Ubisoft has not trumpeted the arrival of the new eight-player offering, dubbed Countdown, and it’s easy to see why. The new mode has launched while the very real fight for control of Chernobyl power station has been in the headlines, during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Of course, the mode has been in development for some time - and was not created in response to the real-world crisis. The timing, however, is unforunate....

The free-to-play sports game was released in May this year, but just months later will seemingly be canned. That’s according to Giant Bomb journalist Jeff Grubb speaking on the Xbox Era podcast: “Roller Champions is gonna be cancelled after Season 3,” he said, reading out a message from a source. Watch on YouTube Roller Champions | Disco Fever Gameplay Trailer According to Ubisoft’s recent financial call, the game was more successful than its cancelled battle royale Hyper Scape, though seemingly still not high enough to continue support....

The event, announced on Sunday, was to be held in Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE - a country often criticised for its human rights record. There are numerous reports detailing examples of the country’s forced disappearances and torture. Amnesty International has called for the country’s “secret prisons” to be investigated as war crimes. Homosexuality is a crime in the country, and results in imprisonment or death. A fan petition said Ubisoft’s decision to hold a Rainbow Six tournament in the UAE was “short-sighted, dangerous and backwards to the developing ideology of esports” considering the “inclusion of LGBTQ+ members of Rainbow Six: Siege talent”....

Some of the main feature updates and quality of life improvements due to be released in Season 3 have been pushed back to Season 4. This includes a new iteration of the Ranked mode, dubbed Ranked 2.0; restrictions on voice chat for players who are verbally abusive on mic; and the Reputation Score display beta. In the news blog posted on Steam, Ubisoft explained that “the reality of working on a live game means features have to be delayed in order to ensure they meet the quality standards you expect”....

The report, published by Newcastle and Loughborough Universities, tracked the gaming habits of 42 families with children aged between five and 17, and interviewed another 30 parents, carers and video game designers. In short, the study found children struggled to track spending in video games where “highly alluring” digital items were advertised to them using techniques borrowed from regulated gambling. The report recommends the sale of loot boxes be restricted within games to those aged over 18, and that virtual currencies be replaced with direct currency (such as pound sterling) instead....

The game has already proven incredibly popular in Early Access and now developer Poncle has released a roadmap leading up to the full release. Version 1.0 will add a further nine characters, five stages, 16 weapons, and two power-ups, among other additions. The release date is unknown, but coming in April is a new gameplay mechanic known as Arcanas. It’s unclear what these are, but a graphic in the roadmap post suggests tarot cards and it promises to “unlock a whole new level of viable builds and power creep”....

It’s planned to be about the size of the base game’s Commonwealth map, making this a hugely ambitious piece of DLC. “The mod encapsulates the gritty, adventurous nature of the Fallout games with a new world, factions, storylines, NPCs, weapons, creatures, and much more! This all comes together in a package tied with a uniquely British bow,” reads the press release. As the above new gameplay trailer shows, Fallout: London sits apart from the rest of the series....

That’s right; some players have discovered how to make boats fly, elevating them high into the air to avoid the battlefield entirely and coast to victory. Here’s one in action: It’s also perhaps the one good thing I’ve seen come from proximity chat so far, too; rather than eliminate their enemies, the hackers are using the chat feature to invite randoms into their ship where they sail across the sky instead of the clear blue waters, like this example below (thanks, PC Gamer): ICYMI, Modern Warfare 2 players are paying real money on eBay to unlock a hard-to-gain weapon in-game....

You’ll be able to watch the livestream via YouTube, or right here in the video below. What are you looking forward to seeing? Could we finally get a look at Silksong? Nintendo’s last Indie World showcase back in December 2021 revealed details of Messenger developer’s gorgeous retro-inspired RPG Sea of Stars, a first glimpse of WayForward’s beat-’em-up sequel River City Girls 2, the tearjerking fox adventure in Endling: Extinction is Forever, and a release date for OlliOlli World, among other things....

If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What We’ve Been Playing, here’s our archive. Saturnalia, PC Saturnalia, with its ghoulish pursuers, ancient rites and shifting midnight streets, may seem like an odd choice for a game to play over Christmas, but actually it fits perfectly. That’s because there’s always been something spooky about the festive season. You can see it in books like The Box of Delights and The Dark is Rising - and it helps that The Dark is Rising got a lovely audio adaptation at the end of last year, with help from Robert MacFarlane....

