[UPDATE: The new PS4 controllers are now available to pre-order at GameStop.]There have been no shortage of colours released for the PS4's DualShock 4, but it appears that Sony isn't quite finished yet. The company announced via the PlayStation Blog that a handful more are coming this fall, and while I thought it couldn't get any better than the translucent models from a couple years back, it seems I forgot all about my favourite colour: PURPLE!DualShock 4 - $65 USD / $75 CADPre-order them at GameStopThe four colours coming are Electric Purple, Titanium Blue, Rose Gold, and Red Camouflage--I'm guessing the latter will come in extra handy if you want to hide amongst all of autumn's red trees. All four controllers will arrive this September in the US and Canada for a list price of $65 USD / $75 CAD. The controllers are also set for a fall release in Europe and other regions as well.On top of the new controllers, we'll also see the arrival of a new design for the PlayStation Gold Wireless Headset. This new version matches the Rose Gold DualShock 4 and will hit stores after the controllers, sometime this fall. You can expect a list price of $100 USD / $120 CAD.We'll keep our eyes out for when these controllers hit retailers, so be sure to stay tuned to GameSpot. In the meantime, check out this deal on the Fortnite Neo Versa PS4 bundles. These bundles finally came out in the US this week and offer exclusive Fortnite content with a PS4, DualShock 4, or Gold Wireless Headset.Info from Gamespot.com

A new post on Fortnite's website, credited to 'The Fortnite Team', explains why the B.R.U.T.E. mechs were added to the game and the impact they've had so far.The post acknowledges that the mechs have been controversial, but explains that they were added because one of the goals of Fortnite is "to bring players of all skill levels together to have a fun experience where anyone can win." The random nature of the mechs, which could give any player a massive unexpected advantage, gives less-experienced players a greater chance of racking up eliminations, or even a Victory Royale. "Right now, we know there are players out there who have never had that opportunity," the post says. They also want to provide "spectacle and entertainment", which means trying new things and introducing interesting wrinkles.The post also contains two charts, showing how many eliminations B.R.U.T.E. mechs are typically racking up during a match, both as a number and then as a percentage of total kills. These two charts show that the mechs, while significant, are not necessarily dominant in an average match of the game. "B.R.U.T.E. encounters should feel like a unique engagement and not be the dominant experience during a game," the post says. The B.R.U.T.E. was adjusted slightly in update 10.10, and now has an aiming laser so other players can see where they are pointing. They've also been tweaked to spawn less often in competitive Arena modes, hence the much lower percentages we see in the charts above.Fortnite's tenth season is likely to run until early October.Info from Gamespot.com

From Software wasn't always the renowned developer it is today, but by and large it still produced interesting, worthwhile games in the early PlayStation and Xbox days. The studio's rich history is absolutely worth exploring, and once you start down that rabbit hole, 2004's Metal Wolf Chaos is sure to catch your eye. A game starring the fictional President of the United States is an intriguing setup. The fact that he pilots a mech stuffed to the gills with an arsenal of giant weapons is a near-irresistible premise. Metal Wolf Chaos is one big schlocky joke at the US' expense delivered in the form of an action game, and because there aren't many nations or cultures that are fit to be mocked with such gusto, it feels like a rare opportunity that warrants investigation.Perhaps for obvious reasons, Metal Wolf Chaos never completed its planned journey westward back when Bush was in office and the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan put us on more international shitlists than usual. Fifteen years later, amid very different (though arguably worse) political and cultural climates, From Software's tongue-in-cheek parody of US stereotypes is finally open to widespread interpretation. There are aspects of its bombastic campaign that coincidentally bring to mind the worst of our current predicament, but the Metal Wolf President Michael Wilson, his secretary Jody, and the main villain, Vice President Richard Hawk, never let you forget that this is first and foremost a series of surface-level jokes played up with B-grade voice acting."Jody: Mr. President, I haven't been this happy since...Since that supermarket going-out-of-business sale, when I was searching for my favorite candy and...I found the last bar all covered in dust at the back of the rack! And the expiration date was still good!Michael Wilson: I know the feeling, Jody."Once you dive into missions, any goodwill earned by these ludicrous exchanges--in the face of a coup d'etat--eventually fades. The Metal Wolf mech is a bullet-belching powerhouse that carries four weapons on each side (from a wide range of pistols, bazookas, flamethrowers, you name it), and cycling through its arsenal quickly becomes second nature as you need to contend with limited ammo and a small variety of enemy types. Wreaking havok and causing massive explosions is gratifying for a while, and the only argument for actually playing the game versus watching a recap of the cutscenes online.Otherwise, the missions you face are largely rote and devoid of merit. Optional tasks like rescuing hostages--by destroying cages with small-arms fire--and poking around levels for unlockable weapons aren't much of a draw either. Perhaps they would be for a completionist looking for an excuse to get more out of the experience, but the net gain from these activities never makes them feel essential or worth deviating from your path of destruction. The variety of locales and scenery is appreciated and does help renew some