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Working out how to join the Mages Guild in Oblivion is a worthwhile pursuit, even for players who don’t consider themselves major magic users. Alongside the usual benefits of joining a guild (like a place to sleep and improved Disposition among its members), the Mages Guild gives you access to a treasure trove of alchemical tools and ingredients that you can use to craft potions or even just sell off for some sweet, sweet gold... Read more.View the full article

KDE developer Nate Graham has written up a blog post detailing some planned changes coming to the KDE Plasma desktop, including doing away with the LTS (Long-Term Support) releases and instead extend the supported time for each release. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

With The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remasteredbringing players back to Cyrodiil and the Oblivion Crisis, it reintroduces the most pivotal event in Tamriel's Third Era, something that shakes the entire continent and leads to the many wars talked about in Skyrim. While the game itself only takes place in Cyrodiil, the capital of Tiber Septim's Empire, the Oblivion Crisis affected the entire continent. It was meant to be an invasion on all fronts with different places in Tamriel reacting differently, and while it can be argued Cyrodiil bore the brunt of the invasion, other countries suffered greatly. View the full article

There appears to be some big developments happening behind the scenesView the full article

Roleplay as Bilbo, love the mess in Tales of the ShireView the full article

Here's the fresh and up to date list of games available on Amazon Prime Gaming for May 2nd, and what compatibility you can expect for Linux / SteamOS and Steam Deck. An easy way to build up your gaming collection with these games coming as part of your Amazon Prime subscription. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

GTA 6 has officially been delayed, after all the speculation it might be and Rockstar sticking to that vague Fall release window for ages. It'll now be dropping on May 26, 2026. Read more View the full article

If you’ve played The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion or its recently released Oblivion Remastered, you’ll know the opening tutorial section and its iconic 'leaving the Imperial sewers' moment well. You’ll also know all about that shocking death that arrives just before you make your final escape and, blinking, emerge into the beautiful open world of Cyrodiil. Warning! Spoilers for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered follow. The shocking death I’m talking about here is of course the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim, an assassination he knows is coming and has come to terms with. Veteran fans have replayed Oblivion enough at this point to know it’s coming, too. But back in 2006 when Oblivion first came out, it became a rite of passage to try to save him from the inevitable Mythic Dawn backstab that kicks off the story. Hundreds of arrow shots later and players soon discovered that there was nothing that could be done to save poor old Septim, not without tinkering with the game with mods or console commands. Oblivion only really makes sense if the Emperor dies at the beginning, so it stands to reason that the developers at Bethesda forced it to happen no matter what the player did to try to stop it. And now, 20 years later, a new generation of Oblivion fans is trying to save the Emperor, and by that I mean trying and failing in much the same way. Players are waiting, bow and arrow primed, for the assassin to emerge from the shadows in a bid to kill him before he stabs the Emperor, but alas, it is no good. @_elderscroller A new generation must close shut the Jaws of Oblivion! #oblivionremaster #oblivionremastered #obliviongameplay #oblivionclips #oblivion #obliviontok #obliviontiktok #skyrimtok #skyrimtiktok #elderscrollsoblivion #fyp ♬ original sound - ElderScroller blockquote.tiktok-embed[data-video-id='7498837496252370206'] { width: 325px; margin-left: 0; } blockquote.tiktok-embed iframe { border-radius: 8px; } Some newcomers to the game didn’t even know they were supposed to talk to the Emperor in the first place, and so ended up with a room full of dead assassins as the endless stream of Mythic Dawn goons emerged to battle the group. Others are seeking out their revenge on the Mythic Dawn, piling those corpses high. Failed to save the emperor byu/AttorneyDavis inoblivion .reddit-embed-wrapper iframe { margin-left: 0 !important; } Newcomers are also discovering that the assassins will just keep on coming if you don't talk to the Emperor. They won't stop. They can't stop. They are infinite. Ohhh, you’re supposed to TALK to the emporer byu/Nervous_Tumbleweed34 inoblivion .reddit-embed-wrapper iframe { margin-left: 0 !important; } I found out you can ignore the Emporer and have the cultists spawn pretty much infinity during the hold out section The old combat and look of the game really was preventing me from enjoying the original. I'm very happy the remastered it [Hidden Content] — Eclipse (Miniatures Arc) (@3clipserenders) April 27, 2025 Other players are taking to console commands to see what happens, and, yes, it breaks the cutscene that’s supposed to play out after the Emperor is killed. dont try and save the emperor... byu/Aggressive-Fudge1072 inoblivion .reddit-embed-wrapper iframe { margin-left: 0 !important; } If you’re anything like me, when you first played Oblivion you reloaded your save to try to save the Emperor and, after multiple failed attempts, gave up. I confess I also tried in Oblivion Remastered, just in case the developers added some new outcome to the game, but alas, the Emperor must die now, in 2025, just as he had to all those years ago. Meanwhile, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered players are warning newcomers to do Kvatch before the level scaling makes it an absolute nightmare. We’ve also got a report on a player who managed to escape the confines of Cyrodiil to explore Valenwood, Skyrim, and even Hammerfell, the rumored setting of The Elder Scrolls VI. And be sure to check out our comprehensive guide to everything you'll find in Oblivion Remastered, including an expansive Interactive Map, complete Walkthroughs for the Main Questline and every Guild Quest, How to Build the Perfect Character, Things to Do First, every PC Cheat Code, and much more. Image credit: Nervous_Tumbleweed34 / reddit. Wesley is the *** News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article

