Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Last week Intel published a “quick start guide” for their upcoming Arc A-series graphics cards, including a “Supported Hardware Configurations” section that only specifically namechecked their own 10th, 11th and 12th Gen Core CPUs. Cue a heady mix of confusion and perturbation – surely Intel weren’t suggesting that Arc GPUs would only function when paired with an Intel CPU, and a relatively new one at that?

No, they weren’t, though the guide’s vague wording isn’t doing it – and worse, potential Arc users – any favours. Parts of the guide appear to conflate support for Resizable BAR with support for the Arc A-series in general, which further muddies things as Resizable BAR works on AMD Ryzen chips as well as those three Core CPU generations. I asked Intel directly for clarification and essentially, Arc GPUs won’t have such super specific CPU requirements just to run - though they’ll apparently perform better in systems that do support Resizable BAR.

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The Acter Nitro 5 is a strong if unremarkable gaming laptop, offering excellent performance for the money in a rather typical gamer-y design. It doesn't look quite as cool as a Razer Blade or as beautifully thick as an XMG Apex 15, but it's got it where it counts: inside. Right now, you can pick up a Nitro 5 laptop with an RTX 3080 graphics card, Ryzen 7 5800H processor, 1TB NVMe SSD and 1080p 360Hz screen for just £1499 at Ebuyer - a nearly £400 reduction from its original UK RRP.

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The Arctic P12 is one of the best value high-performance case fans - and now you can get five for £23, some 20% off their usual (already good!) price.

These fans come in black without RGB for a stealthy look, can be daisy-chained to make cable management easier and can be controlled via PWM from 200 to 1800RPM. In terms of performance, every review I've found mentions their great value, but they also detail whisper-quiet performance at low RPMs.

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One of the best parts of Cyberpunk 2077 is Night City itself, a loud and colourful place full of interesting details and decorations. I explored loads on foot, I explored more with the mod adding trains V can ride, and today I've explored even more with a mod adding hovercars. It's very cool, and I have only crashed about a hundred times.

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I realised earlier that today was the last day of Steam Next Fest, and I panicked. I remembered seeing one particular demo on Steam which made my ears prick up and my eyes expand to thrice their usual size, and until now I hadn't the time to try it out. So today I carved out a small portion of the day to download and play the demo for Dome Keeper, a wave-based survival game about protecting your glass dome home from alien invaders using a gigantic laser.

Unfortunately, I ended up playing it a little too long, and now I've left myself no time at all to write about why it was so great. Argh. Let me try anyway.

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The blue hedgehog is back! He goes very fast in his latest instalment, Sonic Frontiers! And lots of fans – naturally – think it looks terrible! The scepticism is understandable. But having gone hands-on with it at Summer Geoff Fest, I'd like to pose a counter argument: the game needs to be played. Just seeing it with your eyeballs doesn't do it justice. Yes, it's a weird departure for Sonic, but I am here for it.

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I didn't get to play as much at Steam Next Fest this weekend as I usually do, partly because I just ran out of time, and partly because the time I did have I spent playing Necrosmith. There were some demos I was meant to play for, like, actual work, and then I ran into a puzzle wall or a bug or something so I just fired up Necrosmith again.

Necrosmith is a 2D necromance 'em up that is also sort of a tower defence game. In the middle of the map is your evil lair, the Hall Of Bones, a sort of legally distinct Sauron's tower that gets more flying buttresses the more you upgrade it. If enemies (which can be packs of wolves or flying bugs or all manner of things) do enough damage to destroy it, you lose - so that's your defense bit. For the towers bit, you have to imagine that the towers can move on their own, and also that they're shambling undead monsters made from a jigsaw of different limbs you find, like an army of very unhygenic Mr Potato Heads.

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Dinosaurs are cool and scary right? Spiders aren’t so great but they’re definitely biologically intimidating to humans too. Combine the two and you get Shantae developers WayForward’s Spidersaurs, which describes itself as a 2D co-op run’n’gun action game. It’s coming to Steam soon, say WayForward. Try not to get the theme tune stuck in your head when you watch the trailer below.

