Heya Realmwalkers, Inflexion Games here. We have a new Developer Update for you all that covers Nightingale's August playtest details & challenges, what we're working on post-playtest, Quality of Life (QoL) feature updates, what Early Access means to us and much more. Watch it below. Set out on a journey of survival and adventure, into the mysterious and dangerous Fae Realms of Nightingale! Become an intrepid Realmwalker, and venture forth alone or with friends - as you explore, craft, build and fight across a visually stunning Gaslamp Fantasy world.

Nightingale is a PVE open-world survival crafting game played solo or cooperatively with friends. Build, craft, fight and explore as you venture through mystical portals into a variety of amazing and fantastical realms. You are stranded beyond our world, cut off by the collapse of the arcane portal network. This catastrophe has left you fighting to survive in a labyrinth of beautiful and dangerous Fae realms. Your goal: become a skilled Realmwalker, and navigate the web of transdimensional portals. Only then can you discover your way to the magical city of Nightingale, the last known bastion of humanity.

Join the thirstiest of adventures! Discover the story of the sunbeaten land. 50 years ago, the hubris of humankind combined with natural disasters transformed the world into a desert. A desert world, an extreme water shortage, a demon-human alliance. Whether or not you're familiar with the SAND LAND universe, we're pleased to share a short recap/introduction of the story and its characters, to prepare you for the release of our upcoming video game!

1. What is SAND LAND?
SAND LAND is originally a popular manga created by Akira Toriyama, the author of DRAGON BALL and Dr. Slump. After being serialized intensively for a short period in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2000, the one-volume comic has gained worldwide popularity since its publishing. In desert world where both demons and humans suffer from an extreme water shortage, Beelzebub, Fiend Prince, and Rao, a small-town sheriff, and demon Thief form a team and set off on an adventure in search of the Legendary Spring somewhere in the desert.

During launch-weekend, Payday 3 had a peak of concurrent players (CCU) across all platforms of 218,250, and a peak of 1,347,510 unique players (DAU). Starbreeze Nebula currently has 3,794,172 registered users. Payday 3 matchmaking infrastructure has not performed as tested and expected. Matchmaking software encountered an unforeseen error, which made it unable to handle the massive influx of players. The issue caused an unrecoverable situation for Starbreeze's third-party matchmaking partner.

A new version of the matchmaking server software was gradually deployed across all regions leading to improved performance. However, a software update made by the partner during late Sunday again introduced instability to the matchmaking infrastructure. The partner continues to work to improve and stabilize Payday 3's online systems.

Ubisoft has announced strong early momentum for The Crew Motorfest, the brand-new open world driving experience of The Crew franchise. The game is the highest rated title in the franchise and had the best first week for the franchise in terms of total unit sell through, overall consumer spend, and season pass adoption rate.

The Crew Motorfest has been received positively by critics and players alike, delivering on its promise of breathtaking Hawaiian scenery and graphic fidelity, improved vehicle handling, and an ode to car culture through the Playlist system. The Crew 2 community have already embraced the new opus and have taken advantage of the "Collection Import" feature, with more than 42 million vehicles imported from The Crew 2 to The Crew Motorfest.

Tales of the Shire—a "The Lord of the Rings" game—has been teased by Private Division. The introductory trailer does not contain any gameplay footage, but it indicates that a "cozy" Hobbit-related living habitat will serve as the main environment. A live action sequence shows a character adding yet another drawing to a sketchbook filled to the brim with illustrations of Hobbit life and key Shire locales. Take Two Interactive's indie specialist offshoot will be publishing the game, while Wētā Workshop is listed as Tales of the Shire's main development studio. The latter is best known for creating special effects and props—most notably on the Peter Jackson directed The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film trilogies.

Wētā Workshop's move into video games seems to be an odd one—but Take Two Interactive and its development partner did announce an unnamed The Lord of the Rings title last summer—Amie Wolken, head of interactive at Wētā Workshop stated (at the time): "It's a privilege to create a new game set in Middle-earth, especially one that's so different from what fans have played previously. As fans ourselves, we're excited for gamers to explore Middle-earth in a way they never have before, and introduce new fans to the magic of The Lord of the Rings." Private Division has set a very general 2024 launch window, with Tales of the Shire arriving on PC and consoles.

