ENERGY giant Rosneft is poised to take control of a new Arctic Circle LNG project planned for an area of northern Russia fronting the Barents Sea.

Super Mario Party Jamboree (NS) has remained in first place on the retail charts in Japan with sales of 57,522 units, according to Famitsu for the week ending October 27, 2024. 

Farmagia (NS) debuted in eighth place with sales of 4,296 units.

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven (NS) remained in second place with sales of 14,646 units. The PS5 version fell from third to seventh place with sales of 5,097 units.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (PS5) is up one spot to third place with sales of 8,620 units and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (NS) re-entered the top 10 in fourth place with sales of 5,782 units.

Professional Baseball Spirits 2024-2025 (PS5) is up two spots to fifth with sales of 5,729, and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (NS) is up two spots to sixth place with sales of 5,492 units.

The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling platform with 60,096 units sold. The PlayStation 5 sold 13,965 units, the Xbox Series X|S sold 2,610 units, and the PlayStation 4 sold 53 units.

Here are the best-selling games in Japan:

1. [NSW] Super Mario Party Jamboree (Nintendo, 10/17/24) – 57,522 (364,484)
2. [NSW] Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven (Square Enix, 10/24/24) – 14,646 (85,013)
3. [PS5] Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Activision, 10/25/24) – 8,620 (35,567)
4. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 5,782 (6,044,039)
5. [PS5] Professional Baseball Spirits 2024-2025 (Konami, 10/17/24) – 5,729 (84,989)
6. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Nintendo, 09/26/24) – 5,492 (294,371)
7. [PS5] Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven (Square Enix, 10/24/24) – 5,097 (37,254)
8. [NSW] Farmagia (Marvelous, 11/01/24) – 4,296 (New)
9. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo, 03/20/20) – 4,253 (7,943,533)
10. [NSW] Minecraft (Microsoft, 06/21/18) – 4,242 (3,666,338)

Here is the hardware breakdown (followed by lifetime sales):

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463007/super-mario-party-jamboree-tops-the-japanese-charts/

The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in Japan with 241,803 units sold for October 2024, according to VGChartz estimates. The Nintendo Switch has now sold an estimated 34.30 million units lifetime in Japan.

The PlayStation 5 sold an estimated 49,056 units to bring its lifetime sales to 6.12 million units. The Xbox Series X|S sold 5,862 units to bring their lifetime sales to 0.64 million units. The PlayStation 4 sold an estimated 162 units to bring its lifetime sales to 9.68 million units.

PS5 sales compared to the same month for the PS4 in 2017 are down by nearly 53,000 units, while the Xbox Series X|S compared to the same month for the Xbox One are up by over 5,000 units. PS4 sold 101,851 units for the month of October 2017 and Xbox One sales were at 563 units.

Nintendo Switch sales compared to the same month a year ago are down by 41,368 units (-14.6%). PlayStation 5 sales are down by 17,208 (-26.0%) and Xbox Series X|S sales are down by 2,294 units (-28.1%). The PlayStation 4 is down by 5,362 units (-97.1%) year-over-year.

Looking at sales month-on-month, Nintendo Switch sales are down up nearly 67,000 units, the PlayStation 5 sales are down by over 4,000 units, and Xbox Series X|S sales are up by over 2,000 units.

2024 year-to-date, the Nintendo Switch has sold an estimated 2.47 million units, the PlayStation 5 has sold 1.16 million units, and the Xbox Series X|S has sold 0.09 million units.

Monthly Sales:

Japan hardware estimates for October 2024 (Followed by lifetime sales):

1. Switch - 241,803 (34,300,699)
2. PlayStation 5 - 49,056 (6,121,649)
3. Xbox Series X|S - 5,862 (636,764)
4. PlayStation 4 - 162 (9,679,626)

Weekly Sales:

Japan October 12, 2024 hardware estimates:

1. Switch - 55,097
2. PlayStation 5 - 11,810
   
3. Xbox Series X|S - 429
4. PlayStation 4 - 31

Japan October 19, 2024 hardware estimates:

1. Switch - 58,866
2. PlayStation 5 - 11,324
3. Xbox Series X|S - 1,612
4. PlayStation 4 - 36

Japan October 26, 2024 hardware estimates:

1. Switch - 67,736
2. PlayStation 5 - 11,951
3. Xbox Series X|S - 1,207
4. PlayStation 4 - 40

Japan November 2, 2024 hardware estimates:

1. Switch - 60,104
2. PlayStation 5 - 13,971
3. Xbox Series X|S - 2,614
4. PlayStation 4 - 55

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463008/switch-comfortably-best-seller-japan-hardware-estimates-for-october-2024/

A TV series based on the video game series Mass Effect is officially in development at Amazon, according to a report from Variety.

F9: The Fast Saga writer Daniel Casey will write and be an executive producer on the series. Karim Zreik will also be an executive producer under his Cedar Tree Productions, which is under an overall deal at Amazon.

Ari Arad and BioWare's Michael Gamble will also be executive producers. Arad previously was a producer on other video game adaptations - Borderlands and Uncharted.

Developer BioWare is developing a new entry in the Mass Effect series. 

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463013/mass-effect-tv-series-has-been-greenlit-by-amazon/

Sony Interactive Entertainment in its financial results announced it has shipped 65.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles as of September 30, 2024.

With 65.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles shipped through the end of June that means 3.8 million units were shipped from July to September. This is down 1.1 million (-22.45%) from the same quarter in 2023 when 4.9 million units were shipped.

