Gamerant.com News, Tips, Tricks, Ideas

Xbox pulled back the curtain on its latest controller design, the Fire Vapor Special Edition Controller, as part of its ongoing Vapor Controller series exclusively available on the Microsoft Store. Like other Vapor Controllers from Xbox, the Fire Vapor Controller comes with a special dynamic background for Xbox console users to enjoy.

Media Molecule, the developer behind LittleBigPlanet, is working on a brand-new IP, which is reportedly less of a «creative tool» unlike its latest title Dreams. The news about the LittleBigPlanet creator's next project comes from co-founder Mark Healey, who exited the company in 2023.

Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster has been given a 120 FPS mode on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, among other improvements, as part of its new 1.0.4 update. Developer Nightdive Studios has specialized in reviving classic 90s first-person shooters in the form of remasters, remakes, and ports. Games like the Turok trilogy, Doom 64, Quake, and Quake 2 have all been given the Nightdive treatment. Just last year, Nightdive released its System Shock remake on PC.

Nintendo recently revealed its updated sales numbers for the Switch console, not too long after the company acknowledged its eventual follow-up. Ever since hitting the market in early 2017, the Nintendo Switch has been a global sales juggernaut, bolstered by chart-topping exclusives like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, and last year’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The massive success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie has also helped sell more Nintendo Switch consoles in countries like Mexico and South America after landing in theaters in 2023.

The latest season of Marvel Snap, A Blink in Time, is now available on PC and mobile devices. This content drop introduces five new Marvel Snap cards and two extra locations, among other novelties.

Following the early access release of Hades 2, fans have mixed feelings about Chaos' redesign. Developer Supergiant Games surprised fans after shadow-dropping Hades 2, even surpassing a major player milestone in less than 24 hours. Now, more players are experiencing Melinoe's adventure and meeting new characters, albeit still unfinished.

Nintendo Switch exclusive Master Detective Archives: Rain Code is coming to PlayStation and Xbox consoles, as well as PC. Spike Chunsoft announced its trio of ports just six weeks shy of the game's first anniversary.

Director of Deathloop at Arkane Lyon, Dinga Bakaba, expressed his feelings and disapproval of Xbox's decision to sunset four of its internal studios. Microsoft and Xbox caught the industry by surprise today when they announced the closure of Arkane Austin, known for Deathloop and Prey, Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks, and Bethesda's mobile game team, Alpha Dog Games. Additionally, Xbox has folded Roundhouse Studios into the Elder Scrolls Online team, ZeniMax Online Studios. The Xbox community, affected developers, and the industry at large are left baffled at these unfortunate and puzzling studio cuts.

The latest Mortal Kombat 1 update adds Mavado to the roster of Kameo fighters and fixes several issues with the game experience and the moves of some fighters. Mavado joins Mortal Kombat 1 shortly after Ermac. Both fighters are available to players who own Kombat Pack 1 or the game's Premium Edition, but it's also possible to purchase them separately.

Bungie is giving all players access to several Destiny 2 expansions for a limited time. This is meant to help players prepare for the new Final Shape expansion coming in June. The upcoming Destiny 2 expansion comes with a new subclass, new overhauls, a new enemy faction, and the conclusion of the ongoing narrative arc.

The upcoming World of Warcraft expansion is introducing an inventory bag with an attribute bonus, opening up the possibility that future bags will offer different buffs and special effects to player characters when equipped. While World of Warcraft has enjoyed newfound popularity with its Season of Discovery on the Classic servers, the Retail version of the game is at a major crossroads. With Dragonflight coming to a close, the Worldsoul Saga is expected to commence with the launch of The War Within before the end of 2024.

Iron Gate Studio has rolled out update v0.218.14 for Valheim's public test build, encompassing tweaks to building pieces, food recipes, enemy spawning mechanics, and more. Additionally, this Valheim update is packed with a plethora of fixes and improvements across various aspects of the game.

Elden Ring fans have discovered an old tweet on the game's official Twitter page that seemingly references the upcoming Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. With FromSoftware's reputation for making high-quality expansions for many of its games, many fans assumed an Elden Ring DLC was on the way before it was even announced. Now that the Elden Ring DLC has been properly revealed, hype for the expansion is at an all-time high.

Nintendo has revealed updated sales numbers for the 10 best-selling Switch games of all time. The Nintendo Switch has been a massive sales success for Nintendo, with the home console/handheld hybrid passing 141 million units sold worldwide. With the Nintendo Switch having such a massive fanbase, it's no surprise that the console is home to some incredibly successful Nintendo software as well.

