Gaming in France. Reviews, Walkthroughs, News

Upcoming OTT releases this week: Get ready for another exciting week in the realm of streaming entertainment! With a plethora of options flooding your favourite OTT platforms, there's something to suit every taste. Whether you're into heart-pounding action, gripping drama, heartwarming romance, or mind-bending mystery, the latest releases are here to keep you hooked. Let's dive into the highlights of what's coming your way this week.

Another large-scale PlayStation 5 sale offering savings in the ballpark of 15% is ramping up in Europe. While select retailers have already introduced notable discounts on the console, some newly emerged evidence suggests that the continent-wide PlayStation 5 sale will extend to even more markets on Monday, March 18.

The sun is out and shining in my part of the world, with a lovely spring day coinciding with the end of this year’s Six Nations. It feels like a foregone conclusion that Ireland will wrap things up against Scotland, but maybe I’m just trying to jinx them for a surprise final day turnaround that sees Scotland, France or England win it instead? Imagine the drama!

In the new French sci-fi film The Animal Kingdom, the world is changing and humans are changing with it. A mutation begins transforming humans into animal hybrids, creating a variety of bird-humans, insect-humans, mammal-humans, and many other new types of beings. Caught in the middle of this upheaval are a divided family — the mother, in the middle of mutation, has gone missing from a medical transport, which leaves the father and son desperately searching for her. The fantastic movie is finally out in American theaters and on VOD, after originally screening at Cannes and other film festivals in 2023.

KONAMI has remained silent about the release date of the Silent Hill 2 remake. However, several clues point to an inbound announcement.

A Valheim player has built an incredible cathedral in the Meadows biome in the game's creative mode. Hammer mode was added to Valheim last year, and players have already built impressive monuments utilizing the lack of limitations.

Genshin Impact and Discovery Channel have announced the Teyvat Nature Discovery Tour, a joint initiative seeking to raise awareness about a number of fragile natural habitats. The collaboration comprises a Genshin Impact online event, an offline benefit sale, and a mini-documentary voiced by Game of Thrones star Kit Harington and several other celebrities.

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The latest bundle of games coming to the PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium game libraries have been revealed, and it’s time to pull on some body-shaping spandex with superheroes, supervillains and plenty more besides! All of the following games will be available from 19th March 2024.

iOS 17.4 packs quite a few new features and improvements, from podcast transcripts and new emoji options to multilingual message playback, Apple Cash numbers, and beyond. These changes and under-the-hood tweaks can be easy to miss if you don’t know where to look, which is where we come in.

Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu believes game music has become too similar to film and «cannot develop further» if continuing in this direction.

Zanarkand is, arguably, one of the most haunting pieces of music ever composed for a Final Fantasy game. However, in a recent interview with Japanese outlet Weekly Ochiai, accomplished Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu revealed that the legendary theme from Final Fantasy 10 had an unlikely origin. 

2K has announced the release date, roster and a few more details about the upcoming TopSpin 2K25. The revival of the popular tennis sim series will launch on April 26, across PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One and PC. 2K also confirmed some of the tennis stars who will be present in the game, as part of a roster of 24 playable pros. TopSpin 2K25 received a new trailer, showing off gameplay and tennis icons like Roger Federer and Serena Williams in action.

TopSpin 2k25 was announced in January, the first entry in the tennis series since 2011. It turns out there's not long to wait before it's served up either, as it now has a release date of April 26th.

Part of the magic of cinema is how, in spite of only engaging two of our senses, it can evoke all of them. Food makes this abundantly clear: Cinematic stories about cooking and eating can bring about sensory bliss, bringing us home with a few shots and sounds of a beloved dish, or somewhere entirely new with the same.

Four years since the Grandia HD Collection was released for Switch and PC, the game is finally arriving on PlayStation and Xbox consoles. The Grandia HD Collection includes the first two titles in the franchise, Grandia 1 and Grandia 2, with revamped graphics, widescreen, and support for new languages.

2K officially announced in January that the TopSpin series would be returning after its long hiatus with Mafia 3 developer Hangar 13’s TopSpin 2K25. Now, following that initial teaser announcement, the game has been fully unveiled. Check out its reveal trailer below.

Game Arts’ legendary Grandia series is coming to PS4 and Xbox One with the Grandia HD Collection. It’s out on March 26th and includes remasters for the first two games (which will be backwards compatible on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S). Pre-orders for a physical edition go live on March 15th via Limited Run Games. Check out the announcement trailer below.

Classic RPGs Grandia and Grandia 2 are finally making their way onto console by way of the Grandia HD Collection, which is releasing on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One this month.

