The Nintendo Switch family of systems is about to gain a new member. On Oct. 8, Nintendo Switch (OLED model) will launch at a suggested retail price of $349.99, giving people another option for how they want to play the vast library of games on Nintendo Switch. Click here to view the video announcing the new system.

Nintendo Switch (OLED model) has a similar overall size to the Nintendo Switch system, but with a larger, vibrant 7-inch OLED screen with vivid colors and crisp contrast. Nintendo Switch (OLED model) also features a wide adjustable stand for tabletop mode, a new dock with a wired LAN port, 64 GB of internal storage, and enhanced audio for handheld and tabletop play. Just like Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch (OLED model) allows players to play on the TV and share the detachable Joy-Con controllers for right-out-of-the-box multiplayer fun. And just like both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite, with Nintendo Switch (OLED model), the system can be taken on the go to enjoy its play-anywhere versatility. A carrying case and screen protector set for Nintendo Switch (OLED model) will also be available.

Every now and then, the Epic Games store gets a major discount on popular games. If you have been following the free game deals on the store, you may have seen that sometimes even the AAA-class of games get a free offer and you can purchase them without spending a dime. Today is one of those days where Epic Games store is offering the Control game for free. The offer expires on June 17th, when it again becomes paid offer. If you haven't heard of Control, you can read the the game information below. You can check out the deal here.

After a secretive agency in New York is invaded by an otherworldly threat, you become the new Director struggling to regain Control.
From developer Remedy Entertainment, this supernatural 3rd person action-adventure will challenge you to master the combination of supernatural abilities, modifiable loadouts and reactive environments while fighting through a deep and unpredictable world.
Control is Jesse Faden's story and her personal search for answers as she grows into the role of the Director. The world of Control has its own story, as do the allies Jesse meets along the way. Jesse works with other Bureau agents and discovers strange experiments and secrets.

Today Epic Games announced that it completed a $1 billion round of funding, which will allow the company to support future growth opportunities. Epic's equity valuation is now $28.7 billion.

This round includes an additional $200M strategic investment from Sony Group Corporation, which builds on the already close relationship between the two companies and reinforces their shared mission to advance the state of the art in technology, entertainment, and socially-connected online services. Other investment partners include Appaloosa, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, GIC, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Park West, KKR, AllianceBernstein, Altimeter, Franklin Templeton and Luxor Capital. Epic continues to have only a single class of common stock outstanding and CEO Tim Sweeney remains the controlling shareholder of the company.

Silver Rain Games, an interactive entertainment development studio co-founded by BAFTA-nominated actor and producer Abubakar Salim has signed a major deal with Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) EA Originals Label, which is dedicated to elevating bold independent studios. EA Originals will provide funding for the up-and coming studio's unannounced IP, as well as guidance and support in the team's journey to bring a fresh perspective to games and to the industry.

Silver Rain, which is based in the U.K., was co-founded in December 2019 by Salim, best known for his role on HBO's hit show Raised by Wolves, alongside Melissa Phillips, who will lead as Head of Studio, who previously worked as the BAFTA Games Programme manager on BAFTA Games programs and events. The company was launched with the intent to generate thought-provoking and innovative games and content across different mediums of entertainment. Since its inception late last year, the studio has quickly grown to approximately 20 staff members, who all currently work remotely.

Apple and Epic Games have had quite a turbulent history of legal issues in the past year. Fortnite, the world's biggest battle royale game, got removed from the Apple store because its developer, Epic Games, had refused to comply to store rules. If a developer is listing a game on the Apple store, all in-game payments must be processed through Apple, with the company taking a 30% tax cut for it. Epic Games didn't like that idea too much, so the company just used an external system that gave players the option to pay for in-game goods using different ways. However, that represented non-compliance to Apple store guidelines, and Apple took the Fortnite game down.


Update February 26th 07:50 UTC: In thecourt hearing on Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixson ordered that Apple's subpoena was considered valid. Valve's lawyers urged the judge to not force the company to produce the requested data, however, Apple's lawyers have said that the request is doable and the company is only requesting data on a few hundred games, and it could have been worse by requesting data on over 30000 games instead.

The EPIC Games Store is planning on being your faithful companion throughout this Christmas season with a number of free games to tide you over. This isn't just a generous move from EPIC Games' heart; customers who enter the storefront to redeem a free game are more likely to purchase other entries than customers who don't even make it through the (metaphorical) entrance. The company will thusly offer 15 free games, one game per day, starting on December 17th. Customers will only have 24 hours to take advantage of the free game offer before it expires. There is no information on which games will actually be free, but the EPIC Games Store has already offered an insanely good amount of, well, insanely good games, so chances are high we're getting something worthwhile. And that is a bonus to the usual game discounts.