While many Overwatch 2 fans are still getting to grips with the new map introduced this season, one player has come across a hidden room found near one of the spawn locations while exploring the new Hanaoka map. Season 10 has brought a significant amount of content to Overwatch 2, including the new damage hero, Venture, the limited-time Mirrorwatch event, as well as a wealth of new skins. Season 10 also brought in a trial version of the upcoming Clash mode for players to try out before it's officially added to the game later on.

A trailer for Apex Legends has revealed new cosmetics, customizable artifacts, finishers, and much more. These additions come alongside Upheaval, the latest season of Apex Legends, which will introduce a new legend, fans' return of a long-requested limited time mode, and the reshaping of a map.

The Disney Dreamlight Valley team has deployed a temporary fix that seeks to solve a quest-breaking bug. This bug has halted progress for many players currently wrapped up in the Oswald quest, with a new update addressing the frustrating issue for Disney Dreamlight Valley players.

Helldivers 2 developers are reportedly working on a new cape inspired by the account-linking controversy. While the community can breathe a sigh of relief knowing the worst of the fiasco has passed, some fans have additionally taken to sharing designs for costume accessories inspired by Helldivers 2's Steam page. Some of these designs even managed to reach the offices of developer Arrowhead Game Studios and, if one executive is to be believed, will soon hit live servers as an official cosmetic.

In an announcement made on May 7, Xbox stated that it is ending all development on Redfall. In the same memo, Xbox also announced the closure of Arkane Austin, the developer of the game. Redfall’s developer wasn’t the only studio shut down, as several others are also shutting their doors.

Fallout: New Vegas developer Obsidian Entertainment is seemingly working on a «cross-platform RPG» built using Unreal Engine. Obsidian Entertainment was founded over 20 years ago and has gone on to develop some of the most popular and iconic RPGs of all time. Obsidian was acquired by Microsoft in 2018, and since then, the studio has continued to release critically-acclaimed work.

Spoilers ahead for Honkai: Star Rail's story

A Pokemon GO player found a new trick to evolve certain pokemon like Charcadet and Primeape, making it significantly faster for trainers. In Pokemon GO, most Pokemon evolve when they level up, though some of them are incapable of evolving. Certain Pokemon often require specific conditions to be met in order to evolve, such as defeating a fixed number of Pokemon of a certain type. This process can sometimes be time-consuming and tedious for trainers.

Arrowhead Game Studios has rolled out Helldivers 2 patch 1.000.302, focusing on key areas like damage-over-time effects issues, weapon and enemy balancing, social menu issues, and more. This update also introduces a range of fixes to enhance the overall gaming experience for Helldivers 2 players.

A Pokemon fan created a regional variant of Remoraid and shared the original concept online. Remoraid can become an Octillery upon reaching level 25, and it is also required for a Mantyke to evolve into Mantine.

Xbox has reportedly shut down Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Studios, and Roundhouse Games, with members of the latter team being folded into ZeniMax Online Studios. Layoffs have been a harsh reality of the video game industry these past couple of years, with companies of all sizes laying off significant portions of their staff or shutting down studios entirely. Xbox itself has engaged in multiple waves of layoffs this past year.

As Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will celebrate its first anniversary this May, Nintendo is allegedly planning a surprise for fans to mark the occasion. While Nintendo didn’t have any big plans for The Legend of Zelda 35th anniversary, the company will still give fans a little surprise to commemorate the first year of Tears of the Kingdom.

Nintendo has revealed that fans can expect an announcement about the upcoming Switch successor, or Switch 2 as it has come to be known, sometime before the end of the current fiscal year. Rumors about the next iteration of the Nintendo Switch have been swirling for the past couple of years, which is understandable considering that the company’s unique hybrid console originally launched in 2017. Even upon its release, the Switch was considered to be one generation behind the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, and many gamers have been waiting for Nintendo to release hardware that could compete graphically and technically with ninth-generation consoles.

The Witcher star Freya Allan has finally broken her silence on the backlash over Liam Hemsworth’s casting as Geralt in the upcoming season of the Netflix series.

Acclaimed game developer Remedy Entertainment has announced the cancellation of its co-op multiplayer game, codenamed Kestrel. This decision comes amid Remedy prioritizing the allocation of resources towards other ongoing projects within its portfolio.

