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Arkane Austin has confirmed Redfall will receive one final update following the news that the studio has been shut down.Earlier this month, Arkane Austin was one of several studios shut down by Microsoft in a shock move, with the company wanting to “further invest in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games.”In the days that followed, it was reported that developers had been working on a new update for Redfall in the hours before the studio was closed, as well as the promised Hero DLC. Following the closure, it looked like both those projects would be shelved.However, the official Redfall social media account has now confirmed that fans can expect one final update.“Thank you for all your supportive messages. We are working to release our final update, Game Update 4, that brings revamped Neighbourhood and Nest systems, Single Player Pausing, Offline Mode, and more,” said the post.

“sustainable” shopping website, Phia. The podcast, titled The Burnouts, is hosted by Phoebe and her business partner, Sophia Kianni.

Fans of Microsoft's flagships will know that the Xbox Series S is already a budget-friendly console compared to its counterpart, the Xbox Series X, or rival consoles like the PS5. But, thanks to this Black Friday sale, Amazon is currently offering the Series S at one of the cheapest prices around, as it's slashed to under £200.

With Black Friday sales in full swing and the Christmas shopping season just around the corner, some may wonder if now is the right time to snag a new console without breaking the bank. As an avid Xbox fan and gaming expert, I've taken the Xbox Series X for a spin to see if its graphics quality, new design, and other upgrades from its predecessor, the Xbox One, still justify its nearly £500 price tag in 2024, several years after its initial launch.

Black Ops 6 was the biggest Call of Duty release ever”.On the earnings call, Nadella said the launch “set a record for day one players, as well as Game Pass subscriber adds on launch day. And unit sales on PlayStation and Steam were also up over 60% year-over-year”.Black Ops 6 already saw success on Steam, and thanks to this earnings call we now know how well it did on other platforms.Black Ops 6 is the first Call of Duty game to launch day one on Game Pass.

Enotria: The Last Song has revealed via its Twitter account that it would be indefinitely delayed on Xbox, alleging Microsoft has taken months to reply.In a blog post, developer Jyamma Games wrote: “Unfortunately, at this time, we have to announce an indefinite delay of the Xbox version. We understand how disappointing this news is to the Xbox community.

Xbox has confirmed details of a super saver sale for Game Pass subscribers, with a number of titles exclusively discounted.The new super saver sale features 46 different titles for Xbox Game Pass subscribers to buy and keep. The first chapter of Life Is Strange 2 is available as a free download, while Lara Croft And The Temple Of Osiris is available for £2.24.To access the sale, Game Pass subscribers will just need to access the “Deals” section of the Microsoft Store via PC or console.Get EvenAven ColonyEverspaceSTEEPGuns, Gore and CannoliJust Cause 3OvercookedBattle Chasers: NightwarHungry Shark WorldAgatha Christie – The ABC MurdersArcade Game Series 3-in-1 packDig DugGalagaMs. Pac-ManPac-ManBlack The FallClouds & Sheep 2Deadbeat HeroesDeus Ex: Mankind DividerDynamite FishingFear Effect SednaFlying Tiger: Shadows Over ChinaFuriGuns, Gore and Cannoli 2Impact WinterJust Cause 3: XXL EditionLara Croft And The Temple Of OsirisLife Is Strange: Complete SeasonLife Is Strange: Before The StormMonopolyMurdered: Soul SuspectNecropolisOctahedronOh My GodheadsPlague RoadRayman LegendsSleeping DogsThe EscapistsThe: The AwakeningThiefTomb Raider: Definitive EditionUNOWorms Battlegrounda great day with more exciting news: more games are coming to the game pass core library! pic.twitter.com/uUXD9ZZEki— Xbox Game Pass (@XboxGamePass) August 20, 2024Xbox has yet to confirm a finish time for the super saver deals, but since the company releases a new batch of savings every Tuesday, it might be worth grabbing your wishlist sooner rather than later.The super saver deal isn’t the only one happening on the Xbox store at the moment either, with a number of indie developers involved in the ID@Xbox Sale while fighting fans have a sale

Xbox will be changing the pricing on its Game Pass subscription service for new players, as well as introducing a tier that doesn’t come with two of the best benefits, and players aren’t happy.Game Pass Ultimate is going up from £12.99 per month to £14.99 per month in the UK, or £49.99 to £54.99 per year. The PC Game Pass is also rising from £7.99 per month to £9.99 per month.

