The stream will feature three development team members outlining the story, new activities and expected rewards. Based on how Act 1 concluded, there may be more clues about the mysterious individual manipulating events on Nessus and causing the Vex to act strange. Saint-14 may also become involved, given the revelations experienced thus far.

Alongside new activities and loot, each Act introduces new Artifact mods and unlocks further ranks in the Battle Pass, so stay tuned for more details. Episode 1: Echoes concludes with Act 3, but two more Episodes – Revenant and Heresy – are in the works. The former features a new potion-crafting system, while the latter returns to the Dreadnaught from The Taken King.

Announced during the developer’s Anime Expo 2024 panel, the modern Sigma Star Saga runs on Limited Run Games’ Carbon Engine. While noting it wasn’t a sequel, the development team said there might be one “down the road.” As with Risky Revolution, the title will be available on a Game Boy Advance cartridge.

First available for the Game Boy Advance in August 2005, Sigma Star Saga is a combination of side-scrolling shoot ’em ups and top-down role-playing gameplay. Players control Allied Earth Federation pilot Ian Recker, working as a double agent in the Krill Empire. There are six planets to explore and over 70 items to customize one’s ship. Stay tuned for more details on the re-release’s changes in the coming months.

Safiya Llewellyn-Fayyad, or Safi, is touted as a poet and a people person keen on helping Max open up. Things take a turn for the worst, however, when she’s murdered one night out of the blue, causing Max to reawaken her time-bending powers. However, instead of rewinding, she enters a parallel timeline.

In this timeline, Safi is still alive (alongside other changes), which would be good news if her killer wasn’t still on the loose. Max hopes to solve the mystery of her friend’s death by jumping between timelines. Interestingly enough, Safi is confirmed to be the daughter of Caledon’s president, Yasmin, though how that will factor into the proceedings remains to be seen.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure launches on October 29th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC, with the Nintendo Switch version arriving later. It doesn’t support save transfer but respects the first game’s endings, allowing players to choose their desired outcome when starting.

As the trailer highlights, Reinhardt is Optimus Prime, Bastion is Bumblebee, and Sojourn is Arcee. Meanwhile, Ramattra is Megatron, Prime’s arch-nemesis (and sometimes ally). Suffice it to say that the animation work is exceptional and some of the best yet from the team at Blizzard.

The collaboration likely features a new limited-time mode and free skin (alongside the usual balance changes), so stay tuned for further details. Unfortunately, the cosmetics featured in the trailer will likely require real money to purchase. If the pricing is similar to the Cowboy Bebop skins, expect to pay $20 each per skin.

Building stronger relationships with companion characters will be a key component of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which is unsurprising for a BioWare RPG, with player choices defining how Rook’s dynamic will change with each of his allies. That will be represented through Relationship Levels, which each character will have with Rook. Relationship Levels will be affected by each companion’s personal quests, their problems, and more, and will also determine how a character interacts with Rook.

“Relationships are key, not only romance but friendships,” says game director Corinne Busche. “We wanted to lean into not just the relationships the characters have with you but the relationships they have with each other. It’s a found family, and at the end of the day, they need to trust they all have each other’s back.”

And of course, strengthening Rook’s relationships with their companions will have not just narrative results, but also mechanical ones.

Every time a character’s Relationship Level goes up, they will receive a skill points, which you’ll be able to use in skill trees that won’t be as vast and complex as Rook’s trees, but will still allow you to invest in different customization options. Companions will additionally also have access to a total of five abilities each, but each character will only be able to equip three of them at a time.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard will launch this fall for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Regardless of which setting you’re playing at, you’re going to need an SSD and 30 GB of storage, while to play on ultra settings at 4K and 60 FPS, you’re going to need either an i7-10700K or a Ryzen 7 3700X, along with either a GeForce RTX 4070 Ti or a Radeon RX 7900 XT, and 16 GB of RAM.

On the other hand, the lowest settings, which will enable 1080p and 60 FPS gameplay, will require either an i7-8700K or a Ryzen 7 2700X, along with either a GeForce GTX 1660 (6GB) or a Radeon RX 550 XT, along with 8 GB of RAM. Alternatively, performance and recommended presets are also available.

