Developer Sumo Digital landed a hit with its 2012 kart-racing game Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Now, the developer is partnering with Sonic Team, stripping away the non-Sonic characters, and adding a new layer of team-based strategy for Team Sonic Racing.
In this new kart-racing title from Sega, the developers are focusing entirely on the Sonic universe, which means no Aiai or Ryo Hazuki this time around (sorry, fellow Shenmue fans). Instead, players get a roster of 15 Sonic characters. In the build I played, I could choose between Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Shadow, Rouge, and E-123 Omega. Each character fits into one of three classes: speed, technique, or power. Once you choose a character, you're placed in a team of three based on the character's alliances; Sonic was always placed with Tails and Knuckles, while Rouge raced alongside Shadow and Omega.
When the race begins, it plays out much like a standard kart racer. Characters drift around corners, acquire consumable items, and avoid zany obstacles in the push to be first. In addition to the tried-and-true formula, players can help their teammates; you can gift items, request items, and slingshot around teammates by following their path. The game will also include a solo mode that removes the team-based mechanics, but outside of an occasional pure kart-racing foray, I don't foresee myself playing that mode much.
At the end of the race, it assigns points for your team based on where each member finished. This means you must help your team in order to actually win. In one of my races, my team finished third, fourth, and fifth, but because we were the most consistent team, we came in first in the race. In another race, I finished first, but my teammates were in the middle of the pack, so we came in second overall. I like that twist of having to keep an eye on your standing in the race, as well as your teammates.
When the game ships, it will feature stages that are both brand new to the Sonic universe, as well as familiar levels. While the developers wouldn't spill any additional details, Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka tells me that some stages will feature recognizable songs from Sonic's past, and that Jun Senoue is composing the game. In addition, Senoue's fan-favorite band, Crush 40, performs the main theme.
Team Sonic Racing may not have the fancy transformations or characters outside of the Sonic universe, but it makes up for it with thoughtful team-based mechanics that add new twists to the formula. Sonic Team Racing is set to launch this winter on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.

The Metro Exodus E3 2018 demo was based on the same content we saw back in February for the March cover story, giving the world its first chance to see the boundary-pushing graphics, unforgiving gameplay, and ambitious transition from the linear focused Metro underground to the harsh, more open Russian countryside that convinced us to put the game on the cover of Game Informer. Running at 4K on the Xbox One X console, the game's beauty won over many. But the demo wasn't without its share of gameplay hiccups.
The shooting felt good, and all of the game's systems were online, but we noticed a few rough spots as well. Collision issues made moving across the countryside more burdensome than it should be, framerate drops disrupted the gameplay, and the rowboat Artyom uses to explore the Volga River region outside Moscow was tough to steer. When we brought these issues up to executive producer Jon Bloch, he said the team is keenly aware of the current build's shortcomings and the team has more than enough time to hone the experience. 
"We've never shown Metro on a console this early before, and we felt like it was appropriate for showing off this content on Xbox One X in 4K – it's already there," Bloch says. "Yes, we have some polish to go, and yes, there's still some performance stuff to nail, but it's already in good shape, so trust us when we say this extra time really is focused on polish. We're not still making the game at this point, we're smoothing it out."
Since the game is content complete and feature complete, the 4A Games to-do list in the lead-up to Metro Exodus' February launch includes raising all the levels up to the quality bar the team has set, smoothing out environmental collision both on foot and in vehicles, plugging narrative gaps they noticed once they strung the levels together, and fine-tuning performance.
Given 4A Game's strong track record, we're inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt that the game will be running smoothly by deadline. Metro Exodus is scheduled to launch alongside a surprisingly strong lineup (Anthem, Days Gone) on February 22 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. 

