Developer Josh Sobel has reactivated his social media account after originally shutting it down following criticism of his original comments about what happened with the free-to-play game. Sobel returned to social media to say his original post was a mistake, but he doubled down on how online discourse surrounding the game played a part in its ultimate failure. However, he acknowledged that while it may have played a role, online sentiment was not the primary cause for Highguard's failure.

Sobel said, "I believe the online discourse around Highguard had some very dark corners that may have accelerated the timeline of our failure beyond the natural outcome of reasonable critique, but it wasn't the primary cause, and I don't personally believe the ultimate outcome would have been thoroughly different without it."

He went on to say there were "a lot of elements involved" in what went wrong with Highguard, and there is "no way to know how it would have gone under different circumstances."

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Hellraiser's Cenobites are a force of sadomasochistic nature in the movies and books, but in Hellraiser: Revival, players will have a chance to stand their ground against the pleasure-seeking monsters. In a new developer diary--which has plenty of violent and sexual content, so consider yourselves warned--Saber Interactive revealed more about some of the tools that players will have at their disposal, including the Genesis Configuration. Since it's age-restricted, you'll need to watch it on YouTube.

While players will have access to guns and melee weapons, the Genesis Configuration allows them to wield iconic Cenobite powers in combat and exploration. Similar in design to the Lament Configuration and other puzzle boxes created by the toymaker Philip LeMarchand, the Genesis Configuration is essentially a Swiss Army Knife of agony in Hellraiser: Revival.

Some of the box's powers are teased in the video, like the ability to conjure up hooks out of thin air and then use them to rip enemies apart, using it as a flamethrower, or altering reality to progress through levels. As narrative director Antony De Fault noted, there have always been a variety of Configurations across the franchise and lore.

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The Save the World mode that started it all for Fortnite will be accessible for free to almost all players starting April 16, reversing a decision by Epic Games nearly six years ago.

Save the World is a PvE sandbox survival mode that pits four players against hordes of monsters. With Fortnite's building mechanics, the mode has often been billed as "Minecraft meets Left 4 Dead."

Save the World will remain playable on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S; previously accessible by purchasing a Starter Pack in the Fortnite Store (usually costing 1,500 V-Bucks), it'll be free-to-play on those platforms beginning April 16. It'll also be available for the Nintendo Switch 2 version, which wasn't the case when the Switch 2 port launched back in June. Mobile devices and the Switch 1 won't support the mode.

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A week after release, Marathon update 1.0.0.4 has gone live for Bungie's new extraction shooter game. The developer had previously indicated that it was looking to respond to player feedback with a variety of fixes and tweaks to the game, and this new patch introduces some substantial changes to Marathon's solo experience.

While the game is best experienced in a group, solo options do exist, and there's even a Runner shell--Rook--specialized for dropping into sessions all on your lonesome or when you want to stock up on supplies. With this patch, players using a Rook shell can expect to receive the same amount of bonus Faction reputation for exfiltrating that solo players receive, and an issue where the Rook’s position was not being displayed on the map screen has been resolved. To keep things balanced, Rook players will spawn with a compromised WSTR shotgun, which will require them to use a Matter Fixative during a run if they want to exfil with it.

Bungie has also reduced the health of most UESC enemies on the map, which it says is being done to alleviate some of the resource burden in both Solos and Crews when it comes to engaging these dangerous units in battle. "The goal here is to allow your bullets and meds to go further without reducing too much of the UESCs' bite," Bungie added. Other annoying bugs that have been patched include one where players could sometimes die instantly in confinement events, while various weapons have been adjusted.

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Progression in Slay The Spire 2 relies on you completing objectives in your countless runs. You can keep track of what you've unlocked via the Timeline, a series of events that expand on the story, as well as give objectives for you to complete. By finishing them, you'll get rewards that will then begin appearing in future runs, such as single-use potions, perk-giving relics, and busted cards.

Some of the requirements are your typical Roguelike game fare: playing through runs until your inevitable demise. However, others need you to beat some of the tricky Slay The Spire 2 bosses, kill several elite enemies, or reach a predetermined point value across all of your runs. There are so many objectives in the first version of Slay The Spire 2's early access, including some that hint at new areas and unlockables that will appear in the future, so let's go through all the Epochs and what they unlock.

The Timeline shows all previously unlocked Epochs, while conditions for unlocking characters, modes, relics, cards, and potions are hidden behind blurred images.All Slay The Spire Timeline Epoch unlock conditions

There are currently over 50 Slay The Spire 2 Epochs you can unlock in the early access period across your many runs. It will likely take you dozens of runs to complete the entire Timeline, and more are sure to follow over the next few months. Rather than having to flip back and forth to see what the objectives are, here are all the unlock conditions for the Epochs in one place:

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The character you select in Slay the Spire 2 is one of the most important choices throughout your entire run. Each character comes with their own deck, abilities, and stats that require you to use a unique playstyle compared to one of the other characters.

Slay the Spire 2 has five total characters that you can choose from, but not all of them are unlocked right from the start of the game. If you want to see how to unlock a certain character or see which characters are better than others, take a look at the complete guide below.

All characters in Slay the Spire 2

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Pokemon Pokopia has finally arrived on Nintendo Switch 2, and to commemorate its launch, Pokemon Go is holding a special crossover celebration until March 16. All throughout the event, Pokemon featured in the Switch 2 game will be appearing more frequently in Go, including its main star: Ditto.

For a limited time, a special hat-wearing variant of the shapeshifting Pokemon will be available in the wild and as a Research reward. Encountering one won't be so straightforward, however, as Ditto will be disguised as new Pokemon during the event. To help you get one, we've put together this guide on how to catch Ditto and what Pokemon it could be disguised as.

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• How To Catch Ditto

How To Catch Ditto

There are several ways to find Ditto during the Pokopia Celebration event, but they'll require some patience.

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After a long hiatus between Mega Man games, Mega Man: Dual Override is slated to bring back Capcom's iconic hero. However, Ben Diskin--the actor who voiced the title character in Mega Man 11--has revealed that he won't be returning for Dual Override because Capcom is refusing to abide by SAG-AFTRA regulations in the next game.

"With a broken Blue Bomber heart, I am no longer the voice of Mega Man," Diskin wrote in a post on Bluesky. "I was asked to return for Mega Man: Dual Override, but only on the condition I work without the protections of a union contract."

According to Diskin, one of the reasons he refused the offer was a potential lack of AI protections, which Capcom insists are already part of the contract. But without SAG-AFTRA's backing, Diskin may not have been able to enforce that contract provision.

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For the first time since 2023, Epic Games is increasing the price of Fortnite V-Bucks, with the change going into effect March 19. But unlike last time, when Epic simply made each V-Buck pack cost a few dollars more, the changes this time are a lot more complicated and warrant a bit of a discussion. You can read Epic's announcement here, and we'll run through the changes in depth below so you can understand them a little better.

1. You get fewer V-Bucks for your money

Instead of raising the prices of the different tiers of V-Buck packs in Fortnite, Epic is decreasing the amount of V-Bucks you get for your money--the $9 pack will grant 800 V-Bucks instead of 1,000, the $23 pack will grant 2,400 instead of 2,800, the $36 pack will include 4,500 instead of 5,000, and the $90 pack will include 12,500 instead of 13,500.

It's the change to that second pack that's going to be the most impactful, because there have been many cosmetic bundles that cost between 2,500 and 2,800 V-Bucks, and now folks may need to buy a more expensive pack of V-Bucks or use the new "Exact Amount" top-up feature to buy those bundles. Unfortunately, the top-up is also about to become significantly pricier itself.

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