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Microsoft Flight Simulator Is The Highest-Rated Xbox Game This Year According to Metacritic

Asobo Studio's recent release of Microsoft Flight Simulator for the Xbox Series X/S has been met with great critical reception, and it seems that the game has become the highest-rated Xbox Series X game this year according to the review aggregator Metacritic.

Microsoft Flight Simulator on consoles currently sits at a 91 on the website, and Hazelight Studios' It Takes Two comes in at a close second with 89. Fans and developers alike have been quite vocal about Asobo's technical wizardry with this port, as the significantly weaker Xbox Series S seems to have no issues running the game.

Microsoft recently released a new update for Flight Simulator on PC which increased performance by freeing up the CPU, and also unveiled a number of official accessories for the game – flight controllers, keyboard-mouse combos. Many high-profile releases such as Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 are on the well, horizon – and will be interesting to see how long Asobo's simulator manages to retain the top spot.

Fullbright Studios Co-Founder Steve Gaynor Steps Down Following Reports of Toxic Work Culture

A recent report from Polygon goes in-depth about the inner workings of Gone Home developer Fullbright Studios, and how co-founder's Steve Gaynor attitude towards employees and women led to more than a couple dozen employees leaving the studio entirely, all during a time when development on its upcoming Open Roads seem to be struggling constantly.

Steve Gaynor reportedly had a very controlling behavior, showing little to no respect for his staff and their opinions. Women – in particular – seem to have a great issue with the fact, since 10 of the 15 staff members who left the studio are women. An anonymous source cites,

"This is going to sound like a joke, but I'm completely serious: Working for him often felt like working for a high school mean girl. His go-to weapon was to laugh at people's opinions and embarrass them in front of other people."

To be fair, Steve Gaynor wasn't involved in any form of sexual misconduct, unlike the Ubisoft and Activision-Blizzard lawsuit that made headlines a while before. Following this massive departure, Steve has now stepped down from a creative lead to a writer, hoping to make things right before it gets any worse.

Konami's Quarterly Financial Results Show Great Sales and Year-on-Year Profits

Konami recently announced its quarterly financial reports, and profits and sales figures seem to be great for Q2 2021. The Tokyo-based giant reported 68,636 million yen in sales and 20,278 in business profits. Numbers certainly look strong, despite Konami not having released any major games this fiscal quarter.

Konami experienced 29.2% year-on-year profits on sales and a whopping 64.2% year on profits. The report also highlights revenue from Konami's mobile offerings and the growing sales of Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card games being two strong factors in driving these numbers.

The company recently hosted a technical test for a New Football Game earlier this quarter, which is now revealed to be eFootball. The game is reportedly going to be free-to-play, and joins the ranks alongside games like Super Bomberman R Online and eBaseball in titles currently under development at its studios. Many rumors have been doing the rounds regarding Konami making a comeback with its classic franchises like Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid, read more on that through here.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Sales at 37.08 Million, Animal Crossing: New Horizons Sells 33.89 Million

Along with updated hardware sales numbers for the Nintendo Switch and its latest titles, Nintendo also updated its top 10 list of best-selling first-party games for the platform as of June 30th 2021. To the surprise of no one, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is still on top with 37.08 million units sold. That's 1.69 million units more than its previous milestone.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons has sold 33.89 million units while Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is at 24.77 million thus far. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has 23.20 million sales to its name followed Pokemon Sword and Shield at 21.85 million, Super Mario Odyssey at 21.40 million and Super Mario Party at 15.72 million.

Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! are at 13.57 million while Splatoon 2 at 12.45 million and Ring Fit Adventure at 11.26 million round out the list. It should be interesting to see where titles like Shin Megami Tensei 5, Metroid Dread, Mario Party Superstars and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl rank in the coming months. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

Name Units Sold (as of June 30th 2021)
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 37.08 million
Animal Crossing: New Horizons 33.89 million
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 24.77 million
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 23.20 million
Pokemon Sword and Shield 21.85 million
Super Mario Odyssey 21.40 million
Super Mario Party 15.72 million
Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! 13.57 million
Splatoon 2 12.45 million
Ring Fit Adventure 11.26 million

Nintendo Switch Hits 89.04 Million Units Sold, New Pokemon Snap Sells 2.07 Million

Even with the Nintendo Switch OLED coming up and rumors of the Switch Pro refusing to die, the base Switch model continues to sell well. In its latest earnings release, Nintendo confirmed that the console has sold 89.04 million units as of June 30th 2021. In the three month period ending June 30th, 4.45 million Switch units were sold.

Software sales were also strong in that period with 45.28 million sold. In terms of sales for new releases, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury managed to sell 6.68 million. New Pokemon Snap, which recently received its first free content update, has sold 2.07 million units while Mario Golf: Super Rush sold 1.34 million units. Miitopia managed to sell 1.04 million since release.

The coming months are looking even better for the Switch, both in terms of hardware and software sales. The Nintendo Switch OLED releases October 8th alongside Metroid Dread while Mario Party Superstars is out on October 29th. November will have titles like Shin Megami Tensei 5 and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl releasing as well.

