A PC demo for the action-adventure game Eternal Strands is now available for a limited time. The demo covers the game's "Part 1" and should take between 1-4 hours to complete. Any progress made in it will also carry over to the full game.

In the demo, players will be able to explore two areas of The Envclave and fight up to three types of Epics. Additionally, players have access to the crafting system, three weapon types, and a limited set of magic spells. The three base weapon types are sword & shield, bow & arrow, and two-hander.

While the demo and game aren't yet Steam Deck verified, developer Yellow Brick Games said that they can be played on the handheld and it's still working on getting the verification status. The demo will be removed at a later date, but more details will come in the next few days regarding exactly when.

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The Game Boy Encyclopedia: Every Game Released for the Nintendo Game Boy and Game Boy Color

$27.40 (was $43)

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Game Boy fans can save big on a very cool book at Amazon for a limited time. The Game Boy Encyclopedia, which released on November 30, is a reference book containing all of the 1,100-plus games that released for Nintendo's Game Boy and Game Boy Color in the west. Normally $43, this 320-page hardcover is on sale for only $27.40.

The Game Boy Encyclopedia: Every Game Released for the Nintendo Game Boy and Game Boy Color $27.40 (was $43)

Written by veteran video game journalist Chris Scullion, The Game Boy Encyclopedia looks at every game released in the West for both the Game Boy (~580 games) and its 1998 successor, the Game Boy Color (~560 games), which tallies up to around 1,150 games total. Inside the book, each game is covered with screenshots and trivia factoids, resulting in a comprehensive, though unofficial, look at the system over its long and storied run.

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If you're looking for some more gaming history, you can check out Scullion's other books on other influential video game consoles and their libraries. You can complement the GameBoy book with the NES, SNES, and N64 encyclopedias. The SNES book also includes section dedicated to the Nintendo's biggest flop, the Virtual Boy, and its small 22-game library. All three books are available now in hardcover and paperback.

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Back in the '90s, there were several animated adaptations of popular video games, and two of them are headed to Blu-ray soon. Discotek has officially announced that the Street Fighter and Darkstalker TV series will be getting the Blu-ray treatment, which includes brand-new cover art and a surprising amount of extra content.

Just to be clear, these shows are products of a time when animated series followed a set of family-friendly guidelines. Violence was naturally toned down since the shows were aimed at younger audiences, and the storylines mixed references to the games with plots that were designed to get you to buy licensed action figures. Still, there's a certain charm to these classic cartoons, and Discotek is packing quite a few extras on each release.

Street Fighter: The Animated Series is a wonderfully weird adaptation, as it revolves around Guile leading an international task force of martial artists against M Bison and his Shadaloo syndicate. Yes, it's basically GI Joe but with more sonic booms and hadoukens. For the Blu-ray release, all 26 episodes have been included, you can view the original intro for the show in storyboard mode, an art gallery has been included, and there are game-inspired menus.

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The Nintendo Switch 2 is expected to mark a momentous moment for the video game industry in 2025, with some predicting it, along with GTA 6, could help the business return to major growth. But when is the Switch 2 coming? That remains an open question, but now a third-party publisher has provided an indication of when it is expecting the system to debut.

Nacon, a French publisher formerly known as Bigben, said in its latest earnings briefing that it's expecting the Switch 2 to launch between April and September 2025. The company said it already has "compatible games and a full range of accessories" ready to go for the Switch 2.

Nacon did not reveal any of the games or accessories it might have ready to support the Switch 2, however. Nacon has published titles like GreedFall and Terminator: Survivors, along with Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown. In terms of accessories, Nacon makes controllers, headsets, mice, and more.

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Ravensburger's Pokemon-themed edition of the classic board game Labyrinth received a glow-in-the-dark iteration last October. If you didn't pick up the family-friendly board game over the holidays, you may want to snag a copy now. Amazon has a limited-time deal that drops the price of Pokemon Glow-in-the-Dark Labyrinth to only $20 (was $30). This deal is available in limited quantities, so it likely won't be available for very long.

Ravensburger's Pokemon-themed spin on the classic board game Labyrinth has been a big hit since releasing back in 2021. Surprisingly, it's one of the few traditional board games featuring Pokemon you can find at major retailers today, but at least it's a good one. Soon, players will be able to explore Labyrinth's shifting mazes in the dark. Ravensburger is releasing Pokemon Glow-in-the-Dark Labyrinth on October 15, and you can preorder the new edition now at Amazon for $30.

Pokemon Glow-in-the-Dark Labyrinth Board Game $20 (was $30)

The Pokemon edition of Labyrinth originally released in 2021 and remains one of the top sellers among board games inspired by video games to this day.

Pokemon Labyrinth is for two to four players and challenges you to navigate your way through twisting mazes as you track down various Pokemon, including Snorlax, Eevee, Chimchar, Piplup, Turtwig, Grookey, and many more. Playing pieces are based on the original four starter Pokemon: Pikachu, Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle. Every round of Labyrinth is different due to the board's shifting design.

