PlayStation 5 passed the same 1m UK sales mark back in August last year, just 39 weeks after launch. Sales of both Microsoft and Sony’s consoles have suffered from constant supply issues which have created shortages of stock. But December saw Microsoft manage a “significant increase in stock of the X version of the console”, which helped boost console sales by more than 100 percent month-on-month. However, the best-selling console in the UK during December was neither the PS5 or the Xbox Series X/S....

The comments came from Microsoft boss Satya Nadella, speaking during the company’s third quarter results call. Nadella did not say which company it has specifically gained market share from, though quarterly results from US numbers firm NPD this week pointed to Xbox availability being key, compared to the supply-constrained PlayStation. Indeed, Nadella reiterated what we knew from NPD already - that (in terms of revenue at least) Xbox Series X/S had been the best-selling console in the US over the past quarter....

Vejrgang, from Denmark, plays FIFA professionally for RB Leipzig’s esports team and is considered the best FIFA player in the world. He won an astonishing 535 games in a row in Ultimate Team’s Weekend League - the game’s most gruelling, hardcore competitive mode, before losing on Sunday, 14th February 2021. Each weekend a maximum number of 30 wins can be achieved in FUT 21 Champions. The video below shows the match, which Vejrgang streamed live on Twitch....

The offending item was an emblem which included a palette option called “Bonobo”, which is the name of an endangered great ape. Juneteenth is an annual holiday in the United States to commemorate the emancipation of slaves in the country. After 343 was made aware of the issue, the studio updated the name to “Freedom”. In a statement posted on Twitter, 343 Industries head Bonnie Ross said: “We were made aware of a palette option for our Juneteenth emblem that contained a term that was offensive and hurtful....

In recent years, the company has favoured Battle.net for its PC games. However, this new page on Steam suggests that Activision is readying itself for the completion of the biggest deal in gaming history. Fans of Activision’s various franchises have taken to forums such as Reddit and ResetEra to share their feelings about this move by Activision. In short, everyone is hopeful about what this might mean for the developer’s various games on PC (ahem, Tony Hawk)....

Confirmed by way of a shiny new video teaser, Ensemble Studios revealed more about the new content’s Italians and Maltese civilisations, a brand new “casual friendly Tycoon game mode”, and the first-ever set of Historical Maps, which it reckons will bring “endless replayability with a historical twist”. Here, check it out for yourself: The Maltese civilisation is special because - as “one of the Mediterranean’s epitomes of a melting pot” - it can “guard the Mediterranean against incursions with unique fortifications, don shining armour to fend off attacks, and shell opponents from afar with Fixed Guns”....

For members who pay monthly, you’ll pay a pound extra (£8.99 instead of £7.99, for a total of £107.88 a year). The rise follows a similar price hike by streaming rival Netflix back in March - its second in just 18 months. Both companies offer games as part of their subscriptions. The retail giant said today’s UK price rise was driven in part by the current record levels of inflation, BBC News reported....

Yesterday, Fortnite developer Epic announced a new game mode for its all-encompassing battle royale that has an uncanny resemblance to 2018 online multiplayer social deduction game Among Us. Fortnite Impostors sees 10 players, eight agents and two impostors play out their roles on a submarine. Like in Among Us, the agents carry out routine assignments, while the impostors sabotage the facility and eliminate players. Impostors can also teleport players to cover their tracks and disable assignments....

Warhammer 40,000 Darktide is the next game from Fatshark, the developer of the much-loved Vermintide series of fantasy Warhammer games. Like Vermintide, Darktide is a co-op focused first-person shooter / melee hybrid in which you fight against the odds. Yes, it’s yet another Warhammer 40,000 video game in a sea of Warhammer 40,000 video games - that sea just swelled to ocean scale, by the way - but Darktide stands out because it’s a bit different....

The creative director - who has also worked on Watch Dogs 2, Far Cry 3, and Rainbow Six Vegas - announced his departure earlier this week, and confirmed he’s moving on to form his own “independent creative consultancy”. “R6 Vegas, AC, FC3, CoL, WD2… it’s been a privilege to collaborate with everyone at Ubi on these great games!” Plourde tweeted. “Now, I’m happy to share that I’m starting my own independent creative consultancy, where I will keep working with Ubisoft and also spend time on some personal projects....

