I recently ripped out my Steam Deck’s SSD and enthusiastically slapped in a WD Black SN770M 2TB mini SSD, and it’s easily the smartest thing I’ve done with it that didn’t involve tinkering around in desktop mode.
Devs started thinking about moving to Switch 2 in 2021.
In a recent interview, developers Kenta Motokura and director Kazuya Takahashi from Nintendo confirmed that Donkey Kong Bananza was originally intended for the Switch 1.
In a new Ask the Developer feature, fresh screenshots have been shared that shows the visual difference between Switch 1 and Switch 2 for Bananza, with Kenta Motokura, Wataru Tanaka, and Daisuke Watanabe all providing more context as to why development was shifted over to Nintendo’s new console.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Ride around on your bike, your tractor, a bug in the park, or with your friendly neighborhood RoboCop in the next batch of games coming to your download queue. However you’re getting around, we have some games for you!
High On Life (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard
High On Life returns to Game Pass today! Humanity is threatened by an alien cartel who wants to use them as drugs. It is up to you to rescue and partner with charismatic guns to take down Garmantuous and his gang to save the world!
RoboCop: Rogue City (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – July 17
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard
A new guy is in town, and with him, a wave of crime floods into Old Detroit. With chaos on the streets, it’s up to you to restore order in this explosive first-person adventure. Become the iconic, part man, part machine, RoboCop, and fulfil your prime directives: protect the innocent and uphold the law.
My Friendly Neighborhood (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 17
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Something is amiss with everyone’s favorite Saturday morning puppet show! For years, the colorful cast of The Friendly Neighborhood delighted audiences across the globe with their cooky capers and educational adventures. Play as Gordon, a repairman sent to find the underlying cause of this disturbing dilemma. Fend off puppets and solve puzzles in this survival horror adventure.
Back to the Dawn (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 18
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
A gripping prison escape RPG woven with crime, corruption, and hidden agendas. Step into a maximum-security facility where every inmate has a past—and a plan. You’ll have to fight to survive, investigate, and ultimately break free before the time runs out.
Abiotic Factor (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – July 22
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Abiotic Factor is a survival crafting experience for one to six players set in the depths of an underground research facility. Caught between paranormal containment failure, a military crusade, and chaos from a dozen realms, the world’s greatest minds must survive against the universe’s biggest threats.
Wheel World (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – July 23
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Available on day one with Game Pass! You are Kat, a young cyclist with one mission: save Wheel World from total collapse. Explore a stunning open world filled with impressive vistas, hidden secrets, and races that will test your skills. Customize your bike with an endless array of parts, from sleek speedsters to off-road beasts — there’s no limit to how you can ride.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – July 24
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Available on day one with Game Pass! Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a Souls-like action RPG set in the dark final days of the Ming Dynasty. Play as Wuchang, a pirate warrior battling memory loss and a deadly curse, as you master brutal combat, evolve your skills, and uncover the truth behind a world consumed by chaos.
Grounded 2 (Game Preview) (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – July 29
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Available on day one with Game Pass! Shrunk again, but the world is much larger. Survive a sprawling open world alone or in co-op with friends. Craft weapons, forge armor, and build bases while exploring the park on your trusty Buggy mounts. Unravel hidden mysteries and face unexpected threats. But something else is out there — and it hasn’t forgotten you.
Farming Simulator 25 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – August 1
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard
Farming Simulator 25 invites you to join the rewarding farm life. Build a farm along winding rivers and historic grain elevators in North America, surrounded by ponds in Central Europe, or in a lush East Asian landscape filled with rice paddies near a neon-lit port city. Whether you build your legacy single-handedly or cooperatively in multiplayer – it’s your farm, you decide!
Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members get access to these in-game benefits with your membership. Benefits can vary by game, region, and time.
Fragpunk: Unlock Lancers & Weapon Skins (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 30
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Unlock all current Lancers and Groovy Night Series Weapon Skin Bundle Access, including five extreme tier (with Model VFX, Kill VFX and Skin Animation) weapon skins! Get day-one access to every new Lancer after release, and the Extreme Skin Bundle refreshes every 4 months. Let’s break the rules together!
Asphalt Legends Unite: Exclusive Monthly Gift Bundle (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 30
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Unlock the Acura NSX GT3 Evo car, 10 card packs, and 500,000 credits to upgrade your collection and take the lead on the track! This benefit requires Asphalt Legends Unite to use.
