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Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone, the game’s creator, surprised fans by announcing the news this morning via Twitter. We knew it was coming, but not when. Stardew Valley 1.5 launched for PC just in time for Christmas, bringing with it split-screen co-op, a new beach-themed farm layout, late-game home renovations, new characters and events, new music, “remixed” game options, and more. There are also new music tracks, furniture items, fish tanks, and “ducks can now swim”....

Despite hitting an impressive all-time concurrent peak of just shy of a million players on 3rd October, Forbes spotted that the numbers on SteamCharts have taken something of a dip, with its concurrent rate falling around 135,000 players every week since launch. As of last week, the MMO sported a concurrent player count of 508,000 - roughly half of what it was at the start of the month. Of course, declining player numbers are not always a surprise - or a concern - in the first few weeks after launch, but New World is a MMO, which should, in theory, enjoy a more stable playerbase than singleplayer narrative games that some may only play for a week or two before completing and moving onto something else....

The rocket building sim will be available on PC across Steam, Epic and other storefronts. Built from the ground up, the sequel boasts hundreds of new parts to utilise, time warping long distance flights, updated visuals, and improved tutorials for player onboarding. Watch on YouTube Kerbal Space Program 2: Episode 6 - Early Access In Early Access, over 350 parts will be available to play around with. Vehicles can be painted and customised, allowing for more personalisation than before....

These additions are the latest in what Microsoft previously described as a “multi-month series of experiments to learn how to create a more personalised home screen experience and address some of the top trends and fan requests”. The plan, it explained, is to iterate on these features as testing continues, with the goal being to launch a “new, better Home experience” some time in 2023. To that end, Microsoft has now introduced its latest round of preview updates, beginning with different Home layouts....

ORIGINAL STORY 11.45am UK: As regular as clockwork, Dealabs has leaked the upcoming PS Plus lineup for August. The three titles reportedly coming to the PlayStation’s new look Essential tier are Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 (PS4/5), Yakuza: Like A Dragon (PS4/5) and Little Nightmares (PS4). Dealabs has consistently posted the correct PlayStation Plus titles in advance of Sony’s formal announcement each month this year. As for the titles coming our way, well, Digital Foundry’s John Linneman had this to say about Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 on its release: “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 is one of the best games of the year and it’s my personal favourite release from Activision across the entire console generation”....

It included a short story by Karan Mahajan called The Anthology. I’d previously read his second novel, The Association of Small Bombs, and the queasy, uncertain feelings it gave me were reason enough to make me a fan. The Anthology brought out a similarly uneasy reaction in me, as it’s another dark story, one about the aftermath of a bombing and it begins in Delhi in 2000 at a literary event....

Square Enix’s Life is Strange: Remastered Collection bundles up the original Life is Strange alongside its prequel Before the Storm, with both games set to receive enhanced visuals for characters and environments, alongside engine and lighting upgrades, as part of the release. The remastering work on the first game will, however, go a little bit further, introducing fully motion-captured facial animations to remedy one particularly notable weakness of developer Dontnod’s otherwise fondly remembered title - and all of these changes have now received a fairly substantial showcase in Square’s latest video below....

This game, which has been developed in partnership with Musemio, is an educational experience for those aged between 8 and 11 and is centred “around Clapham South deep-level shelter as it was in 1944”. “Players can travel through time, reliving accounts from families staying in the shelter during the Second World War and discovering their secrets. “You’ll follow the story of one young inhabitant, 10-year-old Margaret, and with Margaret’s help, each player will need to complete a variety of quizzes, riddles and scavenger hunts in order to recover the secret passcode to keep the time machine portal open”....

ORIGINAL STORY (11am UK time): The Xbox Game Pass account has been teasing its followers with a cryptic clue about an upcoming release for its subscription service, and many believe that it will be Lego Star Wars. The Game Pass Twitter handle began its own version of a hangman-like teaser a couple of days ago, merely saying it was a fun little guessing game being shared for “no reason in particular”....

World bosses are worth tracking down since you can get a good amount of loot from them. This boss is only level 17, but you should not underestimate it by trying to face it alone. On this page, you will find where you can find the Rudric spawn location, the possible Rudric drops, and a strategy to take it down. On this page: This boss spawns west of Regria Monastery in the Graveyard....

