Dwarf Fortress’ reputation precedes it. Likely the most intensely detailed simulation game ever devised, its strategic depths, which grow deeper each new update, are rivaled only by the modestness of its text-based visuals. But now, 16 years after its debut, a new Steam (and Itch.io) edition has emerged from the…
The gaming industry’s recent wave of labor organizing just exploded. Roughly 300 quality assurance staff at ZeniMax, which includes developers across Bethesda and other studios on games like Starfield and Elder Scrolls Online, announced today that they will unionize with the Communications Workers of America. And …
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Like past years since Community Day began in Pokemon GO, the month of December will have a two-day long event. During this time, all previously featured Community Day Pokemon from the calendar year will be available in the wild and able to learn their event-exclusive attacks.
This time around, the December Community Days are scheduled for Dec. 17 and 18 from 2 PM to 5 PM local time. On the first day, Sandshrew, Alolan Sandshrew, Alolan Geodude, Hopip, Spheal, and Stufful will be more common in the wild. During the second day, Teddiursa, Galarian Zigzagoon, Starly, Roggenrola, Litwick, and Deino will be featured. Bulbasaur, Dratini, and Mudkip will appear in the wild on both days to celebrate the Community Day Classic events that happened over the last year.
The raids on both days will feature Pokemon from past Community Day events that didn’t take place in 2022. One-star raids will have 11 different possible Pokemon during this two-day event. The full list consists of Machop, Eevee, Roselia, Swablu, Duskull, Shinx, Gible, Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott, and Fletchling. These same 11 Pokemon will also be available in 2 km Eggs.
All Pokemon featured in wild spawns will be able to get their Community Day attacks when fully evolved during the event times. The one exception is Ursaluna which must be evolved between Dec. 17 at 2 PM local time and Dec. 18 at 6 AM or Dec. 18 at 2 PM until 9 PM. During these two windows of time, there will be a special full moon in the game’s sky.
Just like with every other Community Day event, there will be a $1 paid special research story, a set of Timed Research tasks, and a handful of bonuses. However, these bonuses are more abundant than on most Community Days.
Palworld, AKA “That bizarre Pokémon-ish game with guns”, has a new trailer that puts names to the many cuddly faces that star in this over-the-top adventure.
Meet the Pal, the monsters that roam Palworld’s colorful yet kind of messed up world. These cuddly though often dangerous critters include the seemingly love-obsessed Lovander, grass panda Mossanda, and Tanzee, which is basically Grookey if it possessed a love for the AK-47. Sure, some of them boldly walk the line of being outright copies of existing Pokémon, but these can carry guns, which we imagine is enough of a separation to repel any lawyers. Check out the latest trailer below.
In Inkulinati, you play a strategy game on the pages of medieval manuscripts. The game was originally announced in 2020 (before Pentiment) and we took a look at it earlier this year. Now, however, we had a chance to go hands-on. Join Marcus Stewart and Kyle Hilliard for a look at this unique game that is surprisingly reliant on the tactical power of farts.
Hololive announced that Vtuber Laplus Darkness will be going on hiatus due to her mental health. Per a tweet from the agency's official Twitter account, she and Hololive's management team agreed to allow her to suspend her activities and focus on recuperating. It is unknown how long her hiatus will last. The agency also apologized for any concern and inconvenience.
Following the announcement, which comes just over a week after her one-year anniversary, Laplus posted a tweet stating that she hopes to get better soon so that she can get back to having fun with everyone. She asks people to wait for her to return, saying that she will definitely be back. You can check out the tweet (in Japanese) below:
https://twitter.com/LaplusDarknesss/status/1599638650991804416
Laplus Darkness is not the first Hololive Vtuber to go on hiatus for mental health purposes. In the past, both Akai Haato and Murasaki Shion took breaks from their Vtuber activities at least in part because of mental health concerns. Haato went on a three-week mental health break back in April 2021, while Shion took time off for both her physical and mental health in June of the same year. Shion stated that on top of worsening issues with her throat, the announcement of fellow Hololive VTuber Kiryu Coco's graduation was taxing her emotionally.
