Sony rolled out a new firmware update to PS5 owners worldwide this morning. The new firmware, version 21.02-04.02.00, is the first incremental update to follow on from the console's major summer release.
That firmware also brought with it a redesign to the Trophies page, streamlined the Game Base, and made it possible to further customise the control center. Usually, big firmware releases like that are followed by smaller, incremental updates that address any issues that might have been introduced.
The problem with releasing narrative content that fits into a certain point of the game, months after the game's release, is placing the puzzle piece into an already completed puzzle. We've already tackled Wasteland 3's family affair. Our party is geared up, they've seen it all. It's an awkward situation Steel Town finds itself in, […]
November 15 will mark 20 years of gaming together! Fans helped shape what Xbox is today and we can't wait to see what the next 20 years will bring. Today, we celebrate our history together with the 20th Anniversary Special Edition Xbox Wireless Controller and 20th Anniversary Special Edition Xbox Stereo Headset – launching November […]
Randy Pitchford has been largely involved in some of Gearbox Software's most popular games – namely, Bulletstorm and the Borderlands franchise. With the announcement of the Borderlands movie, Gearbox is pivoting towards expanding its transmedia horizons. Consequently, Pitchford announced that he is stepping down from the Software team to focus on film and television projects as President of Gearbox Studios, albeit temporarily. Pitchford might not be directly involved in video game development anymore, but he remains the company's CEO. Chief Technology Officer Steve Jones will be filling Pitchford's shoes.
Congratulations to Steve Jones, who I have recently promoted to become President of Software at The Gearbox Entertainment Company. Attached is a diagram of the high level organization chart along with excerpts from my internal staff letter announcing the promotion. pic.twitter.com/4FeX94SIW2
In a Twitter post, Randy Pitchford congratulated Jones on his promotion and posted company organization diagrams and internal staff excerpts for extra context behind the personnel shift:
"If you are currently working with me on any creative level, nothing will change. My experience and institutional knowledge with our brands and franchises will continue to be at the disposal of our projects through the existing interfaces and touchpoints we have been using … Finally, I will be working to develop and grow our new Gearbox Studios business unit. I hope, before too long, that I can construct a self-driven small team there that includes a new President of Gearbox Studios that will drive our transmedia efforts."
What's next for Gearbox outside of the upcoming Borderlands movie? Well … more Borderlands, of course! Tiny Tina's Wonderlands chronicles the fantastical journey of the titular 13-year old as she slices and shoots her way through dangerous dungeons. You'll meet butt stallions - yes, that's what they're called - and fire-spitting dragons throughout the adventure. The world constantly evolves and changes to suit Tina's zany imagination, so players will indeed be in for a wild ride. "For me, bringing actual Borderlands guns to fight dragons, skeletons, goblins, and more in an original fantasy world imagined by the galaxy's deadliest 13-year-old, Tiny Tina, as a new, full-featured triple-A video game is a dream come true," Pitchford said in a press release when the game was announced.
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands launches for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on March 25.
The Pokémon series turned 25 years old earlier this year, and The Pokémon Company has pulled out all the stops to celebrate the milestone anniversary. From an album featuring new music from world-famous talent like Katy Perry, J. Balvin, and Post Malone to new anniversary merchandise, the Pokémon series has been ushering in its 25th birthday with style. The Pokémon Trading Card Game joined in the festivities, announcing a special Celebrations collection that's sure to be highly sought after.
The Celebrations line of products gives players a chance to revisit the various eras of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. The cards found in these bundles are some of the most beloved and iconic cards from the TCG's long run. However, the booster packs are not sold individually, meaning you need to get them through special bundles. While you can grab unique Celebrations collections featuring foil promo cards of Pokémon like Lance's Charizard, Zacian, and Dragapult Prime, those only include either two or four Celebrations booster packs (along with a few booster packs from other recent expansions). The best ways to gather the most amount of booster packs from the Celebrations expansion are through the Elite Trainer Box (10 Celebrations booster packs) or the Pikachu VMAX Premium Figure Collection (8 Celebrations booster packs), which also comes with a Pikachu VMAX figure.
The Pokémon Company sent us a box of the Pokémon Trading Card Game Celebrations line for our typical galleries of the coolest cards we pulled from booster packs. However, since booster packs are not sold individually for this commemorative expansion, the company sent over a sampling of the ways people can purchase the bundle-only booster packs.