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Of all the demos featured in this past week’s Steam Next Fest, indie environmental ‘reverse city-builder’ Terra Nil has performed exceedingly well for itself. The demo has cropped up among the top 50 on the most-played games on Steam over the weekend, and is currently nestled between Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord and Vampire Survivors. Not bad for a chill game about rewilding a barren planet.

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Every weekend, indie devs show off current work on Twitter's #screenshotsaturday tag. And every Monday, I bring you a selection of these snaps and clips. This time, come admire some rotoscoping, Ponging, and two very different metroidvanias.

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Bungie and Canadian company Elite Boss Tech, the creators of cheating software for Destiny 2, have reached an agreement in a copyright infringement lawsuit that Bungie brought. Elite Boss Tech have agreed to pay Bungie $13.5 million (£11 million). The agreement includes a permanent injunction against Elite Boss Tech that prohibits them from making more software that infringes on Bungie’s. Details of the stipulated consent judgement between the two companies, which has yet to be signed off by the court, were reported by Torrentfreak.

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Sundays are for melting into a puddle. Before you bubble on the pavement, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things).

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The Legend Of Heroes: Trails From Zero is heading to PC with an English language release, 12 years after its initial launch. The port is being helmed by Peter "Durante" Thoman - known for JRPG ports and Dark Souls fixes, mainly - and a new developer blog post goes into detail about the ways in which Trails From Zero is being modernised.

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One of the ways Steam wormed its way into every inch of PC gaming was by releasing useful tools that make developers' lives easier. Epic would like their Epic Games Store to also be wormy, and an early step is, hey, still about Steam. The Epic Online Services SDK 1.15, released this week, includes tools that let developers enable crossplay between players on Epic Games Store and players of the same game on Steam.

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First-person tactical shooter Ready Or Not disappeared from Steam on June 16th, prompting a flurry of rumours as to why. Now it's back and the developers say that the removal was because a "takedown request was issued via Steam concerning a suggested trademark infringement in our recent Night Club map."

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Throwback first-person shooters are penny a bushel at the moment, but while most aim to replicate the boomsticks of Quake, Agent 64: Spies Never Die mimics the PPKs and hacking gadgetry of another 90's classic. Maybe the name gives it away: it's Rare's GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64, and there's currently a demo available to play as part of the Steam Next Fest.

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Not-E3 2022 is over, and we can all agree: it took place. Onwards! Or for our friends in England and Wales, downwards, into a puddle, melted by the heat. Still, the Steam Next Fest is underway, with so many great demos to try out if you can maintain your corporeal form this weekend. So what are you playing this weekend? Here's what we're clicking on!

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Not E3 2022 is over. It's done. I think? I mean there's a Nacon showcase in July but, I mean come on now, we can't start classing events that occur outside of June as being part of the event formerly known as E3 can we? That would be preposterous. Before long it would spool out across the entire year, absorbing every month until E3 is a constant series of video events that could happen at any point. Do you want to live in a world where Geoff Keighley is allowed to drop a World Premiere at 4PM on Christmas Day? It doesn't bear thinking about, really, does it.

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Denton's Law states: whenever someone talks to you about Deus Ex, there is a 45.1% chance you will start a new playthrough. If it's your turn this time, reader dear, wait one second! Perhaps you might enjoy a twist on this classic immersive sim? The Deus Ex Randomizer mod shuffles just about everything in the game, adding random surprises and new challenges to an old favourite, and it recently released a new version. See its random surprises in the new trailer, below.

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Apparently I'm very musical, which will come as a shock to anyone who's heard me sing. But when I found myself playing By The Rivers of Babylon by ear to thank a sentient stone head for opening a door, I realised why Sonority had grabbed me so easily.