The Razer Viper Ultimate is a legendary ultralight mouse, offering bulletproof wireless, optical switched buttons, a convenient charging dock and a lightweight 74 gram design. That's probably why this ultra-premium option launched at an eye-watering $149.99 when it debuted three years ago. Now though, Amazon are offering the Viper Ultimate for its lowest ever price, just $59.99, fancy charging dock included. This is an awesome deal - and I'm not just saying that because I use this mouse every day (and have done for years).
The SK Hynix Gold P31 is widely considered one of the finest laptop SSDs available - because it's not only fast, but it's extremely power-efficient. That means it produces little waste heat, and allows your laptop to stretch its legs in terms of battery life too. It's normally over $200 for 2TB, but for Prime members it's now available for $146 - an almighty deal for this drive.
It's not everyday you see something on Twitter that makes you wonder how many beloved classics from your childhood were made using golf games. Today is one of those days, as it turns out The Lord Of The Rings: The Return of The King was built using the modified engine of an undisclosed Tiger Woods title.
"Lord Of The Rings is about large areas, then a castle at the end or a fortress - what's like that?", asks Callisto Protocol director Glen Schofield in the video below. "Tiger Woods", he answers.
Huh.
CD Projekt Red is bringing official mod integration and additional modding tools alongside The Witcher 3's new-gen PC update.
In a post on the official CD Projekt Red forums, a developer representative outlines plans for modding compatibility. It has been six years since the last major PC update, so it's inevitable that a new update will change basic files in such a way that renders some mods unusable. In this post, CD Projekt Red linked a list of the Witcher 3's most popular mods to show whether or not they are compatible with the upcoming patch. For example, compatible mods include the All Quest Objectives On Map and the Over 9000 Weight Limit mod. Incompatible mods include Always Full Exp and Slots Slots Slots.
Keep in mind that this is a list based on CD Projekt Red's own testing efforts. The particularities of your setup or installed mods, changes made to the patch after the list was compiled, or future updates might change compatibility for you. A team of modding experts will also help modders fix compatibility issues after the patch's launch.
Alongside the update, a new version of the Witcher 3 modding command line tool, called Modkit, will release. It will fix various pre-existing bugs and be adapted for the new version of the game. Wolvenkit, an all-in-one tool for editing and creating Witcher 3 mods, will also receive a new update.
Marvel's Midnight Suns combines the turn-based tactics of XCOM with deck building and Marvel superheroes. When you aren't battling the forces of Lilith, you will need to build bonds with your teammates and invest in upgrades. While you don't need to worry about losing units in the heat of battle, there are a ton of systems to invest in. The Marvel license is likely to bring new fans to this sort of tactical experience, so if you're new to the genre, or even the heroes, here are some tips to help you get started in Marvel's Midnight Suns.
One of the most important aspects of combat in Marvel's Midnight Suns is maximizing your cards and moves to take out the most enemies each turn. For most turns you will have three card plays you can do, along with two redraws, and one move. As you get different bonuses and upgrades, this might not always be the case, but it's the standard. Each card will list what it does, the type of card it is, and how much damage it does, if it does damage.
There are effects like Quick, which refunds a card play if you knock out an enemy with it, or Knockback, which sends an enemy flying in a direction on hit. Maximizing quick cards will allow you to play more cards than you typically could. Another important aspect is the Heroism counter. Heroism is represented by an orange number, when it's in the bottom corner of the card, playing it generates heroism while if it's on the top it generates heroism. More powerful abilities cost heroism and it can be used to perform environmental attacks. It's important to make sure you're actively building heroism, there are even missions where you need heroism to complete the objective.
Developer FuturLab no longer plans to pull back the curtain on a content update for PowerWash Simulator tomorrow. Originally, the team was going to provide information on December 6 for an upcoming free mini-story expansion for the first-person cleaning game. The update will reportedly add five new levels to the title, including never-before-seen vehicles.
