Gaming News

Larian Studios has released Hotfix #20 for Baldur's Gate 3, which makes disagreeable drow Minthara a little less rebellious.In a post on its website, Larian said Hotfix #20 won't actually change Minthara's personality but just fix a bug that incorrectly stopped her from following the party in Act 2 or Act 3. "You should find her more willing to fall in line now, at least in terms of keeping up," the developer said. "She’s still something of a free spirit."The update also fixes several other issues such as split-screen players experiencing a black screen for 30 seconds, combat not progressing because the environment wouldn't take a turn, trespassing dialogue being spammed outside the Steel Watch Foundry, and more.A handful of...

Days before the release of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, Square Enix unveiled an update making several tweaks to its predecessor, Final Fantasy 7: Remake. The change most noticeably impacts one of Tifa's outfits, though there are a few other tweaks. But one other major change we haven't written about yet is the change to Aerith's final line in the script of Final Fantasy 7: Remake in the English translation of the game.Unsurprisingly, a lot of people got upset about the line change. Without digging into the specifics of it, on the surface, the change appears to turn a line that previously hit a very specific emotional beat for the character into something a little less...poetic. It also seemed like a weird change to make now, of all...

Developers at Rockstar Games have hit out at the company’s decision to force staff to return to the office five days a week to close out work on GTA 6.This week, Rockstar notified staff of its return-to-office order, due to start in April, which it said had to do with completing development on GTA 6 “at the level of quality and polish we know it requires”, and to mitigate security breaches. GTA 6 is developed primarily at Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Scotland, although support comes from a number of other Rockstar studios across the UK and the world.Now, the Independent Workers’ union of Great Britain, which represents video game developers in the UK, has publicly criticized Rockstar for the move, and published testimony from...

A series of Helldivers 2 gameplay leaks have revealed a look at the upcoming mech vehicle type.One snippet of gameplay, revealed by redditor fozzye18, shows a player exit and then enter a mech before stomping around a battlefield firing what looks like an auto cannon.Since that initial post, more mech gameplay has emerged showing what looks like a datamined stratagem explainer video. In the clip we see a dropship set the mech down on the battlefield for the Helldiver to jump into. This mech, though, fires what looks like a machine gun on one side and a rocket launcher on the other.And, even more recently, Helldivers 2 mech gameplay is popping across social media, giving us another look at the mechs.The addition of mechs to...

Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games is the latest games company to cut staff, confirming “a small number of positions were eliminated” as part of a relocation plan some former employees have criticized. CIG failed to specify the number of staff affected.Space sim Star Citizen is considered one of the most controversial projects in all video games. Over the 12 years since its crowdfunding drive began, it's been called many things, including a scam by those who wonder whether it will ever properly launch. Its virtual space ships, some of which cost hundreds of dollars, are often the focus of criticism.At the time of this article’s publication, Star Citizen had pulled in an eye-watering $667,489,262 from over 5.1 million...

Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 2.12 is now being rolled out on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC and includes myriad bug fixes, CD Projekt Red has announced.In a post on its website, CD Projekt said the patch "focuses on main issues experienced by players after Patch 2.11, such as key bindings". Changes affect more than PC, however, with Xbox getting a specific update which stops Cyberpunk 2077 entering an infinite loading state.Several changes are coming to all platforms too. CD Projekt Red has fixed an issue causing the inability to access menus, updated the description of the Sonic Shock quickhack to make it accurate, and more. The full patch notes are available below.The aforementioned Patch 2.11 addressed myriad bugs and...

Another day, another Palworld patch. Update v0.1.5.1 is available now for the Steam version of the ‘Pokémon with guns’ survival game, and out soon for the Xbox version.This one makes a number of fixes across the board, makes a small number of changes to balance, and improves the servers. In the patch notes, developer Pocketpair said it was still working on an issue where auto-save fails on the Xbox and Xbox Game Pass versions. “We expect that this will be resolved in an upcoming update,” the developer said.There’s no word yet on the much-needed addition of dedicated servers for the Xbox version of the game, which continues to lag behind the PC version when it comes to features. Palworld on Steam lets players create and join...

The timing couldn’t be better. Just days after the Helldivers 2 community mourned the loss of fan-favourite map Malevelon Creek, it has emerged there is a single developer at Arrowhead pulling the strings of the galactic war like a D&D dungeon master.In an interview with PC Gamer, Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt pulled back the curtain ever so slightly on Helldivers 2’s hugely popular meta narrative that sees the forces of Super Earth (players) battle against alien bugs and bots for control of the galaxy, revealing a developer called Joel is steering the ship from behind the scenes."We have an actual person [Joel] with the job title of Game Master," Pilestedt said. "We have a lot of systems built into the game where the Game Master...

