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Embracer Group is at it again. The generally little-known company behind subsidaries like Gearbox Entertainment, THQ Nordic, and Dark Horse Media made headlines earlier this year when it acquired a number of Square Enix's western studios . Now, Embracer has announced a fresh round of acquisitions starting with physical games specialist Limited Run Games. The full list of acquisitions announced by Embracer this week includes Limited Run Games , karaoke technology company Singtrix , peripheral manufacturer Gioteck, and game studios Tuxedo Labs , Tripwire Interactive , Tatsujin, and Bitwave Games. Along with the gaming-focused purchases, Embracer has also acquired the rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit creative IP , which covers use in video games, tabletop, film, and more. As part of the new wave of purchases, Embracer has opened up its 11th operating group called Embracer Freemode . The new group is focused on "operating activities in the retro, … [Read more...] about Embracer Group Makes New Gaming Acquisitions Including Limited Run Games, Tuxedo Labs, And Tripwire

Audio player loading… Bad news came for Marvel fans yesterday when we learnt that Avalanche Studios—the maker of Just Cause—was working on an Iron Man game ten years ago, but it ended up being canned due to "company politics". The news came as part of a MinnMax interview (opens in new tab) with Avalanche co-founder Christofer Sundberg, who revealed that the developer's Stockholm studio worked with Disney on an Iron Man game for two years before it ended up cancelled. "It was a mess by the end," said Sundberg, noting that the game's shortening development time and ballooning budget would have required Avalanche to hire an extra "70, 80 people to the team" in order to finish the game to Disney's specifications. "It would have broken the company completely" to do that, he added, pointing out that there wouldn't be a new project for all the extra hires to work on after Iron Man was concluded. Sundberg didn't go into much detail about how the game would have played, … [Read more...] about Just Cause devs spent two years on an Iron Man game before it got cancelled over ‘company politics’

Audio player loading… Image Image Image Image Japanese accessory manufacturer, Hori, is taking the best parts of the Xbox Adaptive Controller (opens in new tab) , the fantastic accessibility device for PC and Xbox, and reimagining it for the Nintendo Switch. In one fell swoop Hori is opening up arguably the least accessible console around to a much wider audience. The HORI Flex (opens in new tab) (via NintendoLife (opens in new tab) , sam-eatlab (opens in new tab) ) is a device much like the Xbox Adaptive Controller (XAC) in that it allows for a wide range of external inputs to be plugged into it in order to emulate the included-in-the-box controller button map. For the XAC, that offers inputs matching the Xbox One controller. For the HORI Flex, it's the full sweep of Nintendo Switch inputs ready to be utilised. That means the Nintendo Switch is able to be used with a much … [Read more...] about The Hori Flex takes PC gaming’s most accessible controller and brings it to Nintendo Switch

Audio player loading… The heat may have broken where you are, but Fanatical's summer sale (opens in new tab) continues apace. If you're looking to beef up your library without emptying your wallet, you'll want to head over and see what they've got on offer. But if you're overcome by choice paralysis, we've got you covered. Just like last week, we've picked out five of our favourites from Fanatical's wide catalogue of discounted games for your perusal. As ever, remember to grab everything you want before the sale concludes on August 21. Top Pick: Resident Evil Village - 56% off £21.99/$26.39 | Fanatical link (opens in new tab) Resident Evil Village is an enthralling tale of a bumbling dad and the things that happen to his hands (opens in new tab) . It's also one of the finest survival horror experiences of the last few years, pitting you against a patchwork assemblage of lycanthropes, lunatics, a magnet guy, and—yes—a very tall vampire lady. Village takes … [Read more...] about 5 more games you need to check out in Fanatical’s summer sale

Swedish firm Embracer Group announced a number of new acquisitions this week , which included Limited Run Games, Singtrix, Tuxedo Labs, Tripwire Interactive, and Middle-earth Enterprises, grabbing the film and television rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in the process. The price for this latest round of acquisitions came to SEK8.2 billion, around $770 million, although Embracer Group didn't mention how much of that cash was spent on the purchase of Middle-earth Enterprises. The final price of that purchase is surprising, given the lucrative nature of the Middle-earth IP on its own. The IP rights cover movie projects and television series, and Embracer mentioned in a press release that this encompasses "key upcoming works" such as Amazon series The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power and the Warner Bros. animated film The War of the Rohirrim. For comparison, Amazon managed to buy the TV rights for almost $250 million in 2017 and the first season of Rings of Power … [Read more...] about Embracer Reveals How Much It Paid For Lord Of The Rings Rights And New Video Game Companies