Sonic Colors: Ultimate – 11 Things You Need to Know

To say that Sonic's been inconsistent for years on end would be a bit of an understatement, but even though the Blue Blur has had some pretty low lows over the years, it's also had some rather remarkable highs. One such high was 2010's Sonic Colors, which might not have been on the same level as, say, Sonic Mania, but is still one of the better Sonic games to have come out in recent memory. While Sega is preparing to enter the series' next era with 2022's game, before that, they're also celebrating its 30th anniversary by taking trip down memory game and revisiting older memories. Sonic Colors: Ultimate is out this September and is promising quite a few changes and improvements, and here, we're going to talk about the most significant ones.

VISUAL IMPROVEMENTS

Let's start off with the obvious stuff. Given the fact that this is a remaster of an eleven year old Wii game, it goes without saying that visuals are going to be improved in several ways. From all that we've seen of the game in footage so far, it's clear that some notable improvements have been made, from sharper quality to improved lighting to better textures and more. Sega hasn't gone into too much detail about what exactly the "improved" visuals entail, but the results are instantly apparent nonetheless.

RESOLUTION AND FRAME RATE

Of course, Sonic Colors: Ultimate will also see a boost in performance and resolution. On PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, the game will run in 4K and at 60 FPS. It remains to be seen whether there will be further improvements when played on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S via backward compatibility, while we also don't know what the performance and resolution targets will be on the base PS4 and Xbox One. Meanwhile, on the Switch, there's obviously going to be some sacrifices. 4K resolution is, of course, not going to be possible (though what exactly it will be hasn't been confirmed by Sega yet), while the frame rate will be locked to 30 FPS.

REMIXED MUSIC

sonic colors ultimate

Sonic Colors: Ultimate is a remaster on more than just the visual front. The game's soundtrack is also going to be shown some love. More specifically, Sega has confirmed that Sonic Colors' music has been "fully remixed" for the purposes of the remaster. The original game had a pretty solid soundtrack, so it should be interesting to see how much effort the remaster puts into remixing it.

CUSTOMIZABLE CONTROLS

sonic colors ultimate

Sega has also confirmed that Sonic Colors: Ultimate is going to have customizable controls, so that players, in their words, will be able to "find a layout that suits your play style." Details haven't been shared on the full extent of the controls' customizability, but hopefully, there will be enough flexibility here for everyone. Either way, it's good to see that accessibility options have been thought of.

TAILS SAVE

sonic colors ultimate

A few other quality of life improvements have been confirmed for the upcoming remaster as well. For instance, there's Tails Saves, which you can find at specific points in levels. These essentially serve as checkpoints, so if you die during a level or run into trouble, you will quickly be taken back to the last Tails Save spot, allowing you to jump right back into the action without too much delay. Not exactly a major headlining feature, sure, but still nice to have.

RIVAL RUSH

sonic colors ultimate

On top of quality of life changes and technical improvements, Sonic Colors: Ultimate is also adding new content, with the highlight being Rival Rush. This is a new mode that will let players race through levels against a Metal Sonic, and winning in these races will unlock special rewards. As for what exactly those rewards will be, that remains to be seen. In all likelihood, the rewards here will be cosmetic in nature, seeing as customization options are being added into the game with this remaster. Speaking of which…

PARK TOKENS

sonic colors ultimate

Interestingly enough, Sonic Colors: Ultimate is also adding some cosmetic customization options to the game (though thankfully nothing to the extent of Sonic Forces). You can collect Park Tokens, and then head to the in-game store and spend these tokens on a variety of cosmetic items to give a new look to Sonic. Cosmetic items will range from boosts and auras to gloves and shoes, so it looks like there will be a decent amount of options here.

JADE GHOST

sonic colors ultimate

One of the most notable things Sonic Colors introduced back when it first came out in 2010 was the Wisps power ups, which have since then gone on to become a staple of the series with appearances in several other games. Sonic Colors: Ultimate is adding a new Wisp of its own- the Jade Ghost, which, as its name suggests, transforms Sonic into a ghost and lets him fly around levels and even pass through objects. Team Sonic Fans will, of course, be very familiar with this new ability, but it should be interesting to see how this impacts levels in Sonic Colors.

100 COUNT RING

sonic colors ultimate

It's far from uncommon for platformers to give players the occasional invincibility power up, and Sonic Colors: Ultimate is adding just that, too. Called the 100 Count Ring, this will make you temporarily invincible to all attacks, while allowing you to kill pretty much anything you touch. Additionally, it will also boost your score at the end of a level, which will be a nice incentive to go looking for these for quite a few players.

