Category: Video Games

Xbox Game Pass November 2024 Wave 2 Lineup Announced

Microsoft has announced the next wave of games coming to Game Pass, taking subscribers up to the end of November.

Today, November 19, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) hits Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass as a first-party day one release from Xbox Game Studios and developer Asobo Studios.

Tomorrow, November 20, GSC Game World’s long-awaited Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) hits Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass as another day one launch.

Also on November 20, Little Kitty, Big City (Console) launches into Game Pass Standard. It’s already available with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. November 20 is a big day for Game Pass, with PlateUp! (Console) also launching on Game Pass Standard.

Moving on to November 26, Nine Sols (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) arrives on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. Nine Sols is a lore-rich, hand-drawn 2D action-platformer with Sekiro-inspired, deflection-based combat.

A day later, on November 27, Aliens: Dark Descent (Cloud, Console, and PC) launches into Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard. In Aliens: Dark Descent, you command a squad of Colonial Marines to stop a Xenomorph outbreak on Moon Lethe. IGN’s Aliens: Dark Descent review returned a 7/10. We said: “Aliens: Dark Descent is a fascinating, tense, inspired survival horror RTS with a few too many technical bugs to recommend it without caveats.”

Xbox Game Pass November 2024 Wave 2 lineup:

Microsoft also announced the games leaving Xbox Game Pass on November 30. As always, you can use your membership discount to save 20% on a purchase to keep these games in your library.

Leaving Xbox Game Pass on November 30:

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.

Bloodshed is Vampire Survivors meets Doom and it’s a surprisingly moreish bloodbath

A long while ago I wrote about Vampire Survivors-likes needing to stop overwhelming you with visual clutter. I’ve since played a few games of a similar ilk that don’t hammer you with a chaos that’s impossible to dissect with your eyeballs. One of these is Bloodshed, an old school FPS take on the VS formula that actually works pretty well and did have me thinking the treacherous phrase “just one more run”.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 Player Numbers Are Up Compared to Last Year, Seemingly Due to Mods

Baldur’s Gate 3’s players numbers are up compared to this time last year, seemingly due to official mod support from developer Larian Studios.

Larian director of publishing Michael Douse shared the improvement on X/Twitter, revealing the average daily active users is up 20% over 2023. “Mods are very good,” Douse said of the improvement, referencing the release of official mod support as part of Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 7.

The Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, which released in August 2023, is also enjoying an increase of 3% in average daily peak concurrents and a 61% boost in Steam Deck users compared to last year.

This increase is impressive for a largely single-player game. Baldur’s Gate 3 does have cooperative multiplayer but is not a live service that may be expected to enjoy a boost in player numbers year-on-year. And while Larian has continued to update Baldur’s Gate 3 with new features and improvements, it has not released DLC for it.

Mods, which are even available on console and not just PC as standard, are proving incredibly popular among Baldur’s Gate 3 players. Players downloaded more than 50 million mods via the official mod support tool in less than two months, and this number doesn’t include the thousands made unofficially.

Mods released so far include one that adds real-time combat to the otherwise turn-based RPG and another that brought entire new maps to Faerûn, including the highly requested Avernus.

Patch 7 otherwise added official content including an “absolutely metal” ending for Karlach and a hidden evil ending. Players will also be relieved to hear that it’s not the final major Baldur’s Gate 3 patch after all.

In our 10/10 review of Baldur’s Gate 3, IGN said: “With crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

New Switch Emulator Devs Are Jumping Through Hoops To Avoid A Nintendo Takedown

Ninjas in 3… 2… 1…

Earlier this year, the Switch emulator Yuzu was shut down after being caught in the fiery gaze of the great eye of Nintendo. A follow-up based on the same source code, Suyu, appeared shortly after, though it unsurprisingly met the same fate. Now, over eight months on, there’s another new kid on the block (thanks, Overkill).

Citron is the latest Yuzu fork, now available in early access on Android. According to AndroidAuthority.com, the Switch emulator is much the same as its predecessor, with a couple of “minor upgrades and optimisations” to keep things slightly distinct.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

EA Investigating Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Issues on PlayStation 5 Pro

EA is currently investigating issues with the PlayStation 5 Pro version of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor but fell short of revealing when fans who spent $699.99 on Sony’s latest console can expect a fix.

Following reports yesterday that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was one of several games with issues on PS5 Pro, alongside the likes of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Silent Hill 2, and Alan Wake 2, EA has confirmed it is at least aware of the issue.

“We’re aware of issues with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor on PlayStation 5 Pro and are actively investigating,” it said on X/Twitter.

