google announced yesterday that it would be shutting down Stadia on January 18, 2023. Thankfully, Google is offering full refunds for those who bought into the platform. It’s been a rocky road for the game streaming platform, as the first biggest sign of its decline was when Google decided to shut down its first party development studios last year.