In a new Gridiron Notes, Madden NFL 23 discusses changes coming to how Free Agents will work in the Franchise Mode of the upcoming game.

Part of what players will get to experience when working with Free Agents this time around will be reworking the Free Agent Hub visuals, which should bring some of the excitement back into the process. Madden NFL 23 understands how important building a team is, so these changes are written as, “from all new screens, to additional evaluation periods, player motivations and added salary cap functions there is a whole new dynamic to engage with when trying to put together the ideal roster.”

There is also a video accompanying the Gridiron Notes entry that you can see below.

One of the massive changes to the way Free Agents will work is the implementation of Player Motivations. In previous titles, Free Agents would sign with the team that offered the most money, but now there is a little bit more to it for convincing players to sign.

Apex Legends' current season is set to end just under a month from now. Naturally, as the current season begins to wind down, players are growing more curious about the contents of Season 14, with theories and questions overtaking the /r/ApexLore subreddit and various datamining finds being posted to /r/ApexUncovered on a daily basis.

Very little verifiable information on the upcoming season is currently available, but between datamining leaks and some hidden hints from Respawn, we've managed to piece some of the picture together. Keep reading for a rundown of all the content that is likely to make its debut when Apex Legends Season 14 launches.

Wild cosmetics

A hunting- or safari-themed event appears to be in the works, as dataminers have uncovered a collection of cosmetic items that reflect a wildlife theme. Cosmetics include character skins, weapon charms, and banner frames. These could be battle pass items, but there are relatively few of them, so most players and dataminers assume these items are part of a limited-time event.

Nintendo is buying an animation studio. The company announced on July 14, 2022, that it is acquiring Japan-based Dynamo Pictures. According to Nintendo's press release, the acquisition is intended to "strengthen the planning and production structure of visual content in the Nintendo group." The acquisition is expected to cost 34.5 million JPY (about $250,000 USD).

When the deal closes in October 2022, Dynamo Pictures will be renamed "Nintendo Pictures." It will focus on "the development of visual content utilizing Nintendo IP (Intellectual Property)."

Dynamo Pictures isn't particularly well-known among anime fans. However, the CG animation studio has helped with a variety of productions throughout the anime industry. Dynamo is credited with work on the Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 film, creating models of the Evangelion units. It assisted with CG animation for Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, Back Arrow, Harlock: Space Pirate, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, Yuri!!! on Ice, and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. It also performed motion capture for games like Monster Hunter Stories, Persona 5, Death Stranding, and even the remake of NieR Replicant. It's even done MX4D work, adapting films like Demon Slayer: Mugen Train and Evangelion 3.0+1.0 to the environmental effects of MX4D "Immersive Seating."

BioWare Points. You remember them, right? Once purchased in “packs,” they’d allow you to buy DLC for BioWare games on PC that you weren’t allowed to just directly buy with real money for some reason. In October, EA will be phasing out the premium currency. The publisher has sent out emails to those with remaining…

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A new developer diary has revealed that the new Skate title, which has been officially dubbed simply “Skate.” (period included), will be a free-to-play game. A lengthy update video divulged a number of details, including an idea of how monetization will look and why developer Full Circle chose to go the FTP route. 

Full Circle creative director Cuz Parry explains the decision to go FTP stems from the team’s desire for players across all platforms and budgets to easily access its upcoming skateboarding simulator. It also wants to keep the community together, citing how DLC in previous Skate titles splintered the player base. To that end, Skate will support cross-play and cross-progression across consoles, PC, and mobile. 

As a FTP game, Skate will have microtransactions, but the team wants to remain friendly to players. The designers emphasize that Skate is not pay-to-win and will not have paid loot boxes. Furthermore, map areas will not be locked behind paywalls. Cosmetics will be the focus of monetization, though you can still unlock these items traditionally. The teams say it’s examining games like Apex Legends as points of reference for its monetization model.

Full Circle describes Skate as neither a sequel nor a reboot but rather something closer to a live-service title that the team plans to support with new content and improvements for years to come. “There won’t be a Skate 5 through 10,” says Parry. “We won’t be pumping them out all the time.” 

Preorders for God of War: Ragnarok went up just hours ago and already grifters have loaded eBay with inflated listings, doubling or even almost tripling the standard price of the collector’s editions.

