For all that, though, it’s not as if Metroid’s ever really been away. Indeed, in many ways Yoshio Sakamoto’s series has been inescapable in recent years, the Metroidvania genre cast partly in its likeness reaching near ubiquity thanks to the likes of the sumptuous Ori, the melancholic, hard-edged Hollow Knight or the perfectly pitched pixel charm of Axiom Verge. How exactly can Nintendo and Mercury Steam make up for that prolonged absence, whilst making sure Metroid remains relevant to an audience that’s gorged on its imitators?...

Based on boxed sales, the game had the best launch of all Metroid games when it released last year, with the highest-grossing UK launch. It was also the fastest-selling entry since Metroid Prime 1. This week the game re-entered the UK boxed charts at 14 (thanks GamesIndustry.biz), becoming the third highest-selling Metroid game - even without digital sales. Metroid Dread was among a number of Nintendo games that re-entered the UK boxed charts this week due to promotions....

“We know the Xbox homepage is where our gamers spend a lot of their time, and it’s a space that’s very personal,” senior product manager lead Ivy Krislov explained in a new Xbox Wire post. “We also know we can always be listening and learning how we can do better here while keeping your experience fast and familiar.” To that end, Microsoft is this week launching what it calls a “multi-month series of experiments to learn how to create a more personalised home screen experience and address some of the top trends and fan requests....

The seed was found last week by andrew_555, aka Kminster, who kicked off their search on 5th September, 2020. Kminster admitted it “probably about 50 hours in total for developing/writing the code”, but eventually stumbled upon the world on 16th January. “Ever since the first Herobrine Creepypasta, people have faked his world multiple times”, teases the video description (see below). “So we used our seed cracking knowledge from Pack.png and the Minecraft panoramas to find the seed once and for all!...

Sonic Prime is a new Netflix animation revealed yesterday. Mack joins Roger Craig Smith as Sonic’s game voice and Ben Schwartz as the film voice. Mack shared a thank you video on Twitter following the response to his casting and noted that the other actors will maintain their roles. “If I could be serious for a minute, real talk, I’ll join the ranks of some amazing talents who have and will still be performing this legendary character in the video games and movies, so I like it to be perfectly clear that they ain’t going anywhere, and I wouldn’t have it any other way, they’ve been doing amazing work for years that I legit can’t wait to hear more of,” he said....

Details on the game itself are unknown, though it will be set in the Middle-earth universe of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels. Private Division is part of Take-Two Interactive and has previously published the likes of Kerbal Space Program, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, and Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds. It’s also set to publish new games from Ori and the Blind Forest’s Moon Studios, OlliOlli creators Roll7, and Armello developer League of Geeks....

The game will be free to dip your toes in from 13th to 19th October and will replace Rising Hell and Slain: Back From Hell, which are currently free to download. Back in the Groove is a “funky fresh rogue-like adventure infused with old skool hip-hop and jam packed with awesome throwbacks to the 1991 classic”, according to the Epic store page. The game features four player online and local co-op as players navigate planet Earth to retrieve the lost pieces of the Rapmaster Rocket....

ORIGINAL STORY 8/12/21: Sonic the Hedgehog is celebrating his 30th birthday this year, and the anniversary festivities are set to continue later this week, with a look at Sonic’s upcoming movie sequel and next game both now confirmed for the Game Awards. Oh, and a new movie poster has been revealed too. Sega first unveiled its new Sonic game during the hedgehog’s special 30th birthday livestream back in May. The accompanying teaser trailer didn’t offer much beyond a quick snatch of the iconic gaming mascot speeding through a forest, but a later press release named the game - planned to launch on Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC in 2022 - as Sonic Rangers....

On Monday, Nintendo reduced the price of the original Nintendo Switch by £20, down to £259 in the UK and €269 in mainland Europe. In a statement to Eurogamer at the time, Nintendo UK said the change was “due to currency exchange rates” as well as the impending 8th October arrival of the Switch’s new OLED model. Now, a Nintendo of America spokesperson has confirmed the company has “no plans” to adjust the price of the original Nintendo Switch in the US, and Axios Gaming’s Stephen Totilo stated the price drop was “just for Europe”....

