Microsoft has announced a range of offers across a selection of Xbox games, as well as its Series X/S consoles and Elite controllers.

If you head over to the Microsoft Store now, you will be able to save £100 on an Xbox Series X (although, while this is the official line from Microsoft, I am currently seeing a deal saving £110). This deal will run until 7th January.

You can also currently get £40 off a Series S console, although this offer only runs until 24th December.

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Every weekend, indie devs show off current work on Twitter's #screenshotsaturday tag. And every Monday, I bring you a selection of these snaps and clips. This week is the end of the year for us here at RPS, so this is the last look I'll bring you until the future arrives. In that spirit, please enjoy this bumper Christmas edition to tide you over until we're back. Don't read it in one go under the covers while guzzling chocolate coins, you little scamp.

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Embracer Group has announced it has secured agreements that extend its credit and loan facilities into 2025.

The company's main credit facilitator has agreed to extend its current arrangement to February 2025, while its main loan provider has agreed to extend until May 2025, with a combined nominal value of SEK 1.7 billion ($166.2 million).

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If you’re struggling to spot the map in question, it’s in the very bottom right of the image and you need to zoom in a fair bit.

Fans reckon this blurry image shows a general outline of Leonida, GTA 6’s fictional take on the state of Florida, or at least a cluster of islands. So perhaps not the full GTA 6 map, but potentially a portion of Leonida.

Sony has filed a patent which could see difficulty levels adapt and adjust as users play.

The patent features algorithms that would be able to finely tune difficulty settings based on an individual's performance. It is interesting to see Sony patent such an idea, when similar processes are used in other games already.

Regardless, this patent (which can be viewed via World Intellectual Property Organization), shows PlayStation has its eye on the future of this sort of technology.

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Sabotage Studio, developer of indie RPG Sea of Stars, has removed the appearance of YouTuber Jirard "The Completionist" Khalil as a cameo in the game. The move follows the ongoing investigations into The Open Hand Foundation, a fundraising body created by Khalil's family.

Sabotage and Khalil had a close working relationship, with Khalil consistently giving the studio a spot in IndieLand, an annual charity stream to support The Open Hand Foundation, and supporting Sea of Stars on Kickstarter. Sabotage created specific content for use in IndieLand, and eventually added Khalil as an NPC called Jirard the Constructionist in the release version of Sea of Stars.

But now there are allegations Khalil committed charity fraud through The Open Hand Foundation, via YouTubers Mutahar "SomeOrdinaryGamers" Anas and Karl Jobst. Following further investigations, and responses from Khalil, Anas, and Jobst, Sabotage has now replaced Jirard the Constructionist in a new Sea of Stars patch.

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Video game music publisher Materia Music has acquired Australian gaming record label Boss Battle Records.

Founded in 2017 by Fabian Malabello, Boss Battle Records supports game composers and artists whose work has appeared in titles such as Star Wars, Metal Gear Solid, Honor of Kings, Pac-Man, and Apex Legends.

Materia Music and Boss Battle Records have been in acquisition talks since 2019.

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The new TimeSplitters project recently in development at Free Radical Design was originally pitched as a battle royale game to rival Fortnite, a developer on the project has claimed.

This year, however, the project then took a "massive 180" to become something else - something the studio reportedly much preferred: an expanded remake of TimeSplitters 2 with extra content and a few plot changes.

"Originally it was a Fortnite clone. Nobody wanted that really, not even us, but we didn't have much of a choice for a long time," the developer told fan wiki The Free Radical Archive.

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Co-chairman and co-CEO of DC Studios James Gunn has said Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League won't be the last we see of the Arkham Universe.

In a brief back and forth on social media platform Threads, Gunn was asked outright if Rocksteady's upcoming release would be the last game set in this universe. In response, Gunn replied: "No plans of it being the last." This post has since been removed from the platform, although it remains thanks to screenshots of the exchange.

In another post - which remains live at the time of writing - Gunn said he was looking forward to the release of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and "hopefully more". He added he was a "fan".

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Update, December 20, 2023: Activision Blizzard has sent GamesIndustry.biz a statement claiming the CRD has withdrawn all of its allegations from the original lawsuit as part of the settlement.

The Call of Duty publisher also shared a document signed by both parties, in which the two agree that no court or independent investigation has substantiated any of the claims regarding:

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Keywords Studios has acquired The Multiplayer Group from cloud technology firm Improbable for £76.5 million.

