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[EARLY ACCESS] Yogg-Saron, The God Of Death

Yogg-Saron called himself the God of Death, but that never made much sense at the time.
But we went ahead and looked into it, knowing everything we know now. The Jailer, Bolvar, N'Zoth, Azeroth's history & more.

Turns out he truly was the God of Death, and this video explains why.

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Daily Briefing: Monday 19th April

Amazon cancel Lord of the Rings MMO

Amazon were previously co-developing the title with Athlon Games but have cancelled it following a dispute with Tencent - who acquired Athlon Games' parent Leyou Technologies in December 2020.

  • Contract negotiations for The Lord of the Rings title reportedly broke down in the wake of Tencent's acquisition of Leyou. Amazon have released a statement expressing their disappointment that they won't be able to release the game...

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Daily Briefing: Friday 16th April

Resident Evil Village is getting a new demo

As part of yesterday's Resident Evil showcase event, Capcom confirmed that Village will receive a timed demo that will restrict players to 60 minutes of gameplay, and will be available for just 24 hours. PlayStation players will also get special early access to two additional 30-minute demos, which can be preloaded from today.

  • Yesterday's showcase had a lot of things to be excited about. The series' beloved Merce...

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Daily Briefing: Thursday 15th April

Oxenfree sequel releasing this year

The sequel to the supernatural mystery gem was announced during yesterday's Nintendo Indie World Showcase. A news release confirms that the sequel, titled Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals, is set five years after the original and sees the player investigating "mysterious radio frequency signals." It's due to release on Switch and PC later this year.

  • The first Oxenfree was developer Night School Studio's debut title back in 2016,...

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April Loot!

Hey! This month, we delve into the mines! ...and not just the 9.1 PTR data mines ;)

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Daily Briefing: Wednesday 14th April

Xbox Game Pass now has Amazon Echo support

This means that Xbox users with a linked Alexa can have the digital assistant download games directly from Xbox Game Pass simply by saying "Alexa, download [game] from Xbox Game Pass." The feature also doesn't require a new skill to be immediately installed on the Echo device, so it's a little more expedient than other integrations.

  • Users can also ask Alexa for information on what's new on the service, as well as ...

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Daily Briefing: Tuesday 13th April

CD Projekt Red won't abandon Cyberpunk 2077

That comes directly from studio head Adam Kiciński who, speaking in a new interview with Reuters, confirmed that he doesn't think it possible to "shelve" the game. Instead, the studio are confident that they will be able to improve Cyberpunk 2077 to the point where they can sell it for "years to come."

  • It's encouraging to see that CDPR are still dedicated to fixing Cyberpunk 2077, which launched with so many iss...

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Daily Briefing: Monday 12th April

Nintendo put renewed focus on developing original IP

Speaking in a recent interview with Nikkei, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa has confirmed that the company will invest in more original content in the future, in addition to supporting its ongoing core franchises - something they have struggled with in the past.

  • Nintendo may have one of the most diverse franchise portfolios in gaming, but the vast majority of them were created in the 80s and 90s and...

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Daily Briefing: Friday 9th April

New Resident Evil showcase coming next week

Capcom's second Resident Evil-themed news blast of 2021 will include another trailer for Resident Evil Village ahead of its May 7th release date, as well as "a few other surprises." The open beta for Resident Evil Re:Verse, a multiplayer mode that'll be bundled with Village is also ongoing over the weekend.

  • It'll be interesting to see what exactly these surprises might be. It's possible that we could see the unve...

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[EARLY ACCESS] Dissecting Old God Whispers

This one's about re-examining all those Old God whispers with all the new Shadowlands info.
Turns out, if we're right, Denathrius is the real threat, Azshara is a bigger player than we thought, and Magni actively furthered N'Zoth's plan by helping us.
Grand, then.

Some fun work from John editing in this one, and a nice speculative look into these ever-relevant whispers - we hope you enjoy!

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Daily Briefing: Thursday 8th April

Kojima Apparently Working With Xbox For Next Game

According to VentureBeat's Jeff Grubb, Kojima Productions are in talks with Xbox to publish the next Kojima title, something Phil Spencer actually hinted at via a Homo Ludens statue on his shelf during a Microsoft event. No further details are known, although Jeff says this is part of Xbox making big moves into the Japanese market.

