Gameplay of EA’s New The Sims ‘Concept’ Appears to Leak Online, and It’s Not Going Down Well With Fans

A video purportedly taken from the next iteration of The Sims has popped up online, and fans have expressed their concern about what it may mean for the much-loved series.

Project Rene – the codename sometimes used interchangeably with The Sims 5, although EA maintains Project Rene is, in fact, a spin-off project – has been bubbling around for a few years now, but early access footage from a game entitled “City Life Game With Friends” has many players thinking that this could well be the next Sims game.

The video itself is a full 20 minutes long and shows the player clicking through text prompts to select their outfit, hair, watch, activities, and so on. He then spawns into a sunlit Plaza de Poupon where he buys some food and mingles with the locals. He later goes to work in the outdoor café.

Characters are clearly called Sims throughout the playtest, talk in Simlish, and are adorned with The Sims’ tell-tale Plumbob.

“I am terribly disappointed with Project Rene. Yes, I know, according to EA, ‘this is not the final game.’ Is this a joke or what?” said one unhappy player on The Sims’ subreddit on a post entitled “I think Project Rene is a redflag (I hope not)” that has been upvoted hundreds of times.

“EA clearly wants to kill off normal Sims games and push people toward the mobile-style experience. So in their mind, a reboot literally means this — at least that’s what I THINK.”

“This is not going to be for me, I can tell already,” said another. “It just seems so basic and I don’t want to play The Sims on my phone.”

“The funny thing is, making a PC/mobile cross-compatible Sims game isn’t a bad idea,” posited a fan. “EA just believes that mobile games HAVE to be ugly for some reason. They’re chasing all of the design trends of the past decade, but it means that this thing already looks dated and it’s not even out yet.”

“The way The Sims was a literally [sic] satire about capitalist suburban consumption-as-happiness…. And this is where the Sims ended up. Endless consumption-as-happiness,” suggested another.

Project Rene — the codenamed game initially thought to be The Sims 5 until EA distanced itself from those rumors — was first teased in 2022 during a Behind the Sims Summit. It’s a free-to-play Sims game that features multiplayer inspired by Animal Crossing and Among Us. It hasn’t yet been formally revealed or received a release date, but EA has been holding small, invite-only playtests for the game since its announcement, with the game’s latest playtest presumably spawning these recent leaks.

The name Rene was chosen because it references words like “renewal, renaissance, and rebirth” that “represent the developer’s renewed commitment for the Sims’ bright future.”

Last October, however, images of Project Rene leaked from a closed online test, prompting complaints about the art style, limited features, and the use of microtransactions. It was the addition of a café that drew the most skepticism, primarily due to the smiliaries to 2018’s The Sims Mobile. It was then that EA said Project Rene was not The Sims 5 but would, in fact, be a different “cosy, social game” released under The Sims franchise.

Don’t forget that The Burglar, a familiar sight for those of us who’ve spent time with any of the older Sims games snuck back into our lives as part of the latest update for The Sims 4.

Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Union workers at Fallout and Elder Scrolls company ready to strike against Microsoft after two years of haggling

A video game union representing around 300 workers at Elder Scrolls, Doom and Fallout publisher ZeniMax Media have overwhelmingly voted for strike action if they’re unable to thrash out a deal over wages and workplace conditions with Microsoft, ZeniMax’s parent company. The unionised workers and Microsoft have been haggling over things like remote work options and outsourcing game testing for nearly two years; now, they say they’re prepared to down tools if their concerns aren’t addressed.

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Val Kilmer, Acting Legend And One-Time Video Game Voice Artist, Has Died

Kilmer voiced Walker Sloan in Spider-Man: Edge of Time.

The legendary Val Kilmer, who lit up the screen in so many amazing movies such as Heat, Tombstone, True Romance, Top Gun and Batman Forever, has died at the age of just 65.

The star, who recently recovered from throat cancer, succumbed to the effects of pneumonia on Tuesday night in LA according to his daughter, Mercedes.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Tekken 8 Community in Uproar Over Season 2 Balance Changes, Pros Threaten to Ditch the Game, Steam Reviews on Fire

The Tekken 8 community has reacted in anger after the Season 2 update changed the game in a number of controversial ways.

Patch notes revealed an across-the-board buff to character damage potential and offensive pressure, which has caused some within the community to complain that Tekken 8 has strayed too far from the classic Tekken experience.

Pro Tekken player JoKa said the Season 2 update means “this does not feel like Tekken AT ALL.”

“Characters getting buffed even in the slightest is not the way along with more stance-based transitions where 50/50 situations are enhanced. Some of the new moves added are insane with little to no counterplay. Characters getting their weaknesses patched and identities being removed by homogenisation is lazy balancing. Oki being gutted and heat just getting buffed makes no sense. Combo damage is too much across the whole roster. I definitely think the sidesteps are better but does that really matter when moves exist with crazy tracking/hitboxes? Chip damage is still excessive with most heat smashes remaining the same. Removing strategy in favour of more 50/50 situations isn’t interesting gameplay and is moving away from the foundation of Tekken.

“Where are the defensive options that were mentioned?”

As you’d expect, Tekken 8’s Steam page has become the avenue through which players are expressing their frustration. The game has seen a flood of negative reviews (over 1,100 in the last two days), resulting in an ‘mostly negative’ user review rating for recent reviews.

“Genuinely good game held back by schizophrenic insane developers sent from hell,” reads the current ‘most helpful’ review.

“New season dropped and they made every character into a braindead easy mix up machine without a single buff to defense,” reads another.

“After promising changes to open up defensive options, the balance team has doubled down on extremely powerful offense that takes away all agency from the defending player,” another negative review reads.

