Platform News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

"Who will rid me of these tiresome overfamiliar combat systems!" I bellow from my balcony over the castle square. From far away across the sea comes the response: "in our game, your primary 'weapon' is a sloping railway". The game in question is Incline ～Railway of devil's valley～ and yes, it has an incredibly irritating English-language title, but how about that red-hot funicular action in the trailer? And is it me, or does this look like a long-lost Dreamcast game?

There are countless controllers out there for you to choose from, regardless of the platform you game on. There are also ways to make a controller unique to you, such as utilizing Xbox's Design Lab to create your own controller. PowerA's new offering goes a step further than that, though. While you can't customize its Lumectra tech Switch controller at the point of purchase, you can change the way it looks once it arrives, and then again if you don't like how it looks, and then again if you get tired of how it looks after that.

Today, several parts of the world will witness the rare Solar Eclipse. While people in North America will be able to see the event, people in other countries could witness the live stream of the event on NASA TV, Google TV, and other platforms. The event is reported to stay for several hours, therefore, it is one of the biggest celestial events which you should not miss. However, ISRO's Aditya L1 spacecraft, which is actively monitoring the Sun, will miss the Total Solar Eclipse due to its location. Know what ISRO Chairman said in a statement. 

One of Fallout's showrunners has acknowledged concerns that Amazon Prime Video is a poor fit for the series. Speaking with TheGamer, Graham Wagner says he's aware that Fallout has always had an "anti-cooperate" energy, but adds that this irony was "part of the appeal".

The Sea of Thieves PS5 version will be a crucial test for other former Xbox exclusives coming to rival platforms, according to outlet The Verge.

 In a quirky turn of events, Blinkit, the quick-commerce platform, has stirred a wave of laughter across the internet. Following their partnership with Sony for the swift delivery of PlayStation 5 (PS5) Slim editions and controllers in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru within just 10 minutes, an unexpected demand from a user caught everyone's attention, including Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa.

Sunbird, once infamous for its security flaws while attempting to bring iMessage to Android, is making a comeback. Despite its troubled past, Sunbird has announced its plans to relaunch its iMessage for Android services on April 5.

Doctor Who characters have officially joined Roblox alongside a host of other familiar faces from across the BBC, as the broadcasting corporation launches its Wonder Chase video game.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced plans to reveal a Tesla robotaxi on August 8, countering recent reports suggesting a shift in the company's focus away from a low-cost electric vehicle (EV). The announcement follows Musk's dismissal of a Reuters report, which claimed Tesla was abandoning its $25,000 EV project in favour of prioritising the development of a robotaxi.

The PS5 Slim just launched in India on April 5 and a homegrown quick-commerce service is already delivering the console to customers within just 10 minutes. The online retailer is shipping both the digital and disc variants of the PS5 Slim.

While the name Kareem Choudhry may not be as well-known as, say, Phil Spencer or Matt Booty, Xbox fans who keep abreast with the company’s announcements and showcases are likely to be familiar with his face. As corporate vice president of emerging technologies at Xbox, Choudhry was in charge of a lot of the more innovative things Microsoft’s gaming division offered in recent years, including backward compatibility and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

A team of modders is giving Star Wars Battlefront 2 an unofficial "new home" on PC, creating a custom server platform with 24/7 servers, mod support, and more.

Forever Entertainment has confirmed that Front Mission 2: Remake will be released on even more platforms from April 30th. The game will be available on Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. Front Mission 2 Remake was a timed exclusive for Nintendo Switch, releasing in June last year.

After a controversial reveal that saw tickets sell out almost immediately, Ravensburger has announced it’s opening up over 1,500 new spaces for its inaugural Disney Lorcana Challenge competitive events.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

The latest update for the MC Extractor has added new AMD Granite Ridge "Ryzen Zen 5" CPUs and also mentions the AM5+ platform.

Twitch, the popular streaming platform, has announced a notable update to its policy concerning the viewing of content from banned streamers. In this latest development, Twitch has introduced a change to its Suspension Evasion policy, allowing streamers to engage with banned users' content without the risk of facing repercussions themselves.

