PlayStation
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Media Molecule said it didn’t anticipate such high demand for its Dreams beta and have been overwhelmed by the amount of people/outlets who requested access. The beta was originally scheduled to close on January 21 but will now remain online through to February 4. This also means that more invites are being sent out in a couple more waves.
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The Brutal hand-drawn Souls-like platform Salt and Sanctuary is coming to Xbox One February 6 for $17.99.
Nintendo
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Nintendo Switch Online’s NES app has been updated (man I hate that title) with new games
* Ghosts’n Goblins SP
* Ninja Gaiden SP
* Zelda II The Adventure of Link
* Blaster Master -
After over a decade—almost 13 years—all online functions for the Wii are being taken offline January 30. This includes the Wii Shop channel which is the equivalent of the eShop found on the 3DS and Switch. Purchased content for the Wii will also not be able to be downloaded either, do re-download what you can and use up the Wii Points on anything.
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Nintendo Switch will be getting the Dragon’s Lair trilogy next week which is a compilation of two Dragon’s Lair games and Space Ace.
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A new wave of games are coming to the Nintendo Selects line for 3DS
* Super Mario Maker
* Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D
* Star Fox 64 3D
Xbox
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Rare announced improvements to the installation and patching process for Sea of Thieves, which will reduce the game’s overall install size while optimizing the team’s ability to push updates live moving forward. To implement these changes, Sea of Thieves will require a larger than normal update on Wednesday, February 6, where players will be prompted to fully download and reinstall the game.
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Some titles have been added to Xbox Games Pass
* We Happy Few (coming Jan 17)
* The LEGO Movie Videogame (coming Jan 17)
* Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (coming Jan 24)
* Saints Row: The Third (coming Jan 24)
* Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 (coming Jan 10)
Industry News
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According to a joint investigation from The Independent and cyber security firm Sixgill, Fortnite’s premium currency, V-Bucks, is being used to launder money. Simply put, criminals use stolen credit cards to buy V-Bucks, then resell the V-Bucks in order to launder or ‘clean’ their profits.
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Bethesda Softworks unveiled its 2019 plans for The Elder Scrolls Online will include a new story chapter called Elsweyr, part of a four-part story arc that will include dragons, a first for the fantasy online multiplayer game.
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According to a report from Kotaku’s Jason Schreier, EA has cancelled the open-world Star Wars game that was being worked on last year by Visceral games before they were shut down in 2017.
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Frontier announced that Jurassic World Evolution has sold 2M copies since its release in July 2018, making it the studio’s biggest launch so far.
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Remember that mobile games based on Westworld called, well, Westworld Mobile? It’s going offline as of April 16. In case you don’t remember, we reported a while back that the studio who developed the title was being sued by Bethesda for using the same codebase and pretty much only giving Westworld a facelift, making it essentially the same game. Many players pointed out the exact same buts in Westworld that were present in Fallout Shelter.
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Rocket League has entered the PlayStation Cross-Play Beta program meaning players across PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Steam can now randomly matchmake with or against each other in all online match types (i.e. Casual, Competitive, and Extra Modes).
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Mortal Combat 11 received its first gameplay trailer during the title’s premier launch event this week.
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Bethesda just can’t fucking get it right with Fallout 76. Now the game’s most powerful items have been the headache at the forefront after several weeks of problems with players creating copies of items through duplication glitches. Most recently, players have figured out how to access a secret “developer room” in the game that contains plans for every item in the game, including top-tier weapons and unreleased goodies which are supposed to arrive in upcoming updates. Oh, and there’s an NPC in there all by itself. That’s got to be the holy grail for game glitchers.
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The Epic Game Store is on a roll, and now the storefront is matching Steam’s refund policy by letting players return games if they’re within two weeks of purchase with less than two hours of play time for any reason.
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Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid is a new fighter from nWay that promises “a streamlined combat system” with “simplified controls” while “maintaining depth and detail for more intense and experienced competitors.” Online play, cross-play, and cross-progression are said to be supported across all platforms when the game releases as a digital download for $19.99 on PS4, Xbox One, and Switch in April 2019, and then later on PC.
