New PS5 system update adds customisable Welcome Hub

A fresh PS5 system software update is on the way that adds a new customisable Welcome Hub to the home screen.
The Welcome Hub will be a tab on the home screen – like the store or individual games – which players can customise with widgets for a personalised experience. Essentially, it’s a reworked version of the Explore tab previously only available in the U.S.
Players in the U.S. will receive the Welcome Hub today, with Japan and select countries in Europe following “over the coming weeks”, and then a full worldwide release.

Eurogamer Newscast: When it costs £700, who exactly is the PS5 Pro for?

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Helldivers 2 studio details September balance changes as 60-day improvement plan continues

Arrowhead Game Studios has detailed the first batch of balance changes and improvements it’s bringing to Helldivers 2 later this month as part of the 60-day improvement plan it recently announced amid a significant player backlash to the sci-fi shooter’s latest major update.

Arrowhead committed to improvements back in August following the launch of Helldivers 2’s Escalation of Freedom update. Despite some welcome headline additions – including new mission objectives and enemies – the update drew significant ire among fans for its controversial balance changes and nerfs. Helldivers 2’s reviews are currently “mostly negative” on Steam.

With player frustration continuing to grow, Arrowhead released a statement acknowledging its update “didn’t hit [its] target”, …

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Fallout's three-game Classic Collection is free again on the Epic Store

As Dame Shirley Bassey once famously bellowed, “It’s all just a little bit of history repeating”. And so it is with this week’s Epic Games Store giveaway of the Fallout Classic Collection, which Tim Sweeney previously wafted at storeshop visitors in December 2022 and February this year.

For those who didn’t grab it previously, the good news is there’s some neato stuff in the Fallout Classic Collection. You get, for instance, the game that started it all – Black Isle Studios’ original 1997 post-apocalyptic RPG, Fallout – plus its 1998 sequel. Both, of course, are bona fide classics, and Eurogamer sang their praises as part of a retrospective back in 2011.

“From the unrelentingly bleak, darkly ironic tone to the novelty of the open-world, post-apocalyptic setti…

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Bungie's former Marathon reboot director Chris Barrett reportedly ousted following inappropriate behaviour

Earlier this year, Chris Barrett, a senior figure at Bungie and the project lead on its Marathon reboot, was reported to have left the studio – and a new report has shed fresh light on his departure, claiming he was ousted after an internal investigation into inappropriate behaviour.

Back in March, IGN reported former Valorant game director Joe Ziegler had taken over Barrett’s role on the Marathon reboot as part of a creative leadership shake-up at Bungie. Now, however, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier claims Barrett was fired from the studio this spring, after being accused of inappropriate behaviour by “at least eight” female employees.

Speaking directly to some of the women who had originally filed complaints against Barrett, alongside a number of employees invo…

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