Author: Jack Grimshaw

NME

Microsoft is reportedly looking into opportunities to add real-world advertising to free-to-play games.

• READ MORE: ‘Wobbledogs’ review: the weirdest pet simulator you’ll ever play

According to the report by Business Insider, (paywall, transcribed by VGC), Microsoft is exploring new ways that would allow its free-to-play developers to earn more money from their players.

“One of the sources speculated Microsoft isn’t currently interested in collecting a cut of ad revenue because it wants to provide more money-making opportunities to developers who make free-to-play games.”

However, Microsoft is aware that this could cause some fan backlash. A similar example that happened recently was when Meta added in-game advertisements to one of its Quest VR titles to test a system that could be rolled out to other games in the future. Fans reacted very negatively, and the program was dropped, but it may return in another form. As such, Microsoft is being mindful of its own deployment.

Microsoft is also “moving cautiously and intends to create a “private marketplace,” where only select brands can insert ads into games in a way that doesn’t disrupt the gameplay experience.”

Business Insider said that its information suggests that current plans include the use of in-game build boards being sold as advertising space. “Insider was unable to learn if Xbox will also offer other types of in-game ad units, like avatar skins or video ads that play in gaming lobbies. Insider was also unable to determine if Microsoft has pitched the Xbox offer to advertisers yet.”

In other news, an update for Diablo 2: Resurrected makes balance changes to many of the game’s classes. This is the first time Diablo 2 has received a rebalance in more than a decade, with Amazon, Barbarian, Druid, and others receiving adjustments.

The post Microsoft could introduce ads to its free-to-play games appeared first on NME.

NME

Microsoft is reportedly looking into opportunities to add real-world advertising to free-to-play games.

• READ MORE: ‘Wobbledogs’ review: the weirdest pet simulator you’ll ever play

According to the report by Business Insider, (paywall, transcribed by VGC), Microsoft is exploring new ways that would allow its free-to-play developers to earn more money from their players.

“One of the sources speculated Microsoft isn’t currently interested in collecting a cut of ad revenue because it wants to provide more money-making opportunities to developers who make free-to-play games.”

However, Microsoft is aware that this could cause some fan backlash. A similar example that happened recently was when Meta added in-game advertisements to one of its Quest VR titles to test a system that could be rolled out to other games in the future. Fans reacted very negatively, and the program was dropped, but it may return in another form. As such, Microsoft is being mindful of its own deployment.

Microsoft is also “moving cautiously and intends to create a “private marketplace,” where only select brands can insert ads into games in a way that doesn’t disrupt the gameplay experience.”

Business Insider said that its information suggests that current plans include the use of in-game build boards being sold as advertising space. “Insider was unable to learn if Xbox will also offer other types of in-game ad units, like avatar skins or video ads that play in gaming lobbies. Insider was also unable to determine if Microsoft has pitched the Xbox offer to advertisers yet.”

In other news, an update for Diablo 2: Resurrected makes balance changes to many of the game’s classes. This is the first time Diablo 2 has received a rebalance in more than a decade, with Amazon, Barbarian, Druid, and others receiving adjustments.

The post Microsoft could introduce ads to its free-to-play games appeared first on NME.

NME

Capcom has announced that The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles has sold over 500,000 copies across Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PC.

• READ MORE: YouTube megastar Ali A on becoming an accidental icon, fostering a new generation of YouTube talent and the power of positivity

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles released in July 2021 for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The game has now sold over 500,000 copies as revealed by a tweet from the official Ace Attorney Twitter account. It said, “Yes! The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide! Thank you to all of our passionate fans who have made this game a great success!”

The tweet was accompanied by an image, which was translated into a follow-up tweet that said, “Thank you! The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles: 500,000 units sold!”

In NME’s four-star review, James Law said “The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is a brilliant pair of enthralling adventures. Whether you’re getting back into Ace Attorney or are a first-timer looking for a brilliant courtroom drama with twists and suspense, this game is a great shout.

