How do official Bethesda bug compilation videos coinciding with a game’s launch sound? Or at least, a proper list of known bugs on day one, to preempt any compilations created by vengeful players? Skyrim Lead Designer and Starfield Systems Designer Bruce Nesmith has spoken a little about the “interesting problem” of how open developers should be about technical issues on day one, given the expectation some players have that every game should be “flawless”.
When asked by Videogamer if lists of known bugs (Nesmith throws out ‘700’ as an example for Skyrim) should be shared with fans on launch “to temper expectations,” he responded:
Update 10-15-2024: Sony has now released the full line-up of PlayStation Plus Games Catalog additions for October 2024, meaning subscribers of the Extra and Premium tiers can download the likes of Dead Island 2, Two Point Campus, and more at no additional cost.
Original Story: Sony has revealed the full line-up of PlayStation Plus Games Catalog additions for October 2024, which includes Dead Island 2, Two Point Campus, and more.
Announced on the PlayStation Blog, a total of 14 games are joining the library, 10 on the PlayStation Plus Extra tier and four on the PlayStation Plus Premium Tier through the Classic Games Catalog and PSVR2 offerings. They’re available October 15.
Embracing spooky season ahead of Halloween, The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me and Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed also arrive alongside the headlining horror title Dead Island 2.
PlayStation Plus Games Catalog Additions for October 2024
Dead Island 2 is the long awaited sequel to the zombie smashing game that finally arrived in 2023. Players rampage around a post apocalyptic version of Los Angeles in a first person action role-playing game where killing zombies as creatively as possible is encouraged. “Dead Island 2 is a hilarious gore-fest and a competent zombie-slaying adventure, but lacks creativity outside of its great sense of humor,” IGN said in our 7/10 review.
Two Point Campus is a college simulation game with an attitude, where players can build their perfect campus and hire their dream team of staff to run it. “The wacky humor might be hit or miss, but as a management sim, Two Point Campus graduates with honors,” IGN said in our 8/10 review.
The Devil In Me arrived as the final game in Season 1 of The Dark Pictures Anthology from Until Dawn and The Quarry developer Supermassive Games. While the studio is seemingly forever seeking a return to form that was Until Dawn (and even its remake has gone down poorly), The Devil in Me couldn’t quite fill its shoes. It earned just a 5/10 in IGN’s review.
Gris aims to be as much an art piece as a video game, describing itself as a “serene and evocative interactive” where players “explore a meticulously designed world brought to life with delicate art, detailed animation, and an elegant original score.” In our 6/10 review, IGN said: “Gris’s beautiful exterior hides a simple, at times confusing, platformer.”
Return to Monkey Island is the highly anticipated follow-up to the beloved Monkey Island series. It earned an impressive 9/10 in IGN’s review. “Return to Monkey Island expectedly comes packed full of smartly crafted puzzles, funny dialogue, and memorable characters,” we said. “But as series creator Ron Gilbert returns to the series’ director’s chair for the first time since 1991, it unexpectedly offers a lot of heart, too. It is an adventure gamer’s delight.”
A multiplayer game with as much substance as one of its ghostly adversaries, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed arrived in 2022 as another in the four versus one formula. Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is an asymmetrical multiplayer game that’s mostly enjoyable, but badly needs more content,” IGN said in our 6/10 review.
Firefighting Simulator: The Squad lets players join a major U.S. city’s firefighting team and discover over 40 diverse deployment locations in an environment inspired by the North American west coast. “Equip yourself with authentic firefighting gear such as helmets, firefighter boots, and a breathing apparatus model by well known North American firefighting equipment manufacturers,” reads the synopsis.
Off road racing game Overpass 2 has players compete in races and try to set the best time on extreme tracks behind the wheel of powerful and officially licensed ATVs and UTVs. Overpass 2 features 37 vehicles in three different categories, five environments, 31 circuits, and multiple race modes.
On yer bike. Tour de France 2023 is the video game version of, well, the Tour de France 2023. Players can pedal alongside the best cyclists, test their endurance, and show their panache to triumph on the Champs-Elysées.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands is the open world action game that Ubisoft released in 2017. It has been in the PlayStation Plus Games Catalog before too. “Ghost Recon: Wildlands has issues with repetition, but its co-op antics make it an entertaining military shooter,” IGN said in our 7/10 review.
Virtual reality charmer The Last Clockwinder is a whimsical puzzle game about automation, where players must repair the Clocktower: An ancient haven for the galaxy’s plants and seeds built into the trunk of a colossal tree. Special Clockwinder gloves let players turn every simple task into a looping clockwork automaton.
The headlining game in the PlayStation Plus Classic Games Catalog is beloved 1999 title Dino Crisis. With a modern attempt apparently shut down because of Monster Hunter, the original is players’ best bet for a shot in 2024. “Dino Crisis brings back the stylistic still camera angles, the multi-level labyrinthine structures, and the gallons of blood and gore with all of the shock and suspense that Resident Evil 2 delivered,” IGN said in our 9/10 review from 1999.
