• The Game Awards is announcing its nominees next week
• Folks can tune in live on November 18 to learn about the nominations
• The nominations will be announced at the Peacock Theater by Keighley

Geoff Keighley, presenter of The Game Awards, has confirmed the show's nominees will be revealed early next week.

In a post on X / Twitter from the official The Game Awards account, Keighley confirms that the nominees will be revealed on Monday, November 18. The 2024 Nomination Special event will be streamed live at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 5pm GMT over at The Game Awards' official website.

Like the show itself which is happening on December 12, the nominees will be announced live at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California. The show it also celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, so it's expected to be more of a special event than usual, though it remains to be seen if there are any particular surprises in store beyond the usual awards and announcements.

As for the nominations themselves, there are plenty of standout games from this year that'll likely feature in multiple categories. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Silent Hill 2 and Astro Bot are likely shoe-ins for the Game of the Year category.

The Nintendo Switch has also had a hell of a year, with releases including Mario & Luigi: Brothership, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Expect the Kyoto-based company to have a strong presence at The Game Awards this year.

Of course, the other major draw of The Game Awards is its litany of game announcements and world premieres. We won't know what to expect until it comes from Keighley himself, but it's reasonable to expect another look at upcoming games like Assassin's Creed Shadows and potentially Grand Theft Auto 6.

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• PS5 Pro sales seem to be exceeding all expectations in Japan
• Black Friday PS5 Pro deals: my favorite discounts and deals on all things PlayStation ahead of the big sales period
• Phil Spencer confirms Xbox handheld prototypes are now being worked on, but a console is years away

• PS5 Pro has registered strong week one sales in Japan
• The mid-gen upgrade console has shifted 78,000 units in its first week
• This follows surprisingly strong pre-order performance for the console

The PS5 Pro has gotten off to a strong start in Japan - its first week on sale going better than most probably would have expected.

That's according to renowned Japanese outlet Famitsu's weekly sales report (via Gematsu) which shows the PS5 Pro topping the hardware sales charts in the region with 78,086 units sold. The Nintendo Switch OLED comes in at a distant second this week with 42,297 consoles shifted.

Despite being priced significantly higher than the base PS5 console at $699.99 / £699.99, there still seems to be plenty of appetite for the mid-gen upgrade in Japan. This follows what was, according to Sony, a strong pre-order performance for the PS5 Pro, which Sony Group President Hiroki Totoki described as "slightly stronger" than the PS4 Pro. Furthermore, Totoki said at the time that the PS5 Pro's high price tag was not “adversely affecting the product's sales plan."

While an expensive, arguably enthusiast purchase, the appeal of the PS5 Pro is clear. The mission statement is to offer the best of both worlds in terms of fidelity and performance. As a result, PS5 Pro enhanced games can offer things like 4K resolution at a smooth 60 frames per second. Several games, including Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and Stellar Blade have all been updated with Pro-exclusive performance modes, too.

The jury is still out on the console's long-term success. We're certainly not expecting to see any discounts for the Pro over the upcoming Black Friday PS5 Pro deals period, but we'd definitely welcome some tempting bundles. Potentially ones that include the disc drive and vertical stand which are otherwise (and frustratingly) sold separately.

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• Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster now has PS5 Pro enhancements including ray tracing
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard's hair technology features 50,000 individual strands per character
• Phil Spencer confirms Xbox handheld prototypes are now being worked on, but a console is years away

• Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster now has PS5 Pro support
• The update adds a new ray tracing feature and a new Casual Mode
• Capcom's zombie game is the latest game to receive a PS5 Pro update

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is the latest game to receive PlayStation 5 Pro support.

Capcom made the announcement on X / Twitter, where it shared comparison images between the PS5 and PS5 Pro versions of the game, before and after the update.

With the latest update, PS5 Pro owners will be able to experience the new toggleable ray tracing feature, which can be found in the settings, offering "more realistic reflections on glass and water surfaces", while also "giving a more immersive experience in journey[ing] through Willamette Parkview Mall".