Forza Motorsport will expand with new cars, tracks, career tours and online events. Here's how we're building an evolving racing platform to give players a steady flow of new challenges and gameplay experiences. Forza Motorsport launches on October 10 with over 500 cars, 20 completely rebuilt tracks and our new career and online racing modes. It's a massive game from day one and it'll continue to grow over time.

We want to ensure you always have something new to play in Forza Motorsport. That's why we built the game to be an evolving racing platform. Once the game has been released, we expect to regularly add new content with monthly content drops that will help you fall in love with cars through skill and competition, as well as tweaks to gameplay and systems.

During ExileCon 2023, several of our developers gave presentations on their area of expertise in game development. We'll be publishing these talks in our news over the coming weeks, starting with a presentation on the Bosses and Monsters of Path of Exile 2 by Game Director Mark Roberts. In this video, Mark discusses the various aspects of boss design in Path of Exile 2, showcases some bosses from Path of Exile 2, and invites members of the audience to test their might against the bosses on stage. Check it out below!

Path of Exile 2 is a next generation Action RPG created by Grinding Gear Games. Set years after the original Path of Exile, you will return to the dark world of Wraeclast and seek to end the corruption that is spreading. Path of Exile 2 is a free-to-play online multiplayer game with co-op for up to six players. Path of Exile 2 is a separate game to the original Path of Exile. We will continue to offer expansions for both games going forward. They are completely free-to-play and will never be "pay to win". Purchases are shared between the two games. Launching on PC, macOS, Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.

Focus Entertainment and DON'T NOD are thrilled to reveal an extensive overview of their upcoming title Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. The immersive and poignant narrative driven Action-RPG where you hunt and battle supernatural threats to alter a tragic fate revealed itself in a detailed Gameplay Overview Trailer (watch it below). The title is coming November 7th to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, and pre-orders are now available on all platforms, with a Collector's Edition and the Red Echoes Edition exclusive to the Focus Store!

A journey between love, life, death and sacrifice
You play a couple of Banishers, Antea Duarte and Red Mac Raith, experienced spirit hunters, sent to New Eden to lift a mysterious curse and solve haunting cases. But after an ill-advised attack, Antea is killed and becomes one of the ghosts she loathes. Torn between their vows to protect the living from malicious spirits and the nightmare of Antea's condition, you must make hard decisions: Will you honor your Banisher oath or sacrifice the living in a desperate bid to bring your beloved back?

Ubisoft has confirmed that development on Tom Clancy's The Division 3 is underway, with the reappointment of a series veteran—Julian Gerighty will become the Executive Producer for The Division Universe "once Star Wars Outlaws - a game he is currently overseeing as Creative Director - has shipped." The publisher's low-key press release reveals that Gerighty is not making an enormous geographical move—he is simply moving up the rankings at Massive Entertainment (a Ubisoft-owned studio located in Malmö, Sweden). The French video game publisher revealed initial plans for the next mainline entry in their popular online-only action role-playing series: "A core focus of Gerighty's is to build a team for Tom Clancy's The Division 3, which will be led by Massive Entertainment, while making sure Tom Clancy's The Division 2 remains well supported. Outside of that, his attention will be on a solidification of brand identity."

He will oversee work on existing live service games, including Tom Clancy's The Division Resurgence (on mobile), and franchise spin-off—The Division Heartland—a free-to-play survival-action shooter (developed by Red Storm Entertainment). Gerighty stated: "We may have over 40 million players, but The Division is still in its early years as a franchise. There are so many incredible stories to tell, places to explore and people to protect." A high bar has been set with presentation, he continued: "I think that we delivered that with Tom Clancy's The Division's cutting-edge visuals, incredible gameplay, and promise to the player that they can't get this experience anywhere else, and then again with Tom Clancy's The Division 2. It's about refinement, it's about pushing the quality bar consistently forward."

Dragon's Dogma 2 director Hideaki Itsuno has shared an update on the game at the TGS 2023 Capcom Online Program broadcast! Check out the video (below) where he goes into detail on the game world and various vocations and combat actions available. Also...check out the previous title in the series, Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen, now on sale for a limited time. A classic world of high fantasy awaits, making your world the stage for a grand adventure!