For reference, the PlayStation 4 had shipped 4.2 million units in the same quarter for a lifetime total of 67.7 million units shipped as of September 30, 2017. This puts the PS5 behind shipped PS4 units by 2.2 million units.

There were a total of 77.7 million games sold on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 for the quarter. This is up 10.1 million from 67.6 million during the same period a year earlier. Digital sales accounted for 70 percent of software sales.

There were 5.3 million first-party games sold across the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. This is up 0.6 million from 4.7 million a year ago.

There were 116 million monthly active users on the PlayStation Network, an increase of nine million from 107 million a year ago. Sony did not disclose the number of PlayStation Plus subscribers. It was at 47.4 million at the end of March 2023.

Sony's Game & Network Services Segment for the quarter ending September 30, 2024, reported revenue increased 244.5 billion yen ($1.60 billion) year-over-year to 2,973.4 billion yen ($19.46 billion), while operating income increased 142.0 billion yen ($0.93 billion) to 389.3 billion yen ($2.55 billion).

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463014/ps5-ships-655-million-units-as-of-september-2024/

Capcom has updated its list of Platinum Titles, games that have sold over one million units as of September 30, 2024. The list includes 122 games with sales over one million units, 64 over two million units, 14 over five million units, and six over 10 million units sold.

Resident Evil 4 remake sold 400,000 units to bring lifetime sales to eight million units, Resident Evil 2 remake sold 300,000 units to bring sales to 14.5 million units, and Resident Evil 3 remake sold 200,000 units to bring lifetime sales to 9.2 million units. 

Resident Evil 7: biohazard sold 300,000 units to bring lifetime sales to 14 million units and Resident Evil Village sold 400,000 units to bring sales to 10.5 million units.

Monster Hunter Rise sold 600,000 units in the quarter to bring lifetime sales to 16 million units. Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak sold 400,000 units to bring lifetime sales to 8.8 million units.

Monster Hunter: World sold 400,000 units in the quarter to bring lifetime sales to 20.9 million units, while the Iceborne expansion sold 600,000 units for a total of 14 million units.

Dragon's Dogma 2 sold 300,000 units in the quarter to bring lifetime sales to 3.3 million units. Street Fighter 6 sold 400,000 units in the quarter to bring lifetime sales to 4.1 million units. Devil May Cry 5 sold 300,000 units to bring sales to 8.7 million units. 

Check out the complete list below:

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463020/capcom-updates-its-best-sellers-list-monster-hunter-world-at-209m-re4-remake-at-8m-more/

Square Enix has revealed the lifetime sales for two of its biggest franchises Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.

The Final Fantasy series has now sold over 195 million units worldwide and the Dragon Quest series has sold over 91 million units worldwide.

"The Square Enix Group also boasts a valuable portfolio of intellectual property including: Final Fantasy, which has sold over 195 million units worldwide; Dragon Quest, which has sold over 91 million units worldwide; and the legendary Space Invaders," said Square Enix.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463021/final-fantasy-series-sales-top-195m-dragon-quest-series-tops-91m/

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company in September filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair. 

At the time Nintendo did not share which patents Palworld infringed on, however, Pocketpair has now revealed what patents Nintendo are claiming were infringed on.

"As announced on September 19, 2024, The Pokémon Company and Nintendo Co Ltd (hereinafter referred to as the Plaintiffs) have filed a patent infringement lawsuit against us," said Pocketpair. "We have received inquiries from various media outlets regarding the status of the lawsuit, and we would like to report the details and current status of this case as follows.

"The Plaintiffs claim that Palworld, released by us on January 19, 2024, infringes upon the following three patents held by the Plaintiffs, and are seeking an injunction against the game and compensation for a portion of the damages incurred between the date of registration of the patents and the date of filing of this lawsuit."

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are each seeking an injunction and damages of five million yen plus late payment damages.

Pocketpair added, "We will continue to assert our position in this case through future legal proceedings. Please note that we will refrain from responding individually to inquiries regarding this case. If any matters arise that require public notice, we will announce them on our website, etc."

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463022/nintendo-and-the-pokemon-company-seeking-injunction-and-damages-from-pocketpair/

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick in the company's latest earnings report said he isn't worried about Rockstar getting Grand Theft Auto VI to run on the Xbox Series S.

"Look, we support the platforms where the consumers are for as long as they’re there, and we find a way to support platforms despite different levels of tech," said Zelnick (via VideoGamesChronicle) when asked about the Xbox Series S.

Zelnick added, "Our labels are really good at that. I’m not really worried. I’ve never worried about where hardware was going. And I’ve said this many times over the years because, first of all, I don’t worry about things over which I have zero control.

"Secondly, I believe in the audience. The audience is going to show up if you have great properties, and so we just have to make sure to be on an array of platforms."

Zelnick added PC is an important platform to release games on, despite the fact Grand Theft Auto VI has not been announced for PC.

"If one platform diminishes in value, there’s always another one," he said. "So we’re seeing great growth in PC right now, for example. And I have been able to view that open formats would continue to grow. PC is an open format.

"I do think PC will continue to be a more and more important part of the console business going forward, and that isn’t complicated for us to support at all. So the bottom line is we are selective about which platforms we support. We make the tech work when we can make it work as long as the audience is big enough to make that worthwhile."

