Eurogamer

Warframe's big new quality of life update is making it easier to build your own Railjack

4 years 2 months ago

Warframe's first major update of 2020 is now live on PC, and it's a massive quality of life release impacting a substantial range of areas. It's intended to lay the foundations not only for the upcoming Operation Scarlet Spear, but for the year ahead too.

Developer Digital Extremes is calling today's update Warframe Revised, and it brings a total of 20 top-level changes to the experience, including AI aimbot improvements, self-damage removal, increased FOV settings, new HDR and deferred rendering support, and significant overhauls to Warframe's armour, health, and shield system.

However, the most notable adjustments for those not thoroughly entrenched in Warframe are arguably those relating to the Rising Tide quest added at the end of last year. This served as onboarding for Warframe's subsequent deep-space-combat-focussed Empyrean update, enabling players to build their own dry dock and Railjack ship to take to the stars.

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Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin working on a The Last of Us TV adaptation for HBO

4 years 2 months ago

Craig Mazin, the creator behind HBO and Sky Atlantic's acclaimed Chernobyl television series, is working on a new TV adaptation of The Last of Us.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann will work with Mazin to write the adaptation for HBO, which is currently planned to be a full series, with Mazin also serving as executive producer.

The show, a co-production with Sony Pictures Television in association with PlayStation Productions, will follow the events of the first Last of Us game (which was written by Druckmann), and chart Joel and Ellie's journey across a post-apocalyptic United States gripped by a deadly pandemic. It may introduce elements of Naughty Dog's upcoming sequel too.

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Sniper Elite spin-off Zombie Army Trilogy heading to Switch later this month

4 years 2 months ago

Zombie Army Trilogy, developer Rebellion's bundle of undead-themed Sniper Elite spin-offs, will be making its way to Switch on 31st March.

Should you opt for a purchase, you'll get remastered versions of the first two games - Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army 1 and 2 - plus the more snappily titled Zombie Army 3. All of which take the main Sniper Elite series' third-person shooting and slo-mo sniping formula and transplants it to an occult-ravaged Nazi Germany, full of demons and undead soldiers.

Across the package, there are three playable campaigns and eight playable heroes, plus a horde mode not seen in the original games. Additionally, everything can be played either solo, or via drop-in, drop-out co-op for up to 4 players.

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Ghost of Tsushima has a June 2020 release date, a new trailer and a well-timed Collector's Edition that comes with a mask

4 years 2 months ago

PlayStation 4 exclusive Ghost of Tsushima comes out 26th June, Sony has announced.

To coincide with the release date announcement, developer Sucker Punch released a new story trailer that shows some of the people protagonist Jin Sakai meets during the game.

One of these people is Jin's uncle, Shimura, the jito (lord) of Tsushima and a father figure to Jin. Here's the official blurb, courtesy of the PlayStation Blog:

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Murder by Numbers review - a witty, winning combo of puzzler and visual novel

4 years 2 months ago

Honor's having a bad day and now there's a giant stiletto embedded in the side of a drag bar.

I'll concede that the guy squished beneath the back wheels of the Pride float is probably having a worse day. But given Honor's lost her job, her showrunner pal, an award ceremony and been at the scene for not one but two recent murders - all under the shadow of a not-so-amicable divorce and a very, very irritating mother, may I add - I think she might be running a close second.

We've been called to the location by a friend of ours, K.C. Before we were fired, K.C. tended our hair and makeup on the set of our hit show Murder Miss Terri where we played second-fiddle to bolshy Becky in the titular role. But rather than calling the police on spotting what's left of the dude squished beneath the wheels of the festival float, K.C. decided to drag us into it; you know, because poor Honor hasn't been through enough.

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Ubisoft announces Roller Champions console versions, closed alpha dates

4 years 2 months ago

Ubisoft's colourful roller skating sports game, Roller Champions, has been confirmed for console at last. It was only announced for PC at E3 last year, remember.

"We are happy to announce that we are developing Roller Champions for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and mobile," said an appropriately happy product manager Stephane Drapeau in a developer video. He didn't mention any dates.

The rest of the video was given over to talking about the upcoming closed alpha on PC, which you can get in on. Testing begins 11th March and runs until 23rd March, and you put your name down for it on the Roller Champions website. If you don't get in, you'll be shortlisted for the closed beta, apparently.