When Steven Spohn wants to play a video game, he boots up the computer and puts on a baseball cap that allows him to use head movements to input keyboard presses. Attached to the hat is a piece of hardware called TrackIR, which uses an infrared camera and metallic reflectors to read the position of his head; Spohn then uses another program to turn those head movements into keyboard presses.

GTA 5 is one of the few games that allows you to enter cheat codes. GTA 5 cheats surely make the whole gameplay intense and grant some new abilities to the character, ranging from invincibility to new weapons, sports cars, and more. The best part about these cheats is that they can be entered across platforms, including PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. So, if you are looking for a list of GTA V cheat codes, you have come to the right place. So bookmark this guide so that you can get all the cheats. Happy gaming!

Sonic's influence on the gaming world has been well documented over the years, resulting in many attempts to recreate the 1991 classic's momentum-focused gameplay. In 2014, developer GalaxyTrail released Freedom Planet, an excellent 2D platformer that managed to invoke a similar exhilarating feeling with its emphasis on speedy platforming challenges. With its sequel, Freedom Planet 2, the team has pulled it off yet again, this time with additional gameplay tweaks.

Roblox is genuinely breaking brave new ground, enticing users to «make anything you can imagine» using the in-game development tools provided and finding massive success in the process. It seems Sony really was onto something with Dreams, but it stumbled in the execution. The Roblox platform currently boasts an astonishing 66 million users globally, and part of the appeal is the tantalising prospect of those users creating a game, monetizing it, and publishing it for other players to enjoy, all of it in-app. But with more than 3 million «Roblox developers» already, many of them seemingly younger, accusations of child exploitation have been brewing for some time.

X-Silicon, a firm known for silicon IP solutions, has unveiled a new "C-GPU architecture," which combined with a RISC-V CPU focuses on low-power & efficient performance solutions.

The first Intel Lunar Lake CPU, the Core Ultra 5 234V, has been spotted within recent firmware drivers and features 8 cores with a Battlemage iGPU.

Indian quick commerce company Blinkit has now promised to bring the all-new PlayStation 5 (PS5) Slim to gamers' doorsteps. This move comes amidst the launch of the new Sony PS5 Slim in India and its sale commencing today at 10 AM IST, and the company aims to make it more easily accessible, taking advantage of Blinkit's 10-minute delivery services which are usually used for grocery and other household goods.

Roblox is an absolutely massive game, and chances are you know what it is even if you've never picked up a controller in your life. It's a game squarely marketed towards children, offering a variety of online experiences and giving users the chance to create their own worlds. If those worlds happen to be popular, the company pays users for their work in Robux, the game's virtual currency.

Users with big followings will receive a free subscription to X, formerly Twitter -- and the platform's famous blue check, the company said in another policy U-turn.

Smiling Friends fans have already turned Gwimbly, a parody of mistreated platforming mascots like Crash Bandicoot and Banjo-Kazooie, into a real-life icon.

Every year, Time Magazine issues a list of the 200 best inventions of the past 12 months. Frankly, I don’t know how the editors do it. The dirty secret of this job is that true, game-changing inventions rarely cross your desk. In fact, you’re extraordinarily lucky if you average one a year.

Bitkraft Ventures — a games investor based out of Denver, Colorado, but with European founders — has raised its third fund, coming in at $275 million. The fund will make seed and Series A investments in gaming studios, and platforms to support game production. The moves comes at a time when games investments have actually declined 72 per cent year on year, according to a recent Pitchbook report.

Roblox remains a gigantic phenomenon, boasting monthly player numbers of over 200 million — close to double the entirety of Steam — and a pattern of growth that defies the recent struggles of the wider games industry.

Roblox boss Stefano Corazza has opened up about accusations of young developer exploitation on its platform, saying that the opportunity Roblox gives its teenage creators is “a gift."

Five months ago, Rooms, a 3D design platform made by ex-Google employees, launched its beta version on the App Store. Today, the free iOS app is getting a big update that will bring a wave of new discovery-first features, including an activity feed, an explore page, the ability to browse by category, and more.