You can see some unboxing images of the various bundles in the gallery below.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
Each bundle features a mix of Pokémon TCG Celebrations booster packs and booster packs from other recent expansions, such as Chilling Reign, Darkness Ablaze, Vivid Voltage, and Battle Styles. The cards we're focusing on in the gallery you see below are the ones pulled specifically from the Celebrations booster packs found in these bundles.
The cards in the Celebrations packs are largely reprints and remakes of popular cards from classic Pokémon TCG expansions, but with a special anniversary logo and holographic upgrades. I was excited to see the iconic original Charizard was included in the list of reprints, but I, unfortunately, did not pull it. Still, Gen 1 cards were the most prevalent in my experience. It's also worth noting that if you open a bunch of packs, you're likely to receive a ton of duplicates, given the low card count in this expansion.
You can see some of my favorite cards I pulled from the Celebrations expansion below.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
The first Pokémon Trading Card Game – Celebrations collections launch tomorrow, October 8, with others releasing throughout the rest of October. For more on the Pokémon Trading Card Game, including galleries of all the recent expansions, click on the image below to go to our dedicated hub.
To probably nobody's surprise, FIFA 22 has been a hit, with 9.1 million players joining the game since its launch on October 1.
This news comes from an EA press release, as reported by IGN, that also mentions the company is looking into changing the name of the long-running football series. EA says the FIFA name is separate from its other football-related licenses.
"As we look ahead, we're also exploring the idea of renaming our global EA Sports football games," the press release reads. "This means we're reviewing our naming rights agreement with FIFA, which is separate from all our official partnerships and licenses across the football world."
Of course, nothing could come of it, but it's interesting nonetheless that EA is considering changing the name of one of its best-selling franchises. However, fans of the FIFA games are likely to follow the franchise, whatever its name might become.
EA's other partnerships and licenses in the football world for its FIFA games include UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, CONMEBOL Libertadores, Premier League, Bundesliga, and LaLiga Santander, and more.
"Through years of building our global franchise, we know that authenticity is essential to the experience," EA writes in the press release. "That's why we focus so much energy on the collective strength of over 300 individual licenses partners that give us access to 17,000+ athletes across 700+ teams, in 100 stadiums, and over 30 leagues around the world."
While EA didn't touch on sales numbers specifically in today's news, it did mention some stats that indicate FIFA 22 is on track to be as successful as basically every other FIFA game released in years prior. More specifically, since its launch, FIFA 22 has seen "9.1 million players join the game, 7.6 million Ultimate Team squads created, and 460 million matches played."
Poland is a hotbed for game development, with a large number of companies big and small making their mark on the industry. King's Pleasure is another new studio based in Krakow, with its team boasting credits including Cyberpunk 2077, Serial Cleaner and Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York; its debut title, Cosmic, looks quite intriguing.
On the one hand a 2D action platformer isn't the rarest of beast nowadays, and aspects of its design (at least what is shown in the announcement trailer) brings to mind a much darker take on Guacamelee-style combat.
Metroid Dread! Disco Elysium - The Final Cut! Tetris Effect: Connected!
The latest Nintendo Download update for North America has arrived, and it's bringing new games galore to the eShop in your region. As always, be sure to drop a vote in our poll and comment down below with your potential picks for the week. Enjoy!
Switch eShop - Highlights
Metroid Dread (8th October, $59.99) - Suit up as intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran and battle your way out from the depths of a mysterious alien world plagued by a mechanical menace. While you investigate a mysterious transmission that shows the lethal X Parasite, you'll need to avoid the nightmarish E.M.M.I. – Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifiers. These agile robots won't hesitate to destroy you … and they're just one of the many dangers you'll face. Hunt or be hunted as you make your way to the surface through a labyrinth of enemies in Samus' most intense side-scrolling adventure yet. The Metroid Dread game will be available on Oct. 8. - Read our Metroid Dread review.
Yesterday, we published our review of the Switch OLED, the latest hardware iteration of Nintendo's incredibly popular hybrid gaming platform. Boasting a gorgeous 7-inch OLED panel and a revised dock, it's an upgrade that improves on the original design in many meaningful ways – apart from one.
As we noted in the review, the game card slot has been changed on the OLED model. The small notch present on the 2017 design and the Switch Lite – which allowed your fingertip to grip the edge of the plastic flap which covers the slot – has been removed, and in its place, we have a very, very thin gap that runs the length of the flap's edge.
The latest Nintendo Download update for Europe has arrived, and it's bringing new games galore to the eShop in your region.As always, be sure to drop a vote in our poll and comment down below with your potential picks for the week. Enjoy!
