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Xbox Stream on March 11th Has "Nothing to Do With Bethesda" – Xbox UK

xbox bethesda acquisition

Over the past week, rumors for Microsoft allegedly hosting a stream to discuss its acquisition of Bethesda have been getting hotter. VentureBeat's Jeff Grubb noted that the focus would be on Xbox Game Pass and Zenimax-owned titles coming to the service. However, Xbox UK marketing lead Samuel Bateman denies any such event for March 11th.

On Twitter, Bateman clarified that, "Thursday's #XboxOn stream has nothing to do with Bethesda. It's just us playing games and we haven't decided which one yet." This may be an elaborate bait-and-switch or just the company telling fans not to get too excited. Either way, temper your expectations.

This doesn't necessarily mean that said stream won't be happening in the future, especially given how many plans have shifted in the industry over the past year. Microsoft and Bethesda are also reportedly planning to have separate showcases this Summer during E3 time, though they could take place back-to-back. Perhaps we'll learn more about Starfield, which is planned for release this year as per rumors. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

Resident Evil Village – PS5 File Size and Pre-Load Date Revealed

resident evil village

Recently, a listing for Resident Evil Village on the Microsoft store revealed that the game's file size would be about 35 GB on the Xbox Series X/S, while with Resident Evil Re:Verse (which anyone who purchases Village will get access to for free), that number will go up to 50 GB. Now, we also know what to expect from the game's size on the PS5.

As per @PlaystationSize on Twitter, Resident Evil Village's file size on the PS5 is 27.3 GB, which is pretty much in the same ballpark as what sizes for other recent releases in the series have been. This is without the day one patch, mind you, and it doesn't account for Resident Evil Re:Verse. It's also worth noting that in all likeliness, the game's size on the PS4 will be at least slightly bigger, owing to the PS5's compression being much more efficient.

Meanwhile, the Twitter page also states that the game's pre-loads will be available starting May 5, which is just a couple of days before its global release.

Resident Evil Village launches for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC on May 7. A release date for Resident Evil Re:Verse hasn't yet been confirmed.

Monster Hunter Rise Trailer Showcases Hunting Fundamentals, Kamura Village Tour

Monster Hunter Rise

Continuing its Monster Hunter digital event, Capcom has debuted a new trailer for Monster Hunter Rise. It sees Master Utsushi providing an outline of the game, from hunting tactics to the various characters and services in Kamura Village. Check it out below.

Alongside new Wirebug attacks and Palamutes, Monster Hunter Rise focuses on the Rampage, an attack by hordes of monsters that must be repelled. Players must set up defenses, including turrets, and work with their allies to stop the monsters' advance. In the midst of this, NPCs like Hinoa and Minoto can help, though tougher Apex Monsters will also arrive to make things more difficult.

A new demo will be available on March 11th and includes all the content from the previous one. However, this time players can take a shot at Magnamalo, the new flagship monster. Monster Hunter Rise releases on March 26th for Switch with its PC version slated for 2022.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout – Season 4 Release Date Trailer Coming Next Week

fall guys season 4

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout's next season will receive a release date next week. Mediatonic will release a new trailer on March 15th and also enable double Fame Points. On Twitter, the developer noted that it's getting "very close to launch" and that fans will "love it."

Not much is known about Season 4 which has been dubbed Fall Guys 4041. As the name indicates, the battle royale/party title ventures to the future. New modes, courses and cosmetics are to be expected at the very least. The real question now is whether Big Yeetus, the notorious hammer, will be getting the futuristic treatment or not.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is currently available for PS4 and PC with Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch release slated for this Summer. Tonic Games Company, which owns Mediatonic, was recently acquired by Epic Games. Though Fall Guys will remain purchasable on Steam, we could see features from other Epic Games-owned titles like Rocket League and Fortnite making it over.

Marvel's Avengers Will Get Customizable H.A.R.M. Rooms In Next Update

avengers hawkeye

Later this month, Marvel's Avengers will be getting several new additions in hopes of revitalizing the live service game. It'll finally be getting native next generation console versions as well as a brand new DLC chapter introducing the original Hawkeye, Clint Barton. Now we see a new addition will come with those.

