Gaming

The Hollywood Reporter says that Apple is working on a movie based on the Oregon Trail computer game. It’s apparently in “early development,” according to THR, but could feature musical numbers? This movie could be amazing or awful.

Insomniac has released patches adding PS5 Pro support to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and both updates add new “performance pro” and “fidelity pro” graphics modes and toggles for ray tracing. The studio didn’t share screenshots or video alongside the updates, so we’ll have to wait and see if the improved graphics are worth the cost.

Trombone Champ: Unflattened launches on Meta Quest headsets on November 26th. If you pre-order, you’ll get a ridiculous fish-themed trombone you can use in the game.

Netflix has renewed Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft for a second season that will follow as Lara (Hayley Atwell) “discovers a trail of stolen African Orisha masks.” Sounds like the show might be gesturing towards a bit of Britain’s real-world history of looting the continent.

A tiny $1200 laptop that doubles as a gaming handheld, with an incredible array of ports. Surprisingly easy to type on, plays games as well or better than a Legion Go, supports two kinds of eGPUs. Keyboard and touchpad make navigating Windows way easier than most handhelds.

But you might not enjoy holding its stiff metal frame, and it’s better paired with a mouse!

On October 31st at 1PM ET, Panic is holding its next showcase event for the Playdate. You can expect news on “upcoming games for Playdate, updates on released titles, and a couple more surprises to keep you on your toes.” Maybe we’ll finally hear what’s up with the dock. You can tune in on the Panic YouTube channel.

As part of the “Friends of Jimbo 2” update, you can now play with cards themed after Cyberpunk 2077, Slay the Spire, The Binding of Isaac, and Stardew Valley.

The previous “Friends of Jimbo” update added themed cards from The Witcher, Among Us, Vampire Survivors, and Dave the Diver. The game is inching toward a Dead Cells level of crossovers.

The Delta emulator’s online multiplayer for Nintendo DS games is now in beta. If you subscribe to the Patreon of AltStore creators Riley Testut and Shane Gill, you can try it out.

The 3D platformer Yooka-Replaylee — a spiritual successor to the Banjo-Kazooie series — has been announced for consoles whenever it does launch. What’s more interesting, though, is that it’s coming to the PS5, Xbox Series X / S, and, instead of the Switch, “Nintendo platforms.” That Switch 2 reveal can’t come soon enough.

It’s October 23rd — an important date in Fallout lore — and Bethesda is holding a showcase event to share some news. The biggest so far: pets are coming to Fallout 76 in the future, starting with cats and dogs. And yes, you can pet them.

We also got details on the previously-announced ability to play as a ghoul, which will be available for level 50 players, giving them immunity to radiation among other perks.

But the official Balatro Bluesky account is teasing... something. Perhaps a feature for the big gameplay update coming next year?

Blizzard’s the latest company to co-opt Nintendo’s “Direct” branding. On November 13th, Blizzard will host its own livestream showcase celebrating Warcraft’s 30th anniversary. Thirty is a big number for any video game franchise so expect whatever Blizzard’s announcing to be worth the hubbub and the three week notice. Zug zug.

French outlet Origami released a video explaining that, despite its extremely positive critical reception, Ubisoft has disbanded the team responsible for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Origami reports that the game’s developers campaigned to make more content beyond its singular DLC but were denied by executives who said that their efforts were needed elsewhere like on that “still totally coming, we promise” game Beyond Good and Evil 2.

During the latest livestream for Monster Hunter Wilds, Capcom confirmed that the game will get an open beta that starts on October 28th for PlayStation Plus subscribers, and October 31st for everyone else. The full game launches on February 28th. In the meantime, you can check out the latest trailer right now.

“Slide rows of scrambled letters to spell words in this thought-provoking word puzzle game from TED,” according to the App Store description for the new game, TED Tumblewords. Seems like the game is trying to be Netflix’s Wordle.

The new game is set to launch on November 19th on Android and iOS, though you’ll need a Netflix subscription to be able to play it.

After Amazon and Sony parted ways with the original creative team working on the live-action adaptation, Deadline reports that Moore has joined the production as writer, executive producer, and showrunner.

Moore is best known for producing Battlestar Galactica and for his work on Star Trek spinoffs Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation.

The new gaming-focused app could combine parts of the App Store and Game Center, 9to5Mac reports:

According to our sources, the app will have multiple tabs, including a “Play Now” tab, a tab for the user’s games, friends, and more. In Play Now, users will find editorial content and game suggestions. The app will also show things like challenges, leaderboards, and achievements. Games from both the App Store and Apple Arcade will be featured in the new store.

After a series of controversial decisions led to the mass resignation of Magic: The Gathering’s Commander Rules Committee, Wizards of the Coast has named the new body that will replace it. The Commander Format Panel consists of 17 MTG community members who will advise Wizards on how to run Commander, Magic’s most popular and lucrative format. Since Commander’s inception, it had been run by community members outside Wizard’s of the Coast.

A blockchain company bought two game studios in almost complete secrecy, apparently to avoid the toxic reputation of crypto in games:

KUSK Law partner Don McGowan ... told Game Developer that there’s nothing illegal about keeping these purchases a secret, but that it is “fucking weird.”

Spoiler: it gutted them both.

Nvidia has released a new Game Ready driver (566.03) that includes support for Alan Wake II: The Lake House, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Red Dead Redemption, and more. The 566.03 release also includes support for 32 new G-Sync compatible monitors. If you use Bluestacks or Corsair iCUE equipment, hold off on this driver as there’s a known high CPU usage issue.

In his long-anticipated final video, the Smash Bros. boss shifts the focus from making games to a behind the scenes look at how his channel came to be, and the work that goes into each video.