Nine to Five, the team-based tactical shooter from Redhill Games, has kicked off an open beta on Steam. The beta, available now until Sunday, is the first public test at this scale. Nine to Five is a multiplayer shooter where three teams of three descend upon a location and attempt to each achieve an objective. Matches play out in three phases, and each subsequent phase takes into account decisions made in the previous one, and moves the fight to a different objective....

According to the filing (thanks, Axios), the staffer discussed wages and other terms and conditions of employment, and in order to discourage further discourse among employees, Nintendo fired the staffer. The person who filed the complaint also states that Nintendo interfered with, restrained, and coerced its employees from exercising their right to discuss unions by engaging in surveillance or creating the impression of surveillance of employees’ union activities. If true, Nintendo’s actions violate the National Labor Relations Act enacted in 1935....

According to a new Bloomberg report, Nintendo has advised developers working on Switch games to make them “4K-read.” This is believed to be linked to the Switch’s upcoming hardware revision, which is reportedly going to hit store shelves early next year. Not much is known about that mysterious upgrade, or whether it would replace the current base model outright. Reports, however, suggest it would feature a higher-resolution screen, and support for 4K output when docked....

We’re all Nintendo fans, but with different likes and dislikes, and the Direct definitely pleased some of us more than others. If you didn’t watch the video (why not?) it was a trim but bumper Direct, packed full of fan favourites, and the all-important end trailer of Breath of the Wild 2. Advance Wars is returning with a remake of the first two games, Wario Ware is getting a brand-new two-player game, Metroid gets its fifth original entry in the original 2D series in Metroid Dread, and Shin Megami Tensei V broke cover and looks great....

Nintendo’s hit fitness game Ring Fit Adventure might be getting new content at some point according to a recent shareholder Q&A [PDF], where the company noted the game’s strong sales. In response to a question on whether Nintendo will be making a sequel to the wildly popular Switch fitness game, Shuntaro Furukawa, representative director and president at Nintendo, said that the company has no new developments to announce, but that “we would like to take various initiatives so many people continue to play this title....

There’s a special red and blue edition of the Nintendo Switch on the way. The Japanese games giant is releasing this version of its console alongside the upcoming Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury. That’s set to launch on February 12 and Nintendo gave us another look at the release earlier today. This special edition of the Nintendo Switch comes with red Joy-Con controllers, each of which are accompanied with blue straps, as well as blue grips for the Joy-Cons....

Japanese publishing giant Nintendo killed a live-action Legend of Zelda TV show being made with Netflix. That’s according to comedian Adam Conover, who told The Serf Times podcast - as spotted by Twitter user supererogatory - who said that the series was axed after details of the show were leaked online. “I worked at CollegeHumour and we had a secret project where we were going to make a claymation version of StarFox with Nintendo,” Conover said, as reported by Eurogamer....

Despite three next-gen console launches in the PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, a number of industry analysts still believe the Nintendo Switch will be the top-selling console this year. NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella, Kantan Games’ Dr. Serkan Toto, and Ampere Analysis’ Piers Harding-Rolls all told Gamesindustry.biz that Switch will once again be the year’s best-selling console. “Despite the launch of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles, it will be the Nintendo Switch that ends up selling the most units of console hardware in 2021,” Mat Piscatella explained....

Just like the first game, each of the starting weapons are pretty balanced but have definite strengths and weaknesses. Below we’ve provided some meta commentary based on what you’re likely to encounter in your first playthrough of the game. We’re not going to go into OP meme builds you can make at level 100, but rather the characteristics of the starting weapons you can choose and how you can use them in normal play....

The story trailer for Nioh 2 gives you an idea of what to expect in the game, but Team Ninja has provided a few more details. It’s the year 1555 in wartorn Feudal Japan, one day you, Hideyoshi, lose control of the yoaki inside of you. Thankfully a traveling merchant has a Spirit Stone that can help you communicate with your inner yokai. For you see, you are a half-breed: part human and part yokai....

Mortal Shell also joined the PlayStation Plus Premium and Extra line-ups just before the end of the year, meaning you can play the indie Souls-like on virtually every major platform right now. The even better news is that you’re getting the Enhanced Edition of the game, which shines on new consoles thanks to higher-quality visuals and a smoother 60fps framerate. Mortal Shell is not only a good Game Pass get for Souls-like fans who never played it, it also serves as an entry point into the genre....

During October, there will also be in-game items for titles such as League of Legends, Fall Guys, Roblox, and much more. The larger names for October are Fallout 76, Total War: Warhammer 2, and Middle-earth: Shadow of War. But there are also some nice indie titles to grab as well. There’s Glass Masquerade: Origins, an artistic puzzle game inspired by Art Deco and stained glass artisans of the 20th century....

According to various reports, Oculus Quest 2 owners who are creating a Facebook account for the first time are experiencing problems with the verification system. As UploadVR reports, some new users are unable to acquire verification or are having the account outright suspended from the get-go. There are even some users who deactivated their Facebook account being suspended for trying to reactivate or when merging the account with their Oculus accounts, which will eventually be a requirement....

Skies of Arcadia launched all the way back in 2000 - a turn-based RPG published by Sega for the ye olde Dreamcast and later for GameCube. While a sequel for the game was being planned in 2003, it never came to fruition and plans for a new title in the series were eventually put on hold indefinitely. Now one of the original developers from studio Overworks has taken to Twitter to confirm a rumour that’s been floating around on social media....

The releases begin today, with Outriders arriving on PC Game Pass, alongside indie retro FPS Into the Pit, which arrives on PC, console and Cloud. October 21 sees the release of three games. Dragon Ball FighterZ arrives on console and Cloud Game Pass. Indie turn-based adventure Echo Generation launches into Game Pass on PC, console and Cloud. The excellent space shooter Everspace 2 also drops on PC Game Pass on the same day....

Five games have been added to Project xCloud Preview, and two are Ori and the Will of the Wisps and Batman: Arkham Knight. The other three titles added to the Preview are Mortal Kombat X, LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, and Pillars of Eternity. Project xCloud has continued to grow and evolve since the preview started in October of last year. The streaming tech features the ability to play Xbox One console games from the cloud on an Android phone or tablet....

That’s according to a Deadline report (and confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter) stating Isaac will star in the film based on the Metal Gear Solid video game series from Konami. Issac is known for starring in films such as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and others in the series as Poe Dameron. He also starred in Life Itself, The Letter Room, and will play as Duke Leto Atreides in the upcoming Dune movie....

Outriders just received a fresh update on all platforms. This is the game’s biggest so far, resolving a number of bugs and crashes, some of which date back to the game’s pre-launch demo. Although the patch doesn’t include a proper balance pass, some of the bugs fixed may affect the behaviour of certain skills. “Please do not consider this a proper balancing pass as it is simply a small number of changes for which a patch was required,” People Can Fly explained on Reddit....

A wealth of current employees from across all parts of Activision Blizzard have signed the letter that calls Activision Blizzard’s response to the sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit “abhorrent and insulting.” Initially signed by 1,000 current and former employees, the list has now grown to over 2,000, according to CNN Business. “Our company executives have claimed that actions will be taken to protect us, but in the face of legal action – and the troubling official responses that followed – we no longer trust that our leaders will place employee safety above their own interests,” the letter says, per Bloomberg....

This content will include the addition of new heroes, added features, balance updates, new maps, and changes are being made to Support Heroes. According to Blizzard, the main goal for the first beta is to test the shift to 5v5, the new maps and Push game mode, overall balance, and the build along with server stability. However, the team is also going to work on balance and will make rapid adjustments to hero power levels, and the first beta balance patch will be released in a few days....