In a wholesome video, Obsidian Entertainment revealed its delight at hitting this impressive milestone. Grounded game director Adam Brennecke stated: “the team is so overwhelmed with the amount of support and how much the community has grown over the last year and a half. It means the world to us”. Obsidian is now working towards it 1.0 final release of Grounded, which is due out later this year. But while that is all going on in the background, the current backyard will be getting its own updates....

Chief among them is a new map for Halo 3 called Icebox, which is a remake of the classic Halo 2 map, Turf. Icebox was originally a multiplayer map from the cancelled Halo Online (343 has added Halo Online maps to Halo 3 before). Unlike the original, which is set in Mombasa, Icebox is set in the Russian city of Tyumen. Here’s a work-in-progress image of Icebox in Halo 3: The video, below, shows off gameplay of Icebox in Halo Online: In a post outlining what will be available in the MCC Season 8 test, 343 also teased Flood Firefight with the image, below: 343 said a Halo 3: ODST Firefight update will include per wave customisation options “bringing it up closer to Halo: Reach’s options”....

Paramount+’s Halo adaptation finally launched for US audiences this March - a mere nine years after it was originally announced - and while changes were expected (fans were forewarned that the TV show takes place in the so-called Silver Timeline, separate from the core Halo canon), the end result has certainly proven divisive. While it was Master Chief’s amusing loss of inhibitions that drew the most headlines over the series’ run - just episodes after he’d stunned audiences by showing his face for the first time, he’d got his bum out, then ended the series having sex in front of his mum - there’s been plenty of criticism around the show’s writing, inconsistent tone, uneven plotting, and pacing....

First impressions suggest a co-op experience close in nature to those that have gone before - but only because of the nature of the opening brace of campaign chapters. These are entirely linear in nature and 343’s strategy in keeping players together is simple: there are certain ‘points of no return’ - such as passing a door that permanently closes behind you, or kicking off a new cutscene, that reset the positioning for all players....

The co-op campaign was expected to release next month after it was delayed from the initial launch. However, last month developer 343 Industries acknowledged that it needed “more time” to work on the cooperative campaign and Forge, and cooperative missions would not be available in May as hoped. Now, in an image on the company’s latest news update, 343i has revealed the “target” for campaign co-op is August, along with campaign mission replay....

Haunter is an exciting pick for Spotlight Hour for several reasons, with use in pretty much all aspects of Pokémon Go, both as Haunter and its evolved form, Gengar. And while shiny Gengar is pretty naff, its Mega Evolution, shiny Mega Gengar, is amusingly white as a sheet. And if you still need a perfect 4* perfect Haunter or Gengar, this is your chance to try to find one. But wait, there’s more!...

Hearthstone fans are being treated to an entirely new class for the first time since the game’s release, in addition to all the new tweaks we’ve come to expect. If you want more, our pals over at Metabomb have constantly-updating guides on the game. When does Ashes of Outland come out? Hearthstone’s next expansion is coming out on April 7th. From previous experience, this means we’ll be able to update the game and start opening packs at 6pm GMT (11am PST, 2pm EST)....

As shared by GameInformer, the new nine-minute pre-alpha gameplay video offers a look at two early story missions: Making Rent and Idol Threat. The first of these takes place before the Saints are even officially formed, with The Boss and the game’s core supporting - Kevin, Neenah, and Eli, all previously members of rival gangs - orchestrating a robbery on a loan office to raise some cash. We don’t see much of the robbery itself, but there’s a reasonable look at the resulting high-speed escape from the police....

From now until 19th November, you can use code ‘PURCHASE20’ at select sellers to save 20 per cent off your order. The ones of most interest to us are (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) The Game Collection, ShopTo and Boss Deals. Thanks to the code, all three have some fantastic offers on many current and next-gen games - as well as some consoles and accessories Some highlights include Watch Dogs Legion for £36, the new Xbox Controller for £45 and a Nintendo Switch for £251....

Blue Box, the developer of Abandoned, gained internet fame for continually teasing that there was more to its survival horror game than met the eye. Fans pounced on the suggestion it was linked to Kojima, or was one of the many Silent Hill projects in production. Neither is the case. “Users just kept sending me pictures of this Hasan [Kahraman, Abandoned’s creator]. They still send me collages and deepfake images - like 20 a day....

