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Resident Evil 4 beats out Hogwarts Legacy to become Canada’s best-selling game in March 2023

Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 remake was the best-selling game in Canada in March 2023, the Entertainment Software Association of Canada and NPD Group have revealed.

Warner Bros.’ massively popular Hogwarts Legacy was February’s top seller and was bumped to the second spot in March. What makes Resident Evil 4‘s success here particularly impressive is the fact that it was released on March 24th, so it only had one week to become the month’s best-seller. Horror, in general, is also generally more niche than an open-world action-adventure game — one that’s based on Harry Potter, no less.

Rounding out the top three was MLB The Show 23, another new March title. Here’s the full top 10:

  1. Resident Evil 4 (PlayStation 4 and 5/Xbox Series X and S/PC)
  2. Hogwarts Legacy (PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X and S/PC)
  3. MLB The Show 23 (PlayStation 4 and 5/Xbox Series X and S/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch)
  4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (PS5/Xbox Series X and S/PC)
  5. FIFA 23 (PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X and S/Nintendo Switch/PC)
  6. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo Switch)
  7. The Last of Us Part I (PlayStation 5, PC)
  8. NHL 23 (PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X and S/PC)
  9. Octopath Traveler II (PS4/PS5/Nintendo Switch/PC)
  10. Elden Ring (PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X and S/PC)

Note: digital Switch game sales are not counted, while both Xbox and Switch digital sales aren’t included for MLB The Show 23. 

It’s worth noting that returning Canadian games on the top 10 list are FIFA 23 and NHL 23, which were both developed by EA Vancouver. Interestingly, though, FIFA 23 retained the fifth spot while NHL 23 — which historically plays well to hockey-obsessed Canadians — dropped from fourth to eighth. Otherwise, the list is fairly similar to last month’s.

For context, here’s the March 2023 top 10 list for the U.S.:

  1. Resident Evil 4
  2. Hogwarts Legacy
  3. MLB: The Show 23
  4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
  5. The Last of Us: Part I
  6. FIFA 23
  7. WWE 2K23 (PlayStation 4 and 5/Xbox Series X and S/Xbox One/PC)
  8. Elden Ring
  9. Madden NFL 23 (PlayStation 4 and 5/Xbox Series X and S/Xbox One/PC)
  10. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Clearly, the Canadian and U.S. lists are quite similar, especially with the top 3 being exactly the same; the only major differences are Madden and WWE appearing charting in the U.S.

Image credit: Capcom

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Xbox no longer allowing game clips to be shared directly to Twitter

Xbox users will no longer be able to share their game clips or screenshots directly to Twitter through the console or the game bar on Windows after the company announced that it had removed the feature.

There are still options to share game clips to the site, albeit more inconvenient. Clips can be downloaded through the Xbox mobile app and uploaded from there. Users can also copy their Xbox captures onto a USB drive and access them from their computer for those gaming victories that must be shared with everyone.

The change seems slightly out of left field from the company but might have something to do with Twitter’s recent actions, including the site’s decision to start charging for API access.

Twitter recently landed in hot water by beginning to remove all legacy verified checkmarks from accounts.

Microsoft also recently said it would soon remove Twitter integration from its social media management tool for advertisers, refusing to pay the site’s high API fees.

Upon hearing this, Twitter CEO Elon Musk claimed that Microsoft had illegally used his company’s data, and that a lawsuit was in order.

Whether or not this is true, or if Musk follows through with a lawsuit, the reason gamers won’t be able to share their clips to Twitter easily looks to stem from the recent tension between the two companies.

Source: @Xbox Via: Engadget

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What’s new on Xbox Game Pass on console, PC and mobile in late April 2023

Every month, Xbox brings new games to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

Typically, these come in waves, and now, Xbox has revealed what’s coming in the second half of April. Highlights include Minecraft Legends from Mojang and Vancouver’s Blackbird Interactive and BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle Special Edition.

