Matsuda intimated that traditional game development, especially in the domestic Japanese market, is now “not enough” for the company, adding that he wants to “utilise the power of [autonomous game content] to create games that will continue to evolve” and use blockchain tech to incentivise any such user generated content. “In the future, we would like to try our hand at providing ‘autonomous game content’,” the president told Yahoo Japan (as translated by VGC)....

But potential purchasers say they’ve been put off pre-orders by Forspoken’s £65/$70/€80 Steam price point. (A digital deluxe version of the game with digital art book, soundtrack, and DLC pack meanwhile costs £89.) As a comparison, recent big Steam releases such as EA’s Battlefield 2042 and Microsoft’s Halo Infinite are both set at £49.99. That £50 price point is relatively standard for new and upcoming Steam launches. If you were to pre-order Bandai Namco’s Elden Ring, for example, or Capcom’s Monster Hunter: Rise, or Sega’s Total War: Warhammer 2, all are set at £49....

The studios that comprise Stadia Games & Entertainment are still employed for the time being - though are in the process of “moving on to new roles” over the coming months. ORIGINAL STORY 23/2/21: Stadia has said it will try to fix a bug stopping people from playing Journey to the Savage Planet - a game from the studio it acquired, but whose staff it has now made redundant. The bug is a serious one - the game currently freezes on the main menu, making it unplayable - but has so far lain unaddressed, as there is no-one left to fix it....

The Sith Lords Restored Content DLC will be available for free and adds in extra content that was cut from the original Xbox release of the game. However, the DLC won’t be compatible with base game save files, explains developer Aspyr. “You will need to start a new game with the DLC content enabled to access the additional content, however after the DLC releases and you still wish to finish your non-DLC playthrough, you can access those base game save files by disabling the DLC in the in-game main menu,” the studio said in a tweet....

A long-awaited remake of Like a Dragon: Ishin! will release on 21st February 2023, which will be followed by Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name later in the year. In 2024, the maineline series will continue with Like a Dragon 8, and sees the return of protagonists Kazuma Kiryu and Kasuga Ichiban. Ahead of the busy schedule for Like a Dragon, director and executive producer at developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio Masayoshi Yokoyama has spoken more about the increased recognition of Like a Dragon overseas, the upcoming games, and the possibility of the series on Nintendo Switch....

Bowser’s torment marks the first of three World Count Challenges to be held before the end of March, and will run from 7am in the UK on 19th January until 6:59am on 26th January. In order to achieve the target of 3.5 million Bowsers obliterated before the event comes to an close, participating players around the world can add to the tally either be defeating Bowser as part of Super Mario Bros 35’s regular gameplay, or via the week’s Special Battle, which Nintendo says will include additional opportunities to bring down Mario’s ever-persistent foe....

Yesterday, developer Void Interactive tweeted that it was dealing with a “suggested trademark infringement” of its “recent Night Club map” which rolled out as part of the early access game’s most recent update earlier in the week. “We take IP concerns very seriously, and in a show of good faith, we have decided to remove the subject materials and any reference to them from Ready or Not and from any of our social media or other publications,” Void said (thanks, NME)....

The Boom-compatible Doom WAD comes out on 24th September via its website on GitHub. It’s free and playable on pretty much any computer hardware. There are five levels of difficulty, co-op and deathmatch. The trailer is below: Thatcher’s Techbase is the work of Jim Purvis, director of 3D: Doom Daddy Digital. “The world has heard a mysterious broadcast, a threat of revenge in the sinister voice of the late Baroness Margaret Thatcher,” reads the official blurb....

The sci-fi tabletop universe is enjoying a video game boom, with a handful of great games set within its very grim and very dark universe launched in recent years. Where there was nothing but an endless stream of mediocre Warhammer 40,000 games to play, like the terrifying Tyranids, the genre has adapted, improved and launched yet another wave, better than what came before. Below you can find our recommendations for the best Warhammer 40,000 games!...

Codenamed Alchemist, the new GPU looks to take Intel’s existing graphics tech - found in integrated form in its Tiger Lake and in limited release via the DG1 graphics card - and expand it out in all directions. More execution units (96 in DG1, up to 512 in DG2), more power, more memory bandwidth plus all the speed and efficiency advantages of TSMC’s new 6nm fabrication process. But over and above that, there are new features too....