This first-person experience sees you play a new character who meets franchise star Aloy and other familiar faces, and hangs about in Guerrilla’s familiar robo-dino post-apocalypse. A brief announcement video released today shows around 20 seconds of in-game footage: Horizon Call of the Mountain is developed by Guerrilla in collaboration with recently-acquired UK studio Firesprite, the large Liverpool-based team which previously helped work on PS4 freebie The Playroom. There’s no word of a release date yet - though this is unsurprising, as Sony is yet to say when PlayStation VR2 itself will arrive....

Here, you’ll find a full contents for our Horizon Zero Dawn walkthrough, which tackles the main questline in its entirety, plus further down on this page is our main Horizon Zero Dawn guide hub, including a variety of general tips from our experience with the game, and more individual guides on specific aspects, too. The following walkthrough focuses on just the main questline in Horizon Zero Dawn, as it can indeed be played through from start to finish with little deviation for grinding or side quests, much like its open world counterparts....

The first gameplay for Hot Wheels Unleashed, below, shows off what looks like a decent arcade racer starring the cars from the hugely-popular toy range. In truth there’s not a huge amount going on here apart from the driving, with a lack of environmental hazards or even power-ups to contend with. But the racing looks weighty, has decent oomph and the visuals aren’t too bad. And did I spot a few shortcut opportunities to explore?...

There are only a few fashions to pick from at the beginning, however, so we’ve also detailed where to buy clothes in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. If you’d like to learn more about your Paldea adventure, visit our Pokémon Scarlet and Violet walkthrough. On this page: How to change clothes in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet It’s not immediately obvious how to do so at the beginning, but to change your clothes in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet you have press left on the d-pad....

Since Dedenne can’t evolve, you only need to catch this Pokémon once if you want to add it to your Pokédex. Below you’ll discover how to get Dedenne in the latest Pokémon Go event, along with its counters and weaknesses if you want to battle it in one-star raids. On this page: Throughout the Festival of Lights, you can catch Dedenne using two methods: In the wild One-star raids Field research task - Power up Pokémon 10 times...

The game was released yesterday across Xbox Series X/S and PC (via Steam and GOG). It’s also on Game Pass. Netflix subscribers will also be able to play the game on their mobile devices, once released. Watch on YouTube Immortality - Reveal Trailer for the New Sam Barlow Game “Immortality will be coming very soon to Apple and Android devices on Netflix,” reads a tweet from developer HalfMermaid. “We are taking some extra time on our mobile release to ensure it’s the best possible experience for Netflix members around the world....

Ddungu has been chronicling his work on music-based JRPG Sword of Symphony via Tiktok, where footage of the game’s combat system has notched up millions of views (thanks, Kotaku). His game allows you to conjur glowing musical notes in mid-air and send them flinging towards an enemy. If you’ve seen the new Doctor Strange, you’ll likely recognise that description - since a short sequence in the film sees Benedict Cumberbatch doing just that....

That’s despite manufacturers rushing to step up production to meet demand. The CEO made similar comments back in October and last week visited Malaysia as Intel announced an expansion to its back-end manufacturing capabilities, as reported by Nikkei. “The overall semiconductor shortage is quite significant and the semiconductor industry was growing about 5% per year before COVID,” said Gelsinger. “COVID disrupted the supply chains, causing it to go negative…Demand exploded to 20% year-over-year and disrupted supply chains created a very large gap…and that exploding demand has persisted....

Whilst not formally confirmed by Microsoft nor Electronic Arts - so treat this as a rumour for now - both games now sport the Game Pass logo (thanks, XGP, via NME) on the former’s online store, suggesting they may get their debut on Microsoft’s subscription service next month. As FIFA 22 was released in October 2021 and Battlefield 2042 in November, this means both games will only be around six months old should they indeed be joining Microsoft’s library of games soon....

It costs £9.79 from the PlayStation Store, and is VR headset-enabled. The trailer is below: Moose Life, which came out on PC on 12th August 2020, offers “spectacular shooty action and a top techno soundtrack”, and is created in the style of a 1980s arcade game. It’s “specifically engineered to take you to a happy, tranced-out pleasure zone full of deer and mushrooms”. To that end, players are cast in the role of a rainbow voxel deer as they fly ceaselessly into the screen, battling to rescue tiny sheep from enemy spaceships....