After yesterday’s Nintendo Direct Mini, Valve released Portal: Companion Collection, a bundle of Portal and Portal 2 for the Nintendo Switch. Within 24 hours, hackers have already found out that this bundle essentially contains a hidden game within its code, and it’s none other than Half-Life 2.
Yesterday, Twitter user @OatmealDome shared that they had found Half-Life 2 in its entirety (save for a few things like maps and music) within the game’s files.
@OatmealDome pointed out that Portal having bits and pieces of Half-Life 2 is expected because “Portal 1 is just a fancy mod of Half-Life 2.” However, they also found larger chunks like NPCs and voice clips that don’t have any correlation to Portal.
In fact, there are so many...
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Gaming News
Everyone can post news here.
The news posted here could be anything from gaming to world news.
This section will be monitored fairly heavily.
Filters
Show only:
Loading…
Square Enix and Tri-Ace have announced that Star Ocean: The Divine Force will launch on October 27 globally for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. We also got two new trailers for the game.
Star Ocean: The Divine Force follows two protagonists, Raymond Lawrence and Laeticia Aucerius Raymond’s merchant transport vessel, the Ydas, gets gunned down by a Federation battleship and he crashlands on an underdeveloped planet. Laeticia is the crown princess of the Kingdom of Aucerius on the planet.
Players will have the choice to pick between the two characters and gain unique perspectives from both. Raymond is on the search for his lost crew while Laeticia is trying to save her homeland from an unknown threat.
The battle system...
Return to Monkey Island will be the "conclusion" to the entire series, according to the game's charming new website.
The website is presented as its own point 'n' click experience, full of interactivity drawn from the Monkey Island series. Click through to the Overview section, however and (as spotted by Eurogamer) you'll find out that Return to Monkey Island will be "the exciting conclusion to the Monkey Island series."
After a very long wait – the last game in the series was Tales of Monkey Island in 2009 – fans might be dismayed to hear that this could be the final outing for the classic adventure games. It is possible that it may be designed as the end of the story, of course, and that prequels could be a future way for it to...
Alright, let’s do this one more time: you are a hunter, and monsters are threatening your adorable little town. You’re given a quest list full of creatures to track down and turn into funny hats, and you’ll do just that until the townsfolk are safe, your build is optimized, and your outfit is as fly as your wirebugs. If you played Monster Hunter World’s Iceborne expansion, or pretty much any of Monster Hunter’s major re-releases before it, then Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is going to be a very familiar Palamute ride through the park. It’s a formulaic DLC full of exciting new foes and a couple cool new locales – and even though it doesn’t really have a ton of interesting surprises of its own, the quality of those additions reinforces...
Ubisoft's open world pirate game Skull & Bones will reportedly be released on November 8, after years of troubled development.
As reported by Eurogamer, industry insider @ALumia_Italia shared on Twitter (below) that a release date had been found amid an apparent Xbox Store entry, also listing a plethora of DLC packs for the game. These include a preorder bonus, Bloody Bones' Legacy Mission, the Ashen Corsair Mission, the Smuggler Pass Token, digital soundtrack and artbook, and Premium Bonus Pack.
While it's unclear exactly what these are individually, their placement on the Xbox Store certainly implies that Ubisoft is nearing an official announcement of Skull & Bones' release date, from which point players will be able to preorder...
With two of Aloy’s Horizon adventures under my belt, I’m now something of a robot dissection expert. I know how to X-ray any murderous appliance that's out roaming on the plains. I can confidently pick which of their innards may be harvested for parts—or detonated to turn them into bits. Honestly, engaging in that fast-paced, life or death version of Operation on mechanical megafauna is the best part of Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West.
Understandably, it feels a little weird doing everything in reverse with this PlayStation and LEGO collab—cobbling a robosaur together instead of stripping it down for shards and components. Weighing in at 1,222 pieces and shooting up to an impressive 38 cm (15″) in height, the LEGO Horizon...
The End of Financial Year madness continues with great deals on hardware and software alike. For 30 clams, PC folk should definitely try some "freaker" fun in Days Gone (or go Spartan-kicking up a storm in AC Odyssey). On the console front, I like the look of some seriously discounted Dark Souls titles, cut-priced controllers and a few Pokémon worth catching before they run away.
Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch
Purchase Cheaply for PC
Exciting Offers for XO/XS
Product Savings for PS4/PS5
Adam’s our Aussie deals wrangler. You can watch him game on YouTube.
Continue reading...