Grand Theft Auto VI will launch for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in Fall 2025.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463023/take-two-ceo-is-not-worried-about-grand-theft-auto-vi-performance-on-xbox-series-s/

Sega has sold Humankind and Endless developer Amplitude Studios to members of its internal team, announced the developer in a community post. This means the studio is now independent.

"Our studio is backed by strong and meaningful franchises and our team is committed to creating the best games possible," said Amplitude Studios founder Romain de Waubert de Genlis.

"With our extensive experiences in strategy game development and two exciting titles currently in progress, we are confident in our ability to deliver outstanding experience to players. This decision allows us to be more agile in our approach while continuing to shape the vision that has been ours from the very beginning, empowering us to push boundaries and be closer as ever of our community."

Sega in its own statement said: "Sega Europe has today announced the sale of Amplitude Studios following a management buyout from senior leaders and employees at the Parisian studio. The move will see Amplitude go back to its roots as an independent organisation and concludes the structural reforms that have been taking place in Sega’s European business.  

"The decision to part ways follows a period of close consultation between Sega Europe and Amplitude. As an independent studio once more, Amplitude will focus on its in-development projects and growing its own franchises, while Sega will continue to advance its strong and diverse stable of Japanese and Western IP. 

“Sega Europe acquired Amplitude in 2016, and together have released epic strategy titles like Endless Space 2 and Humankind, along with Endless Dungeon, the successor to 2014’s indie hit, Dungeon of the Endless.

"While Amplitude is no longer a part of the Sega family of studios, the two entities will continue to work together on the smooth transition of services and operations, ensuring minimum disruption for Amplitude employees and continuity of service for players of Amplitude games."

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463024/sega-sells-humankind-developer-amplitude-studios/

Sony president Hiroki Totoki in a Q&A session with investors was asked about the failure of Concord, which was shut down less than two weeks after it released.

"Currently, we are still in the process of learning," said Totoki (via VideoGamesChronicle). "And basically, with regards to new IP, of course, you don’t know the result until you actually try it.

"So for us, for our reflection, we probably need to have a lot of gates, including user testing or internal evaluation, and the timing of such gates. And then we need to bring them forward, and we should have done those gates much earlier than we did.

"Also, we have a siloed organisation, so going beyond the boundaries of those organisations in terms of development, and also sales, I think that could have been much smoother.

"And then going forward, in our own titles and in third-party titles, we do have many different windows. And we want to be able to select the right and optimal window so that we can deploy them on our own platform without cannibalization, so that we can maximize our performance in terms of title launches. That’s all I have."

Sony senior vice president for finance and IR Sadahiko Hayakawa discussed the success of Helldivers 2 and the failure of Concord.

"We launched two live-service games this year," he said. "Helldivers 2 was a huge hit, while Concord ended up being shut down. We gained a lot of experience and learned a lot from both.

"We intend to share the lessons learned from our successes and failures across our studios, including in the areas of title development management as well as the process of continually adding expanded content and scaling the service after its release so as to strengthen our development management system.

"We intend to build on an optimum title portfolio during the current mid-range plan period that combines single-player games – which are our strengths and which have a higher predictability of becoming hits due to our proven IP – with live-service games that pursue upside while taking on a certain amount of risk upon release."

Concord released for the PlayStation 5 and PC on August 23, and it was shut down on September 6.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463026/sony-discusses-what-lessons-can-be-learned-from-the-failure-of-concord/

Nintendo announced it will host a Super Nintendo World Direct livestream on Monday, November 11 at 2:00 pm PT / 5:00 pm ET. You will be able to watch it on YouTube.

The Direct will be roughly 10 minutes and feature the Donkey Kong Country area of Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463031/super-nintendo-world-direct-set-for-november-11/

Here we see data representing the sales through to consumers and change in sales performance of the three current platforms (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch) and two legacy platforms (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) over comparable periods for 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Also shown is the market share for each of the consoles over the same periods.

Year to Date Sales Comparison (Same Periods Covered)

Market Share (Same Periods Covered)

2021 – (January 2021 to October 2021)

2022 – (January 2022 to October 2022)

2023 – (January 2023 to October 2023)

2024 – (January 2024 to October 2024)

"Year to date" sales for 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 sales are shown in series at the top of the table and then just below a comparison of 2024 versus 2023 and 2024 versus 2022 is displayed.  This provides an easy-to-view summary of all the data.

Total Sales and Market Share for Each Year

Microsoft

• Xbox Series X|S
• 0.09 million units sold year-to-date
• Down year-on-year 0.03 million units (-23.2%)

Nintendo

• Nintendo Switch
• 2.47 million units sold year-to-date
• Down year-on-year 0.75 million units (-23.4%)

Sony

• PlayStation 5
• 1.16 million units sold year-to-date
• Down year-on-year 0.94 million units (-44.9%)
• PlayStation 4
• 0.01 million units sold year-to-date
• Down year-on-year 0.05 million (-77.2%)

Note: VGChartz 2024 estimates through October includes 44 weeks, while 2023, 2022, and 2021 estimates includes 43 weeks.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463009/ps5-vs-xbox-series-xs-vs-switch-2024-japan-sales-comparison-charts-through-october/

Neowiz announced it has signed a global publishing rights partnership with Warsaw, Poland-based developer Zakazane to publish the first title from the studio. The game from Zakazane is a single-player noir western RPG.

Zakazane is led by Jan Bartkowicz, Piotr Chomiak, Radosław Gwarek, and Marta Sobek, and features developers who previously worked at central European game companies, including  CD Projekt RED and 11 bit studios.

