UPDATE 15/3/21: Former WB Games developer Troy Leavitt has now, as promised, released his own video discussing his departure from Hogwarts Legacy studio Avalanche Software. It's an edited recording of a farewell Zoom call to former colleagues, in which he also shared his resignation letter.

In the letter, Leavitt wrote that he left the studio largely due to a family matter which WB Games had been helping him manage over the past year. "Unfortunately, things on that front have seriously deteriorated since the beginning of February," Leavitt said, "I now see the situation as chronic and likely to be high maintenance into the foreseeable future."

Discussing the timeline of events leading up to his resignation, Leavitt explained that articles about his YouTube channel were published after "family matters took a sharp turn at [the] beginning of February" and that after "reflecting upon the situation, I decided to prioritise family over work concerns... The articles were a catalyst in this - but not the cause. I decided to re-retire at [the] beginning of March."

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UPDATE 6TH MARCH 2021: People Can Fly has stepped in again to change the Outriders demo in response to complaints over a previous change designed to tackle heavy farming.

The developer issued a server-side update to enable the Gauss boss chest to drop legendaries after yesterday preventing all chests from dropping legendary items.

"Having listened to very reasonable community feedback, we have enabled the Gauss boss chest to drop legendaries again as we should indeed be rewarding boss runs," People Can Fly said in a tweet.

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Another week, another bucket load of video game news! We heard the Switch Pro, which Nintendo has yet to announce, will reportedly have a 720p OLED screen. Is that good enough? Join Eurogamer reporter Emma Kent, news editor Tom Phillips and me to discuss this and more on Nintendo's next console.

Elsewhere, the Eurogamer News Cast team talk about Sony's bananas video game controller patent, Sony's decision to retire video purchases and rentals from the PlayStation Store, EA's decision to delay the next Need for Speed in order to support the development of the next Battlefield, and Elden Ring's leaked trailer. Phew, that's a lot!

On top of that we have our regular 'what we've been playing' catch-up, and, to end, the traditional Eurogamer News Cast mug check. Spoilers: Emma flops. Again.

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Blaster Master Zero - developer Inti Creates' excellent retro reimagining of Sunsoft's classic Blaster Master series on NES - is getting a third instalment on 29th July.

Blaster Master Zero 3 is described as the "final chapter" in the series and promises a "journey into uncharted territory full of new experiences" - although it'll retain the wonderful blend of tank-based Metroidvania-style exploration and top-down shooting seen in previous games.

"Protagonist Jason travels to where the series all began, the planet Sophia, in order to save series heroine Eve in this final instalment of the story!", the developer explains on its website. You can get a taste of the ensuing action in its enthusiastically narrated trailer below.

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Valve has announced it's ending development on its reboot of beleaguered card-battler Artifact, and will be making both existing version of the game free for everyone to play.

The original version of Artifact, designed by Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield, failed to make much of an impact following its launch in 2018. Players rejected everything from its perceived complexity to its pricing mode (requiring both an upfront purchase and payment for additional cards), and it was barely seeing 100 players online in a 24-hour period by July.

Then, in May last year, after almost a year of silence, Valve confirmed it was embarking on a major overhaul of the game called Artifact 2.0 - which include a new three-lane view, a new draft mode, and, most significantly, would drop the ability to purchase cards and packs.

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Do you ever have that dream where a giant metal rolling pin is rumbling across the world, destroying everything in its path? You know, the dream where you're a strange two-legged Spore creature which can change shape and gain abilities by inhaling other creatures through its trunk. The one with the red and purple alien planet, and the giant chattering teeth enemy, and the huge insect creatures. Oh, hang on a moment, it's not a dream! Silly me. It's a game: The Eternal Cylinder.

It's a game by Chilean developer Ace Team, which burst onto the scene with the strikingly surreal Zeno Clash in 2009 (and then Rock of Ages after). Remember that? The Eternal Cylinder is so similar! It's a kaleidoscopically colourful and bizarre world full of huge creatures a bit like snails and insects, and some I just have no idea what they're supposed to be. But here they are, in a world of big stone towers and beams of light, and strange planets in the background. And dominating everything: a terrifyingly massive metal cylinder that moves.

This is how you wake up in the game. You are a small two-legged creature with a trunk and a grand purpose, you're told, and the very second you come to life, you have to run from the cataclysmic cylinder rumbling behind you. We're talking about a horizon-spanning thing here, which destroys absolutely anything in its path. You, a relative flea to its massiveness, do not stand a chance. Eventually, however, it stops, and when it does, you can begin nosing around.

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Developer Crystal Dynamics has announced it'll be making it harder to level up in Marvel's Avengers as part of the game's next update.

Writing on the Marvel's Avengers website, Crystal Dynamics explained the aim of its upcoming XP rework is to replace the "straight line" levelling system currently employed by the game with a levelling curve. This will result in players needing more XP to level up in-game from level 25 onward, with the amount increasing as the level 50 cap draws closer, meaning it'll take additional time to reach higher character levels.

While it's tempting to read the increased grind as a cynical attempt at keeping players embroiled in the Avengers' live service game for longer, Crystal Dynamics insists the goal is to fix pacing issues with the existing levelling system, arguing the speed the game currently awards skill points "may be confusing and overwhelming" to newer players. "We want each decision to invest in a skill or Heroic to be more meaningful", it writes.

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Call of Duty: Warzone has been teasing a nuclear explosion for quite a while now, and although rumours are once again swirling that the destruction of Verdansk is imminent, it seems some players decided to take things into their own hands: by making their very own bomb out of cars. And yes, it did break the server, what did you expect?

The experiment was conducted by streamer MarleyThirteen, who enlisted 149 followers to join him in a Warzone game to create the "biggest explosion Verdansk has ever seen" (thanks, VGC). The players agreed on a ceasefire and were tasked with finding as many vehicles as possible, with MarleyThirteen's team picking up recon contracts to show upcoming rings and the location of "ground zero". Players were also told to pick up as much cash as possible - and use all that money to buy a bunch of cluster strikes.

The group didn't exactly get it right the first time, or even the second: on the first attempt one player accidentally used their cluster strike too early, while on the second players drove into the vehicle pile so fast that it caused damage and mini-explosions, creating a chain reaction instead of one big fireball. Third time's the charm, as they say, and with some careful driving and queuing under MarleyThirteen's direction, the group managed to get their desired explosion. Unsurprisingly, it crashed the server, as the game was unable to process all those cluster strikes and burning vehicles.

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When Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red promised none of its employees would have to work overtime to get the game done, did this also apply to the many developers working on parts of the game at its support studios?

As far as Cyberpunk is confirmed, well, that point is now all moot. But it's an interesting question, and as pretty much every big budget game employs support studios, it's a topic well worth exploring.

This month, Chris Bratt (who?) does just that in the latest video from the Patreon-funded People Make Games. In it, we hear from young developers working unpaid overtime on numerous big AAA projects, in support studios based in Malaysia and Indonesia.

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I never thought I'd see this: Moa Burger Pringles.

These limited edition Pringles, sold exclusively in Walmart (so we don't have to suffer them on these shores) riffs on a Halo: Reach in-joke - and a rather niche one at that.

OK, some background. In the world of Halo, the moa is an ostrich-looking creature native to the planet Reach. So the lore goes, moas were used as pets and also food. They're sort of like Halo's version of the chocobo from Final Fantasy.

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