Developer Wolf & Wood, in collaboration with publisher RapidEyeMovers, has announced a new non-VR version of C Smash VRS for the PS5. The game is titled Cosmic Smash VRS – New Dimension, and it is slated for release in late summer of this year. Owners of the PSVR 2 version of C-Smash VRS will receive the New Dimension update for free.

Maxio has unveiled three brand-new PCIe Gen5 SSD controllers offering speeds of up to 14.8 GB/s and up to 64 TB capacities.

A SaGa Emerald Beyond playable demo is now available for download on PC and consoles, offering a different experience depending on the platform.

Today, NVIDIA announced that ZeniMax Online's MMORPG Elder Scrolls Online (which celebrates its 10th anniversary today and will soon release the new Gold Road Chapter) is now available to play via the GeForce NOW cloud platform, though only for Steam and Epic Games Store users. We've inquired as to whether there are plans to support the ESO Launcher, the most popular way to play Elder Scrolls Online. Anyway, Priority and Ultimate users can also take advantage of the game's built-in NVIDIA DLSS and DLAA features (the game was the first to add DLAA two and a half years ago).

Ubisoft has announced that its annual Forward event will return this summer.

Dragon's Dogma 2 creates 'fake' players to rent your Pawn if no one actually wants to hire them.

We're all getting another chance to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 with no strings attached thanks to another free weekend.

In a move aimed at combatting misinformation, Elon Musk-owned micro-blogging platform X has rolled out its Community Notes program in India. This new initiative empowers users to contribute to the fact-checking process of tweets circulated on the platform.

Microsoft is unveiling a significant upgrade to its AI-powered Copilot assistant, offering business subscribers priority access to the powerful GPT-4 Turbo model. This enhancement, included in the $30 per user, per month package of Copilot for Microsoft 365, allows users to harness the capabilities of OpenAI's latest model across various platforms, including the Copilot mobile app, web interface, Windows, and Edge.

Garena Free Fire MAX Redeem Codes for April 4: Free Fire MAX, the popular gaming platform, has introduced a thrilling new feature called Evo Vault, along with its anticipated OB44 Update, on April 2, 2024. This Evo Vault event brings a golden chance for gamers to snag some of the coolest Evo gun skins through a special engagement.

The talented team at SHIFT UP is getting ready to launch their next game. You may know them as the creators of Stellar Blade, a PlayStation 5 title, and Goddess of Victory: NIKKE. A new “AAAA urban science-fiction action RPG” for platforms including Android may be in the works, as the studio has lately placed job opportunities on its website.

Stellar Blade's developer is already hiring for its next game, a "cross-platform next-gen project."

Crunchyroll has long been a messy streaming service to share. Since there was no way to make multiple profiles, having multiple users on the same account meant constant shuffling of the Now Watching tab and resetting of the episode order, and it just generally confused the others who also use the account. But all of that should be changing when the platform adds viewing profiles later this month.

Microsoft is making strides in AI technology with the development of an Xbox AI chatbot designed to automate support tasks. The chatbot, described as an "embodied AI character," aims to streamline the support experience for Xbox users by responding to queries and processing refunds.

AI roundup: With the use of AI expanding rapidly, over 200 musicians including the Jonas Brothers, Katy Perry, Billie Eilish and others have signed an open letter against AI replacing the work of human artists. They urge tech companies to take steps against people stealing or using their artwork, music, writing, etc. In other news, Yahoo acquired Artifact, an AI news platform founded by Instagram co-founders. Check out more about AI news from today, April 3, 2024. 

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

Sony has revealed that not only is Dave the Diver coming to PS Plus Extra on its release date of 16th April 2024, but so too is the upcoming Metroidvania title Tales of Kenzera: ZAU. Launching under the EA Originals banner, the promising indie platformer is coming out on 23rd April 2024 for PS5, and PS Plus Extra members gain access that very same day.

Friday the 13th the game was one that many people loved, that gives off a lot of the same vibes as Dead by Daylight. However, the game was canceled and shut down back in November 2020, which was due to a licenesing problem with Victor Miller, who is the franchise creator. While the servers were then shut down for a total of 3 years after that, it wasn’t until 2023 that the game was delisted because of the licenses expiring all together according to GameRant.

