A new developer, Longdue, is being set up to develop a "spiritual successor" to the award-winning 2019 computer role-playing game Disco Elysium. The new studio currently comprises 12 people, including some who worked on the original game and on its cancelled sequel, and former staff from Bungie (Destiny, Halo) and Rockstar (Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption). Its debut game is described in a press release as "a psychogeographic RPG" that "explores the delicate interplay between the conscious and subconscious, the seen and unseen. Set in a world where choices ripple between the character's psyche and environment, players will navigate a constantly shifting landscape, shaped by both internal and external forces." The Bafta-winning Disco Elysium, which has you playing a depressed alcoholic detective in a city whose inhabitants still bear the scars of a war that took place decades previously, is regarded as one of the best computer RPGs ever made, and has spent several years at the top of PC Gamer's list of the 100 best PC games.

Alas, game-streaming service Google Stadia is no more. Two years and 11 months after its launch, it will wind down in January, marking the end, for now, of the tech company's aspirations in video games. At least one guy who used to tweet at me every time we published a review to point out that the game in question was also available on Stadia can finally stand down. Customers, meanwhile, are being looked after: Google is refunding every purchase made through Stadia, from controllers to subscriptions to the games themselves. And the writing had been on the wall for a while: Google started shutting the game studios it had established to make Stadia games early last year, and in February it was reported that it has begun attempts to sell the streaming tech that powers it to other companies. But the Verge revealed last week that developers who were working on games for the service only discovered that their projects were being cancelled when the news started proliferating across Twitter.

I am back from a week of running around Gamescom at a convention centre in Cologne, drinking German beer out of deceptively tiny-looking glasses, only to discover that Sony is – in this economy! The cost will remain the same in the US but everywhere else it will rise by up to 20%; in the UK, it will increase 6%, from £449.99 to £479.99 (or £359.99 to £389.99 for the cheaper model that has no disc drive). The hike is steepest (21%) in Sony's heartland of Japan. Given that middle earners are trimming costs and lower earners are facing heartbreaking choices between, for instance, food and heating when energy prices double this winter, this news has put me into a stage of late-stage-capitalism rage. Many are striking because people can't afford to live any more.

Just five years ago, Nintendo was at a crossroads. The Wii U was languishing well in third place in the console wars and, after considerable pressure, the company was making its first tentative steps into mobile gaming with Miitomo and Super Mario Run. Fast-forward to today: The Switch is likely on the way to becoming the company's best-selling "home console" ever, and seven Switch games have outsold the Wii U console. However, the Switch's online store isn't the easiest to navigate, so this guide aims to help the uninitiated start their journey on the right foot. These are the games you should own -- for now.

Amazon is offering some solid deals on a multitude of games, with many popular titles available at or near their all-time-low prices. The most noteworthy of the bunch is Elden Ring, on sale for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 at $50 for a savings of $10 over the regular price -- a solid deal on a relatively fresh release. You'll also find discounts on a host of other titles including Animal Crossing (Switch), Deathloop (PS5/Xbox One Series X) and Disco Elysium (PS4/Xbox One). FromSoftware's Elden Ring was a hit from the start, despite some early performance and other issues that have mostly been rectified. Critics raved about the perfectly conceived open world, mysterious story and challenging gameplay and users have generally liked it as well.

We regularly write about the games we love at Engadget, and even have "best games" lists for each console. But buying a game for someone else is a different matter entirely to choosing one for yourself. Unless you know exactly what they want, where do you even begin? Well, we'd begin by thinking about what your loved one's into, outside of gaming. Could they do with something to help them chill out every night?

The banning of video game Disco Elysium from sale in Australia has renewed calls for the Australian government to overhaul the classification system to move away from the "moral panic" associated with video games. On Friday afternoon, the Australian classification board announced Disco Elysium – The Final Cut was refused classification on the grounds the game was found to "depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena" in a way that offended "against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults". It ruled the game should not be classified. The post-war murder mystery role-playing game has won over a dozen industry awards since its release in 2019. The game has been available in Australia for two years through the Steam online games store, but the game's developers, ZA/UM planned to launch the game on consoles this month, meaning before it could be sold in stores in Australia, it had to go to the classification board for review.

Although ZA/UM remained tight-lipped on what new locations the definitive edition will introduce and how many new characters there will be, the biggest additions are the political alignment quests. The four political alignment quests will be tied to whatever identity you've developed, and you can only play one quest per playthrough. These quests will also open up new areas to explore and new characters to meet.

Epic's PC game store has kicked off a summer sale of its own -- take that, Steam -- and it includes a few noteworthy discounts on titles you might not have picked up yet. A game like Remedy's shooter Control is available for 50 percent off at $30, while indie favorite Disco Elysium is on sale for the same price, which is 25 percent lower than it's usual cost. Jedi: Fallen Order and Borderlands 3 are other recent games now available for half-off at $30 each, while Red Dead Redemption 2 got a minor price cut to $48. If you've been waiting to pick up Ubisoft titles from series like Watch Dogs, Assassin's Creed, The Division or Far Cry then this is another good opportunity -- many of them are available for $12 or less. Have a look at the full collection right here before the promotional prices end on August 6th.

Disco Elysium has been a critical hit in the game world, and now it's poised to reach a wider audience. Developer ZA/UM and production house Dj2 Entertainment have unveiled plans for a TV series based on the detective RPG. It's still very early and doesn't have a distributor or even a writing team, but Dj2 is meeting potential writers in hopes of pitching the show later in 2020. The ingredients are there for a promising series, at least. DE revolves around a detective trying to solve a crime that could provoke a civil war.