Author: arcadeloot

The ever-growing list of dynamic backgrounds on Xbox has continued to evolve today, as we’ve been treated to (free) new options for both Monster Hunter Wilds and today’s release of Split Fiction! You can see an example of the Monster Hunter Wilds background in the picture up above, while the Split Fiction version is based on the game’s cover art – and as usual, they’re both slightly animated versions but nothing too crazy. To select one of these, all you need to do is head to the ‘Personalisation’ section of the Settings menu on your Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S console,…

When you look at PS5 sales on a worldwide scale, there’s no denying that Sony’s latest hardware family is doing very well. Over in Japan, however, the console has struggled to dethrone the Nintendo Switch, consistently selling significantly fewer units on a weekly basis. That changes this week with the recent launch of Monster Hunter Wilds. Since Capcom’s latest flagship title isn’t available on Switch, it seems fans have no other choice but to grab a PS5 (what, you think folks in Japan would buy an Xbox? Pah!), causing the console to shoot up the hardware charts. Looking at the game…

The world of emulation handhelds has given us numerous clones of the Nintendo Game Boy, but Sega systems have been curiously underrepresented. Sure, Anbernic gave us the Saturn-style ARC, but we haven’t had all that many devices that take inspiration from Nintendo’s bitter ’90s rival—until now, at least. The $99 Game Kiddy Bubble ($99 from MechDIY) is clearly inspired by the Game Gear, Sega’s answer to the wildly successful monochrome Game Boy. Released in the early ’90s and based largely on the 8-bit Master System hardware, the Game Gear offered a full-colour illuminated screen but suffered from the same shortcomings as the Atari Lynx and…

The chances of a sequel ever coming out are second to none, but Astro Bot has at least taken the time to remember the PS4 exclusive The Order: 1886 in today’s latest speedrun level. As long as you beat the clock in Hard to Bear, available today as part of a new PS5 update, you’ll find Sir Galahad, lead character of The Order: 1886, waiting at the end. He then appears in the game’s main hub area wielding his electric gun. Twitter user @SpyroRichard captured the hub animation, viewable below: This is the penultimate speedrun level of the latest batch confirmed by Team Asobi, with one more…

For the first time in a long, long time, PS5 has sold over 100k units in its native Japan. The console, powered by Monster Hunter Wilds and a temporary price drop, moved an impressive 108,978 units, with the base disc model PS5 making up most of the numbers. In terms of the splits, the PS5 sold 75,070 units, the PS5 Digital Edition sold 26,362 units, and the PS5 Pro sold 7,546 units. Capcom’s latest and greatest – which topped eight million units globally in just three days – sold 601,179 units on the PS5. It should be noted, this only represents physical sales; digital data, which…

First debuted in Japan late last month around the release of Monster Hunter Wilds, the PS5 console rental service Sony is offering has now expanded to the UK. On the PlayStation Direct website, you can now choose to lease a PS5, PS5 Pro, and a range of PS5 accessories via third-party firm Raylo. You can choose anywhere between a monthly rolling plan or commit up to a three-year lease, with the price decreasing the longer you pledge. On offer for rental is a base PS5, PS5 Pro, the PS Portal, PSVR2, and the PS5 DualSense Edge pad. The pricing looks like…

Civilization VII was released almost a month ago, a simultaneous launch on PC and PS5. We’ve seen plenty of complaints from PlayStation players, but also quite a bit of praise for Firaxis’ latest, which really is a wonderful game at its core. Perhaps the strangest thing about the affair is that the famously reluctant Sony is seemingly issuing full refunds for the game, provided you push for one. Take the following with perhaps a single tile of the salt resource, but a post over on the Civilization subreddit is gaining traction. A player claims to have asked for, and received a full refund for…

This week marks the beginning of early access for WWE 2K25 if you’ve bought any of the more expensive editions, and therefore we’re starting to see a small number of reviews go live – the majority of which have been very positive! We’re actually playing WWE 2K25 here at Pure Xbox as well, and hope to provide some ‘hands on’ impressions of it in the near future, but it’ll probably be closer to the standard launch date of March 14th. Keep an eye out! Here’s what the first reviews are saying about WWE 2K25 so far: GameRant (9/10) WWE 2K25 is the best WWE 2K game…

There’s always a risk attached to being involved in the Xbox Insider program, as you’re ultimately getting updates before they’re released to the public, but normally everything goes pretty smoothly aside from minor issues here and there. Unfortunately that’s not the case today, as members of the Alpha and Alpha Skip-Ahead rings have been finding that their Xbox consoles have been essentially reset to factory settings (or the update just hasn’t been going through at all). The program’s dedicated Reddit page has been inundated with comments from Xbox users all with the same problem, with people mentioning that they’ve basically had…

Review scores are often make or break for video game companies, and with this in mind, Metacritic has released its 15th annual publisher ranking. In the top 10 for 2024, Microsoft is ninth on this ladder with Astro Bot publisher Sony in fourth spot. Taking out first is SEGA (jumping from ninth place) with games like Metaphor: ReFantazio, and dethroning Capcom who recently released Monster Hunter Wilds. While Microsoft’s might not seem quite as impressive, its gaming division (including Xbox) has actually jumped from 15th place last time around, although Bethesda was ranked separately in eighth position last year. Here are the full rankings…