Not only that, the update also adds a brand new Casual Mode for all users across all platforms, a difficulty "recommended for players who have problems with action games."

Frank also levels up much faster in this mode but it doesn't impact players' Challenges, Trophies, or Achievements.

Plenty of PS5 games have received the PS5 Pro treatment now that the mid-generation has officially launched.

Most recently, a new patch for No Man's Sky added new PS5 Pro enhancements, including PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), allowing the game to run at 4K resolution at 60 fps, as well as a host of other features.

Among other PS5 Pro-enhanced games, Arrowhead Game Studios has confirmed Helldivers 2 will also receive PS5 Pro support in the future but has yet to share the details.

Alan Wake 2 also just received Quality and Performance mode upgrades with its Pro patch.

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• Dragon Age: The Veilguard's hair technology features 50,000 individual strands per character

• EA has shared how BioWare and Frostbite created Dragon Age: The Veilguard's hair strand technology
• The hair technology features 50,000 individual strands per character
• Stand hair technology is present in other EA games, but BioWare had to push the limits further for The Veilguard

EA has revealed how Dragon Age: The Veilguard's hair strand technology was brought to life.

In a new blog post, the development team at BioWare and the Frostbite Engine provided a deep dive into the technology that was able to give the characters of The Veilguard the best hair the series has ever seen.

In total, 50,000 individual strands make up one hairstyle per character for over 100 hairstyles in the game, allowing for natural motion and adaptability to various character movements and environments.

"Harnessing the power of the Frostbite engine, Strand Hair technology transforms your character's locks into a living tapestry of thousands of individual strands," EA said. "Strand Hair technology combines physics with real-time rendering to simulate believable modeling of human hair."

Frostbite spent years advancing its hair-rendering tech and has been featured in previous EA titles like EA Sports FC and Madden NFL, however, for The Veilguard, BioWare was required to push the limits even further.

"With hair attachments that move seamlessly, and the decoupling of simulation and render tessellation, this is the first EA game to offer such detailed physics-driven long hairstyles," EA explained. "The Frostbite team increased maximum hair length from 63 points to 255, and implemented a new system for complex hair structures like braids."

A character's build and physical traits also played a role in how the hair tech was implemented, as well as all sorts of different lighting that was considered. Frostbite and BioWare also worked together to make sure hair was accurately responsive to shadows and environmental lighting.

"The collaboration between Frostbite and the BioWare engineering team was key to supporting complex hairstyles. Advancing the technology for intricate styles and optimizing performance ensured that specific moments, like when hair covers a large percentage of the screen in certain cinematics, run smoothly," said BioWare's studio technical director, Maciej Kurowski.

The post goes into greater detail on how Frostbite and BioWare were able to counter some of the difficulties that came with creating realistic hair when dealing with other semi-transparent objects.

BioWare developed a new technique for blending hair with transparent visual and environmental effects, like volumetric fog and other participating media.

"We first render the opaque part of strand hair, and then we render transparent objects," said BioWare's senior rendering engineer James Power noted. "The shaders for the transparent objects use the transparent hair depth texture to determine whether the shading pixel is 'under' or 'on top' of the strand hair. If it's below, it renders the hair and marks a stencil bit (think of it as a masking texture)."

It's a complicated process and the post even goes into how each Strand Hair asset, each with high strand counts and tessellation settings, has a "high memory footprint" which is why the game offers players the option to turn the feature off for better performance.

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• Phil Spencer confirms Xbox handheld prototypes are now being worked on, but a console is years away
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• Microsoft's gaming CEO says it is working on handheld prototypes
• Spencer says an actual handheld console is years away from release
• A handheld device has been rumored to be in the works for some time

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has revealed that Microsoft is currently working on handheld prototypes.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Spencer said that the “expectation is that we would do something” in the handheld device category and that Microsoft is now working on prototypes while still considering what it might do.

