Nintendo Switch is now on 79.87m consoles sold, enough to beat the lifetime total of the mighty and long-lived Nintendo 3DS, which recorded 75.94m over its years on sale. In the three months covering the 2020 holiday sales season, October to December, Switch sales were up seven per cent year-on-year, with 27 per cent of those sales for Switch Lite. Just on its own, Switch Lite is now only a few thousand sales away from beating Wii U’s lifetime figure of 13....

The research found that the Joy-Con’s plastic circuit boards showed noticeable wear on the joystick slider contact points, despite only being used for months. It is this wear that ultimately results in drifting. In addition, dust and other contaminants were found in the Switch’s internal components, despite attempts by Nintendo at dustproofing said areas. Which? also criticised Nintendo’s handling of the situation and its response to affected consumers. The organisation has called upon Nintendo to provide a compensation or refund plan for any UK consumers who can prove they purchased a replacement Joy-Con due to drift since 2017, and said that this scheme should be widely promoted....

Fei Long, originally created for 1993’s Super Street Fighter 2 as one of four new challengers, is heavily-inspired by real-life movie martial arts legend Bruce Lee. Last month, Street Fighter 5 composer Daniel Lindholm suggested Fei Long may no longer feature in the series because the Lee Bruce estate insists depictions of the Enter the Dragon star must be “honourable”, rather than humourous in the wake of the “comedy” cameo in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood....

There’s not a great deal of story in No Man’s Sky - it’s a game of exploration, after all - but the one element which does stand out as a more structured narrative is the Atlas Path. Although obscure, easily missed, and unexplained, one way or another you’ll still need to engage with the Atlas in No Man’s Sky - if only to get your hands on an Atlas Pass....

One way to make it easier is to look for a headset that’s designed for a specific console, like the SteelSeries Arctis 7X Wireless option, which is designed for Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One consoles. The Arctis 7X is fully equipped to be your new gaming headset, with an improved 30-hour battery that is charged via USB-C. The headset is made from lightweight and durable steel and has a comfortable ski goggle-style band that can be adjusted easily to fit your head....

Announcing the news on the Paradox forum, a community ambassador for the company explained, “After discussion with our partners it was decided that Victoria 3 won’t be a part of Game Pass or Microsoft Store.” Paradox offered no further explanation, only saying it “[looks] forward to sharing more details on our next partnership with Xbox in the future.” ORIGINAL STORY 30/8/22: Victoria 3, the latest entry in Paradox Interactive’s long-dormant society builder series, has been given a release date and is coming to PC and Xbox Game Pass for PC on 25th October....

A blog post following yesterday’s livestream gives further information on previous-gen console versions. It reads: “Since launch, our primary focus has been to improve the experience of Cyberpunk 2077 across all platforms, in particular on previous-gen consoles. For the last year and half, the team has worked hard to release patches and hotfixes to improve the game by fixing numerous bugs, optimizing performance and stability, overhauling in-game systems and gameplay mechanics, introducing dozens of quality of life changes, and more....

As of today, access to the app has been unlocked in dozens more countries, including mainland Europe, Korea, Taiwan and elsewhere. Interested if you’re country is now included? Niantic has a full country availability list. Pikmin Bloom officially launched a week ago in Australia and Singapore, before rolling to the US and Canada a few days later. But it’s been beta tested for much longer, and I’ve had access for a week and a half now....

Platinum’s CEO Atsushi Inaba and vice president Hideki Kamiya discussed NFTs and blockchain technology as part of an extensive chat with VGC, revealing that despite growing interest in the tech among gaming publishers, the studio hasn’t “really been thinking about that.” “I understand it’s a hot topic right now and it’s really starting to gain momentum,” Inaba told VGC, “but the way that it’s gained momentum has been focused on profitability for the company, but with no positive impact on the creators or the users in any sense....

The existing DualSense controllers in Midnight Black and Cosmic Red will be joined by Nova Pink, Starlight Blue and Galactic Purple. In addition, console covers will be available in all five colours, meaning you can now have a completely black PS5 should you wish. The console covers can be clicked on and off to replace the standard white. They’re compatible with both the physical and digital versions of the console....

