Month: September 2024

A team of modders have breathed new life into cult PlayStation RPG The Legend of Dragoon, a first-party game for the original console developed by Sony Japan. The game was released in Japan in 1999 but wouldn’t reach North America until 2000 and Europe by 2001, and the combination of a mixed critical reception and a new generation of hardware saw it overshadowed.

Some players, however, have always held a candle for this most unusual and somewhat pioneering title. The Legend of Dragoon may have arrived nearer the end of the PlayStation’s life cycle, but that meant Sony Japan really knew what it was doing by this point. It produced one of the machine’s most visually impressive games, a huge singleplayer adventure, a clever turn-based battle system where characters could turn into the titular Dragoons, and realtime elements (early QTEs), all packaged-up with elaborate and fully voiced cutscenes.

Sony has kept the game available (with a few gaps), and a recent port to PlayStation 4 and 5 even added a few features like quick save, but this is one of those games where you’ll always be able to find the die-hards begging for a proper remake or even an actual sequel. N…

Microsoft’s been on a tear recently, offering anyone and everyone 10-year Call of Duty contracts like it’s going out of style. Nintendo and Nvidia have both penned deals with the US tech giant in recent months, ensuring that COD will keep appearing on those companies’ platforms for at least a decade to come should Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard go through. Microsoft has also offered the same deal to Sony and Steam in the past, but those two shot it down, the former because it won’t settle for anything less than stopping Microsoft’s acquisition, and the latter because Gabe Newell didn’t really see the point.

But it turns out that might be enough for the EU. Three sources tell Reuters that Microsoft’s deal spree will probably be enough “to address EU antitrust concerns” surrounding the Activision acquisition, clearing the way for European regulators to greenlight the deal at some point in the future. Of course, it’s still likely that Sony will do whatever it can between now and then to change that.

The spate of COD deals have been part of an attempt by Microsoft to convince regulators across the world that it can be trusted to be a responsible steward o…