“Not every character needs to be able to force 50/50 canned mixups constantly, but it seems like the balance team doesn’t have any other ideas for how to build characters at this point. It’s just a shame to see another legacy fighting game become entirely defined by character offense and situations with little to no response from the defender.”

Some Tekken fans are so upset with what’s happening that they’re ditching the game in favor of Capcom’s Street Fighter 6. Others are calling Season 2 the “worst patch in Tekken history,” with some pro players threatening to walk away from Tekken 8 entirely.

The community is now hoping for some communication from the development team responding to the complaints. Some want the patch rolled back in its entirety. Others want an emergency follow-up patch to make key changes.

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.

Monster Train 2 rolls up with a release date

The makers of cardy roguelike Monster Train 2 announced a release date yesterday, revealing that it’ll be pulling into Steam libraries and honking its big “all aboard” horn in less than two months. Do you have the capacity to allow another deckbuilder into the overcrowded dining car of your brain? I probably don’t. But I do have fond memories of the first game’s crunchy runs and over-the-top card combos. Hmmm, maybe another rail trip or two hundred would be nice.

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Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Devs Came Up With a Fun April Fool’s Joke — and Now Fans Think It Would Be Awesome in the Game

April 1 has been and gone, and so has the video game industry’s penchant for April Fool’s Day gags for another year. But the one the people behind Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 came up may perhaps live a little longer in the memory.

Yesterday, Space Marine 2 publisher Focus Entertainment declared that the new Chaplain class would be released as DLC on April 1.

“In story mode, swap out Titus for The Chaplain and experience the game as a true Codex-compliant Ultramarine,” Focus said, no doubt sniggering from behind their monitors.

This ‘DLC’ supposedly added the new playable character to the story mode, as well as an ‘Enhanced Dialogue System’ that would have the Chaplain, every five minutes, remind everyone around him that “the Codex Astartes does not support this action,” and “I’m telling the Inquisition.”

The Chaplain even has a special ability called Discipline. This would involve instantly reporting “any and all minor deviations from the Codex Astartes for a 5% discipline bonus (but -20% brotherhood bonus).

The joke here works because as anyone who played Space Marine 2’s campaign knows, Chaplain Quintus watches Titus’ every move with a hawk-like distrust for signs of heresy, despite the protagonist’s demonstrable loyalty to the Imperium, the Ultramarines, and the Emperor himself.

Throughout the campaign, as Titus battles against the Tyranids and the Thousand Sons traitor legion, it becomes clear there is something… special about him, and Chaplain Quintus does not like that one bit. He’s a bit like the annoying school prefect who patrols the corridors for a mere whiff of deviant behavior and then— bam! You’re reported to the headmaster. Everyone hates the Chaplain.

The Chaplain has become something of a meme within the Space Marine community, and it’s this status that the Space Marine 2 April Fool’s joke leans into. But some fans have said they would love for The Chaplain to actually come to the game, not, perhaps, with this exact skill set, but as a straight-up warrior-priest who insists upon the veneration of the Emperor at all times.

“This would actually go hard if this was real,” declared ResidentDrama9739 in a post on the Space Marine subreddit that’s full of enthusiastic chatter about the Chaplain and how he might work in the game. Some are even saying

The thing is, Space Marine 2 is getting a new class soon. Focus and developer Saber Interactive have yet to say what it is, but fans certainly have their theories. Most assume it will be the Apothecary, as close to a medic class as Space Marines have. But there is hope that it could be the Librarian, which would mean super cool warp-powered space magic. Does the Chaplain’s star turn in Space Marine 2’s April Fool’s Day joke rule him out?

There’s a lot happening in the world of Space Marine 2, despite the surprise announcement that development of Space Marine 3 development had begun. Space Marine 2’s year one roadmap remains, and Patch 7 is set to be released mid-April. But in the coming months Space Marine 2 will also get the aforementioned new class as well as new PvE operations and melee weapons.

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.

Schedule I creator seems to have vastly undersold how much content is in his new Steam hit

There are few things more heartwarming than a solo developer seeing breakout success, especially if their game is a wholesome testament to community spirit, entrepreneurship, and innovative street cleaning solutions like Schedule I. Pretty close, though, is a solo developer pulling a ‘Miyazaki lying about Elden Ring‘, and underselling just how big their game actually is in the run-up to release.

Developer Tyler has been updating the bud flinging simulator steadily throughout the demo release and into the current early access, and they’ve also got a roadmap over at Trello here (featuring: raids, parkour, jukeboxes, and controller support among other things). Some of the most relevant communication is actually in the Steam forums though. Tyler revealed yesterday that he’s currently working on getting the game Steam Deck verified. It’s also where he first revealed the full list of planned sellables that are now in the roadmap (Marijuana, Meth, Cocaine, Shrooms, MDMA, and delicious + cool Heroin), with plans to take community suggestions once they’re all in.

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Rumour: GameCube Revival Planned For Nintendo Switch Online

“It’s just a question of when, not if”.

Not everyone got to experience the joy of the GameCube generation, but a new rumour has renewed hopes this past Nintendo system might finally make a return.

According to podcaster ‘Nate the Hate’, who previously revealed Game Boy and Nintendo 64 updates for the Switch Online, he now appears to be teasing GameCube for Nintendo’s subscription service within possibly the “first launch year” of the Switch 2’s life.

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Video: Metroid Prime 4 Looks Great, But Here’s Why The Latest Trailer Isn’t Switch 2 Footage

Digital Foundry investigates.

Nintendo gave us another glimpse of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond during the Switch Direct last week and some fans have been so impressed with the visuals on display they are convinced it’s footage of the game running on Switch 2.

If you, or anyone else you know are feeling the same way about what you’re seeing, you might want to watch this latest clip from the team at Digital Foundry – perhaps unsurprisingly confirming there’s no actual Switch 2 footage on display here.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com