TopSpin 2K25 will release in April, publisher 2K has announced, and will include over 24 playable pro tennis stars.

How many movies did you watch last year? Either way, it’s definitely not as many as Zach Swope, the new Guinness World Record holder for ‘Most films seen in a cinema in one year.’

2K has given the first full details on Top Spin 2K25, including the game’s release date.

An underrated EA-published game from 2009, The Saboteur, is finally available on Steam, and at a massive 50% discount until March 21. The Saboteur was developed by the now-defunct Pandemic Studios and released in 2009 for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. Even though The Saboteur was available on PC at the time of its initial launch, it's just now made its way to Steam a whopping 15 years later.

There isn’t much clarity right now on when (or if) we’ll get a new Watch Dogs game, but Ubisoft has other plans for the franchise in the works. A report by Deadline has revealed that Ubisoft has partnered with New Regency to work on a film based on Watch Dogs.

The upcoming Sea of Thieves PS5 version is currently the best-selling pre-order on the US and various European PlayStation Stores.

Gen AI course demand skyrockets as professionals future proof careers; European businesses lag in AI skills training for employees: LinkedIn report; UK researchers warn against unregulated AI chatbots in social care plans; AI generated faces deceive viewers, study finds-this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.

Watch Dogs, Ubisoft's open-world sci-fi hacker series, is reportedly the latest in an ever-growing list of video games getting the live-action movie treatment, with Talk to Me actor Sophie Wilde said to be in talks to star.

Remember when Ubisoft announced they were working on a movie adaptation of hacking series Watch Dogs, before it was even released? I sure didn’t! Well, allow us both to be reminded of something from over a decade ago, because the Watch Dogs film is still apparently A Thing. It’s more of A Thing now, too, because it has actual names attached rather than just a corporation’s vague “excitement” about licensing out its IP.

A based on the Ubisoft series of video games has been revealed, alongside the film’s lead actress.

As video game adaptations continue to ramp up, it looks like Watch Dogs will be one of the next titles to get the treatment.

If you wanted to buy any of the games in the Command & Conquer Ultimate Collection, Dungeon Keeper, or Sim City 3000 - but didn't want to do it on GOG where they were already on sale - then rejoice! EA has made these classics and more, and for some reason The Saboteur, available on Steam for the first time. You can see the full list of games here. I don't have anything specific against The Saboteur, but I do think it's very funny that the list goes, like, "beloved game from the 90s, beloved game from the 90s, 7/10 action game from 2009, beloved game from the 90s". Also, I can take the opportunity to make fun of Graham and James, the tallest wrongest boys at RPS, who apparently both liked it.

Electronic Arts has revealed they have published several of their classic titles to Steam.

Retro gamers can rejoice as publisher EA has brought several of its most revered games to Steam, making them more accessible to players. Since EA launched its own platform in the form of Origin in 2011, many of the company's games have been missing from Steam, and while they were still available to users, having to split up one's library can become tedious. Fortunately, a handful of revered and influential titles have escaped the confines of Origin and they're going for some really good prices.

Niantic has officially announced Pokemon GO Fest 2024, revealing its dates, locations, and ticket prices, among other details. The biggest Pokemon GO event of the year will be held over three extended weekends starting in late May and will conclude with a global event in mid-July.

Magical family-friendly MMORPG Wizard101 has made its way onto Steam in all European countries. This brings the long running MMO to a larger global audience, in new supported languages.

NIS America will release RPG Maker WITH for Switch this fall in the west, followed by PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 in 2025, the publisher announced. It will feature English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish language support.

It's once again Thursday, so NVIDIA has news for GeForce NOW users. To begin with, the cloud service is adding the popular action RPG Granblue Fantasy: Relink, which was released last month by Cygames. Granblue Fantasy: Relink earned an 8 out of 10 score in Wccftech's review by Ule Lopez:

Though Rockstar will be busy getting Grand Theft Auto 6 ready for release – that hasn’t stopped them from making new content for GTA Online, with the latest being the Cluckin' Bell Heist update and we’ve got everything you need to know from its release date, UK Launch time and the patch notes.

Community-driven navigation app Waze has announced the rollout of 6 new features to help drivers navigate safely and responsibly. The platform was acquired by Google in 2013 and has been serving as an alternative to other navigation apps such as Google Maps and Apple Maps. Taking on these big giants takes some effort and the platform keeps on getting more and more features. Now, the latest Waze update has rolled out 6 new features that are aimed at making trips safer and more comfortable.

The many regions that players have visited throughout the Pokemon games all draw inspiration from real-world locations, inspiring one fan from Amsterdam to imagine what a counterpart to their home city would look like in the world of Pokemon. Their absolutely amazing pixel art project not only captures a similar vibe to that associated with the older Pokemon games, but also does a great job of showcasing what a Netherlands-inspired region might look like in the games' world.