A new Honkai: Star Rail trailer features the upcoming five-star character Robin in a music video-style presentation. The recently held live stream event has already confirmed that Robin will be featured in the first phase of the new Version 2.2 alongside Topaz, who is going to receive her first banner re-run.

A newly filed patent highlights an interesting detail about how the Nintendo Switch charges its three controller components to ensure that they all have an equal amount of power. The Nintendo Switch is truly unique among modern gaming hardware in how it combines the power of a traditional console with the portability of Nintendo’s old handhelds. This is done through the Joy-Con controller, which can be attached to the Switch’s included to be used as a handheld, connected to a special holder to emulate a traditional controller, or held as two separate pieces for motion control gameplay.

A new Genshin Impact leak has revealed the original concept art for one of the most popular characters in the game, Lady Furina, also known as Focalors and the Hydro Archon. Furina made her first in-game appearance during Version 4.0, which introduced the long-awaited region known as Fontaine.

A new Genshin Impact leak reveals an interesting change to Arlecchino that should go live in the upcoming Version 4.7. Arlecchino was introduced to the game in the first phase of the current update 4.6 alongside another five-star Pyro user, Fontaine's famous magician Lyney.

Deadpool & Wolverine has fans excited for the return of Hugh Jackman's legendary Wolverine, the star himself reveals that one of the upcoming film’s biggest draws almost debuted in another movie.

Less than 24 hours after launching on Steam, the early access version of Hades 2 has already doubled the all-time peak concurrent player account set by the original Hades. While Supergiant Games certainly found success with its earlier titles like Bastion, Pyre, and Transistor, the studio really took off after it released the roguelike action title, Hades. Although Hades was originally an Epic Games store exclusive, it eventually launched on Steam a year later in 2019 through Early access, releasing Version 1.0 on September 17, before eventually launching across most other platforms like the Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles.

One of the most popular new mods for the classic RPG Fallout: New Vegas is leaving its mark on virtually every gun in the game. The mod makes comprehensive tweaks to the weapon animations for almost all the Fallout: New Vegas guns, drawing attention from fans looking to inject some new life into the old game.

A Fortnite leak revealed on May 6 shows off the original idea for Pandora's Box in the game. Fortnite is in the middle of a Greek mythology themed season, with Pandora's Box being part of the central focus. Near the end of Chapter 5 Season 1, a Titan’s Hand pulled the box out of the ground during a live event on March 2.

Xbox Game Pass members can play Kona 2: Brume as part of their subscription starting today, May 7. The moody adventure game is the second title to reach Xbox Game Pass since the turn of the month.

A creative and skillful Pokemon fan and artist has made a new drawing depicting what it would look like if Mawile had a human form. The humanized renditions, which include a version for regular Mawile as well as Mega Mawile, makes clever use of the Pokemon's unusual design, yielding some seriously impressive results.

A Pokemon fan has created interesting fourth stage evolutions for the popular pocket monsters Gengar, Talonflame, and Blaziken. The three cover a good range of Pokemon designs to give new evolutions to, with their origins ranging from Gen 1 through Gen 6.

World of Warcraft Classic just locked Lava Lash, it's only normal roleplaying realm in Season of Discovery. With this change, there are no longer any pure RP servers available for new World of Warcraft Classic players to join in Season of Discovery.

A Pokemon GO player has shared a curious detail showing what a PokeStop that is temporarily closed looks like. PokeStops are one of the most recognizable gameplay elements in Pokemon GO. They're found in places that encourage Pokemon GO players to explore their surroundings, such as parks, museums, historical monuments, or landmarks.

There are several cats in World of Warcraft: The War Within that characters can pick up and hold. While World of Warcraft has let players pet cats and other creatures before, this is the first time their characters can actually lift them in the game’s history.

A Skyrim fan has crafted a real-life gift box that requires the ability to lockpick as players do in the game. There are many Skyrim skills for gamers to level up as they progress across the open world, but lockpicking has taken on a new form with this gift box.

An unannounced Nintendo game has leaked under a codename called «Banquet.” This year is looking especially barren in terms of Nintendo game releases, so any rumors to show that more games are coming are particularly exciting to fans.

For Darkest Dungeon fans, Red Hook Studios has good news: Darkest Dungeon 2 mod support is nearly here, with the first stages of it arriving in June. Darkest Dungeon 2 has been on a hot streak lately, with exciting new announcements, but this one might be the most anticipated of all.

