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Well, it’s that time of the year folks. A new Dota 2 patch and a new way to exploit the nefarious Hand of Midas item. This time around, it needs a pair of heroes to work and is more complicated, but it’s still worth the effort as thousands of gold can be racked up in mere minutes. With Patch 7.38, the entire Dota 2 map has changed, as have most of the heroes and items in the game. However, it seems that in this all-encompassing update Valve managed to break something yet again, enabling the Hand of Midas to be exploited for the umpteenth time. As explained and showcased by Reddit user LokeLok on Feb. 19, the Hand of Midas can rack up 10 extra charges over the two it gets by default. To do so, you need to purchase Hand of Midas and Holy Locket, spend all the charges for Midas and send it to a cooldown, give Midas to Dazzle, swap Midas and the Holy Locket’s inventory slots, and voila—you have 10 Hand of Midas charges now, which the user rightfully called “an abomination.” View the full article

Plenty of monsters have already been revealed for Monster Hunter Wilds, although Capcom is still keeping a lot of them close to its chest ahead of the full release. There are new additions, from the living rail gun, the Rey Dau, to the flaming octopus, Nu Urda, and returning monsters, like the mascot, Rathalos. Still, the current roster announced won't hold a candle to all the monsters seen in the full game if previous titles are anything to go by, and it is good to see that Capcom is making plenty of additions for Monster Hunters' sixth generation. View the full article

Every new major content update for Overwatch 2 is bound to come with some bugs, but a glitch that causes the cape of Doomfist's Saitama skin to change colors based on weapon variants is one that many fans hope doesn't get fixed. The latest season for Overwatch 2 recently went live and has enjoyed a notably smooth initial launch considering the huge amount of new content that it's packed with. View the full article

Bethesda Game Studios is bringing back the Fasnacht event to Fallout 76, running from February 18 to March 4. Fallout 76’s live-service experience continues to offer new content to players, this time inviting them to dive back into the Fasnacht event with new missions and rewards. View the full article

Developer Wrong Organ and publisher Critical Reflex have announced that the hit 2024 first-person horror game Mouthwashing will be coming to PlayStation and Nintendo with physical and digital releases. The announcement comes as Mouthwashing officially hit 500,000 sales, and its expansion to other platforms will allow even more players to dive into the bizarre terrors of the sci-fi horror game. View the full article

Patch 7.38 for Dota 2 is officially out, surprise dropping on an early Wednesday morning and bringing a wave of changes (pun intended) to the game. One of the biggest components of this patch, titled Wandering Waters, was the entirely new map, with existing elements rearranged, changed, or given a new look. Ice Frog and Valve gave it an extensive facelift, so here’s all you need to know about Dota 2‘s new map. View the full article

The Totem of Defiance, or Skaen's Totem, in Emerald Stair, is the second major totem set in Avowed. As with Woedica's Totem in Dawnshore, there are seven different pieces, including the totem base. Totems award unique and powerful buffs after placing each piece in your camp, and they can be found in all sorts of locations, typically near other side quests or even main quests. As with all totems, clues about the totem locations can be bought from a specific vendor, but these clues only provide a hint about where to look and don't provide any specific map indicators. View the full article

This update rolls up several months of bugfixes and updates to OpenXR. This release also includes a variety of bug fixes and quality of life improvements across SteamVR and Steam Link. We continue to focus on OpenXR as our preferred API for new games and applications. SteamVR’s official OpenXR subforum is here and we’d love to hear your feedback, as well as suggestions for new features. SteamVR: Added a prompt to terminate processes holding resources required by vrserver. Fix bug preventing games from forcing fade-to-compositor while they are submitting frames. When using an VIVE Focus Vision or an VIVE Ultimate Tracker dongle, SteamVR will display a one-time warning reminding the user to install the VIVE Hub application. Fix Quest 3S icons and render models defaulting to CV1-style controllers when using Meta Link. Fix render artifact on the edge of 2D overlays. Added IVROverlay VROverlayFlags_MinimalControlBar. This lets desktop replacement apps opt out of control bars. Speculative fix for ****** when updating firmware. Default to turning on "Prop_Hmd_AllowsClientToControlTextureIndex" and "Prop_ForceSystemLayerUseAppPoses_Bool" for many Direct Mode HMD drivers, such as those from Pico, DPVR, and the HTC Vive Pro 2, which significantly reduces frame judder at low framerates and during hitches.OpenXR: Handle XR_SWAPCHAIN_USAGE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT and XR_SWAPCHAIN_USAGE_UNORDERED_ACCESS_BIT for Vulkan swapchain textures. Fixed a bug where Meta Quest wouldn’t work in some OpenXR titles. Implement XR_EXT_user_presence. Fix xrEndFrame not returning XR_ERROR_LAYER_LIMIT_EXCEEDED when submitted layer count exceeds graphicsProperties::layerCount. Fix xrCreateReference space not returning XR_ERROR_REFERENCE_SPACE_UNSUPPORTED for unsupported reference spaces. Fix hand tracking velocities not being zeroed out when no hand tracking data is being received.Steam Link: Add toggle to disable hand tracking passthrough. Add option to disable hand tracking Fix hang that could occur if frequently adjusting encoded video size Multiple ****** fixes As always, if you are interested, we encourage enrolling into SteamVR Beta by right-clicking on SteamVR in your Steam library, clicking on "Properties" and selecting "Betas" from the list on the left hand side and then clicking "Beta" under Beta Participation. Additionally, if you use Steam Link for Meta Quest, you can opt into the beta here or in-headset by going to your library, clicking the "..." on Steam Link, selecting Settings and clicking the button to the right of "Installed Version Information." Help & Information: The Steam Link for Meta Quest FAQ page is available here. If you encounter issues with this update, please post in the SteamVR Bug Report forum. If possible, please include a SteamVR System Report to aid in tracking down your issue. Replies to this post are not tracked for bug reporting purposes. Please use the forum linked above to report issues.View the full article