Super Animal Royale: Summer Perks Bundle – Available now
Unlock the Super Animal Royale Summer Xbox Perks Bundle to claim your place at the top of the food chain with style this summer season! –
Apex Legends: Prodigy Supercharge Pack – Available now
Join the Apex Games ready for battle with the Prodigy Supercharge Pack. This collection of content will trick out specific weapons and Legends in special gear. This pack includes two character skins (Fuse and Revenant), two weapon skins (Volt SMG and Charge Rifle), and two banners (Fuse and Revenant).
The following games are leaving the Game Pass library soon. Jump back in before they go or use your membership discount to save up to 20% on your purchase to keep them in your library.
We’re adding more games over time to the Stream Your Own Game collection for Game Pass Ultimate members. Visit Xbox.com/Play to see the list of available cloud playable games to stream on supported devices if you own them.
I’m excited to see you all in the park in Grounded 2, and maybe I’ll even be brave enough to turn off arachnophobia mode (unlikely!). Until next time, we’ll chat with you over at Game Pass, PC Game Pass, or Xbox. Cheers friends!
The post Coming to Game Pass: Grounded 2 (Game Preview), Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, Farming Simulator 25, and More appeared first on Xbox Wire.
Microsoft has announced Wave 2 of the Xbox Game Pass July 2025 lineup, which includes the launch of Grounded 2 via Xbox Game Preview, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, and more.
As revealed in a post on Xbox Wire, returning today, July 15, is High on Life (Cloud, Console and PC) across Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard. Next up is the arrival of RoboCop: Rogue City (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X/S) on July 17, for Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard.
Also on July 17 are My Friendly Neighborhood (Cloud, Console and PC), before Back to the Dawn (Cloud, Console and PC) on July 18. Abiotic Factor (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X/S) follows on July 22, before Wheel World (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X/S) then rolls around on July 23 — all for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
Microsoft then saves its biggest hitters for the end of the month, with the launch of promising-looking Soulslike action RPG Wuchang: Fallen Feathers (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X/S) on July 24, before the launch of Obsidian’s garden survival sequel Grounded 2 (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X/S) in Game Preview on July 29 — both for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers.
Capping off the end of the month — or, technically, next month — is the arrival of Farming Simulator 25 (Cloud, Console and PC) on August 1 for Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Standard.
As always, whenever Microsoft giveth, it also taketh away. The following games are set to leave Game Pass on July 31, though subscribers can get a 20% discount to keep the games in their library.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Tales Of The Shire: A The Lord Of The Rings Game is finally coming out this month, offering terrifyingly cosy Hobbitiness to us bumbling Bilbos. Its system requirements have just dropped, and they’re pretty reasonable.
In fact, its needs are so modest and homely that I’m wondering whether you might be able to run it on a Hobbit, provided you could find one in real life and staple some Nvidia – or AMD- branded plastic into the surface of its flesh. It’s ok, I’m sure Gandalf has a magic stapler that doesn’t produce excruciating pain if you fire it directly into a person.
Bethesda has quietly fixed a door in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered that had left Dark Brotherhood lore fans scratching their heads.
Warning! Potential spoilers for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered follow.
Let’s cast our minds back to April and the hugely successful release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. Soon after launch, players of the original, much-loved open-world role-playing game noticed the door to the Dark Brotherhood’s Cheydinhal sanctuary entrance was inexplicably changed in a way that broke the lore.
The door in question is at the centre of an iconic moment in Oblivion, one players who took on the excellent Dark Brotherhood quest will probably remember well. In the original Oblivion, the glowing door has a heavy mood aesthetic and a relief showing the Night Mother (who members of the assassination-obsessed Dark Brotherhood worship) murdering five children. The Oblivion Remastered version of this door has no glow, is light on atmosphere and, weirdly, has two extra children.
You can see a comparison with accompanying complaint in the reddit post from alvaro-elite, below:
The Elder Scrolls lore fans were quick to point out that the addition of two kids on the relief makes no sense given what we know about the story of the Night Mother. This moment in time is meant to represent the Night Mother’s murdering of the five children she conceived with Sithis, the Elder Scrolls deity who represents emptiness and the Void. As the story goes, the Night Mother is murdered by the locals for killing her kids, which turns her into the immortal Night Mother in the first place. In fact, in Oblivion, the Night Mother’s tomb includes skeletal remains of one adult and five children, reinforcing this lore.