As per a recent leak, Honkai: Star Rail players will participate in a PvP event in version 2.3. Honkai: Star Rail features a series of temporary events, which provide players with Stellar Jades, upgrade materials, and Special Rail Passes. These activities occasionally give away free four-star characters and Light Cones that don't appear on standard banners. There are only a few recurring events in the game, such as Gift of Odyssey and Nameless Honor, which offer players Special Rail Passes in every update.

A Minecraft player has built an incredibly accurate replica of a Walmart in their world. Minecraft gamers have made replicas of real-world locations since the game was released, but this may be the most accurate Walmart to be created.

A Pokemon fan artist gave Orthworm a new look, as they created a terrifying redesign and shared their efforts on social media. In response to the eldritch horror version of Orthworm, some Pokemon trainers commented on how threatening the creature looked, and others shared comparisons to other games.

Additional details surrounding the upcoming PlayStation 5 Pro's graphical processing unit (GPU) have leaked. The technical specifications of the heavily-leaked mid-generation upgrade of the PS5 have been out there for a while, but a new report sheds light on the more intricate details of its GPU.

A hilarious clip shows a Skyrim player trying to open a book while affected by a Slow Time shout, and it doesn't go well. When it comes to Shouts in Skyrim, each has its own unique effects, but this clip serves as a great reminder to not search through anything too important when using Slow Time.

Bethesda fans should be excited to learn that QuakeCon is returning this summer from August 8 to 11 at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas. Bethesda made the announcement on its webpage, promising an array of thrilling activities for gaming enthusiasts.

Warning: Spoilers for World of Warcraft: The War Within below.

Star Wars Outlaws has revealed a pair of themed Xbox controllers fans can build in Xbox Design Labs. The best way for Xbox gamers to create personalized controllers, Xbox Design Labs allows users to customize every button on an Xbox controller with a vast array of available colors. The program even offers fully customizable Xbox Elite controllers with its own set of premium colors and textures.

Following the news that Sony no longer plans to move forward with its controversial Helldivers 2 PlayStation Network account-linking update, reviews are skyrocketing in a positive direction. The Helldivers 2 community has been up in arms over the recently announced update, which would have forced players to create and connect to a PlayStation Network account in order to access the game. Massive backlash ensued, with Helldivers 2 being review-bombed on Steam. This decision was ultimately reversed, with reviews immediately shooting up as a result.

Some Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 fans have started pointing out that Peter Parker is missing as an AI companion in combat when the player is controlling Miles Morales. Spider-Man 2 gives gamers two crime-fighting Spider-heroes for the price of one, with Peter returning from the first game and Miles now a fully-fledged web-slinger following his starring role in the 2020 spin-off Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

A Pokemon fan has recently created a past Paradox form for Milotic. Milotic is a Water-type Pokemon that evolves from Feebas, and it first appeared in the third generation of Pokemon games.

Final Fantasy 14 is currently being targeted by a DDoS attack, causing disruption to fans attempting to play the game. Until it is resolved, Final Fantasy 14 players may want to hold off on attempting to log into the critically-acclaimed MMORPG.

If a rumor is to be believed, Sony's PlayStation Showcase event may reportedly take place as early as next week. Interestingly, this rumor about the PlayStation Showcase event comes from a deleted social media post shared by an unexpected source, popular podcaster DJ Akademiks.

Fans continue to find unique ways to create crossovers between gaming franchises, including one player who made character models of the Stardew Valley citizens in The Sims 4. Expansive character creators have led to fans making Animal Crossing characters in The Sims 4, and this latest lineup of Stardew Valley characters has added to the growing number of video game franchises reproduced in The Sims.

Pokemon GO has just released a new teaser for the next Community Day, and fans believe that its featured Pokemon will be a Toucannon or a Bounsweet. The upcoming Pokemon GO Community Day will happen on May 19, and this teaser was the first time Niantic hinted its possible content.

Two years later, JiDion's Twitch account has been restored after leading a hate raid against Pokimane. On January 12, 2022, users on Twitch were led from JiDion’s stream to bombard Pokimane’s chat with spam. Pokimane had to resort to ending her stream after her chat went completely out of her control. Pokimane and JiDion have since cleared things up between each other, yet JiDion's reputation with Twitch was unaffected.

A new Baldur's Gate 3 mod gives players even more options when it comes to combat, bringing Cloud Strife's trademark Buster Sword into the fold. Plenty of mods have managed to breathe new life into the already-rich world of Baldur's Gate 3, with developer Larian Studios crafting a fully realized fantasy world ripe for exploration as well as creation. With mods, players can get even more hours out of Baldur's Gate 3, with a recent project acting as a love letter for fans of Final Fantasy.