Since the opening crawl of the first Star Wars film, millions of fans have been hooked. The galaxy far, far away has grown a lot since its inception to include an entire saga, spin-off movies, toys, board games, and more. But if you've been missing out, you can now enjoy May the 4th with deals on all things from Lego Star Wars to Star Wars board games for a limited time. Everything from the best Lego Star Wars sets to the greatest Star Wars board games are seeing huge discounts for May the 4th. If you're in tune with the Force and you're hoping to add to your growing collection (or start one), here are some of the top deals we've found so far. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Get hit board game Zombicide's Batman spinoff for under $25 on Amazon 115 best spicy Truth or Dare questions for dirty game nights Get 93% off this 31-piece PC board games mega bundle, packed with classics View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

If at some point over the last 20 years you’ve found yourself in an Internet argument or had a question in your head you just couldn’t seem to get rid of, chances are good that you’ve relied on an online wiki. And you probably used the online wiki: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. But for video games, Wikipedia provides a more general, top-down view, painting in broad strokes what a game is about, how it was made, when it was released, and how it was received by players. In addition, many games and franchises have their own dedicated wikis that go a step further; these wikis are often part game guide, part lore book, and part historical record. Read full article Comments View the full article

Posting on Instagram, Macron stated (translated from French), "A million copies and to date, one of the best-rated games in history: and yes, it's French! Congratulations to Sandfall Interactive and all the creators of Expedition 33. You are a shining example of French audacity and creativity." Read more View the full article

Now Playing | The Horror at Highrook is a solo card-based mystery that had me immersed in its vibes from beginning to endView the full article

THE FINALS has a repeating issue where major updates will break it in some way, with the latest update causing the game on Desktop Linux / Steam Deck to freeze a few minutes into a match. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Todd Vaughn's retiring after 26 years at the companyView the full article

When Bethesda shadow-dropped The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered amid the launch of fellow role-playing game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, most thought there could be only one winner. But, according to the publisher of Clair Obscur, not only did Oblivion not harm Clair Obscur, Clair Obscur actually benefitted from Oblivion’s release because it boosted excitement for the RPG genre. So says Kepler Interactive’s senior portfolio manager Matt Handrahan, who told The Game Business all about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s launch success against the odds. First, some background. RPG fans were faced with the difficult choice between spending hundreds of hours in Oblivion’s Cyrodiil, or embarking on an expedition to take down the Paintress in Clair Obscur. The launch of the two games in the same week provoked both joyful and frustrated reactions from RPG fans, as well as a cheeky comment from Kepler Interactive itself. In an X/Twitter post, Kepler shared an edited image of the characters from Clair Obscur walking into an Oblivion Gate, with the text "**** its like barbenheimer" in a humorous nod to the simultaneous release of the films Barbie and Oppenheimer in theatres on the same day in 2023. **** its like barbenheimer [Hidden Content] — Kepler Interactive (@Kepler_Interact) April 22, 2025 Microsoft, which owns Oblivion developer Bethesda and which had heavily backed Clair Obscur since its reveal at an Xbox Showcase last year, also came under fire for shadow-dropping Oblivion on top of Clair Obscur, with both games being Game Pass day-one titles. But, according to Handrahan, there was nothing to worry about. “We always knew that Expedition 33 had a very specific identity,” Handrahan said. “When I was in the press, I saw the Western-style RPG and the Japanese-style RPG as having quite different appeals and audiences. I knew plenty of people that would play an Elder Scrolls game that wouldn't necessarily play Final Fantasy and vice versa. “Also, by the time that we rolled around, we had momentum of our own and we felt pretty confident that we could stand beside it. I think there were other aspects, like the price point we were at and the inclusion in Game Pass… so we knew we would have a lot of interest around the game. We were confident in that. And it went as well as it possibly could have done in our eyes. And, actually, proximity to Oblivion didn't seem to harm us at all. In many ways, I think it just drew attention to quality RPGs that week and everybody was thinking and talking about the genre.” Clair Obscur has become a big hit for Keplar and its French developer, Sandfall Interactive, selling over 1 million copies in just three days and posting impressive concurrent player numbers on Steam. It’s done so well that French President Macron has praised the development team. Bethesda has announced Oblivion Remastered has seen over 4 million players since launch, but hasn’t announced a sales figure. It too has seen big Steam concurrent player numbers. The Game Business quoted data from Ampere that shows 35% of Clair Obscur players also played Oblivion remastered, which means there was significant overlap. A lot of that has to do with both games launching in Game Pass, with the overlap percentage dropping for Steam and PlayStation 5 players. We’ve got plenty more on Oblivion Remastered, including a report on a player who managed to escape the confines of Cyrodiil to explore Valenwood, Skyrim, and even Hammerfell, the rumored setting of The Elder Scrolls VI. We've also got a comprehensive guide to everything you'll find in Oblivion Remastered, including an expansive Interactive Map, complete Walkthroughs for the Main Questline and every Guild Quest, How to Build the Perfect Character, Things to Do First, every PC Cheat Code, and much more. As for Clair Obscur, be sure to check out our tips for the important things to know before heading into the game. Wesley is the *** News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article

