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Resident Evil Village will release in May, comes with RE: Verse multiplayer game
A 4-player competitive game
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Klei Entertainment, developers of indie hits Don't Starve and Oxygen Not Included have announced today that they've agreed for Tencent, the media conglomerate that's been doing quite a lot of buying, to purchase a majority stake in the company. Klei founders say that they will keep "full autonomy of creative and operations across all aspects of the studio".
A long, long time ago in video game years, before BioWare were known primarily as the Dragon Age and Mass Effect studio, they were working on a sequel to their action RPG Jade Empire. After multiple internal reboots from Jade Empire 2 to Jade Empire Modern, to spiritual successor Revolver, the project was eventually cancelled internally without ever being announced. BioWare art director Matt Rhodes has now pulled out some old artwork to share a look at what it could have been.
Feature: Why buy a new mouse when you can just change the switches?
The Asus ROG Gladius II Core is probably one of the oddest gaming mice I've tested in a while. Its modest DPI range of just 200-6200 puts it firmly at the lower end of the gaming mouse spectrum, but its comparatively high price of £50 / $46 suggests otherwise. Indeed, its DPI range might not be as high as other mice in this kind of price range, but the ROG Gladius Core II has all the hallmarks of a great mid-range gaming mouse. It's comfortable, well-built, comes with a braided cable instead of a plastic one, and its unique switch socket design means you can even change the type of Omron switch it has under the main right and left click buttons.
Hitman 3 has now been out for just a couple days, so naturally speedrunners have already managed to beat its levels in under a minute. I really like puzzle-y stealth games but I approach them as I do a game of chess: thoughtfully, slowly, and badly. That makes me the exact opposite of the folks who are already making their way through Hitman 3 levels quickly, skillfully, and mercilessly. They're doing it in under a minute too. Jeez.
Feature: Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
In Nuts, you are a recent graduate who has been sent out into the woods to research squirrels. But the squirrels, needless to say, are not as they seem. Getting to the root of this forestry mystery involves putting down remote cameras during the day, and then reviewing the footage in your caravan by night, to see what the little fellows get up to after dark. It is a superb, simple premise, and with each set of scamperings you track, a little more of the game's story is doled out to you.
But well-told though that story is, I found it only just compelling enough to motivate me through an awful lot of trudging back and forth along the same paths, as I trial-and-errored my way through camera placement puzzles. It feels so cruel to say this, when Nuts goes out of its way to avoid feeling repetitive, and to make its environments pleasant just to exist in. Indeed, it's not a fatal flaw, by any means. But it's a telling moment when you wonder where the "run" button is, only to find you've already been pressing it for some time.
When Respawn said last week that the Apex Legends' map Kings Canyon would be "obliterated" in Season 8, I thought perhaps this meant they were going to whack a giant crater somewhere and call it a day. After seeing the new Season 8 launch trailer, I think I wildly underestimated their resolve. Kings Canyon looks like a wasteland.
A new week, a new chance to conquer some planets. That's right readers, 4X space strategy game Galactic Civilizations III is free to keep on the Epic Games Store for the next week. Definitely one to consider if the idea of colonising an entire galaxy for precisely zero pounds appeals to you.
Feature: The Movie: The Game: The Quiz
Video Game Land was pretty quiet until LucasFilm Games popped up and decided to announce they were working with Bethesda on an Indiana Jones game, and then, only a day later, they said they’d partnered with Ubisoft for an open-world Star Wars game. Licensed video games are back, baby.
Loads of people are missing their cinema fix at the minute, so we decided to celebrate film in this week’s Mystery Steam Reviews. It’s Mystery Steam Reviews: The Movie: The Game: The Quiz.
One of the things I was most disappointed with when I first started Cyberpunk 2077 was the lack of cool cybernetic implants and body modifications to choose from in the character creator. I'm not knocking the few shiny wires and lines we could choose to embed in V's face, I think those are very good actually, there just aren't enough of them. Thankfully, modders exist, and they've made a bunch of good'uns that let you properly cyberify your V - including a full-body chrome mod.
Feature: Ask yourself not 'can?', but 'why?'