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Become a data hoarder with this 4TB external drive for £65

4 years 2 months ago

A massive 4TB WD Elements external hard drive has dropped to £65 on Amazon. That's a historic low price for this well-reviewed hard drive, and it beats the next-cheapest 4TB drive on Amazon by a healthy £12.

With that much storage space on tap, you'll be able to put off de-cluttering your computer's hard drive for at least another few years - even if you're downloading AAA games or high definition video content on the regular. With typical game install sizes between 5 and 75 gigs, you'd be able to install around 100 modern triple-A games before the drive was full - and far more than that if your tastes skew towards older or indie titles.

As well as working great on PCs of all flavours via the high speed USB 3.0 connection, the drive can also be used as external game storage on Xbox One and PS4, allowing you to escape the confines of the 500GB or 1TB internal drive.

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Black Mesa review - a masterful remake that improves upon a classic

4 years 2 months ago

Typical, isn't it? You wait half your life for a new Half-Life game, then two come along at once...

All eyes may be swivelled in the direction of Half-Life: Alyx landing like a gravity-propelled toilet later this month. Yet while everyone's eagerly setting up their VR headsets in preparation, another little chapter of gaming history has just written its final page. Black Mesa, the long-in development remake of Half-Life, is done. Dusted. Finito.

"But wait!" I hear you cry. "Is Black Mesa really a Half-Life game? Can a remake by a bunch of online enthusiasts that's taken fourteen years to finish possibly live up to one of the most influential games ever made?" Well let me tell you, Black Mesa is one Half-Life-ass game. As remakes go, it's about as good as you could hope for. Black Mesa doesn't just make Half-Life better-looking. It makes Half-Life better.

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Google pinches God of War studio head to lead new Stadia studio

4 years 2 months ago

The Stadia launch was wobbly but Google isn't giving up on the stream-dream just yet. It's opened a second game development studio down in Playa Vista, LA, and hired former God of War studio head Shannon Studstill to run it.

"I've been a fan of Shannon's for a long time," said Stadia Games boss Jade Raymond, "and have admired her award-winning work leading Sony's Santa Monica Studio and the industry defining franchises like God of War that have won fans all over the world.

"She has an extensive background in product development and creative leadership, but most importantly, she's a visionary who, as the studio director, will lead and inspire the Playa Vista teams. We're thrilled to welcome her to the Stadia family!"

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Get Borderlands 3 and Red Dead 2 for £30 in the Game pre-owned sale

4 years 2 months ago

Both Borderlands 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2 can be yours for just £15 a pop thanks to Game's latest 2-for-£30 promotion on pre-owned console games.

The PS4 and Xbox One versions of Gearbox's barmy loot-shooter and Rockstar's vast western are both currently in stock, though it's difficult to say how long that'll last considering they're pre-owned copies.

Dozens of other games are included in the promotion, including a handful of the titles released in the Only on PlayStation Collection. These ten games from the PS Hits range feature specially designed sleeves with some gorgeous new artwork. Some brand new copies are still in stock for very little price difference, though, so do doublecheck before you make a purchase.

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The Valve Index VR headset will be back in stock briefly on Monday

4 years 2 months ago

The in-demand Valve Index VR headset will be back in stock this coming Monday (9th March) but is expected to sell out on the day. It will go on sale from 5pm UTC.

The time and date were announced by Valve on both Twitter and in a Steam message sent to people interested in the Index headset.

The Steam message added: "Due to high demand, we expect available stock to sell out on Monday. All purchases beyond this initial quantity will be fulfilled in the order in which they are received, as supplies increase over the coming months." In other words, get in there quick.

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All eyes on E3 as Los Angeles declares state of emergency over coronavirus

4 years 2 months ago

The future of E3 is in doubt after Los Angeles declared a state of emergency due to coronavirus.

The ESA, the organisation in charge of E3, issued an updated statement saying it was "actively assessing" the situation in light of the news.

If E3 is cancelled, the video game industry will be forced to rejig its marketing and coverage plans amid a crucial console transition year. Nintendo, for example, was set to star at the show, and while Microsoft holds its press conference next door to the Los Angeles Conference Centre, there will be little point in the event if no-one is in town to attend.

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Yes, Your Grace review - punishing, overly bleak kingdom management

4 years 2 months ago

After a long development journey since its arrival on Kickstarter in 2015, Yes, Your Grace is finally here, smaller than previously proposed, but with its original idea intact - almost a metaphor for my own in-game kingdom after I've tried my best to be a good and just king.