Survival hellscape Rust has added a tropical jungle biome to its procedurally generated maps, the biggest change to the landscape of the game in nine years. It'll appear close to where new players spawn and hides a number of threats and fun. Poisonous snakes will skitter through the undergrowth and riverside crocs will chew your face given the chance. There are ruins and temples hidden among the trees, housing some basic loot. And you can swing from vines, perhaps inspiring a whole new life in the canopy. Probably for the best, considering there are now tigers and panthers stalking the ground below. Read more View the full article

Back in February, Valve released the source code for Team Fortress 2 (TF2) into the Source SDK, which allows modders to see how it all works and get their standalone mods onto Steam. But also, it allows them to fix up issues directly in Team Fortress 2. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

The release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is theoretically terrible news for the creators of Skyblivion, a long-in-development mod that recreates Bethesda's 2006 RPG in the Skyrim engine. On the one hand, you could argue that the official comeback care of Virtuos Studios renders Skyblivion unnecessary. On the other, there's the usual worry that Bethesda's intellectual property lawyers are going to erupt from the toilets like radioactive rats and eat the modders alive. The Skyblivion crew professed themselves undaunted by the news, however. "This always was a passion project and still is until the end," modder KRebel insisted last week. "For the community its a win-win as you get twice the amount of Oblivion this year." And Bethesda have now met them with open arms by not only declining to sue the pants off Skyblivion for intellectual property infringement, but handing the modders keys for the official remaster and even going on camera to say that they're looking forward to Skyblivion's release. Read more View the full article

The Blaze of Glory event starts on May 6 in ****** Ops 6 and Warzone, and you can claim rewards by earning Blaze BucksView the full article