Today I'm all about discount deals and democracy manifest. Though discounts on it are scarce (beyond this 17% off one with the code OMEN17), Helldivers 2 still holds my attention like the vice-like pincers of a terminid warrior bug. Why? Because even in a squad of randos, you can experience heroic, heart-in-your-mouth moments like these.In retro news, I'm celebrating 28 years since the Australian arcade launch of Street Fighter Alpha 2, an entry chock full of franchise firsts. It marked the debut of Sakura Kasugano; it was the first Streeties to implement Custom Combos; and it was the first time we could bust out a hidden super combo simply called "The Raging Demon." Personally, I was always stoked that Down Under got some stage love...

Some of the coolest bits in the Terminator series, and definitely the source of its best video games, are the future war parts. Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance is an RTS that tries to follow in those robotic footsteps, spinning off of the most recent movie to put you in the boots of a military officer facing down the killer machines in the months after the nukes fall. Unfortunately, trying to combine that future war fantasy with a gritty real-time tactics formula falls short here, largely because the way your units fight and the campaign built around them feel like they were designed for two entirely different games.The meat of Defiance is a series of story-driven battles, with army management in between, set in the post-Judgment...

EA is shuttering Ridgeline Games, the studio co-founded by former Halo developer Marcus Lehto that was tasked with developing the narrative campaign in the next Battlefield. The closure follows word of Lehto's departure earlier this week and coincides with a broader restructuring announced earlier today that will see EA lay off some 670 employees amid a shift away from future licensed IPs. The work that was begun on the Battlefield single-player campaign will continue.In an internal note, EA Entertainment president Laura Miele said that Criterion producer Danny Isaac and studio head of creative Darren White will replace Lehto to continue work on the planned narrative campaign, with some members of Ridgeline Games joining Ripple...

Today, EA announced a major company shake-up that will result in roughly 670 individuals, or 5% of its workforce, losing their jobs. As a part of that same reorganization, Respawn's Star Wars FPS in-development at Respawn is being canceled.Following CEO Andrew Wilson's announcement of the cuts today, EA Entertainment president Laura Miele shared a note with staff explaining in more detail what EA's business priorities would be going forward. This includes her announcement that EA is shutting down an early development Star Wars FPS action game as a part of an ongoing focus on its own owned brands and supporting its existing games."It's always hard to walk away from a project, and this decision is not a reflection of the team’s...

Electronic Arts has announced that it, too, is undergoing mass layoffs, with plans to let go 5% of its total global staff, or roughly 670 individuals.In a note today sent to staff, CEO Andrew Wilson said that EA is reacting to "accelerating industry transformation where player needs and motivations and changed significantly." Crucially, EA also said that it is "moving away from the development of future licensed IP." EA currently has several confirmed Star Wars and Marvel games in development, including a third Jedi game, Black Panther, and Iron Man.According to Wilson, EA will double down on owned IP, sports, and "massive online communities." While Wilson did not provide details on which games would be sunset, EA already...

The day has finally come for Peacemaker fans to step into the shoes of the DC anti-villain in Mortal Kombat 1, becoming available to those who purchased Kombat Pack 1 as one of the previously announced DLC characters. And with that, we've also gotten a sizable patch that includes a number of fixes.In addition to adding Peacemaker to the roster, the patch, released across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Steam, Epic Games Store, and Nintendo Switch, fixes some visual bugs with brutalities, and remedies a few issues in online play. Janet Cage has also been added as a DLC Kameo fighter, although she won't be available until March. You can check out the full patch notes below.Peacemaker, along with Omni-Man (from Invincible), Quan Chi...

Remedy Entertainment has acquired full rights to the Control series from 505 Games. The developer said it is now in the position to make better long-term decisions of Control’s franchise growth.“We will consider our options carefully, knowing that Control is considered an attractive franchise by many partners,” said Remedy CEO Tero Virtala in a press release. “Condor and Control 2 have both progressed well in recent months and we expect these projects to reach their next development stages during the first half of 2024.”In the deal, Remedy paid 17 million euros, and now owns all of the rights to Control, Control 2, codename Condor, and all future games in the series. However, 505 Games will remain the publisher of the first Control...