The developer announced today that it has added the Nottingham-based studio to its portfolio, which was acquired by Improbable in 2019. The acquisition will be paid in cash, primarily funded by Keywords' "existing revolving credit facility."

Founded in 2018, MPG is known for its focus on multiplayer games. The company provides services in full and co-development, and has worked on titles such as Fall Guys, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Mortal Kombat 1, and Starfield.

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How is it that 2023 can have been one of the best years in memory for games but also one of the worst years in memory for games, and for the gaming industry. I can't balance this equation - I've been trying all year and it gives me a headache.

We should be talking about 2023 as one of the years that will go down in history for games, like 2007 did. We've had Baldur's Gate 3, Zelda 2 (Bertie that is not what it's called), Cocoon, Alan Wake 2, Banished Vault, and - genuinely - so many more. We've been giddy all year at Eurogamer at the relentless quality on show. We ought to be celebrating now during this end of year period, and we will celebrate. We can't do that alone, because there's another story we cannot ignore: layoffs.

To give you an idea of how dominant the topic has been, I'm going to do something a little experimental. I've looked through Eurogamer and pulled out (nearly) all the stories we've written about layoffs during the year, and I'm going to list them all below. It's a long, long list but I need you to see it. I need to remind you how big the issue has been.

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It's the last week before the Xmas break, and the grapevine runneth dry. Soon, we will commence the annual Engluttification ceremony, a ritual of banishment in which we feed the Maw our entire Steam wishlists while singing an arcane carol of our own devising, Nth Days of Solstice, in which the famous partridge in the pear tree has Twice-Twenty Wings, and on each Wing I saw an Eye, verily, and a Mouth rejoicing for lo, the Great Catch-Up Period has come. But before that, there is still a little more News to cover.

Some games we're keeping under surveillance before we flee the premises: surreal turn-based RPG Entogious (18th Dec), construction-minded endless runner Project Bridge (18th Dec), 90s-style RPG Prophecy of the Shadow (19th Dec).

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Mobile games typically get a bad rep for being pay-to-win and riddled with microtransactions, and look, we’re not here to dispute that. It’s absolutely true. If you want to have any hope of breaking into the top 1% of the leaderboard rankings for any mobile game, you’ll need to shell out some cash.

However, that’s not to say that there aren’t a few good ones out there that are actually very friendly to free-to-play players or light spenders. With that in mind, here’s a rundown of the best F2P-friendly mobile gacha games you can play in 2023.

For over two decades, FromSoftware has been blessing the gaming community with Armored Core games. Despite its long reign as one of the greatest gaming franchises of all time, however, not all of the Armored Core games can be considered winners.

With over a dozen titles under its belt, the Armored Core game series is bound to harbor some less-than-steller examples. This article will be going over and ranking all of the Armored Core games ever made to see how they stack up; just keep reading to find out which Armored Core game is the best!

Modded ABA (Anime Battle Arena) is an anime-themed fighting game on Roblox. It can be hard to make your way to the top of the food chain in highly competitive games like Modded ABA, but these Modded ABA codes are a fantastic way to boost your chances of victory!

All Modded ABA Codes

Modded ABA Codes (Working)

These are all of the working Modded ABA codes:

Skibi Toilet Fighters is a goofy and entertaining game on Roblox, a free online gaming platform. Every game can be made instantly better with free rewards, and Skibi Toilet Fighters is no exception; keep reading for a comprehensive list of all the latest Skibi Toilet Fighters codes!

All Skibi Toilet Fighters Codes

Skibi Toilet Fighters Codes (Working)

These are all of the working codes for Skibi Toilet Fighters:

In 2022, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet debuted on the Nintendo Switch and added over 114 new Pokemon to the long-running franchise. With the ninth generation finally coming to an end with the recent release of The Indigo Disk DLC, we wanted to discuss which Paldea Pokemon we like the best.

Paldean Wooper was already a cute variation, but Clodsire? Clodsire was inspired. Absolutely friend-shaped, a perfect little unit. 10 out of 10, no notes. -- Elliot

I wanted to say Clodsire, too, because my ideal life in the Pokemon world would be just sitting in a room full of Clodsires. Honestly, this generation's new Pokemon aren't exactly my favorite. But if I had to choose one (that isn't Clodsire), I'd pick Quaquaval. As a disclaimer, my starter was Sprigatito. To put it mildly, Quaquaval has a very strong presence, and it always makes me laugh when I see it running around the field after me. It puts a smile on my face in a way that Meowscarada could never. -- Stephanie

Netflix announced that they will be producing an all-new anime remake of the One Piece manga series titled The One Piece. The new anime adaption will be animated by WIT Studio, best known for their work on Spy x Family, Attack on Titan, and The Ancient Magus' Bride.