Fans had wondered whether Bethesda and developer Virtuos would patch Oblivion Remastered to change the door to be lore compliant, and so it has proved. As noticed by PC Gamer, with the recent release of Update 1.2 in Steam beta form, those who have opted in to test the patch now have a lore-compliant door with five children, rather than seven in the relief. Strangely, this change isn’t in the officially released patch notes, below.
The expectation is this new door is what Oblivion Remastered will include across the board when Update 1.2 launches fully.
Be sure to check out our comprehensive guide to everything you’ll find in Oblivion Remastered, including an expansive Interactive Map, complete Walkthroughs for the Main Questline and every Guild Quest, How to Build the Perfect Character, Things to Do First, every PC Cheat Code, and much more.
This update will be in the Steam Beta. If you would like to opt in to the The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Beta update, please follow these instructions:
1. Open your Steam Library and navigate to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
2. Right click on “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered” and select “Properties”
3. In the new properties pop-up window, select “Betas”
4. In the beta drop down to opt into, select “[beta]”5. Wait for app to download new build and launch.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Fresh Helldivers 2 patch alert. This one’s patch 01.003.200, and it brings the latest in pointy flag tip technology, in addition to another round of weapon balancing. You’ll need that flag stabbiness too, as the latest Galactic War twist has seen the Automatons try to wrestle control of Super Earth’s space station.
Yep, stop trying to rename a city ‘Gun’ for five minutes, some stuff’s going down in HD2 that you need to be clued in on, even if its just so you can run around the room cheering at how much more effective your Flame Sentry‘ll now be.
A former head of communications at Dead Island 2 publisher Deep Silver has opened up about the “eight-year product delay” Dead Island 2 endured after early playtests reported “horrific feedback.”
At the end of a Develop:Brighton talk as reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Martin Wein — now at GameFlex Consultants — talked candidly about the sequel’s troubled development, and how it was decided at a major milestone meeting with then-developer, Yager, that the game as it was then “sucked.”
Dead Island 2 was revealed at E3 2014 but soon went quiet before “mutual differences” separated Yager from Deep Silver. It was then moved to Sumo Digital before being shifted again in 2019 to its final home of Dambuster Studios. A new trailer and gameplay video was released on December 6, 2022, during a Dead Island 2 Showcase that announced it was delayed once again, slipping 12 weeks to April 2023. It was the first proper look at the game fans had since it was re-revealed after years of troubled development in August 2022.
“I was working on that with the creative team, and we were mightily proud of that [trailer],” Wein said. “But then, about three to four weeks later, we had a major milestone with the development studio that was in charge at that time. And boy, that game sucked.
“It had nothing to do with what [made] the original Dead Island […] really fun. So we commissioned a play test and got horrific feedback. And we sat down with the development team and said, ‘Okay, what’s the course of action?’ And they said, ‘Yeah, leave it with us.'”
But at the next touch-point, Wein said little had changed, with playtest feedback indicating the sequel was “not fun, not engaging, [and] does not feel like the Dead Island that I played.”
“So at the end of the day, we had to take the game away from that external developer, find a new studio, and that put the game on a journey of… well, it was supposed to launch in 2015. When did it come out? 2023?
“Sometimes you have to make hard decisions,” Wein added. “Because we could have, at that point, put out a sh*t game. It might have made some money, but it would have killed the franchise.
“I cannot really speak to the conversation between the production team and the development partner as I was not part of those, but as the developer wanted to pursue their vision rather than follow player feedback, the ultimate decision was made to part ways.”
When it did finally release in 2023, IGN’s Dead Island 2’s review returned a 7/10. We said: “Dead Island 2 is a hilarious gore-fest and a competent zombie-slaying adventure, but lacks creativity outside of its great sense of humor.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
One of the best things about my job is that I get to fly around the world and go to events, and while I’m off to Warframe’s TennoCon this week (and very excited about it) there’s always a bit of a panic about what to pack to keep oneself sane on a long flight.
Though how successful it will be remains to be seen.
Nintendo has seemingly taken steps to combat so-called ‘eSlop’ on the Switch 2 – at least in Japan and some regions in Asia.
In a report from IGN, Nintendo has implemented new guidelines for publishing on the Switch 2 eShop, most (if not all) of which appear to be targeting the relentless proliferation of low-quality ‘eSlop’ games. How successful this proves to be remains to be seen in these early days, but it at least sounds like Nintendo is trying to make the eShop a much better experience on Switch 2 than its predecessor.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
