Amazon's games division will publish the next big  Tomb Raider  sequel, a press release revealed today. The game will be developed by Crystal Dynamics—the same studio that made the reboot trilogy that included 2013's  Tomb Raider , 2015's  Rise of the Tomb Raider , and 2018's  Shadow of the Tomb Raider . Crystal Dynamics used to live under the umbrella of large, Japan-based international publisher Square-Enix, but the parent company sold Crystal Dynamics and the Tomb Raider intellectual property to Swedish holding company Embracer Group earlier this year. That sale also included the  Deus Ex ,  Thief , and  Legacy of Kain  franchises and associated studios—in other words, most of Square-Enix's Western studios and properties. It's a surprise to see Amazon publishing the next  Tomb Raider  game because Embracer owns its own publishers of games. But Crystal Dynamics studio head Scot Amos said in a statement t...

  Last week, it was The Game Awards. This annual event is a chance for developers and publishers to showcase their upcoming slate of games, with a smattering of awards in there as well. However, following this year's show, many couldn't help but notice that Microsoft's offerings seemed remarkably sparse. In fact, all we really got was a little 'games here and games coming in 2023' teaser from the team, but nothing particularly firm. Despite this being the ideal opportunity to do so, we still have not had specific release dates announced for the likes of Starfield or Redfall - two of Xbox's biggest upcoming exclusives. Xbox has now addressed those feeling a bit let down, promising that despite appearances 2023 will be an "incredibly exciting year" for its fans. Resharing Microsoft's promotional Game Pass reel, Xbox exec Aaron Greenberg stated the team has "a lot planned to show and share" for next year. "Appreciate folks are eager to ...

Elden Ring is one of the biggest video game success stories of 2022, but now its developer, FromSoftware, is making headlines due to rumors of crunch and low pay at its development studio. FromSoftware's latest title earned  widespread critical acclaim , and its quality has been  reflected in the sales charts as well . The game broke into the mainstream in a big way, having one of the  biggest game launches on YouTube ever . Unfortunately, like so many wildly successful AAA video game titles, it didn't take long for conversations of crunch, long overtime hours, and low salaries to surround developer FromSoftware. The discourse began in March, shortly after Elden Ring's release. First spotted by  The Gamer , it turns out that a handful of FromSoftware employees were turning to a Japanese job board called Career Connection to discuss poor working conditions and low pay. For context, Career Connection is essentially a Japanese version of Glassdoor, where ...

  ElAnalistaDeBits and Cycu1 have released comparison videos between the Next-Gen Update and the Original versions of The Witcher 3. These videos will give you a glimpse at the graphical enhancements that the Next-Gen Update brings to the table. As we’ve already reported, The Witcher 3 Next-Gen will feature dozens of visual, performance, and technical enhancements over the original. Alongside RT, the game will include a variety of mods from the get-go. From what we know so far, CDPR will include the HD Rework Project. CD Projekt RED has also detailed the Ray Tracing effects for PC. The game will have RTGI and RTAO. Furthermore, CDPR has added some new Ultra+ settings that will push/stress a lot of GPUs, and has improved the game’s SSR. Not only that but there will be support for both NVIDIA DLSS 2 and AMD FSR 2.0. It will be interesting to see whether the Next-Gen Update will be compatible with all of the game’s mods that are already available. The Witcher 3 Next-Gen will...

  Alongside a 14th December release date, CD Projekt Red did actually give us a brief insight into what The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition will include. According to the game's official press summary, the enhanced PS5 re-release will sport all of the bells and whistles that you'd expect, while also throwing in some potential surprises. The PS5 edition will feature "dozens of visual, performance, and technical enhancements over the original". This includes things like "ray tracing support" and "faster load times" — but this is where things get interesting. There's mention of "a variety of mods integrated into the experience". Now, The Witcher 3 has always had a healthy modding community on PC, and people have added all kinds of stuff to the game over the years. It  sounds  like some mods may have been cherrypicked and officially added to the adventure. However, there's no indication of how extensive this mod integration wi...

  Chill Season 2022 arrives just in time for you to zone out during those long and sometimes boring family holiday gatherings. CHILL SEASON Splatoon 3   is getting a big update, splashing down on December 1st. Dubbed Chill Season 2022, the update’s adding new weapons, stages, game modes,  and a lot more cool clothes and gear to zhuzh up your octolings . The Salmon Run game mode is also getting a  fish-lift  with the new Big Run game mode. Details on what Big Run is are scarce at the moment, but — according to this hilarious, borderline incomprehensible sentence from the Chill Season 2022 press release — “the first Big Run will take place when the Salmonids invade the Wahoo World stage later this year.” For the more competitive-minded octoling, X Battles are also arriving with the chill update. X Battles happen once players reach a certain  eel-ite  level in Anarchy Battles. Then, they can wager “X Power” to rise through the highest ranks of the leaderb...

It seems the Pokémon developer Creatures could already looking toward the future of the long-running series. A new job listing at the Japanese company for a 3DCG modeler references "research and development for other next-generation hardware". The same application also mentions the use of Unity and Unreal Engine for project development. Creatures Inc. is one of the major Pokémon developers alongside Game Freak and Nintendo. It previously helped out with Pokémon Sword and Shield and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! on 3DCG modelling. It also worked on Detective Pikachu and is currently developing a sequel. In September, a senior programmer job profile at Creatures referenced work on "one unannounced project" and  Detective Pikachu 2  which is apparently "nearing release".