PC Gaming

Intel Graphics has released yet another beta version of the Intel Arc GPU Graphics drivers, version 101.4676 Beta. The new version brings a couple of fixes for Starfield game, with more fixes coming in the future updates. In general, it improves stability of the game as well as fixes some rendering issues.

The latest Intel Arc GPU Graphics driver is still a beta release and hopefully, Intel will eventually launch the full Game On drivers, as there are still plenty of known issues with the game. On the other hand, as reported by Videocardz.com, Bethesda has noted that the Arc A770 GPU does not actually meet minimum requirements for the game, as these still include the Radeon RX 5700 and GeForce GTX 1070 Ti.

Download Link

FIXED ISSUES:
Intel Arc Graphics Products:

• Starfield (DX12) improved stability in different areas of the game.
• Starfield (DX12) may incorrectly render glass surfaces and objects.
• Starfield (DX12) may exhibit missing eyebrows on characters.

(More details at the link)

You see, this isn't just a racing game but a CaRPG with the aim of bringing back fun to the genre. Not only will players be driving high speed cars, they'll be exploring a cartoonish open world, engaging in a choice-based narrative, and heavily customising their character and vehicle. It's incredibly ambitious.

YouTube Announcement Video

Speaking to lead designer Violet McVinnie at Gamescom, it's clear where the inspiration for the game has come from. McVinnie used to work for both BioWare, on the Mass Effect series, and Codemasters, known for its driving games. Resister, then, is Burnout meets Mass Effect.

McVinnie talked me through the main elements of the game in detail.

First up, the racing. Resistor isn't about tournaments or racing to first place. This is a speedy stunt racer, with takedowns, drifts and flips. Players can race up ramps and corkscrew their vehicles for maximum style points, used as a currency to reward spectacular racing, maintaining momentum, and completing Tony Hawk style challenges along the way.

Racing will take place in an open world consisting of six environments just off the ocean floor of San Francisco. Exploration will be both in-vehicle and on foot as players meet various quirky inhabitants and complete quests. It's all presented in a vivid cartoon style, the world run by seven megacorporations that have overthrown the government in a (not-so-distant) future. I suggest there may be some parallels to reality there and McVinnie responds with a sly smile.

At the start of the week, the Hero Pass was added to the MMORPG, which Jagex previously described as an "always-on reward system". However, the reaction from players was overwhelmingly negative, in particular for pay-to-win options like purchasing Underworld Emblems or levels in the Hero Pass. This is in addition to other changes around content buffs and the Daily Challenge system.

Jagex yesterday released an update promising change. However the severity of player feedback meant the developer has now swiftly released another update, admitting: "We messed up".

Only Up! was discontinued by SCKR Games on September 8. The game is no longer available on Steam. In an announcement, the developer mentioned wanting to put the game behind them.

According to Bethesda Support, even the Intel Arc A770 GPU does not meet Starfield's PC minimum requirements.

The Steam Deck has kick-started a wave of handhelds from some of the big names in PC gaming. Asus has its Windows-powered ROG Ally, Lenovo just announced its own Legion Go handheld PC, and Logitech released a cloud-focused handheld. AMD has been quietly arming an entire new wave of Steam Deck competitors, and that got me thinking: where’s Microsoft’s Xbox handheld?

You probably already know what I'm talking about here: that thing where you're in the middle of dialogue with an NPC, but the rest of the scene has chosen not to cooperate. It's a common feature of RPGs, but it shows up extra often in Bethesda games, and of course has returned in Starfield. I can't get enough of it.

My favorite example so far is the video embedded above, which tells the very brief tale of a chipper fellow who fails to watch his own back.

These mid-dialogue attempted murders come in lots of flavors, though. Sometimes it's not a messed up bone-spider thing that ruins the NPC's day, for example, but the player themselves.

Example YouTube Video from article

Star Trek: Infinite mashes Stellaris and Star Trek together into something more delicious than anything you can get out of a replicator.

When we first got word back in June that Paradox Interactive was publishing a grand strategy game set in the Star Trek universe, we were just a little bit excited.

It's been a long time since anyone took a crack at making a Star Trek strategy game, which is a crying shame given how well Star Trek lends itself to the mechanics of exploring and colonizing space. I've had a chance to play a preview build of Star Trek: Infinite, and thankfully it's much more than a Stellaris Star Trek mod (something you can already play)—it's a game that puts you smack dab in the middle of one of the most interesting times in Trek history and, in grand strategy style, lets you write your own story.

In Star Trek: Infinite you take control of one of the four major factions in the Alpha quadrant in the year 2340, shortly before the events of The Next Generation. As the Romulans, Cardassians, Klingons, or the Federation, you build colonies, explore the stars, research new technologies, and battle one another for galactic supremacy (or, y'know, peace, if that's your deal).

