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Ubisoft's announcement of a monthly subscription for Rainbow Six Siege has not gone over well with fans, with some even booing the announcement at the official esports event where it was revealed.

Details about the game's upcoming season, and $10 a month subscription, were revealed as part of the Rainbow Six Siege Manchester Major this past weekend. The R6 Membership is a separate purchase from each season's battle pass, though it does grant access to it alongside exclusive monthly rewards, battle pass tier skips, character skins, R6 Credits, and Bravo Packs (Rainbow Six's version of loot boxes). The subscription service will launch in June. Those who buy an annual membership for $80 will save around $40 when compared to paying for the subscription month-to-month.

The announcement didn't exactly draw cheers from fans, both at the event and online. Instead, videos recorded during the reveal show the crowd loudly booing the subscription reveal, like one from Reddit user I-Am-Bodge. Other fans lamented that the idea for yet another way to monetize the game's players likely came from higher-ups at Ubisoft.

"R6S devs really be having a good day and then shareholders shoved this idea for a purely money-making scheme down their throats," user The_Honkai_Scholar said.

Rainbow Six Siege's R6 Membership will cost $10 a month.

Rainbow Six Siege isn't the first game as a service to receive an optional membership subscription, with the biggest comparison being Fortnite and its Crew membership (although other games, like GTA Online, also have memberships). The main complaint from players seems to be that unlike Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege isn't free-to-play, and is already heavily monetized with skins, loot boxes, and a seasonal battle pass.

Other fans have pointed out how the membership's announcement comes during a relatively content-lite year so far. Alongside the rollout of the membership, Rainbow Six Siege's upcoming year 9 season 2, Operation New Blood, will primarily rework the game's default Recruit operator (who in a major change, will only be usable by one player per team). The game is slated to receive two new operators by year's end.

Rainbow Six Siege is approaching 10 years old, but is still going strong after nearly a decade. Back in March, the game saw its highest number of concurrent players on Steam yet.

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With The Final Shape looming on the horizon of Destiny 2, Bungie has released a new story trailer setting the stakes for the final chapter in the story the developer began with the original release of Destiny in 2014. It also suggests new twists in the story of the expansion: the temptation of one of Destiny's most notable characters, Commander Zavala.

Destiny 2 players have known that the Witness, the antagonist operating from the shadows for the last 10 years of the Destiny Light and Darkness Saga, has designs to end the world, but the story trailer finally shows us what that might look like. The "Final Shape" the Witness wants to bring about is a reshaping of reality that locks the universe into a perfect stillness, which the Witness believes will bring an end to all suffering. In practice, that means turning everyone and everything into taxidermy-like statues, and when the trailer shows that applied to the people of Earth, it hits pretty hard.

You can check out the trailer yourself below. It includes the reunion of Cayde-6, who was killed in the Forsaken expansion but has returned in The Final Shape for reasons even he doesn't understand, with his buds Zavala and Ikora. It seems like Destiny 2's major characters will see a fair amount of action in The Final Shape, too; the trailer suggests a similar number of story cutscenes to what Bungie put in Destiny 2's vanilla campaign.

Most notable, though, is where the story seems to be headed, with the trailer teasing that Commander Zavala might be tempted by the Darkness. If you've been following the story for the last few years, that makes a lot of sense. Zavala has been struggling with a crisis of faith for a while now, especially after the events of The Witch Queen expansion when the Hive, a group of genocidal aliens and basically humanity's greatest enemies, were gifted with the same physics-breaking superpowers, the Light, as Zavala and the rest of us Guardians.

Zavala has seemed like he's been having a hard time for the last few years, and after the Lightfall campaign, one of his close friends and lieutenants, Amanda Holliday, was killed. That loss hit him very hard, and you can see early in the trailer that Zavala is wearing Amanda's scarf tied around his arm. So when the Witness suggests that maybe Zavala might get everything he wants if he helps enact the Final Shape, there are some good reasons why Zavala might consider the offer.

It's worth noting that the trailer is among the first times we're hearing actor Keith David in the role of Zavala, who he plays throughout The Final Shape. David is taking over the role from Lance Reddick, who'd played Zavala since 2014 and was a regular Destiny 2 player himself, died in 2023.

The Final Shape launches on June 4, so we'll have to wait until then to see how things shake out. In the meantime, check out our previews of The Final Shape, including a look at the new destination, the Pale Heart of the Traveler, and the expansions story campaign, and its new Prismatic subclass.

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Crunch is one word many video game developers wince at when spoken. It's used to describe long overtime and has been a common practice in the industry for decades--though also heavily debated and polarizing.

Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke touched on the touchy subject recently at the Digital Dragons conference in Poland, per GamesRadar. He admitted that crunch is unavoidable at times by nature of the beast, though paid overtime helps the situation.

