Every yearWorld of Warcraftcelebrates its existence, which is coming up on its 19th anniversary. That’s right,WoWoriginally released all the way back in 2004. As part of the celebrations, the last few years have featured a buff that all players receive during the celebration. The buff grants additional reputation, often a percentage based on how many years the MMO is celebrating. So when doesWoW19th Anniversary buff start this year? You’re in luck, it’s very soon!...

Save your money! Do you have a Wii U preorder in? Are you excited about this weekend’s launch? Screw it! Cancel it all! You don’t need it anymore as the Wii gets YouTube functionality. Today (yes, just today),YouTube announcesthat the Wii has a free app up on the Wii Shop that lets you watch YouTube on your currentNintendogame system. Again, no need to buy that expensive new thing with this free application....

Can’t Cat-ch Me When I cracked intoStrayfor the first time, I didn’t think I’d have to worry about how best to zig-zag, juke, and even “drift” as a cat — but when a coveted trophy is on the line, everything’s on the table. Half an hour of failed attempts and several slow-mo guide videos later, I’ve finally gotten Can’t Cat-ch Me, a simple yet deceptively hard trophy. It’s one of the earliest trophies/achievements you’re able to (theoretically) get inStray, but I’m here to say that it might be best to save it untilafteryou’ve finished the game....

On display during both the Guerilla Collective event and the Latin American Games Showcase 2024,Bittersweet Birthdayis an action-RPG that fusesSoulslikedodging with bullet hell chaos. The story-driven adventure is aiming for a specific type of challenge, and a demo is now live ahead of a planned Q2 2025 launch. The start ofBittersweet Birthday— which has World Eater Games developing and DANGEN Entertainment publishing — finds you waking up without any memories. As you attempt to flee the dangers lurking in this mysterious location, a voice comes through the speaker system and offers a means of escape....

Diving for Atari gold Atarihas announcedthat it has entered into an agreement to purchase retro restoration developer Nightdive Studios. The chairman of Atari reportedly already owned a 13% minority stake in Nightdive, and the deal is for Atari to buy up 100% of the shares. Nightdive Studios has long been a well-regarded developer of ports of older PC titles. Some of these endeavors have resulted in full source ports, as was the case in the move ofPower Slaveto their proprietary KEX Engine....

And there are some great accents, too Today, we were re-introduced to the world ofBabylon’s Falland the work PlatinumGames has been doing on the action game. Alongside some gameplay of its co-op combat, Square Enix also confirmedBabylon’s Fallwill be coming to PS5. Players can run solo or in a team of up to four fighters, venturing through the fantasy world together to take down the evil creatures within. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRX3EqCyB1c...

Inevitable, really In yet another death spasm for Nintendo’s second-newest console, the Wii U version ofBloodstained: Ritual of the Nighthas been cancelled. Instead, developer Inti Creates is pivoting to a version for the Nintendo Switch. No other platforms have been affected. The news was revealed today as anupdate onBloodstained‘s Kickstarter page. In it, director Koji Igarashi explains that production on Wii U was canned because it was “difficult to receive the necessary support from the hardware maker....

‘Cause ghosts say “boo” Call of Duty: Ghostshas done decidedly less well than usual with critics. Gaming everyman Chris Cartercalled for astop to annualization.Call of Dutyfan Jim Sterling evengave it a 5. Still, the litmus test forCoDsuccess is always sales. Activision doesn’t slow up its shoveling of a franchise until it sees a sales dive. The future of theGhostssubseries is not yet decided. Speaking to Metro, when asked ifGhostswas a planned trilogy or just two games, Infinity Ward Producer Mark Rubin said, “Don’t know....

[Update: Misunderstanding on my part. It’s games, not Steam.] No proper announcement needed: as Valve has been hinting at withimages in the style of “Get a Mac” ads, Valve games are slated to hit the Mac. Valve’s VP of marketing, Doug Lombardi, shared confirmation of the platform hop with MacNN.com but apparently didn’t share an official comment or a release date. So, what should we expect? The images suggest thatTeam Fortress 2, theHalf-Lifeseries,Left 4 Dead, and the originalPortalcould happen, and of course, there’s always the chance Steam could accompany these games journey to the platform … but we’re just dreaming, right?...

… a game that will never stop [Image credit:Mike Lambert] Why do we love videogames? Some say it’s the escapism, or the ability to wrap you up in a story that you get to help tell as it’s being told to you. Others say it’s the way they can bring friends together, or occupy your mind with interesting mechanics to master and problems to solve. The truth is though, no one really knows why we love videogames so much....

Swinging the dead While initial fan reception toDiablo IIIwasn’t exactly glowing, people seem to have come around to the game after the release of its expansion,Reaper of Souls. Much to my surprise, the Necromancer class wasn’t added to the game for that expansion. How do you leave out such a pivotal player fromDiablo? That just feels wrong. Thankfully next week, on June 27, players will finally be able to raise the dead withDiablo‘s prematurely greying corpse re-animator....

Only the Amazon trailer remains So far in the world ofDragon’s Crown, we’ve seen footage of theElf,Sorceress, andthe Warrior and Dwarf. Today, we’re one step closer to seeing everyone in action, as the Wizard (who may or may not be related toMagus) makes his debut — only the Amazon is left. He seems to be a jack of all trades strictly in terms of the diversity of offense, sacrificing mobility and defensive capabilities for attack spells of all types....

God, I hope so Siliconera has a storyup right now which may spoil some of Capcom’s plans for this coming PAX East. According to the post, the publisher is set to announce the impending arrival of classicDungeons & Dragonsarcade beat-em-upsShadow over MystaraandTower of Doomon PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. No official confirmation has been made at this time and (while we’ve certainly shot off a couple of e-mails) I wouldn’t expect any until the show, so this is still just a rumor....