The PlayStation release of this stylish take on off-road driving includes all the previous updates in all the previously released versions, with new tracks, cars, environments and improvements now as standard. The new trailer is below: Art of Rally, which initially launched on PC toward the end of last year, delivers a top-down, faintly retro twist on the rally racing formula, sending players careening across low-poly renditions of Finland, Germany, Japan, Norway and Sardinia....

However, this is also because Christmas is actually yet to arrive for many players - but should finally turn up today. A bug blocking the game’s wintry Yuletide festival has plagued Valhalla since before the holidays. The event was due to kick off in mid-December, but did not appear for many players who had already celebrated the Yuletide event back in 2020. Today’s new, bug-fixing title update 1.4.1.2 is planned to fix all that, and should ignite the Yuletide festival for all players this afternoon....

It promises to bring stable 60fps performance, private lobbies and updated liveries for the 2021 GT World Challenge series, and there’ll be a free update path for owners of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions to their respective next-gen upgrades. Assetto Corsa Competizione first came out on PC in 2018, with its sole purpose being to replicate the GT World Challenge series (the series formerly known as Blancpain GT), which sees the Spa 24 Hours as its centrepiece....

Larian leader Swen Vinke said this during a patch pre-briefing a week ago, telling press - myself included - they’d now like to concentrate on finishing the game, which is fair enough. No release date for Patch 9 has been communicated. The paladin comes to the game with two subclasses, like every other class has. In this case, it’s Oath of Devotion and Oath of the Ancients. But! There’s a sneaky third option available called Oathbreaker....

The news comes courtesy of artist Thomas Feichtmeir who released a screenshot of artwork used in the pitch to the publisher six years ago - now, the NDA is finally up. Feichtmeir also worked on Blasphemous, itself a Metroidvania inspired by the Dark Souls series. Watch on YouTube Let’s Play Dark Souls 3 Episode 1: FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BUTTS! In fact, there have been plenty of Metroidvania games influenced by the dark tone and challenging gameplay of Dark Souls - Salt and Sanctuary, Death’s Gambit, Dead Cells and more....

When thinking of indie platformers, the likes of Super Meat Boy and Celeste comes to mind, and although they look joyful and cute, playing them is an entirely different experience. There is a harsh edge to the pixel precision these games often require, where a single misstep leads to a game over screen. Below the Ocean has a different approach. It sands down the harsh edges and embraces a floaty movement system that, in a palpable way, feels like swimming....

Whether you prefer the lower cost and audio fidelity of wired headphones or the convenience of wireless headsets, we’ve got you covered. We’ve also included recommendations for the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and PC, so no matter what system you game on, you’ll be able to find at least a couple of top-tier gaming headsets to consider, each far better than your TV or monitor’s built-in speakers. We’ll also consider both open-back and closed-back headphones, as the former tend to offer a wider sound stage that’s conducive to locating enemies, while the latter minimise sound leakage to ensure you don’t bother your flatmates....

Only a couple of years before the announcement of Martin’s work with Miyazaki, Torment: Tides of Numenera released, featuring writing by another famous fantasy author, Patrick Rothfuss. (Rothfuss had been a big fan of the classic Planescape: Torment, a role-playing game renowned for its narrative.) My own favourite example of a prose author writing for games is most likely Kiyoshi Shigematsu’s skilful work on Lost Odyssey, but you can go as far back as 1995 to find that Harlan Ellison wrote for the game adaptation of his short story I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream....

We’ve already detailed many of the major changes that came with the launch of Season Two Reloaded earlier this week, but Treyarch also confirmed that it’s doubling down on its efforts to curb the mayhem caused by griefers and players who quit. “With the new additions of Apocalypse Hardpoint and Express S&D to the League Play rotation, we’re constantly working on more ways to improve the competitive experience,” the studio explained in a recent update....

For the uninitiated, Blood Bowl was originally a tabletop miniatures game released by Games Workshop back in the ’80s. It’s set in a version of the Warhammer Fantasy Universe where the many opposing races have decided to settle their differences by trying to score touchdowns. News of the updated release window for Blood Bowl 3 comes alongside a Superbowl-style advert for Bugman’s Beer, below: Blood Bowl 3 launches with 12 teams, each with their own pitch and cheerleaders, and campaign and multiplayer modes....