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Last year, a group of BioWare veterans unveiled Exodus, a new space RPG made by former developers from Halo, The Last of Us, and, of course, those classic BioWare RPGs. While hopping around the galaxy in BioWare is a pretty speedy affair, though, Exodus takes a substantially more scientifically accurate approach.

In a new FAQ, the developers attempted to explain that approach. One of Exodus' key ideas is Time Dilation - the principle that the closer you get to Light Speed, the slower time moves for you. In Exodus, that means that "while you may experience only days or weeks passing by on your own journey, years or even decades will pass for everyone and everything else in the galaxy."

That idea is key to Exodus' choice-based gameplay and multiple endings - the decisions you make in the present could be felt years, decades, or even centuries down the line, after you return from your spacefaring adventures. And developer Archetype is keen to make sure that you know there's no way to reduce the effects of Time Dilation.

The devs describe the phenomenon as "an inescapable fact of our universe," and "an immutable law of physics." That means that "there is no possible way to prevent, avoid, or alter the effects of time dilation." No items, abilities, or technologies will protect players from the long-term consequences of their actions, because Time Dilation is stitched into our understanding of the universe, and Exodus is taking a pretty 'hard sci-fi' approach to its world, the core facets of the game based on Einsteinian physics.

That hard sci-fi is also based around the understanding that it's not possible to travel at the speed of light, but to help with that, Exodus relies on a technology known as the 'Gates of Heaven'. A hyper-advanced technology left behind by a missing race known as the Elohim, these Gates allow Travelers - those who explore the galaxy and will have to deal with the effects of Time Dilation - to accelerate instantly so close to Light Speed that interstellar travel becomes possible.

There are some hints around the narrative of Exodus hidden within the description of the Gates. The Elohim's absence from the galaxy seems a likely plot point, and there are also mentions of what happens if the Gates are attacked or otherwise destroyed, as well as in-universe rumors of a virus capable of damaging the Gates. If I know anything about galaxy-spanning time-based sci-fi, it's that if a character can get trapped on the other side of the known universe with no obvious way of getting home before being Deus Ex Machina'd back to civilization, they will.

As yet, there's no word on when Exodus will release, but as it's planned for release on PS5 and Xbox Series X, as well as PC, it shouldn't be more than a few years away.

Mass Effect 5 director gives props to Exodus, the new time-hopping sci-fi game from BioWare RPG veterans.

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Payday 3's Operation Medic Bag's second patch is now available.

Described as a "focused effort to respond to community expectations and improve Payday 3", Operation Medic Bag "covers a range of sought-after features and improvements to gameplay, stability, matchmaking, content, and enhanced features".

This particular patch includes new adaptive armour, the new Adrenaline feature – which functions as an extra but temporary health pool – the new mega-buff Fortitude skill line, and several fixes. Starbreeze also says that players can expect updates released "under the Operation Medic Bag umbrella" to roll out with greater "cadence", including more smaller updates more frequently.

CD Projekt's chief financial officer, Piotr Nielubowicz, says the company does "not see a place for microtransactions in the case of single-player games".

Talking to Polish site StockWatch.pl (via Insider Gaming and JuiceHead), Nielubowicz reiterated the studio's position on in-game monetisation, albeit acknowledging that the team couldn't "rule out that [CD Projekt] will use this solution in the future" when it came to multiplayer games.

"We do not see a place for microtransactions in the case of single-player games," Nielubowicz said, according to Twitterer JuiceHead. "But we do not rule out that we will use this solution in the future in the case of multiplayer projects."

Let's see if they hold too this.

Some indie developers have revealed that deals regarding Xbox Game Pass and Epic Games Store exclusivity have dried up and aren't nearly as lucrative as they were before.

At the Game Developers Conference 2024, Darkest Dungeon director Chris Bourassa said that Microsoft has decreased the scope for getting games onto Game Pass since the service began, and Epic Games has done similar things when it came to securing exclusives for its PC storefront.

"The Gold Rush is over. I come from the Northwest Territories. The town I'm from was built on gold, and then they found diamonds further north," Bourassa explained. "Maybe another paradigm shift is waiting for us, but I definitely think the scale of the deals I'm hearing about is significantly diminished from the big swinging days. Certainly we got our Epic [deal] at the right time."

Production on the upcoming RPG The Witcher 4 has picked up significantly since we last heard about it. CD Projekt Red confirmed as part of its earnings report that the the team behind the game, codenamed Polaris, has grown to 403 staffers, or about two-thirds of the studio. It’s now the single biggest project being…

Time flies.

This weekend marks an extremely important milestone in the world of Xbox, as Phil Spencer will be celebrating 10 years as the head of the brand on Sunday, March 31st. Yes, it's really been that long now!

Spencer famously took on the job as Xbox boss following a rough Xbox One launch and the subsequent departure of former head Don Mattrick, and ended up becoming a beloved figure for Xbox fans over the coming years.

Embracer has entered an agreement to sell Gearbox Interactive to Take-Two for $460m.

When this transaction is complete, Take-Two will acquire the Borderlands and Tiny Tina's Wonderlands franchises, as well as Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms and Duke Nukem. Closing is expected to be finalised in Q1 FY 24/25, ending June 2024.

Following this, Embracer will still retain a number of assets such as Lost Boys, which Gearbox acquired in 2022.

Perish is a stylized 4 player first-person shooter roguelite developed by ITEM42. Defeat waves of enemies in bosses in the hopes of selling the remnants to priests to gain access to Elysium. Dive into the depths of Purgatory alone or with up to 4 players in online co-op to dispatch enemies of all mythologies from Ancient Greek, Roman, and Christian faiths. Choose from a variety of ranged and melee weapons, each with unique offensive capabilities and upgradeable augmentations. Perish is coming to consoles on April 15 for PlayStation 4 (PS4), PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox One, and Xbox Series S|X alongside the game's PC release.

