Gaming News - Page 2

High On Life, the new crude sci-fi shooter from Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland, is a smash cult hit on Xbox Game Pass.

It's official: High On Life is a big success on Xbox. The game has broken multiple records on Xbox Game Pass, becoming the best third-party game launch of all time on the service. It's also the biggest game launch in 2022 in terms of number of hours played. High On Life has become the most popular single player-only game release in the history of Xbox Game Pass.

Microsoft has confirmed that High On Life has seen millions of players worldwide, and at one point it was more popular than Minecraft.

Lara Croft's iconic adventures have led to nearly 100 million game sales worldwide, developer Crystal Dynamics has confirmed.

Over the past 26 years, the Tomb Raider franchise has sold a combined 95 million copies across multiple titles. The figure comes from a new press release issued by Crystal Dynamics, who recently announced that its new Unreal Engine 5-powered Tomb Raider game would be published by Amazon's gaming division.

"The Tomb Raider franchise includes more than 20 video games, is loved by more than 170 million people around the world, and has sold more than 95 million copies since the first entry was released in 1996," reads the press release.

In an interesting twist, the next Tomb Raider game will be published by Amazon Games.

Earlier this year, the Embracer Group purchased Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and a bunch of game franchises like Tomb Raider and Deus Ex from Square Enix for $300 million. The new owners confirmed that Crystal Dynamics would retain full creative leadership over the Tomb Raider franchise while also greenlighting a new Lara Croft adventure game.

Since then we haven't had very many updates about the new Tomb Raider project. We know that it's being made in Unreal Engine 5, and Embracer Group CEO teased that Crystal Dynamics was doing "very interesting" things with Tomb Raider.

Sony's new $200 DualSense Edge controller caters to the high-performance enthusiast crowd, but the upgrades come at a cost other than money.

The DualSense Edge is Sony's answer to the Xbox Elite controllers, featuring swappable joysticks, back paddles, and significantly optimized precision and sensitivity profiles. Sony promises that the Edge will give you, well, an edge in all kinds of games, especially shooters where fast-twitch reflexes are needed.

There's just two potential problems with the DualSense Edge. The first is battery life. Sony has officially confirmed the DualSense Edge has a "moderately shorter" battery life than the $70 stock DualSense controller. We don't know the battery size of the Edge, but the regular DualSense uses a 1,560 mAh battery, which can be swapped out in favor of a battery with a higher capacity (I did this with my DualShock 4 and it worked very well).

Blizzard outlines more details on what to expect from the Diablo franchise's first ever paid battle pass.

Diablo IV will have a paid battle pass complemented by a rotating seasonal structure of content.

Blizzard has confirmed that Diablo IV will not go live with a season--instead, season 1 will release weeks after the game launches in June 2023. So that early access pre-order bonuses will not give players an extra lead over others.

Blizzard has officially confirmed that classic old-school Diablo items will be returning in Diablo IV.

Diablo is a franchise with deep-rooted traditions, and one of these decades'-long rituals is finding new ways to reinvent classic items.

Blizzard says that Diablo IV will see the triumphant return of some of the most iconic items that appeared in Diablo I and Diablo II, and that the unique item rarity is coming back as the most powerful item class in the game.

Diablo IV's new Codex of Power mechanic will bring massive replayability and customization to the game.

Diablo IV has a new game-changing feature called the Codex of Power, which will allow gamers to specifically target buffs and passive bonuses to augment their builds. Blizzard has found a way to effectively turn in-game environments into something that is better than a legendary item; the dungeons themselves are like the prefixes and suffixes from Diablo II. Imagine being able to find some of the best buffs and stats from one item and affix them to other items.

Here's how it works: Every dungeon in Diablo IV has specific loot called an "aspect". This aspect is kind of like a gem from D3 that augments skills and abilities. The aspects are equivalent to the special buffs and powers on legendary items.

Sony could release a new PlayStation 5 model in 2023, but it may not be a PS5 Pro with improved performance and power.

In a recent interview with Japanese gaming site Famitsu, Sony Interactive Entertainment Vice President Hideaki Nishino may have teased a new PS5 model that could be announced and/or released in 2023.

Famitsu mentioned that the PS5 was entering its third year, and that the PS4 Pro released in the PS4's third year--would a new revamped PS5 come in 2023 to continue this mid-cycle trend?

Beloved creative director Chris Metzen is returning to Blizzard to help lead the studio during a big transitional period.

Blizzard is changing. On a cultural level, the studio has struggled with sexual harassment allegations, leading to multiple lawsuits and shocking testimony of worker treatment and abuse. Blizzard has also struggled with production: Before Diablo 2 Resurrected's launch in 2021, Blizzard had not released a new product for many years. Now Blizzard management is trying to solve both issues and has recruited studio vets to help make it happen.

According to a new report from Bloomberg, former Blizzard creative Chris Metzen is returning to the studio to help kickstart these new initiatives. Management hopes that Metzen's return will embolden morale and lead to better culture while offering inspiration to workers who are developing new games and content. Metzen could help get Blizzard back on track with culture and production.

Square Enix is bundling all six classic Final Fantasy games from the NES and SNES eras in one collectible package.

It's official: The Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Collection is coming to PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in a physical and collectible format. The all-in-one bundle includes Final Fantasy I - VI but the asking price is a bit steep at $75, which is the same price as the full collection on Steam. The physical editions are exclusive to the Square Enix Store so you'll want to pre-order ASAP to get a copy.

The games are due to ship in May 2023, which is really close to the planned June release date for Final Fantasy 16.