curiosity, but the look of a stage only takes you so far, and a new map layout doesn't mean a whole lot without clever moments to make it shine.Some stages try harder than others, but seemingly without the intended results. Heading into the mission based in Arizona puts you in the middle of a dense Old West town with streets just big enough for some happy-go-lucky mech action. It's also one of the few missions that puts you toe-to-toe with another mech--three at once, in this case. Doing battle in the confined corridors is more interesting than fighting out in the open (as experienced in other missions), but it also means that you can find ways to trick the shallow AI into getting stuck on the corner of a building. It's easy pickings at that point as you fire away on your hapless foes. It's neither challenging nor enjoyable, perfectly illustrating the fact that gunplay and explosions alone can't resolve Metal Wolf Chaos' consistently mediocre designs.A lot of time has passed since the original release, and there's reason to expect that certain aspects could have been ironed out in preparation for Metal Wolf's formal reintroduction. That's not to say the entire game should have been reconsidered, but there's definitely room for less-intense changes that could make a major impact, such as adding mid-level checkpoints. Simple as they are, Metal Wolf's levels can be very long and drawn-out, coming close to the 15-minute mark in many cases. So often there are either surprise difficulty spikes or threats of instant death, and if you fail to survive because of a momentary lapse of judgment, you will have to play the entire level from the beginning. Fall off a dock mere meters from the shore? You're dead. Accidentally cause collateral damage at the wrong time? You're back at square one. When death can come in a flash, to have to go back to the beginning of a long level that's achingly routine feels like a great excuse to put the controller down and walk away.Metal Wolf Chaos is an old game with a wild reputation, and though it lives up to it in some ways, it's not good in general. At best, it's a curio that helps inform the story of From Software's trajectory over the years. At worst, it's a frustratingly shallow experience that fails to capitalize on it's best qualities. The From Software of yore deserves applause for punching up so confidently, and in style, to a degree, but Metal Wolf Chaos doesn't live up to the hype that's been building for well over a decade.Info from Gamespot.com

Sleep is meant to be a rejuvenating and relaxing part of your daily routine, but in Darq, it’s a gauntlet of danger that repeats night after night. Taking place in the lucid dreams of its main character, Lloyd, Darq is eerie and unsettling, its contorted world home to shocking figures of pure body horror. But it’s also a world held together by some intriguing puzzles, each of which delicately builds upon another to provide satisfying solutions to uncover.Darq’s main mechanic is the ability to manipulate gravity. When pressed against a flat surface, you can shift gravity towards it, flipping whole rooms onto their side and letting you explore a familiar space from a whole new perspective. Obscure passageways and interactable objects are hidden from certain angles, which makes getting around a puzzle in itself. Exploration is at the heart of Darq, as you hunt down items you’ll need to solve specific puzzles throughout its seven chapters.Your progress through a chapter is inhibited by your ability to find the right item for the job. There aren’t obscure solutions for the most part, either, allowing you to focus instead on the challenge of finding ways to change your perspective. A cog, for instance, is used on machines where it is evident that they are missing, while a key will be labelled for the object it’s meant to unlock. Given the dream setting, there are a few instances where the items you need to solve a puzzle don't make sense--a wristwatch grows and bridges a gap in the floor, or a snake is used to mend a broken electrical circuit--but given that you never hold more than just a handful of items at a time, it's easy enough to eliminate ones that won’t work and experiment with the rest without getting frustrated.Each of Darq’s chapters is themed around a new mechanic, which is then carried through to subsequent levels. You start by only having to worry about shifting gravity, but it’s not long before you have to consider levers that rotate whole rooms or switches that throw you backwards and forwards through an otherwise 2D plane. Each of these is introduced with well-constructed puzzles that gently show you the possibilities, eventually culminating in later levels where all of them are used together to create tricky conundrums. A just-out-of-reach gear suggests to you that there must be a new mechanic that allows you to reach it, for example, eventually teaching you that you can walk on walls without the need for tutorialized text. Darq isn’t incredibly challenging, but after learning the ins and outs of different mechanics over the course of the game, it's satisfying to solve a puzzle that combines the principles you've mastered.Navigating levels and figuring out their multiple routes is a joy, but exploration is occasionally tripped up by enemy encounters. The few monsters in Darq are shocking figures with contorted appendages and bizarre experimentations that are quick to attack, tearing you apart violently should you get too close. Stealth is your only option in these instances, but it's limited in execution. Most of the time you simply wait for an enemy to pass an obvious hiding spot before darting into it and waiting for them to pass back around, stripping you of any creativity to your approach. These sections are little more than forced frustrations, some of which you’ll have to repeatedly engage with when backtracking through levels. In contrast to the thoughtful puzzles that surround it, Darq’s stealth is underwhelming.The haunting monsters present a real threat in what is otherwise an entirely made-up