Palworld has shot back up in the charts this week, thanks to the game's latest major update, which adds a full new island for players to explore. 

The new Palworld update brings the new island, Sakurajima, to the game for all players. It is the largest update the game has had so far in its Early Access journey. The new island presents a new environment for players to explore, catch Pals, and build. The update has led to concurrent player counts rising up once again, peaking at over 128,000 concurrent players, after declining over the course of April, May and June.

During that three month stretch, the game was averaging around 30,000 peak concurrent players, so the new update has seen many return. Still, the game is far from reaching its launch-week height of 2.1 million concurrent players, largely driven by a viral marketing campaign that captured the imaginations of gamers by displaying clips of Pokémon-like creatures wielding guns.

Palworld has never dropped to unsustainable player numbers and with the game still in early access, there is still plenty of work left to be done on the game. In the future, the team at Pocket Pair plans to add a new Arena battle mode for fans, and more major updates are on the way for 2025 and beyond. Soon, the game may also land on PS5, ending a period of Xbox console exclusivity.

KitGuru Says: Have you picked up Palworld since its launch in January? Was the latest update enough to draw you back in? 

The next batch of titles for Xbox Game Pass subscribers have now been announced. There will be eight new games joining the library over the next couple of weeks, with a little something for fans of platformers, adventure games and sports. 

Journey to the Savage Planet is one of this month's big additions to the Game Pass library. The game achieved widespread critical acclaim when it released several years ago. Unfortunately, in the build-up to Stadia's launch, Google acquired the studio behind the game and ultimately shut them down, cancelling a potential sequel along the way.

Another indie hit, Neon White, is also joining the library this month. This parkour-platformer is built for those who get a kick out of speed-running and pulling off slick moves, all presented in an anime aesthetic.

Here is the full list of titles joining Game Pass over the next couple of weeks, including supported platforms and dates:

• Journey to the Savage Planet (Cloud, Console and PC) – July 3rd
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 (Cloud, Console and PC) – July 3rd
• Cricket 24 (Cloud, Console and PC) – July 9th
• The Case of the Golden Idol (Cloud, Console and PC) – July 9th
• Neon White (Cloud, Console and PC) – July 11th
• Tchia (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series X/S) – July 11th
• Magical Delicacy (Cloud, Console and PC) – July 16th
• Flock (Cloud, Console and PC) – July 16th

On the 15th of July, a few games will also be leaving Game Pass, including Coffee Talk 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly, Figment 2: Creed Valley, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, TOEM and The Wandering Village.

KitGuru Says: Will you be downloading any of this month's new Game Pass titles? 

Dead Rising, the 2006 cult classic zombie shooter, is getting a new lease of life with a next-gen remaster coming this September. Capcom announced the news today, promising a faithful but improved version of the game that started the franchise.

The Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster will feature enhanced graphics, including 4K resolution at 60FPS, real-time lighting and shadow effects, and updated character models and mall designs. The gameplay will also see some tweaks, such as more intuitive controls, better NPC behaviour, an auto-save feature, and a refined interface. Capcom said it wanted to keep the core of the game “unchanged” but enhance the user experience.

In some comparison images, we can see some of the upgrades. The game is rebuilt on Capcom's newer RE Engine, which has also powered the Resident Evil Remakes, as well as all of Capcom's other major releases over the past 5+ years. While graphically, the game does look much improved with more detailed lighting and character models, some fans may take issue with the changes made to the main character, Frank West, who appears visibly older than intended in the original game.

The Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster will be available in two digital editions for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam on 19th September. The Standard Edition will cost £39.99, while the Digital Deluxe Edition will cost £49.99 and include 17 costumes for Frank and 17 additional mall music tracks. Pre-ordering the game will also grant access to the Dead Rising Original Pack, which adds three more costumes and three more mall tunes. A physical edition of the game will be released for consoles in November.

KitGuru Says: Will you be returning to Dead Rising when this remaster drops later this year?

Microsoft has walked back on its plan to turn any TV into an Xbox with its own cheap cloud streaming box. The new plan seems to be turning the Xbox into a powerful gaming PC. According to new leaks, Microsoft and Nvidia are now working to bring GeForce Now to Xbox consoles, which would allow users to turn their consoles into RTX 4080-powered gaming beasts.

