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The International Olympics Committee walked away from its partnership with Nintendo and Sega for the long-running Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series in order to explore deals with new partners, NFTs and esports, Eurogamer understands.

As the real-life Olympics gets underway in Paris, there’s been discussion online of there being no new Mario & Sonic tie-in for this summer’s Games, for the first time in almost two decades.

Speaking with Eurogamer, a veteran behind the series has now said the decision to end the popular Mario & Sonic franchise rested with the IOC, which chose not to renew its licensing deal with Nintendo and Sega, and allowed it to lapse in 2020.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 – Fun Takes Off Trailer …

No Rest for the Wicked developer Moon Studios has released its first new content update for the early access release.
Known as The Crucible update, it brings a “whole new Crucible” (seems fitting), as well as a new fungal enemy faction known as the Gloam, a new Exalted item status, the promise of “more visceral” combat and more.
You can check out a little teaser for the update in the video below.

The Crucible

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Twitch has reinstated former President Donald Trump’s account, following a permanent ban in 2021 following the storming of the US Capitol building.

It’s unclear if this was specifically requested by the Trump campaign team. Eurogamer was provided the following statement from a Twitch spokesperson:

“We reinstated former President Trump’s Twitch channel,” it reads. “We believe there is value in hearing from Presidential nominees directly, when possible. Trump is now the official Republican nominee for US president.”

Newscast: Does the loss of day one launches make Xbox Game Pass pointless?

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Mortal Kombat developer NetherRealm Studios has been hit by layoffs according to affected members of staff, with the majority of job losses said to be from its mobile team.

News of the layoffs first surfaced after NetherRealm quality assurance analyst Tony Lazzara posted to LinkedIn, writing, “Unfortunately, yesterday NetherRealm’s mobile team was shut down. A ton of very talented people were put out of work.”

“We had live services on multiple titles such as Mortal Kombat Mobile, Injustice 2, and Mortal Kombat Onslaught,” Lazzara continued. “I was also affected.”

Newscast: Does the loss of day one launches make Xbox Game Pass pointless?

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A rating for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has popped up on ESRB, giving us a sneaky peek at what to expect when the game releases in September.
The listing confirms the game is rated “E for everyone 10+” and features “no interactive elements” like microtransactions. It also confirms that as well as playing as Zelda, we’ll also get to play as Link, too.

The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom – Announcement Trailer – Nintendo Switch

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UPDATE 10/7/24: Following yesterday’s PlayStation Plus leak, Sony has formally unveiled the games joining its Extra and Premium catalogue in July. And while everything is pretty much as expected, Sony’s announcement does round out the list a little, confirming a few more titles for Extra subscribers as well as July’s Premium games.

Alongside everything revealed in yesterday’s leak, July’s Extra offerings will include The Jack Box Party 9 for PlayStation 5 and PS4, zombie survival game Deadcraft for PS4, and Ubisoft’s entertaining open-world winter sports game Steep for PlayStation 4.

As for Premium subscribers, they get access to everything coming to PlayStation Plus’ Extra tier, plus Job Simulator for PSVR 2 and three new additions to Sony’s Classics catalog…

Transformers: Galactic Trials will feature “exciting rogue-lite combat”.
In a departure from the typical Transformer treatment – most of the dozens of Transformer games to have released over the last 20 years or so have been shooters or RPGs – this Transformer adventure will feature 10 racing circuits for Autobots and Decepticons to race against in “both vehicle and bot form”.
Check out the action in the trailer below:

TRANSFORMERS: Galactic Trials | Announce Trailer | US | ESRB

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Ubisoft’s sparkling new version of the beloved Beyond Good & Evil includes a touching tribute to Emil Morel, the veteran Ubisoft Montpellier developer who sadly died last year aged just 40.

A bouquet of flowers can now be found lying on a bench in Hillys’ centre, with an envelope marked simply by the letter ‘E’.

I’ve checked with Ubisoft to see if this addition is indeed a tribute to Morel from the game’s development team, and been told yes.

Image credit: Eurogamer / Ubisoft

Morel served at Rayman and Beyond Good & Evil studio Ubisoft Montreal from 2009, and helped craft the wonderful Rayman Legends as its lead game designer.

More recently, Morel had taken on the role of creative director for Beyond Good & Evil 2 – the long-awaited su…

Sports Interactive has delayed the launch of Football Manager 25 again – this time until 2025.

In a statement this afternoon, the developer said it had agreed with publisher Sega to postpone the game’s launch on all platforms until March next year.

Previously, the footy sim had been set to arrive on 26th November for PC, PS5 and Xbox (and on Nintendo Switch on 3rd December). Before that, it had been expected earlier this year.

“After careful consideration, Sports Interactive have made the tough decision to further delay the release of Football Manager 25,” the developer wrote in a statement released this afternoon. “Following discussions with Sega, our licensors and partners, we have agreed the best course of action is to delay the launch until March 2025. …