The PS5 has proved hard to find ever since it arrived two years ago, with stock problems leading to shortages and scalping. PS5 availability has been a global issue, though one Sony now says it has solved in its home country. Speaking at the recent PlayStation Partner Awards event in Japan, company boss Jim Ryan said the console’s ongoing supply problems had now finally been put to bed. “We would like to inform everyone that we have resolved the long-term supply issue of PlayStation 5 and will be able to deliver it to many customers in Japan and Asia from this year-end shopping season to 2023,” Ryan said....

The website lists core visual and audio features, as well as closed captions, controls and chat transcription. Some of the PS5’s most accessible games are also featured, including The Last of Us Part 2, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. The website launch is a further indication of PlayStation’s commitment to accessibility, shared by Microsoft with its console features and custom controller. “At Sony Interactive Entertainment, we strive to build a future for players of all abilities....

First up, Oddworld: Soulstorm, which as we knew already will launch on 6th April directly into PlayStation Plus. Soulstorm is the second chapter in Abe’s quintology (Oddworld: New ’n’ Tasty, a full HD remake of Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, is considered the first game in the quintology). You reprise the role of Abe the Mudokon, the accidental hero turned leader of a growing revolution. Next up is Days Gone, the PlayStation 4 post-apocalyptic open world adventure about a man and his motorbike....

October’s PlayStation 5 game is Black Matter’s 50v50 WW2 shooter Hell Let Loose, which launches straight into PlayStation Plus (it’s also out on Xbox Series X and S and PC). Our Chris Tapsell previewed the PC version in July. On PlayStation 4 there’s NetherRealm’s 2015 fighting game Mortal Kombat X. And last year’s PGA Tour 2K21. All three games join the PlayStation Plus lineup on Tuesday, 5th October and will be available until Monday, 1st November....

However, many of its Classic Catalogue PlayStation 1 games are available only in their PAL 50Hz versions - a slower standard superceded by the NTSC 60Hz option available elsewhere. This morning, Sony said it will provide “NTSC options for a majority” of these games in the future - though not detailed when or for which games. “We’re planning to roll out NTSC options for a majority of classic games offered on the PlayStation Plus Premium and Deluxe plan in Asia, Europe, Middle East, India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand regions,” Sony wrote via its Twitter today....

Beyond a Steel Sky, which initially released for iOS and PC last summer, reunites designer Charles Cecil and art director Dave Gibbons - the duo responsible for the first game - for another bout of dystopian sci-fi adventure. This time around, returning protagonist Robert Foster plots a course for Union City - a fortified utopia in a war-ravaged world, where “people live happily under the surveillance and control of a benign AI” - in search of an abducted child....

The store will be running alongside the Pokémon World Championships, which is being held at ExCeL London from 17th to 21st August. Anyone wishing to visit the store can now reserve themselves a timeslot via the appointment manager. The last time a physical Pokémon Center was in the UK was in 2019 at Shepherd’s Bush. If that experience was anything to go by, booking a reservation for the upcoming store is highly recommended....

In the past, Nintendo has described the game as offering “natural expanses” and “untamed landscapes”. Meanwhile, trailers have suggested the game will offer some of the series’ largest spaces to date. Some fans hope Arceus will provide a Breath of the Wild-esque experience, with one enormous map available to traverse. But others now say this looks unlikely. “It is coming increasingly clear that Pokémon Legends Arceus may not be full open world but rather segmented open areas like Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Monster Hunter etc....

You’ll have to start ‘A Mysterious Incense’ to get access to Daily Adventure Incense in Pokémon Go, so we’ve detailed all its quest steps and rewards below. This special research and Daily Adventure Incense is being rolled out worldwide this week, so if the quest hasn’t appeared in your game yet, you’ll unfortunately just have to wait until it gets added. ‘A Mysterious Incense’ quest steps in Pokémon Go A Mysterious Incense is a special research quest in Pokémon Go that is available to all trainers, as it introduces Daily Adventure Incense to the game....

Sharp-eyed fans first spotted the mysterious new Pokémon during a segment on Scarlet and Violet’s photo mode, its round grey head and twin antenna barely visible behind a chunk of UI. There’ve been no further sightings following that discovery, and developer GameFreak is yet to reveal more, but a new Pokémon Go update has now, albeit inadvertently, kicked the little fella into the spotlight sooner than intended. As spotted by Polygon, datamining group PokeMiners has now picked through Pokémon Go’s new update and found 3D assets for Scarlet and Violet’s mysterious photo bomber....