Thankfully, you don’t have too far to search, but after finding the florist’s husband, you’ll have to find a way inside and explore the arena to complete the chapter. We detailed the exact location of the florist’s husband in A Plague Tale: Requiem below, along with how to find a way inside the arena after you’ve spoke with him. On this page: Where to find the florist’s husband in A Plague Tale: Requiem After speaking with the florist opposite the entrance of the sheltered market stalls, she’ll inform Amicia that it’s actually her husband who knows Magister Vaudin’s location, not her....

For the uninitiated, the aim of Wordle is to work out a daily five-letter word within six guesses. The fewer the guesses, the better - and if you fail to guess it at all, you’ll break your streak. The latter is why working out today’s Wordle answer is such a priority, as players pride themselves on keeping their streak going. So why gamble on a risky final guess when you can learn a few clues and, failing that, get the definitive answer?...

To accompany this official announcement, however, we also have a new trailer from Blizzard. Here, the gates to the frozen plains of Northrend are opened once again as battle ensues all around. You can check it out for yourself below. “The Lich King, Arthas Menethil, sits in the ominous Icecrown Citadel scheming to claim the world as his own–a plan that threatens all life on Azeroth. “Heroes of the Alliance and Horde must stand against the malevolent being who dares to declare himself the one true king of Azeroth…and seeks to scour all life from the world....

The company broke the news in a message shared to users of its Xbox app on iOS and Android (thanks Windows Central), noting that Xbox features will cease to function on Windows Phone devices starting on 16th May this year. While it says “some” games will remain playable after that date, any online components will cease to function - achievements will be retired, for instance, and progress made on previously supported games will no longer be recorded to users’ Xbox profiles....

This is a game all about deck building, so you need to constantly iterate and improve the decks you use in duels if you’re going to be successful. When you start Master Duel you’re met with three deck choices - Power of the Dragon, Synchro of Unity or Link Generation - and whilst choosing one might seem like an irreversible and long reaching decision, luckily it isn’t. Even so, we’ve compiled how you should decide which deck to pick, and what to do once you’ve chosen it....

At first glance, Zombie Army 4 on Switch is a ringer for the PS4 version and seemingly matching the resolution and frame-rate goes a long way - just as it did for the firm’s excellent Sniper Elite 4 conversion. As you’ll read in the interview, development targets native resolution and 30fps in Switch’s mobile mode, before scaling up to the docked experience. Dynamic resolution is used, with a 918p to 1080p range, dropping to 684p to 720p handheld....

Speaking to IGN, Kishimoto’s comments somewhat clarify what separates Sonic Frontiers from open-world games. “Level-based platformers often have a world map. Our Open Zone is a world map, only we’ve made it entirely playable,” said Kishimoto. “A playable world map that includes stage-like elements is something that hasn’t really been done before, so we had to come up with a new name. What is often defined as a World in other level-based platformers is called a Zone in Sonic games, so we took that and combined it with Open, which refers to a freely explorable field....

In a warning post on Twitter, 2K said it had become aware “an authorised third party illegally accessed the credentials of one of our vendors” and sent a “communication” to certain players containing a malicious link. You should not open any emails or click any links you receieve from 2K Games’ support account, the company warned. If you have clicked the link already, 2K says you should reset any passwords stored in your web browser, enable two-factor authentication, run an antivirus program, and check your own email to see if any forwarding rules have been added to spread the issue further....

If A Highland Song looks familiar, that might be because Inkle hasn’t been particularly secretive about its latest project, sharing some of its early production work on the title via regular updates on its blog. Today, however, marks its official unveiling, bringing with it an immediately arresting, wonderfully evocative reveal trailer. While narrative remains at A Highland Song’s core, it once again marks a new shift in genre for Inkle....

The taster will also give players a chance to band together, as co-op for up to four friends will also be available in the trial. As is usually the case with contemporary demos, all progress made during your free trial can be transferred should you decide to press ahead and pick up the full version of Babylon’s Fall, and those who cough up for the more expensive editions of the hack-and-slasher - the Digital Deluxe Edition and the Collector’s Edition - will be able to get in on the action a little earlier from 28th February....