Marlene is the boss of the Fireflies, the resistance movement who fights for freedom against the military. She appeared in both The Last of Us games. Dandridge joins Pedro Pascal (Joel) and Bella Ramsey (Ellie) on the cast of HBO’s upcoming show. Gabriel Luna plays Tommy, Joel’s younger brother. As already announced, Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann are writing the script for the series. Dandridge has played a raft of video game characters over the years, including Alyx Vance from Half-Life, Kate Collins in Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, and Evelyn in Uncharted 4....

That is, until now! Mexican indie developer Luto Akino has been putting together his own version of what a possible Metroid 64 may have looked like. Akino has shared a video of his work on Twitter, which shows a wonderfully polygonal Samus Arun exploring some caves (spotted by Kotaku). The low-res textures and blocky environments are charmingly retro, but Samus’s moveset is intact. That includes her spinning jump, morph ball, and a lock-on for shooting enemies with her arm cannon....

Business Insider reported that hundreds - but less than 1000 - staff have been affected. “Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Eurogamer today. “We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead.” Microsoft currently employs around 180,000 people around the world and previously announced layoffs in July, when it said it would shed “less than one percent” of its workforce as it re-evaluated “business priorities”....

That’s according to Windows Central’s Jez Corden, who, citing “trusted sources familiar with with Microsoft’s efforts”, reports the family plan has been in the works for some time as Microsoft navigated issues around royalty distribution and third-party licenses. Those kinks are presumably close to being ironed out now, however, with Corden suggesting an official unveiling may happen relatively soon. As for what the family plan might offer, it’ll reportedly enable five users in the same country to access Game Pass’ entire library using a single membership, with the cost said to be “far cheaper” than paying for five individual subscriptions....

Reddit user InterventX shared a mockup of what a more functional user interface would look like, which as it turns out just looks like the interface from Modern Warfare (2019). Eagle-eyed fans have pointed out Infinity Ward got a new UX/UI Director following Modern Warfare’s launch in 2019. William Faler joined the studio in October 2020, having previously been the head of UX at the American streaming platform Hulu. The resemblance of MW2’s interface to streaming platforms is uncanny....

This free access will run until 19th December, and offers three maps and four modes to play through. The maps in question are Shipment (a new arrival to the game - more on that in a second), Farm 18 (which is a Shoothouse inspired number) and El Asilo. Meanwhile, the four modes are Team Deathmatch, Hardpoint, Domination, and Kill Confirmed. These can be played in first and third-person. As for Shipment’s arrival in the game, veteran players will notice that a few changes have been made to this classic map, the most notable being that it is no longer set on land....

This page has a full list of every type, in order of the game’s recommendation for beginners to more advanced players, and details of what makes them different from the next. We also explain how wirebugs incorporate into each weapon including Silkbind attacks and Switch Skills. New skills have been added since launch, and now that Sunbreak is here, there are even more Silkbind attacks for each weapon to learn....

The near five-minute gameplay clip is live now on vk.com, and looks like it was captured from a recent restricted test, given the black bars that block an identifying watermark from showing on-screen. We see a raft of characters from the Warner Bros. character pile in action, including Wonder Woman, Batman, Harley Quinn and Velma. The official MultiVersus video is below, if you fancy a catch-up: The similarities between the free-to-play MultiVersus and Smash Bros....

Speaking to IGN, Yoshida was asked to comment on responses to the latest trailer that features mostly white characters. Yoshida admitted it was a difficult question to answer, but that the lack of diversity fits the “isolated nature of this realm” - Valisthea, where the game takes place. “This is a difficult question, but not one that was unexpected, seeing as diversity in entertainment media has become a much-discussed topic as of late....

Naughty Dog’s Josh Scherr, who co-wrote A Thief’s End with Neil Druckmann and then went on to co-write The Lost Legacy, was a guest on YouTube channel Couch Soup over the weekend. Here, Scherr shared more about his illustrious career with Naughty Dog (which has spanned over 20 years) and gave some behind the scenes insight into Uncharted 4’s development. Scherr praised the power of PlayStation 4, and said it was “specifically designed to not be super complicated with a cell processor and six SPUs and all that other crazy stuff”, likening it to a “fancy version of a high-end PC”....