Digital Foundry discovered what it called “severe image quality problems” in the PS5 Pro version of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. “There are severe image quality concerns when elements like foliage interact with ray tracing,” it said. “The end result is a strobing image quality downgrade that makes this Pro patch difficult to recommend.”

The PS5 Pro arrived November 7 as Sony’s now standard mid-generation upgrade. More than 50 games received PS5 Pro specific patches upon its launch but, as this list includes Alan Wake 2 and Black Ops 6 among others receiving complaints, it’s worth proceeding with caution.

In our 7/10 review of the PS5 Pro, IGN said: “The PlayStation 5 Pro is an impressive console with noticeable boosts in performance and graphics for games that take advantage of its powerful hardware. But for $700, you’ll need to think twice about whether or not the upgrade is worth the price tag.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Metal Slug Tactics review: the crunchy arcade run ‘n’ gun pauses to have a tactical think

I am a very casual enjoyer of Metal Slug games. I’ve never actually paid for one of these side-scrolling shoot ’em ups, except for all the countless coins I happily pumped into arcade machines as a child. To this day, if I see a rare glittering cabinet running one of these crunchy shmups, I will go ham for twenty or thirty minutes, and walk away satisfied that I have seen a lot of very good pixels. These games, I am convinced, were never really designed to be completed, but to be played exactly like this, as a coin-gobbling invitation to become a bandana-wearing sisyphus, a tiny Rambo pushing a bouncy, juddering tank up a hill occupied by cartoon nazis. You die a bunch and say: “ah, that was good.”

So what happens when you rearrange the molecules of this run and/or gun ’em up into an isometric turn-based strategy game? You get Metal Slug Tactics, an off-kilter nod to Into The Breach and other grid-based turn-takers, but secretly housing the aggressive notions of an unhinged pyromaniac. You still die a lot. And you still walk away feeling fairly happy about it.

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Sony is in talks to buy Dark Souls and Elden Ring parent company Kadokawa

Good morning, how about a nice big bowl of your favourite breakfast cereal: Corporate Consolidation? Sony are in talks to buy Kadokawa, the parent company of Elden Ring developer From Software. Sony is eyeing up the company as a hefty snack because they want the various manga and anime owned by Kadokawa, according to a report by Reuters. But also because they want all the tasty games owned by them too, such as the Danganronpa series, the Octopath Traveler games, and the biggest corn flake of them all, the Dark Souls series.

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Report: Sony in Talks to Buy Kadokawa, Owner of Elden Ring and Dark Souls Developer FromSoftware

Sony is reportedly in talks to buy Kadokawa, whose subsidiary FromSoftware is behind smash hit Elden Ring, the Dark Souls and Armored Core games, and PlayStation exclusive Bloodborne.

Reuters reports that Sony is looking to add to its entertainment portfolio. Kadokawa’s business extends into areas that fit into Sony’s broader entertainment offering, which includes anime, manga, TV, and film. Kadokawa is a prolific publisher of anime, and Sony already owns anime streamers Crunchyroll and Funimation. As well as FromSoftware, Kadokawa owns Danganronpa developer Spike Chunsoft, Octopath Traveler developer Acquire, and RPG Maker and Pixel Game Maker developer Gotcha Gotcha Games.

Talks between Sony and Kadokawa are reportedly ongoing. If the talks are successful, Reuters said, a deal could be signed in the coming weeks.

Sony and Kadokawa declined to comment when asked by Reuters.

Kadokawa is the majority owner of FromSoftware, with around 70% of the company. Sony already owns around 14% of FromSoftware, with Tencent owning around 16%. FromSoftware has yet to announce its next game to follow this year’s Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree.

For Sony, its gaming business has already suffered significant layoffs this year and the closure of multiple studios, including Concord developer Firewalk. In February, it announced a round of layoffs affecting 900 staff, or about 8% of its global PlayStation workforce. The layoffs impacted a number of PlayStation studios, including Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, and Firesprite, but PlayStation’s London studio was hit hardest with a notice of closure. Since then, Sony-owned Bungie has also suffered devastating cuts as Destiny 2 struggles to find commercial success.

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.

The Game Awards 2024 Nominees Have Been Revealed

Zelda, Metroid and Mario have all been nominated.

We’re fast approaching ‘The Game Awards’ for 2024 and the nominees across each category have now been revealed by the show’s creator and host Geoff Keighley.

Starting with the ‘Game of the Year’ contenders, the nominees include Astro Bot, Balatro, Black Myth: Wukong, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Metaphor: Refantazio and the DLC Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com