There comes a time in every Minecrafter’s journey where the vanilla game gets a little samey, so why not spice up your gameplay with some exciting mods? As Fabric is a lightweight version of Minecraft allowing mods to be run on the client and server side, it is an excellent alternative to the well-known Forge mod loader. With several Fabric mods to choose from, we narrowed it down to 5 top Minecraft Fabric mods that fulfill performance, challenges and creativity.
See our shortlist below and let us know what Minecraft Mods for Fabric are your favorite right now.
The easiest way to download these is using Fabric and CurseForge, available through the below:
Fabric
CurseForge
1. Origins
Minecraft, the sandbox that it is, allows you...
Yes, you're reading that right: Xbox Series X and S outsold the PS5 in Japan, of all places, both individually and combined. We discuss this small victory for Xbox in Japan as well as the bigger picture. Plus: we debate the proposed inclusion of microtransactions in Halo: The Master Chief Collection and their effect on the industry at large (including the upcoming Diablo 4), our reaction to Overwatch 2 overwriting the original game, and more!
Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 download of this week's episode. For more awesome content, check out our recent interview with Todd Howard, who answered all of our Starfield questions after the big reveal at the Xbox Showcase:
For more...
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is set to release for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC sometime this winter, before the end of the year. It’s a remaster of a game that originally came out for PlayStation Portable in 2007, and it acts as a prequel to the original Final Fantasy VII. Retailer listings are starting to go up, so you can preorder it now on Amazon for some of the platforms.
Preorder Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
PS5
Get it at Amazon - $49.99
Xbox Series X | Xbox One
Get it at Amazon - $49.99
Nintendo Switch
Get it at Amazon - $49.99
Note that the March 31, 2023 date is a placeholder. The game’s official announcement says it’ll be out this year. We'll add more links...
Lost Ark is receiving The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt-themed DLC that's expected to be released this winter.
The DLC was revealed during Lost Ark's summer showcase (that focuses on the South Korean version of the game) and spotted by PCGamesN, it's currently unclear if the DLC will be released for just this version or if it'll hit the western version of Lost Ark too.
Details are still hazy, but CD Projekt Red told IGN that it's "working with Smilegate RPG to bring the most authentic Witcher experience to Lost Ark. The collaboration is expected to be added to Lost Ark this winter."
Fans are already speculating what the DLC will be - with some hoping for a brand new Witcher class and others expecting skins based on The Witcher and perhaps a...
Microsoft has announced that July 2022's Games with Gold are Beasts of Maravilla Island, Relicta, Thrillville: Off the Rails, and Torchlight.
As revealed on Xbox Wire, the four Games with Gold offerings will be available to anyone with Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, with Beasts of Maravilla Island and Thrillville: Off the Rails available starting on June 1.
Beasts of Maravilla Island is a Pokémon Snap-esque game where players take on the role of a wildlife photographer exploring a mysterious island. Players will solve puzzles and interact with the wild and wacky creatures of Maravilla island in the two to three hour adventure.
Also available on July 1 but only until July 15 is Thrillville: Off the Rails, an Xbox 360...
Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition was released last week to such a poor reception that developer Nightdive Studios has now added a version of the 1997 original to play on Steam instead.
In an update on the game's Steam page, Nightdive co-founder Daniel Grayshon announced that the 1997 version has been rebranded as the Classic version and been added to the $9.99 package as a free update.
"The free update will be downloaded automatically and when you start Blade Runner through Steam, you'll be given a choice of launching the Enhanced Edition or the Classic version," Grayshon said. "There is also an option to play Blade Runner with some restored content that was left unused from the original game."
Blade Runner Classic is actually a...
Fntastic, the developer behind Steam's most wishlisted game The Day Before, has defended its use of unpaid workers.
Speaking to Eurogamer, the company claimed every employee, paid or not, is a volunteer, because "we always try to bring in proactive people with open hearts".
Fntastic categorises its workers in two camps: full-time volunteers and part-time volunteers. The former are regular, paid employees, while the latter are unpaid workers who contribute to game development, "ranging from translating to community moderating" according to the online application form. These unpaid workers can "get cool rewards, participation certificates, and free codes".
"The company's values are built upon the idea of volunteering which means that...
The Portal: Companion Collection announced earlier this year officially has a release date, and that release date is... today. Valve's classic puzzle games are officially out on Nintendo Switch, giving fans a chance to reunite with GLaDOS on the go.
Developed in collaboration with NVIDIA Lightspeed Studios, the collection will feature both games' full single-player campaigns along with Portal 2's co-op mode, which is available in both split-screen and online multiplayer.
