News

We already knew it was coming this October, but Batman: Arkham Shadow – the promising VR take on Rocksteady’s acclaimed superhero series – now has a proper release date. It’s launching for Meta Quest 3 and the newly announced Meta Quest 3S on 22nd October this year.

Arkham Shadow – officially a canonical entry in the Arkhamverse – whisks players back in the timeline, taking place before the events of Rocksteady’s Arkham Asylum, but after Warner Bros. Montreal’s Arkham Oranges. It’ll feature the likes of Harley Quinn, Scarecrow, Two-Face, and Jim Gordon, with series newcomer Ratcatcher also set to appear.

Gameplay wise, it’s pretty much business as usual for the series, with stealth, fisticuffs, grappling, gadgets, and Detective Vision all present – the obviou…

Ubisoft has played down the suggestion that Assassin’s Creed Shadows sales will suffer as a result of its delay into 2025 – the same year we know the recently-announced Ghost of Yōtei will also arrive.

Both games are set in feudal Japan, and Ghost of Yōtei’s unveiling during Sony’s State of Play broadcast this week received a warm reception.

But, speaking to investors via an impromptu financial briefing last night, Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot said there was room for both games to do well.

“There is a lot of space for high-quality games, and those two games can sell very well,” Guillemot said.

“On the competition relative to Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the focus is really to make sure we deliver a fantastic experience, and with the game’s…

Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime left the company he started up in 1991 with his university classmate because he was tired of constantly butting heads with Bobby Kotick.
An excerpt from Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier’s upcoming book Play Nice: The Rise And Fall Of Blizzard Entertainment has shed more light on Morhaime’s departure from the company in 2018.
According to Schreier, the Blizzard co-founder was tired of fighting the former Activision CEO on a myriad of issues. Problems reportedly began around six years after Blizzard and Activision merged to become Activision Blizzard, with the cancellation of a World of Warcraft successor project known as Titan.

Eurogamer Newscast Special: Xbox buying Activision Blizzard

…

Dan Hay, the former frontman of numerous entries in Ubisoft’s Far Cry series, is now leading a team working on a new StarCraft shooter.

The detail comes from Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier’s upcoming book on Blizzard, Play Nice, and was discussed with Schreier ahead of its publication during an IGN podcast first aired last night.

Hay, who joined Blizzard in 2022, is now said to be working on the company’s third attempt at a StarCraft shooter, following the infamously-cancelled StarCraft Ghost, and a second similar project codenamed Ares that also never saw the light of day.

There’s little detail on the new project – Schreier says he did not include the “nugget” as a scoop, rather to show Blizzard returning yet to again to a similar idea. Still, it’s th…

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…