"We didn't overly crunch [on Baldur's Gate 3], but we did have to do a bit of crunch," Vincke said. "And I think, to be honest, you will always have a little bit when you're trying to finish something, especially when there's so much complexity that needs to be brought together."

That doesn't mean Vincke and Larian just accept crunch as standard. Vincke, who directed Baldur's Gate 3, said there was less crunch making the RPG compared to previous games the studio has worked on. It became necessary with Baldur's Gate 3 because "we had things happen that we didn't foresee," according to Vincke.

Looking ahead, Larian is working on its next two games that could be its "best work ever." Neither will be Baldur's Gate 4, as the company leaves the world of the Forgotten Realms to create its own properties. Whatever they might be, Larian's next game will likely launch in early access again like Baldur's Gate 3.

While first released in early access in 2020, Baldur's Gate 3 officially launched last year. The RPG was GameSpot's game of the year for 2023.

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When players jump into the story campaign for Destiny 2's next expansion, The Final Shape, they'll pretty quickly unlock one of the biggest new parts of the game: Prismatic. The new subclass is necessary to complete The Final Shape's story, just like Strand was when it was introduced in Destiny 2's last expansion, Lightfall.

But unlike how Lightfall handled its new player abilities, Bungie says you'll get Prismatic early in The Final Shape, and you'll have access to it for the duration--it won't be parceled out in short bursts and only fully unlocked many hours later, once you finish the campaign.

Bungie gave a pretty close look at Prismatic in action, and The Final Shape's campaign generally, in a recent hands-off preview event attended by GameSpot. The preview showed a big chunk of the campaign's first mission, as well as a later Strike mission that becomes available about halfway through the story. As in Lightfall, the new subclass is an essential part of the story of The Final Shape, and you'll make use of it as you go, but with a lot fewer restrictions this time around.

Prismatic is less a totally new subclass than a new combination of old elements. It pieces together different parts of existing subclasses, like supers, melee and grenade abilities, and passive buffs, allowing you to access several different kinds of powers--specifically both Light and Dark abilities--that you previously couldn't utilize at the same time.

The subclass also comes with a new ability called Transcendence, which Bungie described as being like a "mini-super." While using the Prismatic subclass, dealing damage with your abilities and weapons charges up two meters, one for Light and one for Darkness. (Kinetic weapons increase both meters but at a lower rate than weapons with specific elemental damage types.) When both are full, you can activate Transcendence, which gives you increased damage reduction, speeds the recharging of your abilities, and gives you a new grenade ability that combines Light and Darkness damage types.

Prismatic as a concept starts to show up as you make your way through the first campaign mission. You'll first traverse the big pink portal into the Traveler that's been staring at players for the last year. Inside, you'll encounter the Taken, who Destiny 2's major antagonist, the Witness, is controlling more directly than ever before. You'll also soon encounter enemies who are "bound" by the Witness, receiving power from the Witness directly, which provides them with shields that can't be broken with your normal abilities or weapons. When you first run into them in the starting mission while traversing the portal, you'll have to flee.

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A major element of The Final Shape is the fact that the Traveler's Light power and the Witness's Darkness are commingling within the expansion's new destination, the Pale Heart of the Traveler. After running into the bound enemies, the preview skipped ahead to a later part of that same first campaign mission, when players find themselves inside the Traveler for the first time.

Alongside encountering more enemies, including the new Dread faction, you'll start to find places where the Light and the Darkness have collided to create strange wellsprings of power. Standing in those springs allows you to briefly access Transcendence, much like players could activate Strand briefly at certain points in Lightfall. Transcendence gives you a chance to try out Prismatic in short bursts and to break those bound enemies' shields. However, unlike Strand, you can run back to these wellsprings again and again during a battle if you want (and can survive), allowing you to regain Transcendence as needed.

Transcendence is especially useful against some of the new enemies The Final Shape is introducing to the game. At the end of the first campaign mission, we saw a boss fight against a Harbinger, one of the tougher new baddies, which wields Strand abilities against the player. Harbingers take after Rhulk, the boss of The Witch Queen expansion's Vow of the Disciple raid; they're tough to kill and use ranged weapons against you. They also have the ability to suspend you, much like players can do to each other in Destiny 2's player-vs.-player mode, the Crucible, rendering you immobile and vulnerable for a few seconds. Using Transcendence isn't essential to winning the fight once you've killed any bound enemies, but its new abilities and perks can definitely be helpful.

While you'll be able to use Transcendence during missions by finding its wellsprings, The Final Shape doesn't just lock Prismatic up behind these environmental activation points. By the end of the first mission, you'll have entered a strange, overgrown version of the Tower from the original Destiny and ventured into the room where the Vanguard leaders used to hang out. In that place of power, you'll find a well of energy so powerful, it permanently unlocks Prismatic, allowing you to use the subclass for the rest of the campaign.