Apple has released the iOS 17.4 update for iPhone and iPad devices which come with several new features including Apple Podcasts transcripts. This feature will enable users to get a full-text display of each episode they listen to on the Apple Podcasts app. This new feature has been added to provide users with easy accessibility and navigation. Transcripts for podcasts have been one of the most awaited features, now after installing the iOS 17.4 update, you can easily access these new features. Know more about transcripts for Apple Podcasts here.

Roland Garros has announced that the 2024 Roland-Garros eSeries by Renault is currently open, with the platform being thee mobile game Tennis Clash. Of the eight quarter final spots, four are for those who qualify through the game, while one is reserved for the reigning champion William “Fozzy” Foster, former tennis champion Gilles Simon, a wildcard entrance to French association Handigamers, and the final slot to the best female player of Tennis Clash. There is €5,000 split between winner and runner up.

Denis Villeneuve’smovie adaptations of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel, Dune, has become a cultural and commercial hit. That’s big for Team Hollywood, but I still have a hard time believing that Dune has done more for movies than it has for video games — so long as you ignore the kerfuffle over whether it influenced Star Wars.

War Thunder’s next major update, Alpha Strike, will bring the Hungarian aviation tech tree, and a slew of new vehicles. 

Patch 1.43 is out now for Gran Turismo 7 for PS5 and PS4, which bundles another three cars into the driving simulator as well as new races to take part in at Laguna Seca and the Suzuka and Tsukuba Circuits. A 1.68GB update will gain you access to that content, which can be downloaded now.

Italian publisher 505 Games has shuttered several of its European offices in France, Germany, and Spain, the result of a business review conducted in September. Just yesterday, we told you that Remedy Entertainment had acquired full publishing rights for Control back from 505 Games.

Action RPG Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution will launch for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Switch both physically and digitally in May in the west, publisher Idea Factory International announced. It will feature English and Japanese voice-overs with English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

Don’t Nod is losing one of their top management figures as the company faces workplace allegations.

Roland Garros has announced that the 2024 Roland-Garros eSeries by Renault is currently open, with the platform being thee mobile game Tennis Clash. Of the eight quarter final spots, four are for those who qualify through the game, while one is reserved for the reigning champion William “Fozzy” Foster, former tennis champion Gilles Simon, a wildcard entrance to French association Handigamers, and the final slot to the best female player of Tennis Clash. There is €5,000 split between winner and runner up.

The Xbox Game Pass catalog has just expanded to include Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun. This is the first March 2024 addition to Microsoft's subscription service, as well as the 28th title to reach Xbox Game Pass since the turn of the year.

World Cup-winning footballer Hugo Lloris thought moving to his new team in Los Angeles would be no big deal, because he'd played so much Grand Theft Auto. 

If you’ve been looking for an excuse to revisit Pokémon X and Y, the announcement of Pokémon Legends: Z-A just gifted you a perfect excuse to do so.

A player has built a stunning homage to the Pokemon franchise's Prism Tower within their Minecraft world, re-creating the iconic landmark within the sandbox game. The beloved game from Mojang and Microsoft has hosted plenty of homages to fan-favorite game franchises, re-creating iconic scenes and locations in their in-game worlds. Fans have created locations like Goldenrod City within Minecraft and even brought the mechanics of Pokemon into the game through mods. Now, one fan has crafted a stunning re-creation of the Kalos region's Prism Tower.

Some attentive fans have put forth a theory regarding the setting of the upcoming game Pokemon Legends: Z-A, suggesting it will take place in the future instead of the past. Pokemon Legends: Z-A was first revealed at the Pokemon Day event this past February, and it is set to revisit the formula of Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Back in 2022, Legends: Arceus was seen as a fresh and innovative take on the classic Pokemon-catching gameplay, and while little has been shown about Legends: Z-A, fans have already started theorizing about its plot points and where it will be set.

Unicorn Overlord for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, and Switch, and Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku: Isshoni Exercise for Switch are the highlights of this week’s Japanese video game releases.

It was recently revealed that Return to Silent Hill – a new movie based on Silent Hill 2 – has finished filming. Yeah, even though it has flown a bit under the radar, a new Silent Hill movie based on the events of Silent Hill 2 has been in the works for a while, and I’m cautiously optimistic about it.

It’s been a miserable week for people that like weather that isn’t just varying amounts of rain, though the odd bit of hail has helped to add a little variety to proceedings.

