After detailing fixes, new features, and optimisation improvements, slipped into the middle of the list was the command to “​​TAKE OFF THE FCKN MASKS”. “​​TAKE OFF THE FCKN MASKS,” the patch notes say between legitimate patch updates. “Next time you’re at the grocery store, try showing a woman your face. Be confident, unafraid of the LIES - you might get a girlfriend. Women like confidence. Women don’t like dudes who cover their faces in fear....

We’ve already covered the quality of the conversion elsewhere on Digital Foundry and we’ve also assessed how the same code runs on both Valve’s Steam Deck and the cute AyaNeo Air - and crucial to our work was the assistance of Nixxes itself, who made four key staff members available to us during the review period for this discussion - as well as continuing dialogue and taking on our feedback the more time we spent with the game....

Crossplay has been a hope for the game since its reveal - something supported on Street Fighter 5 across PC and PlayStation, with Street Fighter 6 promising to bring Xbox players into the fold - and early reports from showgoers including fighting game YouTuber Maximillian Dood seemingly confirmed it would be included. When pushed for clarity on the issue, however, Capcom was unwilling to confirm the matter. “In terms of crossplay we’re going to have more information and more specifics to share down the line,” a Capcom representative told Eurogamer at Summer Game Fest....

New York Comic-Con has announced a “teaser trailer premiere” will be revealed on 6th October at 4pm ET for those in attendance. This trailer will then likely be made available to the wider public in the following days. Meanwhile, Chris Pratt, or Mario, shared the news of this upcoming reveal by assuring us that we will all be blown away by the trailer, just as he was. “This one is VERY special,” he wrote on Twitter....

The Skywalker Saga, an all-new retelling of Lucasfilm’s nine Star Wars films built in a new engine, was announced at E3 2019 for a late 2020 release. However, it’s now seen two delays - the most recent in April this year - leaving many to wonder when it would finally resurface. And the answer, of course, is today, with Opening Night Live serving up a fresh look at The Skywalker Saga in a brand-new trailer blending cutscenes and gameplay of familiar moments from right across the Star Wars nonology, all given a typically comedic Lego game twist....

There is one in every mission in the game, as well as a handful that are available to use from the get-go. Remember to unlock these cheats, you have to hold the character select, go to the Extras icon, and purchase them with studs in the menu. If you’re short on studs, then follow our how to farm studs page to get you the currency you need. And when you’ve had enough of finding Red Bricks, it’s well worth turning your attention to finding Carbonite Bricks, which allow you to unlock classic Star Wars characters, from Darth Maul to Yoda....

The player became notorious in the Elden Ring community for assisting players with the game’s infamously tricky Malenia boss, defeating her a thousand times. In response, Bandai Namco sent the player a boxed sword, complete with map scroll and wooden plaque, with the message: “Congratulations on your great accomplishment”. Watch on YouTube From Software’s notorious 30fps stutter fixed. Let Me Solo Her, aka Klein Tsuboi, shared images on Twitter. “I can still remember my first experience with the Soulsborne series and almost quitting because of Iudex Gundyr in Dark Souls 3,” said Tsuboi....

Custom boot videos for the Steam Deck have recently taken off, and Reddit user waylaidwanderer has even gone to the lengths of setting up the website SteamDeckRepo, dedicated to sharing videos for others to use. Now it looks like Valve is jumping onto the trend, with references to “Steam Deck Startup Movies” found in code for the Points Shop. The Points Shop will have a new section under its Steam Deck Items page for the videos....

This applies to people who have access to the premium Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack tier, who will get the extra DLC courses as part of their pricier subscription. The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass was announced last month and is alternatively available to buy as a one-off £22.49 purchase. 48 extra tracks will be slotted into the racer over the next 18 months, in six waves of eight tracks each through until the end of 2023....

As detailed in Nintendo’s announcement tweet, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s new custom item feature works with offline VS races, as well as “certain” online modes, and gives players the ability to either randomise items that’ll be available in their races or to toggle specific items on or off. And yes, that means competitions can now be entirely item-free. That’s not quite the end of it, either; in Team Races and Battles, it’s even possible to allocate items to specific teams, meaning you can really pile on the pressure - perhaps all spiny shells against an increasingly sweaty palmed team armed with nothing but hooters?...