The Microsoft Gaming CEO said he has asked his team to look at the current market to develop its vision of a handheld based on what it learns.

Spencer also set expectations and confirmed an actual console is at least a few years away.

During Summer Game Fest 2024, Spencer was asked to comment on rumors of an Xbox handheld amid Microsoft's business strategy to follow users where they are playing.

Although the Xbox boss couldn't verify a device was in development at the time, he did say, "So we should have a handheld? I think we should have a handheld too", but couldn't say anything further.

In the same Bloomberg interview, Spencer also discussed Microsoft's ongoing multiplatform push, which kicked off earlier this year, and confirmed that there are no "red lines" regarding the release of more Xbox games on PlayStation.

"I think the ball is moving in the right direction. I think this idea of open platforms, where users have more choice, creators have more choice, you see the momentum, right?"

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• Xbox boss Phil Spencer says he is pleased with Microsoft's multiplatform push
• Spencer says there are no "red lines" when it comes to releasing more Xbox games on other platforms
• Spencer thinks "the ball is moving in the right direction"

Microsoft's gaming head Phil Spencer has said that there are no "red lines" regarding the release of more Xbox games on PlayStation.

The company's multiplatform push kicked off earlier this year, which saw the likes of Hi-Fi Rush, Grounded, Pentiment, and Sea of Thieves make their way to PS5 and Nintendo Switch. Now, Spencer has revealed that he isn't against seeing more Xbox games released on other platforms, but has held back on confirming which titles.

Speaking in a recent interview with Bloomberg, Spencer said: "I think the ball is moving in the right direction. I think this idea of open platforms, where users have more choice, creators have more choice, you see the momentum, right?"

The Xbox boss continued, saying that he is pleased with the beginning of the multiplatform plan, and, according to Bloomberg, confirmed Microsoft wants to "do more of that" and that it won't rule out any titles in its major franchises.

"I do not see sort of red lines in our portfolio that say ‘thou must not,'" Spencer said, but added that it's too early to decide on the next version of Halo.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was originally thought to be an Xbox-exclusive title until it received a confirmed PS5 release date this summer.

Bethesda's next major action game will launch on December 9 for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC as a timed exclusive instead, before it arrives on PS5 in Spring 2025.

After the announcement, Spencer explained the surprise PS5 release, calling it a business move for the company.

"Obviously, last spring we launched four games, two of them on the Switch, four of them on PlayStation, and we said we were gonna learn," Spencer said. "We said we'd watch. I think at [the] Showcase, I might have said, from our learning, we're gonna do more.

"What I see, when I look, our franchises are getting stronger. Our Xbox console players are as high this year as they’ve ever been. So I look at it and I say, okay, our player numbers are going up for the console platform. Our franchises are as strong as they’ve ever been."

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• Sony announced a chunky $70 discount for the PS5 Slim
• However, the trailer for the deal has now been delisted
• It seems likely that the deal will resurface closer to Black Friday

It looks like the PS5 Slim is getting a slight discount over the Black Friday sales period... or is it?

As spotted by IGN, Sony released a short trailer announcing that the PS5 Slim Digital Edition is to be reduced to $379.99 - a pretty sizeable $70 off its $449.99 retail price in the US. However, trying to watch the trailer at this point won't do you any good as Sony very quickly delisted it after it went live yesterday (November 12).

While there was no start date attached to the deal, it was due to run all the way up until December 24 - so plenty of time to nab one in time for Christmas. The deal would've been quite a boon for those planning on buying a PS5 disc drive, which retails for $79.99. That would bring the total price up to $459.98 - about $40 cheaper than the PS5 Slim console with the disc drive included.

The most likely reason for the trailer being delisted is that it was simply posted too early. Black Friday PS5 deals commence on November 29, so we could see PlayStation's official channels repost the deal trailer a little closer to the time.