For context, you can preorder three different versions of God of War: Ragnarok, all coming with different extras and goodies. The launch edition is the base price: $69.99 for PlayStation 5 and $60 for PlayStation 4. It comes with a couple skins for Kratos and Atreus. The collector’s edition costs $200. It comes with replica Mjolnir, a dice set, two Vanir twin carvings, a steelbook display case, a knowledge keepers shine, and a voucher for digital goods. Finally, the Jotnar edition costs $260. It includes many of the bonuses of the collector’s edition, but also includes an alternate dice set, a seven-inch Vinyl, a pin set, and a Draupnir Ring. It is expensive, but also pretty standard pricing for new collector’s editions.

In contrast, confirmed preorder listings on eBay are costing anywhere from $260 to $445 for the collector’s edition and $448 to $600 for the Jotnar edition. It’s an absurd elevation in price across the board. While you might still be able to grab a special edition preorder, collector's editions go fast and several retailers are already listing Ragnarok's special editions as out of stock.

God of War: Ragnarok is releasing for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on November 9. In other PlayStation news, Sony's acquisition of Bungie is now official.

Xur has once again arrived in Destiny 2, bringing a fresh stock of Exotic weapons, armor, and Legendary-class gear to the solar system. Some of which have some very desirable perks. Those may come in handy with Iron Banner going on right now and the Solstice event set to begin next week. We'll update this story shortly with where to find Xur and what he's selling for this weekend once he arrives with the daily reset.

This week, you can find Xur in The Tower ,in the Hangar. For his weapon, Xur is offering Suros Regime. Hunters can pick up the Bombardiers boots; Titans can grab the Ashen Wake gauntlets; and for Warlocks, Xur has the Crown of Tempests helmet.

Xur Location

Start at the Courtyard transmat zone in the Tower to get to Xur this week. After spawning in, turn left and head down the ramp, then down the stairs ahead. When you reach the Hangar, hang a left and head north. At the back of the area is a metal staircase leading up to a catwalk, where you'll find Xur.

2022 started off with an absolute bang in the gaming industry: Elden Ring took you to the Lands Between to punish players, Horizon Forbidden West saw Aloy’s story reach new heights, and Dying Light 2: Stay Human tasked players with surviving the zombie apocalypse. It’s crazy to think that we’re only halfway through the year, and if you’re a PlayStation gamer, you still have plenty of incredible titles to look forward to. I hope you’re caught up on your backlogs because here are the best games heading to PS4 and PS5 before the end of 2022.

Stray

Top 10 Best PS4 & PS5 Games Still Coming in 2022

Would you believe it if we told you that Stray is currently at the top of the Steam wishlist charts? The feline adventure has taken the gaming scene by storm.

Bandai Namco released another character trailer of its upcoming fighting game JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R.

This time around, we take a look at Diamond is Unbreakable character Koichi Hirose, in action alongside his stand Echoes.

We see them both taking on Yukako Yamagishi (who recently got her own trailer) and making short work of her.

You can watch the trailer below.

As much as I enjoy watching the Tour De France, I have a weak grasp of professional cycling's strategic level. While individual riders get the fame, it is a team sport with complex tactics and strategies across each stage and the overall race—which sometimes leave me flummoxed. So to help me better understand, I've been playing two strat-o-management games: the flashy Pro Cycling Manager 2022 (from the makers of the official Tour De France game) and the board game-esque indie game The Cyclist: Tactics.

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Much like a bungee cord, the path of Bungie has seen many dramatic changes. The company, having been independent for the last 15 years, is now officially part of the PlayStation family.

The move, which was announced pending regulatory approval early this year and officially closed today, makes Bungie a first-party studio under Sony Interactive Entertainment. Back in January, the deal was valued at $3.6 billion, an enormous sum that came after Activision Blizzard--the former Destiny publisher--was acquired (pending regulatory approval) by Microsoft for an astronomical $68.7 billion.

Bungie has experience on both sides of the fence. For the last 15 years, the studio has operated as an independent company, but it was a Microsoft studio from 2000 until 2007. Microsoft reportedly only paid somewhere between $20 million and $40 million for Bungie back in 2000--it was before Halo's launch, with the company's games like Marathon and Myth both being relatively modest successes.

Now that Bungie is a PlayStation studio, we may see some increased focus on PS4 and PS5 in Destiny, but the studio is going to retain its multiplatform approach. Bungie will still be publishing its games independently, and Bungie said in the announcement earlier this year that the biggest change will be "an acceleration in hiring talent." Sony has been on something of a buying spree lately, more broadly, having purchased the PC port developer Nixxes Software, live-service game developer Haven Studios, and Returnal developer Housemarque, among others.