The official PowerWash Simulator Twitter account offered details on the delay. "We are sorry, but we can no longer announce the next batch of content as planned tomorrow," FuturLab said. "It is still coming, but at the moment, we can't share what it is or its release date due to several development factors."
— PowerWash Simulator (@PowerWashSim) December 5, 2022
One of those factors is continued expansion on the team, according to FuturLab. The developer added that launches for new versions of PowerWash Simulator--PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch--will be shared early next year. This should come out alongside content update announcements.
PowerWash Simulator is currently available on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One (as well as Game Pass). Recently, one funny bug popped up on the Xbox versions. Basically, the developer recommended PowerWash Simulator players stop staring at the sun.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's free new-gen update is coming later in December, and it'll add improved visuals, a new quest, and a photo mode to the game. However, it'll also fix one of the most memetic oversights in the original game.
In the Witcher 3 quest Destination: Skellige, Geralt's love interest Yennefer gives you a key to her room at the inn. That key is marked as a "common item" in your inventory, which led to an onslaught of memes and jokes about how "common" the item was, and what that means about Yennefer's affections. Given Geralt's own dalliances across the series, however, perhaps these jokes are a bit ill-considered.
During our hands-on with the game, we noticed that the key has been changed to a "relic," the description the game uses for its rarest tier of items. We have confirmed with CD Projekt Red that this change has been made. The observation became such a meme that one modder created a small file that changes the key to a relic worth 100,000 coins. Hopefully "nico46646" will be happy now. No word on if you can still accidentally sell the key to merchants, though.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt new-gen update comes out on PS5 and Xbox Series X on December 14.
If you’re looking to load up your new Steam Deck with some new games to play over the holidays, Fanatical’s Play On The Go 3 bundle gets you up to 8 PC games for just $10. And yes, they’re all Steam Deck-verified. The bundle is part of Fanatical's Bundlefestive promotion, which will bring new game bundles every day this week.
The build-your-own bundle comes in three tiers: three games for $5, five games for $7, or--for the best value--eight games for $10. Customers customize their game selection from a pool of 22 possible titles, and there’s plenty of variety to choose from.
Overwatch 2's next hero should be a little easier to earn from the battle pass. Shared by Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller on Twitter, Ramattra, the new tank arriving in Season 2, should be slightly easier to unlock for players who don't purchase the battle pass.
In Overwatch 2 Season 1, players who didn't buy the battle pass and didn't own the original Overwatch had to reach tier 55 of 80 in the battle pass before they could access the new healer, Kiriko. To make this a bit less of a grind, Ramattra will be available at tier 45 of the battle pass instead of 55, and some of the weekly challenges are being adjusted to make them easier to complete.
While some players still want the original Overwatch system of new heroes being instantly unlocked for everyone, this should make it quicker for players to access the new hero. Anyone purchasing the Season 2 battle pass will have instant access to Ramattra, who won't be available in competitive play for the first two weeks of the season, which is standard for new heroes. The battle pass costs 1,000 Coins, roughly $10 USD.
Ramattra, the new tank hero, joins Overwatch 2 with Season 2 launches on December 6, bringing a new battle pass, map, and cosmetic items. Ramattra is a tank that can switch forms, with his Omnic form creating barriers for his teammates while attacking at long range. Once charged, he can switch to his Nemesis form, which gives him more powerful offensive abilities, making him a deadly force.
Stranger Things and Violent Night star David Harbour would love to be a part of whatever's next for God of War.
In an interview with Video Games FN about his general affection for video games and an upcoming role in a horror game with Killing Eve star Jodie Comer, he was asked what other video game projects he would like to be involved in. He said, “I really like what those guys in the God of War universe are doing with my buddy Richard Schiff as Odin. They sort of mess around with that genre too, and they're always surprising in terms of these gods and they wind up becoming--Thor is a big old jerk and Odin being this kind of older intellectual." He concluded by saying, "I'd be interested in possibly doing some of that.”
