Category: Video Games

Xbox’s Grounded Is Getting A Physical Release On Switch, Pre-Orders Open

The final update “Fully Yoked” has also been detailed.

In case you missed it, Xbox is now releasing some of its games on other platforms. The next one coming to the Nintendo Switch is the survival and crafting multiplayer title Grounded on 16th April 2024.

Alongside the eShop release, Limited Run Games has announced it’s releasing a physical “Fully Yoked Edition” of the game for $39.99, with pre-orders now open until 28th April 2024. Limited Run will also be offering a Collectors Edition for $124.99 which comes with all sorts of goodies. Here’s a look at both versions up for grabs:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

More Sonic Game Rumours Surface Online After ‘Sonic Toys Party’ Leaks

Sonic Heroes on Switch’s successor is the latest claim.

Sonic the Hedgehog’s 3D platformer Sonic Heroes could reportedly be making a comeback in the future.

This latest rumour follows on from the blue blur’s recently leaked mobile game ‘Sonic Toys Party‘. This information stems from a report by Universo Nintendo, with the site claiming a remake could be in development for the Switch successor.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Get To Know Our Team: Shawn – 3rd Party Studio Support Specialist

Get To Know Our Team
Shawn
3rd Party Studio Support Specialist

Hi, everyone! Wynn here again. Welcome back to another Xbox Insider Team interview. Today we’re sitting down to talk with Shawn—a 3rd Party Studio Support Specialist on our team.

How’re we doing today, Shawn?

Feeling good Wynn. Excited for the interview.

Excellent! Let’s dive right in. Give the audience a little backstory.

Let’s see. I mean. I’ve been playing games my entire life. My parents got me started with an Apple //e where I was playing the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy text adventure.

Wow. That’s pretty OG.

Yeah, I had the monitors that were only green interface and everything.

I missed that initial wave of early computer gaming. The closest thing I have now are some Apple II floppies for a game called Nox Archaist that was made as if it was an old Apple II game.

It was a great system to start off on. I’ve moved through pretty much all of the systems over the years, but I think my favorite is still the Sega Genesis.

Ahh, you were the Sega kid on your block.

Absolutely. I did what Ninten-kids-don’t.

Haha. I think that joke still lands 30 years later.

The Genesis was just so cool. The games, the SoundBlaster, just a lot of cool tech. I still have my 32X and CD attachments hooked up.

The true Voltron of home consoles.

Exactly! It was brilliant. But I had pretty much every system up until the original Xbox launched. I remember going into my local GameStop and seeing the advertisements for Halo. I pre-ordered it, the console, and a memory unit on the spot.

Oh, so you were like, all in all in.

100%. I loved the original Xbox, the Duke, everything, and I’ve never really looked back. Been fully immersed in the ecosystem ever since. It’s funny. That trip to GameStop sort of kicked off my main professional career down the line.

Pray tell.

Well, I hung around that GameStop a lot just talking games, and at some point, the manager kind of looked at me and goes, “You kind of like already work here. Do you wanna actually work here and get paid?”

I started the next week.

I had a pretty similar onboarding to my GameStop career. I kept coming in all summer and when they finally had a position the manager asked me, “Tell me 5 games coming out this year,” and I told him the next five games. Hired on the spot.

Yeah, I ended up staying with GameStop for about four years. Slowly grinding myself up the ladder until I got to Store Manager. But I was looking around trying to figure out what’s next and I really like the idea of like “taking the show on the road”. So, I hit up some of the Xbox field reps and figured out which companies had Microsoft contracts.

I knew a few of the field reps back at my store too. They always seemed like they enjoyed the job.

It was a super fun gig. When I first started, they didn’t have a Microsoft position available, so I ended up doing brief stints selling tablets in Best Buy and dog food inside of PetSmart. But when an Xbox gig eventually opened up, I got to do a big Super Bowl event literally at the Super Bowl.

So, the wait was worth it, then?

Definitely. The job itself was great too. I’d drive around to all the GameStop’s, Fry’s, and Best Buy’s in my area and just make sure Xbox was being represented properly. When the Microsoft Stores opened, I would stop by there as well just to chat with everyone. Which is actually how I got my first role at Microsoft. I was chatting with the Store Manager, and he mentioned a new position was coming out called “Gaming Expert”. It’s like, of course, I’m going to apply for that.

Oh, I remember when Gaming Experts became a thing in stores. Really cool for community events.

Yeah, some of the tournaments we ran were a lot of fun. League of Legends, Gears, Halo. Lots of great memories from my time there. I rode that position until the stores closed in 2020.

