News

Bandai Namco will shut down the servers of its anime MMORPG Blue Protocol in Japan and has cancelled its release in the West.

Blue Protocol was released in Japan in June 2023, with the forthcoming western release managed by Amazon Games.

However, in a new statement from the developers on the game’s website, the “difficult decision” has been made to end service as “it will not be possible to provide a service that satisfies all of you”.

BLUE PROTOCOL: Announce Trailer – The Game Awards

…

Obsidian is targeting 30fps on Xbox consoles for its fantasy RPG, Avowed.
In conversation with the Iron Lords podcast, Obsidian art director Matt Hansen said the studio is “core targeting 30 frames per second, bare minimum” for the upcoming release, adding since “it’s a first-person, single-player game, you don’t necessarily need that 60 frames”.
Explaining further, Hansen said this will allow the Avowed team to “get a lot juicier with VFX and lighting and all this other stuff”.

Avowed Story Trailer – Xbox Games Showcase 2024

…

Epic Games has won a major victory in its ongoing legal battle against Google, which a US judge has now ruled operates an illegal monopoly via its smartphone app store.

Google – which is appealing the verdict – has been ordered to allow third-party storefront apps such as the Epic Games Store to be made available from the Google Play Store in the US next year.

For at least the next three years, Google will also be forced to allow users to pay via alternate means, rather than just Google Play Billing, from which Google takes a 30 percent cut.

In a statement released in response to the verdict, Google said it would push back against the ruling and request a pause on its required changes “to maintain a consistent and safe experience for users and developers…

Diablo 4’s expansion Vessel of Hatred released earlier today, welcoming a record number of Steam players in the process.
At the time of writing, there are 45,231 Diablo 4 players on Steam, a record for Blizzard’s hellish game on the platform. Earlier today, the all-time Steam player peak was sitting at 39,782, recorded four months ago.
Diablo 4 originally launched on consoles and for PC via Battle.net in June 2023, then popped up on Steam that October, by which point it had reached 12 million players total.

Diablo IV | Vessel of Hatred | Gameplay Launch Trailer

…

With less than a month to go until park management sim Planet Zoo whacks on a paper hat and toots out a party blower fwooooop to celebrate its fifth anniversary, developer Frontier has announced it’s be marking the occasion with more paid DLC and a free leopard for PC players.

Starting with the DLC, it’s called the Zookeepers Animal Pack and will introduce a further seven creatures for zoo builders to exhibit when it arrives on 15th October. There’s the Pallas cat, the Hamadryas baboon, the Markhor, Spectacled bear, African spurred tortoise, Coquerel’s sifaka, and finally, Kirk’s dik-dik – and, yes, I did let out a juvenile giggle at the last one.

All that’s joined by 95 new celebration-themed scenery pieces – including bunting, marquee tents, lanterns,…

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered PC players will be required to sign up via their PSN accounts to play the single-player adventure on Steam.
As noted on Valve’s PC storefront and spotted by IGN, just like other notable PlayStation-flavoured Steam releases such as Helldivers 2, Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut, and God of War Ragnarök, players will not be able to play Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered on PC without a PSN account.

Horizon Zero Dawn Story Explained Part 1: Project Zero Dawn And How Humanity Went Extinct

…

343 Industries, developer of the Halo series, has confirmed it is working on multiple new games for the franchise under a new name: Halo Studios.

In a surprise announcement last night, the freshly-rebranded Halo Studios debuted a first look at Project Foundry – its experimental look at how the Xbox flagship franchise will look developed in Unreal Engine 5.

All Halo games from here on out will use UE5, Halo Studios confirmed, ditching its own proprietary Slipspace Engine it toiled on for years.

A New Dawn | Halo Studios

…

Can you believe Alien: Isolation is now 10?! Doesn’t time fly when you are cowering for your life underneath a table, as a hulking great big Xenomorph stalks you around a space station. Ahh, good times.
And, if you too are feeling a tad misty-eyed remembering all the terror and resulting screams, wishing you could have another slice of Alien goodness to add to your video game plate, well, I have something to tell you that will be right up your street.
Today, Alien: Isolation director Al Hope teased some exciting news with the game’s community, as part of its 10th anniversary. That news? An Alien: Isolation sequel is in the works, and Hope will be back at the helm for the upcoming release. They are going to Ripley a new one, if you will.

Let’s Play Alien: Isolat…

The Day Before developer Fntastic has come out of the woodwork to announce its return.
The Day Before launched in December 2023, after a rocky road to release which included delays, the developer being forced to state its game wasn’t a scam, and criticism for its use of unpaid volunteers. It even got tied up in a bizarre trademark dispute with a calendar app also called The Day Before.
In the end, The Day Before didn’t last long. Its debut was a mess, and the studio shut down a mere matter of days after the game’s release, with players’ receiving refunds for the product. And to be honest, I thought that was that. But, I was wrong, because the studio is now back… and it wants your money again.

Eurogamer Newscast: When it costs £700, who exactly is the PS…

Fender has teamed up with Capcom to create a Telecaster inspired by Monster Hunter: the Monster Hunter Rathalos Telecaster.
The guitar’s already listed in the UK store for £1850, which makes it one of Fender’s pricier iterations. There’s no option to pre-order just yet, although Fender says the instrument will be available from March 2025.

Monster Hunter Wilds Gameplay Preview – THE MOST BEGINNER-FRIENDLY MONSTER HUNTER YET!

…