Xbox president Sarah Bond has confirmed that new Call Of Duty games will launch on Xbox Game Pass after a number of studios were closed down by Microsoft.Earlier this week, Microsoft confirmed a number of Bethesda studios would be closing down, including Tango Gameworks, the studio behind the critically acclaimed Hi-Fi Rush, and Redfall’s Arkane Austin.The sudden announcement led to a lot of speculation about Xbox’s plans going forward, with many fans suggesting that their Game Pass service had stagnated and wasn’t as profitable as the company was hoping. Because of this, rumours began to spread that new Call Of Duty games would be kept off the service despite promises that they’d be available day one.Microsoft is considering increasing the price of Game Pass Ultimate again.

Arkane Austin was working on updates for Redfall hours before Microsoft confirmed it was closing down the studio.According to reports, Arkane Austin had been developing an offline mode for the first-person shooter as well as working on Redfall‘s Hero DLC, which had been sold as part of the £80 ($100) Bite Back edition. The studio had been hoping to finally launch the DLC this Halloween.IGN sources claim the studio had been expecting to release an offline mode for the “always online” Redfall later this month, a feature fans had been requesting since before the game had even launched.

Microsoft has announced it has set up a special team dedicated to Xbox game preservation as work continues on the successor to the Series X/S.According to an internal memo shared by Windows Central, the team was created by Xbox president Sarah Bond and is out to “ensure the future-proofing of the current Xbox game library against future hardware paradigm shifts”.“It’s been nearly six months since we came together as an organisation,” she explained. “Our collective achievements in that timeframe are tremendous.

Final Fantasy 14 players are reportedly being banned by Microsoft for using the phrase “free company”.In Final Fantasy 14, a free company is a player-operated organisation within the game, similar to a guild in other online titles. Players can only be a member of one free company at a time, with each company limited to 512 members.As well as the community aspect of being part of a free company, members also get access to shared rewards, group buffs and company housing.To help the system, Square Enix has also created an official community finder tool, which helps players find and join the free company of their choosing via Final Fantasy 14’s messenger service.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has explained that the company’s focus is on attracting “younger audiences”.Over the past few months, Spencer has spoken at length about making Xbox-exclusive games available on “rival” platforms. Last weekend, while at the Game Developers Conference he spoke to Polygon about the possibility of an Xbox handheld console as well as having digital storefronts like Itch.io and the Epic Games Store available on Xbox, alongside their own store.“This notion that Xbox can only be this one device that plugs into a television isn’t something we see in the Gen Z research because nothing else is like that for them,” he explained.“Some of them will have an iPhone, some will have an Android, but all the games and everything is the same [for both of them].

Sony Interactive Entertainment and PlayStation worldwide Shawn Layden has spoken about the importance of platform-exclusive games.The discussion around platform-exclusives has heated up in recent months after Microsoft confirmed a number of Xbox-exclusives would be made available on “rival” consoles. Both Grounded and Pentiment are due to come to Nintendo Switch while Hi-Fi Rush and Sea Of Thieves are coming to the PS5.Speaking on the What’s Up PlayStation podcast, Layden said (via VGC): “Exclusivity will always be important, it helps focus and highlight the features of your platform. What can you do here technically that you can’t do someplace else.“But, as your platform becomes established as the market recognises where you sit in that pantheon of gaming options, I think the necessity of exclusivity becomes a little bit less,” he added.Earlier this month, Layden described exclusivity as a studio’s “Achilles’ heel” due to increasing production costs.

dilemma. Kelly Rowland is finally dishing on the “flack” she’s received after trying to send Nelly a text message via Microsoft Excel in the 2002 music video for “Dilemma.” “Do you know how much flack I get from that?” Rowland, 43, said during an appearance on Mystical Kitchen’s “Last Meal” series after being introduced as “the only person in history to successfully send a text message via Microsoft Excel” by the show’s host Josh Scherer.“I’m so used to it now,” the former Destiny’s Child singer added. The viral scene shows Rowland attempting to text Nelly, born Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., “Where you at? Holla when you get this,” on the Microsoft spreadsheet editor — and then getting annoyed when he doesn’t respond.

