After more than seven years in development, Days Gone has finally arrived, delivering Bend Studio's take on the zombie apocalypse. It's a large-scale open world experience with a heavy focus on narrative and characters. To boil things down to their essentials, it's basically The Last of Us meets Far Cry and it works.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
Spiders: "We're going to cut straight to the chase so you're not left wondering: After a long period without clear answers, we have received confirmation that Spiders is being liquidated.
What does it mean? This means the company as a whole no longer exists. We'll cease our functions immediately. The planned DLC will release via Nacon, and then-- well, that's it.
We're sorry that it's come to this and would like to thank each and every one of you for your support over the years.
If you have any questions or run into issues with your games, please contact Nacon directly as we'll no longer be able to reply."
Today, Koei Tecmo announced its financial results for the full fiscal year 2025, related to the period between April 2025 and March 2026.
"Days Gone may have taken years to develop but it feels as if the studio has grown immensely - and it's a solid foundation on which to build its next (next-gen?) console game."
We can only hope. Better management and better experience with the engine and tools can result in a better future. We need more studios with potential, not just the few that matter to review scores.
Got my copy a day early and have played the game for just a little over two hours. Here are some spoiler free initial impressions. I'm playing on a Ps4 Pro 4k HDR set up.
The graphics are absolutely tremendous and are crystal clear. For comparison's sake, Red Dead 2's open world was a blurry mess on my pro and the HDR implementation was very sub standard. Whereas the HDR on Days Gone is tremendous.
Atmosphere. This is absolutely top notch and is my favourite thing about the game so far. The day to night cycle and the stormy wind & rain effects are superbly crafted.
Controls on foot. Buttery and silky smooth, very intuitive and easy to get to grips with. So yet again, another area, along with graphics where it trounces the awkwardly cumbersome controls of RDR2.
Controls on bike. Initially this felt a smidgeon on the light and flighty, but with upgrades and a few subtle changes, my ride is weighty and a joy to slide around on. I would have liked the bike to be a little quicker.
Gun combat. Another area where it is far better than RDR2.
Hand to hand melee combat. Surprisingly weighty and visceral after the earlier videos from last year. Another area where it betters RDR2.
Story. I'm too early into the game to give a valid opinion, but I have enjoyed what I've played so far. This is where RDR2, In my opinion may win this round.
Sound effects and music are absolutely fantastic.
Have not yet encountered the huge hordes. So far, I have loved what I have played up to this point and I'd score it a very solid 9.
Knew this game would polarize but it shouldn't. If you are tired of open world games, you probably shouldn't play it. I saw a 1.5 and I don't put much stock in reviews(if they line up with my impression, cool, that's how most things work with people) especially numbered reviews. If I did a 1.5 would mean a broken mess! I know it's easy for people to look at and go oh it's a 9 or ouch it's a 3 but games that are so big like Days Gone, HZD, AC Odyssey, Wild Hunt for me I couldn't imagine just blowing through it for a dead line. I've spent years playing some of the games I mentioned, years and the enjoyment I've gotten from those adventures is amazing.
The point is emergent games are hard to nail down because so many variables are in play. I'm not always looking for a reinvention of the wheel, I like fun and as long as it controls well, looks and runs good and the world is immersive I'm good.
Again knew it would polarize because it's a Sony exclusive and that is a high class to be in but Eurogamer's stealth in depth breakdown really reiterated my feelings towards Days Gone. I can't wait to get it installed!