Author: Zach Barbieri

Despite having an inseparably close relationship since the late 2000’s, Nintendo has only now completed their stake buyout of Xenoblade Chronicles developer Monolithsoft, quietly buying the remaining stake to now completely own the studio. The studio has developed games for Nintendo exclusively since 2008, with their RPGs filling a much-needed role in Nintendo’s first party, not to mention their popularity. Noticed by Automaton, the developer’s company brochure showcases that Nintendo now owns all 2,400 shares. Nintendo had previously purchased 80 percent of its shares, or 1,920 shares, in 2007 right before the release of the developer’s DS-exclusive Soma Bringer and…

The upcoming live-service title formerly known as Project Mugen has received a new trailer showcasing the anime-style open-city game in action. In addition, it has been officially re-introduced under the new title Ananta. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sGoIxquX_k First announced during Gamescom 2023, Ananta is being developed by Naked Rain, a studio based out of Hangzhou, China, and published by popular Chinese publisher NetEase, currently seeing success for their recently released Marvel Rivals. Most might remember it as the anime game in which characters swing through the city using a similar mechanic to that of the Insomniac Games Spider-Man series. Thankfully, this trailer puts…

Sony has revealed that Astro Bot, their Game of The Year nominated Playstation 5 platformer, will receive a free update tomorrow December 12th. This update will add a new level to the game entitled Winter Wonder, which adds a Christmas-themed area for players to platform their way through. A PlayStation Blog post for the expansion has stated that the expansion will arrive at 6 pm PT, and 8 pm ET. This places the time it will drop during tomorrow’s Video Game Awards, possibly meaning it will get some showcase there, making sense since Astro Bot is nominated for the highest…

Polish developer People Can Fly, which is perhaps known best for such games as Outriders and Gears of War Judgement, has announced they are suspending or scaling back on projects due to what CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski has referred to as “external market pressures.” In a lengthy statement posted to X(formerly Twitter) from the company’s official account, Wojciechowski announced the suspension of Project Victoria, scaling down on Project Bifrost, as well as restructuring several internal teams. The decision follows the cancelation of another project back in April, named Project Dagger, which was set to be an action-adventure game that was co-developed…

The lawsuit brought against the developer of Palworld by Nintendo over similarities to their flagship monster-catching game already seems to be bringing about changes in the former. According to the latest patch notes in Palworld, which went live on Nov. 29, monsters no longer enter the fray of battle by having players aim a ball-like object and throw it to summon them. They will now simply appear in battle next to the player when the combat begins. Palworld launched into early access on January 19th of this year after several years of teasing its more adult take on the typically…

After struggling to find an audience for much of the year, Rocksteady has announced that support for Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League will end on January 14th, 2025. In a blog post, the developer outlined the fourth, and now final season, which is set to begin today, stating that this brings about “the final battle against Brainiac.” This season will also see the addition of fan-favorite character Deathstroke to the title lineup of anti-heroes present. Despite all this, the game will remain both purchasable and playable for the foreseeable future. This is similar to another live-service title that recently announced…

2k Games has announced that two of their most anticipated titles, Borderlands 4 and Mafia: The Old Country, are set to be showcased during The Video Game Awards later this week. This makes a fair amount of sense as Mafia had previously said more would be shown of the game in December, and both titles were previously teased during Opening Night Live of Gamescom 2024, another event run by The Video Game Awards head Geoff Keighley. Both the Borderlands account as well as the Mafia account took to X, formerly Twitter, today to post short clips in anticipation of the…

After the release of its first and only major DLC expansion Phantom Liberty, CD Projekt Red had suggested that Cyberpunk 2077 would begin winding down support as the team moved on to the sequel of the title, as well as the next game in The Witcher series. This doesn’t appear to be the case however as the Cd Projekt Red has confirmed yet another major update, numbered 2.2 for Cyberpunk 2077, surprising fans in the process. CD Projekt took to X, Formally Twitter, to announce an upcoming episode of their REDstreams which is slated for December 10th to announce the…

The open-world dress-up game Infinity Nikki, from former Legend of Zelda director Kentaro Tominaga, has crossed the 10 million download threshold since releasing on December 5th of this year. Additionally, the developer behind the game, Infold Games, is celebrating the achievement with in-game rewards. The studio revealed this milestone via a post on X (formerly Twitter), which revealed that it was achieved within just 4 days of release. Players will now have access to 10 free draws in the game’s clothing-based gotcha mechanic as thanks for their support of the title. Players can access this reward by opening their in-game…

Square Enix’s latest remake, Dragon Quest HD-2D Remake, has reached 2 million copies sold since the game was released on November 14th. The title see’s a return to the original trilogy of Enix’s flagship series (now working in reverse as I and II are set to release next year) reimaging the 1988 classic using Square Enix’s panorama mix of 3D graphics and pixel sprites that was popularized by their game Octopath Traveler. Released for the PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series, and PC this is not the first port or remake of the NES game even if it is the…