"Neowiz is committed to delivering remarkable, story-driven games that resonate with gamers worldwide, and we’re actively searching for talented developers with a passion for well-crafted narratives,” said Neowiz co-CEO Seung-Cheol Kim.

"When we first met Zakazane, we felt an immediate kinship around their passion for developing projects that profoundly captivate audiences. Their upcoming neo-western RPG will be a key addition to our portfolio and reflects our ambition to build lasting franchises across PC and consoles. Together, we will create a brand that unites quality and storytelling for gamers to cherish for years to come."

Zakazane CEO and co-founder Jan Barkowicz, "We found a great understanding of our vision with Neowiz, who got excited about our debut title the minute we showed them the demo. In conversations that followed, they never tried to steer us away from our principles but rather to make sure we stick to our guns. It’s clear both sides understand that games can become important to people on a personal level, making them both valuable works of culture and good business."

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463035/neowiz-to-publish-western-rpg-by-poland-based-developer-zakazane/

Microsoft and several retailers are currently running a promotion for the standard Xbox Series X in the US.

The Xbox Series X is available for $449, a $50 discount, at the Microsoft Store, GameStop, and Best Buy. It isn't known when this deal will end.

The recently released 1 TB All-Digital Robot White Xbox Series X, 2TB Disc Drive Galaxy Black Xbox Series, and the two Xbox Series S SKUs have not been discounted at this time.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463036/xbox-series-x-discounted-by-50-to-449/

Publisher Kasedo Games and developer Beard Envy have announced he roguelite spaceship repair simulation game, Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop, has been delayed to December 5. It will launch for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.

View the release date trailer below:

Read details on the game below:

Come on down to Uncle Chop’s Rocket Shop, for all your roguelite spaceship repair simulation needs! Wake up, clock in, fix ships, make friends and enemies, pay R.E.N.T., upgrade your workshop, ponder the futility of your existence, go to bed and then do it all over again the next day.

On an asteroid-bound service station in an unfrequented space lane, Wilbur carves out a paltry living as a mechanic, repairing as many ships as he can to afford the ever-rising R.E.N.T payments to his corporate overlord, Uncle Chop. Where most of his customers find meaning in pastimes like worshipping deranged space gods, feeding random crap to a sentient black hole, endlessly digging for The Treasure™ or mentally enslaving donut shop workers, Wilbur lives a more humble life, fixing the galaxy’s ills one broken ship module at a time.

Fix Stuff

Using a range of tools, diagnostic devices, parts and workshop appliances, you’ll be correcting faults in the modules of procedurally generated spaceships. From simple refuel jobs to total overhauls, get ready to frantically fumble, slice, loosen, tighten, grab and drop as you try to complete as many jobs as you can within each daily time limit. With a huge variety of ships and modules, your hands are gonna get real dirty real fast, in some real unusual places.

Read Stuff

Flaunt your basic literacy by consulting manual pages for guidance on diagnosing and correcting faults in spaceship modules, as well as operating workshop appliances. And if basic literacy isn’t your bag, then at least you’ve got pretty diagrams to gawp at! All your IKEA furniture-assembly training has led to this moment.

Upgrade Stuff

Using whatever hard-earned pennies Uncle Chop doesn’t take from you, expand your workshop and kit it out with a range of workstations. From industrial devices to esoteric altars, these workstations will allow you to fix bigger and more lucrative ships.

Talk About Stuff

Interact with a diverse range of oddballs as you engage with both anthology-style storytelling and a multiple-ending, overarching narrative. The lore is (*consults notes*) “deep and rich and good,” with different factions you can choose to ingratiate yourself with – each with their own inane agendas.

Discover Stuff

Narrative and random events, hidden puzzles and upgrades, secret lore—we got all that goodness that ensures each day and gameplay run will feel substantially different from the last.

Do All That Stuff Again, But Better

Meeting those escalating R.E.N.T payments ain’t gonna be easy, but chin up, champ – certain station upgrades will persist across gameplay runs, making life a little more tolerable every time around. You’ll also get faster and smarter the more you do the thing, so keep doing the thing!

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463037/uncle-chops-rocket-shop-releases-december-5-for-ps5-xbox-series-xs-switch-and-pc/

The PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console in the UK in October, according to GfK Entertainment data reported by GamesIndustry. 

The Xbox Series X|S was the second best-selling console for the month, followed by the Nintendo Switch in third. The Xbox Series X|S has also surpassed the Switch in year-to-date sales.

Sales for the PS5 are up 27 percent month-on-month and down 18 percent year-on-year. Sales for the Switch are up 13 percent month-on-month and down 18 percent year-on-year. Sales for the Xbox Series X|S are down seven percent month-on-month and down 17 percent year-on-year. 

Overall, there were just under 144,000 video game consoles sold (NielsenIQ/GfK panel data) in the UK in October 2024. This is down 18 percent year-on-year.

GSD data shows there were 2.9 million games sold in October 2024, which is up 3.2 percent year-on-year. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 debuted in first place on the software charts (digital and physical combined). Sales are 11 percent lower than the launch month of 2023's 2023's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, however, this is most likely due to the number of people playing the game via Xbox Game Pass.

Sales of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 are up 24 percent year-on-year on PlayStation consoles, while sales dropped on Xbox consoles and PC. 75 percent of total sales were on PlayStation consoles, followed by 15 percent on PC, and just under 11 percent on Xbox consoles.