  • Jeff, by now, is the boy who cried wolf in games journalism - he makes so many predictions th...

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Daily Briefing: Wednesday 7th April

Resident Evil Re:Verse open beta preload begins today

Preloading for Capcom's new multiplayer beta is live now, meaning players can get themselves ready in advance. The Resident Evil Re:Verse open beta will run from April 8th to April 11th, so every second counts really, and players who downloaded the game's closed beta version in January won't need to download anything new at all.

  • Re:Verse is being billed as part of Resident Evil's ongoing 25th Anniversar...

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Daily Briefing: Tuesday 6th April

Next Xbox news event is apparently happening soon

That's according to ZDnet's Mary Jo Foley, who has claimed that the next all-digital games event will take place "in the coming weeks" alongside Microsoft's annual Build Conference, which is set to run from May 25th to May 27th.

  • While these plans are technically still speculation, another show would make sense given Microsoft's ongoing news strategy. Various higher-ups at Xbox have teased news and feature r...

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Daily Briefing: Monday 5th April

Sony Give Xbox Their First-Party Exclusive: MLB The Show

MLB The Show 21, developed by Sony's own San Diego Studio, will be available on Xbox Game Pass day 1 for Xbox One and Series S/X. Playstation owners will have to pay the full $70 for the game. This marks the first MLB game released on a non-Playstation console.

  • Sony basically handed Xbox a huge win here - they gave away an exclusive to make more immediate profit, and made their own platform look worse as a result. Th...

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Daily Briefing: Thursday 1st April

Among Us is getting new art style and bigger lobbies

It's been a big week for the Among Us. The much-anticipated Airship map is now live on all platforms as part of the biggest update to the social stealth game since it went crazy viral toward the tail end of last year. The Airship is a truly massive map that introduces a suite of new ways to be all sneaky like.

  • As for what the future holds for Among Us, developer InnerSloth stated this week that the game ...

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Daily Briefing: Friday 2nd April

PlatinumGames' April Fool's joke shooter is real and it releases this year

Arcade shooter Sol Cresta was announced last year as the fourth and seemingly final announcement of the studio's Platinum Four website and, while many people thought it was nothing more than an April Fool's joke, it is a very real game set to release on Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Steam later this year.

  • It turns out that Sol Cresta, on top of being the third in a series of games that ...

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Daily Briefing: Wednesday 31st March

CDPR 'Reconsider' Cyberpunk Multiplayer & Overall Strategy

In a call with investors, CEO Adam Kiciński said they've 'reconsidered' - rather than full standalone AAA releases, future multiplayer content for CDPR's games will be 'supportive production' for their existing titles. They're changing their approach to online so it enhances their single-player games, without losing or changing their single-player RPG DNA. On the marketing side, they've announced they will be marketing ga...

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Daily Briefing: Tuesday 30th March

Activision Blizzard name new CFO

Activision Blizzard have apparently made the decision to promote from within in order to replace the outgoing Dennis Durkin. Zerza will take over at the beginning of the next fiscal quarter (April 1st) when Durkin retires from his second stint in the CFO role - he took it back two years ago when his then-successor Spencer Neumann jumped to Netflix and kicked off a hearty lawsuit.

  • Zerza has been with the company for just ove...

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Daily Briefing: Monday 29th March

Assassin's Creed narrative director to depart Ubisoft

Longtime story lead Darby McDevitt has announced his departure from Ubisoft after more than a decade with the studio. His most recent role was as narrative director for Assassin's Creed Valhalla, but he has also penned stories for Revelations, Black Flag, Unity, and Origins. It's unclear what McDevitt's next project is, his Twitter announcement just says that he's off on "a new adventure."

  • McDevitt's lo...

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Daily Briefing: Friday 26th March

Kojima Productions are set to announce their next project "quite soon"

According to studio art director Yoji Shinkawa, who gave a video interview with AI Hub, he is "doing something, for sure" and can confirm that the team will probably be ready to unveil their next game "quite soon." Kojima Productions confirmed back in October 2020 that they were seeking "best-in-class talent" to fill 25 positions.

  • It's anyone's guess what Kojima's next game will entail,...

