Pushed back another four months on PS5.

Weta Workshop has announced a second delay for its Hobbit life simulator game Tales of the Shire. Originally slated to come out on PS5 next month, it's now been pushed back again by four months to 29th July 2025. The news was part of a statement posted to the game's social media channels, though an exact reason for the delay wasn't shared.

Instead, the developer said it wants Tales of the Shire to feel like "a warm hug from Middle-earth, and we are making sure that no matter where you play, you'll feel right at home in The Shire". The focus on "no matter where you play" in the statement may suggest some platforms aren't running the game as well as others, but that's speculation due to the lack of details in the post.

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It doesn't matter which system you own.

As with the excellent It Takes Two, you’ll only need to own one copy of Split Fiction to play co-op online with your friends. But developer Hazelight is going one step further this time, allowing you to team up with your buddies regardless of which console you own.

It works like this: you buy the game and your pal downloads the Friend’s Pass. It doesn’t matter which console they own, as once you’ve signed into your EA Account you’ll be able to team up and play through the entire thing. Simple, eh?

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Now you know.

There’s been a raging debate about the meaning of first-party, second-party, and so on among gaming enthusiasts for eons.

For the longest time, it was assumed first-party games were those published by the platform holder and made by internally owned studios, while second-party titles were those titles still published by the platform holder but made by non-owned studios.

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Will somebody please cue that bird?

In those halcyon days when the concept of anthropomorphic animals consuming pizza was the coolest thing imaginable, 90s kids were eating well. Of course, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would go on to become household names, a legendary IP that persists to this day. Still, those with a more sophisticated palate know that Leonardo, Raphael, Michaelangelo, and Donatello can't hold a candle to the fearsome feline trio of Speedy Cerviche, Polly Esther, and Guido Anchovy, known collectively as the Samurai Pizza Cats.

After over 30 years, the trio are finally getting their due, with 2D action RPG Samurai Pizza Cats: Blast from the Past! announced for "all major platforms", expected to release in 2026. With The Big Cheese already plotting to bribe the animators in an attempt to not only become a playable character but, in turn, also to be crowned Emperor of Little Tokyo, only the Samurai Pizza Cats, in gloriously self-aware fashion ("We've got nine lives, plus continues!") can stop him.

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Myth passes into legend.

Age of Mythology: Retold, from that legendary publisher of video games, Xbox Games Studios, is coming to PS5 on 4th March. The seminal strategy game was initially developed by Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires series, Halo Wars) and released back in 2002. World's Edge and Forgotten Empires revived it in remastered form in 2020.

A classic real-time strategy game, Age of Mythology combines the series' usual town-building, resource management, and tactical combat encounters with a fantastical edge. Players can command one of four factions, each with its distinct playstyle and strategy. In a fun twist, you can employ the various myths and legends from their respective cultures: the Greeks, Egyptians, Norse, and Atlanteans. Retold doesn't include the Tale of the Dragon expansion, which introduced the Chinese pantheon; that's coming as post-launch content.

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Superior numbers.

It's hard to escape Marvel Rivals these days, and if it seems like everyone is playing NetEase's mega-popular game, it's probably because they are. More than 40 million players have fired up the free-to-play hit, and the developer reports it made a superhuman $2.9 billion in net revenue; not bad, considering it was only released on 6th December 2024.

The stunning numbers were revealed during NetEase's latest financial results (thanks, VGC), but they're even more impressive when you consider the reported period is for the three months ending 31st December. Of course, the publisher has a bunch of studios under its corporate umbrella all contributing, so we can't put the 1.5% increase since last quarter entirely down to Marvel Rivals. It also has the likely unintended effect of making the redundancies of NetEase's American developers just days ago seem even more callous; the shareholders must be appeased at all costs.

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"The most ambitious survival game ever made".

We've been following the development of the extremely promising Dune: Awakening for some time now, and it seems our faith is finally about to be rewarded. Publisher and developer Funcom has revealed the game's PC release date, 20th May, having previously pledged that the PS5 version would follow shortly after.

We got another tantalising look at "the most ambitious survival game ever made, set on the most dangerous planet in the universe, Arrakis, " which looks unbelievable in scope. We still have so many questions about how its persistent, massively multiplayer world will work, but there is no denying that what Funcom has been cooking up looks like an incredibly faithful adaptation of both Frank Herbert's legendary universe and, more specifically, Denis Villeneuve's vision of it.

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Cluedo, perhaps, or My Little Pony?

Family-friendly toy company Hasbro has partnered with Saber Interactive, developer of one of 2024's most violently grimdark, gore-drenched games in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. The two will work together to bring to life one of Hasbro's "tentpole IPs", which does present some intriguing possibilities.