You play as Eryk, King of Davern, who each week welcomes petitioners to his halls to listen to their problems and hopefully find a satisfactory resolution. A line of petitioners forms in your throne room, which can include pleas from poor peasants, offers from merchants or requests from your three daughters and your wife. While your family needs you to mediate or put your foot down as head of the household, whether it's soothing your wife's worries at the state of things or your teenage girls bickering amongst each other, other petitioners have more practical needs: gold or supplies. A quick glance at your resources, permanently visible at the bottom of the screen, tells you what you have available. Spoiler alert: it's not much. It never is, and that's the whole point. For every request you grant there will be dozens you'll have to decline, managing a tight balancing act between keeping your people moderately happy and your coffers and supply stores filled.

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Control, Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus lead March's PlayStation Now offerings

4 years 2 months ago

Hey there, PlayStation Now subscriber! Are you curious to know what new streaming delights are yours for the taking this month? Then allow me to share the news that Control, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Wolfenstein 2 lead an excellent line-up of additions in March.

As of right now, PlayStation Now subscribers have access to 11 new titles, with my own personal pick being Remedy's stellar paranormal shooter Control.

Unfolding in the austere, appropriately mundane (if you can ignore the occasional dimensional instability) office building of the Federal Bureau of Control - a shadowy government agency charged with keeping the paranormal contained and away from the public - it's part wonderfully visceral, psychically-enhanced third-person shooter, part nosy exploration adventure, with both elements given a huge lift thanks to some masterful world building.

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Here's what happening on Xbox Game Pass for PC and console this month

4 years 2 months ago

Another month, another confetti shower of new games being added to Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass subscription service, with March's offerings including the previously announced Ori and the Will of the Wisps, plus Train Sim World 2020, Pikuniku, and more.

Starting with Xbox One, 5th March brings both NBA 2K20 and Train Sim World 2020. The latter promises realistic choo-choo action, including "complete in-cab interactivity, accurate detail on locos, real-world routes, and many hours of compelling gameplay".

Then, on 11th March, Xbox One players can get their hands on Ori and the Will of the Wisps, the even more gorgeous sequel to 2015's already stunning Ori and the Blind Forest. Expect another helping of challenging 2D Metroidvania action, only "larger, deeper and somehow even more sumptuous", according to Eurogamer's Martin Robinson.

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Unannounced Star Wars: Project Maverick leaks onto PlayStation Store

4 years 2 months ago

A previously unannounced new Star Wars title, currently going by the name Project Maverick, has leaked onto the PlayStation Store.

Project Maverick was initially spotted by a Resetera user after its details were scraped and spat out onto the internet by the bot-driven Twitter account psnrelease, ordinarily intended to notify followers of new PlayStation titles and updates as they arrive on Sony's store.

In this instance, however, the bot dug up details presumably not intended for public release, pertaining to a game known simply as Maverick. That in itself wouldn't have drawn much attention, were it not for the accompanying artwork, featuring an Imperial Star Destroyer, several mingling X-Wings, and the cincher: it's full name, Star Wars: Project Maverick.

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Get the best wireless headset for Switch at 25 per cent off

4 years 2 months ago

🇺🇸 From the US? The Arctis 1 Wireless is also 10 per cent off today at Amazon.com. Original article continues:

Our choice for the best gaming headset for Nintendo Switch - the SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless - has been heavily reduced on Amazon today, dropping from £100 to £75.

We like the Arctis 1 Wireless for its comfy and lightweight design, neutral audio reproduction and most of all its incredible convenience - you can use this headset wirelessly or wired with a wide range of devices, including consoles, PC and mobiles.

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Sea of Thieves enters the trap-laden Heart of Fire in next week's big update

4 years 2 months ago

In just a couple of weeks, Sea of Thieves will have reached the grand old age of two; so it seems appropriate that Rare's multiplayer pirate adventure will be celebrating in style, with the arrival of its feature-packed new Heart of Fire update next Wednesday, 11th March.

We already had a tiny taste of things to come in Sea of Thieves' imminent Heart of Fire update when Rare introduced the world to the new ship-smashing Chain Shot. It turns out that's not the only PvP-focussed item on the way, however, and next week will also drop the powerful Blunderbomb into players' eager, outstretched palms.