A new trailer today was released that highlighted the upcoming H.A.R.M. room update, which will allow you to custom the simulation. As you can see below, you can now create crazy combinations with examples of huge groups of enemies, though you can make more sensible setups for pure practice reasons. While the video is in reference to the PC version, the description says the update is for all versions of the game.

Marvel's Avengers is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Stadia. The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S editions will launch alongside Operation Hawkeye and the H.A.R.M. room update on March 18th.

Watch Dogs: Legion – Update 3.2 is Live Ahead of Multiplayer Launch

watch dogs legion

A new update is available for Ubisoft's Watch Dogs: Legion, and ranges from about 19 GB on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One to 10 GB on PS4 and 2.3 GB on PS5. It contains several bug fixes for the campaign along with "general game improvements." More importantly, it preps for the launch of the online multiplayer later, which goes live at 7 AM PT/10 AM ET.

Multiplayer will be available only for consoles though – the PC version has been delayed due to issues that caused crashing on different GPUs. The Tactical Op is also coming later on consoles due to some bugs. At the very least, players can venture around London together and engage in deathmatch with the Spiderbot Arena.

As for update 3.2, it fixes an issue that would cause masks to go missing from players' wardrobes and an issue where enabling ray tracing resulted in the game crashing. Check out the full update notes below for more details. Watch Dogs: Legion is currently available for Xbox One, PS4, PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and Google Stadia.

Global

  • Fixed an issue that caused several masks to go missing from players' wardrobes after TU3.0.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash when performing an operative swap in specific areas of the open world.
  • Fixed an issue that would cause placeholder text to be displayed for inactive operatives when inspecting them while in a restricted area.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash when ray tracing was enabled.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the game to freeze when selecting a tab in the in-game store.

Ubisoft Connect

  • Fixed an issue that would prevent a notification to appear when completing time limited challenges.

PlayStation 5

  • Fixed an issue that could cause buildings in the open world to become temporarily invisible. No more hide and seek!

Stadia

  • Fixed an issue that could cause security cameras and lasers to trigger an alarm on operatives with uniformed access.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash when using the Deep Profiler while having menu narration enabled.

Xbox Series X/S

  • Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash when accessing the different categories in the in-game store.
  • Fixed several issues that could cause graphical corruptions to occur.

Nioh 2's Update 1.27 Fixes Some Issues With PS5/PS4 Versions Of The Game

Nioh 2 - The Tengu's Disciple

It seems that the Nioh franchise will be on ice for the foreseeable future. But the series has gone out on a high note with Nioh 2. The game released last year to much critical acclaim and seems to have done pretty well for itself financially. Originally launching for the PS4 exclusively, it did eventually come to the PS5, as well as the PC. The latter has seen lots of tweaking and updating, but there's still updates for the console versions, too.

The latest update, 1.27, sees several bug fixes for both consoles. The main one seems to be fixing an issue with the PS5's 120 FPS mode where action would slow down as well as not being able to use Burst Counter against certain enemy types when set to 120 FPS. It also addresses an issue where additional content already acquired on the PS4 would not drop on PS5 after a save transfer. You can see the full patch notes as provided by Team Ninja's official Twitter below.

Nioh 2 is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC. Update 1.27 is live now for PS5 and PS4.

The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki Receives First Combat Gameplay, Character Details

The Legend of Heroes - Kuro no Kiseki_02

Falcom's next title in the Kiseki series, The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki, now has an official website. The developer has revealed numerous details on the characters, setting and battle system (translated by Gematsu) along with gameplay of the combat. Van Arkride is the protagonist and serves as a Spriggan, an underground type of professional working in Edith. Depending on circumstances, he can function as a negotiator, bounty hunter or even a detective.