Yohane the Parhelion: NUMAZU in the MIRAGE developer BeXide has announced 3D physics puzzle game Fruit Mountain for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC (Steam). It will launch in 2024 with English, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Portugeues, Russian, German, French, Spain, and Italian language support.

According to the leading theory online, Pokemon Legends: Z-A's starter Pokemon will potentially be Servine, Torchic, and Piplup. There aren't many details for Pokemon Legends: Z-A yet, but fans can safely assume that it will be retaining some of the defining traits of its predecessor, the critically-acclaimed Pokemon Legends: Arceus.

Napoleon, Ridley Scott’s 157-minute epic on (who else) Napoleon Bonaparte, is now finally streaming on Apple TV Plus. The two-and-a-half-hour film captures Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon, and his rise as a Great Man, a great general, and a great little fucking weirdo. In particular, the movie is concerned with how his graceless climb led him to claim France (and beyond) for himself, while also constantly being bodied by his wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby, aka the new Sue Storm). He is never chill, but he is always, as Polygon’s Joshua Rivera put it in his review, “history’s most accomplished cuck.”

French game studio Spiders took the main stage of the NACON Connect 2024 to unveil that GreedFall 2: The Dying World will launch in early access this Summer via Steam.

The Nvidia GeForce Now library has expanded to encompass a handful of high-profile Activision Blizzard games, including Diablo 4 and multiple recent Call of Duty entries. These additions are just the tip of the streaming platform's late winter content iceberg, with GeForce NOW already confirming nearly two dozen new arrivals for March 2024.

European publisher 505 Games has shut its offices in France, Germany and Spain.

As another weekend rolls around, we're back with another batch of streaming recommendations. It's a strong week for movies, with brand-new sci-fi drama Spaceman taking Adam Sandler to new dimensions on Netflix, Ridley Scott's historical epic Napoleon arriving on Apple TV Plus, and Sofia Coppola's latest film Priscilla hitting MUBI in the UK. 

Privacy-focused browsers have become extremely popular in recent years. One such browser is Brave, an open-source web browser based on the Chromium web browser. It is certainly an intriguing option for those who wish to protect their identity online and stay safe from advertisements and trackers. Keeping up with the latest boom in artificial intelligence (AI), Brave introduced an AI assistant named Leo in 2023. Now, it is bringing it to Android devices.

Today, during the NACON Connect 2024 event, French developer Spiders announced that GreedFall II: The Dying World will be released in early access this Summer on Steam.

Today, NVIDIA announced that its GeForce NOW cloud gaming platform has been upgraded to support Battle.net PC games like Call of Duty, Diablo IV, Overwatch 2, and Hearthstone.

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Spiders and Nacon have announced that GreedFall 2 – The Dying World will release first into Steam Early Access this summer. Check out the epic new trailer:

Milan-based Publisher 505 Games is undergoing some unfortunate downsizing, as it's announced the closure of offices in Germany, Spain, and France. This comes just a day after Remedy Entertainment announced its purchase of the full rights to Control, which 505 Games published in 2019, for 17 million euros.

Amazon is offering eight games to Prime Gaming subscribers in March, including Fallout 2 and Invincible Presents: Atom Eve.

Ghostrunner 2 publisher 505 Games has shut down offices in Germany, Spain and France.

Pokemon fans are speculating which time period Pokemon Legends Z-A will be based on, and there are some pretty compelling theories out there.

The race to figure out what Pokemon Legends Z-A starters we're getting is on, and plenty of pros and long-time fans aren't short of thoughts. 

You have almost a week until the next set of PlayStation Plus games are online but the reliable billbil-kun from Dealabs has got the scoop on one of the free titles. According to their sources the headline game for March 2024 will be former PlayStation console exclusive Sifu!

Set during the run-up to the D-Day landings, Classified: France ’44 puts the player in control of an elite squad of soldiers immersed deep behind enemy lines. Their mission is simple but oh-so-difficult; they must unify the French Resistance, eliminate key German targets, and sabotage vital infrastructure to ensure that the approaching allied invasion is a success. That sounds like a lot of pressure to deal with, but as a turn-based tactical game, you’ve got all the time in the world to plan out your moves.

Malevelon Creek, Helldivers 2's most infamous Automaton planet, has sadly fallen to the robotic forces.

Hell(o), bellowing caped stooges of Super Earth! It's time for another Helldivers 2 patch. This one makes some heroic adjustments to the shooter's generally inoffensive microtransaction system, targetting a technical issue whereby Super Credits and Premium Warbonds would not show up after purchase. Huzzah! Developers Arrowhead have also nuked a rather barmy Helldivers 2 glitch that allowed for unlimited stratagem use with no cooldowns following an AFK kick.