This throwable explosive is primarily designed to cause knock-back, meaning it's especially useful in foiling the opposition's plans. Attacking players can, for instance, sneakily peer up a ship's boarding ladder and toss the item to push back anyone guarding the top. Conversely, it can be used to knock boarding players off ladders or clean over the side of a boat, and it looks like they can be used to detach players from the likes of the capstan, wheel, and rigging too.

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An Animal Crossing player says he's about to become the world's first self-made "bellionaire"

4 years 2 months ago

Animal Crossing fans are eagerly awaiting the arrival of New Horizons, and aside from drawing wholesome fanart of Isabelle and Doomguy, it seems they now have something else to pass the time, as this week a rather special event is happening.

BrianMp16 is an Animal Crossing speedrunner who's undertaken a vast challenge: to earn one billion bells through legitimate gameplay, and then buy the game's most expensive item - a post office model costing 999,999,999 in savings. To do this, he's been playing the GameCube version of Animal Crossing for over 170 hours and earning bells by "play[ing] the Stalk Market" and shifting massive amounts of turnips. He estimates the entire process will take him about 180 hours, a historic feat he's set to achieve this Friday.

"Since Animal Crossing was released on September 16th, 2002, players worldwide have legitimately acquired every possible item in the game except one - the Post Model," BrianMp16 explained on Reddit. "This item has been considered the holy grail of Animal Crossing games due to the overwhelming amount of time and effort needed to get it by maxing out your bank account."

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The best PS2 games - on PlayStation 2's 20th anniversary

4 years 2 months ago

PlayStation 2 is 20 years old today; 4th March 2000 is the date of its Japanese release, although it wouldn't make it to the West until the end of the year. And what a way to kick off a new millennium - with a futuristic games console and (probably) a DVD of The Matrix.

At 155 million units sold, PS2 is the best-selling home console of all time, and during its time it enjoyed a hegemony over console gaming that hasn't been seen since. Part of that was down to its trailblazing predecessor and Sony's canny branding - classy, cool, and above all grown-up. Part of that was because it played the new DVD format relatively cheaply. But most of it was down to the console's astonishing software library, which matched quantity with quality all the way down. So many all-time greats made their debut on this machine, and so many creative, left-field gems too.

So it seemed like the only fair way to celebrate PS2's birthday was by running down 30 of our favourite games for it. What a machine!

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Pokémon Mystery Dungeon DX review - a sweet but clumsy remake

4 years 2 months ago

I am trying to think of what game it was that Pokémon Mystery Dungeon DX reminds me of and honestly, I just cannot remember. Which is apt! Or we'll make it apt anyway, if you'll bear with me. It's apt because Mystery Dungeon is one of those dreamy, trancelike, somewhat transient games. A playable hypnagogia daydream: all quite pleasant while you're there but then as soon as you leave, poof! It's gone from memory.

Much of that dreaminess comes from a fairly obvious source. Mystery Dungeon DX is a remaster of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue team games that came out in the early noughties, and one of DX's headline revisions is how it looks. The pixel art is gone, replaced with a kind of watercolour splash, and as such you're reminded, a bit, of that classic quest in Oblivion (no that's not the game I was thinking of) where you're stuck inside a painting. Then there's the fact you are literally a human trapped inside the body of a Pokémon, and that you keep having these rather disturbing dreams, and all the contrast and saturation seems to be dialled-up beyond the natural average, and yes. A dream. Slightly magical, slightly unsettling, a tiny bit forgettable, and at the same time a tiny bit of it will be burned into your mind's eye.

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God of War is only £10 for PS Plus members in the latest PSN sale

4 years 2 months ago

Not content with running one or two sales, Sony has just launched three new promotions on the PSN Store with huge discounts on some of the biggest PS4 games - even more so if you're a PS Plus member.

The best offers are hiding in the PS Plus Double Discount promotion where you can find up to 70 per cent off a range of PS4 games.

Of everything, God of War for just £9.59 is easily the most tantalising bargain there. Santa Monica's accomplished reimaging of Kratos' rage-fuelled shenanigans is slick, vast and wonderfully made. That's mostly thanks to the endless joy of lobbing the Leviathan Axe at something's face over and over and over again. Perhaps, one day, I might go back and defeat all the Valkyries.

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Valve: "We absolutely see Half-Life: Alyx as our return to this world, not the end of it"

4 years 2 months ago

Valve has indicated more Half-Life games will follow the release of VR title Half-Life: Alyx, putting Half-Life 3 hopefuls on alert.