world, with the underlying premise of lucid dreams allowing for all the otherworldly mechanics that Darq offers. Its vision of the subconscious can easily be compared to classic Tim Burton films. Your character features stick-like appendages and empty black eyes which match well with the gloomy, dreary world filled with oppressive grey hues and a pervasive industrial revolution theme. The variety in levels, from an abandoned hospital to a coal-drenched locomotive, does a lot to flesh out the world. Darq runs the gamut on cliché spooky spaces, but it realizes them so well in its visual style that they feel fresh rather than cheesy.Part of what makes each of these spaces stand out is the exceptional sound design. Darq can be terrifyingly silent at times, with only your footsteps echoing into the distance for long stretches at a time. But the silence only accentuates the quality of a creaking wheelchair moving slowly towards you or the sharp screams of enemies alerted to your presence when entering a room. Interactions with puzzle elements are often accompanied with loud, sharp sound effects that pierce through the quiet halls of the levels they’re in, always instilling a sense of unease when you’re poking around Darq’s dreary world.It’s a shame then that with all this delightfully spooky atmosphere, there’s not much else to do once Darq’s seven chapters are over, which took me just over two hours. Each stage barring the finale contains a single collectible to find if you’re itching for an additional challenge, which can make return visits mildly rewarding. The brevity of Darq is, however, disappointing because of the potential left on the table. The beginning chapters are too short and the finale breaks the structure of every chapter before it, leaving most of Darq's most compelling pieces in its middle. On top of that, each level isn't given enough time to really explore the breadth of its unique puzzle mechanics, bringing about the end just as it feels like momentum is starting to form.As brief as it is, Darq does offer well-designed puzzles that are incredibly satisfying to solve on your first playthrough, each one building upon the last in intelligent ways. Darq never fully stumbles into frustration, even if it is tripped up slightly by underwhelming stealth sections. But its gloomy atmosphere and exceptional sound design enrapture you in its dreary world of dreams. Darq is full of great ideas that contribute to a tight and brief package, but it’s hard not to want for more once it’s done.Info from Gamespot.com

Harry Styles was reportedly offered the role of Prince Eric in the upcoming live-action version of The Little Mermaid, but ultimately passed on the project.We learned in July that Styles was in talks to play the prince, but that the English singer wasn't sure if he would be available, or suitable, for the role. Now, according to both The Wrap and Variety, Styles has officially passed on the project. The role of Prince Eric was reportedly his to take if he so wanted, but Styles ultimately declined.Although Prince Eric does not sing in the original 1989 animated film, this new version of the story will contain new songs from composer Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda, so it's likely that Disney will be seeking an actor with a strong voice for the role. As a singer and former member of One Direction, Styles would have fit the bill.Prince Eric is not the only major part yet to be officially cast, although Javier Bardem is reportedly in talks to play Ariel's father, King Triton. Some other major parts have already been cast: Halle Bailey is set to play Ariel, while Melissa McCarthy has been cast as her wicked aunt Ursula. Rob Marshall (Chicago, Into the Woods) will direct.It's been a good year for Disney's remakes, with Aladdin doing so well that they're considering a sequel, and The Lion King becoming the highest grossing animated movie ever.Info from Gamespot.com

A new FCC filing has revealed an upcoming wireless SNES controller for Nintendo Switch, possibly hinting at plans to release Super Nintendo games for the system.Resetera user Link83 discovered the new filing (which is required for the controller's release in the US) after setting up an alert for any Nintendo FCC ID filings. Much of the documentation is confidential, but the accompanying image matches the SNES controller's iconic shape, while the appearance of the "HAC" model number notates its potential as a Switch peripheral, since all other Switch hardware and accessories use the same model number.Nintendo released a similar NES controller for the Switch 12 months ago when NES games started appearing for subscribers to Nintendo Online. This new controller might signal the arrival of SNES games to the Switch's virtual library, with an accompanying controller letting you relive the days of playing Super Mario World, A Link to the Past, and Super Metroid with a familiar peripheral in-hand.Nintendo hasn't officially announced the controller in any capacity yet, but we'll keep you updated on when they do. In the meantime, you can keep up to date on all Nintendo Switch news right here:Nintendo Switch Lite: A New Model That Can't Connect To TVsNew Green Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons Available For Pre-Order NowThat Adorable Disney Switch Is Available To Pre-Order--And Ships To The US And UKNintendo Switch Lite FAQ: Price, Hardware Differences, Release Date, Battery Life, Specs, And ColorsNintendo Switch Lite: What We KnowThe Switch Lite Is Officially Open For Pre-Order (US) Info from Gamespot.com