The original Hollow Knight was first released in 2017 and was immediately recognized as one of the most impressive entries in the Metroidvania genre, indie or not. The immaculate hand-drawn art style made even the dank, drab world full of bugs known as Hollownest a truly endearing place to explore. Combined with the tight platforming controls, light Soulslike elements, satisfying upgrades, and cryptic story, Hollow Knight soared to the top of many critics’ and players’ favorite games lists.

It’s time to brush up on your Simlish if it’s rusty because the long-awaitedThe Sims 5, aka Project Rene, is officially on the way. This has been the longest gap between main entries since the series began, and while we did get tons of expansions for The Sims 4 to hold us over, plus the change to it becoming free to play, we’re more than ready for a new entry. Each time a new game in the franchise comes out, die-hard fans always need to have a bit of skepticism about what features will be there — both new and returning. Again, the last entry eventually got to a great spot, but it certainly wasn’t there at launch. We can’t answer all your questions yet, but here’s everything we know about The Sims 5.

AMD's next-gen Ryzen "Zen 5" CPUs codenamed Granite Ridge have received the first support on ASUS's AM5 motherboards with the AGESA 1.1.7.0 BIOS.

I picked up a Razer Barracuda X gaming headset for the first time back in 2021, and it's had a permanent spot in my roster since then (barring a quick upgrade to the 2022 version). After spending hours tinkering with EQ settings, connections, and profiles and presets for all the best gaming headsets that get released into the wild, I love going back to the simple no-fuss approach taken by the Barracuda. It's comfortable, sounds great, holds its battery well, and can connect to a wide range of platforms - it's also at a record low price right now. 

While indie video games from smaller developers tend to get more attention on platforms like Steam or Nintendo Switch, that isn’t for a lack of trying on Xbox’s part. Since 2013, it has run the ID@Xbox program to help fund and highlight games from independent developers all around the world. While some Xbox fans feel uncertain about the platform’s future because of Microsoft’s multiplatform push, Microsoft reaffirmed its efforts to uplift indie game developers at this year’s Game Developers Conference by highlighting some of its upcoming ID@Xbox titles.

AI roundup: The US and Britain have joined hands to tackle the risks and challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI). The two nations will closely work together to bring AI safety to the upcoming generations of technology. In other news, DeepTech Startup SatSure plans to revamp agricultural finance by leveraging technology such as AI. This will allow industries to improve decision-making. All this, and more in our AI roundup today, April 2.

If you signed up for a Fortnite Crew subscription and want to cancel it, it’s not made entirely clear how to do so in-game.

The latest surprise Steam hit is Content Warning, a Lethal Company-style game that’s enjoying enormous success on Valve’s platform off the back of a ‘free to keep’ promotion that ends soon.

Arguably one of the most eye-catching things to come from the annual minefield that is April Fools' Day was Hollow Knight Silksong's brand new page on the Xbox Store.

We hope you’re hungry for more Bugsnax, because we’re headed back to Snaktooth Island with a new card game currently being funded through Kickstarter. Based on the adorable, poignant, and occasionally horrifying game from Young Horses, the card game will have players taking on the role of their favorite Grumpuses in an attempt to capture and eat the elusive anthropomorphic appetizers.

Discord is planning to roll out its new sponsored advertising this week, it’s claimed.

It appears that Gmail and Microsoft 365 accounts are in danger because of a newly discovered phishing kit that could put your accounts in a lot of danger. Now, most of our accounts are protected by two-factor authentication, and for the most part, it is one of the safest ways to prevent anything wrong from happening to your account. However, Tycoon 2FA, which is a new adversary in the middle, is now a threat to both of the aforementioned accounts.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

In the bustling realm of social media, where trends come and go like the tides, X, under the helm of Elon Musk, stands as a prominent hub for various viral phenomena. Lately, one such trend titled"Click Here" has been making waves on the platform for over a week now. But what exactly is it all about, and how does one engage with it?