Ahh, so you moved over to DSS along with Evie and Vanessa?

Yup! I was mostly focused on the education side of things, and then was one of the 10 lucky former retail employees selected for the Xbox CSM position.

It seems like those original 10 CSMs were a super tight knit group.

We kinda got put in the crucible a little bit, so we were brought together as we all made the move from retail to corporate life. Honestly, it’s one of my favorite things about my time since I joined Xbox. Seeing how all of us have grown—and continue to grow—in our various roles. It’s been personally really inspiring, and I’m really grateful to have worked with all of them.

That’s so heartwarming, man. I love it.

My next question was going to be about your favorite moment in time since joining, but I guess that about covers it.

Well, if you want a more discrete example, I have another tear-jerker from my time in retail. We did those League tournaments every weekend for like 18 months, right? Well, at one of the first ones, we have this son and dad come in a join a team. They were playing well together and doing like post-match analysis. The next day after the tournament, the dad comes back in and starts thanking us profusely for the opportunity. Apparently, his relationship with his son hadn’t been the best the last few years and the son wanted to come to the tournament. It was the first time they had connected like that in a long time. After that, I think they showed up every week until we stopped hosting them in-store.

Dude. That’s incredible. I’m about to tear up over here.

Stuff like that really solidified to me that we were doing good work in the stores, and that I wanted to continue in that sort of field where I could have that impact.

I had a few of those like “Oh, this is why we do this,” moments at retail as well. Some of them I still use to guide me today.

Speaking of, and this might be a bit of a whiplash segue, do you have a game that’s had that sort of foundational impact in your life?

Haha. No, perfect transition!

When I was younger it was easily all about Sonic. Even to this day, Sonic & Knuckles is just one of my favorite games of all time.

You can tell you were primarily a Genesis kid. I think you’re the first one who has mentioned Sonic.

I played Mario too! But something about the speed of the game and just the vibe I guess appealed to me more.

I grew up totally on the SNES but one thing that’s undoubtedly better on Genesis is the music. Like, Lava Reef Zone of Sonic & Knuckles 3 is one of my favorite tracks from that era. It’s up there with Down the Tubes from Earthworm Jim for me as just a showcase of the Genesis’s style and power.

Are you a purely retro guy or do you have any recent favorites?

Oh, my current gen pick is the Borderlands series. It doesn’t matter how many remasters, remakes, bundles, or whatever they have, I’m getting it. I don’t know what it is about watching multi-colored guns explode out of enemies, but I just cannot get enough.

Well, pivoting back to music for a moment, do you have a particular album or track that you jam out to?

I kinda go through phases of music where I’ll listen to like a lot of classic rock, or like right now a lot of EDM/techno influenced stuff. So, my favorite I’ve had on repeat lately has been Woman Worldwide by this group called Justice.

Oh yeah. I really like † by Justice. Their song “Let There Be Light” is phenomenal.

I’ve been partial to Heavy Metal x DVNO currently. The drop is sick. So yeah, that’s my current pick. But I can always listen to my all-time favs like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Gorillaz as well.

Fersure. Any favorite movies or shows?

I’m into more of the sci-fi angle, so I’ll throw on X-Files in the background sometimes. But, for a show or movie that I can just always watch no matter what, that would be Futurama and The Fifth Element.

Excellent choices. The Fifth Element is such a blast. Like that movie should absolutely not exist or have the star power it does, but I’m glad it does.

Right? The practical effects they were doing in the 90s on that are so mind blowing.

Top 10 movie easily.

It’s a movie that’s held up well too.

Let’s move outside of the realm of entertainment. What’re your hobbies that don’t include electricity?

One word: Dodgeball.

Like, if you can dodge a wrench?

The very one. It’s just been a passion of mine for a long time. I also collect all kinds of weird like non-official pressed coinage. So, like those flattened pennies, car wash coins, casino coins. Stuff like that.

I have a small coin collection too. I have every US penny back to like 1944 or something like that. All just entirely found through getting change. Never went out and actually “hunted” or anything.

Wow! That’s pretty sick.

Thanks! Well cool man. We’re about ready to wrap up.

I meant to ask earlier. I know you work on a lot of hush-hush projects, but is there anything you’re working on currently you can share with the Community?

Yeah, nothing directly that’s not under NDA unfortunately. But I hope that everyone has been enjoying the Partner Previews we’ve been doing. Lots of really cool stuff to come there.

Dude, the trailer for The Alters was SO sick from earlier this month.

Any last thoughts for the Xbox Insiders?