Dogs. We all love to pet them. And in the game. And thanks to the Twitter account Can You Pet The Dog?, we know where to find them. Pettable dogs where they weren’t before can make gaming news.
But of course, "can you pet the dog?" is only one question. "Why can you pet the dog?" is quite another. I spoke to some indie developers about their experiences creating the pettable dogs in question, alongside Tristan Cooper, the curator of the Can You Pet The Dog? account, which is now at nearly half million followers.
Feature: The best animals
It was a real surprise to me when Planet Zoo started to truly click. It doesn't happen often, with games this high on the complexity ladder. There's such an incredible amount of stuff to learn about Planet Zoo, not just about the running of the zoo itself and the needs and desires of every animal, but also the remarkably powerful building tools available to the player. I genuinely didn't think the moment would come when I could get through a session without having to look up a dozen different things about the game.
But after many hours, that point did arrive, and it probably wouldn't have happened if the game weren't so enjoyable even when you have no idea what you're doing.
The Resident Evil Showcase aired today with new footage of Resident Evil Village, a release date announcement, and a brief glimpse of a new multiplayer game called RE: Verse that will be bundled with Village. You can watch the trailers and full livestream below, as well as read about a few extra details.
On Tuesday, I reported on game development tool Game Maker being acquired by Opera, makers of the Opera internet browser. Opera have now officially announced the acquisition, saying that Game Maker would be paired with Opera GX, their dedicated gaming browser, in forming the basis of a new division of the company called Opera Gaming.
Ocean's Heart is a Zelda-like, in the sense that it's a 2D, top-down sword swinger in the vein of Link To The Past. That means you'll never see the kind of vista that's in its key art (top left, above). You'll never see that beautiful blue sky. And yet, and yet, I cannot resist the promise of a piece of art like that. I click on every game that uses it.
Puzzle Quest is returning after a ten year absence. Puzzle Quest 3 will again combine match-3 and RPG mechanics together with the original designer Steve Fawkner at the helm, but this time it'll be - possible uh-oh - free-to-play.
Maybe you miss Hollow Knight, or you're dead tired of Dead Cells. Then Skul: The Hero Slayer might appeal. It's a side-on stabrawler roguelite that's just left early access in which you can swap skulls to swap skills, and also lob your noggin at enemies. It's nice, from my brief play of it, and there's an announcement trailer below.
2016's point 'n' click adventure game Kathy Rain is returning this year with a new, rebuilt, expanded Director's Cut. Along with more puzzles and chat, it'll have touched-up looks and bonuses like controller support. I quite liked it, as far as I can remember, and have forgotten enough that I'm game for another go when the revamp arrives later this year.
When you want to marry an NPC in Skyrim, you propose using an Amulet of Mara. In real life, you can now buy an official 10-karat gold ring based on the amulet's design. For $1000, you can make your proposal hella Skyrim. I have previously heard of at least one person proposing with a custom ring based on the amulet, and one who proposed with an actual replica amulet.
Feature: And which one is right for you?
Nvidia's new RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti GPUs may still be impossible to get hold of right now, but if you've been thinking about upgrading your graphics card recently and aren't sure which one to go for when they eventually come back in stock, then you're in the right place. To help you decide which graphics card is the right one for you, I've put together some handy benchmark graphs to show you exactly how they stack up in all of today's biggest and best PC games at 1080p, 1440p and 4K.
Feature: Hide in shadows
The Electronic Wireless Show podcast episode 125: the best sneakings in games special
Welcome once again, gentle listener, to the Electronic Wireless Show podcast. This week's episode demands that you tread carefully and quietly, in case you disturb Nate, or awaken the Ken Loach he has trapped in a shipping container in his garden, for we are discussing the best sneakings in games. Our favourite stealthy-me-dos.
We also bring you a long tangent about zoos, a brief discussion on the wonderful lack of complexity in the baddies in Indiana Jones, and a lot of anger at Matthew because he likes banging on the glass at aquariums because he is a monster. Nate threatens to bury him in the desert. Also, there's all the aforementioned Ken Loach stuff, which goes on a long time. Plus, I bring you a Cavern of Lies that becomes, alas, a Cavern of Sadness.