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero debuted in third place with the first four week of sales up 80 percent compared to 2020's Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.

Undisputed debuted in fourth place and had the second biggest launch for a sports title in 2024. Only EA Sports FC 24 had a bigger launch.

The remake of Silent Hill 2 debuted in fifth place. Launch sales are 32 percent lower than the remake of Dead Space and 62 percent lower than the remake of Resident Evil 4.

Super Mario Party Jamboree debuted in ninth place. Sales are 11 percent higher than 2018's Super Mario Party, but are four percent lower than 2021's Mario Party Superstar. It should be noted Nintendo doesn't share digital sales with these charts.

Sonic X Shadows Generations debuted in 10th place. Sales for the game are 150 percent compared to 2023's Sonic Superstars, but are down 21 percent compared to 2022's Sonic Frontiers.

Metaphor: Refantazio debuted in 12th place and the new version of Until Dawn debuted in 30th place.

EA Sports FC 25 came in second place with sales down 14 percent year-on-year.

There were over 681,000 accessories and add-on products sold in the UK in October, which is up nearly 16 percent year-over-year, but is down over eight percent month-on-month.

The White DualSense controller was the best-selling accessory, followed by the Midnight Black DualSense controller. The PlayStation Portal Remote Player is up four spots to take fourth place.

Here are the top 10 best-selling games in the UK (Digital + Physical):

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463042/ps5-best-seller-in-the-uk-in-october-black-ops-6-leads-strong-month-of-new-releases/

Publisher indie.io and developer Maple Powered Games announced G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch on November 21.

The game is currently available for PC Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG.

View the console reveal date trailer below:

Read details on the game below:

Cobra rears its ugly head yet again and it’s up to G.I. Joe to save the world! Embracing the 1980s era of the iconic universe, Wrath of Cobra is a retro side-scrolling beat ’em up. Play as one of the legendary G.I. Joe characters, including Duke, Scarlett, Roadblock, Snake Eyes, and more. Defeat hordes of Cobra troopers, Vipers, Crimson Guards and more of Cobra’s malevolent machinations.

Bring Cobra down, striking back at the likes of Destro, Serpentor, Baroness, and Cobra Commander himself! Fight your own way: Rely on your fists and get up close and personal using each character’s unique combos and special moves or keep your foes at a distance with a variety of weapons!

Retro Gameplay in a Modern Era

Wrath of Cobra takes the classic arcade beat ’em up and brings it into the modern age: Easy to play, hard to master, and smoother than a ride in a H.I.S.S. Want to play with your friends? The game supports local multiplayer (eg. from your couch) and online co-op!

Play as Classic Heroes

Fight Cobra as your favorite G.I. Joe heroes, painstakingly recreated in beautiful pixel art. The differences between characters aren’t just cosmetic: Each hero has different movesets and unique abilities. From the fast and nimble Snake Eyes to the rough and tumble Roadblock, each character is true to form!

Battle Iconic Villains

Cobra isn’t just the Cobra Commander, it’s also its legions! Face hordes of troopers, armored Alley Vipers, artificial B.A.T.s, armed with some of the most iconic weapon systems in the franchise, including the H.I.S.S., C.L.A.W., and the notorious Trubble Bubble.

Retro-Infused Soundtrack

Foil the Commander’s plot to the beat of classic G.I. Joe themes, reimagined by industry veterans at Kid Katana Records, bringing a modern twist to classic arcade music!

Post-Launch Support

Like Destro’s plots, Wrath of Cobra will continue with extensive post-launch support, bringing more G.I. Joe heroes into the fray, adding new game modes, levels, and more to keep the G.I. Joe legacy alive!

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463047/gi-joe-wrath-of-cobra-releases-november-21-for-ps5-xbox-series-xs-and-switch/

Shift Up in its latest earnings report Q&A stated its goal is to release Stellar Blade for PC sometime in 2025.

"We're aiming for a 2025 release," said the developer when asked about a PC version of Stellar Blade.

"Given recent trends like Steam’s growing presence in the AAA games market and the global success of Black Myth: Wukong, we are expecting the PC version to perform even better than the console version."

The developer revealed sales for the PS5 version of Stellar Blade "have remained steady even as the initial surge has calmed."

Stellar Blade released for the PS5 in April.

Thanks, Gematsu.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463049/shift-up-aiming-to-release-stellar-blade-for-pc-in-2025/

WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pennsylvania—At a campaign rally in the most important swing state in the country, anti-Trump activist George Conway told the Daily Beast why he thinks Kamala Harris can win over Republicans.

“She’s kind of done it already,” he said. “Look at all those people who voted for [Nikki] Haley when she was already done. I actually think there’s kind of a hidden Harris vote for Republicans who are just exhausted by Donald Trump.”

Turnout is another factor that plays to Democrat’s advantage, Conway predicted. “I also think that even the people who are still for Trump and won’t vote for Harris, I don’t think the turnout’s going to be great for him.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Journalists at CNN, including some of the network’s biggest personalities, are living in fear of “inevitable” layoffs and pay cuts as its new CEO looks to shore up finances amid declining ratings.

That’s according to The Ankler, which reported Wednesday that 77-year-old Chris Wallace—whose already been relegated to a weekend program—is among the network’s most well-known names whose future is in limbo.

Wallace’s $8.5 million contract, signed by the ex-CNN boss Jeff Zucker to recruit him away from Fox News three years ago, is reportedly up and he was spotted in CEO Mark Thompson’s office on Tuesday.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance boldly said “no,” Donald Trump did not lose the 2020 election, when pressed on the issue at a campaign event Wednesday in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The Ohio senator has avoided directly denying the results over the past few weeks.