Hudson’s new team at Humanoid Studios is developing an “all-new science-fiction universe”, which you can glimpse below in freshly-released concept art. “Our current project is a multi-platform AAA game, focusing on character-driven narrative in an all-new science-fiction universe,” Humanoid Studios’ website now states. Hudson announced the foundation of Humanoid Studios back in June last year, following his departure from BioWare back in December 2020. Hudson had worked at BioWare for two decades over two stints....

30XX’s predecessor - which released for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Switch back in 2018 (following around four years of Steam early access development on PC) - is a bit of a treat, transforming Capcom’s classic Mega Man X run-and-gun formula into a delightfully replayable procedurally generated platform rogue-like. Although 20XX’s procedural algorithm, which constructs stages by assembling pre-designed level chunks, could be a bit hit and miss, its tight platforming action (featuring a choice of two distinct heroes), entertaining bosses, and a wide array of abilities to keep each run fresh made it easy to overlook the occasional wobble - and it even managed to pack in optional co-op play for some added amusement with a friend....

That’s according to the persistently leaky Jeff Grubb, who shared the news on Giant Bomb’s Game Mess Mornings show, saying he’d been told “pretty definitively” that an updated version of Metroid Prime 1 - what he referred to as Metroid Prime Remastered - was set to be one of Nintendo’s “big holiday games” for 2022. “In the past, this is something I’d heard was in the works,” Grubb explained, “they have things happening with that game....

A document posted on the European Commission’s website reveals Microsoft’s plan to secure approval for its $7.5bn acquisition of ZeniMax: “The concentration is accomplished by way of a merger pursuant to which a newly created Microsoft subsidiary (‘Vault’) will be merged with and into ZeniMax.” The use of the name Vault for this subsidiary is surely a nod to Bethesda’s Fallout series, which contains a raft of vaults meant to protect people from nuclear destruction....

With the arrival of Halo Infinite’s Season 2, Clippy makes a return in the form of a legendary-tier weapon charm, although it’s currently unclear how players can unlock it, as it’s not available on the Battle Pass or earned in-game. Xbox hardware senior project manager James Shields showed off Clippy and the associated nameplate the “Clipster” in a tweet. There’s also an unlockable teabag weapon charm coming on the way....

Speaking to the Same Brain Youtube channel, Spencer pledged to keep releasing Call of Duty games on Sony’s consoles “as long as there’s a PlayStation out there to ship to”. The future of Call of Duty on PlayStation has become a contentious topic for regulators such as the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is currently scrutinising Microsoft’s planned $68n takeover of COD publisher Activision Blizzard. Microsoft has repeatedly said it will keep releasing Call of Duty games for the forseeable future - and previously promised Call of Duty would remain on PlayStation “at least several more years” beyond Sony’s existing deal with Activision Blizzard....

And names are important when it comes to modes, maybe? Mini Motorways’ latest update adds two new modes to the game. The first is Endless, which is pretty self-explanatory. The second is Expert, which is absolutely brutal and brilliant. Excellent stuff, but for a while early on I kind of wondered if Expert might be the wrong name for it. Or, to put it another way, it’s made me ponder what being really good at Mini Motorways might actually look like....

Despite the developers of the remake requesting players don’t download the leaked build, modders have adapted it for multiplayer and are hosting their own servers. The build already has a multiplayer capability, which modders have enabled. Watch on YouTube Still Working On It | skate. That’s according to Motherboard, who spoke with an admin of a Discord server sharing the build. “I posted videos of the game and how to get it which started gaining hella traction!...

You’ll also be able to purchase a new Battle Pass, which is shared between Modern Warfare and Warzone, along with new weapon blueprints. This page outlines the Modern Warfare and Warzone Season 4 release time and what you can look forward to in Warzone Season 4. On this page: Modern Warfare: Warzone Season 4 patch notes Warzone Season 4 Battle Pass skins and operators Modern Warfare: Warzone’s Kyle explained: How to get missing Operator ‘Gaz’...