Ahead of its launch, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 developer The Chinese Room says it is reevaluating its plans to charge players extra if they want to align with two of the six vampire clans in the game. During Gamescom week, the developer officially announced the October release date for the game and the special editions for Bloodlines 2. The two extra clans, Lasombra and Toreador, will be unlockable via the $22 Shadows and Silk add-on pack--this is also included in the pricier deluxe edition of the game and the Santa Monica Memories DLC--and this decision did not go over well with fans of the series.

"We are listening to your feedback about the Lasombra and Toreador clan access, and we're making adjustments ahead of launch to reflect this. We will share more information about what this means as soon as possible," community developer DebbieElla wrote in the Bloodlines 2 Discord group (via ResetEra).

Just what those adjustments will be remains to be seen, but during Gamescom, The Chinese Room justified its decision to paywall two of the game's six clans by saying that they were developed as additional work, per the request of publisher Paradox Interactive.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an easy contender for that coveted game of the year award, having been received incredibly well by critics and players alike. But as with any breakout success from a brand-new studio, there unfortunately comes an annoying question: What's next? Developer Sandfall Interactive is still staying mostly quiet on that front, but in a recent interview with game director Guillaume Broche, it has been at least confirmed that Expedition 33 will not be the only Clair Obscur game.

Speaking to YouTuber MrMattyPlays (thanks, TheGamer), Broche explained that "Clair Obscur is the franchise name. Expedition 33 is one of the stories that we want to tell in this franchise. Exactly what it will look like and what the concept will be is still too soon to announce, but what is sure is that this is not the end of the Clair Obscur franchise."

Broche played it understandably coy here, as Expedition 33 only came out in April this year. With how long game development takes--and with Broche noting in this interview that he wants to keep the team relatively small going forward--we probably won't know what a potential sequel looks like. The game is quite notably inspired by the Final Fantasy series, which generally takes an anthological approach to its releases, so there are still questions over whether a Clair Obscur sequel would be a direct follow-up, or something new entirely.

The upcoming live-action Death Stranding movie is being directed by Michael Sarnoski, but that wasn't always a guarantee. Noah Sacco, the head of films at A24, said in an interview that he originally approached game director and writer Hideo Kojima for the job.

"Are you sure you don't want to direct?" Sacco recalled saying to Kojima in an interview with The New Yorker.

That's all Sacco had to say on the matter, so we don't know what the conversation between the film boss and Kojima might have included, or how Kojima may have responded to that question. In any event, Kojima is not directing the movie.

Destiny: Rising is about to launch onto mobile devices this week, and for players who might have been concerned about performance, developer NetEase wants to ease their minds. Mobile shooter games haven't always been the most stunning, but the developers recently revealed that the Destiny mobile game will be presented at up to 90fps on iPads.

"We're thrilled to announce that Destiny Rising will support 90fps on selected iPad devices! No extra tweaking needed," the announcement read. "The game will automatically recommend and adapt to the optimal settings for your device. Smoother gameplay incoming!"

Considering that even Fortnite on mobile is supported with 60 FPS, bumping that up to 90 sounds impressive. Even in Destiny 2 for PS5 during Crucible runs, it can reach up to 120fps, but PvE typically drops to 60fps, which still looks great. As for players on Android, it seems it'll be 60fps, but at least the game features full cross-play between all mobile platforms.

When you think Ubisoft, you usually think about its tentpole franchises like Assassin's Creed and Rainbow Six Siege, but the company has also released several great small-scale games across PC, console, and mobile. Some of these IP have been dormant for years, but Atari has inked a new deal to acquire five Ubisoft classics and bring them to modern platforms.

As part of the deal, Atari has purchased the IP for Cold Fear, I Am Alive, Grow Home, Grow Up, and Child of Eden. These were all one-off games (save for Grow Home and Grow Up) published by Ubisoft and developed by numerous teams, but in terms of console releases, most of them remained locked to Xbox 360 and PS3. Aside from their PC, Xbox 360, and PC releases.

"Millions of players have experienced these worlds over the years, and this will open the door for longtime players to revisit those memories while inviting new audiences to discover them for the first time," Ubisoft VP of New Business Deborah Papiernik said in a press statement (via BusinessWire). "Atari has a rich gaming legacy and deep appreciation for these classic titles, and we're excited to see how they'll evolve and connect with players in fresh, meaningful ways."

We're about a month out from the release of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, and later this week Sega is offering up another opportunity for you to try out the game through its latest Open Network Test--and an opportunity to see if you come away from it feeling better than us.

A new trailer shared on the official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel provided a nice overview of what you can expect from this latest beta test for the game, including how long it's running, and what kind of customization options will be available.

The exact dates the network test kicks off depends on where exactly you're located. In the US, for those in a PT timezone, it's running from August 28 to September 1, whereas in the ET timezone, the UK, and Japan, it's running from August 29 to September 1--it's all at the same time; the dates just differ because of timezone differences.

It should now be easier to refund PlayStation games, as Sony has scrapped its chatbot in favor of a more streamlined process.

If you want to refund a game, you can't do it from your console. Instead you'll need to log in to the PlayStation website or open the PlayStation app and follow these instructions, but the process is still quite simple.