David Harbour is far from alone for his admiration for the most recent God of War, as it is now the fastest-selling first-party PlayStation game ever. As the game wrapped up the franchise's Norse saga, if David Harbour were to be a part of the next game, it would presumably involve a new mythological framework.
In addition to the aforementioned horror game, David Harbour is already involved in a PlayStation project. He will star in the Gran Turismo movie alongside Orlando Bloom, Archie Madekwe, and Darren Barnet. God of War will also have an adaptation via an Amazon streaming show.
Feel like an adventure? Then you should check out Fanatical’s new Epic Quest bundle, which includes four adventure-focused PC games for just $4--a massive discount from the $84.96 total these titles would cost separately.
The bundle includes Supraland, a first-person adventure game with a metroidvania world design and 3D platforming elements. The game’s description calls out Zelda, Metroid, Portal, and “old-school” shooters as major inspirations.
Destiny 2's PvP activities like the Crucible continue to be some of its most popular modes, but everybody knows that getting killed by an invisible Void Hunter is rarely fun. As such, Bungie plans to add an interesting wrinkle to this ability to give players a fighting chance against it.
Destiny 2's 6.3.0.1 update, scheduled for the week of December 13, will reduce the radar range of Void Hunters using their invisibility power. This will mean that those hunters who are currently invisible will only be able to use their mid-range and close-range radar capabilities, rather than the long-range "gutter" which extends from the 24 meter mark to 64 meters.
Functionally, this means that invisible players will have less ability to detect their opponents at range, especially those opponents who are actively running away from them. In a blog post announcing the change, Bungie notes that this shift will have a "significant impact" on how invisible players approach engagements. The company also says it has a minimum impact on PvE activities, which just makes sense.
Other changes announced in this blog post include new gear for Trials of Osiris and Iron Banner, balance changes to weapons like the Linear Fusion Rifles, and a poll to see which hypothetical Arbalest ornament will make the final game. Destiny 2 Season 19 begins tomorrow.
God of War Ragnarok got a new update today, December 5, and it adds a photo mode to the popular PlayStation exclusive. Just like the 2018 God of War, Ragnarok launched without a photo mode, opting to add it later on as a free update for all players.
Ragnarok's photo mode gives players a number of options to create picture-perfect creations. For example, players can put facial expressions on characters like Kratos, Atreus, Freya, Brok, Sindri, Angrboda, Thor, and Thrúd. The photo mode can hide main or side characters, too.
What's more, things like field of view, focal length, depth of field, and f-stop can be manipulated. In addition, the photo mode includes film grain and exposure settings to tinker with. There is also the ability to apply borders, logos, and vignettes to any photo.
You can read more about Ragnarok's photo mode on the PlayStation Blog. The blog post also includes some handy tips from developer Tim Ward to help take the best possible photos. There is no word on any other changes or fixes that might be included in the Ragnarok photo mode update.
With Ragnarok's photo mode out now, fans might be wondering what other post-launch content may be coming to the game. Unfortunately, there might not be anything, as developer Santa Monica Studio has said it has no plans for DLC.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the sequel to the well-regarded Fallen Order, is coming early next year. EA announced in a press release and revealed on Twitter that a gameplay trailer of Survivor will premiere at The Game Awards on December 8.
Taking place five years after the events of Fallen Order, Jedi: Survivor follows castoff Jedi Cal Kestis as he continues to evade the clutches of the Empire. Based on the previous game, it will feature a Sekiro-inspired combat system, enhanced force powers, and plenty of fan-service.
The journey continues…
— EA Star Wars (@EAStarWars) December 5, 2022
Experience the action-packed gameplay of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor @thegameawards – streaming live Dec. 8: https://t.co/1zOZ1Piywh #StarWarsJediSurvivor pic.twitter.com/g2mabUWVXy
Jingle Jam, one of the biggest gaming charity events of the year, has already raised over £2 million. The event runs from December 1 to December 14, so there's still plenty of time to get involved. If you donate above a certain amount, you'll even get some digital goodies.