Sony has revealed the PlayStation Plus games for March 2024; four games will be available to active PlayStation Plus members starting March 5 through April 1.As detailed in a new PlayStation Blog post, the following four games will be available: Destiny 2: The Witch Queen; Sifu; Hello Neighbor 2; and EA Sports F1 23. All four games will be available to both PS4 and PS5 owners. PlayStation Plus members can also access a unique cosmetic bundle for Embark Studios' PvP shooter, The Finals. According to the PlayStation Blog, the bundle includes 2 Epic Outfits and 12 Epic Weapon skins.Destiny 2: The Witch Queen Expansion was released roughly two years ago. In our review of the Destiny 2: The Witch Queen expansion, we wrote: "Bugs and...

Persona 3 Reload is seemingly getting the additional content from Persona 3 FES after all, with a datamine and end of game tease certainly suggesting as such.As reported by PC Gamer, an item only obtained by beating the hardest difficulty of Persona 3 Reload — a remake of 2009's Persona 3 that didn't include any content from its expanded versions, FES and Portable — hints towards the former's epilogue being released for it eventually.FES, similar to Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal, added a chunk of new content to Persona 3 headlined by the addition of The Answer, a roughly 30-hour epilogue. Persona 3 Reload does not include this content because developer Atlus "wanted to really, genuinely work on recreating the Persona 3...

The developer of Steam hit Last Epoch has addressed the influx of negative reviews that came in after the action RPG’s bumpy launch.Last Epoch is one of the most-played games on Steam, but its long-standing Early Access user review rating of ‘mostly positive’ plummeted to ‘mixed’ in recent reviews after the game launched in 1.0 form with a raft of issues that prevented people from playing. Online connectivity was so bad that Eleventh Hour Games announced plans to give players an in-game gift as compensation.Now, in a post on Steam, Eleventh Hour Games founder and game director Judd Cobler expressed his surprise and delight at hitting 265,000 players online at one time over the weekend, the 39th highest concurrent user count...

The return of Eddy Gordo, the capoeira specialist who’s been a fan-favorite in the long-running Tekken series since his franchise debut 25 years ago, should have been a slam dunk for Bandai Namco. His absence from the critically-acclaimed Tekken 8 was a serious point of contention between series director Katsuhiro Harada and overzealous fans as early as last summer, and his inclusion via DLC was a step towards correcting the unpopular omission.But news that Gordo would be kicking off post-launch support for Tekken 8 was quickly overshadowed by the public’s reception to his new, updated look. Gordo’s signature dreadlocks had been replaced by the dreaded “Killmonger cut” and Black gamers in particular were not happy about it.“Eddy’s...

After the Helldivers 2 community had rounded on farmers for negatively impacting the game’s galaxy-wide war against alien bugs and bots, developer Arrowhead has clarified their traitorous actions are in fact harmless.On the Helldivers Discord, Arrowhead staff member Evil-Bosse had said players who leave operations halfway through count as a loss for Super Earth, and thus negatively impact that planet’s “liberation” status. In Helldivers 2, players work to complete operations on planets, which in turn contribute positively to the grind to control sectors of the galaxy.This was important because farmers, that is, players who play quickfire missions to efficiently farm for resources then reset the operation before it’s complete to...

The Fallout S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Anthology Edition for PC is up for preorder, with a release date that's not too far away either on April 11. This collection will set you back $59.99 and contains PC codes for Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics, Fallout New Vegas: Ultimate Edition, Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition, Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition, and Fallout 76. On top of that, they're all packaged inside a mini-nuke case that even features an audible bomb sound.This is a must-have investment for Fallout fans. You can preorder yours at the link below.Bethesda's Fallout S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Anthology Edition for PC is Up for PreorderGames included:Fallout Fallout 2 Fallout Tactics Fallout New Vegas: Ultimate Edition Fallout 3...

Ubisoft has said the recently released Skull and Bones has achieved “record player engagement” since launch, although it has yet to announce how many copies it’s sold or how many players it has.In a note to press announcing the pirate game’s first season, Ubisoft said Skull and Bones has over four hours of average daily playtime, which is the second highest ever at the company.But what does this mean, exactly? Without a sales figure or monthly active user (MAU) or daily active user (DAU) numbers, it’s impossible to tell how well Skull and Bones has done. Skull and Bones is not on Steam, either, so we don’t have Valve’s official player concurrents tracking to help paint a picture. But from Ubisoft’s statement we can glean that those...

Nexon has announced Vindictus: Defying Fate, a new high-speed fantasy action-RPG inspired by Celtic mythology that, yes, shares a universe with Nexon's own 2010 MMORPG, Vindictus. It is in development for PC, with a console release planned for sometime after the PC release.Nexon says it will be conducting a public pre-alpha test for the PC version in "the coming weeks." You must wishlist Vindictus: Defying Fate in order to be eligible to participate. Check out the announcement trailer above and the first screenshots in the gallery below.Nexon promises plenty of character customization and challenge in the medieval fantasy setting. "Play with a large roster of distinct characters, each boasting unique abilities and combos...