Wolfenstein fans who want to be able to get up and use the bathroom in the middle of the latest release in the series are in luck.VG247 has the patch notes for Wolfenstein Youngblood's upcoming 1.0.4 update, which include the "added ability to pause the game in OFFLINE mode only." Online co-op players will still need to do without, however.This is perhaps the most significant change made in the patch - and certainly one of the most requested - but there are plenty of other alterations coming as well.Patch 1.0.4 will arrive on PC this week, then for PS4 and Xbox One a few days later, and on Switch at a point after that. Here are the notes for the patch:Removed the ability to open padlocked doors from the wrong side, as this was causing some issues with mission progressionClient players will once again take normal damage from environmental explosions (fire extinguishers, fuel tanks, etc.)Players will now correctly be able to catch friendly and enemy grenades after taking the Grenade God upgradeClient players were having health and ammo fully restored in some circumstances after picking up a heavy weaponUberhammer projectiles will now explode properly under all conditionsFixed an issue where one player could end up rotated in the wrong direction while interacting with elevator leversImproved the animation when viewing your sister opening Shared Life crates (eliminates teleporting)Fixed a variety of audio issues, including resolving audio dropouts after equipping the flashlight weapon upgrade on the KugelgewehrThe Protohund marker for “Destroy the Protohund” and “Collect the Box” missions will no longer appear on the minimap when the mission is not set to activeOpening the Journal while activating fast travel now interrupts fast travel. This corrects a variety of issues with loading and UIFixed a reticle issue that could cause your weapon crosshair in Wolfenstein: Youngblood to appear when playing the “classic” Wolfstone 3D arcade game in the Paris CatacombsCorrected an issue that could cause “Call for Help” to not be available after using a Shared Life. “Call for Help” should now be available if the player is down but their sister is aliveFixed an issue when performing certain actions while opening the in-game options menu that could cause the camera to become permanently tiltedFixed a variety of audio issues, including resolving audio dropouts after equipping the flashlight weapon upgrade on the KugelgewehrFixed a network packet issue that could cause session disconnects when too many explosions occurred in co-op, resulting in players getting dropped from their co-op gameResolved crash that could happen with the Client in a co-op game used Crush, then immediately performed a melee attack on the enemyEnemies will no longer float in midair next to the walkways in Lab XThe last used weapon was not being properly equipped when the player dropped a heavy weaponResolved issue where enemies could become stuck floating during the “Lothar and Juju’s trap” missionFixed an issue (on Xbox One) that was causing some players to create an Online game even though they chose the Offline optionFixed the error message (on PC) players would receive if their Steam Privacy settings were set to Friends Only. Note that your Steam profile must be set to Public in order to view Steam friends through the in-game invite menuChanged “Could Not Write Crash Dump” error message (on PC) to be more descriptive. Crash Dumps are files that contain information relating to a crash; this message would appear any time a crash occurred—which could occur for different reasons—and may have led to confusion that “Could Not Write Crash Dump” was a specific error. As these files tend to be large (~58mb) Crash Dump writing remains off by default. The new message gives explicit instructions on how to turn on Crash Dump writing should you choose to assist in diagnosing the cause of your crashThe team at Machine Games is promising additional changes in their 1.0.5 patch too, including additional checkpoints, more ammo to collect, and enemies who feel less like 'bullet sponges'.Wolfenstein Youngblood released late last month. In his 8/10 review, Michael Higham called the game "short, but oh-so sweet."Info from Gamespot.com

Every week, New Releases breaks down the upcoming week in games. As we near the halfway point of August, Nintendo Switch continues to stack its library with the Grandia HD Collection and its own port of Friday the 13th: The Game. Sci-fi fans can take flight with Rebel Galaxy: Outlaw or platform through a virtual computer with Exception. On the fantasy side, Dicey Dungeons also rolls out this week.Friday the 13th: The Game - Ultimate Slasher Edition -- August 13Available on: SwitchApparently August is the month for horror games, at least on Switch. The Ultimate Slasher Edition includes all of the previously released DLC, giving you plenty of movie costume options for Jason. One player will take control of Jason himself, while the others play as Camp Crystal Lake counselors, trying to survive the night.More Coverage:Friday The 13th: The Game ReviewFriday The 13th Approaches 2 Million Copies Sold; Dev Feels "Confident Moving Forward"Rebel Galaxy: Outlaw -- August 13Available on: PCWhile the original Rebel Galaxy limited how you could steer your ship, the sequel lets you fly in full 3D, where pilot Juno Markev must contend with space truckers, criminals, and more. There are plenty of options for spaceship colors and weapons as you zoom through space and engage in dogfights.More Coverage:Rebel Galaxy Outlaw ReviewNew Rebel Galaxy Outlaw Trailer Makes Playful Jab At Star CitizenRebel Galaxy Outlaw - 16 Minutes Of Gameplay | PAX West 2018Exception -- August 13Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, SwitchException sees you playing as a computer program tracking down an evil virus. As you might guess from the screenshot above, that means plenty of platforming and combat as you flip through each rotating stage. What's more, you can compete for high scores on each level through online leaderboards.Dicey Dungeons -- August 13Available on: PCAs the name implies, you play as a die in Dicey Dungeons. Each of the six classes has its own special abilities, but no matter which you choose, you'll still have to build a strategic deck as you venture through procedurally generated dungeons. Dicey Dungeons is a roguelike, so prepare to roll the dice in more ways than one.More Coverage:Dicey Dungeons ReviewGrandia HD Collection -- August 16Available on: SwitchThe Grandia series is pretty beloved, and now you'll be able to play Grandia 1 and 2 anywhere. The first game is turn-based, while the sequel sports a different battle system that lets you move around during combat. Both games also feature prettier graphics--this is an HD collection, after all.More Coverage:Grandia Review Grandia II Review August has plenty of games to come, and next week New Releases will take a look at the latest from two well-known studios. Double Fine is launching its new action game Rad, and the up-and-coming Tokyo RPG Factory is releasing Oninaki.Info from Gamespot.com

