Update: Spike Chunsoft confirms.
Update :
After last night’s little slip, Spike Chunsoft has now officially confirmed that it’s bringing Good-Feel’s “Japan-esque” platformer Bakeru to the West. Nintendo has even shared the official trailer, which you can watch above.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Introducing Compact Mode
We are excited to announce that Compact Mode is now available in Game Bar for Xbox Insiders. Compact Mode is a new experience that simplifies Game Bar, making it more intuitive and easier to navigate on small screens, Windows handhelds, and when playing with a controller. To use this feature, open Game Bar, go to the Settings widget, under General, and turn on the “Compact Mode” toggle.
Better navigation on small screens and more
With Compact Mode enabled, access to widgets and navigation is simplified to ensure you can get access to the content you want as easily as possible. When using a controller, you can switch between widgets quickly with left and right bumpers (LB/RB).
On the Home widget, you can view any running games and recently played games. You can also access common game launchers installed on your system such as Xbox, Steam, Battle.net, EA Play, Riot Games, and Ubisoft Connect.
You can now quit a game that is running by going to the Home widget and selecting the game and pressing close, a faster way than quitting from the game or navigating out to Desktop. In addition, you can leverage the Resource widget to quickly see what other applications are using your device’s resources and close them.
When the focus is on a widget icon in the navigation, you can open the widget’s settings or close the widget.
Finally, you can access the Widget Store and open any installed widget by going to the widgets menu.
How to access Compact Mode on Windows gaming handheld PCs
For devices that support custom physical button mapping, you can map a button to the WIN+G keyboard shortcut. Please refer to your device’s onboarding instructions on how to remap a physical button. To access Game Bar on your desktop, search for “Game Bar” in the taskbar and right click to pin to taskbar.
Share your feedback
A new survey is available here or in the Xbox Insider Hub (open or install here for players enrolled in the PC Gaming preview) to give us your feedback on Compact Mode for Game Bar on Windows PCs while it is on preview. As a reminder, you can always give us suggestions for the app or leave feedback by going to the Settings widget, under Feedback, use the Game Bar feedback link. We look forward to hearing from you as we work to bring more enhancements to Compact Mode for you to enjoy seamless Xbox gaming experiences across all your Windows devices.
How to get Xbox Insider support and share your feedback
If you’re an Xbox Insider looking for support, please join our community on the Xbox Insider subreddit. Official Xbox staff, moderators, and fellow Xbox Insiders are there to help. We recommend adding to threads with the same topic before posting a brand new one. This helps us support you the best we can! Also, you can provide direct feedback to Team Xbox by following the steps here under the “Report a problem online” section.
If you aren’t part of the Xbox Insider Program yet and want to help create the future of Xbox and get early access to new features, join the Program today by downloading the Xbox Insider Hub for Xbox Series X|S & Xbox One or Windows PC.
For more information on the Xbox Insider Program, follow us on Twitter at @XboxInsider. Keep an eye on future Xbox Insider Release Notes for more information regarding the PC Gaming Preview.
Note: This feature is being made available to Xbox Insiders enrolled in the PC Gaming Preview.
The post Compact Mode is now in Game Bar for Xbox Insiders appeared first on Xbox Wire.
Live out your 100-Acre Wood fantasy with Everdell, a whimsical and immersive resource management, tableau-building, and worker placement board game where you and up to four players gather and spend countless resources, build cities, deploy Meeples, and meet other forest critters. The Everdell board game takes place over a whole year (winter to winter), and whoever has the most points at the end of the season wins. The beautiful pastel art style by Andrew Bosley will draw you in immediately, but Everdell’s accessibility for board game beginners and easy-to-learn ruleset will keep you coming back for numerous sessions. Just make sure you have plenty of room on your board game table.
The base game is available in a few different editions, and a hefty number of expansions are available that feature new cards, mechanics, critters, and rules, as well as accessory packs to better store your game pieces and immerse yourself further into the Everdell experience. This buying guide is the perfect place to start as you embark on your Everdell journey.
Just as the title says, this is the base, entry level version of the Everdell board game. This includes everything you’ll need to get started: the (admittedly large) game board and 3D buildable tree, over 100 playable cards, about as many resources, 30 points tokens, and an expansive rulebook. The game can be enjoyed as a solo board game, or with up to four players, so be sure to consult the rulebook – some tiles and mechanics can only be used with a certain number of players.
As well as containing the base game, the Collector’s Edition of Everdell comes with the 10-card Legends expansion, fifteen Extra! Extra! cards, metal coins, wooden occupy tokens, and an upgraded deluxe die for solo play. Shelling out the extra dough is worth it, as the expansion cards add a ton of variety to the game.
