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343 Industries is now Halo Studios, and it’s welcoming a tidal wave of changes to keep up with how “the consumption habits of gamers have changed.”343 Industries, and before that Bungie, were always split between actively making new Halo games while also dedicating resources to update its proprietary tech. But the newly-rebranded Halo Studios has now announced that it’s ditching its own Slipspace Engine in favor of Unreal Engine 5 – a decision that’ll supposedly help the team release its multiple in-development games and post-launch updates quicker than ever before to feed gamers’ gaping appetites.

A New Dawn | Halo Studios – YouTube

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“We believe that the consumption habits of gamers have changed – the expectations of how fast their content is available,” Halo Studios’ head Pierre Hintze said in an Xbox Wire blog post, likely referring to the live service boom that has well oiled machines like Fortnite and Call of Duty Warzone cranking out new stuff every week…

Veteran Silent Hill developer Masahiro Ito shared a few sharply worded tweets directed toward “disrespectful” fans blaming him for their dissatisfaction with the forthcoming Silent Hill 2 remake. One tweet that suggested some fans have acted like “children” has since been deleted.The exact Silent Hill 2 remake release time varies depending on region, but for most folks it lands on Tuesday, October 8, which means the vast majority of fans haven’t had time to actually play the game yet. However, reviews have been largely very positive, with Bloober Team’s remake currently boasting a more than respectable 87 Metacritic review score. Our own Silent Hill 2 Remake review is a little lower than most at 3.5/5 stars, but that’s still a pretty solid score.Point is: most people who have played Silent Hill 2 Remake seem to be pretty happy with it, and judging from these early impressions it seems to be an extraordinarily faithful retelling, but with a series and entry as beloved as this one, a rem…

Survival game Valheim is set to get significantly cozier thanks to a new update that’s bringing all-new cooking and farming skills, making it feel a lot more akin to a game like Stardew Valley.This is coming as part of ‘The Bog Witch’ update, which is also set to add a new vendor – the titular witch – to Valheim’s swamp biome. This new face will have spices and potions aplenty on offer, as well as new materials for tools and crafting recipes. Gold can also be exchanged for ingredients usable in endurance, strength, and dexterity-enhancing Meads, Tonics, and Draughts.That’s just the start, though, as the specialized Cooking skill is where it’s at for anyone wanting to step into the shoes of a humble chef. Leveling it up by cooking dishes will make preparing culinary delights an even faster process, and grant the chance of crafting additional food items at the same time. Also coming as part of these delicious additions is the arrival of eight new ‘feasts’ – huge banquet…

Balatro’s taking over the world, and creator Localthunk is loving the view from the top.We’ve seen nothing but a string of successes from the poker roguelike (in the absolute simplest terms) since it launched back in February, going on to sell 50,000 copies in 10 days, and then a million copies in under a month, and double that by August. More recently, it beat out Stardew Valley and Minecraft on the mobile sales charts and was nominated for three different awards at the Golden Joysticks.Now we have a completely different metric by which to measure Balatro’s monumental success, as Localthunk is celebrating the fact that “Balatro has been cumulatively played for over 11,000 years across all platforms.” Balatro has been cumulatively played for over 11,000 years across all platforms 🍌October 8, 2024That is an absolutely staggering figure, and frankly Localthunk seems a little too eager to celebrate humanity losing that much collective time to a video game, even if it is their…

You never know when inspiration is going to strike, and for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom team, inspiration was found during a nine-day boot camp where, according to director Tomomi Sano, they were “working from morning until night” to get the story right.As part of Nintendo’s Ask the Developer Vol. 13 series producer Eiji Aonuma recounts the difficulty of taking creative liberties within the deeper history of Hyrule. This ultimately led to the aforementioned “boot camp” between him and the rest of the team to really figure the new Zelda game out. “It’s very difficult to balance how much to add or change,” says Aonuma. “At first, we were intentionally leaving any parts that might delve into Hyrule’s history vague, but partway through, we just couldn’t find a way forward that way… So, around last summer, we decided to hold a boot camp and work out the story there.”This lengthy excursion centered around the difficulties of touching the existing lore of the franchise and ke…