Ethan Gach

Microsoft is holding another next-gen showcase on July 23, the company announced on Twitter this morning. Unlike the first event in May which focused on third-party games, this event is set to highlight first-party games like Halo: Infinite. It’s scheduled to begin streaming at 12:00 p.m. ET.

Ubisoft Editorial VP Maxime Béland has resigned and fellow Editorial VP Tommy François has been placed on disciplinary leave, the company’s CEO Yves Guillemot announced in a company email today while both are investigated for misconduct. It also stated that an employee from Ubisoft Toronto had been terminated.

Ubisoft Announces Plans To Shake Up The Company’s All White Male Editorial Group [Update]

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot announced today in an email to employees that the game publisher will be revising the composition of its currently all white male Editorial Department which oversees creative decisions across all of its global studios. He also outlined other measures to try to address a recent wave of allegations about harassment and…

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Will Have A Free-To-Play Version

Today in a new trailer Square Enix announced Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition Lite, which will be free-to-play for the first three dungeons. Lite version will play just like the paid one except players will be locked out of the game’s remaining 10 dungeons unless they purchase the whole thing. Square Enix is calling…

Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Summer Update Will Let You Go Swimming

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is getting a free summer update on July 3 that will add swimming, diving, and a bunch of new furniture to transform your house into a mermaid grotto. Nintendo revealed the update in a trailer this morning that shows the player diving for treasure and chatting with another villager they find…

Sony Paying Up To $50,000 To Anyone Who Reports PS4 Security Flaws

Sony rolled out a new bug bounty program yesterday that will pay up to $50,000 to any hackers who help expose a major vulnerability in the PS4. Announced over on the PlayStation Blog yesterday, the program is being run in partnership with HackerOne, which works with amateur hackers and security researchers to help make companies…

Former Sony Exec Calls For Shorter Games That Are Cheaper To Make

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Most video games are too long. This common sentiment gets batted around every few months when a new blockbuster launches with dozens of hours of “content.” Shawn Layden, former chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, seems to agree. “I would welcome the return of the 12-15…

Multiple Women Accuse Games Writer Chris Avellone Of Sexual Misconduct (Update: Two Have Retracted Their Allegations)

The Fallout: New Vegas writer later denied the allegations and sued for libel

Facebook Buys Creators Of The Order: 1886

Ready At Dawn, the makers of The Order: 1886 and more recently Lone Echo, is now part of Facebook, where the studio will work on virtual reality games for the Oculus VR platform, the social media company announced today. “As part of the Oculus Studios team, Ready At Dawn will continue creating memorable, immersive, and…

Pokémon Sword And Shield’s DLC Brings Back Exquisitely Rude Rivals

Meet Klara and Avery, the stars of Pokémon Sword and Shield’s new Isle of Armor DLC. They’re your rivals in the expansion. They absolutely hate your guts, and it’s wonderful. If you’re playing Sword you’ll get Klara, a former front woman for a punk band trying to chase clout by becoming a gym leader. If…

Blizzard Bans Thousands Of World Of Warcraft Classic Accounts For Botting

Blizzard announced yesterday that it’s pulled the plug on over 74,000 World of Warcraft player accounts involved in cheating. “The majority of these were found to be using gameplay automation tools, typically to farm resources or kill enemies much more efficiently than legitimate players can,” the publisher wrote in an announcement over on the game’s…

EA says it will ratchet up efforts to crack down on harassment and toxic behavior in its game. This includes making “additional resources and tools” available to its moderation and reporting systems. The publisher says in the past few weeks over 3,500 player-made, in-game assets were removed for being inappropriate and hurtful.

I’m Loving Pokémon Sword And Shield’s First Expansion So Far

Just a few hours in, I’m already enjoying Pokémon Sword and Shield’s Isle of Armor DLC more than the base game. While much smaller in size, it feels more free flowing and open ended. There’s a lot to explore, and plenty more Pokémon to catch, including a bunch of my favorites that didn’t make the…

Pokémon Sword And Shield’s New DLC Finally Lets Pokémon Follow You Around

Pokémon Sword and Shield’s Isle of Armor DLC adds a big new area to explore and a bunch more Pokémon to discover, but by far one of the coolest things in it is a new feature that lets you hang out with your favorite Pokémon out in the wild. Once you hit a certain point…

Pokémon Sword and Shield’s new Isle of Armor DLC is out today, but you can only access it from a certain location. You need to first head to the Wedgehurst Station and then show the man next to the gate your Armor pass. And make sure you already caught the Slowpoke.

Destiny 2 Has Players Grinding For Guns They Already Have, And It Sucks

I’ve been having a surprisingly good time a week into playing Destiny 2’s latest season. But for all it does well, it’s also exposed some very annoying flaws in the new gear sunsetting system. While intended to help streamline and focus the loot grind, sunsetting’s also added a whole new level of mind-numbing complexity. In…

PAX West Is The Latest Gaming Event To Go Online Due To Covid-19

This year’s PAX West and PAX Australia gaming conventions are cancelled and will be replaced by PAX Online, a series of live-streamed shows, panel discussions, and video game demos taking place from September 12-20, the show’s organizers announced today. PAX conventions are typically a chance for people to meet up in person, checkout demos for…

Madden NFL 21 Will Be The First In The Series On Steam

Madden NFL 21 now has a Steam page with a release date of August 28, making it the first game in the series to come to Valve’s digital storefront. The listing was spotted earlier today, complete with a trailer, screenshots, and a release date for the latest entry in the long-running sports series. EA had…

Some Of The People During Yesterday’s PS5 Event Were CGI And You Can’t Convince Me Otherwise

While Sony’s PS5 reveal event yesterday was pre-recorded rather than live, it still showed plenty of faces talking about video games. Some people would tell you that all of these faces—which all had the same silky sheen and washed out glow despite recording from seperate rooms—belonged to real people standing in front of real cameras.…

Insomniac Says Spider-Man Miles Morales Is A Standalone Game

Contrary to recent remarks by one of Sony’s executives calling it an expansion, Insomniac Games says Spider-Man Miles Morales is a new standalone game. “Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is the next adventure in the Marvel’s Spider-Man universe,” the studio clarified on Twitter today. “We will reveal more about this standalone game at a future date.”…