This year's Jingle Jam is donating to a variety of charities including the British Red Cross, the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), Dogs for Autism, The Grand Appeal, Huntington's Disease Association, Kidscape, and Mermaids.
The main channel, The Yogscast, will be streaming throughout the 14 days and you can view their schedule on the Jingle Jam website. You can also tune into affiliated community fundraising streams via Jingle Jam's Tiltify page. There, you can see what fundraisers are affiliated with which group. You can even set up your own fundraiser using your Tiltify account and a Jingle Jam-provided toolkit.
Jingle Jam has also partnered with GameSpot sister site Fanatical for the biggest yet Jingle Jam game collection. If you donate more than £35 to the fundraiser of your choice, you'll receive over 85 Steam keys for various games including: Age of Wonders: Planetfall, Tenderfoot Tactics, Troy: A Total War Saga, and You Suck At Parking.
The charity event started back in 2011, when Lewis and Simon of The Yogscast encouraged fans to donate to Oxfam, rather than send them Christmas presents. In the eleven years since then, Jingle Jam has raised over £20 million for various charities.
It's Tuesday, December 6, and we're back with another edition of our Wordle guides. Today's answer is difficult for a couple of reasons, the first being that it technically has two meanings. One of those meanings is actually a common name, so it could throw players off when they're thinking of words to guess. The word also has an uncommon spelling, which usually makes players' lives difficult.
If you haven't started the December 6 Wordle yet, you can check out our list of recommended starting words to give yourself an advantage before you've begun. However, if you're already a few guesses deep and you're on this guide, then you're likely looking for a lifeline so your streak doesn't end. Fortunately, we're here to provide that lifeline and offer some hints that should allow players to easier guess the answer. Below, players will see two hints for today's Wordle in addition to the full answer that's located further down in the guide.
We'll begin with two hints that directly relate to the Wordle answer but won't immediately give the word away.
Microsoft will increase the upfront cost of its first-party games to $70 starting in 2023. This will impact upcoming games such as Starfield, Redfall, and Forza Motorsport.
According to IGN, Xbox's exclusives will cost $70 at launch but didn't elaborate on regional pricing for other countries. "This price reflects the content, scale, and technical complexity of these titles," says Microsoft in a statement to IGN. "As with all games developed by our teams at Xbox, they will also be available with Game Pass the same day they launch.”
Back in October, Xbox's Phil Spencer said that certain Xbox products and services would increase in price, but not until after the holidays. It looks like that is taking effect almost right away in January.
While the price of Xbox's games will increase, console prices and Game Pass subscriptions have not yet. Back in August, Spencer mentioned that Microsoft had no intention of raising prices on consoles even though Sony did for the PlayStation 5 in countries outside of the United States. However, Spencer also noted that plans can always change as Microsoft continues to evaluate the market.
Companies like Sony, Activision, and Electronic Arts have already been selling their PS5 and Xbox Series games for $70 since the beginning of the current generation. Now, Microsoft is the latest to do so as well.
Disney Dreamlight Valley's December 6 update will come packing new characters, an expanded story, and holiday-themed content--but Gameloft has announced that a variety of bug fixes and fan-requested features are also debuting with the patch.
Gameloft took to Twitter Monday to share that Dreamlight Valley's second free content update since entering Early Access in September will be titled Missions in Uncharted Space. The patch notes are looking very promising for fans who have been struggling with performance issues--especially those playing the game on the rough Nintendo Switch version, which is known for framerate problems and repeated crashing.
Missions in Uncharted Space launches tomorrow! ✨
— Disney Dreamlight Valley (@DisneyDLV) December 5, 2022
To help tide you over, we've prepared a breakdown of the improvements and bug fixes you can expect from our second free major content update.