When quizzed by The New York Times about the results over the weekend, for example, he refused multiple times to answer the question, on one occasion claiming he was “focused on the future”—echoing an answer he gave to Democratic opponent Tim Walz at the vice presidential debate.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is TV’s best soap opera, week after week offering twists more shocking than secret twins and characters returning from the dead. That’s because it’s all real, happening in the most haunted suburb in the continental United States.

Where else do two women connect over knowing the long-lost birth father of one’s child? Is there another city where women squabble over body positivity in a parking lot off the side of a snowy mountain? Surely, there’s no other place on Earth where Lisa Barlow could come across anywhere near a voice of reason.

But that all happens here in Salt Lake City. Five episodes in, Season 5 has continued to evolve into the most captivating season in modern Real Housewives history, carried by the ever-changing bonds between our OGs and a team of wonderfully bizarre newbies.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Liam Payne was seemingly having a “lovely day in Argentina” just hours before his death on Wednesday, according to what appear to be a series of final posts made to his Snapchat account.

The former One Direction member was found dead in the courtyard of a Buenos Aires hotel, having apparently plunged 13 to 14 meters from his balcony, according to local police. A cause of death has not officially been determined, and it was unclear whether the fall was accidental or intentional.

On his Snapchat Story, however, it would have appeared to any fan that Payne was having a relaxing vacation. In since-deleted posts in the hours before his death, he posted a front-facing video in which he told followers, “It’s a lovely day here in Argentina. This is the breakfast table. Just enjoying coffee and breakfast even though it’s 1 p.m.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper was flabbergasted Wednesday by a surrogate’s defense of Donald Trump, calling his explanation for the former president’s bombastic statements literal “bulls---.”

On AC360, former California Lieutenant Gov. Abel Maldonado, a Republican, said that Trump’s recent comments calling for the military to “handle” Democrats were simply his way of expressing his inner New Yorker. “He’s a fighter,” Maldonado added.

The conversation began when Cooper brought up Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, who, alongside other military leaders, have begun to warn of the dangers of re-electing the former president. Milley has called Trump a “fascist to his core.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Movies can’t, by definition, be all things to all people, and yet Anora—winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s highest honor, the Palme d’Or—manages to vacillate between assorted registers with stunning, and ultimately affecting, aplomb.

Another of The Florida Project and Red Rocket writer/director Sean Baker’s tales of marginalized individuals struggling to survive and find themselves in an often-unforgiving world, the film is a character study, romance, crime saga, screwball comedy, and vérité drama all wrapped into one unique and dexterous package. More impressive than its nimbleness, however, is its poise and empathy, the latter of which is chiefly bestowed upon its protagonist, whose life is thrown for a rollercoaster-grade loop-di-loop thanks to a chance introduction.

Ani (Mikey Madison, in a star-making turn) is a Brighton Beach 23-year-old who lives with her sister and earns a living stripping at a local club. Anora, which hits theaters Oct. 18, introduces her at the end of a long pan along a bench where men are receiving lap dances from erotic professionals. Fixating on Ani’s face as she flashes the fake smile that her customers crave and her superiors demand, Baker’s camera creates immediate, intimate engagement with the young woman, and that continues as it presents snapshots of her daily (or, rather, nightly) routine at her place of employment.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Relatives of Lyle and Erik Menendez spoke in an interview Wednesday about their long-running fears that the brothers had been abused for years before they killed their parents.

After a press conference in which they’d called for the imprisoned siblings’ freedom, the family members told Chris Cuomo on NewsNation about how their suspicions only deepened as time passed.

“Over the years we really did know that there was abuse at gut-level. But as time goes on and we all talked to each other more and more, it validates the fears and the gut-level reactions that we had,” the brothers’ cousin Karen VanderMolen-Copley told Cuomo. “That solidified the knowledge that the sexual abuse actually did occur, because that’s not something you want to believe, and then once you talk to each other it becomes more and more obvious.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Disaster was averted at a Kentucky hospital when an ostensibly deceased organ donor began “thrashing” around in the operating theater, a preservationist tells NPR.

“He was moving around,” Natasha Miller recalled of the patient, whom NPR identified as Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II. “He was crying visibly.”

The two surgeons assigned to the transplant naturally refused to go through with the procedure, which was reportedly scheduled to take place at Baptist Health Richmond Hospital in October 2021. But when her colleague called Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates, which coordinated the harvest, Miller said the supervisor told them they “were going to do the case” and needed to “find another doctor.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Donald Trump pulled out of another mainstream interview Thursday–this time nixing a sit-down with NBC News.

The interview, CNN reported, would be in Philadelphia with NBC News' senior business correspondent, Christine Romans. CNN’s Brian Stelter said one source suggested that it had only been “postponed.”

It was the second time in a week that he had canceled a scheduled appearance outside the conservative news sphere, CNN’s Reliable Sources reported Thursday. He had canceled an in-studio appearance on the CNBC flagship show, Squawk Box, which was due on Friday.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

I never completed the original Red Dead Redemption, but not for the usual reasons of being terrible at the game, or thinking that open worlds are too big and boring these days and I just want to lie down forever and watch anime. I never finished it because my Xbox 360 version was not, in practice, an open world game, but a lonely farm at the bottom of a vortex of butchered spacetime. In the prologue, reformed outlaw John Marston confronts an old bandit acquaintance and gets himself roundly shot to bits. He’s rescued by local rancher Bonnie MacFarlane, who nurses him back to health and gives him a few odd jobs to warm him up for the next plot point.