Mainly, just that I hope everyone is stoked for what’s coming in the future. Like, I think about when I first started out gaming and how almost secretive it was. Now, video games are the highest grossing industry in the world, and it’s completely pervaded pop-culture. The next few years are going to be incredible. Get ready for the ride.

That’s what we like to hear. Thanks so much for taking the time to chat, Shawn.

Anytime!

Xbox Insiders, be sure to be on the lookout for more content all throughout February including more interviews from the team, a trip down memory lane, and so much more. All of our 10th Anniversary content can be found on our Hub Page.

Until next time! Wynn/

The post Get To Know Our Team: Shawn – 3rd Party Studio Support Specialist appeared first on Xbox Wire.

World of Warcraft Subscription Numbers Are Higher Now Than at Expansion Launch in a Franchise First

It’s easy to roll your eyes and say that MMORPGs are dead if you, ya know, don’t play MMORPGs. But 20-year-old World of Warcraft still seems to have plenty of spring in its step, according to Warcraft general manager John Hight. Its latest expansion, Dragonflight, has more subscribers now than it did at launch, and one intrepid content creator thinks they may have extrapolated roughly how many: over 7 million.

Speaking at the Game Developers Conference, Hight explained that World of Warcaft historically has a very predictable pattern of subscriber churn. When an expansion comes out, there’s a surge in subscribers that slowly declines over the course of an expansion, with small bumps at each new patch. It hits a low point at the end of each expansion, then surges again when a new one is released. World of Warcraft: Classic disrupted the pattern somewhat by creating another series of peaks connected with its own releases. Hight described it as a “constant inflow and outflow” with “almost as many new players coming in as other players going out.”

However, something changed with World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. Initially, the game saw a predictable surge of players at launch, but as time went on, the falloff became increasingly pronounced as fans expressed their dislike of the expansion story and content. Then, when Dragonflight released, the surge in players wasn’t nearly as high as expected. “A lot of that was attributed to people losing their interest, and even in some cases their trust in us, during Shadowlands,” Hight said.

However, he continued, Blizzard responded by reaching out to the community and sifting through feedback, and over the course of Dragonflight, was able to turn things around. It helped that Dragonflight itself was well-received and largely course corrected many of Shadowlands’ biggest issues on its own. Its setting, tone, characters, and gameplay all directly addressed issues players had during Dragonflight, such as complaints about “borrowed power” and a distancing from the actual “World” of Warcraft. But Hight said the team took additional steps, such as sharing content roadmaps and increasing the cadence of updates, that kept players engaged. As a result, subscriber numbers continued to climb throughout Dragonflight rather than dip. And now, for the first time in World of Warcraft history, those numbers are higher than they were at expansion launch.

While Hight’s visual aid, pictured above, did not include specific subscriber numbers, one content creator thinks they’ve extrapolated actual rough numbers based on his squiggly lines. Bellular Warcraft shared a video over the weekend cross-referencing the last actual subscriber number reporting Blizzard gave (back in Legion) with other disclosed financial changes and Hight’s graph. Bellular’s estimates put current World of Warcraft subscriber numbers at roughly 7.25 million, after hitting a low of 4.07 million during Battle for Azeroth and 4.5 million during Shadowlands (a bit higher, with WoW: Classic helping out). Though none of this is exact science, it may not be far off. And it’s especially impressive given the game peaked in 2010 with 12 million subscribers during Wrath of the Lich King. For a game that’s been around 20 years, that’s wildly impressive.

Hight concludes his talk by sharing the lesson Blizzard learned from all this: it’s good to let your players be involved.

“These communities are deeply invested in the games, and they don’t want to leave your game,” he said. “Don’t give them a reason to leave. Give them a reason to stay. And community sentiment during Shadowlands was a real wake up call for us. What our players wanted had fundamentally changed, and we hadn’t recognized that. So we had to throw out our old playbook that had worked for us for 18 years, at that point. And now we’re crafting a new playbook, but our players are co-authoring with us.”

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Tetris Creator Reveals Sequel Prototype Called Tetris Reversed That Might Never See the Light of Day

In July of 2011, Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov and Vedran Klanac, a developer and CEO of Ocean Media, teamed up on prototyping a new version of Tetris that Pajitnov had dreamed up – and outlined in a PowerPoint presentation. Klanac programmed the game and Pajitnov provided feedback: They called it Tetris Reversed. In a panel at the Game Developers Conference 2024, they showed video of this prototype and described its gameplay. Very much a reversal of Tetris, the Tetrominoes (the universally recognized Tetris blocks) were used to eliminate a wall of blocks, not stack up.