Switch Retail eShop - New Releases
Knockout Home Fitness(£34.99 / €39.99) - Kick your workout up a notch! Grab a Joy-Con™ in each hand and get ready to achieve great results with martial arts workouts developed specifically for the Nintendo Switch™. Exercises designed by experts for maximum efficiency, based on strikes not just from boxing, but also Muay Thai, karate and kung-fu, all to keep you fighting fit! - Read our Knockout Home Fitness review
We've seen some twee stuff here in the Nintendo Life zeppelin, but Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan may be the twee-est thing ever created by human hands. It's so ruddy twee that it might as well have been coded by the Teletubbies, all crowded 'round Po's little belly computer trying to punch in line after line of Python, ultimately resulting in his painful death by bludgeoning.
But that's all irrelevant. The point is, Rainbow Billy is so twee that it makes Walter the Softy go "oof, this is a bit twee, isn't it?" Therefore, it needs to be a lot of fun to counterbalance the sugary-sweetness, lest one's teeth deign to rot. Thankfully, it is quite a lot of fun, though there are some caveats.
Ask any Super Monkey Ball fan to talk about their favourite part of the series, and you'll likely hear the words 'Monkey Target' come flying out of their mouth before you've even had a chance to finish the question. There's a reason the minigame's so popular – because it's just so good.
So imagine then, if you would, a game that takes Monkey Target's fundamental ideas and transforms them into a full experience, complete with fresh takes on Monkey Ball's iconic gameplay and a charming city pop soundtrack. That thing you've just imagined is Bonito Days, and it's launching on Switch on 14th October.
Röki is a multi-award winning adventure game inspired by Scandinavian folklore, and arrives on PlayStation 5 on October 28. Set in the stunning, snow-capped wilderness, you play Tove.
This week's Nintendo Download includes the following content: Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch Metroid Dread – Suit up as intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran and battle your way out from the depths of a mysterious alien world plagued by a mechanical menace. While you investigate a mysterious transmission that shows the lethal X Parasite, you'll need […]
The latest edition of Japanese gaming magazine Weekly Famitsu has arrived with subscribers and this week's edition contains five reviews. The highest-reviewed game this week is The Idolmaster: Starlit Season which received a high score of 37/40 with the the four reviewers giving it one perfect ten and three nines. The lowest scores this week are […]
November 15 will mark 20 years of gaming together! Fans helped shape what Xbox is today and we can't wait to see what the next 20 years will bring. Today, we celebrate our history together with the 20th Anniversary Special Edition Xbox Wireless Controller and 20th Anniversary Special Edition Xbox Stereo Headset – launching November […]
As much as I adore Valheim, I'm getting a tad bored of my Viking. Once you create your avatar for the proving grounds of Valhalla, you're more or less stuck with them. Such limitations rarely prove an obstacle for modders, though, with one of them bringing in some familiar faces from The Witcher 3 to freshen up the place.
SiennaMisa's The Witcher Characters in Valheim mod lets you play as Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer, or Triss. Once you have everything set up, taking on their appearance is wonderfully simple. All you have to do is create a new character and call them - you guessed it - Geralt, Ciri, Triss, or Yennefer. If you want to change the appearance of a current character, though, you'll need to rename the VRM file of the Viking to who you want to look like.
If you do want to give this mod a whirl, it's worth noting a few things. You'll need to download Valheim VRM to get it working, and your pals will need the mod installed, too, otherwise they won't see your Witcher 3 character. Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer, and Triss also stick to their given outfits, so their appearance won't change when you slap on some new duds - sorry, no wolf cloak for Geralt.
If you're just getting started with PC gaming and aren't sure how to build a gaming PC, then prebuilts are a great place to start, with a large variety of available options sure to cater to your budget. Even veteran PC builders can benefit from a ready-made PC's convenience, as you don't have to search through compatibility lists or twiddle your thumbs for multiple component deliveries. We've put together a list of the best gaming PC deals ahead of Black Friday, whatever your previous experience, to help you level up your gaming performance.
Given how much gaming PCs can cost, it's important to understand what the most crucial components are for your gaming needs. For example, the best graphics cards are an absolute must if you're bagging yourself one of the best gaming monitors with 4K resolution and high refresh rates. However, if you're planning on streaming or video editing in addition to gaming, then you might want to consider making the best gaming CPU a high priority.
Then there's other niceties such as SSDs, which can offer improved loading times over hard drives but you should consider how much storage space you need for all your games and those enormous Call of Duty: Warzone updates.