GeForce Now already offers better quality options than Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming service. While Xbox Cloud Gaming is powered by Xbox Series X hardware, GeForce Now has options like GeForce Now Priority and GeForce Now Ultimate, which grant access to more powerful RTX-powered servers. GeForce Now Ultimate subscribers can stream at up to 120FPS on supported devices, at up to 4K resolution, while Xbox Cloud Gaming is limited to lower resolutions and frame rates at this stage.

According to leaker ‘eXtas1stv‘, GeForce Now integration on Xbox is being tested, putting a new option on certain Xbox Store game listings to “play with GeForce Now”. This is similar to how the Xbox Store handles other subscription options, like EA Play, Ubisoft Connect and Game Pass, adding a new button next to games on the store alongside the traditional ‘purchase' button. For now, the GeForce Now option only appears to be showing up on the Japanese Xbox Store.

Microsoft and Nvidia have not yet announced anything officially, but with Microsoft partnering with Nvidia last year to bring all PC Game Pass titles to GeForce Now, it seems likely that this idea has been kicking around behind the scenes for a while.

KitGuru Says: While GeForce Now's Ultimate tier membership is expensive, it is a lot cheaper than building an RTX 4080-powered rig and you should benefit from future hardware upgrades too. We would expect that eventually, the RTX 4080 powered servers will be upgraded with RTX 50 series GPUs. Assuming your internet connection is up to the task, it can be a great alternative for those who don't have the space for a dedicated PC setup.

Garry's Mod has been going strong for decades at this point, but the team at Face Punch studios has been hard at work on a spiritual successor known as S&Box, which will utilise Valve's newer Source 2 engine. So far, the game has been closed off to most thanks to an invite-only testing scheme. However, the studio is finally ready to let more players in. 

Getting into the S&Box test has not been easy, typically requiring some mod development credentials, or game developer connections to be allowed in. This made sense at first, as like Garry's Mod, S&Box will need community participants to create new game modes. However, we are now several years into development, making it time to finally allow a wider circle of players to gain access.

S&Box, spiritual successor of Garry's Mod (now it's more like Roblox for adults), based on the Source 2 engine, will come out of closed beta soon.

“One of the things we're going to be doing is getting rid of the invite system. It worked, and it was fun, but it's too much work.… pic.twitter.com/kjFfgOgx5X

— ‎Gabe Follower (@gabefollower) June 30, 2024

As part of the S&Box June 2024 development blog, Face Punch confirmed that it is planning to get rid of the current invite system. In its place, sign-ups for beta access will be opened up to all. You will still need to be accepted in order to access the preview version of the game, but you will no longer need to spam Garry on his socials for an invite code.

There is still no clear timeline for S&Box but the move towards a more widely accessible preview is encouraging. I would still expect the game to launch in early access when it does eventually open up to all players.

KitGuru Says: I played a lot of Garry's Mod when I was younger, so I've had a keen eye on S&Box since its announcement. Fingers crossed many long-time fans will now be able to check it out first hand. 

Over the past year, there have been rumours that Ubisoft is working on an Assassin's Creed IV remake. This entry in the series is unique thanks to its pirate-centric story and it was also the birthplace for Ubisoft's modern ship sailing and battle mechanics. Now, Ubisoft has confirmed that it is planning a number of remakes.

Ubisoft has announced that it is working on remakes of some of the games in the Assassin's Creed series, one of the most successful franchises in the gaming industry. The remakes will allow fans to revisit some of the rich worlds and characters from the past, with improved graphics, gameplay, and features.

This information was revealed by Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot in a new interview published on the Ubisoft website, but he stopped short of revealing any specific Assassin's Creed titles. According to Insider Gaming, the Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag remake is being developed under the codename ‘Obsidian' and some early gameplay footage does exist.

Guillemot says that the goal is to have Assassin's Creed games come out more regularly, but not for it to be the same experience every year: “There are a lot of good things to come, including Assassin's Creed Hexe, which we've announced, which is going to be a very different game from Assassin's Creed Shadows. We're going to surprise people, I think,” he said.

KitGuru Says: Which of the old Assassin's Creed games would you like to see remade? I think the obvious answer here would be to go back and do the original trilogy, but any remakes there would be hampered by the more recently released remasters. Personally, I'd like to see Unity given another shot. Perhaps with more modern APIs and developer tools, they could achieve their original vision of a densely packed city of NPCs without breaking the game and causing significant performance issues.