Reviving the beloved Mass Effect series - again! - may be a tough mission, but the veteran crew behind the upcoming Mass Effect 5 know a little something about assembling a squad to take on impossible odds.

Writing on social media platform X this week, Mass Effect 5 executive producer Mike Gamble highlighted some of the upcoming project's experienced leadership when responding to a fan who questioned whether anyone on the game had worked on the original Mass Effect trilogy.

"EP, Art Director, Creative Director, Game Director are all trilogy vets," was Gamble's response.

Read more...

Phil Spencer has discussed the devastating wave of layoffs that has impacted the video games industry, and said he was "most concerned" about the overall "lack of growth".

The Xbox boss presided over the departure of 1900 people across Xbox and Activision Blizzard in January of this year, a decision he described at the time as being one aimed at achieving "a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business".

Across the video games industry as a whole, more than 15,000 people are thought to have been let go over the past 18 months.

Read more..

New Game Pass RPG coming this summer!

Following a chunky delay last summer, upcoming Game Pass RPG Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is back with a new deep dive showcase - featuring around 10-minutes of fresh gameplay.

We've thrown the team's extended gameplay overview up above, which shows off a bunch of different mechanics and environments from the upcoming title - a title that's still scheduled to launch on Xbox Game Pass in Summer 2024.

Read the full article on purexbox.com

Reportedly, some third-party video game publishers aren’t sure why they should keep making and supporting games for Xbox consoles due to poor sales in Europe.

Judas in my mind.

Today, a fresh round of previews have dropped for Judas - the upcoming narrative FPS from Ghost Story Games; the core of which created the BioShock series. Up to now this project has been largely shrouded in mystery, but as we build towards its eventual release, Ken Kevine & co. are starting to open up about the upcoming Xbox title.

At the very top of this article we've included a link to The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley's video on Judas, as that's the most succinct breakdown coming out of these limited previews. Skill Up and IGN have also posted more lengthy previews of the title - featuring in-depth interviews with Levine.

A free trial of Cyberpunk 2077 will be available for PS5 and Xbox Series X players later this week.

On March 25, developer CD Projekt Red announced that its RPG will be available for free for a limited time for some PlayStation and Xbox players. As revealed in the tweet below, the free trial will be available for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S only (sorry PS4, Xbox One, and PC players) and doesn't require a PlayStation Plus or Xbox Game Pass subscription of any kind.

The trial itself will give players up to five hours of playtime and is set to run from March 28 at 8am PDT / 11am EST / 3pm GMT and will end on March 31 at 11:59pm PDT / 2:59am EST / 6:59am GMT, so start clearing your calendar now.

Xbox is currently working on a series of prototypes for a new gaming handheld device, based on the latest report.

Speaking during the latest episode of The Xbox Two podcast, co-host Jez Corden mentioned that Xbox is currently working on gaming handheld prototypes. He further clarified that although the company had previously experimented with handheld prototypes, the one he referred to are more recent.

The podcast hosts explained that the existence of prototypes doesn’t necessarily mean that they will go to market. However, Corden believes that Microsoft would be “insane” to not do this. He also pointed out that Valve’s Steam Deck is benefiting from being able to run both Xbox and PlayStation exclusives, and Microsoft currently doesn’t offer a similar experience for its own ecosystem. He believes that both Sony and Microsoft are likely to be pursuing the handheld market.

Corden clarified that the Xbox handheld prototypes that Microsoft is currently working on are not cloud-based, and that they are capable of running software natively. If eventually released, the device will be digital-only, and there are unlikely to be any physical media options.

Previously, well-known insider Tom Henderson had hinted at the existence of an Xbox gaming handheld device. His tweet came in response to The Verge’s Tom Warren, who wondered if Microsoft ends up working on an Xbox handheld.

Warren had stated that his ideal Xbox handheld would be one that has the Xbox OS and UI, grants access to the existing lineup of Xbox games, and even PC games with Windows at the back-end. He pointed out that Microsoft has the technology to build an Xbox handheld device similar to the Steam Deck. Henderson responded to Warren with a smile, hinting that something along those lines may already be in development at Microsoft. This has now been corroborated by Corden.

Jyamma Games has "officially apologised to the Xbox community" after deciding not to release the soulslike Enotria: The Last Song on Xbox in order to ensure a "superior experience" for players on PC and PS5.

In a press statement, CEO Giacomo Greco apologised for taking so long to tell Xbox players that the game would not be coming to Xbox Series X/S, saying it was a "choice that has just been made" and that "making the release on all platforms would lead to a decrease in the overall quality of the product and a further delay of the same".

"I want you to know that the delay caused by the launch on the same date of [Elden Ring's DLC] gave us the opportunity to take more time to further improve the product, this led to raising the bar and, as CEO, I'm responsible for the final quality of the product," Greco said.

Capcom has laid out its plans for future Dragon's Dogma 2 updates.

The developer will be adding new features such as the option to start a new game when save data already exists and changing up the number of Art of Metamorphosis items available to buy at Pawn Guilds to 99. These particular updates will be available across PlayStation, Xbox and PC.

Meanwhile, specifically on PS5 and Xbox, players will soon be able to switch ray tracing and motion blur on or off. There will also be the option to set Dragon's Dogma 2's frame rate to either Variable or to a 30fps cap. Those playing on Steam will get improved visuals with DLSS...