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The thing is, while you'll get Prismatic right away, Bungie doesn't want you to feel like you're either forced to use it, or forced not to. If you've got other character builds you're comfortable with and want to use throughout The Final Shape's campaign, combat area lead Ben Wommack said, you'll be able to do that. The wellsprings give you a shorter-duration version of Transcendence so you can try it out and get through fights that require it, but you can still stick with your favorite subclass if you'd prefer.

"One of the things about Prismatic that we wanted to be very careful of is, we didn't want to make Prismatic at the top of every other build, supplanting every other build you can do it with," Wommack said. "That's not good gameplay; it's not fun. We want Prismatic to be this amazing new tool, not the thing that supplants everything else."

During the preview presentation, Bungie showed off the Hunter take on Prismatic. This one combined elements like the Stasis melee ability Withering Blade, the Void buff Stylish Executioner, the Solar grenade ability Gunpowder Gamble, and the new Arc super ability, Storm's Edge. It also detailed how Bungie has adjusted these abilities to make them work better with Prismatic. For example, in a Void build, Stylish Executioner will turn you invisible when you kill an enemy suffering from a Void-based debuff. With the Prismatic version, any debuff can trigger Stylish Executioner, including the Stasis slowing effect enemies get when you hit them with Withering Blade.

When you first unlock the new subclass, Wommack said, you'll start with a "curated" version that combines specific abilities. Bungie went through a lot of iterations to make sure that each class's starting version of Prismatic would be a compelling combination of elements that make the subclass worth playing with, but without making other builds obsolete.

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However, Prismatic is built on customization. You won't be able to mix and match every perk, ability, and super from your other subclasses together, but you will have access to a lot of them. Adding more options requires unlocking Aspects and Fragments that give you different abilities and benefits, like with past subclasses.

But where Lightfall had you killing enemies to earn "Strand Meditations" in order to unlock different elements of the subclass, a system many players didn't really like, The Final Shape will award you with Aspects and Fragments as you work through the story campaign, or from exploring the Pale Heart. There should also be less grind in getting everything you need for effective builds on all three of your characters. While the preview showed off a Prismatic build for Hunters, all three classes will have plenty to work with.

"We wanted to give every class an equivalent amount of build options," Wommack said. "We're doing something with the Fragments where there's a shared pool they all have, so if you have Fragments you unlocked on your Hunter, then you can use those Fragments on your Warlock or Titan. So we're trying really hard not to play favorites."

The focus on making sure players can gain Prismatic and all its customization elements through the campaign also helps guarantee it'll be available for The Final Shape's raid, which launches just three days after the expansion's release.

"You will be able to fully unlock Prismatic by playing through the campaign and the journey in the Pale Heart before the raid launches," Wommack confirmed. "That is something that everyone is going to have access to and be able to accomplish."

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At the launch of The Final Shape, only certain abilities and elements will be available as part of Prismatic--you won't be able to mix and match every single melee ability or super into a new subclass of your choosing. In addition to keeping Prismatic from replacing all the other, more specific subclasses, Bungie limited the options to make sure the subclass would be balanced, especially in the Crucible, Destiny 2's player.-vs.-player mode.

Wommack said Bungie wants to see how players handle Prismatic, and how it impacts the game, before thinking too much about what other elements and abilities it might add to the subclass later.

"We're kind of reserving any future decision about what we add to Prismatic until we actually get it out there into people's hands and see how it's doing," he said. "We're going to pay a lot of attention to what the balance is and what the impact is, and in PvP, of course. We're paying a lot of attention to what Transcendence up time is in PvP, just like with super up-time, that economy is super important and we put a lot of thought into it."

As game director Tyson Green noted, despite the fact Bungie has done a lot of testing on Prismatic, it's still impossible to say what will happen once it's in the hands of the Destiny 2 community.

"On the first day when players get their hands on Prismatic, they'll get about 1,000 times more playtest time than we've ever been able to put into it during development," Green said. "We're going to learn a lot during the first 24 or 48 hours,and we're going to react to that, because that's what we do."

For more from the preview event, check out what we learned about the new destination, the Pale Heart of the Traveler.

The Final Shape is set to release on June 4.

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Ten years ago, the story of Destiny started with the Traveler, a god-like entity the size of a small moon, hovering over Earth and dispensing superpowers to humans to use against encroaching alien hordes. In The Final Shape, Destiny 2's next expansion, we're finally primed to find out what's inside that massive robotic orb.

It's apparently pretty weird in there.

We've gotten a few brief glimpses into the Pale Heart of the Traveler, the new location where the final showdown between the heroes of humanity and the Witness, Destiny 2's primary antagonist, will take place. In a recent hands-off preview event, however, Bungie gave something of an extended look into the Pale Heart, a pocket of the universe where memories and emotions combine with the Traveler's near-magical paracausal power to redefine reality.