This kid-friendly version of Everdell simplifies the mechanics of the original, while still maintaining that whimsical spirit. Great for first-time board gamers and younger children to help hone their decision making skills and focus!
It’s important to note that most of these expansions require a base copy of Everdell to play.
The first of many expansions, Pearlbrook lets players take a dive into a new underwater society to collect a new resource – pearls! This watery expansion integrates with the base game and comes with over 50 new cards, new constructions, and four new 3D Wonders.
The Spirecrest expansion sees players climbing an impressive new Mountain board and adds some challenge to the mix. The added mechanical complexity shows in this expansion’s change to the Prepare for Season step, as players will now reveal Discovery and Weather cards that affect their game.
Everdell’s third expansion is interesting, as its modular Market board can increase the player cap to six players. However, this means you don’t get an extra worker in Spring and your hand count is reduced to seven. Player Powers for every type of critter also change how you approach the game, and endgame rewards really make it anyone’s game once you finish out the year.
The train station board is an exciting new addition that includes four new critter types – cats, bats, snails, and bees, as well as over 100 new cards and game pieces. It wouldn’t be an Everdell expansion without a game-altering twist: using the Tickets module, you can redeploy your Meeple instead of taking a regular game action.
Introducing the villainous Nightweave, the Mistwood expansion is a great addition for players who enjoy solo sessions or playing Everdell with only two players. Three and four player modulations are still here to add to the base game. This set also includes new Legends cards, such as the powerful Corrin Evertail.
Released in 2023, Farshore is Everdell’s first (and so far only) standalone expansion. This game is played using mostly the same mechanics as the base game, with some new parameters. Everdell Farshore replaces occupy tokens with golden anchors, comes with new critter types, and has you riding around on a ship as you collect nautical-themed resources.
Looking for a one-stop shop? The Everdell Complete Collection has you covered. This oversized treasure trove of endless Everdell entertainment contains all content from the Collector’s Edition, all of the expansions listed above, and special trays, dividers, and storage options for the hundreds of different cards, boards, and game pieces, as well as a gorgeously illustrated card reference guide and rulebook. A bit overwhelming due to its size, this edition is best for Everdell veterans looking to consolidate instead of newcomers.
Do you only have the Standard Edition of Everdell but want all the content from the Collector’s and Complete Editions? The Glimmergold Upgrade Pack expands your base set to the Collector’s Edition, while the Click Clacks Upgrade Pack gives you all of the exclusive Complete Collection content.
With a game like Everdell, actually finding space for resources on the board can be a major pain in the tail. Enter this super handy set of resource vessels, or “bowls” for each of the game’s available resources, occupy tokens, and card holders each for their own convenient, clutter-free locations on the game board.
This storage container lives up to its name by allowing you to store the base game, its expansions, and the Deluxe Resource Vessels into one single location, which is helpful if you haven’t purchased the Complete Collection, which has its own storage box.
Protect your cards in style with the Everdell-themed card sleeves accessory. This pack comes with 600 sleeves, enough for every card in the base game and all the expansions. Featuring more art from the game’s artist Andrew Bosley.
The resources in Everdell were not designed to be finite, but when playing with the maximum number of players, sometimes you run out and need to improvise. This extra resource pack has 30 berries, 30 twigs, 25 resin, and 20 pebbles to add to your collection.
This box upgrades your cardboard point tokens into awesome, shiny gold ones instead. Includes 20 1-point coins and 1-3-point coins.
Looking for a gift for your Everdell-enthused loved one, or looking to spruce up your game room? Check out these fun supplemental products, separate from the board game.
A regular 52-card playing card deck featuring new art from the Everdell artist Andrew Bosley. Comes in a sturdy carrying case.
1,000 piece puzzles featuring art from the game’s major expansions: the Pearlbrook Depths, the Bellfaire Festival, and Spirecrest Pass.
With art from Andrew Bosley and new lore from Everdell designer James A. Wilson, the Tales from the Green Acorn companion book is perfect for those looking to immerse themselves deeper into the world of Everdell, and makes a great coffee table decoration.
Finding the time, space, and people to get a board game night going is tough (doubly so with the big boards Everdell uses), but fear not; Dire Wolf Digital has you covered with an online version of Everdell. You play the game as normal, but without the clutter, and wherever you want! Available on Steam, Nintendo eShop, Google Play, and the App Store.
Everdell is clearly one of the most popular contemporary board games around, with a handful of iterations of the base game and its expansions selling millions of units. If that isn’t enough, it’s also sitting pretty at number 35 on boardgamegeek.com’s best board games. Set up is a breeze, until you start adding expansions that take a ridiculous amount of space. But adding these expansions truly helps with the game’s longevity, and will keep you coming back for more.