Today Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that it has closed the deal to acquire Destiny 2 developer Bungie.

The announcement was shared on Twitter, as you can see at the bottom of the post.

The deal was originally announced in January, with Sony pledging to grant Bungie the freedom to “independently publish and creatively develop” its games, targeting “fans across multiple platforms and entertainment mediums.”

As a matter of fact, the house of PlayStation explained that the purchase of Bungie wasn’t simply a move to increase its portfolio with one more studio and its games.

The true aim was to acquire Bungie’s expertise in the creation and handling of games as a services, followed by the announcement of rate massive plans to move into that market with plenty of games.

According to the house of PlayStation, the company expects to be running 12 live service games by 2026, including two new and unannounced ones that will be released in the current fiscal year (before March 2023) not including Destiny, three more to be released between April 2023 and March 2024, four new ones between April 2024 and March 2025, and two further titles between April 2025 and March 2026.

That’s certainly not a small initiative driven by a single acquisition. Of course, Bungie won’t develop all of them directly.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see how the long-term results and ramifications of this large acquisition will pan out.

CyberConnect2 announced that it will release Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2, following the first game's release in 2021. Further details about the game will appear during an anniversary live stream later this month. To celebrate the original game's one-year launch anniversary, CyberConnect2 also released a free demo version of Fuga: Melodies of Steel. [Thanks, Dengeki!]

Released in 2021, Fuga: Melodies of Steel is a tactical RPG based on CyberConnect2's Little Tail Bronx universe. The game features a group of anthropomorphic cat and dog children who use a giant tank to rescue their families from an invading nation. The game was released on Nintendo Switch, Playstation, and Xbox consoles, as well as Windows PC.

The new teaser website reveals that CyberConnect2 will announce more details about the upcoming sequel on July 28, 2022. Furthermore, the company is also hosting a special anniversary live stream on YouTube, where it will discuss the series' development so far. The live stream will begin on July 28, 2022, at 8 PM Japan Time (4 AM PST / 1 PM CEST). CyberConnect2 CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama and Fuga producer Tetsuya Murakami will make an appearance.

Below is a link to the planned special anniversary live stream:

https://youtu.be/0cJxC54p8iY

My family is obsessed with Wordle. Their love for the five-letter-word guessing game has become so strong that we've had to create a separate family Whatsapp group for it. Now, Wordle owner The New York Times has partnered with Hasbro to make it into a real-world tabletop game - and I think I might have excuse myself from every family gathering going forward, because I know that someone's inevitably going to buy this for someone's Christmas or birthday present in the future, and it's going to be all they ever want to do and talk about. Help.

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You’re Niantic, and your community of Pokémon GO players is pretty damned pissed at you over a whole bunch of recent changes, not least to Community Days. So what do you do to try to fix things? No, sorry, you’re wrong. You make the next Community Day about sodding Starly.

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After being announced for Japan last month, Sega’s Genesis Mini 2 has a North American release date, and it’s arriving just in time to shove it into a kid’s trick-or-treat bag. Or you can keep it yourself and play it. Up to you.

On October 27, this more powerful version of the previous Mini holds over 50 titles, including Sega CD games. It also tosses in one “never-released bonus game,” Star Mobile. The console itself has been designed after the Genesis Model 2 and will retail at $102.38 (since it’s being sold through Sega of Japan) and can only be purchased through Amazon. 

The confirmed library of games so far is as follows:

If you've ever wanted to dip your toes into the world of VTubing, you can now do so using the official Apex Legends VTuber avatars released by Respawn Entertainment today. The avatars feature three legends--Bangalore, Mirage, and Octane--donning outfits based on the skins from Apex's anime-themed Gaiden event, which kicks off next week.

Mirage's avatar features the holographic trickster decked out in his My Hero Academia-themed Marked Man skin, while Octane is donning his One Piece-inspired Sea Legs skin. Bangalore, however, is wearing her new Prestige skin, Apex Commander. Many VTubers use anime characters as their avatars, which is likely the reason these avatars were released alongside the Gaiden event.

It’s bad news for gamers hoping to pick up God of War Ragnarok’s Jotnar Edition as it’s already being sold for more than double its retail price by scalpers after pre-orders rapidly sold out in the UK.