In an interview with Game Informer, Valve's Robin Walker was asked directly whether the company was still working on Half-Life 3. Here's his response:

"Half-Life means a lot to us, and it's been incredibly rewarding to refamiliarise ourselves with its characters, setting, and mechanics. There are Half-Life: Alyx team members who have been at Valve since Half-Life 2, and quite a few who go back to the original Half-Life. There are also people on the team for whom Half-Life: Alyx is their first time working on this series at all - and many of them certainly hope it's not the last. We absolutely see Half-Life: Alyx as our return to this world, not the end of it."

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Surprise! Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is now on mobile

4 years 2 months ago

Like a bat out of hell, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night has suddenly appeared on mobile devices without any warning or heads-up from Konami. I'll take it.

Available on both iOS and Android, the game costs £2.99 and comes with full controller support. As noted by The Verge, it looks like this mobile game is based on the PSP and PS4 versions rather than the PlayStation original. Here's a look at the mobile version's UI:

First released in 1997, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night had a mediocre release in terms of sales, but became something of an occult classic - and often tops lists of the best games of all time. It was re-released as a PS4-exclusive bundle alongside Rondo of Blood in 2018, but given Konami seems eager to keep porting it, perhaps there's a chance we'll see it resurrected again on other consoles. We can only dream.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare now has an £8 Tomogunchi watch

4 years 2 months ago

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare now has the Tomogunchi watch developer Infinity Ward teased before the game came out in 2019.

The 1000 COD Points (around £8) cosmetic, which is included in a bundle, features a retro style and, on its face, a critter that's struggling to crack open from its initial egg form.

There's a lot more to the Tomogunchi than the other watches in the game - so much so that it's basically its own mini-game you play while fighting in multiplayer.

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Someone should make a game about: The Baron in the Trees

4 years 2 months ago

Hello, and welcome to our new series which picks out interesting things that we'd love someone to make a game about.

This isn't a chance for us to pretend we're game designers, more an opportunity to celebrate the range of subjects games can tackle and the sorts of things that seem filled with glorious gamey promise.

Check out our 'Someone should make a game about' archive for all our pieces so far.

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Seven months after being delisted, DuckTales: Remastered has returned to digital stores

4 years 2 months ago

Seven months after it was delisted from digital storefronts, DuckTales: Remastered is back.

DuckTales: Remastered, which was developed by WayForward and initially released for PC and consoles in 2013, bid a fond farewell to all platforms in a flurry of dramatic discounts last August - and while publisher Capcom never offered an explanation for its removal, it seemed reasonable to assume that licensing issues were to blame.

Now, though, it's returned with equally little explanation. "If you missed this gem the first time around," says Capcom in its announcement post, "now's the perfect time to dive in. Calling back to the golden age of 8-bit gaming and Saturday morning cartoons, DuckTales: Remastered features hand-drawn animated sprites that bring each character to life in a vibrant world."

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Mario Kart Tour's multiplayer mode launches Monday in the UK

4 years 2 months ago

Mario Kart Tour, which is sort of what you'd get if microtransactions had wheels, will no longer be a strictly solo affair as of next week; the iOS and Android racer's long-promised multiplayer mode is set to arrive on Monday, 9th March in the UK.

When the "free-to-start" Mario Kart Tour launched on mobile devices last September, it was lacking anything resembling the series' beloved real-time multiplayer racing, with the only vaguely competitive element existing in the form of World Ranking leaderboards.

Nintendo added the option to beta test a more traditional multiplayer mode last December, but only for those signed up to (or trialing) the game's dubious £5/month Gold Pass.

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Upgrading a classic: a first look at the technology of Final Fantasy 7 Remake

4 years 2 months ago

Potentially one of the most exciting games of the year, Final Fantasy 7 Remake takes a beloved, stone-cold PS1 classic and revitalises it with the power of current generation console technology. What were once basic polygon models overlaid on pre-rendered backgrounds, interspersed with full motion video CG sequences has evolved - with full real-time rendering at a quality that far exceeds what Squaresoft could even dream of, let alone achieve back in 1997. The excitement is palpable - stoked still further by the surprise 'drop' of a demo early on Monday morning.

In an age of often colossal downloads, it's refreshing to see the demo clock in at just 8GB - a drop in the water next to the 100GB install size understood to be listed on the retail box. Still, the demo packs a real punch, offering 45-60 minutes of action, depending on how you tackle it, covering Cloud and Avalanche's route up to the first Mako reactor core. You learn the basics of combat, evade laser beam traps and end it all with a boss battle against a Scorpion boss.