Two weeks ago, Twitch announced they were suspending former US president Donald Trump from their platform, after he incited a violent attack on the US capitol. At the time, Twitch said they would "reassess" his account after his presidency ended. Well, now he's been booted from the White House, Twitch have banned him for good too. They're also updating their policies to crack down on those who encourage violence on the streaming platform.
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Cyberpunk 2077: the best settings to improve your PC's performance
We tell you what settings to tweak to improve your PC's frame rate.
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Devouring an entire solar system with industry is, at once, both frightening and highly appealing. Well, sci-fi management sim Dyson Sphere Program is now out in early access, if you're curious as to how it feels transforming stars and planets into cogs for your mechanised empire.
Do you ever play Valorant and just do a little sigh when you see what map has been picked from the pool for your next match? For me, that's Split (and also Icebox actually, but this post isn't about that freezy fiend). Split's always been a tough one for attackers, with its annoyingly tight choke points you'd need to funnel down, and far too many 50/50 angles for defenders to hide in. But last night, Riot Games released a patch with tons of little changes that should make Split a whole lot less frustrating to play.
Officially, Hitman 3 launched yesterday. In reality, uh, some players still aren't really getting to play. The servers which imported progression from the previous two games have been overloaded, an issue Io Interactive scrambled to fix yesterday. Server woes are also causing some players to have the game interrupted by error messages prompting them to reconnect or play offline. Io's most recent statement said they were working on servers.
I honestly don't know where to begin with this pair of trainers that PC manufacturer NZXT and fashion outfit Artifact Studios announced last night. At first, I thought it was merely a fancy sneaker with an RTX 3080 ground into the heel - a feat that, during a global graphics card shortage, would have made my soul cry big salty tears of bitter discontent. Upon closer inspection, though, it seems they've built an entire PC inside this enormous piece of footwear, with an NZXT cooler, motherboard and fans all visible through the transparent purple side panel. It's an impressive feat, to be sure, but I also have so many questions. How does it run? How many feet per second can you travel in these things? And will the fans help keep my toes nice and cool, or will they tear my soles to absolute shreds?
Update 21/01/2021: Valve have responded to the European Commission's claims, saying they disagree with the Commission's findings and the fine they've been issued. Read their full statement below. Original story from 20/01/2021.
Valve and a handful of game publishers have landed themselves in hot water with the European Commision for geo-blocking Steam keys in certain regions in Europe. The Steam owners, along with Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax (Bethesda's parent company), have been collectively fined €7.8 million (around £6.9 million) for "breaching EU antitrust rules".
Feature: Making Ichi-bank
The joy of being a benevolent capitalist in Yakuza: Like A Dragon
Hong Kong has a popular snack chain called Aji Ichiban. Despite the name, it’s not actually Japanese, but I do recall going to these stores a lot whenever my family and I visited, where we’d fill our suitcases with its giant pack range of Chinese pork jerky and dried mangos.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon’s Ichiban Confections is also a snack shop, albeit one that specialises in Japanese rice crackers. It’s also unfortunately on its last legs - unless someone with the right business acumen can turn it around.
Feature: I... DRINK... YOUR... (space) MILKSHAKE!
OK, I know this is my second Have You Played…? to find an excuse to start by talking about Age Of Empires 2, and I imagine Alice Bee is making a proper wolf noise out of frustration as she edits this. I am almost sorry. But like a smug schoolboy proclaiming he’s "home" in a game of "it" by touching a tree, I've got a cast iron excuse here. Because Offworld Trading Company's lead developer Soren Johnson told me himself that this cracking solar-system economics-'em-up was directly inspired by the simple yet robust supply/demand modelling behind the market building in AoE2.
Bright and colorful platformer Balan Wonderworld isn't too far away from its March release date now but you can try it out next week if you're keen. Square Enix have announced that you can hop in and give it a go on January 28th. You can even try out the local co-op bits if you're planning to play along with a pal when it launches.
It's been years since I've played Minecraft on a regular basis but I still really enjoy when new features and creatures start showing up in game. Without fail, it means that the always creative Minecraft players will come up with unexpected ways to use them. The newest Minecraft snapshot adds some more parts of the upcoming Caves & Cliffs update including the pretty glow squids and their glowing ink.
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