Category: Video Games

Elden Ring DLC Gameplay Reveal Trailer Confirmed for Wednesday

Our first look at Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree will arrive in the form of a trailer tomorrow morning, FromSoftware and Bandai Namco have announced.

The game’s official X/Twitter account revealed the news in a social media post, promising to deliver a first look at the long-awaited DLC at 7 a.m. PST / 10 a.m. EST. The developers have not said what exactly it’ll show, but the video’s description at least promises a three-minute trailer.

Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC was announced around one year ago, promising to add on to FromSoftware’s already gigantic action RPG world. The only official information we’ve received since then, however, is a look at some appropriately foreboding concept art. The Dark Souls developer revealed in November 2023 that development on the new content was “proceeding smoothly” while players continued to wait patiently. However, tomorrow’s trailer will provide our most substantial look at the new adventure yet.

Tomorrow is proving to be a busy day for gaming fans. Just before we take a peek at Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Nintendo will debut a new Direct focused on some of its partners and the games they hope to release in 2024. The FromSoftware DLC, meanwhile, is still without a release date, but let’s hope we hear a concrete schedule tomorrow.

Elden Ring was released on February 25, 2022, meaning its two-year anniversary is just on the horizon. In our 10/10 review, we said, “Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path.”

For more on Elden Ring, be sure to read up on the project’s recently announced mobile spinoff. While FromSoftware finalizes its work on the DLC, there’s always the chance we have even more from this world to look forward to.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Phil Spencer Says Xbox Is ‘Supportive’ of Physical Media Amid Rumors of Shift to Digital Business

Phil Spencer appears to be dispelling recent rumors that Xbox is fully ditching physical disc, while remaining clear-eyed about the increasing consumer demand for digital games.

In a recent interview with Game File, journalist Stephen Totilo asked Spencer about a slate of rumors last month that Xbox was shutting down its physical game production divisions, exacerbated by leaked court documents showing an enhanced, all-digital Xbox in the works. Though Spencer made a point to address a number of the recent Xbox rumors in a podcast and Xbox Wire post last week, he skipped over the physical games question until pressed on it in the Game File interview.

“Gaming consoles themselves have kind of become the last consumer electronic device that has a drive,” he said. “And this is a real issue, just in terms of the number of manufacturers that are actually building drives and the cost associated with those. And when you think about cogs that we’re going to go put in a console — and as you have fewer suppliers and fewer buyers — the cost of the drive does have an impact.

“But I will say our strategy does not hinge on people moving all-digital,” he added. “And getting rid of physical, that’s not a strategic thing for us.”

He also told Totilo that the reports Microsoft had laid off people on the teams responsible for physical games, while true, were more about “alignment of our teams across ZeniMax, Activision and Xbox. So we have teams that are in charge of physical retail, inclusive of selling games in physical outlets. So that’s what the team action was. It wasn’t about us getting rid of the capability.”

Digital gaming has been on the rise ever since it was introduced, and in recent years a number of publishers have seen it make up an overwhelming share of their total sales. For instance, Take-Two just reported earlier this month that 95% of the company’s total net bookings were digital. Though Take-Two is an extreme example, other publishers aren’t far behind, making it unsurprising that companies like Xbox might at least back off of releasing every game as a physical edition. And indeed, games such as Alan Wake 2, and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name are foregoing discs entirely even as companies like Best Buy start to phase out physical media sales.

For now, it seems Xbox is committed to continuing to offer at least some physical games. But don’t be surprised if more and more games across all publishers go digital in the coming years.

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

Feature: Shiren The Wanderer Devs On Preserving Series’ “Difficulty” And “Uniqueness”

“I made sure to preserve what I believed to be valuable”.

Shiren the Wanderer is one of the longest-running roguelike series in the world. Debuting back in 1995 as the second entry in the Mystery Dungeon series, Mystery Dungeon 2: Shiren the Wanderer introduced the world to the young boy who would explore many procedurally-generated dungeons over the next few decades.

Amazingly, despite being such a long-running franchise, there are actually only five mainline games in the series, and twelve in total (counting mobile games and spin-offs), but Shiren has a loyal following. In the West, we were oblivious to these endless tower-climbing, dungeon-trawling adventures until 2008’s punishingly difficult Wii title, Shiren the Wanderer.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Xbox Insider Release Notes – Xbox App [2402.1001.20.0]

Hey Xbox Insiders! We are releasing a new Xbox App for Windows build to Xbox Insiders who are enrolled in the PC Gaming Insiders preview! Thank you all for being Xbox Insiders. Continue read to learn about fixes and known issues. Make sure that you update the Xbox app, and Gaming Services to ensure you get all of the fixes!

New Versions of PC Gaming prerelease products:

Xbox App version: 2402.1001.20.0

  • Released: 5:00 p.m. PT – Feb 15th 2024

Game Bar version: 7.124.2141.0

  • Released: 5:00 p.m. PT – Feb 15th 2024

What’s new?

  • Game Hubs – Users will notice several new sections located on the individual pages for each game that they have installed. When you select a game listed in My Library or by simply clicking on a title in the left hand navigation bar, you will notice several new items shown on the page such as new content available for the title or information about your friends who play the title.