Fortnite Chapter 6, Season 3 has finally started, and since its theme is based on Star Wars, we have a bunch of new locations or POIs to explore on the map. So, here's everything you need to know about new locations in Star Wars Galactic Battle. Table of contentsAll new locations in Fortnite Star Wars Galactic BattleFirst Order BaseResistance BaseVader Samurai’s SolitudeOutpost EnclaveAll POIs in the Fortnite Chapter 6, Season 3 mapAll new locations in Fortnite Star Wars Galactic Battle There are four new locations or POIs in Fortnite Star Wars Galactic Battle: First Order BaseResistance BaseVader Samurai’s SolitudeOutpost Enclave Image via Epic Games Each of these four POIs has set bases on all four corners of the map. First Order Base Image by Epic Games The First Order Base is located on the top right corner (northeast of Pumped Power) and has replaced ******’s Dojo. Just like the movies, it includes a hangar to repair damaged First Order TIE fighters. You can enter here in five ways. But the ideal spot you must look out for is its utility shaft. This is its main point of weakness, making it the easiest way to get inside this base. Resistance Base Image by Epic Games The Resistance Base is on the top left corner (west of Flooded Frogs), replacing Whiffy Wharf. It's an underground base where you can find X-wings and new weapons and equipment that have been added to the loot pool. Vader Samurai’s Solitude Image by Epic Games Vader Samurai’s Solitude is located on the bottom left corner (southwest of Canyon Crossing), replacing Shogun’s Solitude. Here, you have to deal with his stormtrooper samurai guards while also getting the chance to challenge the Sith Lord and get his Lightsaber as a reward. Outpost Enclave Image by Epic Games The Outpost Enclave is on the bottom right corner (south of Kappa Kappa Factory). replacing Hopeful Heights. All POIs in the Fortnite Chapter 6, Season 3 map There are a total of 18 POIs in Fortnite Chapter 6, Season 3. Below, you can find the list of all locations: Brutal BoxcarsCanyon CrossingCrime CityFirst Order BaseFlooded FrogsFoxy FloodgateKappa Kappa FactoryLonewolf LairMagic MossesMasked MeadowsOutlaw OasisOutpost EnclavePumped PowerResistance BaseSeaport CityShining SpanShiny ShaftsVader Samurai’s Solitude That's all for Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3 locations. Do check out all the new, unvaulted, and vaulted weapons in this new season. The post All new locations in Fortnite Chapter 6, Season 3 appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

The Star Wars Galactic Update brings a fresh battle pass for Fortnite Chapter 6, Season 3 players, and there are plenty of rewards to unlock. The new pass is available in two different versions - free and paid. To avail yourself of the latter, you'll have to spend 1,000 V-Bucks. As expected, the fresh battle pass is heavily influenced by Star Wars, with highlights being the special outfits. This guide will provide you with all the information required for unlocking every available reward. Complete list of Fortnite Star Wars Battle Pass items The battle pass is divided into different pages, and you'll proceed gradually by earning seasonal XP. Each page has a total of seven rewards to obtain. Page 1 John Williams Symphony OrchestraElectro Pairing BladesFeel the Force EmoteExplorer Evie Loading ScreenChoose Your Alignment WrapApprentice Evie light side Page 2 Sith Side Pairing Blades100 V-BucksDark Legacy Loading ScreenSith BlastersTraining Remote Trail100 V-BucksApprentice Evie (Dark Side) Page 3 100 V-Bucks****** One X-Wing GliderLil' Resistance Bomber Emote****** Squadron Dive Contrail****** Leader WrapCantina Hangout Loading ScreenPoe Dameron Page 4 S-Foil Scrapaxe100 V-BucksPoe's Model X-Wing Back BlingTargeting Emote100 V-BucksPoe's TakeoffResistance Poe Page 5 Mini Dogfight EmoteRebel Wookiee LanderWookiee PawWookiee Team Combat100 V-BucksWookiee Team Leader Page 6 Metal Team Mishap Back BlingWookie Fist100 V-BucksDesert Dust-Up Loading ScreenBanner Icon100 V-BucksTarfful Team Leader Page 7 Force Lightning EmoteImperial Shuttle Dive Contrail100 V-BucksPalpatine's CaneEmpreror's Might WrapSenate Repulsorpod Glider100 V-BucksEmperor Palpatine Completing all seven pages of rewards will unlock a bonus page for players. The ultimate reward is the red-colored Chancellor Palpatine cosmetic skin, but you can get a host of bonus goodies as well. All skins include corresponding Lego versions that can be used exclusively in the mode. In terms of previous seasons, the latest pass is has smaller duration. It will be interesting to see how popular the new skins will be among the community. The post All Fortnite Chapter 6, season 3 battle pass rewards appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Valve continue rolling out changes to SteamOS Preview readying it for the eventual public SteamOS 3 for more handheld devices beyond the Steam Deck, with SteamOS 3.7.5 Preview now available. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Some interesting industry news for you here. Epic Games have announced a change to the revenue model of the Epic Games Store, as they try to pull in more developers and more gamers to actually purchase things. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