Apex Legends, Respawn Entertainment's beloved battle royale, has found a way to be extremely transparent about its development processes and upcoming patches. Every issue investigation, community concern, server patch and common player request is now being tracked on a publicly available Trello board called the Apex Tracker. Anyone is free to follow this link and keep on top of the changes that are coming to Apex Legends."Our goal with the dev tracker is provide players with more visibility into some of the bigger community issues that we've seen reported and working on," an introductory post reads. "Note that this board doesn't account for ALL the things we're tracking." Right now, the board tracks a variety of issues that the team is investigating or dealing with this week, and hints at fixes coming in future patches.The board divides information between a few headings: quality of life features, bugs that are being addressed, UI updates, networking issues, and all recent and upcoming updates. The team has promised to update the cards on the board at least once a week. There are also cards explaining how to report bugs and hackers, as well as links to the team's social media and Reddit pages.The game recently hit Season 2, and received an extensive patch, a map rework, and a new character, Wattson. There's a limited time solo mode available in the game right now too, which pits you against 59 opponents without any teammates. The Iron Crown Event is also currently running in-game.Info from Gamespot.com

Microsoft revealed the new Xbox Scarlett during its E3 2019 Xbox press conference earlier this year. Seemingly a codename, Xbox Scarlett releases in Holiday 2020 alongside Halo Infinite, which is going to be massive. The Xbox One has been around since 2013, and will turn six years old near the end of 2019. Console cycles typically last between five and seven years, meaning we should be due a new Xbox pretty soon. There's the complicating factor that this generation included mid-cycle upgrades, the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X, but we're still expecting Scarlett in 2020.There's still a lot to find out Xbox Scarlett, but Microsoft boasted about the specs being far beyond that of the Xbox One X. Regardless, we know Microsoft is working on the next Xbox console, and there've been a lot of details revealed about what to expect. Without further ado, let's dig into everything we know about the next Xbox.Table of Contents [hide]What is the new Xbox?When is the new Xbox's release date?Do we know the new Xbox console specs and price?What is the new Xbox?While Microsoft discussed its new Xbox during E3 last year, it reiterated at E3 2019 that it's definitely working on the new console. In fact, it could even be multiple consoles on the way. Xbox boss Phil Spencer said in June 2018 that Microsoft is "deep into architecting the next Xbox consoles where we will once again deliver on our commitment to set the benchmark for console gaming."Of course, the pluralizing of 'console' could mean Spencer was referring in part to the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, which was announced just recently. However, the latter half of his quote--about setting the benchmark for console gaming--surely refers to a new generation, where it sounds as if Microsoft wants to come out swinging with the most powerful console available, just as it did with the Xbox One X.Early reports from Thurrott suggest the new Xbox consoles are being developed under the umbrella codename Scarlett. Two consoles are in the works, say the reports: one is a high-power machine codenamed Anaconda that will be approximately the same price as the PS5, while the other is a budget-orientated machine known as Lockhart. The latter is potentially a streaming-centric device that does not boast much processing power itself; rather, it will ostensibly utilize Microsoft's nascent xCloud technology to play games via the cloud. Microsoft has so far only detailed one new device, but it could be that a second console is revealed at a later date.In an interview following E3 2019, Phil Spencer told us that the Xbox Scarlett will focus on high frame rates and fast loading times. He also spoke on the future of cloud gaming, and reaffirmed that Microsoft isn't working on a stream-only console right now.When is the new Xbox's release date?Microsoft hasn't spoken about its specific timeline for the new Xbox consoles' release date(s). However, the consoles are not expected to launch until Fall 2020. For comparison's sake, we don't precisely know when the PS5 will launch either, but in May 2018 the then-head of PlayStation, John Kodera, said that the PS5 was "three years" away. However, plans change, and it's also possible Kodera was merely trying to keep a lid on the rumors that were flying around at the time which were saying the PS5 would be released as soon as 2019.Do we know the new Xbox console specs and price?Unlike Sony, Microsoft has so far kept quiet about the internal specifications of its new consoles. However, all the reports point to both Anaconda and Lockhart ditching hard drives in favor of the quicker solid state storage option--a move the PS5 is also making. Of course, if those reports are proven accurate and Lockhart is essentially a streaming box, it's likely the console will eschew a disc drive and state-of-the-art specs, relying instead on Microsoft's xCloud streaming service for its playing power. Jeux Video has reported the following specs for the two Scarlett consoles: Xbox LockhartXbox AnacondaCPUCustom eight coreCustom eight coreGPUCustom NAVI 4+ teraflopsCustom NAVI 12+ teraflopsRAM12 GB, GDDR616 GB, GDDR6Storage1 TB SSD, 1 + GB / s1 TB SSD, 1 + GB / sThe site also reports the Anaconda price will be around $500, which is the same price the Xbox One X launched with in 2017. Unverified rumors from Reddit place Lockhart, meanwhile, at around $250, which would put it at the same price point as the newly-launched Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, which also forgoes a disc drive. These are yet to be substantiated by any reputable source, however.Info from Gamespot.com