In the meantime, two of the aforementioned worthwhile games are now available through to December 17th, where the EPIC Christmas season begins proper. The company is now offering Obsidian Entertainment's Tyranny - Gold Edition - a story-driven RPG where you're destined to become the tirant, not bring him down. This doesn't even qualify as a try to hook gamers into buying available DLC and expansions for the game, as the Gold Edition already offers all additional content that was released to this - in this editor's opinion - excellent game. Not to be content, EPIC is also offering Pillars of Eternity Definitive Edition. You know, another game developed by Obsidian Entertainment, which also merrily includes all additional released content for the game. Say what you will about EPIC - their games store throws us gamers some definite delights.

NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology uses advanced methods to offload sampling in games to the Tensor Cores, dedicated AI processors that are present on all of the GeForce RTX cards, including the prior Turing generation and now Ampere. NVIDIA promises that the inclusion of DLSS is promising to deliver up to a 40% performance boost, or even more. Today, the company has announced that DLSS is getting support in Cyberpunk 2077, Minecraft RTX, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, CRSED: F.O.A.D., Scavengers, and Moonlight Blade. The inclusion of these titles is now making NVIDIA's DLSS technology present in a total of 32 titles, which is no small feat for new technology.Below, you can see the company provided charts about the performance of DLSS inclusion in the new titles, except the Cyberpunk 2077.
Update: The Cyberpunk 2077 performance numbers were leaked (thanks to kayjay010101 on TechPowerUp Forums), and you can check them out as well.

GeForce NOW is streaming on iOS Safari, in beta, starting today. That means more than 5 million GeForce NOW members can now access the latest experience by launching Safari from iPhone or iPad. GeForce NOW on iOS Safari requires a gamepad — keyboard and mouse-only games aren't available due to hardware limitations. For the best experience, you'll want to use a GeForce NOW Recommended gamepad, like the Razer Kishi.

Alongside the amazing team at Epic Games, we're working to enable a touch-friendly version of Fortnite, which will delay availability of the game. While the GeForce NOW library is best experienced on mobile with a gamepad, touch is how over 100 million Fortnite gamers have built, battled and danced their way to Victory Royale.

Microsoft today dropped a giant bomb on the balance of game development: the company announced the acquisition of ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks, and all its related IP. The purchase, which is expected to close for a tidy $7.5 billion, will carry over all ZeniMax Media subsidiaries. This includes Bethesda (The Elder Scrolls, Fallout), id Software (DOOM), Arkane Studios (Prey, Dishonored, upcoming Deathloop), MachineGames (Wolfenstein), among others.

The deal is the costliest acquisition for Microsoft (to date) in its push to increase the number of in-house development studios (up to 23 from 15 prior to this deal). Microsoft has announced that as part of the deal, games published by ZeniMax Media and subsidiaries (and in the future, by Microsoft) will be available on its Xbox Games Pass subscription service for Xbox and PC gaming. Microsoft is acquiring some of the most iconic gaming franchises ever with this deal, including all in-development IP. It's a huge boon for the company; it remains to be seen exactly how will this evolve over the years. But one thing is for certain: Microsoft isn't slowing down on its doubling down on game development.

Enter the Gungeon is a bullet hell roguelike video game developed by Dodge Roll and published by Devolver Digital. The game was released for Windows, macOS, Linux, and PlayStation 4 in 2016 where it received critical acclaim and went on to release for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in 2017. The game retails for 14.99 USD on Steam at the time of writing. God's Trigger is a violent action game released by One More Level and published by Techland Publishing. The game was released for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2018 to positive reviews. The two games are currently free to keep on the Epic Games Store for one week only.

The two games are now available to claim and will expire August 27th.

• Enter the Gungeon
• God's Trigger

Today, Epic Games has decided to file a lawsuit against both Apple and Google after both companies removed Fortnite form their platform app stores (Google Play and Apple App Store). Firstly, Apple has decided to remove the Fortnite app to form its App Store because the game violated the company's policy that all in-game payments must go through the Apple App Store system, instead of them being processed directly. That means that Apple can also apply its 30% cut on all the payments made in-game. After Apple has revoked the Fortnite app, Epic Games has decided to file a lawsuit that aims to fight the company's monopoly and make the iOS platform more developer-friendly. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said that Epic will not seek or accept any special deal that Apple may offer, but rather wants to fight for all developers.

Just hours after Apple decided to pull the Fortnite game from its App Store, Google has also removed the game from its Google Play Store. Google's Play Store policy about in-app payments says that all games must use Google Play in-app billing if they want to process payments, so Fortnite was pulled from it as well. In light of that move, Epic Games has also filed a lawsuit against Google on the same terms. The company wants to fight both Apple and Google in court and make them be more developer-friendly, especially Apple. We have to wait and see how the case progresses. Being that Apple is almost a $2 trillion company, it can surely afford lots of good lawyers, just as Google will. We want to express our support for Epic Games for going in the right direction, as we do need more open ecosystems.

