Latest Articles (Page 606)

Elden Ring finally stepped out of the shadows with a proper trailer and several chunky interviews during E3 week, but one person we hadn't heard from on the subject was, of course, George R.R. Martin. The Game of Thrones author has been involved in some of the writing for Elden Ring, and now we've finally heard a little more about his contributions from the man himself.

There's a melancholy to Backbone. Like a stale perfume, it permeates everything - the environments, the weather, the dialogue, the music, the story, even the characters' names. It's not out of place, exactly, because at first it fits this pixel-perfect, "post-noir" detective tale, but later, when that tale takes an astonishing and inexplicable turn, it feels disingenuous. A long-con, even. Because what Backbone purports to be is very different to what it really is in the end.

World of Warcraft Shadowlands' Chains of Domination update comes out on 29th June, Blizzard has announced.

Amazon Australia has revealed Bowser's Airship, the next big addition to Lego's Super Mario range (thanks, TheBrickFan).

Call of Duty: Warzone Season 4 launched yesterday, and with it brought a new vehicle - and the return of an old exploit.

Southern Gothic always feels a bit voyeuristic to me, which is probably because it's actually American Southern Gothic, and I'm not American. It's a deep and personal genre, wedded closely to the specifics of a big, sparsely populated place. But it's also so universal: the surface is swampland, rust, Mississippi river, but the substance is pure humanity. History, power, morality. Fear and listlessness and creeping alienation. So: voyeuristic. A world of very personal suffering that I'm viewing from the outside.

Xbox Design Lab was temporarily suspended last October while Microsoft worked on transitioning between console generations, but the custom controller service is back - allowing you to design your own Series X/S controller.

For Digital Foundry, this was one of the biggest highlights of this year's Xbox E3 showcase - and quite possibly, the show as a whole. No CG trailers, no empty title announcements, but real meat: an authentic in-game showcase demonstrating that Playground Games is set to deliver a true next-gen driving experience for Xbox Series consoles and suitably equipped PCs - and we don't have that long to wait either: we'll be playing Forza Horizon 5 from November 22nd this year.

Microsoft has confirmed the final two launch civilisations for Age of Empires 4.

Sea of Thieves' next major free update is packing in one hell of a crossover, bringing the world of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean into Rare's swashbuckling multiplayer adventure. And if the arrival of Captain Jack Sparrow wasn't enough to be excited about, it's also finally giving the formidable kraken a face - which makes an appearance in a brand-new trailer.

Flight Simulator is primed to make its highly anticipated Xbox Series X/S debut in just over a month, but, before that, there's another huge World Update for PC players, arriving today and giving makeovers to the sim's rendition of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.

Ninja Theory has released a new video for Xbox exclusive Hellblade 2, and provided an update on its development.

I think I might need to replay A Plague Tale: Innocence, but that's okay because it is a brilliant game.

If you were wondering just how popular PUBG is on mobile, the answer is: very, as 17 million people have now signed up for upcoming mobile title PUBG: New State.

Overcooked! 2 is free to download from the Epic Games Store.

Perhaps not one of the biggest, but one of the most pleasant surprises of E3 2021 was the unveiling of Forza Horizon 5 in a relatively substantial gameplay demo during the Xbox showcase - with a November 2021 release date to boot. It was a given that this enormously polished and entertaining open-word driving series by Playground Games would return, but we didn't know when; for its first four entries it had been on a strict biennial schedule, but the UK-set Forza Horizon 4 has now been entertaining people for almost three years with little sign of flagging, thanks to a well-judged and assiduously maintained weekly and monthly update schedule, as well as easy accessibility on Game Pass on both Xbox and PC.

Well, another Cyberpunk 2077 patch has arrived, and although this one doesn't bring any spectacular gameplay additions it does promise further bug fixes and stability improvements.

Pokémon Unite, the upcoming free-to-play MOBA from Tencent's TiMi Studios, launches on Nintendo Switch in July. Unite's mobile version then follows in September, The Pokémon Company announced today.

Sony has launched a PlayStation 5 beta program ahead of the console's next major system update, scheduled for later this year.

Nintendo's upcoming Metroid Dread will be accompanied by a pair of amiibo figurines you can buy in a pack for $30 (UPDATE: UK pricing has gone live at £25.99 on Amazon).

Five Nights at Freddy's creator Scott Cawthon has announced he is retiring, just days after a controversy erupted over his past donations to Republican candidates, including Donald Trump.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 may still be some way off - it's now "aiming" for a 2022 launch - but Nintendo has given fans plenty to pick over in its E3 Direct trailer.

While there was plenty to get excited about in Nintendo's busy E3 showcase, one notable absence came in the form of No More Heroes 3 - the latest entry in developer Grasshopper Manufacture's cult-classic action-adventure series - which is coming to Switch in just a few short months. However, Nintendo has now made up for that no-show, sharing 20 minutes of new gameplay in a special Nintendo Treehouse livestream.

Nintendo's E3 2021 Direct saw it reward patient fans with the long-awaited return of franchises like WarioWare and Advance Wars, and (after much teasing) eventually show more Breath of the Wild 2. But perhaps its most astonishing announcement was of Metroid Dread - a project even the most patient Metroid fans gave up on over a decade ago.

It sounds like a dystopian nightmare, yet it's fast becoming a reality: Facebook has announced it's going to start testing in-headset VR adverts.

Tetris Effect's multiplayer gets an expansion this summer.

Microsoft has announced a few games hitting Xbox Game Pass in early June.

Call of Duty: Warzone has become the first PlayStation 4 backwards compatible game to support 120hz on PlayStation 5.

I've been comparing my body to Candy Crush a lot lately. It's been a funny old time. See, I haven't been very well for a while. No, it's not that ailment although I wouldn't recommend being fairly seriously ill with anything during a pandemic. It makes everything much harder. No, it turns out that I have a chronic medical condition called endometriosis - a condition almost as baffling as it is to spell and say.

I am smitten! Terra Nil has rocked my world. And I tell you what: I would never have expected it from the maker of BroForce. I love that game dearly, but it's a reckless action game where heroes tear pixelated lands apart. This, on the other hand, Terra Nil, is a serene game about restoring them.