Curiously, there's no word on whether or not the standard PS5 Slim with the disc drive included will receive a Black Friday discount, though this could also be up to individual retailers' discretion. We also don't know if the deal will be reflected in other parts of the world such as the UK and Australia.

All we can say at this point, really, is watch this space. We'd be surprised if Sony decided to cancel the deal entirely, as there will no doubt be plenty of buyers eager to grab the console at a discount in time for the Holidays.

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• Metal Gear series producer Noriaki Okamura has revealed new insight into the making of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
• One reason why it decided to make the game is due to the younger generation being unfamiliar with the series
• Konami says it wants to preserve the series for future generations

Konami has revealed that Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater was made for the younger generation who might be unfamiliar with the series.

Speaking in the latest Play issue (via GamesRadar), Metal Gear series producer Noriaki Okamura explained that the studio noticed that some new and younger gamers were unacquainted with the iconic series, which originally sparked the idea to remake Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

"One of the things that really sparked us to do the remake in general is because we realized that a lot of the newer, younger generation of gamers aren’t familiar with the Metal Gear series anymore”, Okamura said.

The original game was released 20 years ago in 2004, but Okamura said that although the upcoming remake is as much for the old-time fans as new ones, Konami also wants to preserve the series for future generations.

"It was basically our mission, our duty, to kind of continue making sure that the series lives on for future generations," Okamura continued. "After all, we leave behind much more than just DNA, as Solid Snake would say - but again, who is Solid Snake?"

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater doesn't have a release date just yet, but we know it will be launching in 2025 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Konami has also confirmed that all original voices from the 2004 Metal Gear Solid 3 will be used in the remake.

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• Spyro Reignited Trilogy gets an Xbox Game Pass release today
• Stellar Blade will receive its long-awaited Nier: Automata DLC next week
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• Spyro Reignited Trilogy is coming to Xbox Game Pass today
• Xbox initially confirmed the news in a cryptic social media post
• This follows months of rumors that the game would get a release on the subscription service

After months of rumors, Spyro Reignited Trilogy has finally been confirmed for Xbox Game Pass.

Microsoft announced the news in a new blog post, sharing that the 2018 trilogy will be coming to the subscription service today November 12 for all tiers including Game Pass Standard, Game Pass Ultimate, and PC Game Pass, for cloud, console, and PC.

"Xbox players have been able to explore the Dragon Realms with Spyro since 2018 with the release of the Reignited Trilogy, and now we’re excited to invite our community to jump into these incredible adventures once again and relive the fun and nostalgia that only Spyro can bring," Microsoft said.

Before the news broke, the X / Twitter accounts for Xbox Game Pass and Spyro hinted at a release in a series of cryptic tweets suggesting an official announcement was on the way.

This followed months of rumors that more Activision games were to be added to Xbox Game Pass. In July, a leaker accurately predicted the release of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2 on the service, while also suggesting that Spyro Reignited Trilogy was "coming very soon".

The Reignited Trilogy features all three original games built from the ground up for current-gen consoles and PC, including Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage, and Spyro: Year of the Dragon.

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• Stellar Blade's next update finally has a release date
• The game will receive its long-awaited photo-mode feature
• New Nier: Automata downloadable content will be added

Stellar Blade will finally receive a photo mode feature next week, alongside Nier: Automata downloadable content (DLC).

In a new PlayStation Blog post, developer Shift Up confirmed that the next major update will arrive on November 20 and introduce a host of new features, including the highly-anticipated collaboration with Nier: Automata, a game that "significantly inspired Stellar Blade".

According to Shift Up, the collaboration between Stellar Blade's director Kim Hyung Tae, and Nier: Automata's director Yoko Taro "marked by mutual respect and creativity, led to this successful outcome."

With the DLC, players can discover a collection of Nier-inspired costumes for Eve and her friends, including those designed after 2B, A2, Kainé, and Emil.

"Emil’s Shop makes a surprise appearance in the world of Stellar Blade where eleven different collaboration-special items will be available," the post reads. "Items that intertwine the best of both games, leading you to a more enriched world."