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Daily Briefing: Thursday 25th March

World of Warcraft Burning Crusade Classic beta test is now live

Blizzard have started sending out email invites to opt-in beta testers and will reportedly continue to do so for the duration of the test, though Blizzard have also warned against phishing attempts and participating players are encouraged to check the Battle.net app to confirm there's a Burning Crusade Classic beta license attached to their accoun...

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Daily Briefing: Wednesday 24th March

Rumoured Nintendo Switch Pro will allegedly use Nvidia's DLSS tech for 4K upscaling

That's according to a new report from Bloomberg, which claims that the new Switch is set to release later on this year and will rely on an updated Nvidia chip for improved graphics and processing. The report also outlines that the new chipset will also bring increased memory and a better CPU.

  • A previous suite of rumours suggested that the Switch Pro is targeting 4K visuals ...

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Daily Briefing: Tuesday 23rd March

Microsoft are reportedly in talks to buy Discord

That's according to a new report from Bloomberg which claims that the online chat juggernaut is in private acquisition talks with a number of potential buyers. Microsoft are apparently in the running, and the deal could be worth a massive $10bn. Discord Nitro would be a pretty sweet Game Pass perk, wouldn't it?

  • However, unnamed sources familiar with the matter say that the deal is far from a sure thing. Asid...

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Daily Briefing: Monday 22nd March


PlayStation 2 preservation group shares over 700 PS2 prototype builds

Preservation group The Hidden Palace have made more than 700 prototype PlayStation 2 titles available online for the first time. The massive 900GB+ bundle of titles (termed Project Deluge) includes unfinished or demos builds of true PlayStation 2 classics like Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, and God of War.

  • The Hidden Palace held a livestream event over the weekend where they s...

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Daily Briefing: Friday 19th March

Sony just bought the Evo Championship Series

Sony Interactive Entertainment will acquire the venerable fighting game tournament in partnership with RTS, an eSports venture that has attracted investors like the Endeavour talent agency. Sony have confirmed that Evo's founders, Tony and Tom Cannon, will remain "closely involved as key advisors." No numbers were disclosed around the deal.

  • Sony's statement went on to outline that the Cannons' continued involvem...

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Daily Briefing: Wednesday 17th March

Activision Blizzard announce eSports layoffs

According to new reports by Bloomberg and the Sports Business Journal, Activision Blizzard have axed 50 staff from their live events and eSports business areas - as the company are attempting to adapt to a more digitally-focused effort in the wake of the pandemic.

  • Activision Blizzard originally announced that 50 people had been let go from these divisions but the real number could be much higher, with sources su...

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Daily Briefing: Tuesday 16th March

Bethesda games get a big FPS boost on Xbox Series X

Microsoft's FPS Boost functionality is now being used by five of Bethesda's highest-profile titles - Dishonoured: Definitive Edition, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, and Prey. Each of these games are also available on Xbox Game Pass thanks to the completion of Microsoft's purchase of ZeniMax.

  • Microsoft announced the support earlier this week and stated that players can ...

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Daily Briefing: Monday 15th March

EA are on the warpath over employees selling FIFA Ultimate Team cards

EA have confirmed last week's report that one of their employees was selling rare FIFA Ultimate Team cards. Following the launch of their thorough investigation, EA now believe that "one or more" players' EA accounts were used "inappropriately" by someone within EA.

  • This investigation is still ongoing and EA have already confirmed that they will "take action" against whoever is responsib...

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Daily Briefing: Thursday 11th March

Daily Briefing, Thursday 11th March 2021

Hello and welcome back to another edition of the Bellular Daily Briefing - games industry news straight to your digital doorstep

Some guy at EA has reportedly been selling off rare FIFA Ultimate Team cards

In what has already been dubbed EAGate, it very much looks like an EA employee is selling rare FUT cards for a pretty hefty price. Instant messages posted to Twitter detail the supposed employee...

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Daily Briefing: Wednesday 10th March

Microsoft confirm Bethesda acquisition is complete, finally weigh in on exclusives

The announcement was made yesterday via a statement from Xbox boss Phil Spencer, who said that "it's an honour" to welcome the eight studios that make up the deal - Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios.

  • Spencer stated that Bethesda will continue to make games "the way it always ha...

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