Xbox has revealed its latest special edition controller, the space-themed ‘Stellar Shift.’
The gamepad sports a distinct blue-purple aesthetic and unique swirl grips on the rear.
It also comes with an exclusive dynamic background for your Xbox:
Otherwise, it’s the same as the standard Xbox Wireless Controller in terms of form factor and layout. Like those other gamepads, it’s also compatible with Xbox consoles, PC and mobile devices.
Nintendo has announced that its next Direct presentation will take place on Wednesday, February 8th at 2pm PT/5pm ET.
On social media, the company confirmed that the showcase will run for about 40 minutes and “mostly” focus on Switch games coming in the first half of 2023. As is normally the case, specific games were not teased.
Tune in at 2 p.m. PST tomorrow, Feb. 8, for a #NintendoDirect livestream featuring roughly 40 minutes of information mostly focused on #NintendoSwitch games launching in the first half of 2023.
Xbox has launched a new world in Minecraft Education called Privacy Prodigy, a learning experience that intends to teach youth aged 7-18 about the importance of personal information.
Now available as part of Safer Internet Day, Privacy Prodigy will teach players about how to keep their data safe in the real world while in public, as well as where to store it. Xbox says each of the world’s challenges has been designed to help students and parents better understand who should have access to their personal data. They’ll also learn about how to protect their data and some steps to take should it become compromised.
Privacy Prodigy can be accessed for free in the Minecraft Marketplace in the Bedrock version of Minecraft.
Amazon Canada is offering 15 percent off the Xbox Elite Controller Series 2.
Now, you can snag the premium black gamepad for $194.99 CAD, down from the usual $229.99. You can order the controller from Amazon here.
The Elite Controller Series 2 is a modular gamepad that lets you add and swap out thumbsticks and paddles. It’s worth noting that MobileSyrup editor-in-chief Patrick O’Rourke has had some issues with the otherwise well-received Series 2, so your mileage may vary.
You can create a custom Elite Controller Series 2 through Xbox’s Design Lab program, although that isn’t on sale. Amazon also carries a white Series 2 gamepad without some of the extra add-on components for the regular price of $154.85.
Pedro Pascal recently made his highly-anticipated Saturday Night Live debut, and he didn’t disappoint.
After a wholesome opening monologue thanking his family in Chile, Pascal took part in a humourous skit inspired by his hit new HBO show, The Last of Us. The idea behind it was that HBO saw the success of the PlayStation video game adaptation and wanted to give the same treatment to Mario. And when we say “same,” we mean it — a dark, grounded take on the beloved Nintendo platformer series.
That’s where Pascal comes in, wearing the iconic plumber’s signature red-and-blue outfit but keeping the rugged weariness of his The Last of Us character, Joel. Like Joel, Pascal’s Mario has to escort a young girl (in this case, Princess Peach) on a dangerous journey across a ravaged world. Naturally, he uses a (Mario) kart to do so.
On a base level, it’s certainly amusing to see Nintendo’s family-friendly series reimagined in such a gritty way. But beyond that, it’s just fun to see the ever-charming Pascal ham it up as the mustachioed hero. SNL also gave us a video of Pascal dancing with the deadly Clicker creature from The Last of Us, which was incredible in and of itself.
In the remake, character models have been significantly improved over the original game.
Naughty Dog is delaying The Last of UsPart 1 (TLOU) for PC’s release until March 28th. This is only a slight pushback from its initial March 3rd release date.
The developer says that it needs an additional few weeks to make this version of TLOU live up to the developer’s standards.
The Last of Us Part I PC will now be released on March 28. An update from our team: pic.twitter.com/lvApDT71Xj
The Last of Us TV show is now streaming on Crave in Canada. While the critically acclaimed TV show follows portions of the video game closely (at least so far), certain aspects have been adapted for television, providing more background to specific characters.
A new Nintendo Direct could stream this coming week.
Gian Bomb‘s Jeff Grubb, an often reliable source of video game leaks, recently said that “everything I’m hearing, and it’s all just sort of reiterating it, it continues to be the week of February 6th,” during his Game Mess Twitch show.
Given Nintendo has held Direct showcases in February in the past, it makes sense that the Japanese gaming giant would stream one again this year. On his show, Grubb mentions that Advance Wars 1+2 could be shown off. The game was originally scheduled to launch last year, but was pushed back to an unknown date due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
However, Grubb says the star of this Direct will be the Switch’s most anticipated title, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom given its May release date is slowly drawing closer. If a new Direct is coming, it likely won’t be long before Nintendo reveals its official broadcast date.