Apple's iMessage platform is one of the most widely used messaging apps on the iPhone, and the company brings new features to the mix almost every year. It appears that the iMessage app on the iPhone houses a feature that has remained hidden among most users. It basically allows users to place emojis on top of each other to create a sticker that they can share with their friends and family. If you are not familiar, check out how the hidden feature works on your iPhone running iOS 17.

AMD has listed two new APUs on its website, the Ryzen 5 7235H, & 7235HS, based on the Zen 3+ core architecture codenamed Rembrandt.

The Stardew Valley community might be alive and kicking thanks to the recent 1.6 update, but fans are still excited for the shiny new game coming from its maker, Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone. The next game from the developer, Haunted Chocolatier, is in the works, and it already looks like it will capture plenty of the charms of Stardew Valley.

Google's Podcasts app, boasting over 500 million downloads globally, is set to cease operations for users in the United States on April 2. Despite its large user base, only a small fraction of U.S. podcast listeners, around 4%, utilize the platform. This imminent shutdown has prompted concerns among users who now need to transfer their podcast subscription data to alternative services. However, this migration process can be complex and may expose users to potential security risks such as scams and credential theft.

The latest leaks suggest that AMD's upcoming Zen 5 Ryzen 9000 CPUs could offer a staggering 40% performance improvement over the current Ryzen 7000 processors. This revelation comes amid intense anticipation for the next generation of desktop processors slated for release in late 2024.

Nine Sols, the highly anticipated new title from Detention dev Red Candle, will launch on 29th May – but only on PC for now. The side-scrolling action game, which is heavily inspired by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, has been in development for quite some time, and blew past its crowdfunding targets a few years ago.

April's PS Plus Essential games have been officially announced, and as per usual, we're looking at three titles spread across PS5 and PS4. At a glance, however, we're tempted to say that this is one of the weaker months in recent memory.

There’s an argument that the novelty of Sony’s delayed single player PC ports has worn off, but Horizon Forbidden West is bucking that trend. The open world sequel, converted by Nixxes, has opened to a respectable peak of 35,168 concurrent users on Steam, making it the sixth biggest PS Studios launch on the platform to date – just a hair behind The Last of Us: Part 1. There’s a good chance it’ll overtake the Naughty Dog remake later in the weekend.

How do you answer the Sphinx's riddles in Dragon's Dogma 2? A side quest called A Game of Wits will see you face off against a legendary creature known as the Sphinx in, well, a game of wits. She'll task you with answering a number of riddles, most of which require thinking outside of the box. Answering these riddles correctly will net you a bunch of rare items as rewards.

Kaitlyn Siragusa, better known by her online moniker Amouranth, has been banned from Twitch yet again. While the development marks her ninth Twitch ban to date, this particular suspension could either be permanent or lead to her leaving the platform for good regardless, with Amouranth already suggesting as much.

Vladimir Putin has signed off on a plan to create Russia's own consoles and Steam-like platform. This is one of nine instructions that are supposed to promote the socio-economic development of the region of Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave located between Lithuania and Poland. The region is a Special Economic Zone where manufacturers can enjoy tax breaks; moreover, a silicon production facility was recently established there.

Asymmetrical multiplayer games have come into their own over the past few years, with titles like Among Us, Dead by Daylight, and Left 4 Dead pulling in legions of players. Instead of giving two teams a similar set of abilities, asymmetrical games are purposefully lopsided — one team might be larger but have less firepower, while the other team might be comprised of a single, powerful player.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

It’s only March and 2024 is already full of bold, big-budget games like Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and Dragon’s Dogma 2. But one of my favorite games of 2024 isn’t available on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, or even Nintendo Switch. It’s Mars After Midnight, a game from Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn developer Lucas Pope. The only place you can play it? On the Playdate, Panic’s quirky little 1-bit handheld with a crank.

A team of modders is on the brink of making GTA 5 playable on Nintendo Switch, Linux, and Android devices, following a leak of the game's source code in December 2023. This breakthrough has unleashed a wave of possibilities in the modding community, with fans eagerly anticipating the prospect of enjoying the iconic title on new platforms.

Intel's upcoming Arrow Lake-S Desktop CPUs and Lunar Lake-MX Mobility CPUs have been spotted in the latest shipping manifesto leak.