Agnes Claudel is a student of Aramis High School and seeks to recover her great-grandfather's stolen Orbment by consulting with Arkride Solution Office. Feri Al-Fayed is part of a Jaeger corp and ventures to Calvard to locate a unit that's dropped off. Then there's Aaron Wei, a master of the Moon Flower Style and also a prolific sword danger, who Heiyue showcases interest.

Following the conclusion of Trails of Cold Steel 4, the Calvard Republic is in an economic boom period. It's full of orbal vehicles and has a subway instead of a tram system. Edith City is showcased below with its various districts and streets, though it seems players will venture to the fields as well for battle.

As for the game's combat system,  it involves two different modes – Basic and Command. Basic lets you attack a foe on the field and shift to using commands with the Orbment "Xipha." You can combo attacks, switch between characters, change positions and even manually evade attacks. Command mode is a more turn-based system where the player can select attacks, Crafts and Arts. Adjusting one's position is beneficiary here as well since being near party members will activate additional effects or attacks.

The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki is slated to release this year for Japan.

PS5 and Xbox Series X's CPU Gap is Negligible, Says Developer

ps5 xbox series x

The PS5 and the Xbox Series X both have advantages over the other in different areas where hardware and specifications are concerned. For instance, while the former has a much more impressive SSD, the latter has a leg up over its competitors where the GPU is concerned. In some areas, however, the two consoles are more on less on even footing, and according to Milestone's Alex Zucca, who's game director of the upcoming Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 4, the CPU is one such area.

When asked about the differences between the two consoles' CPUs in a recent interview with GamingBolt, Zucca said that the gap is negligible at best, and that as always, what's more important is how developers will make use of the hardware on hand to deliver properly optimized experiences.

"The difference is so small that I honestly wouldn't even call it a difference," said Zucca. "As usual it is not always just about raw power to use, but about exploiting it in an clever and optimized way. Only time will allow us to understand, in terms of development, what advantages can be obtained from both CPUs: we are very excited to see the bright future unfolding before our eyes."

Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 4 releases for the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC on March 11. You can read our review of the game through here.

Our full interview with Zucca will be going live soon, so stay tuned for that.

Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 4 Review – Drifting Closer to Greatness

Supercross 3 was a solid effort at the Motocross genre but it left a little bit to be desired in a handful of areas, thankfully Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 4 smartly builds on what worked in Supercross 3 and takes some swings at improving the formula. Not all of those swings are homeruns but they are impactful enough, overall, to make this follow up to Milestone's previous monster energy-fueled effort a worthy foray back into the ruts of the Supercross world.

First off, you'll notice that Supercross 4 looks pretty familiar with lots of the previous modes returning, but on closer inspection, you'll see that they've generally all been expanded upon in ways that really add to the experience. While the Career, track editor, and compound modes are still front and center we see deeper versions of these modes with more to do in them than the previous game. The career is revamped with over 100 riders, 11 stadiums, and 17 tracks. All of which you'll be racing on throughout the main career, the events and championship modes.

"Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 4 smartly builds on what worked in Supercross 3 and takes some swings at improving the formula. Not all of those swings are homeruns but they are impactful enough, overall, to make this follow up to Milestone's previous monster energy-fueled effort a worthy foray back into the ruts of the Supercross world."

The track editor has new, much more intuitive modules that are easier to use while also markedly more advanced than the last one, and the free-roam compound is a great way to mess around with friends, brush off your rusty skills, or just get your sea legs. As you get better, you earn ability points that can be spent in the career mode to help with cornering, quickness, overall constitution and a handful of other things. So, by the time you've put a bunch of hours into the game you'll be racing your way with your style of racer which is a nice thing to have in a game that relies on individual skill as much as this game does.

Game modes and technicalities aside, the game looks pretty good on the PS4 pro, which is the version we're reviewing here. It's still not quite what I expect from a 2021 game, but all things considered I have no major bones to pick outside of some mediocre textures in the environment here and there. If you compare it to the previous game, there's no other way to slice it than admitting it's an improvement, but judging it on its own as a motocross game released in 2021 might be a tad underwhelming, so that just depends on your personal perspective I suppose, but you're unlikely to feel too strongly about it in either direction.