The deep, explorable fantasy world of Dragon's Dogma...
Dragon's Dogma 2 is a single player, narrative driven action-RPG that challenges the players to choose their own experience - from the appearance of their Arisen, their vocation, their party, how to approach different situations and more - in a truly immersive fantasy world. On your journey, you'll be joined by Pawns, mysterious otherworldly beings, in an adventure so unique you will feel as if accompanied by other players while on your own adventure. All of these elements are elevated further by physics technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and the latest in graphics, made possible with RE Engine to create a truly immersive fantasy world in Dragon's Dogma 2.

Hotel Barcelona is the long-awaited collaboration between game design legends Swery65 and Suda51, and our Xbox Digital Broadcast brought us a never-before-seen gameplay trailer from the self-styled "2.5D slasher film parodic action" game. Drawing influences from across horror's history, you'll be pitted against everything from alien entities to AI-enhanced sharks, all while stuck in an endless time loop filled with serial killers - and only your deceased past selves to help you.

Both Swery and Suda appeared in the show to discuss the game. Swery discussed the game's unusual beginnings - with Suda asking him to announce a collaboration on the fly, with no prior discussion - and his inspirations from Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining'. Suda explained that he and Swery worked on the initial concept together - "Then, all of a sudden, Swery completed tons of work on the development, and Hotel Barcelona materialized. Most of the time, when someone does lip service like that, the project never materializes… But Swery made this project a reality in order to deliver something to the fans."

The launch of Payday 3 is finally upon us! Police and criminals alike quake at the rumors of the Payday Gang arriving in New York City. And today, they arrived. A brand new chapter in the Payday universe is revealed to the world and we're thrilled to have you join us on the journey. We've already shared the roadmap for the first year of Payday 3, check it out here.

The Medic Bag
Should you have any issues with the game, don't hesitate to contact our support team, if you'd like to leave us any feedback we do have a feature upvote page where you can either write your own suggestion or vote on the suggestions of others.

BenQ, the global leading DLP 4K projector brand and innovator of digital lifestyle devices, today unveiled three all-new 4K HDR smart projectors. Designed specifically for AAA console gaming, each projector offers players unparalleled audiovisual experiences tailored to various rooms within the home.

Following closely after the success of the BenQ X3000i, 2022's best 4K LED gaming projector, the new models X3100i, X500i, and X300G showcase BenQ's revolutionary detail enhancement engine. They set new standards by integrating the projector-tailored HDR-PRO, CinematicColor, and CinematicSound technologies, offering a richer and more immersive gaming experience than ever before.

The free Update 2.0 for Cyberpunk 2077 is being rolled out on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S! It brings an overhaul to a number of gameplay mechanics and core game features (such as the police system and Perk trees) along with various fixes and improvements. These changes apply to the base game and are available to all players on PC and current-gen consoles, free of charge. There's more to come on September 26th for owners of the Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty expansion!

You can continue playing from existing saves, but in order to have the best experience of the extensive changes we made, we recommend starting a new playthrough. Come September 26th, owners of Phantom Liberty will also have the option to jump straight into the story of the expansion by starting a new game with a new character that is already adequately leveled up. Because changes to crucial game systems are extensive, we strongly recommend uninstalling pre-2.0 mods until the modding community has a chance to update them. Outdated mods can disrupt the experience in many ways and, in some situations, may cause critical errors.

We know a lot of you are pretty excited to play Star Ocean: The Second Story R. After all, the original game is a true classic of the RPG genre and this new remake improves it even further! It adds a beautiful new 2.5D art style, a revamped combat system, a rearranged soundtrack, new illustrations and a galaxy's-worth of quality of life improvements. To cut a long story short, this crown jewel of the Star Ocean series now sparkles even brighter than before! The game releases on November 2, 2023 for Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4 and PC via Steam… but what if you want to play it earlier? Good news then because a free demo is available right now! Read on and we'll tell you all about it:

What's in the STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY R demo?
The free demo lets you experience this interstellar adventure for three hours or until you make your way to the exit of Krosse Cave - whichever comes first. In that time, you'll get to see how the story gets underway as Pangalactic Federation officer Claude C. Kenny is transported to a mysterious location by an equally mysterious mechanism. Around that time, a local named Rena, is attacked by a monster in the Sacred Forest. Claude jumps into action and saves her, but his advanced technology means Rena mistakes him for a hero of myths from her homeland. She hopes he can save her nation, while he wants to find a way back home. Together, they set off for the village of Arlia… and an epic adventure begins.