“With pleasantly surprising depth and characters that’ll stick in your mind after you’re all done, this is a game that drives you through an adventure with a consistent level of action and dialogue that’ll make you smile almost constantly, and loudly chuckle with great regularity.”

Late last year, The Ace Attorney series celebrated its 20th anniversary. Capcom launched a dedicated website to celebrate the event. The site included pieces of collaboration art and an exhibition of the franchise’s history.

In other news, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has had a successful launch, becoming the second best selling game of the year so far. It currently sits behind Elden Ring, which holds the number one spot. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is also the fastest-selling Lego game to date.

The post ‘The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles’ has sold over half a million copies appeared first on NME.

NME

Bethesda is getting close to releasing the High Isle expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online, and to give tentative players a taste of the game, a free trial is currently available.

• READ MORE: ‘Seal World’ is a bad game made good through great vibes

The Elder Scrolls Online is currently available for anyone with an Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, or PC to download and try out, free of charge. The offer includes the full version of the base game and an area from the Morrowind expansion. Players will also be able to try the High Isle prologue quest.

Players who enjoy the trial will have to purchase the full game and expansion if they want to continue their Elder Scrolls Online journey. Luckily, the game is currently on sale, with 70 per cent off the standard edition, bringing the price to £4.49 on Steam. The Blackwood expansion is also on sale at £14.18 and includes the base game, Blackwood, Greymoor, Elseweyr, Summerset, and Morrowind. The offers end on April 27, the day after the free trial concludes.

The High Isle expansion releases June 6 and will allow players to adventure to the home of the Bretons. The description from a recent trailer sets the scene: “Team up with new Companions and allies, explore stunning new lands, play a hand of the all-new deck building card game, Tales of Tribute, and continue your Legacy of the Bretons adventure in The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle.”

Rich Lambert, the creative director of The Elder Scrolls Online, said in an interview that the Expansions setting allows it to be “probably the most accessible piece of content that we have added to The Elder Scrolls Online in terms of people that are familiar with the franchise.”

In other news, details about Overwatch 2’s Sojourn character have been shared, detailing her connection to the world.

The post ‘The Elder Scrolls Online’ is free to play until April 26 appeared first on NME.

NME

Kinetic Games has released a new update for Phasmophobia that adds seasonal treats hidden around its haunted maps.

• READ MORE: ‘Moss: Book 2’ review: a spellbinding fairy-tale bursting with VR magic

Now that Easter has arrived, players can jump into Phasmophobia to hunt down decorated eggs, according to the patch notes. If players can collect all of the eggs on the map, they will be able to restore all of their teammates’ sanity to 100 per cent.

The eggs are hidden around all of Phasmophobia’s locations, and an indicator has been added to the truck that lets players check how many are left. The event will last until April 19.

The update has also included several bug fixes, such as improvements to CCTV brightness in night vision mode on the prison map. The basement lights in Ridgeview have been fixed, and hold positions have been updated to align items with VR player controllers more accurately.

Phasmophobia recently received an update to overhaul its VR mode. While the game was released with fully-featured VR support, a few quality of life and modernisation improvements were added. The update included a seated mode to allow players to enjoy the VR version while they are seated, a snap turn to allow for in-game turning without real-world movement, as well as a crouch button.

The update also added a left-handed mode and a height calibration tool. The players’ equipment belt has been improved to highlight placement location when storing items. Throwing items in VR should be more intuitive now, and a new walking animation was added for players in VR.

In other news, Soulslike RPG Steelrising will release later this year. Developer Spiders released a new five-minute trailer showing an alternate history setting. Players will take control of an automaton during the French revolution.

The post ‘Phasmophobia’ update lets players hunt eggs alongside ghosts appeared first on NME.

NME

Unknown Worlds recently posted a job listing for a new game in the Subnautica world, seeking a senior narrative designer.

• READ MORE: ‘Home Wind’ is a gloriously chill city-builder with a slightly unfortunate name

Subnautica was originally released in 2018 and received a sequel in 2021 called Subnautica: Below Zero. Now, Unknown Worlds has revealed that a new game in the series is entering development as it has begun hiring for the project.