This will include new cars, events, rewards, competitions and improvements. But the biggest change - and one of the most requested by fans - will be the addition of current-gen support. Native version of The Crew 2 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will see the game bumped to 60fps, among other changes. This change is now in testing, for rollout alongside Year 5 in July. At the same time, sky and weather visual improvements will come to all platforms....

Today, the internet is awash with all sorts of new information about the game, including details about its accessibility options and control layout. If you are keen to avoid any spoilers, there will be some included in the text below - so take this as your cue to read something else on Eurogamer if you so wish. The latest The Last of Us leaks have come from XboxEra co-founder Nick Baker, who has acquired numerous shots and snippets from The Last of Us Part 1 and has been sharing them with the world throughout the night....

A new trailer for the upcoming release of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has given us all a closer look at gameplay. Here, we see the titular Gollum scaling walls, skulking in the shrubbery, and popping off orcs with rocks. We also get to have a closer look at some of the other characters from Middle-earth. These include Gandalf and the elven king Thranduil, a mysterious new elf (who I suspect may be Mel from the preview I was invited to earlier this year), the Nazgûl and the eight-legged wonder Shelob....

The California and Virginia-based studio, which most recently released 2019 co-op horror The Blackout Club, revealed its South Park project via a new job listing. Question’s job ad notes that the studio now includes team members who previously worked on Obsidian’s celebrated South Park: The Stick of Truth and Ubisoft’s own follow-up Fractured But Hole. It also asks for applicants to have multiplayer development experience. In Eurogamer’s The Magic Circle review, Simon Parkin described the game as “a caustic, often-prickly satire on contemporary game making” - something which could probably translate well to a South Park setting....

Having this new The Sims 4 expansion installed will give Simmers the keys to enhancing their Teen Sims lifestyles. No longer will Teens just be Young Adults in disguise, but will get the option to attend class (in-person, not somewhere off-lot), pull pranks, decorate their own locker, and even join an after-school club. There’s also the ever important prom to think about too. This page explains how to enroll in high school, after-school activities that you can take part in, how to become prom royalty or jester, and all of the cool tips and tricks that’ll make your Sims 4 high school years one to remember....

As spotted by PCGN, a number of new items introduced along with the Werewolf expansion have descriptions that players of Square Enix’s hugely-popular MMORPG may find familiar. There’s the Racked Teak-a Greatshelves - a fantastic, if not particularly subtle, nod to Shadowbringers’ Rak’tika Greatwood where the Viera live - as well as a reference to the game’s theme track. “Perfect for the Warriors of Write among us, with a penchant for collecting one too many written works and curious from their adventures,” the description teases....

This donation will be matched by Embracer boss Lars Wingefors, who will donate $1m to Embracer’s “employees and contractors who are directly impacted by the crisis”. Embracer’s donation will go to organisations such as the Red Cross, SOS Children’s Villages and ACT Alliance. Embracer now owns more than 100 studios, with around 12,150 staff on its payroll across 45 countries. Many of these are in Europe, although not directly in Ukraine itself....

Four years to the day since it was originally added to the game’s first map, today’s v19.10 update sees the city-like location return. Today’s update also brings with it another major addition: Klombos. These hulking, wandering dinosaurs can be clambored onto, and their blowholes used as a launchpad into the air. Klombos can also spit out useful items if fed Klomberries, a new healing item available across the map from certain bushes....

Of course, the release of his character ties into the upcoming launch of Venom: Let There Be Carnage in cinemas. Fortnite also includes a Carnage skin as part of this season’s battle pass, and currently features superpowered Venom and Carnage symbiotes as Mythical items in matches. Fortnite already hosted a Venom character skin, but this one is based on the new movie and lets you transform back and forth between the icky antihero and Hardy....

The trailer, below, shows off Grand Cathay’s various units. The Imperial China influence is clear: there’s a “Dragon Emperor”, giant Terracotta Sentinels and “the mysterious lores of magic known as Yin and Yang”. In terms of playstyle, Creative Assembly said Cathay are “defensive in nature and built to stand their ground and grind the enemy down through determined defense and firepower”. Some Warhammer fans were surprised by the inclusion of the relatively-unknown Grand Cathay as a playable race in Total War: Warhammer 3, but Creative Assembly pointed out Grand Cathay was first mentioned in the second edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, and has made sporadic background appearances throughout its history since....