Obsidian Entertainment, the developer behind Fallout: New Vegas, Alpha Protocol, Pillars of Eternity and other role-playing games, is joining Microsoft’s stable of studios. Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Obsidian today at its X018 event in Mexico City. The addition of Obsidian will bring some valuable RPG know-how to Microsoft’s studio lineup. Update: A representative for Private Division reached out to Polygon with the following statement:We look forward to publishing the upcoming

Just Cause 4’s latest bonkers trailer stars a tornado, which in the game can roll up on the set at any time and mess up Rico’s big plans or give him an even more cinematic way to dispose of foes. Square Enix showed this cinematic trailer today during Microsoft’s X018 event in Mexico City. We got some hands-on time with the game at a preview event in October. Avalanche is making sure nothing in the world is an instant-kill event; that’s to encourage people to try as much outrageous shit as possib

X018: All the announcements from Xbox One showcase Kingdom Hearts, Sea of Thieves, PUBG and Fortnite among the newsmakers this afternoonKeyboard-mouse Xbox One support for Fortnite and Warframe, a Crackdown 3 launch date, and updates for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Sea of Thieves and Xbox Game Pass highlighted the announcements from the Xbox One’s showcase today in Mexico City. Microsoft also announced it had acquired Obsidian and inXile Entertainment, bringing those two RPG makers into the g

If the violence seems particularly affecting, it’s because as much of it as possible was done with practical effects. “You can’t put a green sock on someone’s face and expect them to know what the hell they look like,” Avery says. “And then the actors, also, are acting opposite a guy with tracking marks on his face or a green sock. “Every time I visited, all I wanted to do was look at the photo albums,” Avery recalls. They’re as real as possible, and the realer they are, to borrow Avery’s words,

World of Warcraft has been in a pretty rotten spot since the Battle for Azeroth expansion was released. But ultimately, World of Warcraft is still a video game enjoyed by millions of players every month. World of Warcraft YouTubers Taliesin and Evitel are two such people. There are some players who’ve stuck with World of Warcraft since the beginning, and they still log in every day. World of Warcraft has always been about creating a world that can bring you joy in one way or another.

Reyan Ali, author of a forthcoming book about NBA Jam (from Boss Fight Books — those guys again!) This is an NBA Jam soundboard plugged into another arcade mainstay of the times, Mortal Kombat. As you can tell, this is a straight swap with no other work, so it’s not like someone modded this to try to match up NBA Jam’s sound bites with Mortal Kombat’s. Mortal Kombat (1992) and NBA Jam (1993) were both developed and published by Midway, so I guess it makes sense their hardware is swappable like t

Anyone who has seen Spider’s Web knows that certain suffocating moments are not for the faint of heart. note: this interview contains mild spoilers for The Girl in the Spider’s Web]Polygon: Sam Raimi produced your previous two movies, Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe. I’m really sorry if I ever hurt you.” That rarely happens, or never happens, from a very honest and deep place. Álvarez: That was the good news in a way, that it didn’t have to be like the last movie, the last American movie. But what I

PlayStation users in the city of Chicago will face an extra 9 percent tax on some purchases beginning Wednesday because Sony will begin complying with that city’s Amusement Tax, which some other streaming services have filed lawsuits to stop. The tax applies to things like rentals, not full sales of video games (where other sales taxes would still apply). It has since been called the “cloud tax,” “Netflix tax,” and even the “Hamilton tax” after the blockbuster musical. Chicago’s nine percent “cl

X018, the return of Microsoft’s Xbox fan event, is taking place in Mexico City this weekend, Nov. 10-11, where the company is promising “first looks, surprises, and a celebration of everything Xbox.” If you’re not in Mexico City for the festivities, you’ll be able to catch the news during a special live episode of Inside Xbox. Today’s Inside Xbox presentation will kick off at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT and run for two hours. You can watch it live on Mixer, Twitch, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Another

Agent 47 blends in but doesn’t even make attempts to copy speech patterns or mannerisms. Hitman 2’s story play into this humor, putting Agent 47 in some ridiculous set-ups. Hitman 2’s levels provide another set of staggeringly deep stages to play around in. Hitman 2’s formula doesn’t just encourage, but reinforced and rewarded my attempts to do things differently and break the mold. As someone who loves the Hitman formula, Hitman 2 gives me everything I want.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will be available to all Xbox Game Pass subscribers beginning Monday, Microsoft announced today at its X018 gala in Mexico City. PUBG’s addition to the Xbox Game Pass library of more than 100 titles highlighted several announcements for the Xbox One’s all-you-can-eat subscription service. The ID@Xbox program for indie games will bring new titles to Xbox Game Pass the day they debut on Xbox One, the same as the company has been doing with its first party titles since

