Welcome to the world of gaming, where innovation meets eccentricity. Gamers, much like any other subculture, have their fair share of trends and products that, while well-intentioned, often land on the cringe-worthy spectrum. In this blog post, we're diving headfirst into the top 5 cringe-worthy items that you might find in a gaming setup. From gaming gloves that look like you're about to perform open-heart surgery to energy drinks that promise to turn you into a gaming superhero, prepare for a

Its been a while since we had a new entry of the famous Dark Souls or Bloodborne Formula, but its here and it is good. What I can say to you without spoiling is that the story is the highlight which for this type of game, is never the case.

Dwarf Fortress from Bay 12 Games and Kitfox Games has a fresh update available on Steam today, and this brings with it their official Native Linux support.

With the latest update now out they said they're going to continue working in parallel on different parts of the game like the adventure mode, with more to show on that coming soon. More user interface work is being done too and more work on the fort mode.

What's Coming To Xbox Game Pass

• Party Animals (Console, Cloud) - September 20
• Payday 3 (Console, PC, Cloud) - September 21
• Cocoon (Console, PC) - September 29
• Gotham Knights (Xbox Series X/S, PC, Cloud) - October 3 | Our Review
• The Lamplighter’s League (Xbox Series X/S, PC, Cloud) - October 3

What’s Leaving On September 30

• Beacon Pines (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Despot’s Game (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Last Call BBS (PC)
• Moonscars (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Outriders (Cloud, Console, and PC) | Our Review
• Prodeus (Cloud, Console, and PC)

GENERAL UPDATES

• We're implementing some updates to how we load your accessories, like gun buddies and weapons skins, so that it will reduce your load times. This will land mid-patch.

AGENT UPDATES

Sage

• We’ve updated Sage’s voice lines and added interaction lines with more Agents.

COMPETITIVE UPDATES

• There has been a wave of competitive rank boosting with bots and real players. In an effort to protect against this abuse, we have introduced restrictions where Ascendant players and higher can only invite players with Platinum rank and higher to their competitive party.
• We will continue to actively monitor botting abuse and ban any accounts suspicious of this behavior.
• For more information on our Gameplay Systems and our approach to combating disruptive behavior, check out our recent VALORANT Systems Health Series.

GAMEPLAY SYSTEMS UPDATES

• Made some back end updates for Combat Reports in order to fix instances where all the correct information wasn't showing. Please let us know if there are any weird behaviors—especially after death and pre-round start.

BUG FIXES

Gameplay Systems

• Fixed a rare bug where you would be revealed unintentionally in places that you shouldn’t be seen after purchasing a weapon.
• Fixed an issue where the Spike plant and defuse UI bar did not appear for minimal HUD observers.
• Fixed a bug where vision cones would flicker at the start of a round on Sunset.

"Dragon Age in the early days had its fair share of identity crises," Flynn says. "Was it going to be a tools-driven, modding-driven game like Neverwinter Nights? Was it going to be a big singleplayer RPG like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion?"

"Dragon Age on PC shipped with the toolset, so we did do that," Flynn says.

Dragon Age: Origins does have a quite prolific modding community that's created new party members, tons of hairstyles and armor sets, combat mods, and more. The output for Dragon Age 2 was noticeably smaller. Then BioWare switched to DICE's Frostbite Engine, notoriously difficult for modders to use, especially without official tools, and Dragon Age: Inquisition's modding community was hamstrung.

"I wish we'd kept that up and stuck to that," Flynn says of shipping Dragon Age games with modding tools. "Unfortunately we got, I'd say, a little too homogenous between Mass Effect and Dragon Age. I wish we would have kept more of a PC-centric, Neverwinter-like identity for Dragon Age."

Flynn describes the move to Frostbite as a push to standardize tools internally across BioWare's then-growing studios. "We had so many different engines for so long at BioWare," Flynn says, explaining that the studio hoped to create a more common vocabulary across teams who could share what they'd built with one another's projects.