THQ Nordic's new interim report has casually dropped a few big announcements on us about some major game series we have not seen in a while.The first quarter report, focused on April-June 2019, explains that THQ Nordic - along with Deep Silver and Coffee Stain - achieved a 33% year-on-year sales growth, with a total net sales figure of SEK 641 million (about $67 million). It's a strong figure, and the company followed it up with several announcements.The first is that Volition is working on the first new Saints Row game since 2013's Saints Row IV (not counting spin-off Agents of Mayhem). The team is "deep in development" on the next title, which they have called a "full entry". Basically, it'll be Saints Row V, whether in name or not. No further details were given, but it's the most concrete confirmation we've had that a new game is coming.THQ Nordic also announced that Dead Island 2 is, as promised, still happening. The game is now being worked on by Dambuster Studios, the studio behind 2016's Homefront: The Revolution. Dead Island 2 has had a troubled development: it was originally in development at Yager Development, before Sumo Digital took over work on it in 2016. It's not clear if they are still involved.The report also speaks to Deep Silver's acquisition of the TimeSplitters license last year, saying that Steve Ellis, one of the series' original creators, has joined to "help plot the future course for this franchise". The last TimeSplitters game was 2005's TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. The report also states that Fishlabs, known for their Galaxy on Fire game series, is working on several unannounced projects and new IP.Furthermore, THQ Nordic announced their acquisition of Gunfire Games, the developers of Darksiders III. In a press release, group CEO Lars Wingefors stated that they are "strengthening THQ Nordic’s footprint in the US and are adding an experienced and talented development team that we know very well from having collaborated on Darksiders."Hopefully we'll hear more details for all of these games before the year is out.Info from Gamespot.com

Blizzard has released a new Overwatch update that brings with it two major changes: a new playable character--Sigma--and a fundamental shift in how heroes are chosen before a match. Here's the rundown on what's new and a look at some of the key changes to previous characters.The extensive patch notes for this update introduce Sigma, who has already been available on the PTR for some time now. Now he's being rolled out for all players on PC, Xbox One and PS4. Sigma is a new tank, a 62-year-old astrophysicist with gravity manipulation abilities. He's able to launch two "gravitic charges", which can bounce from walls and have a large area of effect, or use a kinectic grasp ability to freeze projectiles, turning them into shields. He's also able to fling barriers around for his team's protection, and attack enemies by hurling debris at them. His ultimate, Gravitic Flux, lifts enemies within range right up before slamming them back down.The other major change is the new role queue feature. Role queue means that in Competitive Play, you'll have to nominate your 'role' before finding a game, whether that means being a tank, support, or damage character. This means that in every Competitive match, each team will have two heroes of each type, and thus have a balance between support, damage and tank. Opinion has been mixed on whether or not this system is a good idea; it'll be interesting to see how things play out now that the update is live.Elsewhere, this patch introduces a lot of changes, additions and tweaks. Mystery Heroes mode is back, wherein players are randomly reset to a different hero in-between each round, and characters have been tweaked across the board. Interestingly, there's been a global 12% increase to the cost of ultimates, as they're currently "coming up too often".Here's a full list of changes being made to the other heroes of Overwatch in this patch:AsheReload time per round decreased from 0.3 to 0.25 seconds.BrigitteInspire (Passive)Healing amount increased from 100 to 130Self-healing from Inspire is now halvedRepair PackNow has 3 chargesHealing amount changed from 150 to 120Now heals over 2 seconds instead of instantlyIf you throw multiple packs at the same person, the current duration will be extended by 2 secondsWhip ShotOut-going velocity increased from 60 to 80Retracting time reduced from 0.6 seconds to 0.3Barrier ShieldBarrier health reduced from 500 to 200Shield BashStun duration reduced from 0.9 seconds to 0.75RallyUltimate cost increased 10%D.VaCall MechPilot ultimate cost reduced by 12%DoomfistMeleeQuick melee no longer pauses ammo reload.HanzoStorm ArrowsStorm Arrows ammo reduced from 6 to 5OrisaProtective BarrierCooldown increased from 8 seconds to 9ReinhardtNew Passive: “Steadfast”Reduces knock back effects by 30%SombraHackDuration on enemy players reduced from 6 to 5 secondsEMPActivation time increased from 0.2 to 0.35 secondsSymmetraTeleporterNow lasts an infinite duration until destroyedPlayers can destroy their Teleporter with the ability 2 inputCooldown now starts when Teleporter is destroyedMaximum range increased from 25 to 30 metersTeleporter is destroyed if the entrance is more than 40 meters from the exitTracerPulse BombDamage increased from 300 to 350Wrecking BallMinefieldIncreased projectile speed from 10 to 12, causing the mines to spread out moreReduced the activation time from 0.25 to 0.1 secondsInfo from Gamespot.com