It’s fair to say the recent announcement of a The Wheel of Time video game being in the works caught fans by surprise — and sparked a healthy dose of skepticism online. The announcement, reported first by Hollywood trade publication Variety, described an upcoming “AAA open-world role-playing game” for PC and consoles based on Robert Jordan’s much-loved 14-book series The Wheel of Time. A three-year development ******* was also mentioned. It’s in development at iwot Studios’ new Montreal-based game developer, which is led by former Warner Bros. Games executive Craig Alexander. Alexander oversaw development for all Turbine (now WB Games Boston) franchises, including The Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons & Dragons Online, and Asheron's Call. This, on the face of it, would normally spark significant excitement from fans. But it’s the name iwot Studios, which acquired the rights to The Wheel of Time (as Red Eagle Entertainment) in 2004, and this talk of an unlikely three-year development process that has raised more than a few eyebrows. A cursory online search of iwot Studios reveals the company has a fractured relationship with the hardcore The Wheel of Time fanbase. I found multiple posts from skeptical fans about the business, with some accusing iwot of being an "IP camper." Others believe iwot has "squandered" The Wheel of Time IP over the years, with multiple projects that failed to go anywhere. Fans often point to a 10-year-old reddit post that goes even further with the complaints. This, coupled with a collective scoffing at the idea that a brand new video game development studio can essentially come from nowhere and turn around a triple-A RPG that matches The Wheel of Time fans’ expectations, has led to a "we'll believe it when we see it" attitude online. However, The Wheel of Time has found significant recent success with its Amazon Prime Video TV series, which just wrapped up Season 3 (Season 4 is yet to be announced). The show has exposed The Wheel of Time to a new army of fans, and, after upsetting the core fanbase with significant story changes in Seasons 1 and 2 compared to the books, did well to turn the narrative around with a much-improved Season 3. It’s with all this in mind that I set out to learn more from iwot Studios itself. Over a video call, I spoke with Rick Selvage, boss of iwot Studios, and Craig Alexander, studio head for the company’s video game efforts, to get a better understanding of where the project is at, its scope, what fans can expect, and to put all that online criticism to them for a response. IGN: How did the video game project come to be? Rick Selvage: We have a very big, deep story to tell, and we also happen to control the rights through to The Wheel of Time, including all interactive rights. And video games are a major platform, fan platform, for any IP like The Wheel of Time. So of course we were going to do video games. The question is when and what type and how we're going to enter the marketplace? So we felt the time is right to now do that. IGN: Can you give me some detail on the setup you have to realize that vision? You’re talking about doing a triple-A open-world role-playing game here. A lot is required to make something like that happen to a certain quality level. Exactly what sort of scope do you have for this? What setup do you have now? Where do you hope to get to in the future? Craig Alexander: First step is team formation to get started. The plan is to work with the franchise for many years and develop a series of games, sequels, expansion packs, DLC, et cetera, and build out as much of the world we can. And given that we have an expansive set of rights with one of the greatest fantasy IPs in the world, it's a labor of love and we're looking forward to getting started. But how we're going to break that up over time is something that needs to be sorted out in pre-production. But we're confident that given the richness of the material, we're going to be able to build out much of the world. And you had mentioned complexity. We fully realize these are big games to build. This is a big IP. I've had experience doing quite a bit of fantasy games, building MMOs, which are the biggest and hardest games to do of all. I helped pioneer the genre, and believe this is the right time for a great Wheel of Time immersive experience, and the fans have been asking for it for many, many years. IGN: It sounds to me like you are just getting started on this really, that it’s not like you've got hundreds of developers working away on the game at the moment. Is it the case that you need to start hiring aggressively to get this going? Craig Alexander: Yes. We're actively recruiting a leadership team now. We're going to be having some announcements shortly as we fill out the leadership team. Then we're going to build a prototype team that's going to be fairly small, less than 20 to 30 people over time, build out our prototype, build up the vertical slice, and then eventually go into production where we're going to have upwards of 200-300 staff. Those numbers are fairly typical for building this scope of a world. As you had mentioned, these are large games, but then as I had mentioned before, because we plan on having a sequel strategy from the outset, building out the entire experience is something that we're going to need to plan for, because I am certain that the fans will want more and we'd like to tell the whole story. And this is true of other big fantasy and science fiction IPs where there's a lot of content to work with. IGN: Is it the case that you plan to self-fund and self-publish the project? Or will you take that vertical slice to market and try and get a publisher on board? Rick Selvage: No. First of all, it won't be self-funded. We will have substantial funding to build out the company, so that's not an issue. And in regards to publishing, I think it's way too early to commit to publishing either ourselves or another publisher. As you know, over the next years technology and business models will change dramatically, and we're in a position that we don't have to make those commitments now. We just have to focus on making and developing the best