Myles Obenza is a freelance commerce writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter @Myles Obenza.
Replaced, an Xbox console-exclusive cyberpunk sidescroller, has been delayed a second time. It’s now expected to come out in 2025, after previously being delayed to this year from 2022.
In a post on Twitter/X, developer Sad Cat Studios kept it short and sweet: “Our initial release date was optimistic, and we apologize for that. Developing Replaced is quite a unique challenge, and we’re proud to be creating something that special.
“We need more time to ensure we meet the high standards we’ve set for ourselves and to meet the expectations of our fans.”
— REPLACED (@REPLACEDGame) August 13, 2024
In the meantime, Sad Cat has announced the game will be playable at Gamescom, and that “something special” will be coming later this week.
Replaced was first announced way back at E3 2021 as a 2.5D cyberpunk pixelated side-scroller published by Coatsink. Players control an AI trapped in a human body exploring a dark cyberpunk world, with fast-paced action combat and gorgeous pixel art.
Originally, Replaced was set to come out in 2022 on Xbox Game Pass and PC. It was later pushed out of 2022 and then into 2024 due to the “incredible high bar of community’s expectations” and the team feeling that “we can’t afofrd to release a sub-par game.” We did get a look at Replaced at IGN Live earlier this year, and felt optimistic about its direction.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Aside from being a game where you run around a shopping mall murdering the living dead, the original Dead Rising from 2006 is a clownish satire of sleazy tabloid photojournalism. It expresses this by way of its scoring system, where you earn “Prestige points” for snapping pictures that fit one of five categories: “Brutal” scenes of characters being slain; moments of “Horror”, such as the spectacle of an approaching horde; comical “Outtakes”, like characters caught in bizarre poses; moments of “Drama”, such as people reacting to discoveries; and “Erotic” photos of women alive or undead, which range from snaps of exposed underwear to close-ups of cleavage.
The Erotica tag has, however, been chopped from the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, in what Capcom gingerly suggest isn’t “a response to a changing cultural climate”, but expressive of the view that earning points from such photos is not “an appropriate reward for survival and not a skill required of a journalist trying to stay alive”.
Crystal crashers.
The classic Atari and Commodore puzzle game Boulder Dash is 40 years old this year. The game has been re-released multiple times over the years, and it looks we’re getting another version sometime soon.
Spotted via GamePress by Landlock on Twitter, Boulder Dash 40th Anniversary has been developed by BBG Entertainment in collaboration with the game’s original creators and isn’t just a simple rerelease of a classic. There are 180 brand new levels to play through, including every single world from Boulder Dash I, II, and III. Five new worlds will play host to these new levels, and one of those worlds has been created by one of the original developers, Peter Liepa.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Dominate the field like a bona fide superstar early in EA Sports Madden NFL 25! Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Xbox Game Pass PC members with EA Play can kick-off a 10-hour trial of the game today – ahead of the game’s launch – and get closer to NFL action than ever before (see Terms).
With early Madden NFL 25 access, members on Xbox Series X|S will experience the newest iteration of FieldSense and all-new Boom Tech – a dynamic physics-based tackling system that unlocks the reengineered Hit Stick and a new level of ball carrier control – allowing you to dominate on the field. The game’s completely revamped visuals and presentation on Xbox Series X|S, including two additional commentary teams, delivers new levels of NFL authenticity and immersion through every mode of play. Alongside new levels of controls, Madden NFL 25 on Xbox Series X|S also brings signature styles and new mechanics with ball carriers, catching and pre-play, and a focus on football fundamentals within blocking, playbooks and more.
EA Play members can also score monthly rewards on select titles, including monthly Ultimate Team Packs, 10% off purchases of Electronic Arts digital content including game downloads, Season Passes, Madden Points and more.
In addition to Madden NFL 25, here are even more member benefits available now with EA Play:
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Xbox Game Pass PC members receive EA Play with their Game Pass membership where they can enjoy great player benefits like in-game challenges and rewards, special member-only content, trials of EA’s latest games such as EA Sports Madden NFL 25, EA Sports College Football 25, F1 24, and EA Sports WRC. In addition, members get access to a wide collection of EA’s best-loved series and top titles, including Madden NFL 24, EA Sports FC 24, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
Visit the EA Play page for more details, and to stay up to date on the latest from EA Play, follow EA Play on, Instagram, or X. Please visit here for complete terms and conditions.