Konami continues to add more teams to its growing roster of exclusive licences in the upcoming eFootball PES 2020.Argentine powerhouse Club Atlético River Plate is the latest team to appear exclusively in PES 2020, following in the footsteps of their arch-rivals Atlético Boca Juniors. River Plate's name, logo, kits, and stadium will only grace the pitch of PES 2020 in this year's annual release. As a result, the Buenos Aires club will now be called Núñez in FIFA 20, named after the neighbourhood the team plays in. This is similar to last year when Boca Juniors were renamed Buenos Aires in FIFA 19.¡Los Millonarios están confirmados en #eFootballPES2020! ⚪🔴⚪ Ven a jugar con @RiverPlate en exclusivo desde el 10 de septiembre. #PES2020tour👉🏽 https://t.co/nG5NEMQuEw pic.twitter.com/wzlsltmH5M — PES LATAM (@PESlatam) August 13, 2019If you want to play out the intense rivalry of the Superclásico in FIFA 20, you're going to be stuck with Núñez vs Buenos Aires. Of course, FIFA will still retain player likenesses for both teams, in much the same way as it has done with Juventus. The Cristiano Ronaldo-led Italian giants signed an exclusive deal with PES 2020 last month, resulting in the club's name change to Piemonte Calcio in FIFA 20. Unlike PES, FIFA players are unable to edit the names, logos, and kits of these unlicensed teams. This has lead to some frustration on behalf of FIFA's most ardent fans, who have grown accustomed to each and every team being fully licenced. PES 2020 brand manager, Adam Bhatti, opened up about team exclusivity in a series of tweets last month, to explain Konami's stance on the situation. "I do understand those claiming exclusive licenses is bad for consumers," Bhatti began. "I'd love a world where everything is shared, and the game does the talking. We have always had to deal with this continuous blockout--having the [Premier League] in PES would be great for example. However, the big teams want to feel they are in an actual partnership, not just bought to block out competitors. Everyone knows we cannot outspend EA, it's the quality of recreation and commitment to being a true partner sharing the clubs values--that's why we're back."It's a signal of intent for Konami after years of losing out to the EA juggernaut. The company previously signed a four-year deal with German club Borussia Dortmund, and the famous black and yellow kits were even included in promotional material for PES 19. Then, rather unceremoniously, the club prematurely tore up its contract a year early to exclusively appear in FIFA. This followed EA snatching up the Champions League licence from PES' grasp after a decade of exclusivity for the Japanese publisher, and there are plenty of other examples of the one-sided contest between the two games, at least when it comes to licencing.If you want to play as Boca Juniors, River Plate, or Juventus right now, a demo for PES 2020 is currently available, or you can read our feature on how PES 2020's changes impact this year's game.eFootball PES 2020 releases on September 10 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Info from Gamespot.com

VGC analysis suggests that around half of the core team that worked on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the last mainline entry in the series, is still working at Retro Studios today.Around 50 developers worked full-time on the 2007 Wii shooter, of which around 27 still remain according to LinkedIn. This includes four contractors that were given permanent roles and five of Metroid Prime 3's 11 designers. In an announcement earlier this year, Nintendo said it had decided to "restart development from the beginning" on Metroid Prime 4. The sequel was revealed at E3 2017 but has been quiet ever since. Producer Kensuke Tanabe called in Retro to take over development on the project from its original, unannounced developer--rumoured to be Bandai Namco--so it's safe to assume former Metroid Prime alums will be working on the new game.Most of the lead creators from the series have moved on, however. Mark Pacini, the lead designer for all three Metroid Prime games, left Retro in 2008 to found Armature Studio. The developer put out ReCore in 2016, and has since collaborated with Epic Games in providing development support for Fortnite: Save the World. A further seven creators departed Retro to join Bluepoint Games, which has developed the recent remake of Shadow of the Colossus, and also released remastered bundles such as Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.Retro has been hiring for Metroid Prime 4 ever since Nintendo announced the studio's work on the project.Info from Gamespot.com

All four playable Vault Hunters in Borderlands 3 bring their own distinct flavor to the game, and not just in terms of their unique skill trees. In comparison to the Vault Hunters in previous games, Borderlands 3's Zane, Moze, Amara, and FL4K talk a lot, constantly speaking their minds and responding to NPCs during conversations. Your choice of Vault Hunter won't impact the final outcome of the main story at all, but it will influence how you perceive certain events and understand the relationships of specific characters--encouraging you to play through Borderlands 3's campaign more than once."We wanted to make sure that if people said, 'I want to play through this game all over again with a different character,' that they would then feel rewarded," co-lead writer Sam Winkler said in an interview with GameSpot. "Not just in terms of different mechanics but also a slightly different interpretation of some of the stories." The emphasis on Sirens in Borderlands 3's plot means Amara has a vested interest in the story's events, for instance, and FL4K--a nonbinary AI--explores their growing sexual attraction to Ellie by flirting with her every chance they have.Having played as all four of the Vault Hunters now, I love how much each one changes how many of the interactions go. Previous Vault Hunters have rarely felt like