DIGITAL DELUXE EDITION

Sonic Colors: Ultimate will, unsurprisingly, launch with a Digital Deluxe Edition as well, and if you decide to cough up the extra cash for it, you'll get plenty of bonus stuff. On top of the base game itself, you'll also get the ultimate music pack (which includes three original remixes), the metallic pack (which will give you gold and silver gloves and shoes for customization), in-game player icons themed on the Sonic movie, additional exclusive player icons, and a special lightning effect from the movie to customize Sonic's boost. The Digital Deluxe Edition will cost $44.99, while the standard edition will cost $39.99.

PRE-ORDER BONUSES

sonic colors ultimate

As you may have guessed, pre-ordering Sonic Colors: Ultimate will give you certain special bonuses as well. If you pre-order the standard edition, you'll get a couple of things that are otherwise only included in the Digital Deluxe Edition, such as the electric lightning boost from the movie and the exclusive player icons. Meanwhile, if you pre-order the Digital Deluxe Edition, you'll get early access to the game on September 3, four days ahead of its global launch on September 7.

Embracer Group Acquires Ghost Ship Games, 3D Realms, Slipgate Ironworks and More

The Embracer Group has completed a new wave of acquisitions and the overall range is fairly extensive. It includes Easy Trigger, 3D Realms, Slipgate Ironworks, Force Field, Ghost Ship Games, Grimfrost, CrazyLabs and DigixArt. Easy Trigger is known for action platformer Huntdown and will be joining Coffee Stain to "boost the development of first party IP within the group." It will continue working on Huntdown along with creating new indie titles.

Then there's Ghost Ship Games which is known for the co-op first person shooter Deep Rock Galactic. It will remain autonomous though Embracer and Coffee Stain will support it with "new game development projects." DigixArt is known for 11-11 Memories Retold and the upcoming Road 96 – it will remain independent under Koch Media.

3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks are interesting though. The former will with Saber Interactive going forward and has six new titles in the works, though CEO Mike Nielsen is setting down in favor of Frederik Schreiber. Slipgate (which is working on Graven) has been acquired for its "proven expertise in development, co-development and porting." It's been acquired under Saber Interactive, which means it should be working with the team going forward.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition Said To Have Performed Beyond Expectations

After a long absence, the beloved sci-fi RPG, Mass Effect, was confirmed to be continuing with a Mass Effect 4. While we have no idea when that will be or what it will look like, we did get a chance to revisit the franchise once again earlier in the year with Legendary Edition. The collection remastered the original trilogy and seems to have largely been well-received. It also seems to have done quite well for EA.

As detailed by analyst Daniel Ahmad on Twitter, in the latest conference call from the publisher, they specified that Legendary Edition had performed well above their internal expectations. There's not a lot of details there, so how many units that is or what those expectations were, but they clearly are happy with the performance. Considering how long the series was gone, and how much fond memories swirl around it and its choice-based storytelling, it should be no surprise.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

Deathloop Dev Says Game Would Not Be Possible On Previous Gen Hardware Without Sacrifice

It's had a few rocky bumps in the road, but next month we will finally be able to get our hands on Deathloop. The game is an interesting one, where you play a man stuck in a time loop who must eliminate all his targets at once to escape it. We've seen a lot of the game so far, and it's also going to a fully next gen exclusive on the console side being only available on the PS5 for at least a year in that space. Now the game's Director gives something of a hint as to why that is.

In the lastest issue of Play (July, issue 4), Dinga Bakaba spoke briefly about the game's design. While he did not say the game was out and out impossible on older hardware, he did say that with the ambition they had they felt it would be hard to do without significant sacrifice. His specific example was having to cut back the maps they have to two parts as opposed to the single experience they are now (big thanks to ResetERA user starfoxxxy for helping to transcribe).

"I don't think that we would have been able to preserve the level of ambition of this game were it not for the move to next-gen. It's always heartbreaking when you get to the end of a project, and you have to optimise things, and now you have to cut your map in half and you have to justify why it's in two parts."

Deathloop is set to release on September 14th for PlayStation 5 and PC. You can check out the content for the game's pre-order and Deluxe Edition through here.

New World Delayed to September 28th

Amazon Game Studios' New World has been delayed. Instead of releasing on August 31st for PC, it's now slated for September 28th. The game's official Twitter notes the feedback received from the recent closed beta and how it will be used to make the experience "even better."

"We want New World's launch to be a smooth and fun experience for all players, and that means some improvements based on what you encountered during closed beta." The next few weeks will be used to quash any bugs, improve stability and provide more polish. Though this isn't the first time the title has been delayed – which the development team acknowledges – it wants to deliver the "highest quality game possible at launch."

New World had proven fairly popular during its closed beta, crossing 200,000 concurrent players at launch. However, there were complaints of various bugs, not to mention issues with the combat that still need to be sorted out. Whether all of this can be addressed in the coming weeks remains to be seen so stay tuned.

Announced in September 2016, New World is an MMORPG set on the fictitious island of Aeternum which players end up ship-wrecked on. There are three factions to join – Marauders, Syndicate and Covenant, each vying for control of various territories (which players can subsequently wage war over). Along the way, more details on the island and the civilization that resided on it, known as The Ancients, will be revealed.