A decade on, the creators said their game was stalled due to a collaborator, Martin de Ronde’s stymied efforts to move it along into full production. They didn’t elaborate, with Pajitnov saying, “We finished the job, but in this case production never started. The next stage never happened… Probably [de Ronde] had trouble with the Tetris company… At some point he gave up.” The Tetris Company, who Pajitnov is associated with, owns the rights to Tetris and associated things like Tetrominos. This game was created as a sort of side project and thus never found its way to a publishing track.

Reverse Tetris had many of the Tetris trappings, including the familiar blocks, a focus on score, and line deletion. Pajitnov is single minded and philosophical about his brand of satisfying game design: “I love so much line collapses. Such a pleasant effect in the original game,” he wistfully says. So he kept those. But it also differs in some key ways. For instance, you can hit a Reverse button to get yourself out of a pickle, which swaps all the completed blocks with incomplete ones, sort of like smashing the Hyperspace button in Asteroids. Also, according to Pajitnov, “Sometimes [clearing the field] is absolutely impossible,” so based on the roll of the blocks, a win condition is not guaranteed. They elaborated that an average game (for the handful of people that played it) is 10 minutes. The perfect game is possible with the right setup, where the entire board is cleared, but that has not been achieved by the devs.

“Sometimes [clearing the field] is absolutely impossible.

Unfortunately, we were not able to obtain video of the demo that was shown at GDC, but it will be archived on the GDC website. However, after capturing the minutes-long slice of gameplay shown in the session, Klanac commented: “After I played this [10 minute demo], I played another two hours,” emphasizing how hard it is to put down Tetris Reversed.

Reflecting on Tetris Reversed, Pajitnov says: “The fun factor is higher in (the original) Tetris than here. [Reversed] is a more cerebral game. Tetris allowed different kind of styles. You can choose your own style. In this case it’s rather straightforward strategy.” Yet, he added: “The learning curve… In my feeling it’s shorter than original Tetris.”

Samuel Claiborn is IGN’s managing editor and a fixes/breaks ancient arcade and pinball machines in his garage. TCELES B HSUP to follow him @Samuel_IGN on Twitter.

Ark: The Animated Series drops a surprise release, with Michelle Yeoh and Russell Crowe along for dino fun

Remember when Ark: Survival Evolved was announced to be getting an animated series with a star-studded cast including the likes of Michelle Yeoh, Russell Crowe, Elliot Page, David Tennant and Malcolm-bloody-McDowell? I sure didn’t! That was over three years ago during the heights of a worldwide pandemic, though, so I think we can forgive ourselves a little. Anyway, Ark: The Animated Series has now arrived out of the blue, dropping its first six episodes on streaming service Paramount+.

Read more

Guide: 65 Switch Games You Should Pick Up In Nintendo’s Blockbuster Sale (Europe)

Every Switch game on sale that we gave 9/10 or higher.

Get your pennies at the ready, folks, because Nintendo is back with yet another European Switch eShop sale.

Yes, the ‘Blockbuster Sale’ is now upon us, bringing a whole host of tasty discounts to over 1,000 eShop titles. This one kicked off on 25th March and is set to run until 7th April, so we all have a good bit of time to make the most of the savings.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Xbox Insider Release Notes – Alpha (2404.240321-2000)

Hey Xbox Insiders! We have a new Xbox Update Preview releasing to the Alpha ring today.

It’s important we note that some updates made to these preview OS builds include background improvements that ensure a quality and stable build for Xbox consoles. We will continue to post these release notes, even when the noticeable changes to the UI are minimal or behind the scenes, so you’re aware when updates are coming to your device.

Details can be found below!

Xbox Insider Release Notes

System Update Details

  • OS Version: XB_FLT_2404ZN25398.4051.240321-2000
  • Available: 2 p.m. PT – March 25, 2024
  • Mandatory: 3 a.m. PT – March 26, 2024

Fixes Included

Thanks to all the great feedback Xbox Insiders provide and the hard work of Xbox engineers, we are happy to announce the following fixes have been implemented with this build:

System

Known Issues

While known issues may have been listed in previous Xbox Insider Release Notes, they are not being ignored! However, it may take Xbox engineers more time to find a solution. If you experience any of these issues, we ask that you please follow any guidance provided and file feedback with Report a Problem.

Audio

  • Some users have reported experiencing intermittent audio issues across the dashboard, games, and apps.
    • Troubleshooting: If you do experience issues, please confirm your TV and all other equipment have the latest firmware installed. If you are unsure, you may need to contact the manufacturer for assistance. You can also find additional troubleshooting tips here: Troubleshoot audio on your Xbox console.
    • Feedback: If you continue to experience issues after applying the latest firmware and troubleshooting further, please submit feedback via Report a Problem when you are experiencing the issue. Use the “Reproduce with advanced diagnostics” option, then select the category “Console experiences” and “Console Audio Output Issues”.
      • Note: Be sure to include as much information as possible about the issue, when it started, your setup, troubleshooting you have completed, and any additional information that will help us reproduce the issue.

