PlayStation is currently riding high following the release of its adorable platformer Astro Bot. Unlike the God of Wars and The Last of Us’ of this world, Astro Bot is a family focused title, suitable (and definitely enjoyable) for players young and old.
Reflecting on Astro Bot’s recent success, Hermen Hulst – PlayStation’s recently appointed joint CEO – has now said the family market is “really important for us to focus on”.

9 Adorable Astro Bot Gameplay Moments & Features That’ll Melt Your Heart – ASTRO BOT GAMEPLAY REVIEW

…

Back in July, Microsoft announced sweeping changes to Xbox Game Pass that would see day one releases being removed as a benefit to subscribers of the service’s revised basic tier. That new tier – known as Game Pass Standard – is now live, but it turns out subscribers are missing out on more than just new releases: Microsoft has pulled access to over 40 previously available games, including major titles like Starfield, Hellblade 2, and Diablo 4.

Microsoft’s £10.99/month Xbox Game Pass Standard tier replaces the older Xbox Game Pass for Console tier for anyone wanting access to the Game Pass library. But while the company had previously confirmed the new Standard tier would no longer include access to first-party and other releases on day one (that benefit …

In a change to a previous statement, Annapurna Interactive says it will be “reprinting” Outer Wilds: Archaeologist Edition on PS5 physical disc after all.
Last week, Annapurna announced there had “been a glitch in the time loop”, and the PS5 physical edition of its Outer Wilds: Archaeologist Edition had been printed with “the wrong version of the game”, and the Echoes of the Eye expansion was unknowingly omitted from the disc.
In recompense, the company invited players to contact iam8bit’s customer support team with proof of purchase to receive a DLC voucher code, which – as some collectors pointed out – nullified the point of owning a physical copy of the game in the first place.

Let’s Play Outer Wilds – SAY HELLO TO SPACE DAD

…

Director John Garvin says it’s “kinda sad” that the leading man of his Days Gone game has been “reduced to a cartoon shill” by an image posted by his former studio, Bend.
The picture – released to mark fellow Sony studio Team Asobi’s hugely successful Astro Bot launch – shows a Bot dressed in Deacon’s garb reclining on a beach.

Astro Bot – Announcement Trailer | PS5 Games

…

Embracer-owned studio Lost Boys Interactive is facing another round of layoffs.
Writing on LinkedIn, the studio said it had “made the very difficult decision to reduce our overall headcount in accordance with local laws and consultation processes”. It noted Lost Boys needed to “adapt to shifting market conditions” within the video game industry, which has seen multiple layoffs and studio closures in recent years.
Lost Boys said it is “committed to supporting our affected staff in finding new positions as quickly as possible”. Additionally, Lost Boys will “collaborate with other studios and recruiters to help connect them with job opportunities” (thanks, VGC).

Newscast PlayStation’s terrible, brilliant and leaky week

…

Over 340,000 Team Fortress players have amassed as part of the ongoing #SaveTF2 campaign, lending their signatures to an anti-bot petition that has now been lovingly assembled into a hardback tome and hand-delivered to Valve’s offices in Washington.

#SaveTF2 was born in 2022, amid a bot situation so severe, it was threatening to make Valve’s classic team-based shooter literally unplayable. The community faced daily battle bots using game-ruining hacks, racist usernames, disruptive noises in voice chat, and worse – and with Valve doing little to help, players even took to fighting bots with bots of their own.

Happily, though, the community’s first orchestrated #SaveTF2 campaign was a success, drawing Valve’s attention and a pledge it was “working to improve th…

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 publisher Activision has made it clear that you cannot simply toggle off its upcoming game’s much-hyped new “omnimovement” feature, which lets you sprint and dive in any direction.

Speaking via the official Call of Duty podcast, Activision confirmed omnimovement was a permanent mechanic in the game and a “global system” across all of its modes – campaign, multiplayer and zombies. And no, there’s no option to switch it off.

“Can you toggle omnimovement on and off?” Activision senior director of studio communications Stephanie Snowden said. “The answer is no. Omnimovement is a core foundational mechanic of the game, you cannot turn it off. But I think where people maybe got that impression was, we have another new feature, a part of m…

A Microsoft team leader has emailed thousands of staff to protest the closure of a major internal group focused on promoting diversity, equity and inclusion within the company.

The outgoing staff member blasted Microsoft’s decision to cut their team amid a wider cooling in the corporate space to the need for diversity groups generally.

A quote from the email first published by Business Insider claims that the team had been told it was “eliminated due to ‘changing business needs'”.

In response, a Microsoft spokesperson told the publication in statement, also shared with Eurogamer, that its “D&I commitments remain unchanged. Our focus on diversity and inclusion is unwavering and we are holding firm on our expectations, prioritising accountability, and …

Nintendo’s mysterious horror game – glimpsed last week via a brief and bizarre teaser trailer – is in fact a new entry in the Famicom Detective Club series.

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club will launch on 29th August, Nintendo confirmed today, showing off a first look at the game’s artwork, featuring its creepy paper bag-headed villain.

If you’re unfamiliar with the retro adventure series, this is a Nintendo-developed franchise originally released in the late 1980s. Two games were released, but only in Japan. And there they remained for more than 30 years, until a Nintendo Switch remake of the pair launched worldwide in 2021.

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club – A chat with producer Yoshio Sakamoto

…