As spotted by the eagle-eyed BlueCatBanjo73 and reported by our friends at Nintendo Life, Diddy’s had a bit of a makeover, even though it’s been all quiet on the Kong front since Tropical Freeze was re-released on Nintendo Switch a couple of years back. Now, however, Nintendo Japan has updated the stock image of Diddy on the official website, switching out the last render - which was taken from Mario Party DS - for a new one....

A German court has overturned a previous judgement made in Nintendo’s favour, and ruled instead on the side of the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (VZBV). The VZBV successfully argued on appeal that Nintendo’s current policy of only letting customers cancel pre-orders up to seven days before a game’s release was unfair - since, before a game’s release, there was no way for a customer to actually test the product, even if it was made available as a download....

Join Eurogamer reporter Emma Kent, news editor Tom Phillips and me in the latest Eurogamer News Cast, below, where we discuss all this and more. Elsewhere, we look at Valve’s apparent plan to take on Nintendo with a Switch-style handheld device of its own. Can Gabe Newell beat the big N at its own game? Everyone’s copying Nintendo, it seems. Sega held a ‘Sonic Direct’ - and accidentally revealed the name of the big new Sonic game it teased for release next year....

Microsoft typically confirms its latest Xbox Game Pass additions via fortnightly blog posts, but does sometimes like to spring surprises on fans. Alas, this is not one of them. Speaking to Eurogamer today following press reports that suggested Valhalla was due to arrive on Game Pass in the near future, Ubisoft confirmed this was not the case. “This was an error and has been corrected,” an Ubisoft spokesperson told me....

But there are places where this falls apart. Places like Chopped. Chopped is not class-based or RPG-like at all, although the presenter, Ted Allen, who is a bona fide national treasure, does possess the courtly manners of someone who is about to set you a riddle outside a tavern. “Brothers and sisters I have none…” Ted is a prince. And Chopped is his realm. Chopped is absolutely brilliant - and actually, having watched approximately one thousand episodes of it, I now suspect it’s more than brilliant....

Obtained and released by Ash Kaprielov, operator of the Tomb of Ash blog, the Tomb Raider: 10th Anniversary Edition build reveals developer Core Design tried to salvage the work done by using it to create Indiana Jones and National Treasure game pitches. Tomb Raider: 10th Anniversary Edition was meant to be the next Tomb Raider game after Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider: Legend, and was, as you’d expect from the title, designed to come out to coincide with Tomb Raider’s 10 year anniversary in 2006....

That news was shared during an extended Overwatch 2 livestream this evening, primarily focused on the game’s live-service model and seasonal content plan - the latter of which, according to Overwatch 2’s game director Aaron Keller, will enable Blizzard to deliver new content to players on a more “frequent and consistent” basis compared to the original game. Each season will last nine weeks and alternately add a new hero then a new map....

As shared on reddit, user Lord-Trolldemort noticed that the accuracy of certain moves was rigged. And as the Battle Stadium is the game’s ranked online mode, this could have serious implications. Watch on YouTube Pokémon Scarlet / Pokémon Violet - DF Tech Review Essentially, Lord-Trolldemort has guessed the RNG (random number generator) used to determine move accuracy actually uses the same seed number each time. That means accuracy of moves can be predicted for easy wins....

However, one PlayStation 1 game that many have dabbled with since its release on PlayStation Plus is Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue, the tie-in game for Pixar and Disney’s 1999 animation film. In fact, this game is actually third on Sony’s most played classic games for 2022, sitting only behind Mafia: Definitive Edition and God of War 3 Remastered. This makes it the most played PlayStation Plus PS1 game of 2022....

A Very Slow Discovery also sees the release of Galarian Slowpoke and Galarian Slowbro, alongside Mega Slowbro as it makes its first appearance in Mega Raids. Completing the Collection Challenge is also essential for any Slowpoke fan as it will reward you with a special Slowpoke themed avatar item, so get prepared to do some Pokémon hunting. On this page: Here are the Pokémon you need to catch for the A Very Slow Discovery Collection Challenge:...

These dark and psychic-type Pokémon were originally released as part of the Psychic Speculator event which ran during September 2021. What sets them apart from other Pokémon, however, is Inkay’s special evolution requirement and, below, you’ll discover how to evolve an Inkay into a Malamar in Pokémon Go. First, let’s discuss Candy. This can be easily achieved by catching Inkay using Pinap Berries, walking with an Inkay as your buddy and completing Stage 5 of the Misunderstood Mischief special research quest, which will reward you with 10 Inkay Candy....