Following the return of Walking Wake and Iron Leaves, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet pulled back the curtain on the next Seven-Star Tera Raid battle against Primarina the Unrivaled, a starter from the Alola region. The battle will start over a month after Pokemon Scarlet and Violet hosted Seven-Star Tera Raid battles against Meganium.

A credible leaker has revealed that Resident Evil 9 will be set on a Singapore-inspired island in the Southeast Asian Sea. There has been a bevy of rumors surrounding the next entry in the Resident Evil series lately, and this is potentially one of the most significant.

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew turned to one of the VFX artists who helped bring some of the original trilogy's most memorable special effects to life.

Dead by Daylight has rolled out the 7.7.1 update, packed with bug fixes and a change to the Ultimate Weapon, an exclusive perk of the Xenomorph. This new update also lays the groundwork for exciting content arriving in Dead by Daylight throughout May, as disclosed by its roadmap.

Seattle-based Pokemon GO support studio Very Very Spaceship was hit with layoffs, shortly after developing the controversial avatars for the game's Rediscover GO update. Although the Pokemon GO update aimed to improve features and visuals in the game, many players in the community were upset with the direction that was taken with the revamped avatars.

News about the highly anticipated Switch 2 could be coming really soon, based on details from Nintendo's latest governance report. There have been rumors swirling around the internet about the Switch 2 for some time now, and this insightful company memo has some interesting hints regarding the console.

The previously hinted-at LEGO Star Wars minifigure of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor protagonist Cal Kestis has finally been confirmed as part of an upcoming Imperial Star Destroyer set. While the popular LEGO Star Wars line has primarily focused on the Star Wars movies and shows, there have been sets and minifigures based on the numerous video games over the years. In addition to collectible versions of famous Star Wars gaming characters like Starkiller and Darth Malek, the lovable BD-1 from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order had a model based on it back in 2022.

While Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon has been embattled since its debut, the creative’s signature move is about to be invoked on the sci-fi newcomer, and this might be the most radical application of this creative choice yet.

A newly announced Steam game called Starsand Island has strong Stardew Valley and Studio Ghiblivibes, and it has unveiled its first trailer. Announced for a late 2025 release on Steam, Starsand Island will take players to a Ghibli-esque island paradise they can explore and live in.

PlayStation Plus subscribers have one last chance to claim the free PS Plus games for April 2024, even though it's already May 6. New PlayStation Plus free games are rotated in on a monthly basis. The previous PS Plus free games are available until the first Tuesday of the following month, and so Monday, May 6 marks the last day that subscribers can snag the free games that were available in April 2024.

Nintendo gamers on Wii U and 3DS have beaten a 14-year-old Halo 2 record by playing online after the scheduled shutdown date for the system’s servers. These Nintendofans surpassed the previous record set by Halo 2 fans, who continued playing for 25 days after the servers were scheduled to be shut down. Like the Nintendo fans today, the Halo fans found that they were able to play well beyond the shut-down date, as long as they kept playing.

A series of hilarious Destiny 2 clips showcase a group of players failing at teamwork from different angles. While attempting to work together in Destiny 2's new Onslaught mode, the team's plan goes horribly wrong.

A real-life Yakuza member was arrested after stealing Pokemon cards in a break-in. Crimes involving Pokemon are more common and recurring than one might think.

Pokemon GO developer Niantic has added Latin American Spanish language support to the game. This significant update arrives alongside a month-long in-game celebration designed to welcome and engage Pokemon GO's LATAM players.

Xbox Game Pass subscribers can look forward to the addition of two more games coming this year in the form of Sniper: Ghost Warrior Contracts 2and Lords of the Fallen. It's been a big couple of weeks for Xbox Game Pass users, as last year's hit action adventure masterpiece Star Wars Jedi: Survivor just recently landed on the Ultimate tier of the service. Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons populate Game Pass' May calendar, all leading up to the long-awaited release of Ninja Theory's Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 on the 21st.

The PlayStation 5 exclusive Stellar Blade breaks the Fourth Wall if players stare at Eve long enough by having her stare right back at them. Eve has dominated much of the discussion surrounding Stellar Blade since the game's reveal. Her over-the-top outfits and incredible combat prowess have made her quite popular, though she has also found herself at the center of some of the game's bigger controversies.

A custom-made Fortnite mode brings Dead by Daylight's asymmetrical gameplay to Epic Games' popular title. The upcoming Fortnite mode takes clear inspiration from DbD.