FTC puts stop to non-compete clauses

March was a good month for new games, as a number of fresh releases walked straight into the USA software charts. As per Circana (formerly NPD) analyst Mat Piscatella, it was Dragon's Dogma 2 that caught fire in March, claiming the crown as the month's best-selling title. The action RPG sequel is also the third best-selling game of the year, which is quite impressive.

GameStop has revealed an exclusive retro gaming-themed bonus for fans who wish to pre-order the upcoming Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door through its storefront: a free slip case based on the GameCube version. The upcoming release of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door on Nintendo Switch is one of Nintendo's most highly anticipated releases. It is a long-awaited remake of one of the series' most beloved games, bringing the game from the GameCube to the Switch, adding a number of quality-of-life tweaks and remastered graphics.

As a sci-fi RPG coming from ex-BioWare devs, it’s no surprise that Exodus is getting as much attention from Mass Effect as it is, and clearly, the game is going to offer a similar experience to BioWare’s series in a number of key ways.

CI Games and Hexworks have released Lords of the Fallen update 1.5 – Master of Fate. This free update for the Soulslike action RPG is the last in a sequence of rapid updates after a troubled initial launch, but also a new Advance Game Modifier System that can twist the game into being more of a Roguelike, even.

The Federal Trade Commission today published a final rule banning non-compete clauses in contracts.

Bumi: Next Stop, Earth! is a new game by Blamorama Games that dropped right on Earth Day. It’s a game but it’s also about getting eco-conscious and giving a little love to our planet. This is the first game by Blamorama Games. Apparently, the devs have plans for more games, comics and even films in the pipeline.

A Halo Infinite player with a clear affinity for the power armor in the Fallout franchise has designed a set of suits that would let Spartans fit right into post-apocalyptic America. These five different Halo Infinite armor types draw from different designs that both Brotherhood of Steel and Enclave members make use of throughout the Fallout games.

The stunning open-world dress-up game I covered a little under two years ago has finally announced an offline playtest, and I can't wait to see more of it. 

Target may be doing away with physical media for movies and video games next year, at least according to a new rumor. The discussion of whether or not physical releases still have a place in the gaming industry has only intensified in recent years, with most titles being made available to purchase digitally without having to ever step foot inside a brick-and-mortar retailer like Target. The advent of subscription gaming services like Xbox Game Pass has added a new wrinkle to the conversation, as gamers can now access an entire digital library of games for a fraction of the price of a single physical copy.

An animated Golden Axe series is in the works at Comedy Central, based on the popular Sega video game series of the same name.

GameStop is currently offering a buy two, get one free sale on its entire catalog of pre-owned titles. Add three eligible games to your cart, and the cheapest one will be free. The pre-owned prices on most of these games aren’t much lower than what you’d pay for a new copy, but the inclusion of a free game and plenty of new releases to choose from makes this worth checking out.

Climbing to a mountain’s peak is an arduous journey at the best of times, but fighting to reach and claim a summit in the midsts of WWI’s Battles of the Isonzo? It’s something else entirely. BlackMill Games’ exploration of Alpine warfare has taken a new turn with a time limited ‘Ascent’ event for their latest WWI game, Isonzo.