1. Go to the PlayStation store.
2. Click on the three dots in the top right corner.
3. Select the option that reads "Transaction History"
4. Select one of your purchases and choose the "request refund" option.

There are restrictions on what games you can refund. Generally speaking, you can only refund games purchased in the last 14 days and those you haven't played or downloaded. Special circumstances or a faulty product might get you an exception, but you'll have to explain your case to PlayStation's customer service.

Nearly two decades ago, director and screenwriter Christophe Gans brought the Silent Hill franchise to the big screen. Next year, Gans will revisit the franchise with Return to Silent Hill, a live-action adaptation of Silent Hill 2. Now, a new teaser trailer for Return to Silent Hill reveals the return of the iconic Pyramid Head from both the game and the first movie.

Jeremy Irvine takes the leading role in the film as James Sunderland, a man who is haunted by the loss of his wife, Mary (Hannah Emily Anderson). James is also summoned to Silent Hill by an enigmatic letter he receives that claims Mary is waiting for him in town despite her apparent death. Everything that James encounters in Silent Hill is conjured from his own personal Hell, including Pyramid Head.

So far, the majority of the movie's cast is under wraps. However, Evie Templeton is reprising her role as Laura from last year's Silent Hill 2 remake. The franchise's longtime composer Akira Yamaoka is also providing the score for Return to Silent Hill.

When EA teased in June that it was bringing back its popular college basketball franchise, some wondered when they might actually get something to play. As it turns out, it's not going to be anytime soon, which is not much of a surprise.

EA Sports executive Sean O'Brien told USA Today that EA is "up for the challenge" of building a new college basketball game. Currently, the company is "in the process of trying to figure out how that could come together."

While it's still very early days, O'Brien went on to say that the hope is for the new game to include every D1 men's and women's basketball team, and he admitted getting this done is a "daunting task."

Helldivers 2 is putting up huge numbers at the moment, partially thanks to a major collaboration with Halo--but one of the iconic Halo weapons in the ODST Warbond is causing the game to crash. Here's what we know about the bug and how to avoid it.

The bug has been detailed under known issues in Helldivers 2's Discord, and concerns the ODST MA5C Assault Rifle. "When on the bridge, if all players equip this weapon from the armory and then the host leaves it will cause your game to crash," the bug report reads. The crash is currently impacting players on all platforms, and Arrowhead is investigating a fix.

For now, thankfully the crash is not too difficult to get around. To avoid any possibility of this crash ocurring, Arrowhead recommends equipping the ODST from the loadout instead of the armory.

Path of Exile 2's next update The Third Edict is set to add a whole new act, region, and plenty of other new content to the game--but it's the new asynchronous trading system that really has players excited. Grinding Gear Games has shown off the system's new in-game market browser, just days out from the update drop.

GGG explains in the video that the in-game trade browser wasn't quite ready to be shown off when the studio did its initial content drop for The Third Edict, but it's now ready to go. The in-game market browser works similarly to PoE 2's official trade website, allowing players to search for items they want in the player-to-player trade system. The new asynchronous trade system means the seller no longer has to be online for a trade to take place--buyers can now purchase it directly from the seller's Hideout.

The seemingly simple feature brings a major quality-of-life improvement for PoE 2 players, simplifying what was previously a fairly involved, multi-step process into an easier task. The asynchronous trade system is set to come to the original Path of Exile in future too, provided its integration into PoE 2 goes smoothly.

In case you needed any more confirmation that Criterion is now all in on Battlefield, the Burnout creator and long-time Need For Speed custodian is now officially branded as "A Battlefield Studio"--leaving the future of the Need For Speed franchise in question.

As spotted by The Gamer, a user from the Need For Speed subreddit spotted Criterion's new official subtitle on EA's website, where "A Battlefield Studio" now appears under the usual studio logo. Members of the subreddit are understandably not too optimistic about what the change means for the Need For Speed franchise, which is still ostensibly under Criterion's purview.

The rebranding is really just confirming what we already knew--in February this year, EA announced that Criterion was being moved under the Battlefield Studios banner in order to support the single-player experience for Battlefield 6. At the same time, it was announced that development on the next Need For Speed title was being paused--though EA has promised that the franchise is not dead.

Earlier this year, a revived version of Acclaim brought back one of the most prolific video game publishers from the '90s. Now, the resurrected company has announced that its first-ever Play Acclaim showcase will unveil its first new titles in over two decades next month.

Play Acclaim is slated to be streamed on the company's official YouTube channel on September 10 11:30 AM PT/2:30 PM ET. The teaser video for Play Acclaim features several classic games the original company brought to consoles in the '90s, including Mortal Kombat 2, NBA Jam, Terminator 2, and more. It notably ends with some of Neo's final lines from The Matrix.

"We're not here to chase ghosts," said Acclaim CEO Alex Josef in a statement. "We're here to take the energy and chaos that made Acclaim unforgettable and channel it into something new. The old screens are cracking, and what's coming through is something exciting and different ... You can't rewrite the past, but you can build upon it. This is about owning our story and moving it into a future that feels bold, energetic, and completely fresh."