In the same month Silent Hill 2 remake was released, players can dip into more classic Japanese horror thanks to Siren also launching into the PlayStation Plus Classic Games Catalog. “A siren calls and a sea of red water mysteriously surrounds the mountain village Hanuda,” reads the synopsis. Originally released on PlayStation 2, Siren is now enhanced with up-rendering, rewind, quick save, and custom video filters.
Finally, R-Type Dimensions EX is the collection of coin-op classics that has players fight through all 14 Bydo-infested stages in retro 2D graphics or shiny 3D graphics – and swap back and forth with the touch of a button on the fly.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
My earliest memory of the Commandos series of tactical stealth games was my dad bringing home a box copy of the original. “The missions take months. Months!” his mate had told him. Get less shit mates, thought I, for I had already played it elsewhere, and knew that the missions took mere minutes if you put the game on easy then rushed your objectives, bonking nazis along the way. I did not rush the new Steam demo for Kalypso’s revival, Commandos: Origins, but it’s still doable inside half an hour. I had expected a little more, but what’s here has certainly given me some optimism that the full game might well be worth sinking – if not months – at least more time than it takes to wildly lunge at a few nazis en route to your objective.
Join Sonic and Shadow Chao on a “special journey”.
SEGA has announced it will be releasing a new manga on 18th October which documents Sonic Chao and Shadow Chao on a special journey.
It’s officially titled Sonic X Shadow Generations X Chao and will be written by fan favourite Ian Flynn, with lines by Misa Shion and colours by Min Ho Kim. No other information has been shared beyond this, but we do have an illustration to go with this announcement:
Nintendo Switch Online’s Expansion Pack tier got off to a slow start with a handful of Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance and DLC releases, but it’s steadily grown over time. We’re now in the third year of this higher priced tier and it’s sent out an email informing fans to “stay tuned” for what’s to come in 2025.
Although there are no specific details to share just yet, here’s exactly what Nintendo had to say (thanks, GoNintendo):
In case you missed it, Nintendo recently opened a Museum in Japan and it’s filled with all sorts of displays featuring the company’s classic titles. For anyone who has been wondering how exactly Nintendo is showcasing these retro games in its museum, it seems it might be making use of emulation on Windows PC.
As highlighted by PC Gamer, an ‘X’ user known as ‘ChrisMack32’ shared a video of a Super Nintendo controller being disconnected (via USB) during a game of Super Mario World at the Museum, and you can reportedly hear the Windows USB disconnection sound play in the background.
Microsoft announced on Monday that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available on Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) for Game Pass Ultimate members at launch, along with two other Call of Duty titles later this month.
Per Microsoft’s blog post, Black Ops 6 will begin rolling out on Xbox Cloud Gaming at 10am PT on October 25, the same day that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone will get cloud support for Game Pass Ultimate members. Microsoft points out in the blog post that it’s “a first for the Call of Duty franchise,” marking the first time a Call of Duty title has been available on Xbox Cloud Gaming at launch following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Interestingly, Microsoft sold cloud gaming rights for Activision games to Ubisoft as a key measure to get the acquisition through the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Therefore, it wasn’t a guarantee that Black Ops 6 would be available on Xbox Cloud Gaming. Other big Activision Blizzard King titles, including Diablo 4, still aren’t on Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Those looking to play the three Call of Duty games via the cloud will need to a Game Pass Ultimate subscription, and they’ll be available on consoles, PCs, mobile devices, select Samsung TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Meta Quest devices. “This opens up even more ways to play Black Ops 6 starting on day one at launch,” Ashley McKissick, Corporate Vice President, Gaming Experiences & Platforms at Microsoft, writes in the blog post.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S when it releases on October 25, and will be the first mainline Call of Duty game to hit Game Pass on Day One. In the meantime, check out our breakdown of all the big changes coming to multiplayer based on feedback to the beta.
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.
Microsoft has announced its latest Xbox Partner Preview – what the company calls its “no-fluff, all-games broadcast” – for this coming Thursday, October 17.
Per Microsoft’s blog post on Monday, the broadcast will show off games from Remedy Entertainment, Sega, 505 Games, and more. It’ll include a mix of new and upcoming games, featuring more than a dozen fresh trailers and clocking in at around 25 minutes.
Delving into more specifics, the broadcast will also feature a look at Alan Wake II’s next expansion, The Lake House, aheads of its release sometime this month. Other highlights include “an action-packed new trailer for Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, a peek at multiple bosses in dark-fantasy action game Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, multiple world premieres, and other great titles coming to Xbox consoles, Windows PC, and Game Pass.”
The stream will kick off at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK and, per usual, will be available to watch on Xbox’s Twitch and YouTube channels.
Microsoft has been holding Partner Previews here and there, with the last one taking place back in March. That broadcast spent roughly 30 minutes showing off games like Capcom’s Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, Tales of Kenzera: Zau, Creatures of Ava, Frontpunk 2, and more, along with a number of announcements. Microsoft also featured plenty of third-party games during its big Xbox Showcase in June.
In other Xbox-related news, it was announced on Monday that Rare boss Craig Duncan will be the new head of Xbox Games Studios, replacing Alan Hartman after he retires in November.
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.
