Thing is, Sony aren't even putting out that many bangers. Certainly not by the standards of last generation.

But that's the problem. Last generation was pivotal for the switch from physical media to digital, which means that anyone buying a new system is going to buy an updated version of their last gen system. Which was a PS4, because Microsoft completely fucked it last generation. Even with this gen's disappointing games, baffling lack of focus, poor messaging, and bizarre management decisions, they'd probably be in a much stronger position if they'd made a product that people actually wanted to buy last generation, because more folks would already be invested in the ecosystem.

The Elden Ring expansion straight up has a release date: June 21st 2024.

The problem you've got is that the two lists that you're looking at are ones with concrete release dates, and we're currently in the period of the year where the release dates are the hardest to come by. Basically everyone's either just started their fiscal Q1 and so have a completely clear slate, or like Microsoft have just started their Fiscal Q4 which means all they've got left on the slate are the delayed stragglers.

So are they actually going to bother to release this one, or...

More like grabbing a bargain; When Embracer bought Saber it cost them more than $500 million. They sold it to Beacon (who are basically just a bunch of investors and one of the Saber founders) for just under $250 million, and are now stacking up extras from the Embracer spending spree while they still can.

On a similar note, who do we reckon is buying Gearbox? My money is on Take 2, because who would be stupid enough to buy Gearbox (Embracer aside) when the Borderlands publishing rights are permanently in 2K's hands?

To be fair, Gearbox was always a pretty crap deal for whoever was buying it because 2K owns the publishing rights to Borderlands in perpetuity. It would not surprise me if they end up under 2K, and that they end up costing 2K a lot less than they cost Embracer.

Well this is concerning. If they're not getting any more funding from 505 to make Control 2 and Condor then, uh, who's funding Control 2 and Condor?

The problem with Watch Dogs Legion is that all of the player characters are all procedurally generated, so while there's plenty of plot, it's pretty threadbare as a story.

Eat the rich in Minecraft

They've got the look spot on, but everyone's miscast and none of the jokes land.

Well it's Xbox Wire, so it's PR rather than any actual critical evaluation.

And we all know how well Xbox PR has been doing lately.

Minecraft has some pretty comprehensive version control, so you should be able to install old versions pretty easily.

I mean, Idle Champions Of The Forgotten Realms is right there already.

Depends on whether your plan is to right the ship (sensible, boring, doesn't interest investors) or to take that money and gamble it elsewhere in hope for big returns (chaotic, potentially disastrous, shareholders love it).

Oh god, it's 2K publishing.

Which means that the game disappearing from storefronts is one of the better case scenarios. It's entirely possible that they'll patch out the licenced songs from the soundtrack from every digital copy of the game.

It's Rocksteady, so it'll be higher than 40s. Heck, it's almost impossible to get a score lower than 40 on metacritic...

Mid 60s I'm guessing, perhaps as high as 69 if reviewers are feeling generous. The kind of score which would be absolutely fine if it were a cheap and cheerful B-game made by a scrappy team of underfunded devs, but which is an absolute embarrassment when applied to a multi million dollar tentpole. The kind of score that implies 'meh'.

I would suspect that the real draw to working with Starfleet for non-federation personnel isn't any concept of wages, but a comprehensive benefits package. Presumably Starfleet membership confers some level of personal federation membership, possibly for both you and your immediate family, which may mean that you get to move your loved ones to a mostly-utopic federation world.

How would they fucking know? The article is behind a paywall!

Hidden behind a paywall.

It's an American-Japanese co-production, so I'd say it was anime, but you have to say it with a rising inflection like it's a question.