The original Pokemon Labyrinth board game is on sale for only $20 (was $30) at Amazon.

It's worth noting there's also a Super Mario version of Labyrinth for $29.69 (was $36) at Amazon.

See at Amazon See original game See Super Mario Labyrinth Pokemon 2D puzzlesPokemon: Eevee's stained glass puzzle

• Pokemon Challenge (1,000 pieces)
• Pokemon Challenge (5,000 pieces)
• Pokemon Challenge (100 pieces)
• Pokemon: Catch 'em all (200 pieces)
• Pokemon: Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur (147 pieces)
• Pokemon Adventure (1,000 pieces)
• Pikachu and friends (48 pieces)
• Pokemon Showdown (1,000 pieces)
• Too many Pikachus (1,000 pieces)
• Eevee's stained glass (500 pieces)
• Pokemon Frames (1,000 pieces)
• Pokemon puzzle multi-pack (500 pieces)
• Pokemon Generation One (500 pieces)
• Pokemon: Retro pixel-art collection

Ravensburger also makes a bunch of Pokemon-themed jigsaw puzzles. You've got your standard 2D puzzles featuring famous Pokemon faces, as well as 3D puzzles that let you build a multi-dimensional shape decorated with Pokemon art. These range in complexity from quick 200-piece builds to 1,000-piece puzzles, and if you're up for a challenge, there's even a 5,000-piece Pokemon puzzle available. The 3D puzzles have a smaller amount of pieces, but they're made from a high-quality plastic and you can include several PokeBall variants.

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Unknown 9: Awakening developer Reflector Entertainment has deemed its first game as a failure and has canceled a future project, resulting in layoffs.

"This decision correlates directly with the failure of the studio's ambitious and courageous first project, a new IP with a rich transmedia universe," said Reflector Entertainment CEO and Bandai Namco Europe CCO Herve Hoerdt in a statement on LinkedIn. "The performance of the release didn't come near the company expectations, after numerous timeline adjustments and investments, both financially and other, and didn't warrant any further exploration in this universe."

Reflector Entertainment will now adopt a single-project approach for the foreseeable future, and some staff will be reassigned to another existing Bandai Namco IP. Hoerdt said that the studio's previously planned future project was canceled because it wouldn't be sustainable, and that decision will lead to layoffs. Those who are impacted by layoffs will receive severance packages and extended health benefits.

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One of the first executive orders that President Trump discussed on Monday after his inauguration was a new 25% tariff for Mexico and Canada that is expected to become effective February 1. A good amount of production infrastructure for video game discs happens in Mexico, so what's the effect going to be for the end consumer? No one knows yet. And who knows if the order will even happen. But Circana analyst Mat Piscatella has now shared his thoughts on how the new tariffs could impact people who play video games, and he's expecting higher prices overall.

Posting on social media, Piscatella said he expects to see a "sharp downtick" in the number of disc-based games that are released in the US, given that "much of that production infrastructure" is in Mexico. If companies still go ahead with making discs, then consumers can expect higher prices, he said. And not just for physical discs. Piscatella said he expects digital game prices to go up as well.

A digital game has no disc, of course, but companies may want to retain price parity all the same between physical and digital in the event of tariff-driven price increases, Piscatella said. He added that he doesn't know how this will all actually shake out and is only theorizing for now. However, he said, "None of this is good for the physical video game market."

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Hollow Knight: Silksong fans are so desperate for any bit of information about the game that they've started asking whether it was abandoned. Developer Team Cherry has assured fans that development is going smoothly and that the game will indeed launch at some point.

"Yes the game is real, progressing and will release," said Team Cherry marketing and publishing lead Matthew Griffin, in response to a fan asking about Hollow Knight: Silksong's development. Unfortunately, he didn't provide any other details.

Updates regarding its development have been rare since it was delayed from its original 2023 release window. It's now been almost two years with no significant announcements.

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High-level Call of Duty players have consistently complained about cheaters infiltrating Call of Duty's Ranked modes in Black Ops 6 and Warzone, and Activision has now responded to tell fans what's being done about it.

In a blog post, Activision said it understands players are feeling frustrated over issues that "severely impact the experience" and is taking steps to improve the quality of matches.

Now live in Call of Duty are "updated detection models" that aim to seek out things like aim-bots and hardware-level cheats. Activision never goes into depth about the efforts being undertaken through its anti-cheat software, Ricochet, because doing so, the company says, would give cheaters essential information to circumvent Activision's measures.

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Activision has released a gargantuan blog post in which it responded to fans' ongoing concerns and criticisms about the state of Call of Duty, and one section confirms that the developer will temporarily scale back its content plans for Warzone as it aims to improve the game first.

In the blog post, Activision said it has made the decision to "prioritize focus on gameplay tuning, adding more quality of life, and addressing ongoing bugs." Because of this shift in focus, Activision said some of the new content originally planned for Season 2 "has been shifted to create bandwidth to address foundational issues." Activision did not specify what Season 2 content is being delayed, however.