The Jotnar Edition went on sale in the UK this morning via the retailer Game, and according to Reddit user u/relozation, copies had completely sold out within one minute. The user highlights in their post that less than half an hour later, copies of God of War’s Jotnar Edition had appeared on eBay at more than double the retail price.

In the UK, the Jotnar Edition of God of War has been priced at £229.99 but on eBay, copies are being sold for around £550, with the highest asking price being a staggering £600. Visiting Game’s website shows that they are completely out of stock, currently, the only way fans of God of War can get their hands on the Jotnar Edition at Sony’s asking price is by visiting PlayStation Direct which is yet to offer pre-orders.

A similar situation unfolded with Australian pre-orders with scalpers listing the Jotnar Edition at well over $1500 AUD on Ebay. It’s very possible that US gamers could also miss out on the Jotnar Edition when pre-orders go live. This isn’t the first time that gamers have been targeted by scalpers who have mostly focused their efforts on high-demand consoles.

Apex Legends Mobile made a splash when it launched in May, with over 15 million players pre-registering for the mobile version of Respawn Entertainment's popular battle royale. The game brought in $5 million and was the most downloaded game in 60 countries during its first week on the market. It has remained popular among mobile shooter fans since its release, but not everyone who logged in on launch day has kept up with the game.

If this describes you, there's good news on the horizon: Respawn has created an event exclusively for players who haven't touched the game in a while. Keep reading for a detailed look at the Returning Champ event, and all the rewards you can snag for participating--including some you can send to you friends.

Roll Call

It is not clear exactly how long you need to have gone without playing the game, but we triggered the event after 12 days of not launching the game. Upon logging in after an extended absence, you'll be greeted by a message from Mirage welcoming you back top the game. This will trigger a 10-day event called Returning Champ that rewards you for completing challenges and logging in daily.

We instantly received 50 Flux as a check-in reward for triggering the event. There is a check-in reward for eight out of the 10 days the event is active (meaning you can afford to miss two days), but you must manually claim them.

A new report has detailed a long-lost title from Totally Games, the developer best remembered for its work on the X-Wing series. Known as Knights of Decayden, it was planned as an early exclusive for the original Xbox before its cancellation and subsequent fade into obscurity.

Totally Games was, of course, a big deal back in the 1990s, having made a name for itself with LucasArts' hugely popular series of Star Wars space shooters, which included the likes of X-Wing, Tie Fighter, and X-Wing Alliance. Sadly, the studio closed in 2015, following a string of critically and commercially disappointing releases - but fans will likely get a kick out of a new Axios report detailing a fantasy flight combat game the developer was working on in partnership with Microsoft at the height of its success.

Knights of Decayden (other titles reportedly included alternative spelling Knights of Decadyn and Project Archipelago) was initially pitched to Sony under the name Knights of Utu for release on PS2, but eventually found its way under Microsoft's wing, with the plan being to release it as an Xbox exclusive in the year following the fledgling console's 2001 launch.

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Bandai Namco revealed more information about the gameplay and modes available in Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival. It was announced back in February 2022 and is slated for release on the Switch on September 23, 2022. Like previous entries, it'll have a variety of gameplay modes to keep aspiring Drum Masters entertained.

The opening mode of Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival is actually a story mode, set in the game location of Omiko City. Players join Taiko mascot Don-chan ahead of a planned fireworks display. While attempting to drum away some inclement weather, the pair encounter a new friend, Kumo-kyun the mysterious cloud. Together with Don-chan and Kumo-kyun, players continue their journey to bring rhythm and joy to Omiko City, while aiming to become a Taiko Master. The game also supports a variety of control options in handheld and docked modes. Motion controls, touch controls, and controls using the Taiko Drum peripherals are supported. Online and local multiplayer for up to two players are supported for the core Taiko Mode and the game's second mode, "Great Drum Toy War."

The Sims 4's newest expansion, High School Years, hits PC and Mac July 28--just in time for all you folks headed back to school this fall to pour a few dozen hours into it before your own class schedule calls. GameSpot recently got the chance to participate in a hands-off preview of the game and found it to be an impressive addition that introduces quite a few new features while also overhauling some out-of-date systems.

At the center of the expansion is Copperdale High, a Middle America-style high school inspired by CW shows, Euphoria, First Bite, and '90s teen comedies. You will now be able to follow your teen sims as they attend the school in a manner similar to Back To Work's active careers, with the added bonus of being able to control multiple sims while away.