Over the past 18 months, Embracer Group has been scrambling to to fix its financial situation by shutting down studios, selling off others and cancelling various projects in a quest to find more commercially viable games. TimeSplitters, which has a cult following, was cancelled, and a similarly popular IP, Red Faction, had a similar cancellation in the past year. 

According to Rock Paper Shotgun, a new Red Faction game had been pitched and approved at Embracer before all of the financial issues came to light. The game, which was planned to follow in the footsteps of Red Faction: Guerrilla, but was scrapped in late 2023.

It is claimed that the team at Fishlabs was working on the game under the codename ‘Project White', and they brought in cosplay and a  trailer to represent the visual target for the game in an effort to sway executives into keeping the project alive. Unfortunately, the vote was split amongst executives and rather than obtaining a budget, Fishlabs' management was instead told to let go of any employees not currently attached to a greenlit project.

The new game would have been set 100 years after the events of Red Faction: Guerrilla. At this stage, it is unclear if Red Faction holds enough potential commercial value for Embracer to invest in a new game in the series. Currently, we're also wondering about the futures of other IP like Deus Ex, TimeSplitters, Saints Row and others.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru Says: I had a lot of fun with the Red Faction games when I was younger but I'm not sure I would be there day-one if a new game was made today. Have you played any of the Red Faction games? Would you like to see a new entry into the series? 

Ubisoft announced plans to re-release Beyond Good & Evil again with a new 20th Anniversary Edition that includes some hints at what's to come in the long awaited sequel, Beyond Good & Evil 2. Now after much waiting for a release date announcement, Ubisoft has finally confirmed that the new remaster will finally drop this week. 

Beyond Good & Evil: 20th Anniversary Edition is launching on the 25th of June. The original game released in November 2003, so Ubisoft had just a few months left to get this remaster out without having to rename it. A 21st Anniversary Edition doesn't roll off the tongue quite as well. Below you can find the launch trailer, giving a little peek at what fans can expect from this new version of the game.

This is not a remake, so the game still looks like an early 3D adventure game, rather than a modern graphics showpiece. However, the cartoony art style can hide a lot of flaws and do look crisper at higher resolutions. This remaster will run at 4K/60FPS on current-gen consoles, while PC players will be able to push resolutions and frame rates as high as their hardware will allow.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still in development at Ubisoft but it has faced multiple setbacks since its announcement in 2017. For some reason, the game is still available for pre-order for Xbox One and PS4 consoles through retailers like Amazon, despite the fact that the game is almost assuredly not going to release on those platforms at this point. The new remaster for the original game includes a newly implemented ‘narrative link' between the first game and its upcoming sequel, so hopefully that is a sign that the plan for Beyond Good & Evil 2 is now set in stone.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru Says: Are you planning on revisiting Beyond Good and Evil with the new remaster? 

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree finally dropped last week after a lengthy waiting period for fans. The expansion has already received a ton of praise from critics, in part due to its sheer scope, and in part due to the inventive new bosses. Elden Ring soared in player numbers over the weekend, surpassing 750,000 concurrent players. However, not everyone is happy with the new content judging by the Steam reviews. 

The Elden Ring expansion saw hundreds of thousands of gamers jumping back in to the game on Steam. Over the launch weekend, the game hit a new 24-hour peak of 765,984 players a little lower than the game's all-time high of 950,000 concurrent players during the game's original launch in 2022.

While many are playing the game, and the expansion went on to become one of the highest-rated games of the year based on critic reviews, the game's Steam reviews have dropped to Mixed. Based on just over 34,000 user reviews, players are calling out the DLC as being ‘unfairly difficult', which is somewhat funny to see, given that From Software has built its reputation on creating difficult games that you can't just breeze in one sitting.

One common point of pushback I've seen to these negative reviews is that players aren't utilising the tools available to them properly. Some of these players are trying to get through the game without using advantageous items like Scadutree fragments, which is a new upgrade material that will enhance your offensive and defensive stats. Others are also avoiding using summons to help out in boss fights. The game might be difficult, but we can't exactly say that From Software hasn't provided tools and mechanics for players to make things easier on themselves.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru Says: What do you think of the new Elden Ring DLC? Is it too difficult? 