Dragon Ball FighterZ finally launches digitally on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S on February 29 at midnight local time.The long-awaited update for Arc System Works’ fighting game arrives alongside rollback netcode. It’s a free update for existing owners of the game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, publisher Bandai Namco said.Dragon Ball FighterZ launched for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam back in 2018 and was an instant hit with fans. IGN’s Dragon Ball FighterZ review returned an 8.5: “Dragon Ball FighterZ’s pairing of DBZ and Arc System Works is a match made in fighting game heaven.” Dragon Ball FighterZ even made IGN’s 10 Best Fighting Games of All Time list.If you’re jumping into the game now...

Former Call of Duty: Black Ops developer David Vonderhaar has founded a new studio and announced a new first-person co-op game.The remote-first Los Angeles-based studio, called BulletFarm, is backed by NetEase and on the hunt for staff. It’s working on “an ambitious new AAA game set in an original universe with an emphasis on co-operative gameplay", NetEase said. This unannounced new game is built using Unreal Engine 5, and “will craft a more intimate and relatable experience while offering a fresh take on first-person gameplay.” Also at BulletFarm as creative director is Chris Cowell, who also worked at Treyarch on the Call of Duty series.“Starting this new studio has given me a chance to step out of my comfort zone and try my...

The creator of viral horror video game The Mortuary Assistant is making a new, officially licensed Paranormal Activity video game.Paranormal Activity, due out in 2026, is produced by Paramount Game Studios, with The Mortuary Assistant creator Brian Clarke, aka DarkStone Digital, on development duty. DreadXP, the publisher Clarke co-directs, will handle the release. The game is based on the hugely popular found footage horror film franchise, which kicked off in 2007 and has seen seven films. The teaser trailer is below:And here's the official blurb:“The success of the Paranormal Activity franchise epitomizes the power and reach of the horror genre,” said Clarke. “If you thought The Mortuary Assistant was scary, we’re taking what...

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has released yet another patch for the hugely popular co-op shooter, and it makes some key fixes for troublesome issues.Patch 1.000.13 fixes the Super Credits issue that was preventing the in-game resource from showing up after purchase or collection. Elsewhere, the patch fixes the unlimited stratagem use glitch that occurred after an AFK kick. This was something IGN reported on as part of shining a spotlight on the growing problem of cheating in Helldivers 2. On that, there’s no note about anti-cheat in this latest patch.Helldivers 2 is Sony’s biggest PC game launch of all time, with a peak concurrent player figure of 458,709 on Steam. Helldivers 2’s success has even sparked renewed interest in...

For so many gamers of a certain age, the debut trailer for Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection, unveiled during the recent Nintendo Direct, rekindled memories of hours spent fighting as soldiers in the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire on the likes of Endor and Hoth in the mid-2000s. But for one modder, it rekindled an altogether different memory: of their own mod.In time-honoured Star Wars tradition, first some background. The original, Pandemic-developed Battlefront 2 that launched in 2005 had a DLC pack exclusive to the original Xbox version. This DLC added two new heroes (Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress), as well as four maps. Both Kit and Asajj had unique animations and moves no other characters had. But this DLC was...

The Helldivers 2 community was left in tatters after fan-favorite planet Malevelon Creek, dubbed ‘Space Vietnam’ by players, finally fell to the Automatons.The community reacted in horror overnight as they discovered Malevelon Creek with the dreaded ‘0% Liberated’ flag, and, even more devastating, a ‘Planet Lost’ retreat order. This made the planet inaccessible, and players have even reported getting booted from its surface mid-mission.Malevelon Creek is widely thought of as Helldivers 2’s best planet. It sees players go up against Automatons — Terminator-style killer robots - in an atmospheric environment clearly inspired by iconic imagery from Vietnam war movies. Its eternally twilight forest biome is creepy, awe-inspiring, and...

Well, it's the day of days. The much awaited sequel to Remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, is launch imminent, and I have the cheapest prices for it. Preloading is available for your midnight play, however, I have just been informed that the embargo for longplays and other VODs is two hours earlier at 10 p.m. AEST. That's good news if you want a bigger sneak peek, possibly via the three non-commentary vids I have in the wings. I'd put gil on the US team having a Let's Play going on too. Will link that when it's live and I'm allowed to.Meanwhile, in retro news, I'm celebrating the 21st birthday of Resident Evil Zero, arguably the most why-haven't they-remade-this entry in the franchise. “S.T.A.R.S.-ing” Bravo Team member Rebecca...