Epic Games today announced a $1.78 billion round of funding consisting of primary capital and secondary purchases from employee equity holders. Epic's post-money equity valuation is now $17.3 billion.

This round includes a previously announced $250 million strategic investment from Sony Corporation. Additional investment partners include Baillie Gifford, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and David Tepper. Existing investors KKR and Smash Ventures also added to their 2018 investment. Following the closing of the funding round Epic will continue to have only a single class of common stock outstanding and will remain controlled by its founder and CEO, Tim Sweeney.

Today, on the official Twitter account of Fortnite game, Epic Games made an announcement that the game will receive an update on the 5th of August (tomorrow), that will bring some new features. Titled Joy Ride update, Epic Games promises that it will bring car support with it. In a tweet, the company says that "It's not just a name. It's a warning.", where it is referring to the Joy Ride update and the fact that it is going to change the gameplay dynamics of the game. So far, the only way to travel in-game on the ground was by foot, meaning that a car update will improve the speed of moving a lot. Let us know your thought on this update in the comments down below.

EA has recently decided to break away from the exclusivity of its games on Origin game launches and started to offer some games on Valve's Steam gaming platform. The move has turned out to be quite substantial for EA and Valve just reported some big news. Out of the top 20 best-selling games on Steam for the month of July, EA games accounted for eight of them. This rather massive share is all thanks to the new markets EA opened themselves to. Without a doubt, Steam is still the world's biggest gaming platform, so it was a smart move to expand the availability of games to it. The financial gains follow as well. EA saw a massive 74% surge in PC revenue it is a quarterly report, all thanks to expansion to Steam.

After Sony has showcased Unreal Engine 5 capabilities on the new PlayStation 5 console, there was a counterpart event missing from Microsoft. However, Microsoft has announced today that the company will host a live stream event on July 23rd. That is the date when Microsoft will host the event on YouTube and Twitch. Starting at 9 am PT time, the company will showcase the capabilities of the new Xbox Series X console. Possibly, Microsoft will show ray tracing and all the latest technology advancements with AMD's RDNA2 graphics card found inside the new console. What we can expect in terms of games is Halo Infinite and maybe new Forza and Gears of War games. Either way, we have to wait and find out on July 23rd.

CD Project RED, the maker behind highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 game has given out some exciting information about the game. In a recent interview with PCGamesN, Max Pears, a designer involved in Cyberpunk 2077 development, has said that the game will have a "Grand Theft Auto (GTA) mode". "If you want to go out on a rampage and have no remorse, then you have got the option, and that's fine with us", said Mr. Pears. "However, once you start to play the missions and see the amount of options you have. I think that will make players stop and think a little bit before doing something reckless.", he adds, "We've seen a lot of people default to that 'GTA mode' and then after a little bit they realize how many things are different and adjust how they play". The game is officially launching on November 19, so we have to wait and see that gameplay.

When Epic Games launched the Epic Games Store back in December 2018 most people wrote it off as a glorified Fortnite launcher which could never compete with Steam's reach and features. While the Epic Games Store is still lacking in features compared to Steam it has come a long way since it's launch slowly adding in new features.

The Epic Games Store surprised many when it offered Subnautica for completely free on the store and so began the tradition of the Epic Games Store's weekly game giveaways which have given away over 100 different games in the last 18 months. While pursuing this strategy of game giveaways to attract new users to the platform Epic Games also secured many exclusives for the launcher which wasn't nearly as well received.

Itch.io is an indie game distributor that offers full game downloads absent of any client distribution - they give you links where you can download games and their full executables from their website. Now, the company has announced a new $5 bundle under the Racial Justice and Equality movement. The $5 is the minimum contribution amount users can give, and offers access to 300+ games out of a grand 742 asset total (includes both games' tilesets, assets, tabletop RPGs, comics, tools, as well as books, valued at $3400. The entirety of your contribution will be evenly split between the "NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund" and the "Community Bail Fund".

There are some known quantities among this bundle - including Oxenfree, Overland, and A Short Hike - but there are sure to be some more hidden, unknown gems out there (at least for some of us). Feel free to follow the source link for the full Itch.io page. The bundle has already raised $2,328,972.22 (46% of its $5,000,000 target), with the average contribution sitting at $11,50 and the top contribution offering $5,000 to the selected institutions.

Microsoft has been praised for its continued support of previous console generations with the latest Xbox Series X maintaining compatibility with some games going back to the original Xbox along with controller and accessory inter compatibility. It seems that for the first few years most games will be released for both the Xbox One and Xbox Series X families of consoles. Sony seems to be taking a much conservative approach and hoping to take full advantage of the new PS5 features and updated DualSense controller to create iconic exclusives for the console.