In a tweet from April 7, Unknown Worlds said: “We’re seeking a senior narrative designer to work with us to help shape the next game in the Subnautica universe.”

It is unclear how different this new game will be from its predecessors, but the job listing includes some clues. it says that “Unknown Worlds is seeking a senior narrative designer to join the team working on the next game in the Subnautica universe.

“This person will collaborate closely with the team to tell compelling, dramatic stories in the context of the game experience, while also defining the history and lore of a new science fiction world and its alien inhabitants. This person has a unique opportunity to join the team early in development and help establish the narrative direction for a beloved franchise.”

The new Subnautica game is in development alongside another project currently being developed by Unknown Worlds. Referred to as Project M, details emerged when the studio was acquired by Krafton, the parent company that owns PUBG.

A press release from Krafton said that Unknown Worlds is developing a “wholly unique turn-based strategy game set in a sci-fi world.”

At the time of the acquisition, Krafton CEO CH Kim said, “Unknown Worlds are incredibly skilled and passionate developers with an unparalleled gift for creativity and a proven track record of building successful player-driven worlds. Krafton will spare no effort in helping them. Not only do they enhance our development capabilities, but we share a goal of creating unique experiences for global audiences.”

In other news, Kingdom Hearts 4 has been announced with a trailer teasing the upcoming title.

The post ‘Subnautica’ sequel in development at Unknown Worlds appeared first on NME.

NME

Ahead of eFootball 2022’s 1.0 update, Konami has detailed why it launched the game in an unfavourable state and how it intends to address player feedback.

• READ MORE: ‘Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga’ review: a cosmic toybox full of charm

eFootball 2022’s first major update is releasing on April 14 and will bring improvements to the game that received a very negative response when it launched into Early Access last year. Speaking to VGC, a representative from Konami discussed some of the issues.

“It’s hard to point to one deciding aspect. The incompletion of the game came as a result of multiple factors including the transition to a new football game engine, the support of next-generation consoles such as PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, the change of play style to free-to-play and furthermore, we tried to deliver new eFootball 2022 for players as soon as possible.

“Resultantly, the game received harsh feedback about the quality. Since eFootball’s launch back in September, however, we have prioritised improvements and corrections based on the feedback and opinions we received,” they continued.

“We are taking the opinions of our players very seriously. Since the release last September, we have prioritised improvements and corrections based on the feedback and opinions we received. We will continue to work on the game’s improvement and as always, the player’s valued feedback is much appreciated.”

“We didn’t have any plans to postpone the release because we ultimately had a strong desire to deliver the new eFootball 2022 game to users as soon as possible.”

Recently, NME got a hands-on preview of eFootball 2022’s 1.0 update. We said: “A lot of time has been spent reworking the gameplay, one of eFootball’s biggest problems. Pleasingly there have been serious leaps in terms of passing. It’s no longer quite as slow and cumbersome as it was previously, with attacks feeling closer to what you see on the television and not at your local Power League.”

In other news, some PS3 and PSVita digital games appear to be expiring, causing them to become unplayable.

The post ‘eFootball 2022’ feedback being taken “very seriously” by Konami appeared first on NME.

NME

Ahead of eFootball 2022’s 1.0 update, Konami has detailed why it launched the game in an unfavourable state and how it intends to address player feedback.

• READ MORE: ‘Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga’ review: a cosmic toybox full of charm

eFootball 2022’s first major update is releasing on April 14 and will bring improvements to the game that received a very negative response when it launched into Early Access last year. Speaking to VGC, a representative from Konami discussed some of the issues.

“It’s hard to point to one deciding aspect. The incompletion of the game came as a result of multiple factors including the transition to a new football game engine, the support of next-generation consoles such as PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, the change of play style to free-to-play and furthermore, we tried to deliver new eFootball 2022 for players as soon as possible.

“Resultantly, the game received harsh feedback about the quality. Since eFootball’s launch back in September, however, we have prioritised improvements and corrections based on the feedback and opinions we received,” they continued.