Hi Everyone, today I'd like to share that the talented team at Criterion Games will be joining EA Entertainment. Criterion has a rich history in gaming, having worked on Battlefield, Battlefront, Burnout, and of course, Need for Speed. I'm thrilled to have a studio with such pedigree join the studios I oversee. As we've said before, we're all-in on Battlefield. Today, Criterion is added to our world-class Battlefield studios dedicated to ushering in a new era for the franchise.

The majority of the team will be working alongside DICE, Ripple Effect, and Ridgeline that are led by Byron Beede, GM of Battlefield. Criterion's experience with Battlefield, our technology and building engaging experiences will have an immediate positive impact as we continue to work on Battlefield 2042, and as we continue pre-production on a connected Battlefield Universe. There is no better studio to join us on this journey and I couldn't be more excited.

Just a few weeks ago at Gamescom we announced that an expansion for Age of Empires IV—The Sultans Ascend—would be coming soon. Today we're thrilled to let our PC and Xbox console players around the world know that they'll be able to play this exciting new content on November 14! Pre-orders are available now for everyone wanting to graduate The Sultans Ascend from their wishlist and begin counting down the days.

This new Age of Empires IV single player campaign takes place in the Middle East during the European Crusades. You'll take on the role of the Muslim resistance to the invasion and follow the story of well-known Muslim leaders, their struggles with the Crusaders, and the battles they fought. Our story begins with the First Crusade at the end of the 11th century, when Muslim provinces are mired in rivalry with one another.

If you're looking for the latest games coming to Game Pass, you've come to the right place. Maybe you're looking for a Soulslike, or mysterious adventures. Maybe you're looking to solve crimes, or even do crimes (maybe please keep that in the context of video games). Either way, we've got something for you!

Available Today—Lies of P (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Available on day one with Game Pass: Lies of P is a thrilling soulslike that takes the story of Pinocchio, turns it on its head, and sets it against the darkly elegant backdrop of the Belle Epoque era. You must adapt yourself and your weapons to face untold horrors, untangle the unfathomable secrets of the city's elites and choose whether to confront predicaments with the truth or weave lies to overcome them on the journey to find yourself.

Fan-favorite Resident Evil 4 additional scenario "Separate Ways" returns as new story DLC on September 21! Separate Ways—the missing link in the main story—is a thrilling, survival-horror adventure starring Ada Wong. Additionally, on the same day an update arrives for the free DLC "The Mercenaries," adding new playable characters. If you haven't experienced Resident Evil 4 yet, the base game is currently discounted for a limited time!

The mission requires secrecy. Failure is not an option
Play as Ada Wong in this additional scenario and experience the events of Resident Evil 4 from her perspective, filling in unanswered questions posed in the main story. See the other side of the story from her eyes as her mission, and fate, intertwines with Leon Kennedy's a second time.

We welcome you to Krat, where the most spectacular display of human endeavor on Earth can be seen. For those who have been long waiting for the gates to open, we fully assure you that the adventures you will experience will be filled with unexpected turns. Take on the role of Geppetto's prized puppet to uncover the mysteries of Krat and save the City in this new take on the Fairy-Tale Classic! In this once-prosperous city, prepare yourself to face untold horrors, untangle the unfathomable secrets of the city's elites and choose whether to confront predicaments with the truth or weave lies to overcome them on the journey to find yourself. We hope your visit to Krat is a safe and prosperous stay.

Lies of P is a fantastic interpretation of "The Adventures of Pinocchio," dropping our beloved puppet within the nightmarish city of Krat, a fallen utopia built on the backs of mechanical puppets who have gone mad and slain its citizens. Their creator, Geppetto, has gone missing and "P" is brought to life to track him down to try and save the city. In the classic fairy tale, Pinocchio embarks on many adventures of self-discovery and encounters a wide range of characters - many of them bad actors who take advantage of his ignorance—which leads him on a transformative journey where he learns what it means to be human, the power of forgiveness, and of course, repercussions for lying.

Developers at Insomniac Games have confirmed that Spider-Man 2's ray tracing feature will be running as standard/by default within the PlayStation 5 version—a player's adjustments of graphical performance settings will have no bearing on this being turned on or off. Mike Fitzgerald, Insomniac's director of core technology, shared technical information in an interview with IGN, although he stopped short of making any promises for an inevitable PC conversion—gamers on that platform will likely be waiting another 18 months post-October 20. It is possible that Nixxes Software has been contracted to work on a port, given their recent-ish track record. The Insomniac dev cites advanced experience gained by working on past titles—notably Spider-Man Remastered, Miles Morales, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart—as the main factor behind the confident push into implementing an "always-on" ray tracing graphical feature. Fitzgerald stated: "We've really gotten to leverage everything we've seen in developing those games."

