Critical Role launches its own subscription service, Beacon

Apple's iPhone design has become a little stagnant over the past few years. The company only enlarged the cameras, played with the build material, and called it a redesign. It seems that engineers and designers at Apple are hard at work to bring about a major change. With that said, a new report has emerged that shines a light on the potential launch of the iPhone 17 'Slim' next year with an entirely new design and form factor.

While Bridgerton’s alternate history means the show is already much more racially diverse than other Regency-era romances, the show so far has still been very heteronormative and deeply patriarchal, even with Queen Charlotte ruling. If women can’t even inherit property without a man or an heir, they definitely can’t kiss other women (and same goes for dudes).

Microsoft plans to release the coming installment of the "Call of Duty" videogame to its subscription service, in a departure from its longtime practice of only selling the title independently, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

After teasing an upcoming chapter inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, Dead by Daylight has revealed its next killer pulled from the pages of the fantasy pen-and-paper RPG: Vecna, long-running mega-baddie and inspiration for the Stranger Things villain. He’ll be voiced by Critical Role dungeon master Matthew Mercer and haunt a new dungeon map, where you’ll be able to do battle as new elf and bard survivors able to roll a literal d20 when they crack open treasure chests.

When it comes to video games, it's Samurai season. Medieval Japan is no stranger to the medium; From Okami and Onimusha to Tenchu and Total War, the setting has been explored in poetic and punchy ways before. But a few popular recent games have brought renewed interest in sword saints and shinobis. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice established the ethos of a modern action game set in Japan's tumultuous past, and Ghost of Tsushima refined the open-world, action-adventure genre for a Samurai story.

Ubisoft has officially confirmed that Assassin's Creed Red is now Assassin's Creed Shadows, and it seems the publisher has also unofficially - but quite accidentally - confirmed the game's release date.

A while back Ubisoft revealed about a billion Assassin's Creed projects. The first of these to leap into the carefully placed haystack of release was Mirage, which I liked. Up next, it seems, is the artist formally known as Assassin's Creed: Codename Red. All we knew about red was that it would be set in feudal Japan, something fans have been clamouring for for literal years. Now we know that it's an AC game set in feudal Japan called Assassin's Creed Shadows, and it's getting an "official cinematic world premiere trailer" debut on YouTube tomorrow, at 5pm BST.

Microsoft appears to be ramping up its mobile gaming efforts, revealing plans to launch an Xbox mobile game store in July.

Buried in the announcement of the launch of Critical Role’s new subscription service, Beacon, is more good news for fans. The third season of the troupe’s Prime Video animated series,The Legend of Vox Machina, is due out this fall. The release window was confirmed on X by Critical Role CEO Travis Willingham. A release date has not been revealed.

Microsoft is officially entering the mobile gaming store scene this summer. With the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard-King formalized, the legal precedent of Epic vs. Apple settled, and the European Union disrupting the digital market, Microsoft and Xbox believe the time is right to vie for a piece of the market.

Critical Role just announced Beacon, its new membership and streaming service that includes exclusive bonus content, early access to shows, and other premium perks. Run by Critical Role directly, this new service does not replace existing options like Twitch or YouTube, but is a different platform through which fans can support the company and its Dungeons and Dragons actual play shows.

It's been a difficult stretch for the industry, so when we speak with Devolver Digital co-founder Nigel Lowrie at the Game Developers Conference, our first question is fairly open-ended: What is happening?