While there's no word yet of a Rainbow Six Siege Year 6 Season 4 release date, some details appear to be emerging ahead of its arrival. A dataminer has shared some info that could give us a good idea of the FPS game's next operator - and it sounds like they're going to be a real mix of Rainbow Six Siege operators Kapkan and Ela.
Dataminer Benjaminstrike, who previously correctly indicatedFlores' arrival and gear and Year Six Season 1's name, Crimson Heist, ahead of time, has posted some info about Siege's new Year 6 Season 4 op. on Twitter. First up, it sounds like she - yep, it looks like she'll be a female character - is a defender. This season's operator Osa is an attacker, so having a defender inbound makes sense as that'll help keep the roster balanced. It also appears she'll be called Thorn, going by another of the dataminer's posts (below), which additionally reveals some details about her gadget and playstyle.
The new operator will have a "throwable proximity-activated gadget called the Razorbloom Shell" which will stick to any surface, the dataminer says. When an attacking op. triggers its sensor this shell turns red and, after a short delay, "explodes into many high-velocity projectiles", with damage dealt being based on proximity to its blast radius.
Obsidian's Honey I Shrunk The Kids 'em up survival sandbox Grounded is adding an actual sandbox this month, along with its first dungeon, and a big old pile of trash. This all arrives in the Hot and Hazy update on October 20th, which will give players new places to explore and new creepy crawlies to fight. It's also revamping an existing biome, and you can try it all out right now on a test branch if you fancy.
Want to know about Supremos and their special abilities in Far Cry 6? Supremos are among the most powerful pieces of equipment you can find in Far Cry 6. Not only do they allow you to use throwable gadgets like grenades and throwing knives, but they also give you access to some very powerful special abilities. But not all the Supremos are easy to get your hands on.
Below we'll talk about each of the seven Supremo backpacks in Far Cry 6, how to get them, and the special abilities each one unlocks. Keep an eye out in particular for the last Supremo on this list, because it's pretty much the most powerful weapon in the game.
New World, the pirate-themed MMORPG from Amazon Games that lets you wage war against other players for territory, has completely consumed and upended my life. In the past week, I have done nothing but play New World. And when I wasn't playing it, I was either talking or writing about it or watching a stream […]
Far Cry 6 is yet another open-world Ubisoft game that runs way better on max settings than I expected it to. Well, it's better optimized than Watch Dogs: Legion, at least. This is a gigantic, beautiful game, which is a statement that can be applied to every other game in the series (except maybe the second one). It's also got an HD texture pack that's just as big as the entire default install. But, you might want to hold off on bothering with that unless things change soon. Let's take a look at the specs: Minimum: CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 1200 – 3.1 GHz / Intel i5-4460 – 3.2 GHz GPU: AMD RX 460 (4 GB) / Nvidia GTX 960 (4 GB) RAM: 8 GB Recommended: CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X (3.8 GHz) / Intel i7-7700 (3.6 GHz) or higher GPU: AMD RX VEGA64 (8 GB) / Nvidia GTX 1080 (8 GB) or higher RAM: 16 GB Reviewer: CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 2600X GPU: AMD RX 5700 XT RAM: 16 GB My CPU's a bit worse than the recommended level and my GPU's better, so it's no surprise the game runs...
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Season Six is here. An array of new content has made its debut with new multiplayer maps, operators, and the highly anticipated final zombies map, Forsaken, present. As always, some new weapons have been added to the battle pass too. One of these weapons is the Grav assault rifle, which you can get your hands on for free at tier 31. Attachments are essential though, and this Black Ops Cold War class will focus on making the Grav more versatile by improving its most important aspects, like damage range. Also, the Grav has some noticeable recoil, which you can improve to make the weapon easier to control. Black Ops Cold War attachments for the Grav assault rifle Muzzle: Agency Suppressor Barrel: 18.7" Takedown Underbarrel: Field Agent Grip Handle: Airborne Pistol Grip Optic: Microflex LED To begin, it's worth equipping the Agency Suppressor Muzzle for a boost to your vertical recoil control and muzzle flash concealment. Pairing this with...