Last year, Shinji Mikami left Tango Gameworks, more than a decade on from founding the studio. Less than one year on from his departure, Microsoft announced that it was shutting the studio down. Now, it seams that Mikami's departure may have had more to do with the shut down than expected.

Everyone was confused when Microsoft announced it was shutting down Tango Gameworks. The studio was its only foothold in the Japanese market, and it had just shipped a hit game, Hi-Fi Rush, the year before. However, Shinji Mikami and his protege, who directed Ghostwire Tokyo, Ikumi Nakamura, both departed the studio. Xbox's head of Game Studios, Matt Booty, has alluded to these high profile departures being part of the decision to close down Tango Gameworks.

As spotted by Eurogamer, Booty was interviewed by Variety for the Strictly Business Podcast. Without giving away any “nitty gritty details”, Booty said: “I think the thing to be considered is that for us, it's as much a forward-looking situation as much as it is looking back at one certain game… There are a lot of things that go into success for a game. What leadership do you have? What creative leadership do you have? Is the team the same team that shipped something successful previously?”

Booty said Microsoft has to look at those things and decide if they are “set up for success” going forward. The implication here is that Tango Gameworks was not set up for future success. For whatever reason, Microsoft had a lack of faith in the remaining team at Tango Gameworks and rather than trying to juice up the studio with new hires, it instead decided to cut costs.

I think it is also worth noting that Japan is a bit of a tough market right now, as the Japanese Yen has tanked in value. That may also have played a role in Microsoft's decision to scale back on its Japanese studio ambitions for now, while their economy recovers.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Tango Gameworks shutting down was a shock but with Microsoft's reputation in Japan, and Xbox's low fan base in the region, it is unclear if Microsoft would have been able to draw in top Japanese talent to lead the studio after Mikami's departure.

We had hoped that when Sony announced the PlayStation VR2, it would use some of its first-party development resources to deliver more impressive VR games. Instead, we got Horizon: Call of the Mountain, which was… not great. Now, it seems Sony has ‘scaled back' its VR efforts, according to a new report.

A source speaking with Android Central has claimed that Sony is cutting funding for VR projects. Apparently there are going to be ‘very few opportunities' for VR development at Sony's studios moving forward. Sony itself also recently shut down one of its UK studios, which primarily worked on VR.

It is unclear of this means we'll also see less funding for exclusive games, like Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 4 Remake, which are only playable in VR mode on PS5, cutting out other platforms like PC VR.

This follows on from reports that PlayStation VR2 headsets have not been selling well, missing Sony's ambitious sales projections significantly at launch.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Sony has been known to lose interest in devices. It happened with the PS Vita, the original PSVR didn't get a whole lot of first-party love and now, if this rumour is true, it appears that PS VR2 will be in a similar boat, relying primarily on third-party developers.

Ubisoft's new shooter, XDefiant, officially launched in May and quickly drew in some players after some initial server issues. The game appears to be doing well, but fans have been asking for more game modes. In particular, the game's lack of Team Deathmatch mode has raised some eyebrows. Fortunately, as of today, XDefiant now has Team Deathmatch. 

Team Deathmatch is a staple of the multiplayer shooter genre. The idea is simple, you put together two teams on opposing sides and you let them fight it out, all while working together and communicating to win rounds. In XDefiant, the two current modes, Escort and Domination, encourage a fast-paced style of play, so it will be interesting to see if Team Deathmatch ends up being a bit more tactical.

What has two words, no objectives, and has been a frequent community request for many moons?

Jump into Team Deathmatch this Friday, June 21st at 10AM PT. pic.twitter.com/QV4gTeK6dy

— XDefiant (@PlayXDefiant) June 18, 2024

The XDefiant team made the surprise announcement that Team Deathmatch would be coming to the game earlier this week, confirming that the update will drop today, June 21st. If you have XDefiant installed, the update should be waiting for you to download by 6PM tonight (UK time).

XDefiant was billed as Ubisoft's competitor to Call of Duty and during its beta tests last year, a lot of players believed it could overthrow COD multiplayer in an off year for the long-running franchise. However, the game was hit by multiple delays, pushing it well out of its original late 2023 release window. The game is available now on PC, Xbox Series X/S and PS5 as a free-to-play title. If you want something purely tactical, then Ubisoft's other shooter, Rainbow Six Siege, is still going strong to this day and is continuing to get new updates.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Have you been playing much XDefiant since it launched last month? Will you be diving in this weekend to check out the new Team Deathmatch mode? 