Revealed during its latest earnings call, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks seemed pretty psyched about the whole thing (thanks, Polygon), revealing to investors that: "I’m especially excited to announce this one today, being a personal fan of many of this team’s games. Hasbro and Saber Interactive will collaborate on an all-new video game partnership developed by the team behind 2024’s megahit, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. Combining high-octane single-player action and amazing multiplayer with Saber’s Swarm tech, this new AAA title, based on one of our tentpole IPs, will surely be a hit."

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Settle down, choom.

A series of fairly recent job listings at CD Projekt Red have resulted in a (very) early wave of hype from fans of Cyberpunk 2077.

As you'd expect, the developer is currently hiring for 2077's sequel, which likely won't release for years yet. Still, the job listings give us some degree of insight into the project's scope.

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The new CoD map Grind spreads the word.

Activision appears to have an announcement related to the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series penned in for 4th March, as it's been noticed in a new Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 map that a TV screen displays the "03.04.25" date in a skateboard shop. The teaser follows hot on the heels of speculation surrounding a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 remaster, which this TV display is more than likely referring to.

The teasing TV screen appears in a returning Call of Duty multiplayer map named Grind, which originally featured in Black Ops 2. Keeping with the theme, the map is set within a skate park and this tease appears in a shop to the side selling decks, trucks, and wheels.

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Muse technology "not a solution" for game preservation.

This week, Microsoft unveiled its latest venture into generative AI technology, and it's getting a mixed reaction, you could say.

Called Muse, the tech is a first-of-its-kind AI model that's able to replicate a game based upon video footage and player control inputs.

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Bloomin' neck.

We caught this new game trailer on PlayStation's YouTube channel, and had to share.

Esophaguys is the name of this peculiar indie title, and it's a 2D action platformer for up to four players.

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Get all the PS5 patch notes here.

Warhorse Studios has today updated Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 on PS5 by way of a 420MB patch, which brings the RPG up to version number 1.012. The update is available to download now on PS5, and is designed to fix some smaller issues relating to crime and quests, as well as making the game more stable.

Here are the full patch notes for update 1.012 in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2:

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There from the beginning.

There's a reason why Lost Soul Aside has become one of the most talked-about and reported-on indie titles of the past decade: Sony has been there pretty much every step of the way supporting the one-man team Yang Bing. Detailed in a new interview with IGN, the developer speaks of how they've had the backing of Sony from essentially day one, as far back as 2016.

Bing reveals he had a contact within PlayStation at the time, who contacted him about the action project and a potential collaboration when the game's original viral announcement was published. This partnership truly began when Bing returned to Shanghai, China at the end of 2016, where an agreement was made with Sony that it would back the title in some form.

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Playing with PS5 Pro power.

Alongside today's new Astro Bot speedrun level, Team Asobi has also updated its PS5 pack-in title Astro's Playroom. A new patch lets you get a PS5 Pro from the gacha machine along with the PS5 Pulse Elite Headset and Pulse Explore Earbuds. It can be seen in the Twitter video below along with the new PS5 boot-up wallpaper for the game, captured by Radec:

When you return to the main hub area of Astro's Playroom, the gigantic PS5 Pro will be displayed next to the base PS5, with a little Astro Bot perched on top. If you wish to return to Astro's Playroom and claim the PS5 Pro, refer to our Astro's Playroom guide as we have kept our coverage all up to date in case you missed any of the post-launch content that was made available in the lead-up to Astro Bot.

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Ready, Fight.

As was announced last month, an open beta test for upcoming fighter Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is now available to download on PS5 and PS4. Everyone can dive in — you don't need a code or anything like that.

The beta boasts eight playable characters: Rock, Terry, Mai, Hotaru, B. Jenet, Preecha, Vox, and Kain. You can take them for a spin across Ranked and Casual online matches, or you can jump into a tutorial mode to get your bearings.

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Plus: big online multiplayer update incoming.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind was a perfectly fine retro-style beat-'em-up when it launched back in December, but developer Digital Eclipse has just released a game-changing update that fundamentally changes how it plays.

Available now as a free patch for the game, the update introduces various new features that fill out the overall experience.

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New minigames to play.

Yooka-Replaylee, the enhanced PS5 remake of Playtonic's throwback platformer, has just unveiled a new trailer that focuses on Rextro's Arcade, which has been reworked for this new version of the game.

Rextro's Arcade is a collection of minigames you can play. Depending on your performance, you can earn medals, which can then be exchanged for Pagies, the all-important collectibles in the main adventure.

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Become an NPC in the game.

The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced almost seven years ago, and we’re unlikely to actually see it in action for several more. Bethesda Game Studios has been keeping itself busy with Starfield, but the upshot is at least owner Microsoft has now effectively gone third-party.

Anyway, the Skyrim sequel is at least still in development, because the developer has launched a Make-A-Wish auction, with the winning bidder getting the “once in a lifetime” opportunity to appear in the game.

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