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Apparently I'm very musical, which will come as a shock to anyone who's heard me sing. But when I found myself playing By The Rivers of Babylon by ear to thank a sentient stone head for opening a door, I realised why Sonority had grabbed me so easily.

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There's something so intriguing about a new survival game. You just never know what you might find, with some becoming the best thing since cubed diamonds and others getting left in a state of endless early-access jank. Partly to help you all avoid the duds and partly to satisfy my own morbid curiosity, I trawled through this Summer's Steam Next Fest demo list to test out a bunch. As you might expect, I got subjected to some chugging framerates and a bit of body horror, but also found some great multiplayer shooting in Dysterra and terrific tile-placement in Above Snakes, which might just become a new personal favourite.

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As I might have mentioned once or twice, one of my joys in life is dipping and drifting around rivers and ponds, lochs and seas. I am delighted to see some of the gentle pleasure and wonder of that captured in Naiad, an upcoming game about a water spirit adventuring downstream. It has a free demo in the Steam Next Fest, and it is quite lovely. I believe it to be what the youth call 'wholesome'.

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I confess, I was worried about revolutionary robot Soulslike Steelrising. I'd seen it in a hands-off capacity and thought it looked like it could be in line for the Soulslike throne, but with Action-RPGs it's all about hand feel: does it feel rough or smooth under the thumbsticks? As luck would have it, I managed to get hands-on with the game to confirm whether its substance does, in fact, match its style. Here are my findings.

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One of Nate's favourite animals (apart from all of them) are elephants, so for this edition of our supporter-funded special extra podcast we talk about some of the best 'phants from history, including a cool one that had all armour and one that sadly lost a fight with a train. Thank you once again from the bottom of our massive elephant hearts to our lovely supporters, who let us have lovely silly chats like this.

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In 2019, Dragon's Dogma director Hideaki Itsuno said Capcom had gaven him the freedom to choice between making a sequel to the fascinating fantasy RPG and making Devil May Cry 5. He went with DMC. But that punchfest has been out for years so...? Yes! Capcom last night announced Dragon's Dogma 2, following a nice presentation where the devs reminisced about making the first game.

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Back in November, the Wall Street Journal reported that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick was aware of some allegations of sexual misconduct among the company’s staff but did not inform the board of directors. Well, Activision Blizzard’s board issued a statement yesterday saying that "an objective review" from external advisors "determined the Board never intentionally ignored or attempted to downplay the instances of gender harassment that occurred and were reported”, and that there is no evidence "suggesting any attempt by any senior executive or employee to conceal information from the Board."

In fact, another, separate review of data concludes that "there was no widespread harassment, pattern or practice of harassment, or systemic harassment at Activision Blizzard or at any of its business units" in the United States between September 1st, 2016 and December 31st, 2021. Indeed, "based on the volume of reports, the amount of misconduct reflected is comparatively low for a company the size of Activision Blizzard." You can read the SEC filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in full here.

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The world's most popular* USB condenser mic, the Blue Yeti, is 30% off at Amazon UK right now. This mic is an institution amongst podcasters, game streamers and interviewers, thanks to its detailed sound capture and simple plug-and-play setup.

*probably

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Square Enix’s 25th anniversary livestream for Final Fantasy VII played out in almost textbook fashion for the JRPG giants, starting and ending with the two most important pieces of news for PC players. First up, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade leaves Epic exclusivity to steer its motorbike onto Steam today. Steam Deck compatibility was touted too, you lucky beggars.

Then, after much faffing with mobile games and memorabilia, producer Yoshinori Kitase revealed footage from the second part of Remake, now known as Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Kitase also confirmed that the Final Fantasy VII Remake saga might actually be completed in our lifetimes, thanks to Square Enix deciding to draw it to a close with a third, as yet untitled part. Gawp at Sephiroth’s broad shoulders from behind by watching the trailer below.

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Two of the best value Nvidia RTX graphics cards are available at RRP in the UK, as Nvidia Founders Edition cards restock at Scan. This is an excellent opportunity to pick up the highlight of the RTX 30-series lineup, representing the best value choices for 1440p and 4K gaming.