The Pale Heart is a place that, according to Bungie, draws on the experiences of whoever's inside it to create the world they see around them. In the early missions of The Final Shape's campaign, you'll see nostalgic elements from the last 10 years of Destiny folded into the landscape--things like giant Ghost shells and overgrown segments of old locations, levels, and social spaces.

But the Traveler's power, the Light, is clashing with the Darkness power wielded by the Witness, and that's also causing the landscape to twist and contort, especially as you delve deeper.

"You can kind of think of it like traversing a world in the process of being defragmented," said campaign lead Andrew Hopps during the preview.

While the preview didn't give an extensive overview of the expansion, it did provide some impressions of what players can expect, showing off portions of the first mission of its campaign and a later Strike that's also part of the story. The mission begins with the Guardian, the player's character, heading into the big pink portal into the Traveler that has been staring players in the face for the last year. It's not just a matter of stepping into the portal and popping out the other side, though. Instead, you'll make your way over a disjointed collection of chunks of architecture, spaceships, and terrestrial locations, all haphazardly thrown together. If the Pale Heart is combining different elements from memory to create a new reality, the portal feels like the place where all those bits are stored until they're needed; like the memories are manifesting into new objects, but without any guidance putting them together in a meaningful way.

As is probably expected, the path through the portal is home to enemies who try to stop you. These include the Taken, which now sport a spooky yellow eye--an indicator of the Witness's control over them. This is also the place where you'll first start to encounter Destiny 2's new enemy faction, the Dread. Bungie previously detailed the different threats that make up the Witness's new army, but you'll start by running into Weavers, small enemies that use the Strand abilities introduced in the Lightfall expansion to nab you with ethereal ropes. Weavers can grab and yank you toward themselves and out of cover, exposing you to attack or, sometimes, just tossing you off a cliff.

Hopps noted that Bungie has spent time rebalancing the campaign's difficulty, particularly at the Legendary level. The idea is to make sure missions feel tough but fair, whether you're playing alone or with a team of one or two other people, although Hopps didn't go into specifics about what adjustments developers have made. Bungie is also putting a greater emphasis on adding raid- and dungeon-like mechanics to more missions, and in the preview, we saw elements like the Light and Darkness "seeds" that appear in Lightfall's Root of Nightmares raid. These don't work quite the same way as in the raid, and you'll be able to use all these mechanics as a solo player, Hopps said. But in both the campaign mission and the Strike shown during the presentation, there were additional mechanics that should make progressing through the Pale Heart a little more complex than just shooting a lot of monsters.

Bungie soon cut away from the portal portion of the mission, skipping ahead to after the player had finally fully entered the Traveler. Here, we got our first glimpses of the Pale Heart, where the early portions are lush and green. In some moments, plants and rocks are popping into being directly ahead of you as you walk, and soon you're finding strange sights, like chunks of the Last City and those huge Ghost shells, overgrown and almost ancient-looking as they poke out of the landscape.

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"This was something that we did from the beginning in concept for The Final Shape, that we really wanted this big moment after the 10 years of the Light and Darkness Saga to invoke a lot of nostalgia from the players," said expansions project lead Catarina Macedo. "And one of the ways we wanted to do that was by the environment that you go through. So we had this idea that as you go into the Traveler, everything around you is shaped by these memories of you being a Guardian, places that you've been to, things that you've seen, scenes that you've lived."

The level sends the player passing through these overgrown chunks of the City, where they encounter more Dread enemies. These include the "bats with guns," the Grim, which sport a stunning shriek ability that can be particularly dangerous if it nails you while you're trying something harrowing like jumping over a gap. The Grim are also the first flying enemies in Destiny 2 that have wings, which means they bob up and down as you fight them, adding a slightly different wrinkle to combat. Even farther in, players run into a Harbinger--a new Dread enemy that occupies the same place as the Tormentor in terms of danger presented to opponents. Where Tormentors feel like smaller versions of the Root of Nightmare boss Nezarec, Harbingers are more similar to Rhulk, the boss of the Vow of the Disciple raid.

The Harbinger also wields Strand abilities, turning some player powers back against them. The Harbinger can suspend you with Strand the exact same way opponents can in player-vs.-player battles, locking you in place and opening you up to serious damage. Harbingers generally are less mobile than Tormentors but rely on ranged fighting rather than melee attacks.

The landscape of the Pale Heart is reacting to the presence of Guardians, filling the world with elements from their memories and experiences. But the Witness is also having the same effect, and things will get more corrupted and darker as you draw closer to it.