He continued: "Our performance mode for this title has ray tracing on by default. We've really expanded ray traced reflections throughout the game. It's on the water and the oceans and really gives a more realistic picture everywhere...For this game we're really able to deliver (ray tracing) as a baseline performance mode. There's no mode of this game that has the ray tracing turned off, no need for it. We've really figured out how to deliver what we feel like is the right Spider-Man visuals and we want to make sure every player is seeing that." Fitzgerald also praises PlayStation 5's storage solution—SSDs allow for "faster traversal" across the New York City environment. Players can look forward to traversing the urban landscape at about "three times as fast" as the pace experienced in Spider-Man 1.

We are honored to announce Tales of Arise - Beyond the Dawn. Through this expansion players will enjoy a story that depicts the world after the main story of Tales of Arise, which was released in September 2021. This is the first DLC in the Tales of series that is a direct continuation of the main story in this scale. We will discuss what players can expect from the storyline and why we made the decision to create it.

Sometimes a story is over, but not quite done. Over a year has passed since the conclusion of Tales of Arise, but there's more to the story that hasn't been told yet. Enter Tales of Arise - Beyond the Dawn the upcoming expansion to The Game Awards 2021 RPG of the Year from Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. Adding 20+ hours of game content, the new expansion adds new quests, dungeons, boss fights, and an epic new story arc all within the backdrop of an evolving, beautiful fantasy world. The game will be available on November 9, for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC via Steam. To learn more, please visit the official website.

Hail Commanders. Alongside the cinematic campaign and multiplayer modes already announced, those with a keen eye for the ever shaping landscape of the Realm before us may have noticed some exciting updates unveiled recently over on our Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin Steam store page. It's time to discover more in our latest video here (see below).

A real-time strategy game from Frontier, set in the iconic Warhammer universe. Become a warlord and lead four unique factions to conquer the wild and savage Realm of Ghur in tense and tactical battles. Wage a campaign of brutal conquest in this realm-shattering real-time strategy game set in the Warhammer Age of Sigmar universe.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on December 7. A new trailer for the game reveals further story details about the hero's journey and the clans they will meet as they explore the Western Frontier of Pandora to reconnect with their lost heritage. In Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, you will play as a Na'vi who was abducted as an infant by the RDA and trained in The Ambassador Program (TAP) to serve human interests on Pandora. When the RDA evacuated Pandora during the Battle of the Hallelujah Mountains (as seen in the first Avatar movie), you were put into emergency cryosleep. You wake up 15 years later, finally free from the RDA, but lost and unfamiliar with your home world.

You set out on a journey to discover the world that was kept from you, meeting other Na'vi clans and learning about Na'vi culture. You discover that you are a member of the respected Sarentu clan, believed to have disappeared years before. As you journey across the Western Frontier, you will meet the Aranahe, a clan of artisans known for their weaving skills; the Zeswa, a proud nomadic clan that lives in symbiosis with gigantic beasts called Zakru; and the Kame'tire, a reclusive, enigmatic clan skilled in healing and potion-making.

The Crew Motorfest is out now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC, and is included with a Ubisoft+ subscription. At launch, the game has over 600 available vehicles, 15 themed Playlists, and four PvP game modes for players to participate in, and it all takes place on the Hawai'ian island of O'ahu. Get ready to speed down the streets of Honolulu, soar above volcanoes in a plane, cruise along the beach in boats, customize your vehicles, and so much more in a game designed to be a car-culture celebration. With everything The Crew Motorfest has to offer, here are our top five ideas for what to check out first:

Experience Motorfest
Motorfest is a car-culture festival, and its grounds will serve as the heart of your experience. At the festival, you'll be able to see massive decorations, murals, inflatables and lot more, designed to honor O'ahu and car culture; show off your car collection; kick off the game's themed campaigns, called Playlists; and participate in online game modes including the Grand Race, Demolition Royale, Summit Contest, and Custom Show. As you explore Motorfest, you'll also see other players driving by, showing off their custom rides as they take part in the festivities as well, and deepening the sense of car-culture community.