“We are taking the opinions of our players very seriously. Since the release last September, we have prioritised improvements and corrections based on the feedback and opinions we received. We will continue to work on the game’s improvement and as always, the player’s valued feedback is much appreciated.”

“We didn’t have any plans to postpone the release because we ultimately had a strong desire to deliver the new eFootball 2022 game to users as soon as possible.”

Recently, NME got a hands-on preview of eFootball 2022’s 1.0 update. We said: “A lot of time has been spent reworking the gameplay, one of eFootball’s biggest problems. Pleasingly there have been serious leaps in terms of passing. It’s no longer quite as slow and cumbersome as it was previously, with attacks feeling closer to what you see on the television and not at your local Power League.”

In other news, some PS3 and PSVita digital games appear to be expiring, causing them to become unplayable.

The post ‘eFootball 2022’ feedback being taken “very seriously” by Konami appeared first on NME.

NME

Sega has revealed further details about several interconnected games currently under the title of “Super Game”.

• READ MORE: ‘Chinatown Detective Agency’ review: a frustrating, neon-soaked beauty

Last year, Sega revealed that it was working on a project called “Super Game”. Now details have been shared that suggest what form this could take. It appears that several games will fall under the “Super Game” banner and could all share connected features.

The details were revealed on Sega Japan’s recruitment website, reported and translated by VGC. Executive vice president Shuji Utsumi said: “Several titles are being developed within the framework of Super Game, and while each title will vary, there is no doubt that they will be interactive titles that go beyond the traditional framework of games.”

Utsumi continued: “For example, in the past, people who played games were called gamers, but now watching games has become a culture in itself, and such people could no longer be called gamers. I think there is great potential in the relationship between people who play and watch games. We are thinking of creating new entertainment within these possibilities.”

Sega recently announced Sega NFT, and it is possible that this technology could be used in the upcoming “Super Game” titles.

Producer Masayoshi Kikuchi explained in the same transcribed interview that “gaming has a history of expansion through the connection of various cultures and technologies. For example, social networking and game video viewing are recent examples. It is a natural extension for the future of gaming that it will expand to involve new areas such as cloud gaming and NFT. We are also developing Super Game from the perspective of how far different games can be connected to each other.”

In other news, later this month Rimworld will be reviewed by the Australian Classification Review Board to potentially change its status from “refused classification”, which may see the title become available in the country.

The post Sega’s “Super Game” appears to be several AAA titles that may add NFTs appeared first on NME.

NME

Valve has announced that the Steam Deck now has over 2000 “verified” and “playable” games on it.

• READ MORE: What does it mean when your live game dies?

A post on the Steam Blog begins with the announcement that over 2000 games have been marked in the “verified” or “playable” categories for the Steam Deck. These two tags indicate that games are either wholly supported by the Steam Deck (verified), or are playable but not be perfectly optimised (playable) for the handheld PC.

To get “verified” for Steam Deck, games have to meet a strict set of criteria created by Valve. The games that don’t meet the criteria may work fine on the handheld, but suffer from problems like small text that is difficult to read or input issues that can be tricky on the system.

The post also details some of the improvements made to the Steam Deck after release. Valve mentioned the on-screen keyboard, saying: “Since launch we’ve improved the on-screen keyboard experience as well. Dual trackpad typing is now available, the game mode keyboard is now available in Desktop mode, and we’ve even added a bunch of new keyboard themes so you can pick whatever suits your typing mood.”

Tips for improving the Steam Deck’s battery life on games that are less demanding were also included: “Finding ways to improve battery life for Steam Deck is always high on our list. We find that depending on what you’re doing, you can expect between two and eight hours of gameplay, but if you want to optimise for battery life even further there are additional options.

“In the past month we added the ability to reduce your framerate all the way down to 15 FPS (this setting works great for visual novels, puzzles and a lot of simulation games). And for those who love to tinker, we’ve made TDP (processor power), GPU Clock control, and FSR (screen scaling) settings available to optimise power even further.”

In other news, Wordle has revealed what the best starting word is for the game.

The post Valve’s Steam Deck now has over 2000 “verified” and “playable” games appeared first on NME.