Gaming

Death Stranding 2 is coming to PC on March 19th, and the system requirements are fairly relaxed, except for needing 150GB of SSD storage — an especially tough ask for portable players (who are getting their own graphics preset). A 21:9 ultrawide mode is coming to PC and the PS5. Although, it seems likely that the effect will be simulated on PS5 like it was with its predecessor, with horizontal black bars and a wider field of view.

It’s so thin! Watch me hit it with a huge mallet, charge it via its deconstructed USB-C port, and shine bright light though the paper to reveal the flexible circuits within. Then, go read my colleague Andrew’s story: he interviewed the creator!

At the end of a long and personal blog post to mark the occasion of Balatro’s second birthday, LocalThunk confirmed that the 1.1 update, which was delayed from a planned 2025 release, is still in the works. I’m looking forward to it, but in the near term, Slay the Spire II will help pass the time.

The multiplayer title, which will shut down on April 9th, reportedly struggled to find players, and developer Glowmade recently laid off staff.

The very good Ball x Pit is coming to iOS and Android on March 12th.

Among other things, Marathon will have dedicated servers, a “Fog of War” that “limits the regions of a map that individual player clients have knowledge of,” and a rebuilt game security stack, Bungie says in a new blog post.

Uematsu has created music for countless Square Enix games, including classics like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and Final Fantasy VII. Now he’s going to be the subject of a biography by James Mielkem, Nobuo Uematsu: On the Record.

Over the last few years, Microsoft has been bringing its big exclusive franchises to rival platforms like PlayStation and Switch. Satya Nadella even said he wanted to “get rid of” console exclusives — that might not be a great move. But the new Xbox boss seems open to the idea that the console’s identity hinges on exclusives.

Like Phil Spencer, Bond had a note for the employees at Xbox as she announced her departure, which she shared on LinkedIn Friday evening.

The big shakeup at Xbox means that Asha Sharma is taking over for Phil Spencer as CEO of Microsoft Gaming. Her previous role at Microsoft was AI-focused, and here’s what she has to say about utilizing AI for games:

Sonic The Hedgehog Classic and Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Classic are the latest games from Sega’s Forever program that could soon disappear from the Google Play and Apple app stores. Both games now display a pop-up message warning that “support for this game will be discontinued, but you can continue playing offline!”

According to Fox 11 Los Angeles:

Sony sold its ownership stake in the fighting game tournament to Nodwin Gaming last August, making it a co-owner alongside RTS, an esports company acquired by the Saudi-backed Qiddiya City.

That’s two weeks from today! The game has new characters, new cards, and even a co-op mode. Can’t wait.

Highguard’s website has been down for two days, and developer Wildlight Entertainment reportedly laid off most of its staff last week, but development on the game continues. Last night, Wildlight published notes about a new patch and detailed some changes coming to Highguard’s next patch, including a new raid-focused mode.

Costco members can get access to an exclusive Asus Xbox ROG Ally promotion running through February 22nd that knocks $100 off the original $589.99 price and includes four games. The entry-level handheld had a rocky launch late last year, but its software has improved since then.

The epic sci-fi RPG, which debuted on the Wii U before being ported to the Switch, is now available in a Switch 2 edition. It includes technical upgrades like support for 4K and 60fps in TV mode, and if you already own the Switch version, it’s $4.99 to upgrade.

After debuting exclusively in Japan last August, the Hello, Mario! app is now available for the Switch 1 and 2, as well as iOS, iPadOS, and Android mobile devices. You can poke and tug on Mario’s face and select objects for him to interact with, but the app’s appeal is mostly limited to kids.

Meshcapade’s team will join Epic Games’ AI Research team and contribute to technologies for Unreal Engine and the hyperrealistic MetaHumans.