SpongeBob SquarePants special edition of the Xbox Series X.The console has been created in conjunction with Best Buy, Paramount Game Studios and GameMill, and is only available to purchase in the United States through set drops on the Best Buy Mobile App, and won’t be available when stocks run out.The bundle comes with an Xbox Wireless Controller featuring characters from the Spongebob SquarePants franchise, while the Xbox Series X itself features Spongebob smiling at the user.A digital download of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is also included in the bundle. This Super Smash Bros-like game featuring classic Nickelodeon cartoons allows players to pit characters such as Invader Zim, SpongeBob SquarePants, Jimmy Neutron and Aang against each other, among many others.The bundle retails for £550 ($699) and is only available in the United States through the Best Buy Mobile App.

Toys For Bob, the developer of Crash Bandicoot 4 and the remastered Spyro collection, has confirmed it’s going independent.Toys For Bob was founded in 1989 before being acquired by Activision in 2005, where they worked on Skylanders. As well as heading up a number of sequels, Toys For Bob also developed Crash Bandicoot 4 and was behind 2018’s Spyro Reignited Trilogy.As part of the recent wave of layoffs at Activision Blizzard, Toys For Bob lost 89 members of staff and saw the closure of their Californian offices.In a new blog post though, Toys For Bob has confirmed it has broken away from Activision.

Hi-Fi Rush has been officially announced for release on PlayStation 5 next month, alongside several other formerly Xbox console exclusive titles.The title will launch on March 19 on PlayStation 5, with physical versions for the platform available exclusively through Limited Run Games. While a Switch release for Hi-Fi Rush has been rumoured, there is currently no official notice on if those rumours were actually true.Alongside Hi-Fi Rush, Xbox is also bringing three other previously exclusive games to new systems.

Larian Studios has hit out at a number of companies laying-off development staff to maximise profits for shareholders.2024 has started with a number of studios cutting huge swathes of employees. Microsoft laid off 1,900 staff shortly after its acquisition of Activision Blizzard was approved, Riot Games laid off over 500 members of staff, and today (February 19) it was confirmed that Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM has cut a quarter of its staff.Elsewhere, the Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch claimed it wasn’t making a profit after another massive round of layoffs, while Embracer Group admitted that its “overruling principle is to always maximise shareholder value in any given situation” after cutting 1,400 jobs over the past 12 months.Last week, Baldur’s Gate 3 picked up a number of trophies at the DICE Awards including Outstanding Achievement In Story, RPG Of The Year, Outstanding Achievement In Game Direction, and Game of the Year.

(MSFT.O), opens new tab acquired Activision last year for $69 billion, in a deal that still faces U.S. Federal Trade Commission scrutiny.Activision in 2016 paid $46 million to buy Major League Gaming, which the lawsuit called the leading Call of Duty competition organizer.League and tournament play for Call of Duty was a “vibrant, competitive product market” until 2019, when Activision moved to open its own league and eliminate competition, the lawsuit said.Activision then imposed “draconian” contract provisions on teams and players, according to the lawsuit.“Teams that did not (or could not) accede to Activision’s extortionate demands were cut out of the professional Call of Duty market entirely,” the lawsuit said.

Microsoft has begun to tease the successor to the Xbox Series X/S, promising the “largest technical leap” in Xbox console history.Following rumours Xbox was set to make a number of exclusive titles available to both PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch gamers, many fans assumed Microsoft could be about to follow the lead of Sega and pivot away from hardware to become a software-only studio.However during a podcast presentation about the “vision for the future” of the brand last night (February 15), Microsoft confirmed it was set to continue to manufacture consoles.“There’s some exciting stuff coming out in hardware that we’re going to share this holiday and we’re also invested in the next generation roadmap,” said Xbox president Sarah Bond. “What we’re really focused on there is delivering the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation”“That makes it better for players, and better for creators and the visions that they’re building,” she added.