Author: Game Infliction

Microsoft has announced the full list of games coming day one with Xbox Game Pass Core tomorrow, September 14.

Xbox Game Pass Core, which has replaced Xbox Live Gold, includes 36 games to play on Xbox Series X and S and Xbox One. There’s a mix of games from Microsoft’s first-party developers, Bethesda games, and a smattering of third-party titles.

Here’s the list in full:

• Among Us
• Astroneer
• Celeste
• Dead Cells
• Descenders
• Dishonored 2
• Doom Eternal Standard Edition
• Fable Anniversary
• Fallout 4
• Fallout 76
• Firewatch
• Forza Horizon 4 Standard Edition
• Gang Beasts
• Gears 5 Game of the Year Edition
• Golf with your Friends
• Grounded
• Halo 5: Guardians
• Halo Wars 2
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
• Human Fall Flat
• Inside
• Limbo
• Ori & the Will of the Wisps
• Overcooked! 2
• Payday 2: Crimewave Edition
• Powerwash Simulator
• Psychonauts 2
• Slay the Spire
• Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition
• Stardew Valley
• State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition
• Superliminal
• The Elder Scrolls Online
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
• Unpacking
• Vampire Survivors

Game Pass Core grants access to online console multiplayer, deals, and discounts, as well as the Free Play Days promotion. It costs $10 a month or $60 a year. Microsoft said it plans to update the Game Pass Core library two or three times a year. The full library is available with other Game Pass memberships.

In July, Game Pass got its first price rise since its original launch six years ago. Xbox Game Pass rose by a dollar, from $9.99 to $10.99 monthly (Core now takes the $9.99 price tag). Ultimate rose two dollars to $16.99 a month. PC Game Pass remained $9.99 a month.

The price rise and now this launch of Game Pass Core come after Xbox boss Phil Spencer’s admission Game Pass growth is slowing and has the potential to cannibalize sales. Game Pass has been under the microscope since its inception, with Xbox trumpeting it as a new distribution paradigm and PlayStation boss Jim Ryan claiming publishers don’t like it. Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick isn’t a fan, either, which sets up an interesting debate now Microsoft is set to seal its $69 billion buyout of the Call of Duty maker.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Mortal Kombat 1 will launch without crossplay.

A tweet from the official Mortal Kombat account signalled that the feature is still coming, but won’t arrive until some point following the fighting game’s release on September 14.

“Launch is just around the corner and we can’t wait for everyone to sink their teeth into #MK1,” reads the tweet. “Regarding Kross-Play, it will not be available at launch, but know we are hard at work at implementing the feature into the game and it will be koming post launch.”

Launch is just around the corner and we can’t wait for everyone to sink their teeth into #MK1. Regarding Kross-Play, it will not be available at launch, but know we are hard at work at implementing the feature into the game and it will be koming post launch. pic.twitter.com/M8Kvi4QkMe

— Mortal Kombat 1 (@MortalKombat) September 12, 2023

Crossplay has been a ‘will it or won’t it’ feature for Mortal Kombat 1, with a listing on the game’s Steam page popping up before being deleted. Developer NetherRealm has yet to confirm which platforms will see crossplay, but the hope is PC and console players will be able to play together in one pool. Mortal Kombat 11 had crossplay between PlayStation and Xbox consoles only, but more recent fighting games, such as Street Fighter 6, has crossplay across all platforms.

This week, publisher Warner Bros. Games released the Mortal Kombat 1 launch trailer, which revealed Reiko and Shang Tsung gameplay.

Mortal Kombat 1 launches September 14 for those with early access from the Premium Edition, and on September 19 for everyone else. As with previous games in the series, Mortal Kombat 1’s Shang Tsung is a pre-order bonus.

For more information, check out the recent reveal that series veteran Nitara is joining the roster (and is voiced by actress Megan Fox), our interview with development chief Ed Boon at gamescom last month, and the live-action trailer featuring Dave Bautista, which pays homage to the iconic Mortal Monday TV commercial.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

In recent years, Apple has shifted more and more focus to adding gaming-centric features to its hardware, mostly on Mac computers. The Apple Wonderlust Event confirmed the iPhone 15 Pro is joining in, with the next Apple flagship smartphone set to receive native versions of AAA games including Resident Evil Village, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and more in the coming months.

In an off-hand demo attended by IGN, Resident Evil Village ran natively on the iPhone 15 Pro at a stable 30 frames per second. The fact that Resident Evil Village, a game released a little over two years ago, is running natively on a smartphone and is not a cloud version or a watered-down version of the game is nothing short of impressive. While we did not get confirmation on the resolution, the textures and visual fidelity looked impressive.

Alongside confirmation of 30FPS, we also learned Resident Evil Village, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Death Stranding, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage are universal purchases. If you buy the iPhone 15 Pro version of these games, you can also run them on iPads, and in the case of Resident Evil Village and Death Stranding, you can run them on Macs. But there is a caveat: the iOS versions, which are exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro, only run on iPads/Macs that have Apple Silicon (e.g., M1 chip or newer).

Resident Evil Village, Resident Evil 4 Remake, and Death Stranding are slated to launch on iPhone 15 Pro later this year, while Assassin’s Creed Mirage arrives sometime in the first half of 2024. If you want more information on the iPhone 15 Pro, check out our hands-on with the next Apple flagship. Check out our Everything Announced post to learn more about what was announced at yesterday’s hardware event.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

In some big Sims news today, EA has confirmed that The Sims 5, codenamed Project Rene, will be “free to download when it’s ready.”

“This means that when Project Rene is ready and fully open to players, you will be able to join, play and explore it without a subscription, core game purchase or energy mechanics,” EA elaborated in a blog post today during a new Behind the Sims presentation. “We want playing to be super easy for you to invite or join friends and experience new features, stories and challenges.”

The blog post went on to say that the next Sims game won’t replace The Sims 4, but that the two will exist “side by side”: “We will continue to support both at the same time and will plan to bring more exciting content to The Sims 4 community for the foreseeable future,” it added.

EA further clarified that Project Rene “won’t begin with everything you have in The Sims 4,” but they “plan to add new experiences and content to Project Rene over time.” Unsurprisingly, EA still plans to sell DLC for Project Rene, but promises to switch it up a bit.

“For example, basic weather may be added to the core game for free, for everybody,” EA continued. “And in the future, a pack for purchase may be focused on winter sports with activities like ice dancing or a snowman building competition.”

The news doesn’t come as a huge shocker, as EA previously posted a job listing that called Project Rene “free-to-enter.” Still, it is the company’s first official confirmation that it’ll be free at launch, along with the fact that it won’t replace The Sims 4. And while The Sims 4 wasn’t free to play at its 2014 launch, it has been since October 2022, which is also when EA first teased the next generation of Sims.

We still don’t have a release date for The Sims 5 – or Project Rene, whichever you prefer – but EA said today it’s still in the “early stages” of development.

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.