game. Craig Alexander: I would add the focus that I had mentioned on hiring is for a development studio. The publishing functions, as Rick said, come much later. IGN: I'm asking this because you've probably seen all the questions under the sun on the internet as a result of the announcement, and one of them is around the backing that you might have to realize this vision. When you go out and say a triple-A open-world role-playing game, that creates a level of expectation among fans because they know what a triple-A open-world role-playing game looks like these days, and that's not cheap. We've seen modern triple-A game budgets balloon in recent years to hundreds of millions of dollars. So I think there are questions around how you can realize that without having huge investment to make it happen. Rick Selvage: We understand the financial requirements to build a game like this. Craig has been around that business and certainly ran all development for the Lord of the Rings Online MMO, with a few hundred developers. And we understand the costs, we understand the challenges, and that's why we're putting the leadership team now that are capable of doing that. And the funding aspect of it is that we have no concerns about having the investment in order to reach the goals that we're establishing today with our Montreal studio. IGN: The announcement mentioned a three-year development process for the game. Rick Selvage: Yeah, well the three years, I don't know where that came from. IGN: I was going to say, that sounds very ambitious. Rick Selvage: The issue we've always had with the Wheel of Time is that there's excited fans out there, which is great, and there's a lot of misinformation that is started that is nowhere near accurate. We've just decided we're going to do our thing and make television and games and movies, and rather than attempt to put out any information that pops up… but at this point is that three years is… dunno where that came from. We know it's going to take multiple years to do this. Craig Alexander: It's going to take time. The first game will be the most difficult and we need to scope it properly and frame it, but we want to have a compelling, high-quality release in a reasonable amount of time, but then set up for a success in the future so that we have the workflow tools, processes, et cetera, so that we can build out follow-up releases like I had mentioned, sequels and expansions and the like over time, and run this in many respects as a live service and continue to support the franchise for the long term, because we have a big story to tell. I don't underestimate the amount of work to build out the whole world, but our intent is to do that. But to debate, ‘When is release number one going to come out?’ And, ‘What books and what regions of the world is it going to cover?’ Those details are still being sorted out. We're in pre-production Rick Selvage: That's an impossible thing to state. It would be inappropriate to try to state it as well, as much as the fans would like a specific answer to it. There's a lot of work to do. IGN: The announcement also mentioned you expect to launch on PC and consoles. Is that accurate? Craig Alexander: Yes, the intent is to be multi-platform. I can't speak to exactly which consoles because there will likely be a console transition coming up. For example, the Switch 2 unclear, but Xbox and PlayStation most likely, and then obviously the PC and maybe even the Macintosh as well, as is typical of most open-world RPGs. IGN: Based on what you're saying, this is probably a PS6 game and whatever the next Xbox is. PC is PC of course, but this doesn't sound like something that's going to be out by the end of this console generation. Craig Alexander: Yeah. Now it's possible we may want to support the previous generation as well, and support the Series X, support the PS5 just like you're saying. But obviously if we can launch a title that coincides with the launch of the new platforms, that would be great. But none of us have those details yet on exactly when that's going to occur. But the good news is we're going to develop the technology so that it's scalable, that it can support multiple platforms and execute on a triple-A plan that's been done before. Yes, this is difficult, but we know how to do it. We don't want the experience too small and release too quick and potentially have quality compromises. On the other hand, we're not going to be developing this game over 10 years for the first release. That's not going to happen. So yes, the first one's the most difficult, but we will balance all those things and we'll get that Goldilocks right in the middle, not too long, not too short. But it's important we do the first one right, because that's going to set expectations. And there's lots of great material, even the order in which you tell the material. As you know as a Wheel of Time fan, the whole experience has a nonlinear nature to it. That's the core of the IP, so we're going to lean into that heavily. IGN: It makes sense for me to follow the story of the books and the story that the TV show has followed, at least from the outset because that's what's front and center in most people's minds. People who haven't read the books but have watched the show will recognize it in that case, right? Rick Selvage: We really have two things. One is, certainly a vast amount of people worldwide have read the books, and certainly the show has been distributed over 200 countries. So they're familiar with that and certainly we will follow that story. The other piece I want to add though is that we are doing the origin movie, The Age of Legends now, and we're about ready to cast on that. The good news is that I believe the Age of Legends is one that fans and even non-fans can understand very easily. You start to understand the origins of The Forsaken and the trollocs and how the world broke, and that story really hasn't been told. And we're going to have an opportunity to do that in an epic feature film. And of course we would be crazy in development that we don't use assets from that in the game as well. That’s probably a logical path, is the Age of Legends as well as following the books. But