Electronic Arts
powered by BOOM Tech on Xbox Series X|S. Experience how the new physics-informed dynamic tackling system unlocks realistic collisions & new gameplay animations on both sides of the ball. With a reengineered Hit Stick, perfect hit indicator, a new Ball Carrier Balance System, and physics-driven dives, trucks and stiff arms, timing has never been more important as each interaction reflects true-to-life motion and physical outcomes. (BOOM Tech, FieldSENSE, and features described here only available on Xbox Series X|S.)FRANCHISE IMMERSION
Recharged Franchise mode provides a rebuilt NFL Draft experience featuring Roger Goodell, team and rookie records, new environments, personalized storylines, more ways to customize your NFL team and season, a fresh Super Bowl celebration experience, and Franchise Central with simplified league creation tools and more information at your fingertips so you can drive your Franchise to victory. (Franchise updates on Xbox Series X|S only)
LIVE UPDATES IN ULTIMATE TEAM & SUPERSTAR
New rewards, feature releases, themed programs, and the ability to customize your style and skills in Superstar bring refreshed experiences across Ultimate Team and live game modes. (Superstar and certain content described here on Xbox Series X|S only)
PLAYBOOK EXPANSION
Evolve your strategy with a brand new set of featured plays, from some of the game’s most inventive team playbooks. (Updated playbooks on Xbox Series X|S only)
TEAM BUILDER
Create your own NFL franchise using Team Builder, a web-based customization tool that allows you to design a team that perfectly matches your style. (Content usable in-game on Xbox Series X|S only)
PLAY LIKE A PRO
Live out your dreams of NFL stardom in Franchise Mode, Ultimate Team and more.
Team Builder content can be used in Franchise mode on Xbox Series X|S. Internet connection & EA account required. Applicable platform account may be required. Age restrictions may apply.
Boom Tech, FieldSENSE, Superstar mode, and certain updated features described here only available on Xbox Series X|S.
This game includes optional in-game purchases of virtual currency that can be used to acquire virtual in-game items, including a random selection of virtual in-game items.
Conditions & restrictions apply. See www.ea.com/legal for details.
The post Play Madden NFL 25 Early with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and EA Play appeared first on Xbox Wire.
With Concord’s launch next week on August 23, we wanted to take a moment to talk about the adventure that lies ahead. We see launch as just the beginning. The beginning of not only the vision we’ve set out for Concord, but also the beginning of how we support and grow the game with our players.
The base game is a foundation for us to build upon over time, through systems that will expand the universe, introduce new ways to play and master each character, give you hundreds of unique rewards to earn and unlock, and narratives to unfold week after week, alongside seasonal updates that will introduce new characters, new maps and worlds, new modes, new stories, new features, and more.*
As we look ahead to launch, here’s a glimpse of what’s to come in Concord:
From the very beginning, we wanted Concord to be a complete experience, where all core content is available to you on day-one and moving forward—not gated behind paid expansions or a Battle Pass. We take your investment in the game seriously and want to ensure that we bring all players along for the journey.
Our first major content drop will arrive in October with the launch of Concord Season 1: The Tempest. Season 1 will mark the introduction of a brand new playable Freegunner, as well as a brand-new map, new Freegunner Variants, more earnable cosmetics and rewards, and a new season of weekly Cinematic Vignettes that will continue the story of the Northstar crew.
With season 1, we’ll also be introducing an in-game store for those looking to personalize their Freegunners further with additional customization items and to continue to support the game. These will supplement the hundreds of rewards earnable through progression and will be solely cosmetic, optional, and have no gameplay impact.
We’re also hard at work on future seasons, beginning with Season 2 launching in January 2025 and more seasonal drops throughout year one of Concord. We can’t wait to fully unpack what we have in store for Season 1 ahead of its launch in October.
When we first formed Firewalk, we thought a lot about the type of game that we wanted to make and what we could add to the multiplayer FPS genre. We knew we had to focus on the fundamentals that can make an FPS game great: precise, responsive gunplay and fast, fluid mobility. Those qualities had to be the bedrock of everything.
However, we also wanted that special spice provided by character abilities. Beyond the impact their abilities, roles, and kits could have in moment-to-moment combat, we saw exciting opportunities to add strategic layers to how and when you choose to deploy them throughout a match. In effect, we wanted to infuse the theorycrafting of a deck builder with a PVP first-person shooter. This became the root of our Crew Builder system.
Crew Builder allows you to create Custom Crews of Freegunners that you bring into a match. Every Custom Crew offers 12 configurable slots, which you can fill with characters from what will become a growing roster of Freegunners and their Variants. Each Freegunner will have multiple Variants, which are unique versions of each character that have special modifiers to their base abilities and can be unlocked by completing various in-game challenges.