A statement from a Google employee, Dov Zimring, has been released as a part of the FTC vs Microsoft court case (via 9to5Google). Only minorly redacted, the statement gives us a run down of Google's position leading up to Stadia's closure and why, ultimately, Stadia was in a death spiral long before its actual demise.

"For Stadia to succeed, both consumers and publishers needed to find sufficient value in the Stadia platform. Stadia conducted user experience research on the reasons why gamers choose one platform over another. That research showed that the primary reasons why gamers choose a game platform are (1) content catalog (breadth and depth) and (2) network effects (where their friends play).

...

"However, Stadia never had access to the extensive library of games available on Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam. More importantly, these competing services offered a wider selection of AAA games than Stadia," Zimring says.

According to the statement, Google would also offer to pay some, or all, of the costs associated with porting a game to Stadia's Linux-based streaming platform to try and get more games on the platform. Still, in Google's eyes, this wasn't enough to compete with easier platforms to develop for, such as Nvidia's GeForce Now.

In the lead-up to Diablo 4's first season back in July, the game received a patch that was universally unpopular. That feels like an understatement—the community revolt was fierce enough to cause an honest-to-Lilith emergency broadcast where the devs stated: "we don't plan on doing a patch like this ever again".

Far from repeating the mistakes of the past, it seems the Diablo team are slowly reversing them entirely. As spotted by Gamesradar, a hotfix has increased the experience gain for killing monsters in World Tier 3 by 5%, and 15% in World Tier 4.

This goes some way to fixing the nerfs which had players up in arms—nerfs that crushed XP bonuses for killing higher level monsters (from 25% at three levels or higher to a piddly 15% at around ten levels higher) alongside the World Tier bonuses they're just now u-turning on.

While this is technically good news, it looks like plenty of players would prefer these missteps were never made in the first place. In a post on the game's subreddit, players took the hotfix less like a kind gift and more like an overdue admission the devs had messed up. The top-rated comment by user SQRTLURFACE reads: "Classic Blizzard. Reduce XP, then Give XP back, call it a hotfix/patch."

Intel has released the latest version of Arc GPU Graphics Drivers, Version 101.4826 Beta, which bring Game On driver support on Intel Arc A-series Graphics for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Payday 3, Lies of P, and Party Animals games. New drivers as improve performance in Hitman Absolution and Bioshock Infinite under DirectX 11.

The driver fixes some issues in Trackmania (DX11) game, which experienced application crash during launch, as well as some an issue with Intel Arc Control, which may consume higher than expected system memory. There is still an extensive list of known issues, and we are still waiting for further Starfield fixes, as there are still plenty of issues with textures and instability.

The GPU stress test and benchmarking tool is set to receive its first major upgrade (public release) since 2007, although a beta version has been made available to download since December 2022—accessible via the Geeks3D Discord group. A late August update had the beta reaching a new milestone in version 2.0.10—fixing various bugs, expanding GPU support and adding more resolution options.

The new version of FurMark supports OpenGL or Vulkan graphics APIs, and its three preset benchmark options include 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p resolutions. Users can also customize parameters for different graphical and resolution settings. A results database is already active, but Tom's Hardware notes that it consists of data submitted by beta users, thus it does not log: "results from the previous version of the app." The development team has teased a loose later this month launch window for FurMark 2.0 in public form.

Grand Theft Auto 6 has yet to be announced, but last year, we managed to get a glimpse at the sixth main entry in the series by Rockstar Games thanks to some leaked videos. While there's been nothing since, official or otherwise, some dedicated fans have provided something new on the highly anticipated game this week.

The GTA VI document, which can be found here, is a 60-page document going over characters, interface, weapons, vehicles, and pretty much every little detail that could be gleaned from last year's leaked videos, making the document an incredibly interesting read for all fans of the series.

Very little is currently known about Grand Theft Auto 6 other than the fact that it is in the works. A few months back, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick commented on Rockstar Games' approach to development, saying that each new game of theirs needs to be "something you've never seen before on the one hand, and it needs to reflect the feeling we have about Grand Theft Auto." This was a very interesting statement, considering that, on the surface, the new entry in the series didn't look that different from its predecessors, although that could be due to the fact that the footage was captured from an early version of the game.