It's literally the first hour of the game, but obviously, it's not final code - PSN hackers were able to access the demo months ago, after all. With that in mind, gameplay elements can be altered and story elements tweaked by the time the game launches on April 10th. Technically though, what we've got right here with this Unreal Engine 4-powered project is already extremely polished on PS4 and PS4 Pro, to the point where if Square-Enix ships the title like this, we'd be perfectly happy.

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Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary joins the Master Chief Collection on PC today

4 years 2 months ago

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, the spruced-up edition of Bungie's seminal Xbox shooter, is available as part of The Master Chief Collection on PC from today.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection launched on Steam, the Microsoft Store, and Xbox Games Pass for PC last December, and unlike the Xbox One version - which currently includes every major game in the series released to date - initially arrived with just Halo: Reach.

As such, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is the second title to grace the collection for PC players, and arrives with "new features, optimisations, and customisations built for the platform". There's the option to play with classic or enhanced visuals, updated shadow and texture quality, plus support 60 fps and above, 4K UHD, ultra-wide displays and different aspect ratios, control rebinding, native mouse/keyboard, and more.

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The Division 2 heading to Stadia later this month with PC cross-play

4 years 2 months ago

Google's Stadia has been slowly bolstering its catalogue in recent weeks - adding the likes of Image & Form's Steamworld series and, as of today, Croteam's Serious Sam - but it's been quite some time since the streaming service received anything close to a recent blockbuster. That will change on 17th March, however, with the arrival of The Division 2.

Ubisoft's The Division 2, which released on other platforms just shy of a year ago now, is arguably the highest profile title to hit Stadia since Borderlands 3's launch in December. And the good news for users of the streaming service is that The Division 2's recently unveiled Warlords of New York premium expansion will join Stadia alongside the base game, meaning purchasers will have access to the most up-to-date edition.

Better still, and perhaps crucially given Stadia's comparatively limited player base while it remains a premium-only service, The Division 2 will support full cross-play with the PC version of the game, ensuring a more substantial player pool on launch day. To take advantage of this cross-play functionality, purchasers will need to link their Stadia account to their Uplay account, which also grants cross-progression between both versions.

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A video game is being used to help fight coronavirus

4 years 2 months ago

The coronavirus outbreak is currently dominating the headlines - but among the doom and gloom is something a little more hopeful, as researchers are hoping a video game could help find a solution to the spread of COVID-19.

Developed by the University of Washington and first released in 2008, Foldit is a free puzzle game where players try to fold the structures of proteins as perfectly as possible. It's similar in aim to other protein folding programmes you may have heard of, such as Folding@home by Stanford University that was available on PS3 - although that one asked for raw computing power. Overall, a pretty smart way to share the research workload with over 200,000 people, and a paper by Foldit's creators found the player base is equal to (or often better than) a computer in finding solutions.

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Destiny 2 Season of the Worthy kicks off next week - and you get to power up Rasputin

4 years 2 months ago

Destiny 2's Season of the Worthy kicks off next week at 6pm UK time on 10th March.

Season of the Worthy brings back popular hardcore Destiny 1 PVP mode Trials of Osiris, as well as some Destiny 1 maps, new exotic weapons and armour, a new season pass and a bit more story.

Speaking of story, the Cabal send colossal Cabal space weapon The Almighty on a collision course with the Last City, so you have to power up and then fight alongside Rasputin, the big Destiny Warmind, to take it out. Here's the official blurb:

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Microsoft unveils Phantom Magenta and Arctic Camo Xbox Controllers

4 years 2 months ago

Microsoft has announced two new special edition Xbox Controllers due for release later this year.

First up is the rather threatening-sounding Phantom Magenta Special Edition Wireless Controller. This is (apparently) the third controller to be released in the 'Phantom' series after the White and Black versions.

Like those previous two, it features a strong colour that fades towards the top of the controller to a more translucent design so you can catch a sneaky glimpse of the inner workings. Very sci-fi. It'll be available from 17th March.

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FIFA 20 pro distraught after bizarre penalty shootout bug knocks him out of official EA tournament

4 years 2 months ago

A professional FIFA player lost a crucial penalty shootout to a bizarre bug that caused the game to fail to detect a perfectly valid goal.