Despite Black Myth Wukong being announced for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC since its initial reveal, this month, we learned that the game would not actually be available on Xbox at launch. This immediately kicked off rumours that the developers were struggling to get the game running on Xbox Series S. However, a new statement indicates that the real issue here is that the publisher behind the game has signed a late timed exclusivity deal.

In a statement sent to Windows Central, a Microsoft spokesperson said: “We’re excited for the launch of Black Myth Wukong on Xbox Series X|S and are working with Game Science to bring the game to our platforms. We can't comment on the deals made by our partners with other platform holders, but we remain focused on making Xbox the best platform for gamers, and great games are at the center of that.”

We don't know if Microsoft has knowledge of a new exclusivity deal between Sony and Game Science, the developers behind the game. However, based on that statement, it seems that it is their belief that an exclusivity deal has been signed. If true, then Game Science' comment on the Xbox delay could appear a little shady.

In the studio's own statement announcing the delay, it stated that it is now “optimising” the Xbox version of the game but that it won't be ready in time for launch. This led to renewed rumours that the Xbox Series S is ‘holding games back'. If the real reason behind the delay is actually a PlayStation exclusivity deal, then Game Science should really confirm that to clear things up.

Game Science has not yet responded to Microsoft's new statement on Black Myth Wukong and its status.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: We've seen a lot of current-gen games running fairly well on the Steam Deck, albeit with extremely dialled back graphics settings. With that in mind, I find it difficult to believe that the Series S is truly an issue, but Microsoft should be more flexible when it comes to feature parity between its two consoles. If it went in that direction from the beginning, maybe Halo Infinite's co-op plans wouldn't have been scrapped.

In recent weeks, a game simply titled ‘Banana’ has been topping the Steam charts and accruing hundreds of thousands of concurrent players. The game is simple, it shows a banana on the screen and all you do is click it as many times as you feel like. The game is clearly being used by bot farmers to try and cash out via the Steam marketplace. However, the developers behind Banana claim the title isn’t a ‘scam’.

On the game’s official Discord server, one of the co-owners of the studio said there is “no scamming” going on with Banana. In fact, the team apparently has plans to turn it into more than just a simple clicker game. “We cannot wait to turn this game into something bigger and better than just a clicker game. Please stay on the lookout as we have been and still are working on a large amount of updates to improve the game and let you all do much more with your bananas,” the developer wrote.

Currently, Banana is one of the top ten most played games in Steam’s history, which is quite an achievement for the biggest PC gaming platform. However, sleuths eventually discovered that one of the people involved in the game was previously involved in a Bitcoin scam, back when Steam allowed Bitcoin transactions on its store.

The game also has a known bot problem, something the developers are being open about. However, they have not yet figured out a way to put a stop to bot farms, which are using thousands of alternative accounts to try and earn skin drops in bulk. Those skins can then be sold on the Steam Marketplace. When a skin is sold on the Steam marketplace, Valve takes a cut, the seller takes a cut and the game developer also gets a cut, so there has been doubt around how motivated the team really is to address it.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Crypto scams have been prevalent for a long time now, and we've started to see some of those ideas applied in the world of video games. In recent years, some developers have announced games with fake trailers or images, built up hype around the project and then quickly shut down operations. Given how this game is being utilised as a Steam Market engine, I don't blame anyone for thinking that perhaps this little Banana clicker falls into a similar boat. 

If you were planning on jumping into Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree today on your Steam Deck, then you may want to hold off for a few days. From Software has confirmed that the new expansion has introduced a bug on Steam Deck, leading to unresponsive controls.

Elden Ring is one of those games where you absolutely do not want any latency spikes or controller hiccups to take place, as gameplay is based on well-timed attacks and dodge rolls. If you are playing the game on Steam Deck, you may encounter some frustrations after the most recent patch, but From Software is working to address the issue.

Speaking on the issue, From Software shared the following message: “Note: a Steam Deck related issue has been identified and a hotfix is being worked on. Leaving your Steam Deck inactive for more than 5 minutes may stop the game from accepting inputs. We apologize for inconvenience. The date and time of the hotfix will be announced separately.”

In the thread, other users are also encountering an issue where the game is unable to start in online mode, but others have said that verifying the game files through Steam can fix this.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Are you jumping into Shadow of the Erdtree this weekend?