Today we are taking a look at what can really only be best described
as an absolutely absurd product that makes no sense if you look at it from a value perspective -- at least the kind of value that we normally talk about you know cost per frame that sort of stuff.

As part of the recent Microsoft leaks, a slate of Bethesda games - including several unannounced titles - have been revealed.

...

According to this now potentially-outdated leak, a new Doom game called Doom Year Zero was planned for sometime during the current financial year. This game is slated to have additional DLC released the same year, as well as another DLC planned for next financial year.

Another title that's yet to be announced is Dishonored 3. This was listed as coming sometime during next financial year (April 2024 to March 2025). This is reportedly the same year that Bethesda also has plans to release a sequel to 2022's Ghostwire: Tokyo.

The list also states that players can expect remasters of previous Bethesda titles, such as Oblivion and Fallout 3.

Ever been on the receiving end of a digital defeat, courtesy of a player whose nickname sounded like a bedtime story? But fear not, fellow gamers, for today, we embark on a humorous journey to boost your online masculinity to epic proportions. "Pwned by a 'FluffyKitten'? Nah, We Choose 'LordLumberjack'!" Choosing the perfect in-game nickname isn't just about typing random words and numbers; it's an art form, a declaration of your virtual identity. The right nickname can strike fear into your opp

Ever been on the receiving end of a digital defeat, courtesy of a player whose nickname sounded like a bedtime story? But fear not, fellow gamers, for today, we embark on a humorous journey to boost your online masculinity to epic proportions. "Pwned by a 'FluffyKitten'? Nah, We Choose 'LordLumberjack'!" Choosing the perfect in-game nickname isn't just about typing random words and numbers; it's an art form, a declaration of your virtual identity. The right nickname can strike fear into your opp

A week after Unity announced dramatic changes to its Unity Engine business model - drawing immediate and widespread condemnation from the development community - the company has reportedly told staff it'll be making adjustments to the controversial new pricing plan.

As reported by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Unity leadership addressed employees in an all-hands meeting held earlier today (a meeting originally planned for late last week was cancelled following a "potential threat" from an employee), saying the company was "considering" introducing a cap on its hugely unpopular new per-install fees.

Unity initially caused an outcry last Tuesday, when it told developers that, on top of their existing Unity Engine licence subscription, they'd be expected to pay an additional monthly Unity Runtime Fee each time a user installed their game, starting on 1st January 2024. This would apply to all games, including those already on the market, that had made $200k USD or more in the last 12 months and had at least 200k lifetime game installs.

Following in the wake of last month's sizeable 4.0 update, Genshin Impact’s latest patch is arriving next week - and we now know what to expect from the 4.1 release.

4.1 - aka To the Stars Shining in the Depths - continues the watery theme of 4.0 by expanding the sunken region of Fontaine into a new northern area. Up there you’ll find the Fortress of Meropide, ruins and floating platforms to explore.

Those areas will play host to new quests in Fontaine's Archon quest line, introducing long-awaited villain character Arlecchino, the Fatui Harbinger, as the player searches for Childe.

Trailer

...

Genshin Impact’s 4.1 update will release on September 27th.

Welcome to the world of gaming, where innovation meets eccentricity. Gamers, much like any other subculture, have their fair share of trends and products that, while well-intentioned, often land on the cringe-worthy spectrum. In this blog post, we're diving headfirst into the top 5 cringe-worthy items that you might find in a gaming setup. From gaming gloves that look like you're about to perform open-heart surgery to energy drinks that promise to turn you into a gaming superhero, prepare for a

To celebrate 2023's World Cleanup Day, publisher Secret Mode has confirmed that indie Loddlenaut – a game all about clearing up the pollution left behind by evil megacorps – will release on 16th November 2023.

The "creature-raising survival game" lets you explore an open-world, alien planet, raise your own loddles, clear up debris with your bubble gun, recycle trash to create upgrades and more helpful items, and unlock new gadgets to ensure you can clear up even the most stubborn ocean pollution.

trailer
steam page

Unity has apologised following the furore around its disastrous plans to charge developers when people download games made using its technology.