That’s according to a newly spotted Sony job listing (thanks VGC) seeking a game design intern to work at a “new PlayStation studio based in San Diego… co-developing an exciting new project with Naughty Dog in a beloved franchise.” There’s no additional information about the new studio, but it seems highly likely it’s the same San-Diego-based “new internal game develop team” Sony referenced in a different job listing earlier this week....

Its introduction means that there are now 11 legendary Pokémon for you to photograph in New Pokémon Snap, but you must unlock the new areas first to find it! Afterwards, you’ll be able to find Zeraora’s location and take a four-star Zeraora photo, which, in turn, will complete the Illusion of the Badlands request. On this page: If you’d like to learn more, visit our New Pokémon Snap walkthrough. For the Badlands (Night) course, you first need to reach Research Level 2; here you’ll find Zeraora asleep on your left-hand side at the beginning of the course....

Capcom, via the Resident Evil Twitter account, released four pieces of artwork, each revolving around Nemesis. We see him on a table in an Umbrella lab, hooked up to various tubes and with technicians in hazmat suits making notes. Another piece of artwork shows these experiments gone horribly wrong - all the while Umbrella goons watch from relative safety. In another piece, a bleeding Nemesis is seen kneeling in apparent agony....

While no gameplay was shown, the trailer gives more detail on the game’s narrative - the bits George R. R. Martin has done. It also shows off the stunning artistic design, including a heavily armoured, scarlet-haired villain with a pig-like mask. The trailer reiterates the release date: 25th February 2022. Here’s what we thought of the beta release last month.

Pokémon details always leak - often months before launch, but especially in the last few weeks as retail copies begin appearing in the wild. Should you look at spoilers? For some, uncovering the many unannounced creatures as they play is a core part of the games. For others, knowing what your new Starter Pokémon will eventually evolve into is a big deal. Whichever side of the debate you’re on, there’s no doubting the level of interest in new Pokémon designs - seen this week when the final evolution of Starter cat creature Sprigatito sparked an avalanche of dubious fanart after an image was posted by a leaker....

Only a handful of the titles have been revealed so far. Thankfully, one of them is Sable, the gorgeous-looking desert sci-fi game which we’ll have a write-up on very soon. Another is Tunic, the adorably cute, Zelda-like adventure game. Both of these were glimpsed in the Summer Games Fest broadcast this evening. The other games on the list are The Riftbreaker, which I’ve tried on PC (and really liked), and Echo Generation and Lake....

Ninja Theory was named by GLHF as a company that utilises the services of Altered AI, a tech firm that supports studios in creating “compelling, professional voice performances” via AI rather than professional – and real – voice actors. The report stopped short of revealing the minutiae of the arrangement, however, stating that “the details of their partnership are under wraps”. Asked directly “are you actually considering replacing human voice actors with AI?...

Released last March on Xbox One and PC, Bleeding Edge was pitched as raucous blend of third-person melee action and class-based 4v4 multiplayer, and it successfully laid a solid, if rather bare-bones, foundation at launch. As Eurogamer’s Wesley Yin-Poole put it in his review, “The combat is just about good enough to get away with it for now, but without some meaningful updates I’ll probably lose interest sooner rather than later....

For fans looking to complete their amiibo collection, there’s now an official release date for Final Fantasy 7’s Sephiroth and Tekken’s Kazuya Mishima. Minecraft’s Steve and Alex were the most recent amiibo to be released, after they were delayed to September earlier this year. Sephiroth and Kazuya will be released on 13th January. The announcement was made on Twitter, accompanied by videos showing the figurines off. Sephiroth of course has his signature one wing, and his sword Masamune is sticking out from beneath those billowing, luscious locks....

The showcase will run for 40 minutes and focus “exclusively on Nintendo Switch software”, the company said, nodding to the rampant reports of an imminent Switch hardware reveal. Of course, we’re expecting that Nintendo Switch hardware reveal before E3 itself, paving the way for Nintendo and other developers to focus specifically on games during E3. “Most” of the games shown during Nintendo’s E3 presentation will launch in 2021, the company said....