You can check out the full requirements for the beta below, and stay tuned for the full game’s final system requirements.

Concord’s beta will be live July 18-21, while those who have pre-ordered the game will get access to it July 12-14. The game itself launches for PS5 and PC on August 23.

PC Players, tap in 🖥️

Get the details on the specs you’ll need for our Early Access Beta Weekend – and stay tuned for updates on final PC requirements as we head into launch ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/B5xQZnPhab

— Concord (@PlayConcord) July 8, 2024

Thankfully, no. In a statement provided to VG247, Capcom has officially confirmed that “licensed music is returning” in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster. Of course, we still lack the specifics- we don’t know, for instance, whether the entire original soundtrack will be returning as is, or if we can expect at least some songs that were present in the original game to be MIA in the remaster. Either way, fans can rest assured that the original’s beloved license music isn’t being completely done away with for the remaster.

One thing that we know will not be the same in the remaster is the voice of protagonist Frank West, with Terence J. Rotolo – who voiced the character in the original – confirming that he wasn’t asked to reprise his role for the return of the franchise.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster launches on September 19 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Check out its PC requirements through here.

In second place was the newly released Nintendo Switch remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, though it’s worth noting that, as always with Nintendo titles in Circana charts, its digital sales are not counted here.

Other new May releases also debuted in the charts, with Homeworld 3 slotting in at No. 14 and F1 24 coming in at No. 18. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 followed behind in third place, with Helldivers 2, which remains the best-selling game of the year overall in the US, took the No. 4 slot.

On the hardware front, the PS5 was once again the best-selling console for May in the US in terms of both unit and dollar sales, with the Nintendo Switch taking second place in the former metric, and the Xbox Series X/S in the latter.

May 2024 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Physical and Digital from digital data sharing publishers, excludes add-on content) pic.twitter.com/V751fMRtbl

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) July 8, 2024

Ghost of Tsushima generated a slightly higher consumer spending total across physical and digital game sales than did physical-only sales of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo is not a digital data sharing publisher).

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) July 8, 2024

Other new releases appearing among the top 20 best-sellers of May included Homeworld 3 (14th) and F1 24 (18th).

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) July 8, 2024

PlayStation 5 again led the month’s hardware market in unit and dollar sales. Nintendo Switch once again finished 2nd in unit sales, while Xbox Series ranked 2nd in dollars.

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) July 8, 2024

Through each console’s first 43 months in market, PlayStation 5 unit sales lead those of PlayStation 4 by 8%, while Xbox Series trails Xbox One by 13% and remains slightly behind Xbox 360.

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) July 8, 2024

Of course, as the PlayStation Blog notes, it won’t be easy – players must solve a riddle first. Given how community members successfully unlocked Lady Maria in less than three hours, Selene may be more challenging to pinpoint. New artefacts are also available at PlayStation Labo, so that’s worth checking out.

Two more Bots are coming in August and September, and by unlocking them, players can carry them over into Astro Bot as their starting crew. If you want to skip the entire exercise, that’s fine since the latter has more than 300 Bots to collect, with over 150 from PlayStation franchises through the years.

Astro Bot launches on September 6th for PS5. Check out our feature for more details.

A new release candidate will receive a “thorough review” this August, and based on the results, it will either start the process towards a release date or address further issues. It’s understandably holding back on further release pronouncements until then. The team is making “slow but steady” process, yet “unresolved issues” remain that currently “harm the player experience.”

“We understand this is disappointing, and it’s not what we had hoped for either. However, we are committed to keeping you informed throughout this development process, even if the updates aren’t always what we’d like.”

Cities: Skylines 2 launched in October 2023 for PC and currently has a “Mixed” rating on Steam, with 52 percent of user reviews positive. The city-builder has faced criticism for its performance issues and lackluster updates. Releasing the paid Beach Properties DLC this past March didn’t help either (currently “Overwhelmingly Negative” on Steam). Stay tuned for further updates on the console versions in the meantime.