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"We're doing this thing, kind of for the first time, where we do a lot of storytelling through the environment," said game director Tyson Green. "You travel from a place where you know where you are and what's going on, and it feels relatively safe, into a place of increasing danger and proximity to the Witness. It's really a very striking environmental journey that we haven't really done with any of our previous expansions."

After the first mission, Bungie showed off a new Strike that takes place about halfway through the campaign. Here, we've ventured deeper into the Pale Heart in pursuit of the Witness, and the landscape has changed drastically, becoming more rocky, desolate, and barren. This one is themed after Destiny's "wish dragons," the Ahamkara, with players facing a huge Tormentor boss known as "Tormentor of the Ahamkara."

"One of the things that we've seen even in previous releases, especially when we started getting into the pyramids and seeing what their architecture looks like, we saw a lot of reshaping of normal objects. I'm sure everyone remembers the horse with many butts and all that," Macedo said. "Because the Witness is trying to enact the Final Shape [and] reshape everything to perfect stillness, one of the big things that we wanted to do as the Guardian gets closer to the spire where the Witness is at the center of the Pale Heart, we wanted to bring more of that distortion and reshaping, and more unease, and that feeling that this isn't quite right."

"So that was the big inspiration behind that: Take that language and basically turn the knob all the way to 100, and see how twisted can we get," Macedo continued.

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The Strike includes Dread enemies and Taken, while also introducing another foe players will face: the Lucent Brood, the Hive under the control of Savathun, the Witch Queen. Savathun and her forces are also trying to oppose the Witness, Green noted, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're on your side. In the Strike, you'll fight Lucent Hive on a few different occasions.

Like the campaign, the Strike also works in new mechanics that are a little more comparable to dungeons or raids than we've seen in previous strikes. You chase the Tormentor through the Strike, working through gaping caves and barren valleys. As you fight the Strike's major battles against enemies like Harbingers, you'll find weird Darkness goo flooding into the area, as well as major opponents with unbreakable shields. To clear them, you'll need to seek out nearby Ahamkara skulls. Finding an item called Taken Essence allows you to empower the skulls, breaking the shields. It's getting the Taken Essence, however, that's the tough part.

Usually, you'll venture into a side room in search of what you need to empower the Ahamkara skulls. In the sections we saw, the rooms are full of walls and platforms, and when you grab the Taken Essence at the far end, you have to run back as Darkness sludge fills in around you. In one room, the walls close in toward you like a trap in an Indiana Jones movie, forcing you to leap over and duck under obstacles as you hustle out. In another, the sludge fills the room from the floor up, so you need to climb up platforms to avoid it on your way out.

In a later area, you leap through a hole in the wall to find yourself in an environment similar to the inside of Riven, the Ahamkara that serves as the final boss of the Last Wish raid, further solidifying the strange architecture and the reshaping of reality within the Pale Heart. In another section, you'll cross through a hallway filled with giant arms made of stone. The statues serve as platforms, and take the shapes of human and Hive hands, as well as Ahamkara tentacles.

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Also among the locations in the Strike was a town made of the same architecture we've seen inside the pyramid ships of the Black Fleet--suggesting that this location might have manifested from the Witness's memories.

"We don't want to get into spoilers, but a lot of what you'll see are not just your memories, but memories of other things that are in the Pale Heart--so the Witness, even the Dread," Green said. "So there'll be a couple deep lore callouts in there that I can't wait for people to tease out and bring to light."

Bungie ended the preview shortly before the end of the Strike, leaving us guessing where else the campaign of The Final Shape will take players, or what else the world will offer. But we do know that, like Neomuna and Savathun's Throne World, the Pale Heart of the Traveler is a new location you'll be able to freely explore. The story will also stretch beyond the first week, according to Hopps.

"I would argue this is our biggest campaign to date," Hopps said. "It doesn't just end with the raid."

For more from the preview event, check out what we saw of the new Prismatic subclass in action.

The Final Shape is set to release on June 4.

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The remake train will continue for Resident Evil, with Resident Evil Zero reportedly being one of two remakes in development at Capcom. Alongside the prequel, a reimagining of Resident Evil: Code Veronica is supposedly in the works, too.

According to well-known leaker Dusk Golem and corroborated by IGN, Resident Evil Zero and Code Veronica are the next remake entries for the franchise, though no order was given to their release. Resident Evil Zero originally came out on Nintendo GameCube in 2002 and then received an HD remaster in 2016. Meanwhile, Resident Evil: Code Veronica released on Sega Dreamcast in 2000 before getting an HD remaster in 2011.

Last year, Capcom confirmed it was remaking more Resident Evil games. So far, the studio has reimagined Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4--with the last one coming out a little over a year ago. GameSpot's Resident Evil 4 remake review even awarded the game a perfect 10 rating.