In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Sony's Interactive Entertainment's CEO, Jim Ryan confirmed that the company plans to create games "that can really only be enjoyed on PS5." This approach will likely irritate PS4 users who have invested heavily in the console with controllers and other accessories, Sony believes that this approach will help the company to make the most out of their new console hardware.

In light of the cancellation of E3 2020 a new digital game showcase has been announced. The New Game+ Expo will feature new and upcoming releases from a coalition of developers from around the world and be streamed exclusively on Twitch June 23rd. The 16 companies from across Japan and America involved are: Acttil, Aksys Games, Arc System Works America, GungHo Online Entertainment America, Grasshopper Manufacture, Idea Factory International, Inti Creates, Koei, Tecmo America, Natsume Inc, NIS America Inc, Playism, Sega of America, Atlus West, SNK Corporation, Spike Chunsoft Inc, and WayForward

EA has confirmed that it's existing games for Xbox One and Playstation 4 will receive free patches to upgrade them for next-generation consoles. The PS5 and Xbox Series X both feature ways to play current-generation games, both consoles will attempt to automatically boost games up to 4k resolution. While these options ensure broad inter-generation compatibility issues can arise from game limitations, this is where manual patches come in allowing developers to take advantage of the extra performance and radically overhaul their games.

Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen confirmed in a recent earnings call that EA would not charge consumers for these patches. "As usual, we have presented the quarterly phasing of our net bookings in our earnings presentation. Note that this year, the phasing includes the effect of revenue recognition from the games we are launching for the current generation of consoles that can also be upgraded free for the next generation."

Beginning today and ending on May 21, we will periodically require two-factor authentication prior to claiming free games on the Epic Games Store. We are making this change in an effort to encourage our players to take steps to strengthen their Epic account security. If you do not have two-factor authentication enabled on your account, you will see the following message when attempting to claim a free game:

"Two Factor Authentication Required, Claiming this free game requires you to have Two-Factor Authentication setup on your account. Two-Factor Authentication provides an additional level of security to your Epic Games account and will help prevent unauthorized access."

Google Stadia is set to hold their first Stadia Connect event in over 8 months tomorrow the 28th April at 9 AM PT / 6 PM CET / 5 PM BST. Google has announced that several new games coming to the platform will be revealed at the event, whether these games will be from existing third parties or new Stadia exclusives is yet to be known. Google has not announced any exclusives for the platform this far, making it possible that Google might have some games lined up to announce. The stream can be viewed live on the Google Stadia YouTube channel and will be available to watch on-demand after the event. W̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶s̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶u̶p̶d̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶p̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶e̶t̶a̶i̶l̶s̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶n̶o̶u̶n̶c̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶m̶o̶r̶r̶o̶w̶.̶ Google has unveiled 11 new games for the platform, full details can be viewed here.

The current quarantine situation can be cut in two ways: as a major setback for your life, or as an opportunity. An opportunity, for instance, to mow down all the games you've got on backburner. To that end, and in case you're running low in Triple-AAA or quirky, interesting game experiments, the EPIC Games Store has now made available for free download both Ubisoft's Watch Dogs and Galactic Cafe's The Stanley Parable. Both offer a distinct gameplay experience, with EPIC thus catering to two completely different gamer demographics.

Watch Dogs is a well-known action-adventure RPG launched back in 2014, set in a fictionalized version of Chicago. Playing as Aiden Pierce, a hacker with a personal revenge motivation, you hack your way through security systems in a somewhat dystopian society. The game was not very well received, standing with a 77 score on Metacritic and a 4.9 user score (in no small part due to the considerable graphics downgrade seen between the showcased version and the final graphics the game shipped with). The Stanley parable, on the other hand, is a quirky first-person exploration game based on a mod to the Half Life 2 engine that seems set on exploring a quantum approach to storytelling. This one features a much healthier 88 score in Metacritic and an 8.0 in user score.

A Steam page store has appeared for Guerrilla Games' PlayStation exclusive Horizon Zero Dawn. If you haven't played this game yet, I'll assume you don't have a PlayStation; and if so, boy: are you in for a treat. Horizon Zero Dawn has you playing as Aloy, a native to this alternate reality where dinosaur-like machines have taken over the wilds. As you expand on the story and go on to discover the secrets to this world - and to humanity's downfall - you'll travel across a seamless, richly-detailed open-world experience that rivals The Witcher III: Wild Hunt.

Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition will feature both the base game and its The Frozen Wilds Expansion, which adds dozens of hours, new equipment, new lands, skills, and Machines for you to hunt. This looks like Sony's way (and continued efforts) to show you, years later, what you've been missing out on in the PlayStation platform, and I bet Sony's wishing these exclusive games hitting the PC will give you the PlayStation 5 hitch. Now if only the same happened for the incredible God of War...