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Nintendo has announced a line of enhanced ‘Nintendo Switch 2 Edition’ games for its next console, which will feature improvements such as better visuals, or exclusive features. Switch 2 Edition games are separate fromstandard Switch 2 backwards compatibility, and need to either be purchased separately or upgraded to for owners of Switch 1 versions. Metroid Prime 4 Beyond’s Switch 2 Edition will feature mouse controls and 4K 60fpsHDR visuals, or a 120fps performance mode....

Microsoft has announced that it will be laying off 3% of its total staff. The layoffs will take place across all levels, teams and locations, according to aCNBCreport, suggesting thatMicrosoft‘s gaming division may be affected to some extent. According to the report Microsoft had around 228,000 employees by the end of last June, which would mean laying off 6,840 employees (though it’s not currently known if the employee count has risen or fallen since then)....

Activision has launched Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 Season 3. To coincide with the new season going live,Infinity Wardhas released thepatch notesfor the latest game updates, which we’ve republished in full below. HeadliningWarzone2’s update arechanges to the battle royale game’s pacing, combat and movement. Resurgence, a streamlined spin-off of the regular battle royale with respawns enabled, makes its Al Mazrah debut in the form of Massive Resurgence, which is a much larger version of the mode....

Future Mortal Kombat 1 DLC is in doubt after the game’s latest expansion Khaos Reigns sold poorly, it’s been claimed. According toReddit user_FateUnknown_, a user with a track record of revealing information about forthcomingMortal Kombatcontent, a third Kombat pack of DLC characters and a second story expansion were planned for the fighter, but have since been canceled. This was reportedly due to what they claim were “low sales” of Khaos Reigns, the game’s recent story expansion....

NBA 2K23 MyTeam will finally remove the need for contracts and will improve fan favourite modes. The biggest change is that contracts, consumable items that were required to use a player, have been removed. “We’ve implemented a number of highly requested changes to MyTeam this year that were top of mind for our community, including the removal of contracts, along with the addition of Triple Threat Online: Co-Op that allows players to team up with friends for the first time ever to test their skills in Co-Op 3v3 online gameplay”, said Erick Boenisch, VP of NBA development at2KandVisual Concepts....

Nintendo has announced that Gary Bowser, the man accused of creating and selling circumvention devices enabling users to play illegal ROMs on consoles, including Switch and 3DS has been sentenced to 40 months. Bowser was a member of a hacking group called Team-Xecuter, which in 2013 began creating and selling circumvention devices enabling users to play illegal ROMs on consoles, includingSwitchand 3DS. According to the US government, the group’s criminal enterprise generated tens of millions of dollars in sales and resulted in up to $150 million in losses to victims....

Nintendo has filed a patent for a magnetic joystick that uses a ‘smart fluid’, in what could be an attempt to avoid stick drift in the future. The patent details a joystick that contains a ‘magnetorheological fluid’ (MRF), which changes viscosity depending on the intensity of a magnetic field. In practice, it should mean that when a player moves the stick with their thumb, the fluid will thicken to build resistance....

Nintendo has announced a major change in how digital games will work on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. Launching via a system update in late April,Nintendosays ‘Virtual Game Cards’ will make digital games easier to use, and easier to lend to other Switch owners. After the update, digital games on Switch will appear as Virtual Game Cards in a dedicated screen, where users can ‘load’ or ‘eject’ them from their library, as if they were physical cards, whether they belong to a member of the same Nintendo Account family group, or a second console tied to your account....

Microsoft has detailed November’s Xbox update, which is rolling out now. The update’s headline features are new and improved colour filters onXbox Series X/S, new accessibility feature tags in theMicrosoftStore, updated volume and audio output settings for allXboxconsoles, and a new controller firmware update. Microsoft also said November’s update includes fixes reducing console shutdowns and improving the stability of Xbox Series X consoles when playing games such as NBA2K22,FIFA 22andBattlefield 2042....

Blizzard has revealed details about Overwatch 2’s new seasonal structure and confirmed that, unlike the original game, the sequel won’t include loot boxes. Overwatch 2 will launch in early access on October 4as a free-to-play title. The sequel, which includes a new five-versus-five setup as well as cross-play and cross-progression, is coming toPC,Xbox Series X/S,Xbox One,PS5,PS4andSwitch. It will have seasonal updates every nine weeks and a Battle Pass featuring new content including heroes, game modes, maps and cosmetics....

Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal are coming to Nintendo Switch. The series, which has been missing fromNintendoplatforms, will release first withPersona 5Royal on October 21. Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden won’t release until 2023. According to the an official description from publisherAtlus: “Persona 5 Royal: Forced to transfer to a high school in Tokyo, the protagonist has a strange dream. ‘You truly are a prisoner of fate....

Some classic Call of Duty games have seen large spikes in player numbers after Xbox online matchmaking issues were resolved. Recently,Microsoftdeployed a fix to theXbox 360portion ofXboxLive,which resolved an issueaffecting the matchmaking in older Call of Duty titles. After the fix was deployed, 2012’s Call of Duty Black Ops 2 reportedly attracted over 10,000 simultaneous players on Sunday, while 2011’sModern Warfare3 drew over 7,000. Black Ops 2, the last COD to actually show player count, has 10K people playing right nowYou love to see itpic....

A new FAQ on Sony’s website hints that PC ports of PlayStation games may require a PSN account at some point in the future. Asection on the official PlayStation websitededicated toPC gamescontains information for players looking to buyPlayStationStudios titles onSteamor theEpic Games Store. While some answers on the site FAQ are definitive, such as one regarding trophy support for PC games (“they will not sync with your trophies list on your PSN profile”), others include the word “currently”, implying that the situation has the potential to change in the future....