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To the surprise of just about everyone — seemingly including the studio behind it — virtual reality game Ultrawings 2 has hit PlayStation VR2 earlier than expected. Developer Bit Planet Games wrote on X that «shadow dropping Ultrawings 2 on PS VR2 today was not on our 2024 bingo card but, well, here we are.» (A shadow drop refers to a surprise release of a product as soon as it's announced, like Hi-Fi Rush.)
If you weren't able to get the Microsoft Xbox Series S at a discount this past holiday season, you may want to check out Dell's website. The digital media-only console is currently on sale for $230, down $70 from its retail price of $300. While it can't play disc games, your $230 will get you 512GB in SSD storage and a wireless Xbox controller. The console supports variable refresh rates of up to 120 fps, and while it runs games at a max resolution of 1440p, you can use it to stream shows and movies in 4K. You only need to download the streaming apps you have access to, including Disney+, Netflix or Amazon Prime Video.
Following Apple's announcement of enabling third-party app stores for iOS users in the European Union, Epic Games confirms that it'll be bringing Fortnite back to the iPhone and iPad in Europe later this year — by way of a new Epic mobile games store. This will mark the title's official return to Apple's platform since it was yanked back in August 2020, after Epic offered discounts to payments made directly to its own store, instead of Apple's App Store and Google Play which would take a 30-percent cut. iOS users have had to rely on Xbox Cloud Gaming or GeForce Now to play Fortnite, but this will soon be a thing of the past for those based in Europe.
Another former PlayStation 5 exclusive is coming to PC very soon. It's been known for a while that Horizon Forbidden Westwould be Sony's next title to make the leap, and now the company has revealed that the PC version of the game will drop on March 21.
The Last of Us Part II Remastered arrived last week, and if the cutscene commentary from the game's director, writer and key actors wasn't enough for you, Naughty Dog has another behind the scenes piece coming. Grounded II: Making The Last Of Us Part II, a documentary on the game's creation, will arrive on February 2 at 12PM ET on YouTube as well as in the game itself. There's a trailer in the remastered game currently, and the full documentary will be added via a downloadable patch. That patch will also have some new skins for Ellie and Abby in the main game.
Apple's app platform is finally opening up a bit. Today, the company said that it will allow developers to utilize new in-app experiences, including streaming games, accessing mini-apps, and talking with chatbots. That means devs can create a single app that houses an easily accessible catalog of their streaming titles. Perhaps we'll finally see a usable Game Pass app from Microsoft (or even its long-awaited mobile game store).
We're not even one month into 2024 and it's already been another brutal year for workers in the video game industry. Microsoft is the latest company to announce a major round of layoffs in its gaming division as it's cutting around 1,900 workers from its Xbox, Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax (aka Bethesda) teams. That brings the total number of video game layoffs this year to around 6,000 already. There were around 9,000 layoffs in the industry in all of 2023, according to some estimates.
The Pokémon Company knows about Palworld and is very much aware that the game is drawing a lot of comparisons with its intellectual property, based on a statement it has published. While the company didn't explicitly name Palworld, it said it's going to investigate a game «released in January 2024» and will «take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon.» It also clearly stated that it has «not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that game.»