Alien: Isolation originally released back in 2014, offering up a delectable slice of claustrophobic first-person horror that follows Amanda Ripley’s attempts to track down her considerably more famous mum, Ellen - portrayed by Sigourney Weaver in the movies. Soon enough, that journey takes Amanda aboard the starship Sevastopol where, would you believe it, a deadly Xenomorph is on the prowl. The resulting action - a ceaseless game of cat-and-mouse, driven by an unscripted and terrifyingly unpredictable AI alien - is as breathlessly tense as it is wonderfully atmospheric, with Creative Assembly perfectly capturing the delightfully lo-fi 70s look of the original Alien movie....

It’s widely known that the game was developed in under two years - an extremely short amount of time that led to huge pressure and Nintendo employees working overtime. As unearthed from Japanese magazines by YouTube channel DidYouKnowGaming, the game’s writers inserted their experience of crunch into the mouths of the game’s NPCs. Watch on YouTube The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask Trailer - Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online In one of those magazines, Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto said: “A lot of people ended up working overtime due to the sheer volume of work that had to be done… Suffice it to say, this was one tough year, I assure you… As long as it was finished, anything was acceptable....

The first packs that will be available are The Mandalorian (season one), Solo: A Star Wars Story, the Classic Characters and the Trooper packs. Included in the Mandalorian pack will be the Mandalorian (naturally), Greef Karga, Cara Dune, IG-11 and Kuill. Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) will also be included in this pack, but alas, they will not be a playable character. Sad face. The inclusion of Cara Dune in the game’s Mandalorian pack may well be a controversial one....

These 48 courses will be pulled from all across the Mario Kart series, with each track being remastered to imbue it with some of that glorious Mario Kart 8 polish - and if Nintendo’s previous Mario Kart DLC efforts are any indication, these will be some glorious things indeed. Don’t expect to get all 48 tracks at once, however; Nintendo will be releasing eight courses at a time across six waves, starting on 18th March and continuing up to some point before the end of 2023....

This seems likely to be the game’s Battle Mode update, after files hinting to its inclusion were found a couple of months ago. “With the Mario Kart Tour multiplayer update at the end of September, we’re adding new ways to play multiplayer,” Nintendo wrote, “and removing Gold Races (available only to Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass subscribers; see in-game notification for more details). Look for more info in early September!...

Details on Foster’s video game iteration are limited at this early juncture in Crystal Dynamics’ reveal, but the developer has confirmed the character will have “a lot in common” with the version of Thor already in-game. Don’t expect a carbon copy, however; “elements that are distinctly Jane” are also promised for her eventual arrival. Exactly when that might be, though, is unclear. Crystal Dynamic offered no timeline for the new playable character in its recent blog post, only confirming Foster will release as part of Marvel’s Avengers’ 2....

The age classification - deliberated on 13th May and published on Friday - suggests the tactical card-battle RPG may be coming to PC, Switch, and PlayStation and Xbox consoles sooner than expected. As spotted by a members of r/LeaksandRumours, the RPG has been awarded a 15 rating, the description for which explains how Marvel’s Midnight Suns will take on the Hydra in a game. The board cites the game’s “many expressions that look like violence and blood towards living things” as the reason why it was given a 15 rating....

In new documentation issued by the country’s Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE) on Wednesday, the regulator stated it has approved of this deal “without restrictions”. Along with this approval, CADE did touch on the more high-profile elements of this proposed acquisition, including Activision’s Call of Duty franchise - a franchise which has recently felt like it’s been caught up in a custody battle between Xbox and PlayStation. On this, the regulator stated that, given the series’ “huge popularity”, it was fair to assume that if “Activision Blizzard games were no longer available on Sony consoles” its fans may ultimately choose to “migrate to Xbox, or even a PC” to keep having access to these games....

Technoblade, real name Alex, had amassed 13 million followers over years of creating Minecraft content. He was just 23. His passing prompted an outpouring of messages from fellow streamers and esports players, as well as acknowledgement from Mojang itself. Now, the developer has gone further and updated Minecraft Java Edition’s launch screen with a nod to Technoblade’s YouTube icon - a crowned Minecraft pig. Minecraft fans have spotted the Java Edition’s loading screen now also includes a crown on its Minecraft pig - a knowing nod to Technoblade from Mojang itself....

While some of the update will still arrive this summer - more on that below - this constitutes a delay for many of its more ambitious parts. “With this feature, we are completely reshaping the Overworld, including the build height,” Mojang wrote. “Not only do we have to consider every effect this can have on the world but also how it will affect performance. Basically, having more stuff in the game also slows it down and we want to avoid that....