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Some gaming gems get forgotten over time, some never get the chance to be discovered in the first place. Out of all of the games that instantly impressed me when I first played them and frustratingly faded into obscurity, Split/Second surely takes the pole position. Welcome to the third installment of my ongoing column, Forgotten Gems ! Black Rock Rocked If you’ve never played Split/Second and you’re into arcade racers, know that it’s not too late. Largely forgotten -- or rather, unknown -- it may be, but it’s still easy to find and play (see bottom of this article). Split/Second was the brainchild of Black Rock Studio, a company formerly known as Pixel Planet, then Black Rock Studio, then Climax Brighton, then Climax Racing, then… Black Rock Studio again. And as you may have guessed, the studio’s story doesn’t have a happy ending. Acquired by Disney in 2006, Black Rock had established itself as a racing game specialist with the MotoGP and ATV Offroad Fury series for THQ and Sony

“Greatness from Small Beginnings.” Engraved in Latin on the ring that hangs around the neck of series protagonist Nathan Drake, these four words have come to define Naughty Dog’s immensely popular Uncharted series. It’s a rather fitting catchphrase considering the franchise itself has grown significantly since its debut in 2008. Whether it’s battling pirates in the depths of the Amazon Jungle or exploring hidden cities in the center of the Rub’ al Khali desert, Nathan Drake has had no shortage of daring adventures in the years following his PlayStation 3 debut. With so many entries in its universe, it’s easy to get lost deciphering Uncharted’s lengthy timeline. To help make sense of it, here’s a chronology of the full Uncharted game series, showing you the sequential order to play the games in. Jump to : How to play in chronological order How to play by release order How Many Uncharted Games Are There? There are 8 Uncharted Games : Five on home console, two on PlayStation Vi

Sega is reportedly close to acquiring Angry Birds developer Rovio Entertainment for about $1 billion. According to Wall Street Journal , the deal between Sega and Rovio Entertainment is expected to finish early next week, provided that discussions between the two companies don’t fall apart or prolong. Neither Sega nor Rovio has made an official announcement yet. Rovio was previously in talks to be acquired by Israeli mobile company Playtika for $800 million, but those negotiations ended last month. Sega has acquired a few companies over the past few years, including Company of Heroes developer Relic Entertainment, Two Point Campus developer Two Point Studios, and most notably Persona developer Atlus. There have been many acquisitions in the video game industry recently, including Microsoft’s deal to merge with Activision Blizzard , as well as Sony’s merger with Bungie . In particular, the mobile gaming space is growing as well. Activision Blizzard's Candy Crush franchise wou

Just before the upcoming dungeon crawler Dark and Darker was slated to launch a playtest, its team was served a cease and desist letter and a DMCA takedown in March. Now, development team Ironmace is going ahead with another playtest as originally scheduled , albeit via an interesting method. Today, Ironmace began encouraging people to participate in Dark and Darker's playtest through torrents made available in a message in the game's Discord server. The playtest will be available until April 19. "Rest assured that we are working around the clock to safeguard the continuance of Dark and Darker," the team's Discord message, which was reposted on Reddit , reads. "Unfortunately, due to the complexities of our situation, especially across international lines, it is taking time to resolve the Steam situation. In order for us to keep our promise to our fans we’ve had to go old school this time." Dark and Darker's ongoing legal problems The Dark an

In 2019 Sony introduced State of Play, a series of pre-recorded, Nintendo Direct-style broadcasts highlighting upcoming first- and third-party PlayStation games. The video series began just a few months after Sony announced it was bowing out of E3 2019 — a decision it’s held to each year since — and represents Sony’s shift to a more controlled, consistent, and cost-effective way to engage its audience. With the fourth anniversary of State of Play behind us, we’re looking back at the history of the show thus far. Below we've chronicled every State of Play (and PlayStation Showcase, which are essentially large-scale State of Plays), highlighting the biggest announcements from each event to give you a better idea of what to expect from future shows in Sony’s post-E3 world. Every 2019 State of Play March 2019 State of Play Runtime: 19:50 Iron Man VR was the biggest announcement from Sony’s first-ever State of Play, which aired on March 25, 2019. It was one of several PSVR