The plans prompted an enormous backlash from developers across the industry, and threw up a multitude of questions around how the new policy would work in practice - answers which Unity belatedly scrambled to work out itself.

This morning, Unity said it was sorry for the "confusion and angst" its changes had caused, and promised it would make unspecified "changes" to its plans.

But despite days of confusion, Unity said it still needed more time to confirm what these changes might be - and the suggestion certainly seems to be that these changes will fall short of the full U-turn developers have called for.

That's effectively half the Steam Deck's GPU for near twice the price.

...

Asus has announced it's going to be shipping the ROG Ally Z1 edition handheld PC starting from October 3 for the painfully high price of $599 (£599). This new device will ship with essentially the same base hardware as the top-spec ROG Ally, which sports the full AMD Z1 Extreme APU, so in a way you can see why it's only $100 cheaper.

After all, you're still getting the same lovely 500cd/m2 120Hz 1080p display, the same 512GB SSD, 16GB LPDDR5-6400, and a UHS-II microSD slot that may or may not melt the contents of which into so much silicon slag.

The issue is that, while the AMD Z1 is a supremely interesting chip, it's very underpowered in gaming terms compared with the Z1 Extreme because it's using the 740M iGPU as opposed to the powerful 780M option. The top chip then has the full complement of 12 compute units (CUs)—the same as the Ryzen 7 7840U that's powering all the best handheld gaming PCs right now—but the plain Z1 is rocking only a third of that.

With just four CUs you're getting 256 shaders compared with the 768 of the full Z1 Extreme chip. And that effectively puts it at half the GPU silicon of the Aerith APU at the heart of the Steam Deck. Yeah, a theoretical halving of the gaming performance of the Deck, but with a $599 price tag. Ouch.

Aesthetically Astrea makes a very strong first impression. Set in a slightly dreamlike world of astral mages and eldritch corruption, there’s a wide assortment of cute animal-people to play as, including well-dressed sharks, bees and (my personal favorite) robot crocodiles clad in swish wizardly robes, battling against warped ‘corrupted’ versions of their kith and kin.

While 2D animation is used sparingly on the watercolor backdrops and character art (featuring a lovely light palette of blues, reds and little inbetween), everything bobs and weaves with excited anticipation. The soundtrack, while perhaps a tad generic and orchestral, still has some memorable melodies. I didn't get sick of them, anyway, important for a game built on repetition.

Over the weekend, Starfield players began to share reports of a strange paranormal infestation. There are asteroids in the game that, for reasons known only to gods and/or programmers, follow you from orbit to orbit, flying eerily in formation with your ship, and sometimes even accompanying you to a planet's surface. "In one of my weirdest Bethesda glitch experiences, I've got a tiny asteroid that's been following me for the past 30 hours," user ReverendRoo posted on Reddit, triggering an avalanche of comments reminiscent of UFO chasers spotting each other at a NASA open day. "I would catch a glimpse of it from time to time," wrote fattfett. "I tried to approach it but you can't. It stays away. I assumed it had a deeper meaning [toward] the endgame." Some players, like Blackdius, have multiple asteroids in tow. It seems impossible to blow them up. I've dug up a Youtube video below of one such clingy space boulder from a couple of weeks back. As you can see, it's not just a fixed background point like a screen artefact, but seems to move in response to the player's ship. Most peculiar.

From the looks of it, legendary development studio id Software is working on a new version of its proprietary game engine - id Tech 8.

While most suspected it was coming, last week Capcom officially announced a new version Resident Evil 4 Separate Ways, the side story featuring Ada Wong from the original version of the game, would be launching this week. That initial announcement didn’t include much gameplay, but now Capcom has delivered a launch trailer full of juicy moments.

In terms of actual gameplay, the biggest takeaway from the Separate Ways trailer is the expanded role of Ada’s grappling gun. While she had the gun in the original version of Separate Ways, it was mostly something used contextually at certain set points, whereas now it seems to be fully integrated into gameplay. We see Ada use it to both traverse the environment and take on enemies, robbing them of their shields.

YouTube Launch Trailer