Xbox App Bug Fixes:

  • Fixed an issue where users were unable to receive invites for certain games
  • Fixed an issue where the copy button might be missing when viewing captured images
  • Fixed an issue where users were unable to install a few specific titles
  • Added high contrast support to Captures

Game Bar Bug Fixes:

  • Fixed an issue where Game Bar would rarely not load after a user hit Windows key + G
  • Fixed an issue where certain social features did not work with earlier releases of Windows

How to Get Xbox Insider Support

Don’t forget! If you encounter any issues, you can leave feedback by navigating to the feedback option on your profile menu.

You can also provide feedback, as well as interact with the community, on the Xbox Insiders Subreddit. Please be as specific as possible when providing feedback.

When posting to the subreddit, please look through most recent posts to see if your issue has already been posted or addressed. We always recommend adding to threads with the same issue before posting a brand new one. This helps us support you the best we can!

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

Thank you to everyone who participates in the Xbox Insider Program! Your feedback helps us continue to build a great gaming experience in the Xbox app on PC. 

The post Xbox Insider Release Notes – Xbox App [2402.1001.20.0] appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Helldivers 2 Patch 1.000.10 Takes Aim at Matchmaking, PC Black Screen, and Preps for Increased Server Capacity

Helldivers 2 Patch 1.000.10 is starting to roll out on Steam and PS5, which developer Arrowhead hopes will address some of the numerous issues that fans have encountered over the past week.

Chief among them are issues with matchmaking and server issues, as well as the PC black screen problem. Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt wrote on X/Twitter, “Patch going out now. Highlights include resolved matchmaking and prep for increased server load. Let’s gooo!”

In addition to the problems listed above, the Helldivers 2 patch also addresses ragdoll momentum, tunes the difficulty for the extract civilian missions that have been wrecking players, and implements an automatic retry mechanism for quickplay.

Helldivers 2 has been a hit since its release, even sparking renewed interest in Starship Troopers, the film from which it draws quite a bit of inspiration. We praised it in our review as the “rare modern multiplayer game that does almost everything right.” Over the weekend it passed the all-time Steam concurrent record set by Grand Theft Auto 5 despite a server cap intended to address stability issues.

But while well-received among fans, Helldivers 2 has been wracked by the “servers at capacity” issue among other problems since launch, with some fans refusing to log out to ensure they keep their spot. It’s been bad enough that even Pilestedt has cautioned against buying the game until its issues can be full resolved.

In the meantime, you can read the full patch notes below. For more, check out our Helldivers 2 best weapons tier list and the Terminids and Automatons Enemy List.

Helldivers 2 Patch 1.000.10 Patch Notes

Fixes

  • Fixed crash when replicating ragdoll momentum.
  • Fixed crash when replicating destructions.
  • Fixed crash when displaying the mission end rewards.
  • Resolved a 100% block issue for quickplay matchmaking on PC.
  • Tuned extract civilian mission difficulty.
  • Improved the way that we handle platform authentication to avoid things like the black screen issue at startup.
  • Improvements to our client > backend communication for better backend performance.
  • Implemented an automatic retry mechanism to quickplay.
  • Added proper login error message for error “10002038.”

Known Issues

These are issues that were either introduced by this patch and are being worked on, or are from a previous version and have not yet been fixed.

  • Login rate limiting when many are logging in at the same time.
  • Players can become disconnected during play.
  • Rewards and other progress may be delayed or not attributed.
  • Various UI issues may appear when the game interacts with servers.
  • Pick-up of certain objects in-game may cause characters to freeze in place for an extended period of time.
  • Other unknown behaviors may occur.
  • Japanese VO is missing from intro cutscene and Ship TV.
  • Armor values for light/medium/heavy armor do not currently function as intended.

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

Lady Gaga Announces Fortnite Festival Collaboration (and Corrects Her Spelling of Fortnite)

It appears Lady Gaga is going to make an appearance in Fortnite Festival, as the singer is teasing an upcoming collaboration with Epic Games.

In a post on X/Twitter, Gaga posted an image of what appears to be her Fortnite character but is masked by a bright light and smoke. The bottom right corner of the screen reveals a Fortnite Festival-related announcement is coming on February 22.

The more interesting part of this is Lady Gaga made this teaser post by quoting a post she made on X/Twitter over four years ago when she asked her followers (and anyone who saw the post) what “fortnight” is, with the singer more familiar with the Fortnite franchise given her proper spelling of Fortnite in the most recent post.

Lady Gaga is the latest musical artist to collaborate with Epic Games and the Fortnite property. Previous examples include the Travis Scott Astronomical event held in Fortnite nearly four years ago, which had the rapper performing a concert live inside Epic’s widely popular free-to-play battle royale. More recently, The Weeknd debuted a new music video for his song “Popular” in the Fortnite Festival.

In our review of Fortnite Festival, which scored a 4 out of 10, my colleague Luke Reilly wrote: “Fortnite Festival’s limited, isolating gameplay and overpriced tracks may turn Fortnite players into rhythm game fans, but it won’t turn rhythm game fans into Fortnite players.”