On Sunday 1st March, Giuseppe Guastella, a five-time FIFA world finalist who plays the game for LA Galaxy, was knocked out of the North American online qualifiers for the FUT Champions Cup after FIFA 20 determined he missed a penalty that was, clearly, a goal.

In a video posted to Twitter, we see Guastella hit the ball against the post and into the net, but for some reason FIFA 20 called it a miss. The commentary, which runs as if he's missed (Lee Dixon says: "Oh no! I feel for him! All that rehearsal in training, he's gone and fluffed his lines!"), just makes the whole thing worse.

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Bloodstained dev ditches $5m Roguelike stretch goal over four years after Kickstarter success

4 years 2 months ago

The developer of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has ditched a Kickstarter stretch goal four years after it was reached.

In a post on the Bloodstained Kickstarter page, chief developer Koji Igarashi said the Roguelike stretch goal, promised when the Castlevania spiritual successor's crowdfunding drive hit $5m, won't happen.

Roguelike was meant to add procedurally generated dungeons to the game. Here's how it was pitched when it was announced on 11th June 2015, just after the Bloodstained Kickstarter hit $4m:

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Apex Legends tackles its grenade spam problem with inventory changes

4 years 2 months ago

If you've ever been fortunate enough to make it to the final few circles of an Apex Legends match, you may have encountered something like this:

Grenade spam has been a bit of an issue since Apex Legends was released last year, particularly in tight final circles where grenades become harder to avoid. The inventory system previously allowed grenade stacks of two, meaning you could store up dozens of explosives and simply unleash them all onto an enemy squad.

Well, it sounds like that tactic will work no longer, as Respawn is rebalancing the entire inventory system as part of the changes introduced alongside the System Override Collection Event.

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Grab a cut-price memory card or external NVMe SSD at Amazon today

4 years 2 months ago

A selection of SanDisk memory cards and WD external NVMe SSDs are on sale at Amazon UK today. If you're looking to upgrade the storage in your Switch, smartphone, action cam or mirrorless camera then check out the Micro SD card deals; otherwise for PC and console upgrades check out the WD external SSDs further on down the page!

Let's hit the SanDisk Micro SD cards first. One regular speed SanDisk Ultra card (rated up to 100MB/s reads) and three speedy SanDisk Extreme cards (rated up to 160MB/s reads) are on sale. Here's how they break down in terms of value, with the biggest reductions on the larger 512GB and 1TB capacities:

The recently developed 512GB and 1TB drives still hold a premium over their older 200GB and 400GB counterparts, but the price per gigabyte has dropped steadily over the past months and now going for a very high capacity card has become more reasonable. 200GB and 256GB Micro SD cards remain the sweet spot, I think, with a similar 256GB card from Integral costing £28 at present - just 11p per gigabyte.

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Death Stranding and Control lead BAFTA nominations with 11 each

4 years 2 months ago

The 2020 BAFTA Game Awards nominations were announced this morning, and the big winners are Kojima Productions' Death Stranding and Remedy's Control, with a record-breaking 11 nominations apiece.

Other widely nominated games were Disco Elyisum (7 nominations), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Life is Strange 2 and Outer Wilds (5 nominations), and Knights and Bikes, Untitled Goose Game and Luigi's Mansion 3 (4 nominations).

There are new categories for animation and technical achievement, while the performance award has been split into two categories, for leading and supporting roles.

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Mini Motorways and Mini Metro: as different as cars and trains

4 years 2 months ago

It makes sense that Apple Arcade's Mini Motorways asks different things of me than Mini Metro, because cars are very different from trains. Still, it took me a while to understand quite how I had to approach things, and it took even longer to let all my Mini Metro instincts fall silent.

Mini Metro is a game about making underground systems, creating various coloured lines that link together stations marked by a variety of shapes. The point, I think, is to encourage diversity. You want a line that can take any traveller to its intended station, which means a line that covers all the shapes for all the different shapes of traveller. It's wonderfully positive in this regard: it sees cities as places where diversity is a strength, and there's a certain understanding that if you're using public transport you're not going to go directly to your destination anyway - everyone is in it together, which means you can all expect to go around the houses.

Cars though! Mini Motorway initially looks kind of similar to Mini Metro. You have stores and you have houses, and you have to lay down roads to connect the stores to the houses. Basically, the stores make requests and people in the houses have to fulfil them, by sending cars out to the stores and then back to the houses. Rather than dividing things up by shapes, the game sorts by colour. Pink houses to pink stores! Orange houses to orange stores.

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