While on campus, your sims can personalize their locker, attend classes, mix-and-mingle with their fellow teens and teachers, and even plan our their "promposals." Your sims will also be able to join various after-school activities, including the chess club, computer club, cheerleading team, and football team--all of which will help them get better university offers upon graduation. You'll also be able to raise quite the ruckus as well, with options to pull pranks, initiate rivalries, and even ditch class. Be warned, however, as all these actions have consequences, ranging from a little after school detention to being unable to graduate. If your sim is unable to graduate, you'll be forced to get a high school degree online as an adult, and will be locked out of university and certain career paths until you do.

Developers are not overly happy with Unity this week.

The reason? Wednesday's announcement that the company is merging with IronSource, a provider of software and tools designed to help developers with monetisation, user acquisition, retention and all those other -tion words that are essential to thriving in the mobile games market.

STAT | $4.4 billion -- Approximate value of the all-stock deal, a 74% premium over the 30-day average ratio of IronSource's stock

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Former Mass Effect writer Drew Karpyshyn has discussed some of BioWare's early ideas of how it would wrap up the game's iconic sci-fi trilogy - and also some of the issues the developer still had to iron out.

Karpyshyn served as lead writer for Mass Effect 1 and 2, though left BioWare part-way through the second game's development.

Discussing the trilogy in a new reddit AMA, Karpyshyn said that when he was in the Mass Effect 2 writers room, BioWare had "some very ideas planned out".

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Earlier this week, Unity announced they were merging with mobile ads company ironSource, who are arguably best known for developing a malware installer in 2015. Unsurprisingly, game developers were not pleased. If that wasn't enough, however, Unity CEO John Riccitiello was interviewed by PocketGamer.biz on Wednesday, wherein he called developers who failed to plan monetisation strategies when creating their games were “some of the biggest fucking idiots”. Oh dear.

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Today the NPD made public its statistics for video game sales in the United States related to the month of June 2022.

We learn by way of executive director & video game industry advisor Mat Piscatella that the PS5 was at the top of dollar sales for the month, while the Nintendo Switch topped unit sales.

The same split goes for the first half of the calendar year 2022, with PS5 making more money and the Switch selling more units.

PS5 dollar sales grew by a double-digit percentage year-on-year.

Elden Ring remains the best-selling game for dollar sales for the fourth month in a row after debuting at the top in February.

It remains the best-selling game of 2022 and of the past 12 months and ranks among the top-ten best selling premium games of all time in the US market.

Looking at specific platforms, Mario Strikers: Battle League was the best-selling game for Nintendo Switch, while Elden Ring unsurprisingly dominated both PlayStation and Xbox sales.

As for accessories, the PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller in Midnight Black color was June’s best-selling accessory. On the other hand, the Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller is still the best-selling accessory for the first half of the calendar year 2022.

Looking at the market as a whole, June consumer spending across hardware, games, and accessories dropped 11% year-on-year.

Hardware sales dropped 8% year-on-year, while accessories declined by 15%.

One of the most interesting tidbits in this new Minecraft Legends developer video is the discussion of the game being a “legend”. The assumption here is that this is potentially something that took place in the Minecraft overworld at some point in the distant past. While it is a legend, there could be some truth found somewhere, but for the most part what you are seeing counts are bare lore.

You can watch the video for yourself below. It’s only a little over six minutes long, but if you’re a Minecraft fan, it’s definitely interesting.

The main antagonistic force in Minecraft Legends are the Piglins, mobs found in the Nether in current Minecraft. As far as the thoughts in design, “we were imagining the Piglins as players know them from Minecraft today, and thinking what they might have been at the height of their power.”

The video also reveals that there have been a couple smaller teams in Stockholm and Redmond that have been working on Minecraft Legends since 2018, and we only just got the first look at it in early June during the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase.

More of the popular “Poke-Lid” enameled manhole covers are making their way to a new city in Japan this month. Four designs featuring various Pokemon have just been unveiled, and each of them celebrates the city of Toyohashi and its culture.

The first Poke-Lid manhole cover features a very happy Typlosion that appears to be enjoying a fireworks festival. Summer festivals featuring handcrafted fireworks are popular in Toyohashi, which is likely what this manhole design represents.

The next lid has a Ribombee and a Grubbin, two bug-type Pokemon that are enjoying a field of beautiful pink flowers. Behind them is a train based on the Toyohashi Railroad public transportation system, which is an industry that the city is known for.