Despite a rough start when it was released last December, including a lack of support for plastic instruments, Epic said that controller support is a “priority” for Fortnite Festival. Additionally, we exclusively revealed last month that PDP is teaming up with Epic to release a new wireless guitar that is compatible with Rock Band 4 (and eventually) Fortnite Festival.

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

Round Up: The Previews Are In For Princess Peach: Showtime!

Standing ovation or slow clap?

We still have a little way to go before Nintendo lifts the curtain on Princess Peach: Showtime! on 22nd March, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t have a little peak behind it to see how things are shaping up.

The way that we can do this is by checking out the game’s previews (sorry, there’s no actual curtain) which have begun to appear online today. There’s even one from us lot at Nintendo Life which explains that while we found the game to be really rather easy, there is still a lot to enjoy here:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Balatro Wants You to Play Poker – and Then Break It Apart

Balatro Hero

Balatro Wants You to Play Poker – and Then Break It Apart

When I first heard about Balatro (out now on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One), I wondered how you could make a roguelike deckbuilder – a genre already stacked with greats like Slay the Spire, Monster Train, Inscryption, Hand of Fate, and more – using only poker as an inspiration. After accidentally playing 15 hours of Balatro in only a few short days, I’ve come to realize that this isn’t about playing poker, it’s about breaking poker – and it’s incredible.

Balatro has a simple premise – every poker hand is assigned a points score, and a multiplier for that score. You’re dealt a hand, offered the chance to discard up to five cards at a time, and then try to find the best possible way to hit the highest points total. There are no opponents, per se, just higher and higher points totals you’re tasked with beating (although there are “boss levels” that introduce extra, often painful, mechanics to work around). It’s a simple, elegant set-up. But the ways you can go beyond that set up are anything but simple.

Between each round, you can purchase new cards and abilities from an in-game shop, using money earned by playing each round efficiently, or stylishly. The key to understanding Balatro is to realise that everything you can add to your deck isn’t a way to cheat as such, but a means of literally changing how poker works. The most obvious of these tools comes in the form of Jokers, cards that live separately from your deck, and offer 150 different ways to change how your other cards react – from buffing certain suits, to earning you more money to spend, to truly wild abilities I won’t spoil.

But beyond Jokers there are ways to add extra abilities to your deck as a whole, enhance the potency of certain hand types, add extra cards to your line-up, remove or change suits, and much, much more. It’s overwhelming at first, but as you begin to understand how many variables there are, and how they interact, you start to realise that the game of poker, in Balatro‘s hands, is a mutable, mercurial thing.

I’ve built decks where a simple pair is more powerful than a straight flush. I’ve built decks that mean straights no longer work the way they should, and allow me to create wild combos more frequently. I’ve built decks where I’ve experimented and discovered that there are valid poker hands here that don’t even exist in the real-life game – five of a kind, anyone?

I’ve discovered a new way to play Balatro on every single run I’ve played, quite literally –and I’ve played a lot. This isn’t a game about working within the rules to succeed, it’s about changing the rules to help you redefine what success is. I’ve already hit point scores I didn’t necessarily think were possible when I started playing – and, looking in the unlocks menu, I’ve realised that there are point scores that still feel baffling this far into my time with the game.

Speaking of unlocks, this is where Balatro offers you a meaningful sense of progression. Every new run is a total reset – you can’t keep abilities or receive passive upgrades, but hitting (often very specific) targets will unlock new cards for you to use in future runs. I’m now looking through menus between each run, working out what bizarre goal I want to hit next – a run where I somehow have 30 club cards in my deck? Let’s give it a try.

Perhaps my biggest reservation going into Balatro is that there was no story to anchor this all to – I’ve loved roguelike deckbuilders’ many approaches to slowly but surely offering up a narrative through what amount to simple games of cards. But I’ve come to realise that part of the beauty here is that this game swaps story for atmosphere.

There’s a digital spookiness at work, from the faux-CRT scanlines across the screen, to its heavy reliance on tarot imagery, to the general sense that something is broken about all of this – like we’re playing a virtual poker machine in some haunted casino. I’ll never truly know what’s going on beyond my newest deck’s abilities, and that feels like the point.

Balatro already feels like a game to file alongside the pinnacles of the genre, and I know I’ve only seen a portion of what it has to offer. I can’t wait to see where the cards take me next.

Balatro is out now on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.


Balatro
Xbox Live

Balatro

Playstack Ltd

☆☆☆☆☆
★★★★★

Get it now

Balatro is a poker-inspired roguelike deck builder all about creating powerful synergies and winning big.

The poker roguelike. Balatro is a hypnotically satisfying deckbuilder where you play illegal poker hands, discover game-changing jokers, and trigger adrenaline-pumping, outrageous combos.

Combine valid poker hands with unique Joker cards in order to create varied synergies and builds. Earn enough chips to beat devious blinds, all while uncovering hidden bonus hands and decks as you progress. You’re going to need every edge you can get in order to reach the boss blind, beat the final ante and secure victory.

The post Balatro Wants You to Play Poker – and Then Break It Apart appeared first on Xbox Wire.