Activision said it has numerous updates in the works for Warzone that aim to create the "most solid foundation" for the game. These updates will be released over time, and include gameplay adjustments such as reload speeds up to 20% faster for every weapon in the game. Activision is also reducing the penalty for sprint-to-fire from 35% to 10% and increasing the jump ADS speeds by 25%.

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After Marvel Snap was unexpectedly taken offline in the US due to the TikTok ban, developer Second Dinner has announced that the game is back online, and is taking steps to avoid future situations like this.

"Marvel Snap is back online in the US, but to make sure this NEVER happens again, we’re working to bring more services in-house and partner with a new publisher. This is the start of a new era for Marvel Snap," Second Dinner explained on Twitter.

MARVEL SNAP is back online in the U.S. But to make sure this NEVER happens again, we’re working to bring more services in-house and partner with a new publisher. This is the start of a new era for MARVEL SNAP.
We know this probably leaves you with even more questions than…

— Second Dinner (@seconddinner) January 21, 2025

The game was caught in the US TikTok ban crossfire and had its online servers temporarily shut down. Due to the issue, players have been missing out on time-based content such as daily login rewards and missions. Second Dinner has already committed to making sure players that have been affected will be compensated, but the details have not been revealed yet.

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A recent rating on the ESRB website could point to a fresh release of Resident Evil 6 on modern consoles, potentially bringing the polarizing survival-action-horror game to new audiences.

As seen on the ratings section of the website (via VGC), Resident Evil 6 has received an "M" classification for "Xbox Series" consoles, hinting at the game possibly heading to that console. Capcom rarely does platform-exclusive releases, so if the listing is accurate, Resident Evil 6 will likely get a PS5 release as well.

Technically, you can already play the game on Xbox Series X|S and PS5 through backwards compatibility, as PS4 and Xbox One versions of Resident Evil 6 were released back in 2016. The re-release came with all previously released add-on content, and in 2019, a Nintendo Switch version of the game was also released.

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Ahead of the Season 2 update for Call of Duty, Activision has detailed some of the major improvements players can expect for Black Ops 6 and Warzone. This includes server updates, anti-cheat upgrades, and the ability to finally disable cross-play for Ranked Play modes.

Activision's community update comes from various development teams, who addressed player feedback concerning the abundance of cheating currently experienced in Ranked Play modes for both Black Ops 6 and Warzone. Some changes are live now, including Call of Duty's Ricochet anti-cheat being enhanced with updated detection models for behaviors such as aim-botting. Over 136,000 Ranked Play account bans have also been issued since the modes launched.

As for upcoming changes in Season 2, Call of Duty is finally granting players the ability to disable cross-play for consoles. However, this feature is only available to toggle on and off within the Ranked Play modes. The update also adds additional Ricochet upgrades, such as new and improved client- and server-side detections and systems, a major kernel-level driver update, and improvements to driver security.

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Epic's battle royale game Fortnite has introduced numerous licensed characters over the years, and the latest could be the classic Fox character Hank Hill from the animated series King of the Hill.

FNBRintel was first to report about the Fortnite X King of the Hill crossover that is said to be in the works, though a partnership has not been officially announced as of yet. King of the Hill was a popular show through its run in the late '90s and 2000s, and a revival of the show is coming to Hulu as soon as this year. As such, it makes a lot of sense that Hank could come to Fortnite in a cross-promotional effort.

FORTNITE X KING OF THE HILL (HANK HILL) COMING SOON!#Fortnite pic.twitter.com/QMFegZbVAA

— FNBRintel (@FNBRintel) January 20, 2025

Hank wouldn't be the first big Fox animated character to come to Fortnite, as Peter Griffin from Family Guy--the muscly version of the character, at least--was added to Fortnite in 2023. Fox's most popular animated show, The Simpsons, hasn't had a Fortnite crossover as of yet.

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Recently, Sony confirmed that it had canceled a live-service game that was in the works at Days Gone developer Bend Studio. A developer at the studio has now responded to the news, thanking fans for the outpouring of support and confirming that the team still wants to make "cool sh**."

"I'll keep this short," community manager Kevin McAllister said. "Thanks for the love and support everyone, especially to those that have reached out. P.S. We still plan on creating cool sh**."

Bend's live-service game was never announced, nor was the supposed live-service God of War game said to be in development at Bluepoint, which was also canceled. Sony confirmed the game cancellations in a statement to Bloomberg recently, saying the projects were scuttled "following a recent review."

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The upcoming Dino Crisis-inspired horror game, Code Violet, will not be coming to PC. Its developers at TeamKill Media say the game will be a PS5 exclusive to prevent modders from modding X-rated dino-based weirdness into their game.

"For those asking us about a PC version of Code Violet... The reason we are not bringing it to PC is we do not want anyone modding vulgar versions of the main character as well as other characters in the game," TeamKill Media explained in a recent tweet.

But it's not just the game's characters TeamKill aims to protect--the studio said that ensuring their game's voice talent felt safe played a part in the decision, too.

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