Torus Games lays off team, goes on hiatus

Swen Vincke, director of Baldur's Gate 3 and founder of developer Larian Studios, used the opportunity afforded by winning big at the Game Developer's Conference (GDC) to blame the industry's current state on rampant corporate greed, a sentiment we can get behind. Plenty of developers made their voices heard at the Independent Games Festival Awards and Games Developers Choice Awards (held as part of GDC). Still, Vincke directed his ire at a specific part of the industry: publishers, those companies that proliferate games and allow them to reach a wider audience, for a price.

It looks as if PSN is down across several regions at least, and is quite possibly a global problem. It's highly unusual and rare to see such outages, so here's what we know so far about when it started, what it's affecting, and if there's any sign of a recovery at the moment. 

Embattled developer Bungie is betting big on its in-development next live service offering, Marathon, the successor to Destiny 2, and a north star for the seemingly rudderless studio to sail towards. Despite suffering through a round of layoffs as recently as October, it's feared there may be more to come amidst the removal of long-time Bungie designer Christopher Barrett as game director.

Veteran Sony executive Connie Booth exited PlayStation after a 30-year career at the firm, a surprising move that caused some confusion late last year after outspoken God of War creator David Jaffe let the cat out of the bag on social media. We still don't have the full details on her departure or whether the split was amicable, but we do know where Booth will end up next. The illustrious exec has accepted the very impressive-sounding title of Group General Manager, Action RPG, at EA.

Striking Distance Studios, the developer behind 2022's The Callisto Protocol, has revealed what is internally called Project Birdeye, a top-down spin-off set in the same universe. A small team will continue to develop the fast-paced roguelike while the rest of the studio works on another full-scale game, and we got a brief trailer showing off some stylised action.

PlayStation Studios has churned out some fairly immaculate AAA bangers over the years, and now the firm is applying the screws to fans, asking them to pick their favourites. In a tournament-style Twitter poll designed to crown «which PlayStation game reigns supreme», Sony has infuriated long-suffering FromSoftware fans by not including the cult classic Bloodborne amongst the contenders, the latest in a long line of indignities the fanbase has endured.

Sydney Bernice Sweeney is an incredibly popular American actress best known for her performances in TV series like The White Lotus and Euphoria and films like Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Madame Web, and Anyone But You. She also recently sparked some intense (relatively speaking) speculation as to which The Simpsons racer she might have been referring to in a Madame Web-related interview with IGN.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes has been percolating for some time now, initially beginning life as a Kickstarter project and spiritual successor to the Suikoden series. With launch just over a month away, on 23rd April on PS5 and PS4, we got a substantial new trailer showing off just some of the game's many companion characters, interspersed with some compelling snippets of gameplay.

When McDonald's first opened for business in the 1940s, its workers stood at physical counters, its burgers and fries were listed on paper menus, and its customers paid cash to its human cashiers.

The eagerly anticipated New Game+ update is now available in Marvel's Spider-Man 2. It adds plenty of additions players have been asking for, and at least one no one had on their bingo card: access to a developer debug menu that messing around in could potentially corrupt your saves and disrupt Trophy progress.

Amazon's upcoming TV take on Fallout continues to look incredible, and we appear to be on the precipice of a bold new world in which video game adaptations, like HBOs The Last of Us, don't have to be terrible. Over three minutes, the insanity and «vibe» of the bizarre post-apocalyptic setting are damn-near perfectly captured, and we can't help but get our hopes up for this one.

Xbox Game Pass has confirmed another day-one game for 2024 in the form of The Alters. The next title from award-winning developer 11 Bit Studios is still without an official release date, although the Polish company committed to bringing it to PC, consoles, and Xbox Game Pass sometime this year.