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Stationeers and Icarus developers RocketWerkz are making a spiritual successor to beloved space sim Kerbal Space Program, which is currently titled "Kitten Space Agency" in a flagrant display of adherence to wholesome internet trends. It's based on an actual Kerbal Space Program 2 pitch the studio threw at Take-Two subsidiary Private Division back in the day. RocketWerkz CEO and original DayZ creator Dean Hall has hired several former KSP and KSP2 developers to work on the game, and is describing it on social media as a "KSP killer".

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Inflexion Games are closing their UK office, laying off staff and restructuring their main Canadian studio after failing to find commercial success with their Victorian fantasy survival game Nightingale. Reportedly, at least 22 people have been let go.

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Stroll on down to Uncle Capcom's garage, girls and boys, because it's time to meddle with a cat's voicebox, ride a combat peacock and meticulously injure a vast, blubbery teddybear. By which I mean, the Monster Hunter Wilds beta is now live on Steam through to 4th November at 2.59am GMT. That's 2.59am sharp. If you're hurrying along at 3am on Monday absolutely desperate to polish the aesthetics of a small enslaved catperson, you can sod off and play Dragon Age: The Veilguard instead.

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There’s plenty that you could justifiably expect from a Bioware RPG: chats with mates, opportunities to get those mates horribly killed, surviving mates turning to the side then walking offscreen. But I don’t think anyone expected Dragon Age: The Veilguard to be, at least on a purely technical level, one of the smoothest-performing, settings-rich AAA PC releases of the year so far.

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Like a plague doctor delicately administering another handful of leeches, Ice Pick Lodge have shared a bit more about the recently announced Pathologic 3, explaining how their plans for the cult epidemic-battling series have progressed since the release of Pathologic 2.

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I was excited for Slitterhead, an action adventure game by Bokeh Studio, a studio founded by none other than your boy Keiichiro Toyama: the creator of Silent Hill, Gravity Rush, and the Siren series. And within that first hour, Slitterhead's body-possessing and Hong Kong-inspired streets had me thinking, "Is this it, the sleeper hit of 2024?!"

No, sadly not. It's no doubt built a compelling universe filled with brain-sucking aliens that masquerade as humans, and it attempts plenty else besides: bouncing between bodies as you stealth around dingy apartment blocks, fighting with blood katanas, and gorging on pools of red plasma to refuel skills, many of which require more body-flitting. Thing is, they are ultimately just attempts, attempts that fall victim to an emptiness and jitteriness that quickly reveals Slitterhead's true, irritating form.

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Twitch have introduced a new "Politics and Sensitive Social Issues" label for streams that "focus" on topics like "elections, civic integrity, and war or military conflict". As with the streaming giant's existing labels for M-rated material, sexual themes or depictions of gambling, the idea is that viewers can filter out such streams in advance by altering their settings.

Advertisers, similarly, can "make better choices about the content they want to advertise next to" - in other words, pull their ads from a whole swathe of material if they don't want to be associated with anything controversial. Twitch's hope is that "the labels will allow advertisers to have more context to inform which types of streams they show their ads alongside, which we expect to increase brands’ confidence in running ads on Twitch, and could bring new advertisers to our service."

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Early reactions to Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 multiplayer range from frothing dislike through omnimovement hype to our own Ed Thorn's dead-eyed appraisal that it's "a good one, I think. Not a bad one. If you like Call Of Duty, you will like this. If you don't like Call Of Duty, you will not like this." I feel like we need to emergency-deploy a supply crate of smelling salts, because the sheer OK-ness of Black Ops 6 appears to have tumbled Ed into a stupor.

Perhaps it would be a different story if he'd encountered some of the spawning issues and glitches people are talking about, with players joining games and materialising right into a hail of fire. The players in question include Black Ops 6's developers, who comically note in the latest Black Ops 6 patch notes that "Yes, we saw ourselves in a Killcam before selecting a Loadout too." The latest patch seeks to address this, naturally. As regards the campaign side of things, it also resets your safehouse currency to 5000, if you've had your single player funds stolen (or multiplied) by technical gremlins.

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I have zero archaeology experience or knowledge, but I bet archaeologists really love their jobs (for the most part). They get to analyse and discover cool artefacts and educate us on the histories of forgotten civilisations. That's dreamy stuff, that is. But I do wonder what it's like for archaeologists to discover and study something they shouldn't have; something with a disturbing secret - a curse, maybe. Bite-sized horror game The Children Of Clay explores this idea and I'd like more of it, please.

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As a yearly blockbuster, Call of Duty, through sheer expense and effort, would like you to think it is the Die Hard of video games. Or, depending on the setting, the Saving Private Ryan of video games. But it is barely Black Hawk Down. This latest campaign in Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 reminds me more of the forgettable Netflix shootfests that thumbnail their way across your TV screen as you try to find some gritty nothing to aid you in zoning out of life. Still, there is an anecdotal contingent of casual sofa sitters for whom Call Of Duty is the game. A balls-to-the-wall shooter to return to every winter and rinse through in a weekend. Ed has already gestured at its multiplayer, announcing: "yup, it's COD", like a deeply tired Captain Birdseye inspecting the day's catch, wondering when his life will change. But never mind that. How does the single player story mode hold up? Some are calling it the best campaign in years. And I guess that's true, in the sense that it is the least worst.

