Everspace 2 Developer Could Add Another Year to Development Plans Thanks to Game Pass

Japanese gamers have continued to embrace the PC as a platform at staggering rates, jumping up 43% from 131.3 billion yen to 189.2 billion yen in 2022. That's a total size of about $1.3 billion US. The data comes from the latest report by Kadokawa ASCII Research Laboratories, an industry think tank which compiles yearly material about the performance of the gaming industry in Japan and abroad.

Sea of Stars has shined brightly in Steam Nextfest form thanks to a demo that showed off the core gameplay – and now the time has come for the full game’s release across every modern-day platform. It’s a JRPG-influenced game with action-centric turn-based combat and a lot of world exploration – something a bit unlike everything else on the market that goes for an homage to the past or evoking the 16-bit era without going much beyond that. Here, you get an art style that is basically a more evolved version of what would be featured in a PS1 RPG that used sprite art – or maybe more a Saturn game with the level of color and then a Dreamcast-level of detail in the pixel art.

Microsoft has stopped offering its $1 trial for Xbox Game Pass as the company gears up for one of the biggest video game releases of the year in the form of Starfield. According to XGP, the option has been removed from the sign-up page for Xbox Game Pass.

Baldur’s Gate 3’s Xbox Series X/S version has been a problematic one for Larian, with the studio having been unable to bring the RPG to Microsoft’s console at the same time as its PS5 release. Primarily, that’s been down to Larian struggling to get splitscreen co-op optimized for the weaker hardware of the Xbox Series S, though recently, it was announced by the developer and Microsoft that Baldur’s Gate 3 would indeed launch for Xbox this year, with splitscreen being removed from the Xbox Series S version.

Ultra Pro Wrestling’s showcase has dropped and with it comes the first in-game footage and a metric-ton of roster announcements. We got to see intros that pay homage to Virtual Pro Wrestling 2’s full walkouts from the backstage area to the ring with “Blue Collar” Bill Dollar facing “Sir” Oliver Buckingham. The light and hard strikes and grapples were shown off and the strikes definitely have the same feel as No Mercy in terms of reactions and selling. The grapples seem a tad floaty, but this is pre-alpha footage and that can always be tightened up. The go-behind animation definitely needs some work and the snap German based on one of Dr. Death’s variants in the Aki engine looks pretty good overall.

Citizen Sleeper was one of 2022’s biggest sleeper (sorry) hits, so when developer Jump Over the Age and publisher Fellow Traveller announced a sequel earlier this year, the news was naturally met with plenty of excitement. And though details on what platforms Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector will be targeting weren’t shared at the time, there is more clarity on that front now.

As part of its Gamescom 2023 announcements, NVIDIA revealed that Alan Wake II will be playable on its cloud streaming service GeForce NOW when it releases on October 27th.

Nvidia is all about AI at the moment, but its next project could help make NPCs in your favorite adventures more toxic. That’s thanks to a new custom toolkit that “aims to bring intelligence “to non-playable characters through AI-powered natural language interactions,” using an approachable interface. Simply put, developers will be able to instantly fill games with a bunch of walking red flags, and I’m slightly terrified at the prospect. 

Diablo Immortal’s 17th Season is coming with the new update, which also adds dozens of new Legendary items, a new Battle Pass, atweaked Conqueror PvP event, and the arrival of Training Grounds.  

The Frog Detective series is coming to consoles as a single game called Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery, developer Worm Club has announced.

According to Everspace 2 developer Rockfish Games, Xbox Game Pass has been really beneficial in the development of the game.

Microsoft has revealed the next batch of games that will be added to the Game Pass catalog over the coming days throughout the remainder of the month, and there’s a few heavy-hitters for subscribers to look forward to, after already having seen the likes of Celeste and A Short Hike being added to the service’s library earlier in the month.