The third lid also has public transportation from the Toyohashi Railroad system in the background, this time with Starmie and two Charjabug in the spotlight.

Finally, the fourth Poke-Lid has a Vikavolt and a Kabuto holding a fossil. Both of these Pokemon are surrounded by azalea flowers, which is the official flower of the city. Again, there is a train from the Toyohashi Railroad system in the background.

It's Weekly time, the podcast show where we recap last week on Eurogamer for you. Remember, premium supporters get these episodes every Friday, whereas everyone else listens from Monday.

Today on Weekly, I'm joined by editor in chief Martin Robinson and features editor Christian Donlan. We talk about the amazing space pictures pumped back from the James Webb telescope last week, which Christian is very excited about, and we dive into the Mothmen legend and new game Mothmen 1966, which again, Christian is very excited about.

Elsewhere, we take a look at the hulking beast that is Grand Theft Auto Online, we dip into Company of Heroes 3, and talk about the upcoming cinematic game As Dusk Falls, which I'm very excited about. And of course we whizz through all the other videos, features and news that stood out on the site last week.

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On the lookout for the Genshin Impact Phantasmal Conches locations? Genshin Impact’s “Summertime Odyssey” event has finally gone live, providing an opportunity to grab Fischl outfit’s Ein Immernachtstraum for free. To get this brand new outfit, you’ll need to find a total of 16 Phantasmal Conches in the Golden Apple Archipelago region. If you don’t want to put any effort into finding them, keep reading this guide to know the pinpoint location of every Phantasmal Conch.

Where To Find the Phantasmal Conches in Genshin Impact?

Phantasmal Conches are scattered across the small islands of the Golden Apple Archipelago region, and you can find them at the following locations.

It’s been over a month since the last official news dump about Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and a flurry of unofficial and extremely blurry images purportedly leaked from an unfinished build of the game are now filling the void. Fans have no idea if they’re real, but that hasn’t stopped them from rushing to create new…

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A new report reveals that Embracer has so far spent $2 million in its efforts to archive retro video games.

The group announced earlier this year that it was launching a new initiative with the aim of preserving as much of the games industry's history as possible.

As reported by Waypoint, the company is also building a database, while hinting that in the future the archive could be used by journalists, loaned to museums, and seen by the public.

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This month marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most glorious Mario spin-offs to ever exist, and that game is none other than the masterpiece that is Mario Paint. Most people think of platforming when they hear the name Mario, but this iconic hero has found himself in dozens of different spin-off games over the years.

Some of these spin-offs aren’t too out of the ordinary, such as racing in Mario Kart or sports like Mario Golf. But in Mario Paint, however, he plays the role of an art teacher. This isn’t the only odd role that the mustachioed plumber has found himself in over the years. Here are 10 of the weirdest Mario spin-off games to celebrate Mario Paint’s 30th anniversary.

Valve's Steam Deck is an excellent portable machine for 720p gaming, packing last-gen console performance in a compact shell - but can we push the system further? With a 4K display as a target output we're going to drag the Deck as far as we can into docked, home theatre gaming. This may seem farcical but new second generation reconstruction techniques - FSR 2.0 and TSR - have just hit commercial games, providing massive performance gains for high-res rendering. Plus, there's a wide library of older and less technically challenging content that the Steam Deck may be able to accelerate to high resolutions on raw performance alone. So can we actually achieve a good docked TV experience with the Steam Deck on a modern 4K display - or are the demands of high-res gaming just too much to ask from the low-power, low-bandwidth AMD APU at its heart?

While you could of course simply scale up 720p to fill a 4K screen, the results often aren't flattering. Games at this resolution tend to look blurry and soft, with the scaling tech to preserve sharpness absent on many TVs. 1080p and above content fares better, so that's what we'll be targeting here - at a minimum, around double the pixels of the Steam Deck's internal display. A true native 4K is going to elude us except in simple titles, but we should be able to push image quality quite a bit regardless.

For the most part, PowerWash Simulator helps me reach a state of total focus. Grime must be eliminated and I am there to facilitate that request with water and power. But occasionally I succumb to frustration as something I consider pristine isn't determined clean by the little progress bar that usually pats me on the back for jobs well done.

Then I learned that although grime can’t move, it makes up for it with cunning. It cements itself on surfaces in ways you wouldn't expect, as if to belittle my cleaning standards. After many encounters, I've identified this menace as The Underside: a secret boss you'll need to beat to become the ultimate power washer.

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