Click here for the full patch notes ⤵️https://t.co/IXT6V6csQV pic.twitter.com/Hgm31irEVt
Missions in Uncharted Space will optimize game stability across all versions of the game, with special attention paid to the Nintendo Switch experience. The update will also bring an overall decrease in loading screens and a reduced installation size, while fixes for many of the game's bugged quests will be addressed, hopefully granting stuck players the chance to finally finish leveling up their Disney pals.
His sci-fi movie Mickey 17 is planned for release in March 2024
Watch new gameplay of Champions Darius, Ekko, Ahri, Jinx, and Illaoi brawling
Don’t count this bird out of the fight
Roughly 300 QA workers are voting on a union
Plus Captain America acting like a third wheel, as usual
In 2023, Microsoft will be increasing the price of new first-party Xbox games from $60 to $70.
According to IGN, Forza Motorsport, Redfall, and Starfield will be among the first games to launch reflecting the change.
Currently, game price changes have not been announced for other regions.
A new report reveals that job vacancies in the UK games industry continued to drop in November.
According to Games Jobs Live, which monitors and analyzes vacant job positions advertised on employers' websites, the sector has seen open positions decrease since June.
November had the lowest number of open vacancies in the past year.
The Federal Trade Commission may be looking to strike a deal with Microsoft over the Activision Blizzard acquisition, according to the New York Post.
The Post's sources say that the four-member commission is split on whether to approve the deal, with its sole Republican member and one of its three Democrats leaning toward approving it.
And while the Post's sources said FTC chair Lina Khan has been pushing to block the merger, they noted that any vote on the issue coming down deadlocked at 2-2 would not only see the merger going through, but would undermine her authority at the FTC.
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At a glance
Panda Global has replaced its CEO and delayed the cup final for its current Super Smash Bros championship following the ongoing controversy around the shutdown of a rival tournament.
Why I Love is a series of guest editorials on GamesIndustry.biz intended to showcase the ways in which game developers appreciate each other's work. This entry was contributed by Sandro Dall'Aglio, Game Designer at Digital Kingdom, which will be launching futuristic lightning-fast dodge-'em-up Swordship today on PC, Xbox, PlayStation and Switch.
Concise game mechanics have always had my preference. In my opinion, it's better to focus and do a little really well than to try to accomplish a lot but never excel. Furi is all about one thing: boss fighting.
On the surface, the game may seem simplistic. After all, aren't boss battles usually thought of as the cherry on top of the cake? What would a cherry look like without cake? Well, if you hone your senses, a cherry is actually a delicious red fruit with many deep layers of flavour.
Harmonix will be retiring Fuser on December 19, though it'll still be available offline to players who own it.
On a post announcing the decision on its website, the developer said it'll be disabling Fuser's live services from that date, and it also no longer will be available to buy (and neither will its DLC).
"Players who already own Fuser will still be able to play the Campaign and Quick Play with any DLC they have already acquired," the statement added. "Thank you again for your support and for all the amazing mixes over the years."
Keywords Studios has announced the acquisition of customer support platform Helpshift for up to $75 million.
The terms of the acquisition included an initial cash consideration of up to $60 million, and up to $15 million in cash and shares, depending on financial performance over the next couple of years.
The acquisition is due to be completed before the end of the year, shareholders approval pending.
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Microsoft is reportedly planning how it will fight to secure its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard in the face of a potential lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission.
Last month, it was reported that the FTC was likely to file a lawsuit blocking the $68.7 billion deal, although no such suit has been filed so far as the investigation is still in its final stages.
The final new releases of 2022 hit UK shelves this week to mixed results.
The best performing new release (in terms of UK boxed sales) is new IP The Callisto Protocol, published by Krafton and developed by Striking Distance. The game is the spirtual successor to Dead Space and reviews were a little mixed, but it seems to have had a decent launch.
The closest comparison this year would be Dying Light 2, which is a far more established brand, and The Callisto Protocol's sales were 17% lower than that. Yet its launch sales are much bigger than other mid-level releases this year, such as Saints Row and Gotham Knights. Overall, it seems like a solid first week.