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We’re still a week away from Blizzard’s Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct next Wednesday the 13th of November, but art from an apparent remaster of 1995 real time strategy game Warcraft II: Tides Of Darkness has leaked online, via Xibbly user Stiven. It’s a thin one, as far as leaks go, but does show what looks to be cover, logo art, and a Battle.net icon. Thanks for the spot, Percy Coswald Gamer.

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Steam's built-in game recording feature has been usable in beta since the summer, but it has now been properly launched for every user, following a client update to Steam yesterday. It's basically another method of capturing funny ragdoll glitches and posting them on the "lol-games-are-dumb" channel of your friend's Discord. Or for posting that flukey knife throw in Call Of Duty to Twitter, as if you really meant to kill the man from across the map all along. Or saving a clip for your personal records, like the footage of that time you yeeted an innocent citizen off the 50-foot wall of a castle town in Dragon's Dogma 2. We all do that, right? Right?

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Putting aside my natural annoyance at Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater for almost beating out the Twarhammer series in the headline real estate wars, I am more than a little excited to play. Some days, you simply must feast on a tree frog, and while we still don’t have a solid release date, that day doesn’t feel too far away. Good news for stealth fans, and perhaps gooder news for a dozen strapline writers sweating profusely, soiling themselves in anticipation of using “kept you waiting, huh?”.

Until then, I at least have a steady drip feed of new information to keep me sated, the latest of which is the substantial hint that there'll be some new dialogue in the game, as per the video below. Alongside that, the previously pseudonymous Suzetta Miñet - who was credited with voicing EVA in MGS3 and Peace Walker - has revealed herself to be Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Cheers for the spot, Automaton West.

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There must be hundreds of typewriters in the hall, their collective clacks a tidal wave of soulless automation, rising up to greet agent Kiran Estevez as she enters, pistol and flashlight in hands. Exploring rooms to the side, Alan Wake 2: The Lake House’s star finds whiteboards and documents revealing the typewriter’s purpose: to mimic Wake’s writing. Pages are graded along criteria such as ‘style’, ‘tone’, and ‘content’, then “fed into the algorithm” as references until “near-identical stories” to Wake’s can be produced.

“If Jules could simply cut the painter open and pull the painting out of him, he would,” reads one of the real Alan’s typewritten pages. That’s Jules Marmont, the obsessive head of the titular FBC centre. The Marmonts - Jules and his wife Diana - are running experiments to forcibly and synthetically create works of art, aiming to mimic creative passion convincingly enough for the paranatural entity inside Cauldron Lake to respond, as it has in the past.

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Take-Two Interactive have sold their publishing label Private Division to an unnamed party, along with five of Private Division's "live and unreleased titles". The GTA 6 publisher have also finally confirmed that they have shut down OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome devs Roll7 together with Kerbal Space Program 2 creators Intercept Games, months after performing mass layoffs at both studios.

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A few months ago, the rumour took root that GTA 6's release date would slip back from 2025 to 2026. An anonymous insider averred that studio heads were "worried" about the new open world game's progress - hence, perhaps, Rockstar's decision to mandate a full return to in-office work. Pshaw, say publishers Take-Two CEO. They announced a fall 2025 launch in March and have just doubled down on it in their latest financial briefing, with CEO Strauss Zelnick subsequently going on the tellybox to say that Take-Two are "highly confident in the timing", though he still has nothing to share about GTA 6 on PC.

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Sega are delisting several bundles of 'classic' games from digital stores, along with "select individual" games. On Steam specifically, this adds up to over 60 games in total, including several actual classics including the original Streets Of Rage trilogy, Crazy Taxi, and Jet Set Radio.

The games will be removed on December 6th but will remain playable to those who already own them.

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Nostalgia, when you think about it, is bollocks. There has never been a better time than right this second – averaged out, and despite repeated attempts to the contrary, humanity has never been healthier, freer, or more enlightened by knowledge. It’s true of games too. For every by-committee platter of passionless map markers, there are thousands of more personal, more creative, more interesting works, all adding to the decades' worth of great stuff we can still play today.

What isn’t bollocks is the emotional pull that nostalgia, for all its lack of cold, hard reason, still manages to wield inside our warm, squishy brains. Hence, the centrepiece of Apex Legends’ Season 23 update is a mode that recreates the battle royale FPS as it was back in 2019, defaulting back to the original map and weapon arsenal while cutting the 26-strong legend roster to the earliest ten. It’s a Fortnite-style rolling back of the clock, and a passably enjoyable one, but also a reminder that the good old days weren’t always that good.

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Amplitude Studios, developers of many a game with "Endless" in the name, have split with publisher Sega to become independent again, with ownership of the studio reverting to its original founders and "other members of the team". The developers say everyone is parting "on good terms" and that the last eight years of getting published under Sega has been "amazing". But there are other businessy reasons, of course. Namely, Sega have been trying to trim down their European studios for the past year, and Amplitude is just the latest bunch of devs affected by that.

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Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 has been out for a little while already, what with me giving its multiplayer largely a thumbs up. Still, it's an ever-evolving thing and Activision have announced the game's first seasonal drop. It's a hefty one with a lot of additions, so I'll try my best to break down the good stuff. TLDR: there's some new maps for multiplayer and zombies, new modes, and a few extra bits. I'm mildly excited for more. More in this case is good.

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