Crackdown 3 will finally, actually, for real be released on Feb. 15, 2019, publisher Microsoft Studios announced Saturday. The same applies for Xbox Game Pass subscribers — Crackdown 3, like all of Microsoft’s first-party exclusives, will be included in the Game Pass library at launch. Microsoft announced another freebie at X018: From now until Nov. 30, anybody can download the original Crackdown, which debuted in February 2007 on Xbox 360, for free. Microsoft announced the mode ages ago, but th

Microsoft premiered the newest trailer for Kingdom Hearts 3, this time starring a mismatched group of familiar faces: Winnie the Pooh and Xehanort, the leader of the series’ greatest threat, Organization XIII. But it’s especially nice to see our friend Pooh again, as he stands as a symbol of the inherent good in the interconnected worlds of Kingdom Hearts. Pooh’s goodness actually stands in opposition to his storyline from the first Kingdom Hearts. After years of build-up and backstory about Xeh

Three more Final Fantasy games are coming to Xbox One. Microsoft and Square Enix announced at X018 today that Final Fantasy 13, Final Fantasy 13-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13 will become backward compatible on Xbox One on Nov. 13. The Final Fantasy 13 trilogy will also be enhanced for Xbox One X. Those three titles join World of Final Fantasy Maxima, Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 9, Final Fantasy 10/10-2 HD Remaster and Final Fantasy 12: The Zodiac Age, which Square Enix announced i

Sea of Thieves’ content updates since launch have focused on expanding the pirate adventure. “The Arena” is set to launch in early 2019, Microsoft announced. This will include the ability to queue on demand, a new tavern area for players interested in Arena combat, and a new trading company. The Sea Dogs will join the existing four factions, along with additional PvP-oriented achievements and rewards that can help players skip the current progression path toward Pirate Legend. Sea of Thieves is

By last count, Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Newegg have all previewed some excellent Black Friday deals. Razer is offering $100 off a gaming laptop through today, Nov. 10, and up to 50 percent off peripherals through Nov. 19. Consoles and HardwareConsole Pre-ordersXbox One X 1 TB Fallout 76 bundle pre-order at Amazon, Best Buy and GameStop for $499.99 (to be released Nov. 14). Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee Switch bundle pre-orders at Amazon and GameStop for $399.99 (to

Because I just watched Outlaw King on Netflix and all it did was remind me of how much Game of Thrones rules. Outlaw King is fascinating because it isn’t a sequel to ’90s Best Picture winner or even a proper side-quel, however you define that ridiculous term. Still, Outlaw King exists entirely within the time between when Mel Gibson shouts “Freeeeeeedom!” and the few minutes before Braveheart’s final fade to black. There are so many battles in Outlaw King, and so much blood. !” Naturally, the on

PreparationsThe first thing you’ll need to complete this Challenge is the right horse — your starter horses just aren’t going to cut it. You can buy a Potent Horse Stimulant for a few dollars at a Stable. It’s a little pricey, but you don’t need a ton of them — we only used three on our trip. Plan your trip with our mapRiding from Strawberry to Saint Denis without touching water means you can’t ford any rivers. Use a Horse Stimulant before you get started.

One of Call of Duty’s most popular maps, Nuketown, is returning to the series for the fourth time early next week — at least, on PlayStation 4. The announcement of the map’s release date came by way of a tweet from the official Call of Duty account. The tweet includes a static-y green-tinged video along with some text that roughly translates to “Welcome Back” in Russian, and lets us know that the map will be out on Nov. 13 for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 players on PS4. Coming to PS4 on November 1

If you played Destiny, you may be familiar with Xur, the weekly Exotic item merchant. OPHIDIA SPATHEThe Ophidia Spathe chest piece’s exotic perk is Scissor Fingers, which lets hunters throw two knives per charge. This week’s roll: Mobility with low resilience and low recovery, with a choice between resilience and recovery. This week’s roll: Medium resilience and medium mobility, with a choice between resilience and mobility. This week’s roll: Low mobility with medium recovery, and a choice betwe