The new Rust update makes life in the sky a lot more interesting.

YouTube Trailer
Steam Update Notes

The silver bullet to Starfield's enemy AI? Empty space.

The Starfield ship builder continues to be an absolute gift. Players have wasted absolutely no time crafting ships ranging from ludicrous cubes to genuinely impressive recreations of famous starships, but my favorite design by far is both absurd and so powerful that it basically breaks space combat.

Some would say the best way to wind down after a rough day down the Content Reactors isn’t to play a grotty occult horror game, but I caught a trailer for Tenebris Somnia earlier, and couldn’t help myself. In this foetid offering from Argentinian devs Andrés Borghi and Tobías Rusjan of Saibot Studios, you play a young woman, Julia, who is visiting her film-maker ex-boyfriend to drop off their old apartment key. Julia’s having a hard time getting over the break-up, but she’s clearly doing better than her ex: his apartment is full of broken glass, anomalous red gloop and creepy occult books.

The game’s twist is that it’s two visual styles thrust into the same frame. On the one hand, you'll explore an 8-bit world of unpleasantly bright colours, finding and combining objects adventure-game style (I say adventure-game-style, because this is a bit more energetic than most adventure games – you can equip and swing a wrench, and there’s a run button). On the other hand, well. Click the headline to find out, if you dare. Yes, this is me trying to do a jumpscare. Brace yourself!

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YouTube Trailer
Steam Page

Islands of Insight, the upcoming puzzle game published by Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive, is making its first playable debut as a free Steam download. You’ll have a bit of time to try Islands of Insight out, but it will vanish just as soon as it appeared, so make sure you act fast.

While you won’t be able to play the entire game, you’ll have the opportunity to solve an interconnected series of complex puzzles in order to get a window into the campaign.

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Steam Page

Stardew Valley creator ConcernedApe just shared his old music, some of which you'll find in-game, and said a few tracks could make it to Haunted Chocolatier.

Tweet Link

Bandcamp page

There are some great 30 minute dungeon runs in your future if you've got tolerance for—or enjoy—old school tropes.

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The ambitious sequel to 2013's Hammerwatch hits at a perfect time for me: this mini hack and slash takes Hammerwatch's action RPG combat and goofy fantasy setting and pushes it into a wider open world with a day-night cycle. It's a bit odd, like an early open world games fused with twin-stick combat out of classic Gauntlet.

Hammerwatch 2 welds the two really well. You can dive into a cave full of wolves and spiders and accomplish some quests, hop back to town, and save right quick in that half hour. The characters? They're all like King Reggie, Evil Lich Badguy, the Dragon Thundersnow, and the like. No complex lore to digest, just lots of fetch quests and frantic fights against overwhelming hordes of baddies.

The latest iteration of Konami's free-to-play successor to Pro Evolution Soccer, eFootball 2024, is live now. It introduces a new season and a slew of baffling bonus unlockables and currencies to celebrate, but the real draw is that they've continued to try to improve its football simulation after the abysmal launch of eFootball 2022.

Make friends or frenemies! Be a savvy schemer in this hybrid RPG party game!

Originally released for the PlayStation®2 and the Nintendo Wii, the hybrid party board game is back! The game is simple: spin the roulette and defeat whoever stands your way!

I have a ton of unclaimed games collecting dust in my Humble Bundle account, either games I already own or have no interest in. So instead, I'm giving them all away here.

Just comment the name of the game you want from the list below and I'll PM you the Steam key. First come first served.

EDIT: Seems like I can only send PMs to people who have their account here on kbin.social. For people from lemmy instances you'll have to let me know what your Steam or Discord account is so I can contact you there.

Claimed games will be striked out, but depending on how fast people claim games I might be lagging behind, so bear with me.

Games:

• 2064: Read Only Memories
• >observer_
• ~~Aliens: Fireteam Elite~~
• Ashes of the Singularity Escalation
• ~~BATTLETECH~~
• Bad North: Jotunn Edition
• ~~Borderlands 3~~
• ~~Chivalry 2~~
• Cook, Serve, Delicious!
• Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!!
• ~~Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3~~
• ~~Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy~~
• ~~Day of the Tentacle~~
• ~~Encased~~
• ~~Endless Space 2~~
• ~~Fallout~~
• ~~Fallout 76~~
• ~~Galactic Civilizations III~~
• Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy
• ~~Graveyard Keeper~~
• ~~Guacamelee! 2~~
• ~~Hellpoint~~
• Iris and the Giant
• ~~Just Cause 3~~
• ~~Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning~~
• Lara Croft GO
• ~~MORDHAU~~
• ~~Maneater~~
• ~~Middle-earth: Shadow of War~~
• ~~Mini Metro~~
• ~~Monster Prom~~
• ~~Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp~~
• ~~Moonlighter~~
• Mr. Shifty
• ~~Nuclear Throne~~
• ~~ONE PIECE BURNING BLOOD~~
• Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You
• ~~Outlast 2~~
• ~~Overcooked~~
• ~~Paradise Killer~~
• ~~Per Aspera~~
• Planet Alpha
• ~~Q.U.B.E. 2~~
• ~~Quantum Break~~
• ~~RUINER~~
• ~~Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition~~
• ~~Road Redemption~~
• ~~STRAFE: Millennium Edition~~
• ~~SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE~~
• ~~Shenmue I & II~~
• ~~Slay the Spire~~
• ~~Sleeping Dogs~~
• ~~Sniper Elite 3~~
• ~~Sonic Mania~~
• Splasher
• ~~Street Fighter V~~
• ~~Sundered~~
• Surviving Mars
• ~~Tacoma~~
• ~~The Henry Stickmin Collection~~
• ~~The Long Dark~~
• ~~The Stanley Parable~~
• ~~The Survivalists~~
• ~~Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales~~
• ~~Tomb Raider~~
• ~~Tribes of Midgard~~
• ~~Two Point Hospital~~
• ~~Valkyria Chronicles 4~~
• ~~Vane~~
• ~~Wandersong~~
• ~~Wizard of Legend~~
• World of Goo
• ~~Worms W.M.D~~
• ~~Yakuza 3 Remastered~~

The new cosmic adventure game, Void Crew, is now available on Steam Early Access. Publisher Focus Entertainment and Danish indie studio Hutlihut Games are delighted to invite you on a journey into deep space. Gather your crew, set your course for uncharted galaxies, and prepare for epic journeys beyond the stars. With a 20% Early Birds limited time discount and a groundbreaking Early Access Launch Trailer, Void Crew gives you a taste of what "co-operation" truly means.

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Steam Link

The anniversary celebration starts later this month on September 19 and brings plenty of updates like hero tweaks, bug fixes, map changes, and more. But leading the celebration charge is the aforementioned Hero Mastery. Blizzard describes it as "a new, single-player game mode that allows players to test their skills with individual heroes on custom courses" and it's available starting today. Each hero can be played on three unique courses of increasing difficulty, and you can unlock up to five stars on each course. Hero Mastery courses are scored based on time, eliminations, heals, escorts, and more. Plus, each individual hero has stat tracking as well.

One of the most succinct yet exciting announcements from last year’s D23 Expo was Gargoyles Remastered, a modernized facelift of the classic (and challenging) side-scrolling Sega Genesis title based on the popular ‘90s cartoon. A new trailer revealed the game’s new presentation and an October release date.

YouTube Trailer

Following YouTube’s pushes into music, television, gaming livestreams, and podcasts, the service has now begun public testing of its “Playables” initiative, which adds games to YouTube.

The existence of Playables on YouTube was first reported earlier this year as “a product for playing online games.” At the time, few details were available, as it was only being tested by employees.

The only other tidbit reported was that one of the games being tested was “Stack Bounce,” a title that is also available to play through Google’s GameSnacks.

Today, YouTube has updated its ever-rotating list of tests and experimental features to announce that Playables are rolling out now to a “limited number of users to start.” If you’re among that group, your YouTube homepage will have a new “Playables” section.

[September 5, 2023] Testing “Playables” on YouTube: We’re starting to test a new experience on YouTube called “Playables”. Playables are games that can be played directly on YouTube on both desktop and mobile devices. If you’re part of this experiment, you’ll see a section on YouTube called “Playables” that will appear alongside other content on the home feed. We’re testing this with a limited number of users to start. You can view and control your Playables history and saved game progress in YouTube History.

Unfortunately, the company doesn’t provide any more details about what types of games are included as part of the Playables program, such as whether we should expect to see more advanced titles than GameSnacks offers or how interested game developers can get involved.

Rod Fergusson, general franchise manager of Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo IP, has confirmed that IV's post-release content release model is set for some adjustments—in an interview, conducted by Dextero, he said: "When you look at the launch of the game and this first season, we see that as building a foundation on which we can build for the future. So, as we look at our quarterly seasons, and we look at our annual expansions, those are the things that we're really focused on for our live service." Several media outlets have jumped on Fergusson's statement—comparisons have been made to Bungie's approach to keeping online multiplayer franchises alive for a long time. Paul Tassi (via Forbes) pointed out that Diablo IV's leadership is pushing for the: "exact same model as Destiny 2."

The curious case of Starfield's endgame.

Larian Studio Head Swen Vincke and @ToddKenreck talk about Baldur's Gate 3's launch, player creativity weird problems and endings.