New rumors about Grand Theft Auto 6 have come to light, with a tipster suggesting that the next entry in the series might include more traditional single-player DLC that GTA V fans called for but never got. Known GTA tipster Tez2 shared new rumors in a post on GTAForums . Responding to a comment about the reports of how GTA 6 will feature a world that is "expanding over time," the insider said this means "Rockstar will go back to how they were planning future content before GTA Online success boomed." According to Tez2, Rockstar was working on single-player DLC for Grand Theft Auto V but the studio ended these projects and shifted its focus to GTA Online. For GTA 6, or whatever the game is called, Tez2 claimed that "new cities and missions" will come to the game as DLC, and they will "definitely be planned out before VI releases." The tipster said they believe the new content for GTA 6 will take the form of "instanced new cities or islands," similar to Cayo Perico or North … [Read more...] about GTA 6 Rumor Suggests A Return To Single-Player DLC

Iconic rapper and producer Dr. Dre stars in GTA V's The Contract expansion , but he wasn't originally on board with the idea of appearing in Rockstar's open-world action game. DJ Pooh, a rapper, producer, and voice of the West Coast Classics radio station in GTA V, told BET , "Initially, it was just no." He added: "But that's the normal answers you get from Dre." "The answer was initially no because Dre's not a gamer. He just didn't play any of the games. It's not like he dislikes them or something, he just didn't play them," DJ Pooh said. "He was like, 'I don't make things for kids.'" DJ Pooh spoke to Dr. Dre about the appeal of the GTA series and brought a copy of GTA V to Dr. Dre's house in Calabasas to help convince him. It worked. Dr. Dre would later connect with executives from Rockstar, and it all came together. "He was blown away. He didn't know you could do all this stuff--all the layers of gameplay that people are calling the metaverse, but it's doper than that," … [Read more...] about Dr. Dre Wasn’t Originally Interested In Making GTA 5 DLC, Rapper Says

Grand Theft Auto 6--or GTA 6--doesn't have a release date yet. In fact, we don't even know if that will be the game's official name, but we do at least know it's in active development. We also have some reported details coming in that could make the game very interesting Rockstar Games finally confirmed its development in 2022, more than eight years after the release of GTA 5, and given the studio's tendency to only release games when they're good and ready, it's difficult to tell when we'll actually be able to play it. Game development can take a very long time nowadays, compared to the early and mid-2000s when four Grand Theft Auto games released in just seven years. Little, if anything, is concrete regarding Grand Theft Auto 6's details thus far, but there have been a whole bunch of rumors. These vary wildly, with some touching on who you will play as--possibly including a playable woman for the first time in the series' single-player mode--to where the game will take place. It … [Read more...] about GTA 6 Rumors: Grand Theft Auto Release Date, Map, Characters, And More

If you're struggling to get the Wordle answer on Aug. 17, then stop your worrying, as we're back with another edition of our help guides. In addition to some hints, we'll even provide the full answer in this guide so you can continue your streak by any means necessary. If you haven't started the Wordle today, then we also recommend looking at our recommended starting words . Those words will give you a competitive advantage when trying to guess the Wordle. However, if you're on your fourth or fifth guess and still need some help with the Wordle, then we have just the guide for you. We'll go over some hints that directly relate to the answer, and should help most players come up with guesses to try and hit on the answer. Although, if those hints don't work, then we've also listed the full answer further down in this article. Today's Wordle Answer - August 18, 2022 We'll begin with three hints that should help a majority of players come up with guesses and perhaps even get the … [Read more...] about Today’s Wordle Answer (#425) – August 18, 2022

Fans of video game packaging can prepare to get their hands on a new Nintendo-branded box soon, as the Switch will soon be sold in a cardboard container that shrinks the packaging size down by roughly 20%. According to Nikkei , the box redesign for the original Switch model will help move consoles around the world more efficiently and improve the company's bottom line by using fewer materials. In comparison, the Switch OLED Model happens to ship in a box that's already 14% smaller than the regular version's box, so Nintendo has likely taken a few design cues from it. The OLED Model also switches the general orientation of the Switch packaging to a more vertical format, as opposed to the horizontal design of the regular Switch box. This isn't the first time that Nintendo has slimmed down the packaging for its hardware, as its handheld 3DS and 2DS consoles switched from a bulky box when they first launched to a smaller container as the years went on. In other Nintendo news, … [Read more...] about Nintendo Reportedly Planning Smaller Switch Packaging