One of these remakes could come out before the still-unannounced Resident Evil 9. That's because Dusk Golem says internally the game has been delayed to late 2025 at the earliest, with a 2026 launch a possibility as well. Dusk Golem previously reported that Resident Evil 9 could be an open-world game.

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The post Microsoft Flight Simulator Releases City Update VII: European Cities II appeared first on Xbox Wire.

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June is looking to be a quiet month, a perfect time to catch up on a fun JRPGs, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince. For Nintendo Switch owners, fresh stock of the physical edition of the game has just arrived and it's on sale, giving you another chance to check out a fun spin-off in the Dragon Quest franchise. The initial supply of cartridges for the game quickly sold out, and resellers were quick to apply the rules of supply and demand to these sought-after physical copies. But now the latest Dragon Quest Monsters game is back in stock and steeply discounted.

Normally $60, GameStop is offering the game for $40, a very nice discount of $20. Amazon also has it for the same price, but you'll need to click "Other sellers on Amazon" and "Add to Cart" on the first option to get the discount--this is because Amazon is temporarily out of stock, but orders can still be placed.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince -- $40 ($60)

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince

• Get deal at Amazon - Click "Other sellers on Amazon" and "Add to Cart" on the first option (sold by Amazon)
• Get deal at GameStop

In case you missed it, Dragon Quest: The Dark Prince is a creature-collecting game and was released in December with seemingly little fanfare behind it. In this installment, you play as the antagonist from Dragon Quest IV, Psaro, who is cursed and is unable to harm anything with monster blood. Fortunately, the monsters under the command of Psaro don't share that curse, and you'll embark on a quest to capture more powerful creatures and combine them into new forms using the power of synthesis.

With over 500 monsters to scout, battle, and assist on your journey, you'll be busy creating a one-of-a-kind roster of creatures that can help you survive the fantastical environments of Nadiria. On GameSpot's sister site Metacritic, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince has an average metascore of 72 from 39 reviews, with several reviews highlighting its simplified approach to attract newcomers to the Dragon Quest Monsters series, while veterans will find plenty of nostalgic appeal here.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is one of several notable Square Enix games discounted to its best price yet. The biggest draw here Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, as after launching with a $70 price tag, you can get the game at its best price yet. Other great games on offer from the publisher include Final Fantasy 16 and Star Ocean: The Second Story R.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth -- $55 ($70)

• Amazon (comes with free controller skin)
• GameStop

Final Fantasy 16 -- $35 ($50)

• Amazon
• GameStop

Star Ocean: The Second Story R -- $35 ($50)

• Amazon
• GameStop

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Konami has announced that it will be hosting another Silent Hill Transmission showcase this week. It will air on May 30 at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET.

Konami didn't reveal much additional information, but clarified that it will be sharing game updates, merch, and a deeper look at the upcoming film. After a long hiatus, Konami has been utilizing the Silent Hill IP much more now. Behavior Interactive's Silent Hill: Ascension and Hexadrive's Silent Hill: The Short Message were both released within the last year to lukewarm reception.

However, the most notable game project is the remake of Silent Hill 2, which is being handled by The Medium developer Bloober Team and is due out sometime this year. Silent Hill F is an upcoming Japan-set entry and is being developed by Neobards Entertainment, while Silent Hill: Towerfall is being developed by No Code and co-published by Annapurna Interactive.

A film adaptation for Silent Hill 2, called Return to Silent Hill, was announced in 2022 and is being directed by Christophe Gans. He also directed the original 2006 Silent Hill film. Return to Silent Hill is due for release this year as well.

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One of the biggest reasons Xbox acquired Activision Blizzard was for the Call of Duty series, a first-person shooter that has dominated the best-selling games list for decades. This would make it the perfect candidate to launch on Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's gaming subscription service, in order to bring new subscribers in. Black Ops 6 was officially revealed last week, and while it was reported to be in consideration for a Game Pass launch, today, the news was confirmed from Xbox itself. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will launch on Game Pass day one.

We don't know much about the game yet, but two live-action teasers have been released so far. The first features a group of people covering the faces of Mount Rushmore with blindfolds that say, "The truth lies." The second, released today, can be seen below.

It features world leaders' black and white camera footage speaking in hushed tones about a grand conspiracy about manufactured wars and the elusive nature of the truth. The trailer ends with the game's full title, along with a reminder that the full reveal will come on June 9, after Xbox's summer showcase.

For more Call of Duty, check out our reviews for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

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Lego has pulled the curtain back on its new playset based on The Legend of Zelda. The 2-in-1 aims to satisfy both old-school and new-school fans and is set to go on sale in January.

The 2,500-piece set lets owners build two scenes modeled after the Great Deku Tree from Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild. In terms of characters, it includes both versions of Link, BOTW Zelda, and the maraca-shaking Hestu. Smaller details include the cooking pot, a Skulltula, treasure chests, and a Korok tucked away on the treetop.