where do we start is, we'll figure that out. IGN: Craig, your background is in MMOs, right? So is that what the plan is here? You mentioned live service earlier, which suggests it's not necessarily a traditional single-player open-world game like a Bethesda game or a Baldur’s Gate 3 type game, I suppose. Rick Selvage: Or Assassins Creed or Avowed? IGN: Yeah. Craig Alexander: The short answer is I've done all kinds of games. Yeah, we did bring up the MMO experience primarily because you were asking about scope and size. We specifically did not put MMO in the announcement because I think that is a level of undertaking that… I'm not sure it's right for the IP, in part because the Wheel of Time is so character centric. I mean there's almost 3,000 characters in the world. I want to be able to give the player the opportunity to play those folks. And typically in an MMO environment, you have to play an unknown character. You might be able to interact with these iconic characters from the fantasy or sci-fi franchises, but you don't get to actively play them. Which is why treating it more like a single-player experience with multiplayer elements is a much better way to go. But even the games that you had mentioned like Balders Gate 3 and the like, there are opportunities to do online integrations. As far as the live service, I was just trying to point out that releases are going to occur over time. There's going to be lots of them. And I know there's this attention on, when's the very first discreet release for the first and most difficult title? That's just one of many decisions on how you're going to deploy this content out over the decades. There's so much material we could spend our careers working on this. But the beauty is that there's enough content to draw upon. And this was true for me, for Lord of the Rings, where the game's still going. It's been live for 18 years now, and they're building out all of Middle-earth. And likewise, we can do the same here. Take your big Assassin’s Creed releases, oftentimes there's around 300 hours of content in each release. Could you imagine the thousands of hours we're going to be able to put in, if we were able to build out a number of sequels to the experience and cover all the books and the prequels and all the things that Rick talked about. We have the luxury of doing all of this because the medium supports it and the players want it. As opposed to, when you're trying to support other mediums, you have to be much more narrow in your focus. And that's something we don't have to do when you're building these big open-world experiences. IGN: One of the things I wanted to talk to you about is the reception from the community online to the announcement. I think it's fair to say there probably was a degree of skepticism about the announcement and the project and indeed the studio company that you have. Doing my research online, people are pointing to previous things that have happened, previous announcements, Reddit posts from 10 years ago are coming up. Why should fans be confident that this game or this series of games as you're talking about, is going to meet their expectations? Rick Selvage: As you know, it's a big world with a lot of people and there's a lot of fans. We're not concerned about those that have been uninformed in the past and made comments. I think I mentioned to you earlier in the interview, we just can't address every single piece of misinformation. There's been comments about Hollywood, comments about games. People said that when we did the deal with Sony and Amazon and we brought in the showrunner, ‘We'll see if it happens.’ Well, that's an example of things that fans or that ********* in the marketplace have mentioned that has come to life in a very significant way. And we're having a lot of success on Season 3. In regards to the new feature film with Kari Skogland, who is an A-list director, we'll start seeing major cast members. All these things will come to fruition when the timing is right and when they're done and they're done in a correct way. We've had opportunities for a very long time to put the Wheel of Time on television. We had an opportunity - I'll bring it up now - we did an announcement 20 years ago with Obsidian. That was the time when there were movie based games. Craig knows this from The Lord of the Rings. And we had a big publishing deal with EA. We had a development deal with Obsidian. The problem is, we set the project up at Universal Pictures to do a movie and it was all based on green-lighting the movie. Well, the movie never happened out of Universal, therefore there was no game development. And that was our first and only effort directly in the game business. We've had a lot of opportunities since then to enter the market in a significant way and decided it wasn't right for the market. It wasn't the right game. We wanted to see the television series come out and have some success before we made a decision. We could have put the Wheel of Time on the Sci-Fi channel at a $2 million episode budget way before that. And we didn't announce that, but we were very careful as custodians of the brand to make sure that we do the right thing at the right time and we have success doing it. And so a lot of these things like the first game effort certainly wasn't attributed to us, were the ones that we did the deal and lined up all the partners to do that. It just didn't deliver a movie. Now the good news out of that is great for the fans because I don't think that you could really set up a world in a two-hour movie back in those days. And we had the opportunity to see Game of Thrones come out and do well, and that demonstrated that fantasy with big budgets can be done on cable. And as you know, the Wheel of Time is so big with a breadth and depth that television is the best way to tell that story and the best way to launch it. So there's a lot of reasons why there's information out there. The only thing we can do is just deliver good quality fan experiences, which we've done with the Sony Amazon relationship, which my partner and I, Larry Mondragon, our executive producers there, we're going to do the same thing on the video game side. We're going