Portal was originally released in 2007 to widespread acclaim. It won praise for its originality and its writing, which popularized quips like, "The cake is a lie." It also gave the world the wonderful 'Still Alive' by Jonathan Coulton, which played to the original...
A Nintendo Direct Mini focused on third-party developers premiered today and there was news for almost everyone.
Fans who've waited a long time for Persona 5 to come to the Switch finally got their wish, and then some, while developers like Square Enix, Capcom, Ubisoft, and even Valve showed off some new games coming to the Nintendo console.
Here's everything announced during the Nintendo Direct Mini:
Persona 5 Royal, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 3 Portable on Switch
The recent Persona games, including Persona 5 Royal, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 3 Portable are finally coming to the Nintendo Switch. Following the news the popular JRPGs are coming to Xbox and PC, Atlus announced that Persona 5 Royal will be coming to the Switch...
After years of hopes, rumors, and speculation, Nintendo fans are finally get their wish. Atlus announced today that Persona 5 Royal, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 3 Portable are all coming to the Nintendo Switch, which has long been considered the natural home for the popular RPG series.
The announcement, which came during today's Nintendo Direct Mini, aligns with the earlier news that the series will be coming to Xbox and PC. It's a big move for the Persona games, which have traditionally been tied to PlayStation platforms outside of Persona 4 Golden's earlier release on PC.
First released in 2006, Persona 3 achieved cult popularity with its day-by-day approach to life in a Japanese high school, which it mixed with a dark...
More than five years after its original release on PlayStation 4, Nier: Automata is headed to Nintendo Switch.
Square Enix confirmed the Switch release during today's Nintendo Partner Direct, which also included announcements for Persona 5 Royal and other hotly-requested RPGs.
Nier: Automata The End of YoRHa Edition will include all previously-released content as well as new costumes exclusive to the Nintendo Switch edition. It will join versions already released on PS4, PC, and Xbox One.
Nier: Automata is the game that made director Yoko Taro a familiar name among RPG fans while raising the series into mainstream popularity. Lauded as one of the best games of 2017, it follows androids named 2B and 9S as they explore the remains of...
Fallout: London, a highly anticipated, DLC-sized mod for Fallout 4, has received a lengthy new trailer alongside confirmation of a 2023 release window.
Shared on the mod's YouTube channel and in a tweet (below), the four-minute trailer shows off a ton of the game's derelict locations, from decimated tube stops to an overgrown Tower Bridge.
We also get a look at some of the NPCs in the mod, though whether these are enemies, allies, or a bit of both is unclear. The trailer highlights a handful of relatively normal looking characters that wouldn't look out of place in a regular Fallout game, alongside some wackier individuals – including a wild-looking tree man.
Fans eager to find out exactly who these NPCs are will have to wait a...
Welcome to the part of End of Financial Year that I like best—console stock clearances! Honestly, there's something for every gaming need here. Score a cheap Nvidia Shield if you want to elegantly stream your overflowing Steam library to a telly. Grab a discounted Switch if you're sick of squinting at your phone during those train rides to work. Lastly, grab a bargain priced Xbox if you want to gain access to Game Pass, one helluva generous subscription service. Pick your poison and pay less for it below!
Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch
Purchase Cheaply for PC
Exciting Offers for XO/XS
Product Savings for PS4/PS5
Adam’s our Aussie deals wrangler. You can watch him game on YouTube.
Continue reading...
Skyrim has already received countless editions and upgrades, but this new PC mod will seemingly future proof the game for a good few years. A 16K texture mod uploaded by Nexus Mods user xilamonstrr ensures that players can see every scale and scar on the game's dragons.
While this might seem excessive, the page offers a somewhat reasonable explanation as to why 16k might be a useful addition in a time when most games are still sticking with 1440p. Basically, the dragons in Skyrim are way bigger than any other enemy in the game, meaning their skins are stretched out much more than a normal enemy.
"I would recommend that you think of this as two 8K files next to each other", xilamonstrr said in the post. "With 16K, a dragon wing is...
OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research organization founded by Elon Musk, has trained an AI to play Minecraft almost as well as humans. It only took about 70,000 hours of binging YouTube videos.
A blog post detailing the feat reveals that researchers used a technique called "Video PreTraining (VPT)" to train a neural network on how to play Minecraft. This involved gathering 2,000 hours of sample dataset from actual humans playing Minecraft to include not just the raw video, but also exact keypresses and mouse movements.
From there, the researchers trained an inverse dynamics model (IDM) to predict the future action being taken at each step in the videos. Finally, the "trained" IDM was shown 70,000 hours of Minecraft YouTube...