Earlier this week, a hacking group claimed to have breached AMD, stealing employee and customer information, as well as other sensitive documents, source code and more. The veracity of these claims has yet to be verified, but AMD has confirmed it is investigating.

The group ‘IntelBroker', which has previously targeted the likes of Barclays and the LA International Airport, has claimed to have breached AMD's systems and made off with a ton of sensitive information relating to future products, code, employee and customer details, internal communications, ROMs, firmware and more – basically, all the trade secrets you don't want getting out. The group is now trying to sell this data online.

In a statement sent to Bloomberg, AMD confirmed that it is investigating the claimed breach, saying: “We are aware of a cybercriminal organization claiming to be in possession of stolen AMD data. We are working closely with law enforcement officials and a third-party hosting partner to investigate the claim and the significance of the data.”

A sample of the stolen data has been shared on BreachForums in an effort to get bidders interested, so it does appear that this breach may be legitimate, but we've seen fake ransom attempts in the past, so we'll have to wait and see how the investigation plays out.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Unfortunately, these cyberattacks are quite common. Back in 2022, Nvidia went through something similar, leading to a number of leaks about upcoming products, as well as sensitive information like employee credentials. AMD is investigating, so we'll keep an eye out for further updates.

Today, Razer is launching the latest version of the DeathAdder mouse. The new DeathAdder V3 HyperSpeed retains the same ergonomic shape as the DeathAdder V3 Pro, offering what many deem to be the perfect fit for competitive esports games.

The DeathAdder V3 HyperSpeed weighs just 55g, making it one of the lighter gaming mice on the market, allowing for faster manoeuvres in the heat of battle. The tweaked design reduced weight by 12 percent compared to the Pro version, and better yet, you'll get trust worthy wireless connectivity to take cable drag out of the equation.

Razer claims up to 100 hours of battery life on a single charge, but if you ever need to top the mouse up, it features a convenient USB Type-C port for wired connectivity and charging. With HyperSpeed technology, you'll also benefit from Razer's latest features, like 8000Hz polling to ensure your mouse is sending signals to the PC as fast as possible whenever you press a button. However, you will need the Razer HyperPolling dongle to turn 8000Hz polling on, which is sold separately.

Other features of the mouse include Razer Optical Gen 3 switches, the Razer Focus X 26K Optical sensor, and a new dynamic sensitivity feature for greater customisation of DPI. The Razer DeathAdder V3 HyperSpeed is available starting this week, priced at £119.99.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Are you looking to pick up a new gaming mouse this year?

As Bethesda is unlikely to release a new mainline Fallout game this side of 2030, many fans have speculated about potential remasters. In the past, we've heard rumours about a Fallout 3 remaster, as well as an Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remaster. However, Todd Howard has now thrown some cold water on that idea. 

In an interview with YouTuber MrMattyPlays, Todd Howard was asked about the potential for remasters of older games. While many others are in a rush to remake or remaster classic games with more modern graphics and gameplay, Howard sees Bethesda's classics differently, preferring to avoid ‘tarnishing' them, instead preferring that gamers experience those games as they were.

As pointed out by Windows Central, Bethesda does have its plate full at the moment. The studio is planning to release its first Starfield expansion this year, with more to come in the years ahead. Alongside this, Bethesda is also continuing to update Fallout 76, which has seen a surge in popularity this year. The most important task right now, however, is the development of The Elder Scrolls 6, which is now finally underway, six years on from the game's original announcement.

Fortunately, for those of us on PC, we can create our own remasters with mods. If you have an Xbox Series X/S console, you can also run most of Bethesda's older games at 60FPS via backwards compatibility mode.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Would you like to see any older Bethesda games remastered?

Earlier this month, Larian Studios announced plans to bring official mod support to Baldur's Gate 3. The new modding kit is currently in testing, with an official release scheduled for September. Now, it appears that the mod support update will be the last major content update for the game as Larian begins to ramp up work on new projects.

Modding support on Baldur's Gate 3 for PC will be evaluated to guarantee service compatibility and general stability before approval, similarly to how CD Projekt Red recently handled the release of The Witcher 3's upgraded modding tools. On PC, mods can be installed from any source, but console users will be limited to mods approved for Larian's official launcher.