See below for the full list:

  • Minecraft Legends (Cloud, Console, and PC) — April 18th
  • Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly (Cloud, Console, and PC) — April 20th
  • Medieval Dynasty (Xbox One) — April 20th
  • Homestead Arcana (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X/S) — April 21st
  • Cassette Beasts (PC) — April 26th
  • BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle Special Edition (Cloud, Console, and PC) — April 27th
  • The Last Case of Benedict Fox (Console and PC) — April 27th
  • Redfall (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X/S) — May 2nd

Additionally, here’s what’s leaving Game Pass on April 30th:

  • Bugsnax (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Destroy All Humans! (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Dragon Quest Builders 2 (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Tetris Effect Connected (Console and PC)
  • Unsouled (Cloud, Console, and PC)

As always, Game Pass members get an exclusive 20 percent discount on any game in the catalogue, giving you the option to buy them to continue playing.

An Xbox Game Pass subscription costs $11.99 CAD/month for either Console or PC, while a $16.99/month Game Pass Ultimate membership includes Game Pass for both Console and PC, Xbox Live Gold, EA Play and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Find out what came to Xbox Game Pass earlier in April here.

Image credit: Xbox

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Legendary Halo designer joins Netflix to create original AAA game

Joseph Staten, one of the key players behind the original Halo games, has joined Netflix to create a new IP.

The developer recently tweeted that he is now the creative director on a “brand-new AAA multiplatform game and original IP” at Netflix. While Staten had confirmed earlier this month that he had left Microsoft, we’re only now finding out where he ended up. No further details on the Netflix project were provided.

Staten is a major get for Netflix’s burgeoning games division, as he served as a writer and the director of cinematics on Bungie’s Halo games. After working on Destiny for Bungie, he left the company to join Microsoft proper as a senior creative director, writing the likes of ReCore and Crackdown 3. Microsoft would later bring him on to help 343 Industries ship the long-delayed Halo Infinite in 2020. However, Halo Infinite‘s post-launch support has been rocky, while 343 itself has lost a lot of staff, so it makes sense that Staten was looking elsewhere.

Netflix Games, meanwhile, is very much still in its infancy following a November 2021 launch. Currently, there are around 55 games on the platform, which offer several mobile titles to Netflix subscribers at no additional cost. Last month, Netflix also confirmed that there are nearly 100 games in development for the platform, with 16, in particular, being made in-house.

As part of those first-party efforts, the company has purchased a handful of studios, including Oxenfree developer Night School Entertainment, while also opening one in Helsinki, Finland. Netflix is also early in development on a cloud service that would bring its game to other platforms its service supports, such as smart TVs. It remains to be seen how Staten will factor into Netflix’s gaming ambitions.

Image credit: Xbox

Source: Joseph Staten

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Ubisoft+ launches on Xbox — here’s the full games lineup

Ubisoft’s game subscription service, Ubisoft+, is now available on Xbox consoles.

Ubisoft first announced that the service would be coming to Xbox in January 2022, so it’s been over a year before it finally happened. With Ubisoft+, subscribers gain on-demand access to a catalogue of dozens of Ubisoft titles, as well as 10 percent off in-game currencies.

To access the service, you’ll need to sign up for a Ubisoft+ Multi-Access plan, which is priced at $22.99/month. This is slightly more expensive than the $19.99/month base Ubisoft+ membership on PC, although Multi-Access does include access to the service across Xbox, PC and Amazon Luna.

At launch, Ubisoft+ on Xbox offers more than 60 games:

  • Anno 1800 (Xbox Series X|S only)
  • Assassin’s Creed Rogue Remastered
  • Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (includes Assassin’s Creed Liberation)
  • Assassin’s Creed Unity (Gold Edition)
  • Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Ultimate Edition)
  • Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, India, and Russia
  • Assassin’s Creed III Remastered
  • Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Deluxe Edition)
  • Assassin’s Creed Origins (Gold Edition)
  • Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (Gold Edition)
  • Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection
  • Battleship
  • Boggle
  • Child of Light (Ultimate Edition)
  • Family Feud
  • Far Cry Primal (Deluxe Edition)
  • Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (Classic Edition)
  • Far Cry 3 (Classic Edition)
  • Far Cry 4 (Gold Edition)
  • Far Cry 5 (Gold Edition)
  • Far Cry 6 (Gold Edition)
  • Far Cry: New Dawn
  • Fighter Within
  • For Honor
  • Ghost Recon Breakpoint (Ultimate Edition)
  • Ghost Recon Wildlands (Ultimate Edition)
  • Grow Up
  • Hungry Shark World
  • Immortals Fenyx Rising (Gold Edition)
  • Jeopardy!
  • Monopoly Plus
  • Monopoly Madness
  • Rabbids Invasion: The Interactive TV Show (Gold Edition)
  • Rabbids Party of Legends
  • Rainbow Six Extraction
  • Rainbow Six Siege (Deluxe Edition)
  • Rayman Legends
  • Riders Republic
  • Risk
  • Risk: Urban Assault
  • Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game
  • Scrabble
  • Shape Up (Gold Edition)
  • South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Gold Edition)
  • South Park: The Stick of Truth
  • Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Deluxe Edition)
  • Steep
  • The Crew (Ultimate Edition)
  • The Crew 2
  • The Division (Gold Edition)
  • The Division 2
  • Trackmania Turbo
  • Transference
  • Trials Fusion
  • Trials of the Blood Dragon
  • Trials Rising (Gold Edition)
  • Trivial Pursuit Live
  • Trivial Pursuit Live 2
  • UNO (Ultimate Edition)
  • Valiant Hearts: The Great War
  • Watch Dogs (Complete Edition)
  • Watch Dogs 2 (Gold Edition)
  • Watch Dogs: Legion (Deluxe Edition)
  • Wheel of Fortune
  • Zombi

Ubisoft says more games will be added over time. As The Verge points out, however, this is currently well below the 100-plus titles offered on Ubisoft+ for PC. It’s also worth noting that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which offers hundreds of games from a variety of publishers, costs $16.99/month.

Overall, it’s been a quiet period for Ubisoft, with the publisher delaying its big pirate ship game, Skull and Bones, for the sixth time earlier this year while cancelling three other titles. At the time, Ubisoft also revealed that its relatively softer 2022 lineup, which consisted of the likes of Just Dance 2023 and Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, had failed to meet expectations. The company has also been toiling away at a variety of live service games, including crossover shooter XDefiant and multiple Assassin’s Creed titles.

That said, the publisher is set to hold a big E3-style ‘Forward’ showcase on June 12th where it’s likely to show more from several games, including 2023 titles like Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Assassin’s Creed Mirage.

Image credit: Ubisoft

Source: Ubisoft

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Toronto-made action-RPG Ravenlok coming to Xbox Game Pass and PC on May 4

Toronto-based indie game developer Cococucumber has announced that its upcoming action-RPG Ravenlok will release on Xbox consoles (including Xbox Game Pass) and PC on May 4th.

In the game, you play as the eponymous teenager as she’s transported into a magical world and tasked with stopping the evil Caterpillar Queen. Along the way, you’ll meet strange creatures, complete quests and fight monsters in real-time combat.

Ravenlok was first revealed during last summer’s Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase. It’s the final game in Cococucumber’s “Voxel Trilogy” of standalone games with a unique pixel-based art style, following 2017’s Riverbond and 2021’s Echo Generation. The latter title took home several honours at last year’s The Game Awards, including Best Indie Game.

Pre-orders for the game will open on April 20th on Xbox and the Epic Games Store. Cococucumber will also offer an exclusive Raven Wings helmet as a pre-order bonus until launch day.

For more on Ravenlok, check out our interview with game director Vanessa Chia.

Image credit: Cococucumber

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Xbox Design Lab adds new colour options for Elite Series 2 Controller

Xbox has introduced new colour options for the Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller in its Xbox Design Lab custom controller program.

Now, the service offers:

  • 16 main colours for the top and back case
  • 12 colours for the A/B/X/Y buttons
  • 17 accent colours for the paddles and D-pad
  • 25 accent colours for the rest of the controller

Xbox Design Lab Elite Series 2 optionsXbox Design Lab allows gamers to customize regular Xbox Wireless Controllers and, as of October 2022, the high-end, modular Elite Series 2 gamepads, which offer adjustable-tension thumbsticks, wrap-around rubberized grips, shorter hair trigger locks and more.

Pricing for the Design Lab Elite Series 2 Controllers starts at $149.

Image credit: Xbox

Source: Xbox

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Xbox unveils a new controller for Earth Day, featuring recycled parts

Xbox is celebrating Earth Day early with the announcement of a new green wireless controller made out of recycled materials and recovered plastics.