In other Game Mess-sourced news, Grubb also discussed Vancouver’s The Coalition cancelling two games and shifting its focus to Gears 6.
Now, Grubb says that The Coalition is “fully” focused on Gears 6. Interestingly, Grubb says it still “feels like it’s very far away,” predicting that it will likely come “in the next three years.” The last mainline Gears game was 2019’s Gears 5.
However, The Coalition has since worked on a variety of projects beyond what Grubb says was cancelled. On top of releasing Gears 5‘s well-received Hivebusters DLC at the end of 2020, the Canadian developer assisted on development with 2020’s Gears Tacticsand 2021’s Halo Infinite. The Coalition also worked with Epic Games on the now-delisted photorealistic Unreal Engine 5 Matrix Awakens tech demo featuring Canada’s own Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss. Beyond Gears 6, we also know that The Coalition is working with Netflix on a live-action Gears of War movie and animated series.
Therefore, The Coalition is clearly busy, so it remains to be seen when we might actually get a reveal of Gears 6. Xbox recently confirmed that it will hold its traditional major summer showcase in June, so perhaps we’ll get an update there.
Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday to promote his acclaimed January 29th episode of the HBO series, “Long, Long Time,” Offerman revealed that he has a history with games. When Kimmel asked if Offerman had played The Last of Us, the Parks and Recreation star said that an addiction to Nintendo 64 classic platformer Banjo-Kazooie actually made him quit games entirely:
“Twenty-five years ago, I played my last video game and I’m very indulgent. I lost a couple of weeks to a video game called Banjo-Kazooie. Two weeks went by and I was like, ‘oh my god, the slow dopamine drip is so delicious,’ then it’s over and you’re like ‘yes, I won!’ and immediately I’m like, ‘what have I done with my life?’ So I decided I was never going to do that again. And so thankfully, because games have gotten so good, like The Last of Us, that I think I’d be in a basement and I wouldn’t even be going to audition for shows like this.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Kimmel showed amusing clips of people reacting emotionally to “Long, Long Time.” Both Offerman and co-star Murray Bartlett have garnered significant praise for their respective roles of Bill and Frank, two partners surviving together over the years during the post-apocalypse. In fact, many of those who have seen all nine episodes of the series have said it’s the best of the bunch.
Overall, The Last of Us has already become one of HBO’s most popular shows, and its second-biggest premiere after House of the Dragon. The massive early success has led HBO to already renew the series for a second season, which will adapt The Last of Us Part II video game.
Co-created by Neil Druckmann (the original The Last of Us game) and Craig Mazin (Chernobyl), The Last of Us follows Joel (The Mandalorian‘s Pedro Pascal, a hardened man who’s hired to smuggle a young teenager, Ellie (Game of Thrones’ Bella Ramsey), across a pandemic-ravaged U.S.
Discord integration is officially hitting Sony’s PlayStation 5.
Beta participants are the first to gain access to Discord, the popular cross-platform voice chat platform. With Discord now available on PlayStation 5, beta members can chat with friends across PC, mobile and even Xbox.
In a blog post, Discord announced its partnership with PlayStation is expanding. Last year, Discord and PlayStation announced connective support, linking PSN with Discord, and enabling players to show the games they are playing on the communication platform. Now, this partnership has expanded to allow PlayStation 5 players to access Discord’s chat functionality.
Those selected to participate in the Discord beta test will receive an email containing a code. This code grants access to the beta software, and once it’s redeemed, players will be able to update their PlayStation 5 console to the beta software.
Afterwards, they can navigate to the ‘Settings’ option and into the ‘User and Accounts’ and ‘Linked Services.’ Here, a new Discord option allows you to link your PSN account with Discord. Once the tab is selected, players can scan a QR code with their phone to take them to a Discord webpage and enter an eight-digit code.
At the outset, Discord’s integration on PlayStation seems very similar to the experience on Xbox consoles when it first arrived. Players can use the mobile app to select ‘Join on PlayStation’ and transfer the voice connection from their phone to their headset or even the DualSense microphone. As of now, Discord’s presence on PlayStation isn’t native. Therefore, players won’t be able to launch into a voice chat without using a phone or PC.
The company notes that access for all PlayStation 5 owners is “coming soon.”