Season Six of Call of Duty in 2021 has arrived. As always, the latest season is packed with content in both Black Ops Cold War and Warzone. A new (old) assault rifle known as the Grav is available to unlock for free once you reach tier 31 of the battle pass, and levelling it up in Warzone will unlock its best attachments. Overall, the Grav is a strong weapon in Verdansk '84 and on Rebirth Island. However, the weapon does have some recoil to it. Therefore, this build will primarily focus on reducing the recoil, while maximizing some of the assault rifle's best features. Warzone attachments for the Grav assault rifle Muzzle: Agency Suppressor Barrel: 21.3" Task Force Underbarrel: Field Agent Grip Optic: Axial Arms 3x Magazine: 50 Round First up, the Agency Suppressor Muzzle adds many benefits to your Grav in Warzone. Apart from keeping your shots hidden from the mini map, you will experience added vertical recoil control, bullet velocity, and effective damage rang...
This week's European Nintendo Downloads are as follows: Switch Retail Knockout Home Fitness LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Metroid Dread Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania Switch Download AAA Clock AmaneSwitch Balloon Pop: Learning Games for Preschool Kids & Toddlers – Learn numbers, letters, shapes and colors in 14 languages Bouncy Bullets 2 Business Tour Deluxe Creepy Tale 2...
Square Enix and Eidos Montreal are back with a new video for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy ahead of its release this month that puts the focus on Cosmo the space dog. The cutscene highlights an interaction with the character and the Guardians. The cutscene takes place within Cosmo's base on Knowhere. He chases his tail, plays fetch and growls...
Kathy Rain, a point-and-click mystery adventure game from 2016, is now making its way to Switch as part of a new Director's Cut from Raw Fury and Clifftop Games. The title is slated for October 26. Here's an introduction to the game: Kathy Rain follows a burgeoning journalist as she investigates the mysterious death of her grandfather. Set during the...
It's time for the latest North American Nintendo Download report for the week of October 7, 2021. The latest releases include Metroid Dread, Disco Elysium: The Final Cut, Gang Beasts, Tetris Effect: Connected, and more. Here's the full lineup: Switch Retail Darksiders III – $39.99 Metroid Dread – $59.99 (available October 8) Monster Crown – $29.99 (available October 12) RiMS...
The latest Japanese hardware sales from Famitsu are as follows: Switch – 32,086 PS5 – 11,041 Switch Lite – 8,377 Xbox Series S – 2,763 PS4 Digital Edition – 1,781 Xbox Series X – 1,372 PS4 – 933 New 2DS LL – 474 For comparison's sake, here are the hardware numbers from last week: Switch – 36,294 PS5 – 22,545...
Studio Somewhere has announced Bonito Days, "a multiplayer game with a City Pop inspired soundtrack, designed to transport you back to those lazy summer days when life was less stressful." It will launch exclusively for Switch on October 14. Here's an overview of the game: Experience chill summer vibes, relax to a City Pop inspired soundtrack, and take to the...
Publisher Feardemic and developer King's Pleasure today unveiled Cosmic, an action adventure game for Switch set in a multilayered universe where light and shadow dictate its metaphysical rules. It will be available in 2022. Here's an overview of the game: In Cosmic, the player controls Vik, a seemingly cute yet mischievous small being whose sole and best friend is his...
Yesterday, we covered claims that a hacker had yoinked 125GB of data from Twitch and dumped it into the wild, where it was leaked to 4chan as revenge on the Twitch community in order to "foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space" – a weird flex that managed to ensnare and […]
Will October turn into the Month of Elyon? No doubt that Kakao dearly hopes so as the MMO nears its headstart and launch dates. To help generate a bit more hype for this free-to-play action MMO, the studio posted nine tracks from its official score to get players in the mood. "This soundtrack will immerse […]
So New World appears to be Amazon Games' first success after two major stumbles. Is it going to be its last? Amazon CEO Andy Jassy hopes not. At the GeekWire Summit earlier this week, he argued that games could become the largest entertainment business within the sprawling company – not an insignificant ask, given the […]
We may not be the railway buffs that Train Sim World is fully aimed at, but we just love what Dovetail Games have done with the franchise over the years. With the introduction of the latest Rush Hour - London Commuter content, it's about to get better still.
Due to launch on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and PC in 2022, Cosmic comes from those at Feardemic and King's Pleasure to ask a simple question - what would you do if your shadow was self-aware and decided to abandon you?
On November 1, 2021, the company that teaches the science behind sports will launch a new subscription model of its innovative curricula for use at home by kids ...
NEW YORK, Oct. 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sportradar (NASDAQ: SRAD) ... behind-the-scenes video, game highlights, original programming, and press ...
Johnson talks about the new season, Clemson football and theater. Tamia Boyd. Greenville News. Kevin L. Johnson wanted to program video games before finding a ...