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Valorant is getting a new map with the release of Episode 5 Act 1 on June 22nd. It's called Pearl and it's set in an underwater town in Portugal. That sounds interesting, but the same update will also see the removal of Split, one of Valorant's original three levels.

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Prison Architect has received a new DLC and free update. The Gangs DLC introduces - no surprise - new gangs to your prison and expands their significance, allowing them to grow in power by recruiting new members and forcing you to struggle to rehabilitate them. The free update, meanwhile, includes bug fixes and a handful of new features.

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It was easy to miss amid the onslaught of trailers, but Slime Rancher 2 got a new release window during this past week's not-E3 shenanigans. In a new trailer showing more of its colourful goo-hoovering, the previously vague "2022" was upgraded to the somewhat more specific "fall 2022".

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Resident Evil modders have had an eventful week. First, Capcom released a free update for Resident Evils 2, 3 and 7 Biohazard which introduced ray tracing and higher framerates. Unfortunately, the update also broke every existing mod for those games, with no quick fix available.

All's well that ends well, though. In response to "overwhelming community response", Capcom have made the previous versions of the games available again, so that those wishing to use mods can roll back if they wish.

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I am, at present, the world record holder on one level in Neon White. Admittedly, "world record" is less impressive when only developers and media have played, and I expect to be toppled soon after it launches today. Point is: while writing this post about how much I adore the speedrunning FPS, several times I've had ideas about how I might make that record time even faster, so I've stopped writing, dropped into Neon White for a few minutes, and come back out with a new record. I adore this game, and I might never finish this post.

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My biggest question about Starship Troopers Colon Terran Command was what tone it would strike. The RTS potential for an interplanetary ground war against overwhelming swarms of giant not-insects is obvious enough. But the dual spirit of most Paul Verhoeven films is a major reason that The Extraordinary Lust Of Dizzy (working title: Starship Troopers) still holds up 25 years on.

Terran Command understands that. Certainly it nods to the satire here and there, but mostly it focuses on the shooting and desperate defences and evacuations instead. This was the right decision. Though it's a little short on narrative flavour, unless you're really into exploring the setting, it's got enough tactical heft to make up for it.

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Nightingale is an upcoming PvE open-world survival craft 'em up by Inflexion Games, a studio led by former BioWare boss Aaryn Flynn. Imogen (RPS in peace) spoke with him earlier this year about the game's gaslamp fantasy setting and why they chose to enter the survival genre gauntlet, among many other things. At this year's Summer Geoff Fest, I caught up with Flynn for another quick chat. This time, we dug into the game's recently revealed card crafting and realm-hopping features, as well as the choices you might make along the way.

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This week Matthew and Nate are both away, but luckily I'm joined by two very special guests to discuss our favourite games from Summer Geoff Fest and the Not E3 2022 steams and showcases this past weekend. Rebecca from our guides team has been doing exhaustive work doing live chats and roundups for almost all the streams, and Edders was actually out in Los Angeles to play some games and chat to people. He even saw St. Geoff in the flesh. Wowser!

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The auto-attacking action of Vampire Survivors and rude 'tude of Flash games combines in Brotato, an upcoming indie game with a free demo available in the Steam Next Fest right now. We play as a potato dodging around waves of aliens while blasting them with sticks, stones, guns, knives, rocket launchers, and weird mutations. I mean it as a great compliment when I say the roguelikelike arena survive 'em up feels like a Newgrounds game.

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Infinifactory developers Zachtronics have revealed what they say is their last game, Last Call BBS. It’s a compilation of eight smaller games, some new and some reworked elements of previous games. These range from assembling Gundam-esque models to the tile-matching from Exapunks, now with an added single–player campaign. Of course, there’s two solitaire games thrown in for good measure too. Check out Zachtronics’ last hurrah in the trailer below.

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