Networking

  • We are investigating reports of an issue where the console may not connect to the network immediately on boot. If you experience this, be sure to report the issue via Report a Problem as soon as you’re able.
    • Workaround: Wait a minute or two for the connection to establish. If your console still hasn’t connected, restart your Xbox from the Power Center or the guide then file feedback with Report a Problem. Learn more about restarting here: How to restart or power cycle your Xbox console.

As always, be sure to use Report a problem to keep us informed of any issues you encounter. We may not be able to respond to everyone, but the data we’ll gather is crucial to finding a resolution.

What Happens to Your Feedback

If you’re an Xbox Insider looking for support, please visit the community subreddit. Official Xbox staff, moderators, and fellow Xbox Insiders are there to help with your concerns.

When posting to the subreddit, please look through the most recent posts to see if your issue has already been posted or addressed. We always recommend adding to existing threads with the same issue before posting a new one. This helps us support you the best we can! Also, don’t forget to use “Report a Problem” before posting – the information shared in both places helps us understand your issue better.

Thank you to every Xbox Insider in the subreddit today and welcome to the community if you’re just joining us! We love that it has become such a friendly and community-driven hub of conversation and support.

For more information regarding the Xbox Insider Program follow us on Twitter. Keep an eye on future Xbox Insider Release Notes for more information regarding your Xbox Update Preview ring!

The post Xbox Insider Release Notes – Alpha (2404.240321-2000) appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Director Reveals One Surprising Villain That Used to Be Playable

Baldur’s Gate 3 players have gotten really silly with mods since the game came out, including creating a number of mods that allow otherwise unplayable characters to join the party. But according to Larian Studios head Swen Vincke, a number of those characters may have been considered for inclusion as companions early in development, including one particular villain.

Warning: Spoilers for Acts 2 and 3 of Baldur’s Gate 3 follow. Read onward at your own risk.

Speaking to IGN at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) last week, Vincke elaborated on a number of topics from his talk, The Secrets of Baldur’s Gate 3. In the talk, Vincke revealed some things that were cut or changed during development, such as Astarion originally being a tiefling and the eventual need for the team to “kill their darlings” in order to get the game shipped on time.

We asked Vincke about other major changes to companions during development, which prompted him to suggest that there was “an entire roster of companions that didn’t make the cut.” Who was his favorite cut companion? A surprising answer: it’s Act 2’s major villain, Ketheric Thorm.

In the final game, players begin hearing about Ketheric Thorm throughout acts one and two, learning that the seemingly immortal Absolute cult head has been actively cursing the Shadowlands at the behest of Myrkul, god of death. Act 2 culminates in the player defeating Thorm and ending his immortal reign, but Wincke says there was originally another possible outcome to all this: convincing Thorm to come along on the party’s quest.

It was a very fine balance between trying to figure out what the right size of these things was.

“If you play the game and there’s a moment where you can convince him and you can see that a moment where he breaks, that moment led to recruitment normally,” Vincke explains. “We cut that out when we were rescoped. It was part of the fixing of Act two when we were stuck on it. That was what happened in the rescoping. He was supposed to be in your camp while you were dealing with Gortash and with Orin. So he became a source of information on them, and he could trust, you could get him to his arc. You could then be convinced by him to go to his side. So it was a great story, but yeah.”

Vincke doesn’t stop there. He shares other “darlings” that were killed – Githyanki queen Vlaakith’s palace, the Gith Astral Plane, Candlekeep, (where the original Baldur’s Gate started out), and even a visit to Hell itself, were all in the game at some point.

“There was a moment where the maps were going to be smaller, and so we were going to be able to give you bigger diversity of locations that you would explore,” Vincke continues. “But then the problem with those massive is that the sense of exploration wasn’t really present. So that’s why we killed a whole bunch of them. So it was a very fine balance between trying to figure out what the right size of these things was, but we wrote a lot. I mean, you have no idea how many pages we have of story that takes place with all kinds…some of good, some of it bad, but there was a lot of stories before.”

Vincke’s GDC panel contained a wealth of new information about the development of Baldur’s Gate 3, concluding with the reveal that Larian isn’t going to make Baldur’s Gate 4 or any DLC for 3, but is instead moving onto a new project outside of the Dungeons & Dragons universe.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.