Speaking during an interview recently, Larian's CEO, Swen Vincke, confirmed that the modding update will likely be the last one for Baldur's Gate 3, handing the keys over to the community to make additions to the game:

“One of the big things for us, and the one that we’re really working towards now, is the ability for players to mod themselves, because then they will be able to make their own things. I think that will be the point where we’re going to say ‘ok, now it’s yours fully’.”

Larian has already confirmed that it has plans for two new games and has no plans to work with Wizards of the Coast on a new Baldur's Gate game.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru says: Given how beloved Baldur's Gate 3 is, we'll no doubt see some fantastic mods and new community-created stories. 

While Sony has confirmed that it will be skipping Gamescom again this year, Xbox is looking to take advantage by hosting its largest booth ever at the event. We aren't going to get another huge showcase of announcements at Gamescom, but fans can expect to see more from World of Warcraft, Diablo, Obsidian's upcoming RPG, Avowed, and more. 

Nine of the major games that will feature prominently throughout the Xbox section at Gamescom will include Age of Mythology: Retold, Avowed, Ara: History Untold, Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, Diablo Immortal, The Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76, Towerborne and World of Warcraft: The War Within.

The Xbox team is heading BACK to @gamescom

Visit us at our biggest booth yet August 21-25! #Xboxgamescom pic.twitter.com/5lO8uvfsQJ

— Xbox (@Xbox) June 20, 2024

Xbox has also teased that there is ‘more to come', so we may see a few more major games confirmed. One prominent candidate not currently listed would be Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which is also scheduled to release later this year, but does not have an exact date yet, similarly to Obsidian's Avowed, which is also due out later this year.

With E3 stopping several years ago, many publishers have turned to Gamescom, putting more effort and budget into their booths at the annual event in Germany, despite Summer Game Fest positioning itself as the ‘E3 replacement'.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Will you be attending Gamescom this year? Are there any games you are hoping to try out early?

A while back, Microsoft announced that the upcoming Redfall DLC, which promised new playable heroes and had already been sold to players, would no longer be coming out. The planned ‘Hero Pass' has been scrapped and Arkane Austin, the studio behind the game, is also being shut down. Now, Microsoft has finally begun the process of reimbursing players who paid for the scrapped DLC. 

If you bought the Redfall Bite Back Edition, your account should be credited with an amount matching the value of the Redfall Hero Pass. In the US, that should mean you get $26.99 back, while in the UK, the figure will be closer to £20.

Several purchasers have now confirmed that they have received their refunds. If you check your Xbox account, you should have a message from Xbox directly confirming the refund.

This comes a little over a month on from Microsoft announcing plans to shut down several studios under the Zenimax umbrella, including Arkane Austin (Redfall, Prey), Tango Gameworks (Ghostwire Tokyo, The Evil Within, Hi-Fi Rush) and Alpha Dog (Might Doom).

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KitGuru Says: Did any of you happen to buy the Redfall Bite Back Edition? Have you received your refund yet?

Nvidia's list of DLSS-supported titles continues to grow. This week, three more games are launching with DLSS 3 technology, including Frame Generation, allowing RTX 40 GPU users to bump up frame rates even further. One of the big surprise games is none other than Pax Dei, an MMO that has been catching some attention in recent years due to its ambitious sandbox plans.

Pax Dei is now available via Steam Early Access. As it is a pre-alpha title, there will be very little optimisation in place, meaning it may be a struggle to run on a lot of hardware. However, if you have an RTX 40 series graphics card, you can switch on DLSS 3 to improve performance by up to 3x at 4K resolution. Those with an RTX 30 or RTX 20 series graphics card can still enable DLSS, but they will not be able to switch on the Frame Generation option.

Still Wakes The Deep, a game set on an oil rig in the middle of a vicious storm out at sea. The game supports DLSS 3 with Frame Generation too, improving performance by 2.6x on average.

The final game on the list today is Sail the Isle of Skye, a new game from Aurora Game Studios. With DLSS 3, you'll see an average frame rate boost of 2.4x. As with all DLSS 3 games, Nvidia Reflex is also supported, so you can reduce system latency for more responsive gaming.

If you enjoy mining up rock and stone, then you will also be pleased to know that Deep Rock Galactic has also added DLSS 3 recently, although you may not need it, as that title is generally quite forgiving on hardware.

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KitGuru Says: Are you picking up any of the new DLSS-supported games this week?