Each Custom Crew must have five unique Freegunners, but you can stack up to three copies of any given Freegunner’s Variants, empowering you to really focus on specific characters that you like to play as and that align best with the broader makeup of your team, the modes you’re playing, or your general playstyle.
However, while Crew Builder enables you to hone your own unique approach to combat strategy, it’s also meant to inspire experimentation with different characters as well. Each Custom Crew comes with four Back Up slots, which are randomly populated with Freegunners not otherwise in your Custom Crew.
Crew Builder also incentivizes you to populate your Custom Crews with characters of different roles. Unlike traditional archetypes, like Tank or Support, each Freegunner in Concord is meant to deliver high-DPS and be effective in a gunfight. Instead, our characters are defined by one of six distinct roles and the impact they can have in combat—whether that’s locking down an area, dominating long sightlines, or flanking enemies.
Balancing your crew with Freegunners of different roles can give you an edge through special in-match benefits called Crew Bonuses. When you deploy Freegunners of different roles for the first time during a match, you’re granted special bonuses that can increase mobility, improve weapon recoil, reduce cooldown times, and more that apply to any character you deploy from that point on.
When you combine all of these systems—Crew Builder, Back-Up Slots, Freegunner Variants, and Crew Bonuses—there’s so much depth to how you can craft, refine, and master your builds in Concord as your experience grows. It also allows the meta to evolve continuously in exciting new ways, as you unlock new Freegunner Variants and new Freegunners and Variants are introduced over time with each season.
Ultimately, when we step back and think about what drew us to make Concord and what we love most about multiplayer games, it’s exactly that: the potential for continuous evolution. It’s the thrill of the potential possibilities of where we can take the experience moving forward. And it’s the sense of adventure of finding out, together.
Prepare for launch
We can’t wait to welcome you to the Concord galaxy and see how you learn and master each Freegunner and all of our systems in new and exciting ways, beginning with Concord’s Early Access launch for Digital Deluxe Edition owners on Tuesday, August 20 and followed by our global launch on Friday, August 23. Pre-load for all editions on PS5 will begin today, Tuesday, August 13.
Servers for Concord’s Early Access launch on August 20 will go live at 10:00am PDT | 7:00pm CEST | 2:00am (August 21) JST.
For all the latest on Concord, be sure to follow us on Twitter/X, Instagram, and TikTok, as well as by joining the community in the Official Concord Discord.
*Account for PlayStation Network and internet connection required. Paid for PlayStation Plus membership (sold separately) required on PS5.
If you are looking forward to playing Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster but wish to use the original control mechanics, you’re in luck. The upcoming remaster includes a feature that lets players choose whether to use the control layout from the original game.
In the settings for Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, players will have two options: “Standard” and “Classic,” as shown in the image below. The former is the new control scheme, which includes quality-of-life improvements to Dead Rising’s gameplay, such as the ability to move while aiming. The latter is a control scheme similar to the one used in Dead Rising’s original Xbox 360 version and the 2016 HD re-release.
Of course, switching to the Classic Controls comes with its drawbacks. Most notably, you cannot move while aiming (just as it was in the original game). Additionally, the classic control scheme will not allow players to tweak the button assignments as the Standard control type offers.
This is not the first time Capcom has decided to keep a smidge of the original Dead Rising in the game beyond keeping the story intact. Last month, Capcom confirmed that players who pre-order either the Standard or Deluxe version of Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster will obtain a costume that lets players use the classic Frank West skin from the original game.
I recently had the opportunity to play an early build of Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster hands-on. While I enjoyed the game, including the new control scheme, I did find myself at times pressing the button from the old controls when doing specific actions such as picking up an item or switching up which item I have in my inventory to equip.
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster will be released on September 19 for digital storefronts, while the physical copy will be released on November 8.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
The Steam Deck’s competitors, whether they’re the old guard Ayaneo family, the luxe Asus ROG Ally X, or the shapeshifting Lenovo Legion Go, usually share the same attack line: they can play more of your games. The Deck’s compatibility issues aren’t nearly as issue-some as they were at launch, but between its Linux-based SteamOS and its relatively mild processing power, but it is true that beefier Windows handhelds will more likely cater to your entire cross-launcher library.
Unless, that is, you get something else to run them for you. Streaming games on the Steam Deck has emerged as a nifty workaround for the portable PC’s lingering compatibility woes, making even officially unsupported games playable. Usually with much better performance, too, as the actual rendering work is done remotely – what you see on the Deck’s screen is basically a video feed of that remote device’s display output, with your control input beamed the other way via a low-latency connection. And because you’re not using SteamOS or the internal hardware to actually run the game, it’s not bound by their limits.
