While Xbox games landing on competing platforms is becoming a regular and unsurprising phenomenon, the actual release dates for these other versions aren't so consistent. Speaking in an interview, Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan chalked these variabilities up to development resources.

Speaking to GamesRadar, Duncan addressed the difference between Forza Horizon 6 and the upcoming Fable reboot; both titles are from Playground Games, though Forza is releasing on PS5 after the Xbox launch, while Fable will be on both platforms day-and-date.

"There's always development realities about when these projects start--how big a team is, and what plans we have at the start of development," Duncan said; he also admitted that the Xbox team is somewhat "inconsistent" with its release strategy. "You see some games in one place, some games in multiple places. Just know that we're going to work on that, and we're going to try and be more consistent with what we do."

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Return to Silent Hill hit the big screen on the weekend, but this adaptation of the beloved Silent Hill 2 video game isn't doing too well critically or commercially in the US. At the domestic box office, the film opened in seventh place and earned just $3.2 million, the lowest to date for the film franchise. In comparison, it's far below the $20.1 million US opening weekend of 2006's Silent Hill and the reviled Silent Hill: Revelation, which earned $8 million during its domestic opening.

Opening on 2,000 screens across the US, reviews for Return to Silent Hill haven't been flattering. It currently has a Metascore of 33 on GameSpot's sister site Metacritic--based on 13 reviews--while the user score sits at a slightly higher 4.4. While some outlets consider it an average film at best, others say it doesn't do anything new or better than the original video game or its acclaimed remake, and other critics have lambasted it for over-the-top acting, poor special effects, and a chaotic plot.

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Quantic Dream is mostly known for its single-player, narrative-heavy games like Detroit: Become Human and Heavy Rain, so it was a surprise when the studio announced a 3v3 arena multiplayer game called Spellcasters Chronicles. Now, the studio has revealed a new NPC named Ozdam Devam, the Chronicler of Ashkenon, who seems to be set up as the keeper of the game's narrative elements.

When Spellcasters Chronicles was first announced last October, Quantic Dream said that it would still maintain its signature story focus through a "community-driven narrative." The Chronicler seems to be another piece of that puzzle, with a press release referring to him as a "mysterious in-world narrator" and an "intermediary between the community of Spellcasters and the world of mortals."

Quantic Dream has released a video to introduce Ozdam and his role, in which the wizened Chronicler addresses player feedback from the first open beta without breaking from his character or the in-game lore. While the video is a cute way to address player feedback and deliver patch notes, it seems to be setting up Ozdam as a character who can translate player feedback or actions in-game into decisions that will impact the ongoing story of Spellcaster Chronicles.

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Highguard, the free-to-play PvP raid shooter announced during The Game Awards in December, is out today. However, developer Wildlight Entertainment hasn't officially announced the exact time you can get involved in the action.

Luckily, thanks to SteamDB, we know that--at least on PC--the game will have a singular global launch time. There's no reason to believe that the console launch times will differ, but at this time, we can't verify them.

Highguard global release times

The Highguard release times in each region are:

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After crash-landing on a deserted planetoid deep in uncharted space, your job is to keep your crew of four distinct explorers alive long enough to figure a way back home. Adaptory combines deep physics-based simulation with base building and discovery. As your team digs below the surface, relationships develop, challenges appear, and rebuilding the ship might eventually take a backseat to unraveling the mysteries of this seemingly dead rock.

Earlier this month, Nintendo announced a Super Mario Galaxy Movie Direct for today, and it was one of the shortest Directs that the publisher has ever had. But the new trailer for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie may be worth it, because it introduces everyone's favorite dinosaur, Yoshi.

The beginning of the trailer features Mario and Luigi's first encounter with Yoshi. By the time the Mario brothers introduce him to Toad, they're very attached to their new pal. But Yoshi wasn't the only familiar face to show up in the movie-verse for the first time. Birdo--an enemy from Super Mario Bros. 2--appeared to be fighting Princess Peach with her signature flying egg attack.

Luigi was also glimpsed in the frog suit from Super Mario Bros. 3, while Yoshi brought an SNES-style Super Scope to a confrontation with Super Mario Odyssey's T-Rex... and he was still outgunned.

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