2023-10

Alan Wake 2 is almost here. It hits PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC this Friday, on October 27, after developer Remedy Entertainment delayed it 10 days earlier this summer. With just two days until launch, Remedy released the Alan Wake 2 launch trailer during today's Xbox Partner Preview, which is where we also saw our first gameplay from Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and Ikaro: Will Not Die, the new game from the makers of Powerwash Simulator.  In the trailer, we see dual protagonists Saga Anderson and the titular Alan Wake come to grips with the latter's ability to influence the real world with words written on his typewriter. Like the game, this trailer mixes Alan Wake 2's live-action elements with gameplay, and both look great. The gameplay continues to deliver the spooky action thrills previously seen in...

If you’ve been curious about The Finals, Embark Studios’ game show-inspired free-to-play shooter, you can sample a taste of the game in an open beta starting tomorrow. First revealed last August, the game has only been playable in closed playtests over the last year.  A new trailer premiering during today’s Xbox Partner Preview shows off the first-person shooter, in which teams compete in virtual arenas for the delight of a cheering audience (and potential sponsors). Arenas, which are based on recognizable real-world locations, are fully destructible and can be altered by players. The open beta adds the new Skyway Stadium to the map rotation. The beta also introduces a new game mode called Bank-It, in which four teams of three fight to gather coins, with the winner either hitting a max limit first or having the most cash banked at the...

Today during Xbox's most recent Partner Preview livestream, developer Studio Wildcard showed off its remake of Ark: Survival Evolved, titled Ark: Survival Ascended. And fittingly, it did so by showing off a whole host of dinosaurs.  We got flying dinos, stalking dinos, and swimming dinos. You're hunting dinos, riding dinos, and hanging with dinos. And most notably, it looks great, having been rebuilt from the ground up with Unreal Engine 5.  Check out the trailer below: Interestingly, Survival Ascended will have cross-platform modding on all platforms, as revealed in a post on the Xbox Wire. It looks like PC players will have the ability to actually make modes, as it requires the Ark Devkit, downloaded from the Epic Launcher, but playing mods will be available for everyone. The original Ark: Survival Evolved was released back in 2015....

Today's Xbox Partner Preview brought us a new look at Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, the remake announced earlier this year. In the trailer, we get a first look at the game's use of Unreal Engine – it's unclear if it's Unreal Engine 4 or 5, though – alongside some quick snippets of tactical espionage action. While what's shown is definitely gameplay, it doesn't appear to be final as the trailer calls it the "first in-engine look." Plus, the gameplay is watermarked with a "pre-alpha footage" tag. Check out the Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater trailer for yourself below:  As you can see in the trailer above, we see Big Boss sneaking through jungles, over wooden bridges, through World War 2-esque trenches, and more. There's nothing pointing toward the game's story in this trailer but it does make...

Today’s Xbox Partner Preview brought us a good look at Still Wakes The Deep, the new game from The Chinese Room, a studio known for projects like Dear Esther, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. The new project has distinct horror vibes as it drops players into the shoes of a character navigating a ruined oil rig. A strange, alien-like tentacled form reaches up from beneath the roiling ocean waters – seemingly the source of the oil rig’s trouble. As the protagonist navigates the catwalks and beams of the rig, we hear distant and troubling screams. After traversing several tunnels, the first-person lead drops through a hatch into the very water that seems to be the source of the strange tendrils. The Chinese Room is clearly interested in building atmosphere and tension in this trailer...

Ikaro: Will Not Die is a new game from Powerwash Simulator and Velocity developer Futurlab that made its debut during today’s Xbox Partner Preview. Players presumably control Ikaro, who, as far as we can tell, has one purpose in life: to move really fast and look really cool. The game is billed as a momentum-based action roguelite, with players zipping around neon-soaked cyberpunk world dishing out rapid melee attacks while executing air dashing and somersaults to evade and outmaneuver enemies. Check out its first trailer below.  Ikaro: Will Not Die doesn’t have a release date, but it’s coming to Xbox Series X/S....

The upcoming Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth will have its own in-game resort island getaway that plays not too dissimilar from the Animal Crossing games. Happy Resort DonDoko Island was shown off today during Xbox's most recent Partner Preview livestream.   Players will be able to build the island to their liking – including customizing their homes, building infrastructure, and interacting with the island's inhabitants. You can see the mode in action below: While Infinite Wealth is out on January 26, 2024, developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has more games up its sleeve. Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, a bridge between Yakuza 6 and Yakuza: Like A Dragon, is out this year on November 8. Additionally, back in February, the studio released Like a Dragon: Ishin, a remake of the 2014 game Ryu Ga Gotoku: Ishin,...

IGN’s Festival of Fear is underway at IGN as we countdown the days to Halloween, and we thought it would be the perfect time to revisit our best horror video game Face-Off! Come vote for your favorite spooky game so we can crown a new champion of horror!...

Earlier this month, Sony revealed new slim models of its PlayStation 5 hardware. Both the disc drive and digital model are getting upgrades, but alongside this news, the company also revealed a new detachable disc drive. This optional drive can be added to a new slim model of the digital PS5, turning it into a console that can use discs. It seems this drive will require an internet connection to use, however.  Some images of a potentially upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III slim PS5 bundle have leaked online (thanks, CharlierIntel) and in the small text on the box, it says, "Internet connection required to pair Disc Drive and PS5 console upon startup." Hey, @PlayStation & @cerny, we need to talk! Internet to install the detachable disc drive for PS5 Slim is a huge blow to preservation and right to...

Starfield hit Xbox Series X/S and PC last month, and it became the biggest Bethesda game launch ever, later earning it the top spot on best-selling games in the U.S. last month. Now, thanks to Microsoft's Fiscal Year 2024 Quarter 1 financial results, we know more than 11 million players have played Starfield to date. Starfield's excellent launch resulted in a 13% increase in overall Xbox content and services. However, despite the financial boon on the Xbox services side, overall Xbox hardware was still down 7%.  That's according to Microsoft executive vice president and chief financial officer Amy Hood, who also revealed during the financial results call yesterday that Xbox Game Pass experienced "better-than-expected" subscriber growth; Microsoft did not share any updated Game Pass subscription numbers, though. That 7% decrease in Xbox hardware contributed to an overall decrease of 22%...