Destiny 2 developer Bungie has revealed a hardened policy designed to deal with cheaters who use third party peripherals that “manipulate the game” to provide an unfair player versus player advantage. “Our community has grown increasingly frustrated by a form of cheating that uses third-party peripherals with the intent to manipulate the game client,” read a post on the Bungie website spotted by GI.biz “These devices are plugged into a computer or console, where they can, for example, execute simple scripts or trick the game into giving you extra aim assist.” Bungie made a point of not naming the creators of the offending hardware, but stressed that it would hand out restrictions, warnings, and bans to individuals who use “external aids” specifically designed to “gain an advantage over other players”. These aids include “programmable controllers, keyboard and mouse adapters, advanced macros, or automation via artificial intelligence” that improve a players ability to control th

A good strategy game is ultimately one about choice. Which units to create, where to allocate resources, which strategies to implement. The right decisions lead to victory, while the wrong ones force you to adapt and adjust or else suffer bitter defeat. I found myself at the crossroads of these decisions time and again as I played Minecraft Legends, Mojang and Blackbird Interactive's simplified take on an action-RTS. It doesn’t always do a perfect job opening the door of this often intimidating genre to a wider audience, but the way it largely manages to streamline things without losing most of those important tactical moments is what makes Minecraft Legends work. Simplicity is one of Minecraft Legends greatest strengths. Evil Piglins from the Nether are invading, because that's what evil Piglins do, and it’s your job to build up the forces needed to drive them back. You’ll do that by exploring a procedurally generated continent for resources, allies, and secrets to discover

As if the final trailer dropping today wasn't enough, a new The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom TV spot seems to have leaked on Reddit, and it includes new footage of a boss and an area we haven't seen before. Spoiler warning: If you're trying to avoid seeing anymore information about Tears of the Kingdom before it comes out, stop here! The leaked commercial, which was posted on Reddit a few hours ago, intersperses people playing Tears of the Kingdom in various settings and reacting to it, with gameplay footage. There are several new clips we haven't seen yet, including link walking across some thin, broken beams from sky island to sky island, and using "ascend" to sneak up on some enemies. But the real gold comes later in the trailer. After seeing a three-headed dragon that looks suspiciously like a Zelda 1 boss make an appearance earlier today in the official trailer , we get confirmation that this is, in fact, Gleeok. A Flame Gleeok, to be prec

With a new The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailer today, there's plenty to dissect and speculate about. Alongside the new mechanics, we've now also seen a handful of familiar characters and locations that can help us make comparisons to Breath of the Wild in terms of when it takes place, and what state Hyrule is in. And it looks like, based on the latest trailer, that Tears of the Kingdom is happening at least a few years after Breath of the Wild. Warning: Plot spoilers for Breath of the Wild follow below the trailer! It's already been clear from past gameplay showcases and trailers that Tears of the Kingdom features a changed Hyrule. Sky islands appear to have been ripped from the ground, giant chasms are opening up, and other landscape changes have occurred since we last played. But it's been hard to tell thus far exactly how much of that is geography/weird Ganon magic, and how much of the changes we've seen are just normal passage of time. But the

Nintendo finally shared the trailer Zelda fans have been waiting for: An extended look at Tears of the Kingdom that rivals Breath of the Wild's legendary release date trailer . This was our final glimpse of the highly-anticipated sequel before its launch next month, and Nintendo didn't hold back. From the confirmation of Ganondorf's return to some exciting lore implications for longtime Zelda fans to hints at new gameplay mechanics, there are a ton of secrets hidden in the four-minute trailer. Here are 20 things we noticed from the best Tears of the Kingdom trailer so far. Guess Who's Back, Back Again: The Demon King Ganondorf Ganondorf is officially returning in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. If you've been following the other trailers, it's seemed clear that Link's longtime nemesis would take center stage in the Breath of the Wild sequel, but we now have confirmation. The trailer included an awesome new rendition of Ganondorf's theme