The One Piece anime remake will start from the East Blue saga, retelling the start of Monkey D. Luffy's journey of becoming a pirate and gathering his crew. This new adaption is being made in collaboration with Shueisha, Toei Animation, Fuji Television, Netflix, and Wit Studio. The announcement of The One Piece also comes as a celebration of the One Piece series as it reaches its 25th anniversary in 2024.

There has been no announcement on how long the One Piece anime remake will run or what events it will cover after the East Blue saga. There was also no announcement of when The One Piece will release on Netflix.

The trailer announcing The One Piece, Netflix's anime remake of One Piece can be viewed below:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJKPk1MriFo[/embed]

The original anime adaption of the East Blue saga first aired from 1999 to 2001 and was produced by Toei Animation. The One Piece anime by Toei Animation is currently on Season 21 which covers the Egghead arc in the manga. It is currently airing in Japan on Fuji Television with an English simulcast by Crunchyroll.

Netflix announced that they will be producing an all-new anime remake of the One Piece manga series titled The One Piece. The new anime adaption will be animated by WIT Studio, best known for their work on Spy x Family, Attack on Titan, and The Ancient Magus' Bride.

The One Piece anime remake will start from the East Blue saga, retelling the start of Monkey D. Luffy's journey of becoming a pirate and gathering his crew. This new adaption is being made in collaboration with Shueisha, Toei Animation, Fuji Television, Netflix, and Wit Studio. The announcement of The One Piece also comes as a celebration of the One Piece series as it reaches its 25th anniversary in 2024.

There has been no announcement on how long the One Piece anime remake will run or what events it will cover after the East Blue saga. There was also no announcement of when The One Piece will release on Netflix.

The trailer announcing The One Piece, Netflix's anime remake of One Piece can be viewed below:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJKPk1MriFo[/embed]

The original anime adaption of the East Blue saga first aired from 1999 to 2001 and was produced by Toei Animation. The One Piece anime by Toei Animation is currently on Season 21 which covers the Egghead arc in the manga. It is currently airing in Japan on Fuji Television with an English simulcast by Crunchyroll.

If you told me in 2004 that World of Warcraft would have become my favorite MMORPG of 2023, I would have told you that you were lying. I've talked about my newfound love of the genre more than enough over the course of the past few months, but I still can't believe how enamored I am with a nearly 20 year old game. And when I say 20 year old game, I'm talking about World of Warcraft Classic.

For those unfamiliar with World of Warcraft Classic and what that entails, it means that Blizzard effectively made the "vanilla" version of the game with its very own set of servers. It isn't entirely 1:1 with the World of Warcraft 1.0 experience, as it does have some basic quality of life features that make jumping into it a bit easier. That said, I love playing old MMORPGs; Lineage II was my main haunt for eight years and AION followed shortly after that, and both of those games were extremely grindy. So of course I'd love World of Warcraft Classic, where the game is focused on the grind and the experience. I don't mean experience in the technical sense, but more or less just being in the game itself.

If you told me in 2004 that World of Warcraft would have become my favorite MMORPG of 2023, I would have told you that you were lying. I've talked about my newfound love of the genre more than enough over the course of the past few months, but I still can't believe how enamored I am with a nearly 20 year old game. And when I say 20 year old game, I'm talking about World of Warcraft Classic.

For those unfamiliar with World of Warcraft Classic and what that entails, it means that Blizzard effectively made the "vanilla" version of the game with its very own set of servers. It isn't entirely 1:1 with the World of Warcraft 1.0 experience, as it does have some basic quality of life features that make jumping into it a bit easier. That said, I love playing old MMORPGs; Lineage II was my main haunt for eight years and AION followed shortly after that, and both of those games were extremely grindy. So of course I'd love World of Warcraft Classic, where the game is focused on the grind and the experience. I don't mean experience in the technical sense, but more or less just being in the game itself.

Rare footage of Super Mario 64's multiplayer mode has seemingly popped up online.

Following a 1996 interview with Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, we at least knew that there had been plans to make Luigi a playable character. A stunning leak in 2020 later confirmed it, showing that Super Mario 64 included character models for both brothers.