carbon copies of each other--their unique abilities mean each one handles in a distinct way. But within their respective stories, each one typically reacts to every event in a similar way to their teammates. There's no new insight playing as Brick instead of Mordecai or Maya instead of Zer0. So it's a nice change of pace in Borderlands 3, and I'm already eager to see how each Vault Hunter uniquely responds to the streamer-like banter and violent habits of the Calypso Twins--especially Tyreen, a Siren whose curse-like Phase Leech ability and horrifying backstory (if true) write her as somewhat of a tragic figure.To also encourage replayability, several side quests in Borderlands 3 contain choices, allowing you to impact the game in different ways. Don't expect world-changing events but, for example, you can influence how certain characters will appear depending on what you do. In Borderlands 3's prologue, for instance, Claptrap loses his antenna, and--for the rest of the game--he'll just wear whatever you decide to give him as a replacement. "Maybe it's a tin foil hat, or a human arm, or something else," Winkler said.Aside from the more vocal protagonists and additional agency in how certain side quests conclude, the story of Borderlands 3 is fundamentally the same character-driven tale of crass humor, murderous mayhem, and silly puns that defined Borderlands, Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and Tales from the Borderlands. Almost every major character from the previous four games returns in this newest installment, though many have changed in the seven in-game years since the events of Borderlands 2. Because there's been so much history in the franchise, Gearbox wanted to avoid making any of the previously established characters--such as Tiny Tina, Sir Hammerlock, or Ellie--into playable Vault Hunters. It was important that players were forced to use characters who had never interacted with Pandora and its inhabitants before so the story would then have to reintroduce the franchise's lore, helping out series newcomers."There's that wonderful cadence of Borderlands where the previous rounds of Vault Hunters become characters in the world, and that allows you the opportunity to learn more about them and where they're from," co-lead writer Danny Homan said. "But as a result, with Borderlands 3, you need a new generation of Vault Hunters because you need to see an old world through a new perspective. It's so useful when you have a new cast who have just made their way to Pandora and they're asking all the [expositional] questions that the players may be asking, like, 'What the heck is a Vault? What am I doing here? Who is Lilith? Why is this robot trying to insult me and also give me stuff?'""We never want Borderlands 3 to feel like you have to know everything about the franchise in order to understand why a character is important," Winkler added. "We want it to be accessible to both new and old players." Not every bit of information in regards to past events could be fit into Borderlands 3's early chapters though. As a result, Borderlands 2--which hasn't seen a story expansion since 2013's Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep--got new DLC earlier this summer, just ahead of Borderlands 3's release."Our biggest goal with [Commander Lilith and the Fight for Sanctuary DLC] was to canonize some stuff from [Tales from the Borderlands]," Winkler said. "A lot more people played Borderlands 2 than Tales, and so we didn't want people to ask, 'Where's Helios?' when they picked up Borderlands 3."Tales from the Borderlands is an outlier in the franchise, the only game in the series that doesn't star Vault Hunters as the main characters and also isn't a first-person shooter. However, it took Borderlands' ludicrous humor to new heights, and it's this level of ridiculousness that Borderlands 3 strives for."A lot of people would say 'Don't do an extended five-minute gunfight without any guns,'" Winkler said. "And yet Tales did it and I still see that [finger gun fight] all the time on the internet. That's the energy we want to bring to Borderlands 3. Have people say, 'Did you play that one thing? It's insane.'" In this, Borderlands 3 certainly seems to fit the bill. On Eden-6 (one of the new planets you'll visit in the game), you meet an Ice-T-voiced AI that's been trapped in a teddy bear by its angry ex-girlfriend. The jokes that follow in that particular chapter go to places that are as shocking and unsettling as they are morbidly amusing. Borderlands 3's story is definitely closer to the creative weirdness and pretty-much-anything-goes tone of Tales, as opposed to the unhinged attitude of the previous mainline games.If nothing else, the story told in Borderlands 3 seems to be somewhat of an apotheosis for the franchise up to this point--rewarding fans with the answers to many of the series' most long-standing questions. You shouldn't expect to have everything laid bare though, as Borderlands 3 expands upon the franchise's lore with brand-new concepts as well. "There are definitely events from previous Borderlands games that kind of reach an interesting culmination in certain ways," Homan said. "The focus on Lilith from Borderlands 1 to Borderlands 3--there are some interesting stories that we're telling there. People love the Borderlands universe and there are always more stories out there, and so when we're trying to wrap up a story, we're always trying to see new stories." Winkler added, "Whatever Borderlands ends up looking like after Borderlands 3, I think that people will be able to look back and see one, two, and three as maybe a trilogy. But not necessarily with walls on either side of it."Borderlands 3 is scheduled to release for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on September 13. On PC, Borderlands 3 has a limited-time exclusivity deal with the Epic Games Store that lasts until 2020. Borderlands 3 will also be a day one title on Google Stadia, a cloud-based game streaming service scheduled to launch in November 2019.Info from Gamespot.com