 

The Great Deku Tree 2-in-1 costs $299.99 and can be pre-ordered now on Lego's website. It will arrive in stores on January 9, 2025. It joins other sets based on Nintendo properties such as Animal Crossing, Donkey Kong, and Mario. 

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Konami revealed it is holding another Silent Hill Transmission event on May 30 at 4 P.M. PDT. The last Silent Hill Transmission happened in 2022 and revealed a surprising amount of Silent Hill news including the reveal of the remake of Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill f, a new Silent Hill movie, and more.

The post announcing the event reads, "Consider this your invitation letter to Silent Hill. Tune in May 30 at 4 p.m. PDT to our SILENT HILL YouTube channel for the second installment of the #SILENTHILL Transmission where we'll share game updates, a deeper look at the film, and new merch."

The safe bet is a teaser trailer for the movie and hopefully new details about the Silent Hill 2 remake and Silent Hill f, the latter of which seems like the franchise's next big original entry. Silent Hill Ascension, the online mobile narrative game where players dictated the story choices, also finished up its first season (though the developer may have a different term for it), so it's possible we may learn what's next for that game.

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After what has felt like forever for this Legend of Zelda-loving-Lego-nerd, the long-rumoured set based on The Great Deku Tree has been officially revealed by Nintendo.

The upcoming Lego set will be a two-in-one number, with the option to recreate Ocarina of Time's Great Deku Tree or Breath of the Wild's. The Breath of the Wild version comes with a buildable Hestu figure, as you can see in the header image above, and a little cooking pot inside the tree himself and a Korok at the top. Also, check out the Deku Tree's blossom brows!

When it is in its Ocarina of Time form, meanwhile, users will also be able to build Link's treehouse from Kokiri Forest, which has a little Navi perched on the balcony.

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We’re excited to confirm that Game Pass members will be able to jump into Call of Duty®: Black Ops 6 on day one with Game Pass.

As revealed last week, we will have a special Xbox Games Showcase followed by Call of Duty®: Black Ops 6 Direct on June 9, 2024, at 10am PT, where we’ll share even more details on what’s coming in this all-new Call of Duty®. Get eyes on the first in-depth look at gameplay in this dark new chapter of the Black Ops series.

And, if you’re new to Game Pass – we’ve got a (figurative) mountain of games for you to check out and play while waiting for that pre-install button to light up for Black Ops 6. Check out the hundreds of games here: Xbox.com/Gamepass

Keep the comms open, we’ll have more at @XboxGamePassPC and @XboxGamePass with more details soon.

See terms and conditions here.

The post Play Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Day One with Xbox Game Pass appeared first on Xbox Wire.

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Sony has announced next month's PlayStation Plus games.

From 4th June, all PS Plus members will be able to get their hands on the following three games:

Then on 11th June, those on the Premium tier will also be able to get their hands on the following PS2 games, as part of the Classics Catalogue:

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Sony has revealed the next batch of free games for PlayStation Plus subscribers, and for anyone who likes nostalgic action, pro wrestling, or a sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea, June looks like a fun month. SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake, AEW: Fight Forever, and Streets of Rage 4 will be added to the subscription service starting June 4.

PS Plus in June.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is a pretty great game starring the lovable fry cook. First released in 2003, the game got a big digital upgrade in 2003 and is really fun. And no, we're not talking about fire, uranium (bombs), and no survivors. A combination of classic SpongeBob humor, rock-solid platforming, and colorful visuals makes for a charming adventure across Bikini Bottom.

Next on the list is AEW: Fight Forever, last year's wrasslin' game based on the WWE rival promotion. The first AEW channels the spirit of classic titles like WWF No Mercy, and has a great roster of performers to choose from, as well as an approachable fighting system to learn. It's good--and wonderfully weird--stuff to check out in case you're looking for an alternative to 2K's WWE series of games.

Finally, Streets of Rage 4 is a brilliant throwback to yesteryear. It has the DNA of the classic Sega series, enhances it with beautiful hand-drawn visuals, and throws in new modes that'll push your fighting skills to the limits. The game got even better last year thanks to a major update, as hundreds of improvements across the board polished Streets of Rage 4 into one of the best modern beat-'em-ups.

There's still time to grab this month's free PS Plus games, as Destiny 2: Lightfall, Ghostrunner 2, Tunic, will be available until June 3, and EA Sports FC 24 will hang around until June 17.

As part of its Days of Plays celebration, Sony is also adding bonus titles to its PlayStation Games Catalog a few days early, and subscribers can check out several PSVR 2 and Classics titles like Tomb Raider: Legend and Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord in June.

PlayStation Plus free games for June 2024

Available June 4.

