EVE: Valkyrie developer CCP Newcastle is joining Sumo Digital, developers of Crackdown 3 and Dead Island 2.

The announcement came today from Sumo Digital, which is bringing in 34 new employees from CCP Newcastle and renaming the studio Sumo Digital Newcastle in the United Kingdom. The news comes a few months after CCP announced that the developer would be shutting down VR development within the studio.

Sumo Digital is known for their large variety of different products, which ranges from Sonic All-Stars Racing to Crackdown 3's single player. They were picked by publisher Deep Silver to develop Dead Island 2 after removing the game from Yaeger's development in 2015.

This past year will be hard to top, with blockbusters like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Horizon Zero Dawn blowing us away. We can only hope that next year will offer us plenty of gems too. Looking at 2018, what game release are you most excited about, and why?

Is it the next entry in the Far Cry 5 series, that has you fighting against a religious cult in Montana? Or maybe the new Spider-Man? Perhaps God of War's drastic changes, such as putting focus on a father-son relationship, have you intrigued?

You can check out our growing list of games that have firm release dates in 2018 by heading here.

This past year will be hard to top, with blockbusters like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Horizon Zero Dawn blowing us away. We can only hope that next year will offer us plenty of gems too. Looking at 2018, what game release are you most excited about, and why?

Is it the next entry in the Far Cry 5 series, that has you fighting against a religious cult in Montana? Or maybe the new Spider-Man? Perhaps God of War's drastic changes, such as putting focus on a father-son relationship, have you intrigued?

You can check out our growing list of games that have firm release dates in 2018 by heading here.

In less than three weeks since its release to theaters, Star Wars: The Last Jedi has grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. So far, during New Years Eve weekend alone, the film has pulled in $120.4 million globally.

The Last Jedi is the fourth blockbuster this year to haul in $1 billion worldwide. It had the second-biggest movie opening ever in North America with its weekend debut grossing $220 million, It came second only to its predecessor, The Force Awakens.

For more, you can watch this short featurette that shows the cast learning complicated moves for the movie's action sequences.

In less than three weeks since its release to theaters, Star Wars: The Last Jedi has grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. So far, during New Years Eve weekend alone, the film has pulled in $120.4 million globally.

The Last Jedi is the fourth blockbuster this year to haul in $1 billion worldwide. It had the second-biggest movie opening ever in North America with its weekend debut grossing $220 million, It came second only to its predecessor, The Force Awakens.

For more, you can watch this short featurette that shows the cast learning complicated moves for the movie's action sequences.

Nintendo has had an incredibly strong year, with not just bestsellers like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, but also with introducing the Switch, which quickly became one of the hottest gadgets of the year. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Shigeru Miyamoto sheds light on that success, giving insight into what kind of potential employees he looks for at Nintendo.

Miyamoto explains that he looks for energetic, young designers. "More and more I am trying to let the younger generation fully take the reins," he says. He attempts to hire people with well-rounded skill sets, and looks for those who may not be gamers at all.

He says he looks to bring in fresh perspectives to create new ways to play, rather than perfect those that already exist. “I always look for designers who aren’t super-passionate game fans,” he says. “I make it a point to ensure they’re not just a gamer, but that they have a lot of different interests and skill sets.”

Nintendo has had an incredibly strong year, with not just bestsellers like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, but also with introducing the Switch, which quickly became one of the hottest gadgets of the year. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Shigeru Miyamoto sheds light on that success, giving insight into what kind of potential employees he looks for at Nintendo.

Miyamoto explains that he looks for energetic, young designers. "More and more I am trying to let the younger generation fully take the reins," he says. He attempts to hire people with well-rounded skill sets, and looks for those who may not be gamers at all.

He says he looks to bring in fresh perspectives to create new ways to play, rather than perfect those that already exist. “I always look for designers who aren’t super-passionate game fans,” he says. “I make it a point to ensure they’re not just a gamer, but that they have a lot of different interests and skill sets.”

In order to work the way they do, video games employ hundreds of little tricks and sleights of hand while you're not looking. Sometimes, though, they pull tricks right in front of you in ways you hopefully won't notice.

Youtuber Shesez profiles one of the most common tricks of this kind: Model swaps. Because games have a limited processing budget to work with, they often have to swap out the detailed character models we may see up close for lower-resolution models when the camera pulls away, in order to make larger spaces easier to render in real time. To learn more about how developers do it and see a few instances of it in classic games, check out the latest episode of Shesez's series, Boundary Break.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

In order to work the way they do, video games employ hundreds of little tricks and sleights of hand while you're not looking. Sometimes, though, they pull tricks right in front of you in ways you hopefully won't notice.

Youtuber Shesez profiles one of the most common tricks of this kind: Model swaps. Because games have a limited processing budget to work with, they often have to swap out the detailed character models we may see up close for lower-resolution models when the camera pulls away, in order to make larger spaces easier to render in real time. To learn more about how developers do it and see a few instances of it in classic games, check out the latest episode of Shesez's series, Boundary Break.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Voice actor Jim French, who's voiced several popular characters in Valve games, has passed away this week at the age of 89.

French's most notable was Bill, one of the playable characters in Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. Other notable roles include Father Grigori in Half-Life 2, Elder Titan in Dota 2, and The Fisherman in Half-Life 2: Lost Coast.

French was also a noted radio producer and host for several years, creating the show Imagination Theatre for Seattle's KIRO station and later its KIXI station. He also created a production company, also called Imagination Theatre, which created several other radio programs.