The ‘Xbox Wireless Controller — Remix Special Edition’ is a unique take on Xbox’s traditional wireless controllers. It’s comprised of a mix of “post-consumer recycled resins” and a regrind of previously molded coloured parts.

Xbox uses mechanically recycled Xbox One controller parts that have been generated into raw materials used to make up parts of new controllers. This is known as regrind, and it’s one of the main components of Xbox’s newest controller offering. This accounts for 33.3 percent of the controller to be comprised of regrind and reclaimed materials, which is 100 percent awesome.


Aesthetic-wise, Xbox has gone with earthy, olive green tones for the body and “subtle variations, swirling, markings, and texturing,” adding to the uniqueness of the controller.

The D-pad, Xbox button and front case are inspired by “lichen found in the Pacific Northwest Forest,” with the triggers, bumpers and side grips sporting a tactile landscape pattern.

The company has doubled down even further on its support of Earth Day with the included Xbox Rechargeable Battery Pack. This allows users to play without disposable batteries and grants up to 30 hours of battery life with a single four-hour charge.

The controller also comes with all of the bells and whistles that are expected with a premium Xbox controller, including a 3.5mm stereo headset jack for headsets and Bluetooth technology that allows for wireless gaming on PC and mobile devices.

The Xbox Wireless Controller — Remix Special Edition will be available for pre-order worldwide on April 18th and will retail for $84.99 U.S. dollars (Approximately $114.34 Canadian dollars.)

For more weird Xbox controller variants, check out this plaid gamepad, released for a contest by Xbox Canada.

Image credit: Xbox

Source: Xbox

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What’s new on Xbox Game Pass on console, PC and mobile in early April 2023

Every month, Xbox brings new games to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

Typically, these come in waves, and now, Xbox has revealed what’s coming in the first half of April. This includes Ghostwire: Tokyo (a once-PS5 exclusive), EA Vancouver’s NHL 23 and Minecraft Legends from Mojang and Vancouver’s Blackbird Interactive.

See below for the full list:

  • Loop Hero (Console and PC) — April 4th
  • Iron Brigade (Cloud and Console) — April 6th
  • Ghostwire: Tokyo (Cloud, Console, and PC) — April 12th
  • NHL 23 (Console) — April 13th [EA Play]
  • Minecraft Legends (Cloud, Console, and PC) — April 18th

Additionally, here’s what’s leaving Xbox Game Pass on April 15th:

  • Life is Strange: True Colors (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Moonglow Bay (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Panzer Corps II (PC)
  • Rainbow Six Extraction (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • The Long Dark (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • The Riftbreaker (Cloud, Console, and PC)

An Xbox Game Pass subscription costs $11.99 CAD/month for either Console or PC, while a $16.99/month Game Pass Ultimate membership includes Game Pass for both Console and PC, Xbox Live Gold, EA Play and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

In related news, the Entertainment Software Association of Canada revealed the top 10 best-selling games in Canada for February, and NHL 23 placed fourth. See here for the full list.

Additionally, find out what came to Game Pass in March here.

Image credit: EA

Source: Xbox

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Xbox’s expensive expansion cards are likely about to get a bit cheaper

Microsoft is seemingly working with new manufacturers on additional storage expansion card options for Xbox Series X/S.

As spotted by The Verge, a since-deleted listing on Best Buy’s U.S. website showed a 1TB Western Digital expansion card priced at $179.99 USD ($242 CAD). For context, this is $40 USD ($53.85 CAD) cheaper than the $219.99 USD ($296.05 CAD) 1TB model offered by Seagate, the only company to currently produce Xbox’s current-gen expansion cards.

In Canada, the official pricing for Seagate’s 1TB card is $289.99. It’s unclear what the Canadian pricing for Western Digital’s 1TB card would be.

Since launching in November 2020, the Xbox Series X/S have only supported Seagate’s pricey expansion cards. Given that current-gen games take up increasingly large portions of console storage space, this has left Xbox consumers with few options. Outside of buying the expansion cards, your only alternatives are to delete games when possible or use Xbox Cloud Gaming to stream titles without the need for downloads.

It remains to be seen when Xbox and Western Digital will formally unveil the new expansion cards.

Image credit: Xbox

Via: The Verge