Alongside the Nier DLC, the PS5 exclusive will also finally get a photo mode, which will allow players to pose Eve and her companions, and dress them up in different outfits featured in the game.

The update will also add four new costumes and one new accessory called 'Symbol of Legacy', a "No Ponytail" option in the settings, as well as the ability to now select a specific song from camp turntables.

Lip-sync support for six additional languages - French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, and Latin American Spanish - will also be added.

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• Sony is discontinuing its PlayStation Camera adapter for PS5
• The accessory is offered for free on the official PlayStation website
• Players will have until November 26, 2024 to claim one

Sony is set to discontinue distribution of its free PlayStation VR camera adapter for PS5 in just two weeks' time.

The adapter is required for PlayStation Camera compatibility on PS5, thus allowing owners of the original PlayStation VR headset to use it and play its games on Sony's current-generation console.

As per the accessory's official support page, you'll have until November 26, 2024 "or until supplies last" before Sony discontinues it for good. If you still need to claim one before then, you can do so by signing into your PlayStation account on the website and filling out a brief form. Sony will then ship the camera adapter to you at no cost.

On the face of it, it does seem like pretty terrible news. Outside of any potential firmware updates in the future, the PSVR 2 headset is not backwards compatible with original PlayStation VR games.

After November 26, you'll need to rely on third-party adapters or keep a PS4 on hand if you'd ever like to play titles like Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown or Wipeout Omega Collection in VR. And sadly, no; bizarrely, the PS5 HD Camera also isn't compatible with the original PlayStation VR.

At the same time, it's understandable why Sony would move to discontinue the adapter eventually. In all likelihood, it probably hasn't been in active production for some time, and the amount of folks who use the original PlayStation VR headset on PS5 likely isn't astronomical.

Hopefully, then, Sony can help offset the loss of the adapter with some strong updates to PSVR 2. Backwards compatibility is a must at this point, and with Sony recently enabling PC support for PSVR 2, having the option to play original PlayStation VR titles on it doesn't seem like too much of a stretch to offer.

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• Sony plans to release 'major' single-player games every year with Ghost of Yōtei and Death Stranding 2 coming in 2025

• Sony seems to be redoubling efforts on single-player game output
• The company claims it will release "major" single-player games every year
• Ghost of Yōtei and Death Stranding 2 are coming in 2025

Sony has pledged to continue its single-player game output on PS5 and - seemingly - future PlayStation hardware.

As reported by IGN, Sony finance and IR head Sadahiko Hayakawa expressed the desire to keep up single-player game release on PlayStation consoles during an investor call.

According to Hayakawa, Sony plans to “continue releasing major single-player game titles every year from next fiscal year onwards.” To back this up, Hayakawa highlighted Sucker Punch's Ghost of Yōtei and Kojima Productions' Death Stranding 2: On the Beach - both of which are slated to launch in 2025 exclusively for PS5. We also can't neglect to mention Astro Bot, which launched this year to near-universal acclaim.

As for what we can expect in 2026 and beyond, well that's a little up in the air. We know that Insomniac Games is hard at work on its Wolverine title, and beyond that, PlayStation Studios has no shortage of development houses including Guerrilla, Naughty Dog, Bluepoint Games, Bend Studio, Housemarque, and Bungie to name but a few.

It is a bit of a relief to hear that Sony plans to keep up with single-player games releases especially after its form on live-service titles. While Helldivers 2 continues to enjoy a healthy playerbase, the same cannot be said of the canceled The Last of Us multiplayer game or Concord - which abruptly shut down two weeks after it launched. That said, Bungie's Marathon and the Horizon multiplayer title are also still in development, so expect even more stabs at the live service model in the future.

It's also very likely that future first-party PS5 games will receive PS5 Pro enhancement features such as better framerates at higher resolutions and support for PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) which dynamically adjusts image quality as you play for the smoothest possible experience.

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