Persona 5 Royal on PlayStation 5, Xbox, and PC will come with all 45 DLC packs at launch that have been released for the PS4 version. As reported by Persona Channel, players will have instant access to a ton of different costume packs and other, smaller pieces of DLC when the game is released again on October 21.
The costumes are mostly tied to other Persona games (or games from the Shin Megami series, from which Persona is a spin-off), with players able to don the clothes of previous protagonists and so on.
Some of the DLC is a little heftier though, such as the Royal Challenge Battle Extra Set, which provides some additional items and another which includes a fully-fledged additional Persona called Raoul. A full list of the DLC...
Gaming monitors have started to hit their stride. Whether you're looking for a 4K gaming monitor for the sharpest picture or a 240Hz gaming monitor for the smoothest experience, you'll be able to find something to cater to your exact style of gaming and loaded with all the latest technology you could want. Aside from those extremes, you'll also find tons of value in our picks. And, we're not just talking about budget gaming monitors, we mean the majority of monitors now feature VA or IPS panels for great color depth, while offering up fast response times, and all of them are 60Hz or faster. These monitors can change the way you game.
The plethora of options is a boon and a curse though. There are almost too many good options to churn...
Valve announced that it will be shipping out more Steam Deck handheld devices in Q3 as the company’s production has increased.
“Hello! Some great news on the production front. We just sent the last batch of Q2 emails, and we’ll start sending Q3 reservation emails on the 30th,” Valve explains in a tweet. “Production has picked up, and after today we'll be shipping more than double the number of Steam Decks every week!”
Valve UX designer Lawrence Yang also clarified that Valve was sending out a certain number of Steam Deck units per week in the past. However, starting this week, Valve will start shipping twice that amount.
As Steam Deck orders have slowly been being fulfilled by Valve, the company sent out several software updates...
Ever since Outriders released early last year, I’ve held a theory that it's the ultimate fast food game: a bland story filled with cheesy one-liners and mindless encounters that you know aren’t good for you, but undeniably awesome combat that’s easy for you and your friends to lose hours in just makes it so dang tasty. In that context, if the base game was a Big Mac, then the latest expansion, Worldslayer, is that one sandwich from KFC where the bread is replaced by fried chicken. With a fine-tuned combat sandbox, expanded build-crafting options, and a drastically upgraded endgame, Worldslayer improves upon a lot of what was already great about the original, but it also doubles down on many of its shortcomings. That includes another...
If you’ve played Dungeon of the Endless, then you’ll know the biggest hallmark of the tactical tower defense game is its incredibly high level of difficulty. Defending against countless waves of enemies as a squishy hero while managing scant resources to use for tower defense was often a humbling experience. With successor Endless Dungeon being a roguelite, you might wonder if developer Amplitude intends to use a lighter touch going forward. After several hours of getting absolutely dabbed on by various bugs and robots in Endless Dungeon’s harrowing space station, I can safely report that no quarter is being granted – and that’s great news for gluttons for punishment like myself.
A lot has changed since 2014’s Dungeon of the Endless...
Riot Games will begin testing its voice chat monitoring technology in Valorant next month as part of a wider strategy to combat "disruptive behaviour" in its games.
In a blog post, Riot announced its voice evaluation system - eventually intended to identify community behavioural violations such as the use of abusive language - would begin testing on July 13.
Valorant players will have their voice chat analyzed by the technology but, at this stage, it won't be judged for appropriateness. Riot said this testing period, only taking place in North America and in English, will be used "to help train our language models and get the tech in a good enough place for a beta launch later this year".
Only once the technology is working...
There's an amazing preorder deal for The Callisto Protocol right now at Amazon. You can pick it up for just £45.95 when preordering on PS5, which is absolutely the best preorder deal available for the game right now. You can also currently get the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Dual Pack Steelbook set for just £89.99 from Amazon, £10 off the original list price. This is a great discount on the collectable set, and well worth considering for fans who like collecting both games at each Pokemon release.
There are plenty of other deals to check out today as well, which I've included below. This includes more early Prime Day deals including a bunch of free stuff for Prime members, such as 4-months free of Amazon Music Unlimited, 3-months free...
Exit your oodie and ugg boots because it's hot discounts time with the Steam Summer sale. For those of you new to the concept, this is more or less the bargain blitz of the year. For not much money you can stock your library with amazing games. Sure, you will probably never install half of them—but hey, it's still nice to know they're there.
Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch
Purchase Cheaply for PC
Exciting Offers for XO/XS
Product Savings for PS4/PS5
Adam’s our Aussie deals wrangler. You can watch him game on YouTube.
Continue reading...