One nit-pick I will mention with the game's presentation however is the fact that the default camera is pulled in quite a bit more than most games of this type generally are (and there's a reason for that). This can make some hectic moments – where lots of racers are bunched up together – that much harder to navigate out of, as well as just generally limiting your peripheral vision, which is not a good thing. I understand that Milestone is probably trying to show off their noticeably improved graphics but, in this case, it can come at the cost of functionality. I also would have traded in the upgraded graphics for a better frame-rate personally. With some games, I understand the argument for detail and high resolutions over frame rates, but with racing games I just don't. The PS4 pro runs the game at a very solid 30 frames, but again something higher than that would have been nicer to see, even if it came at the cost of some of these new visual bells and whistles.

monster energy supercross 4

"The PS4 pro runs the game at a very solid 30 frames, but again something higher than that would have been nicer to see, even if it came at the cost of some of these new visual bells and whistles."

On the audio side of things, you have a pretty similar story. The bike sounds have noticeably more depth to them than most other motocross games, but that's to be expected, and other than checking off that particular box it doesn't do much with the sound to really blow your socks off. The bikes sound distinct from one another, but not so much that you would notice without paying close attention to a side-by-side comparison. I was expecting a bit more of a crunch upon landing to let me know how good or bad I was hitting the slopes, but there wasn't a whole lot there. And if you're not in the mood for an incredibly intense and frenzied soundtrack, you're out of luck. Every tune you hear from the main menu to the final race sounds like it came right out of a can of Monster Energy, which I suppose is the point, but it would have been nice to have a break from it here and there. At least while in the menus. Maybe I'm just old.

Something else Supercross 4 has on its predecessor is the significantly improved way ruts are handled on the track. While the previous game barely showed any effect for landings and slides to have on the dirt, here, ruts are clearly visible as they are constantly being created and overridden. It looks nice and helps sell the immersion more than it might seem like just watching a video of the races. I just wish they went a little further with it and let the dirt build up and break down in bigger and more impactful ways. Still, it's nice to see this much improvement over the last game. You're not going to see any of the track's main grooves get blown out, but the impact that riders have on the track is a nice touch, albeit a bit more superficial that I would have liked it.

With a more realistic approach to ruts and track design also comes a strikingly more responsive handling style. This is one of the biggest changes you'll probably notice for the 4th game, as your momentum is much more malleable depending on the topography you're dealing with at any given moment, and while that is more realistic, it can take some getting used to for folks that are more arcade-oriented. That said, getting this down pat and learning the ropes in this more realistic manner is extremely satisfying once it all clicks. And until it does click you can feel free to make use of the rewind feature which is something that some folks don't normally like to see in racing games as it makes it feel kind of cheap but the good news is that here, you only have a few uses at the start of a race and you have to earn additional uses of the ability to rewind by doing more spectacular things and generally racing well so that's a nice counterbalance that I think most purists should be able to tolerate.

monster energy supercross 4

"Something else Supercross 4 has on its predecessor is the significantly improved way ruts are handled on the track. While the previous game barely showed any effect for landings and slides to have on the dirt, here, ruts are clearly visible as they are constantly being created and overridden."

At the end of the day, Supercross 4 is a nice improvement over the last game. So much so that I would say that it definitely warrants its existence for those who enjoy the genre, and that's not something I would say about a lot of modern motocross games. This one gets the formula right where it counts, with the balance of options and customization with pure skill and challenge. It doesn't hold your hand but it also gives you plenty of tools to race your way and ultimately become better faster than you would in a game with less interest in the player's personal proclivities. For that, it's an easy recommendation for veterans. The game's new ideas and visual upgrades do outweigh its shortcomings in my opinion, but If it could have only spent a little longer in the oven and ended up with either a better frame rate or a more satisfying auditory experience, then we would really have been cookin'. Even still, as it is, Supercross 4 isn't a bad ride at all.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.