This, however, seems to be the only footage we have of an early Super Mario 64 build, and if real – or not just a trick of the eye – it just may be the only known footage of Luigi in the game. You can see it for yourself in the grainy video below – just jump to the 13:21 timestamp:

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On the heels of The Game Awards, this week saw the launch of two expansions for fan-fave games: God of War Ragnarok and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. We also took a meaty deep dive into Analogue’s latest and greatest new retro console and did a year-three rundown on the state of the PS5.

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Art work reportedly taken from Free Radical Design's unreleased TimeSplitters game has popped up online.

As developers made redundant by the studio begin to update their online portfolios, fans are getting an inside peek at the untitled game, including concept art, character models, texture packs, weapon designs, gadgets, and more.

The images – curated by The Vault: Free Radical Archive, a wiki that "strives to create a complete archive of information on Free Radical Design's next-generation cancelled titles" – are bittersweet for many, particularly as the fate of the highly-anticipated sequel is not clear.

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Does anyone else feel like the PS5 just came out, not that long ago? Well, there’s already an abundance of chatter about a potential mid-gen Pro version of Sony’s strangely designed console. And we’ve also got a Game Awards rundown for you too.

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I didn’t expect to close out 2023 by playing one of the best roguelikes I’d seen in a while, but here we are with Astral Ascent! It’s a lovely game with a striking amount of control over each run, allowing you to make significant progress and experiment with fun builds and spell movesets each time.

Astral Ascent is set in a world where a being called the Master captured various worlds. This being pulled them into astral prisons and tasked warriors known as Zodiacs to keep people in line. However, the people in the Garden are fighting back. Ayla, an assassin, and Kiran, a Silver Scout, start out as the first of the player’s forces to fight back so they can beat the Zodiacs, reach the Master, and break free.

Google has extended its deadline to let you adapt your Stadia controller to use with other systems.

At the beginning of the year, Google confirmed it would release a "self-serve" tool that would make its proprietary Stadia controller function wirelessly on other platforms via Bluetooth.

At the time, Google said the upgrade option would be available until the end of 2023, but now the end of the year is drawing near, Google is now giving Stadia owners an additional year to make the change.

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Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora almost came out of nowhere to become one of the best-looking games of the year, with the movie series' iconic setting meshing beautifully with almost Crysis-style gameplay and a newly upgraded Snowdrop engine - which was itself first announced at E3 ten years ago with The Division. Best of all, Avatar is a technical triumph not only on PC, where it pushes the boundaries of graphics technology, but also on consoles - where it holds up surprisingly well on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and even Series S.

The studio behind the title is Ubisoft Massive, and recently Digital Foundry's Alex Battaglia had a chance to interview two key figures in its technical development: Nikolay Stefanov, the game's technical director, and Oleksandr Koshlo, the render architect of the Snowdrop engine.

The interview that follows is a fascinating look behind the scenes at how Massive were able to develop the Snowdrop engine, realise the world of Pandora in video game form and deliver a game of a type and quality that isn't as common as it once was.

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Time for day seventeen on the 2023 Advent Calendar! What's Christmas without a bit of nostalgia, eh?

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Netflix is producing a video game set in the universe of Squid Game.

Netflix head of gaming Mike Verdu recently revealed the company has more than 10 games in development at its in-house studios, and plans to have 86 games available for subscribers to play by the end of the year.

As well as bringing established games like Hades and Sonic Mania Plus to Netflix, the streaming service also plans to produce "a game set in the universe of Squid Game, in which you can compete with other players in games from the hit series".

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Hideo Kojima says that when he parted ways with Konami, he was "opposed" by peers, colleagues, and relatives" who told him that going independent would "never work".

In a statement shared to X/Twitter overnight, Kojima also reflected on why he continues to make games, saying that one of the reasons he became an independent developer was because creating games "is living" and "no longer a job".

"The reason why I am independent and advocate a life-long career is because for me, 'creating things' is no longer a job," Kojima said in the lengthy tweet.

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Sundays are for almost pulling the trigger on a silent mechanical keyboard you definitely don't need. Let's read some of the week's best writing about games and game-related things.

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The many EPs of the Sims universe continue to keep the franchise alive, incorporating more content with each passing year. But with so many add-ons out there, it can be challenging to keep up with them all, especially when deciding on a new EP. So, to get the complete package, we’re here to rank all The Sims 4 expansion packs from worst to best.