to do the same thing with the Age of Legends. And the only thing we can do is deliver on our commitments on those projects in a way that the fans are thrilled about. And we're finally glad that fans came around on the Wheel of Time television series. As you well know, there were a lot of people saying the same things about the television series until Season 3 came out, and then it was a different story. I assume all of this comes from good intent, concern, excitement, interest. Nobody wants to be disappointed. We don't want to be disappointed as well. And we're committed to deliver the best fan experiences on different platforms as we possibly can. So that's where we are. We're keeping our heads down. We're doing what we're saying we're going to do. There have been a couple missteps. One was - I wouldn't call it a misstep - but the whole console game that we were going to do with Obsidian as an example. IGN: I imagine I’m typical in that I came around with Season 3. Is that typical feedback from the community? Rick Selvage: It is. And Game of Thrones took three seasons, too, to come around, and ours is a much more difficult adaptation because it's a much deeper story and complicated. And the fact we got it right on Season 3 is great. I mean, you had fans throwing rocks at Rafe [Judkins], the showrunner. I think all the actors and Rafe and his team did a fantastic job and stuck to it, just like we'll continue to do and we'll win over the fans at the end of the day. But these things take time. They're not easy. There's a lot of challenges in the market from time to time depending on the industry. But we're custodians of the brand and it's to our benefit that we deliver to the fans premium experiences and done right. Craig Alexander: Team formation is going extremely well right now and we're getting very high quality talent. I know we were talking a bit about the narrative and the writing side. We have some of the best game writers in the industry that are approaching us that want to do this. In many cases they'll tell us, ‘Wheel of Time is why I got into the industry.’ This is big stuff. And they want to do this as a showcase project for them. Rick Selvage: And you'll see that starting as early as next week and going on for the next month, there'll be a lot of announcements around the leadership team that we're bringing aboard. And I think that demonstrates commitment. People with the experience like Craig have in their area of expertise, some of them Craig has worked with before on teams, are all going to come together. We are going to make a deliberate effort to start communicating to the fans in a much more direct way in the future rather than letting our work speak for us. We're going to communicate in the community in a way of being proactive. And at one point in time we'll have our day and we'll be able to fix all the misinformation that's been spread over the last 10 or 20 years by the few people, but we're not concerned about it now. The effort and our dedication and our commitment is in our work. We think the TV show is one of those examples, and you'll see other ones as we move forward, both in a 3D animated feature and live action feature and the video games we’re doing. IGN: I can't let you go without asking you if Season 4 is happening. What's the deal? Rick Selvage: That's a question for Sony and Amazon. I’ll just leave you with that. IGN: Well, are you happy with how Season 3 has turned out? Not just from a critical reception and fan reception point of view, but commercially are you happy with it? Rick Selvage: Yeah, we're thrilled. I'll use the word that’s not typically used in the business, but the price performance ratio, meaning the cost of production versus the value that's created both commercially and from a fan perspective, I think comparable to other fantasy sci-fi shows. I think we're doing remarkably well. I'll leave it at that. We're very happy with the performance of the TV show and the team and Rafe and the entire cast. And of course we're going to weigh in with the fans and we believe that the show deserves more seasons. Wesley is the *** News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 developer Sandfall Interactive must be used to compliments by now — its RPG released a little over a week ago and is already universally acclaimed by players and critics alike — but I don't think anyone had "a hat tip from French President Emmanuel Macron" on their bingo card this week. That's exactly what happened, though. Taking to Instagram, Macron congratulated the team on its success, writing: "A million copies and to date, one of the best-rated games in history: and yes, it's French!" "Congratulations to Sandfall Interactive and all the creators of Expedition 33. You are a shining example of French audacity and creativity," Macron added, as translated by Google and spotted by PC Gamer. We already knew the debut RPG from Sandfall Interactive got off to a flying start given it hit a sales milestone of 500,000 copies sold within 24 hours, but it swiftly doubled that, topping 1 million sales in just three days. Developed by the newly formed studio Sandfall Interactive, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG that takes heavy inspiration from the genre classics, and follows a crew of Expeditioners in a post-apocalyptic world where each year, a giant being called The Paintress etches a new number and erases anyone older than it. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sees you join the crew that travels to the ends of the continent to destroy the Paintress. In IGN's 9/10 review of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, we described it as a "modern RPG classic," adding: "In so many ways, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 reminded me of numerous classic and contemporary RPGs I love, but developer Sandfall truly understood why those games are special and made the pieces it borrowed its own." If you're thinking of joining the expedition this weekend, be sure to check out our tips for the important things to know before going into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP. Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]