• SpongeBob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake
• AEW Fight Forever
• Streets of Rage 4

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The first trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is coming today, May 28, at 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET. The trailer will be a live-action video that provides the first look at the new Call of Duty game. Whether or not this trailer contains any gameplay footage, however, remains to be seen.

The thumbnail shows a person that many on the internet believe to be Saddam Hussein, and many are taking this to be proof that the game is indeed set, at least partially, during the Gulf War or more generally during conflicts in the Middle East. The trailer's thumbnail also contains coordinates that point to the location of Hussein's palace.

Hussein, the former president of Iraq who was sentenced to death by hanging, wouldn't be the first real-life political leader to appear in a Call of Duty Black Ops game. Manuel Noriega, the former dictator of Panama, was featured in Black Ops II. Noriega unsuccessfully sued Activision over his appearance in the game.

Black Ops 6 is in the works at Raven Software and Treyarch and is reported to release in October, and it sounds like it'll launch day one on Game Pass. Activision and Microsoft will further showcase Black Ops 6 on June 9 as part of a special broadcast dedicated entirely to the next entry in the FPS series.

For more, check out GameSpot's rundown of everything we know about the next Call of Duty. Black Ops 6 will join Call of Duty: Warzone, Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile, and Call of Duty: Mobile on the market at the same time.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will launch day one on Game Pass, according to a new leak. The Game Pass app is reportedly sending out push notifications to some users to alert them that Black Ops 6 "is coming to Game Pass on day one later this year!"

Reporter Tom Warren discovered that the push notification sends users to an Xbox blog post with the URL "play-call-of-duty-black-ops-6-day-one-game-pass." The blog post is reportedly going up at 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET, which is the same time that the Black Ops 6 reveal trailer goes out.

Black Ops 6 is in development at Treyarch and Raven Software (with assistance from Activision's network of other global studios) and is reportedly launching this October. It is said to be the first Call of Duty game ever made on a four-year development cycle, and expectations are high.

All of Microsoft's first-party games launch into Game Pass, but many were wondering if this would also be true for Call of Duty titles now that Microsoft owns the series. From the looks of it, that will be the case, though it remains to be seen if the reported Game Pass price hike is coming.

Keep checking back with GameSpot for more on Black Ops 6. For now, you can take a look at GameSpot's rundown of everything we know about Black Ops 6.

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Capcom currently has remakes of both Resident Evil Zero and Resident Evil: Code Veronica in development, according to prominent leaker Dusk Golem.

In a long thread of posts on social media platform X, Dusk Golem attempted to clarify what has been a confusing time for claims about the future of the Resident Evil series, following the huge success of the recent Resident Evil 4 Remake.

Capcom's main team behind RE4 Remake is now worked on Code Veronica, Dusk Golem stated, while its secondary studio that worked on RE4 Remake's Separate Ways DLC is handling work on Zero.

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Zenless Zone Zero has secured itself a release date.

The upcoming free-to-play RPG from the Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail team is set to release across Android, iOS, PC and PS5 on 4th July. This date was previously suspected, when Apple's App Store on mobile said the game was "expected" on 4th July here in the UK.

"Dear Proxy, Thank you for your ongoing interest in and support of Zenless Zone Zero," the team shared on social media platform X earlier today. We look forward to meeting you on Sixth Street when entry to New Eridu is granted."

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Sega initially "flat out rejected" the first proposal for Yakuza, as it wouldn't attract the masses.

That's according to series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi on the latest News Picks video, in which he discusses the origins of the series (thanks Automaton).

The Like A Dragon series (Yakuza in the West) debuted in 2015, but initially wasn't seen as a profitable idea.

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Konami has announced a second Silent Hill Transmission show.

This show will cover game updates, another look at the Return to Silent Hill film adaptation, and merch, Konami said.

While Konami has kept further specifics for the show under wraps, I have a few ideas for what we can expect. First of all, I am sure we will see more of the Silent Hill 2 Remake, and perhaps even get a release date. Back in January, a promotional video from PlayStation appeared to suggest the remake would be released at some point this year.

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Square Enix has teased a HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest 3.

Yesterday, 27th May, was Dragon Quest day, celebrating the release of the original Dragon Quest game in Japan in 1986.

The short tease was shared on social media platform X featuring the Dragon Quest 3 logo with the words "The legacy begins". The post reads "The legend of Erdrick draws near", Erdrick being the most common name to refer to the third game's protagonist - chronologically the first in the series, though some fans are hoping for remakes of the first three games together.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be a day one launch via Xbox Game Pass, a Microsoft notification has now seemingly confirmed.

Users of the Xbox Game Pass app for iPhone and Android have this morning received a notification that states: "Just announced: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is coming to Game Pass on day one later this year!"

As first reported by Tom Warren, the notification includes a link to a currently-unpublished blog post on Xbox.com, likely set to go live in the near future.

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