Omega Labyrinth Z, an adult-orientated anime dungeon crawler, will not be released on PlayStation 4 or Vita after Sony stepped in.
The game, which mixes chibi-style dungeon exploration with a slideshow of provocatively-dressed young anime characters, had been set to launch in Europe and North America.
Here in Europe, Omega Labyrinth Z was given a , although a physical UK launch had already been scrapped after the Video Standards Council (VSC) for a UK boxed release back in March.

I'm calling it, I'm finally letting go of Alan Wake. There is more to Remedy than its hoodie-and-tweed-wearing writer hero, and more to the studio's trademark brand of pulpy sci-fi than his gravelly, never-ending voice-overs. This is a good thing. Six years on from Wake's last outing, with no sequel in sight and Remedy's odd, live-action hybrid Quantum Break out of the way, Control feels like a clean break for Remedy.
Control is the studio's first game for PlayStation 4 - its first for any Sony platform since Max Payne 2 on PS2 - something underlined by its unveiling at Sony's E3 conference. ("It felt like a good way to announce it this way and make this statement," Sam Lake, Remedy's chief writer and public face of the studio tells me after.) Control is also a clean slate to tell a new story with a more modern approach - albeit one which will still feel familiar to the studio's fans.
The demo shown to press at E3 2018 is a proper peek at what everybody saw during the game's Sony conference trailer. You play as Jesse Faden (Courtney Hope, AKA Beth in Quantum Break), who like all Remedy protagonists is skilled in third-person shooting and physics manipulation while exploring dark, mysterious surroundings. These surroundings will host a big change for Control - a space to explore with a narrative path, but also side-missions and Metroidvania-inspired exploration. At one point in the demo we pass a series of prison cells, the unlucky occupant of one screaming for help. It's a side-mission which we can return to later.

Spider-Man on PlayStation 4 includes a raft of famous villains, with everyone from Electro to Rhino and Scorpion to Vulture confirmed to make an appearance.
Well, now it looks like we know one other villain set to star in the game - via a likely source: a loose-lipped voice actor.
THERE MAY BE SPOILERS AHEAD.

Sony has announced PlayStation Hits, a new budget games range for PlayStation 4 which features some of the platform's best exclusives.
Uncharted 4, Bloodborne and The Last of Us Remastered are all present and correct. Killzone Shadow Fall, InFamous Second Son and Driveclub are also included.
Strangely, there's no sign of Knack.

A former Sony developer has said the great PlayStation 4 cross-platform block is all about the money.
John Smedley is the ex-boss of Planetside 2 and H1Z1 developer Daybreak Game Company, which changed its name from Sony Online Entertainment in 2015.
In a tweet referencing the fact , Smedley said Sony's controversial policy comes down to money.

Fallout 76 will get a beta - and it begins first on Xbox One.
In a recently updated , Bethesda said the beta for Xbox One will begin first, followed by other platforms (PlayStation 4 and PC via Bethesda.net).
Bethesda has yet to say when the Fallout 76 beta will kick off, but we do know you have to pre-order the game to get in. Bethesda said that's the only way to get access to the beta.

From Software is making a game exclusively for PlayStation VR which was revealed in a trailer that screened after the end of Sony's E3 showcase. Because Sony aren't doing anything by the book this year, it seems.
The game is called Déraciné, whis is the French word for 'uprooted'. It has no release date. The trailer shows a large stately house with a clock tower, shot in scratchy sepia and largely empty but for a couple of unhappy-looking characters. There is some enigmatic voiceover dialogue. At the end, a dead flower is brought back to life by some magic sparkles and colour starts to seep into the scene.
What does it all mean? Who knows, but this is From's third E3 reveal in two days after Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and the Metal Wolf Chaos remaster. If it gets any more prolific, it'll be the new Platinum Games.

OPINION: As I enjoyed some braised chicken and a Golden Road brown ale at the PlayStation media briefing after party prior to the Electronic Entertainment Expo on Monday night, I realized I was in the middle of Sony's victory lap. PlayStation boss Shawn Layden was walking among the crowd to meet-and-greet media influencers, and he never ...]