Facebook ditching Oculus branding as part of company name change to Meta

 Posted on January 8, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  431 words  |  Patria Henriques

Facebook is ditching the Oculus branding for its range of VR devices as part of the embattled company's newly announced name change to Meta. Additionally, it says it plans to remove requirements to have a Facebook account to use its hardware, starting "sometime next year". The Oculus brand has been synonymous with VR for almost a decade now, and Facebook opted to keep the name when it purchased the Oculus company in 2014 - although it has been steadily phasing the name out for all but its VR hardware in recent years. [Read More]

Forza Horizon 4's Xbox One X 60fps mode is the real deal

 Posted on January 8, 2023  |  8 minutes  |  1657 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Developer Playground Games excels in creating vibrant, varied landscapes - and Forza Horizon 4 doesn't disappoint. Based on a preview build we recently sampled, Xbox One X offers up two compelling ways to explore it too. For the first time in the Horizon series' history, console users get a choice between 4K resolution at 30 frames per second and a new performance mode that delivers a solid 60fps. It's a long-requested feature, and while a mainstay of the Forza Motorsport games, it's been off limits for the Horizon series on Xbox - until now. [Read More]

Geralt's beard grows as you play Witcher 3

 Posted on January 8, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  263 words  |  Trudie Dory

German magazine Gamestar recently published an article about upcoming fantasy role-playing game Witcher 3, and it revealed a raft of new information. Helpful NeoGAF user "His Majesty" translated the article into English, for our reading pleasure. In among notes about the four difficulty levels, the size of cities and the more action-adventure style Ciri sequences, we spotted the following: Geralt's beard will grow over time. This piqued our interest. We knew developer CD Projekt had packed a huge number of features into the game, but we hadn't heard of this morsel before. [Read More]

Harry Potter Wizards Unite - Professions: Which Profession is best between Auror, Magizoologist and Professor?

 Posted on January 8, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  628 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Professions in Harry Potter Wizards Unite, probably best known as classes, come in three varieties: the Auror, the Magizoologist and the Professor. Your chosen class will affect your strengths and abilities in combat, and will also dictate what bonuses you have available to you from the skill tree as you progress through the game, too. What are Professions in Harry Potter Wizards Unite? There are three different Professions for you to choose from in Niantic's Harry Potter: Wizards Unite - Auror, Magizoologist and Professor, which are unlocked when you hit level six. [Read More]

Moncage review - a simply beautiful story-puzzler

 Posted on January 8, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1181 words  |  Patria Henriques

Moncage offers a gorgeous blend of narrative threads and teasing puzzles, that makes for a game of real elegance. On the face of it, the conceit that lies at the heart of Moncage isn't a particularly novel one. It's a puzzle game that's all about perspective, where changing your view or shifting your position can make the scene in front of you morph into something very different. It's about reframing - your opinions every bit as much as your view - until, with a little imagination and a touch of trial and error, you realise that you can take those shadows and stony dead-ends and turn them into something else. [Read More]

Of course Conan O'Brien is in Death Stranding

 Posted on January 8, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  379 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Talk show host Conan O'Brien is in Death Stranding because this is a Hideo Kojima game and anything can happen. According to Kojima, O'Brien plays a character called The Wondering MC, who gives you the Sea Otter Suit "when you get connected with him". This suit, which involves Norman Reedus' character wearing an otter hat (is it a hat made to look like an otter, or an actual dead otter on his head? [Read More]

Pokémon Go developer Niantic lays out long-term plan for "real-world metaverse"

 Posted on January 8, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  865 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Niantic, developer of Pokémon Go, has laid out its long-term plan for a "real-world" metaverse based on our global reality - rather than an entirely virtual one of the kind seen in Ready Player One. In an extended blog post titled "The Metaverse is a Dystopian Nightmare, Let's Build a Better Reality", company founder John Hanke has discussed his vision for how technology can be harnessed to build a better version of our world which strengthens in-person interactions - while criticising the idea of technology designed to abandon our reality and instead play inside a computer simulation. [Read More]

Spec Analysis: Alienware Alpha | Eurogamer.net

 Posted on January 8, 2023  |  11 minutes  |  2213 words  |  Patria Henriques

Originally planned as a Steam Machine running the Linux-based SteamOS, the Alienware Alpha is due for release very soon now, running Windows 8.1 and bundled with an Xbox 360 wireless controller in lieu of the delayed Steam controller. We took a look at the console-like PC at a recent meeting with Alienware and reckon it's got potential: the form factor is tiny, first impressions of the acoustics are good and the only unknowns concern the quality of its bespoke console-like interface (we weren't shown this, but some early shots are out there), and of course the raw performance of the internal components. [Read More]

Spelunky 2 shortcuts: How to find and unlock all shortcuts with Mama Tunnel

 Posted on January 8, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1146 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Spelunky 2 shortcuts allow you to jump ahead to a later stage in the Adventure without having to start from the beginning first. While many of Spelunky 2's secrets are designed to be discovered over the course of a single playthrough, using shortcuts allows you to easily access later levels quickly. This is perfect if you need to quickly reach the challenging later stages, practice facing their bosses or using their mounts, and get to the game's normal ending without starting over each time. [Read More]

There's more to Assassin's Creed's Renaissance Italy than meets the eye

 Posted on January 8, 2023  |  12 minutes  |  2406 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Editor's note: Rob Dwiar is a garden designer, landscape architect, horticulturist and writer who regular Eurogamer readers may remember for his analysis of The Witcher 3, Mass Effect and Dishonored, his essay on the genius of Rapture and his thoughts on the close quarters of Dead Space, Metro, The Last of Us and Oblivion. Now, to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of Assassin's Creed, Dwiar takes a closer look at Ubisoft's remarkable recreation of Renaissance Italy, and finds there's more than meets the eye. [Read More]