Ever wanted to get into Magnus Carlsen’s pants? Well, now you can, provided you’re willing to fork over several thousand dollars. Yes, I’m very serious about this. You may or may not have been aware of Carlsen’s pants problems last year, but it was probably the biggest and definitely the silliest controversy in international chess since the debacle that buzzed around Hans Niemann in 2022. View the full article

Luna Knight is a recent manga series from creator Hiru Morino and follows what at first appears to be the normal life of a high school girl. Luna is a high school girl who takes care of her missing sister’s flower shop in her absence. However Luna struggles with strange memories, or remnants of memories, […] Source View the full article

The Marvel Rivals 1.5 update is just around the corner and players could not be more excited for the arrival of both the Human Torch and The Thing. But as always, the new faces will also come with a new wave of balance changes. Here are all Marvel Rivals Season 1.5 Hero changes explained so you can see who were the biggest winners of 1.5 and whether or not your main got lucky. Table of contentsAll Vanguard buffs and nerfs in Marvel Rivals 1.5All Duelist buffs and nerfs in Marvel Rivals 1.5All Strategist buffs and nerfs in Marvel Rivals 1.5All team-up ability changes in Marvel Rivals 1.5 All Vanguard buffs and nerfs in Marvel Rivals 1.5 Image by Destructoid To accommodate The Thing's arrival into the Marvel Rivals roster, the midseason update is set to bring a few big buffs to heroes like Captain America. If you are a Penny main like me, you will also have reasons to be both relieved and concerned, as her kit remains untouched. You can check out an overview of all Vanguard balance changes below, based on the info shown in the version's official balance notes. Captain America Can now shield himself with Living Legend while leaping. The speed of his Vibranium Energy Saw projective has been boosted to 80m/s. The ricochets can now boost it up to 150m/s. The cost of Freedom Charge has been reduced from 3100 to 2800 Energy. Sentinel Strike is now counted separately from his regular melee strikes. Doctor Strange Base Health reduced from 650 to 600 Groot The maximum placement range of his Thornlash Walls was increased from 15 to 18 meters. Magneto Iron Volley's damage has been increased from 35 to 40. Metallic Curtain will now consume 65 Energy per second. The shied's maximum uptime has also been reduced from 2 to 1,5/s. Thor Awakening Rune will no longer trigger a shared cooldown. Venom Frenzied Arrival will now trigger an inward knockback effect (at a 75-degree angle) instead of a vertical one. His Ultimate (Feast of the Abyss) cost has been reduced to 2500 from 2800. All Duelist buffs and nerfs in Marvel Rivals 1.5 Image by Destructoid Apart from Johnny Storm's arrival, the duelist class is set to get quite the shake-up once 1.5 drops, with the highlight being the much-needed buffs given to ****** Widow. Hawkeye and Iron Fist are also among the patch's biggest winners. Here are all duelist changes set to take effect in Marvel Rivals 1.5. ****** Widow Red Room Rifle magazine size increased to 15 bullets. The slow effect of Electro-Plasma Explosion was changed from 80% to 55%. Enemies affected will also receive a 15% Vulnerability debuff for 4 seconds. Hawkeye Base health increased to 275. His Blast Arrow projective damage has been decreased from 20 to 15 while its spell field damage was boosted from 25 to 32. Crescent Slash's CD has been reduced to 12 seconds. Clint will now draw his bow faster during Hunter's Sight. The Ultimate's DMG multiplayer has also been increased to 1.35x. Hela The damage falloff of Nightsword Thorn has been changed from 70 to 80% when at 30 meters from your target. Iron Fist The damage of his first, second, and third Jeet Kune Do strikes has been reduced to 30. The fourth and fifth hits will now deal 15 DMG and the sixth 50. Dragon's Defense's CD reduction has been increased to 1,5s Each hit of Yat Jee Chung Kuen will now deal 10 flat DMG. To make up for that, all strikes will also trigger an extra hit dealing damage equal to 1.7% of your target's maximum HP. Harmony Recovery can now recover up to 150 health. Once the skill ends, the gained health value will be decreased by 25 per second. Dragon's Defense can now convert blocked damage into up to 200 health. Base health increased to 300. Iron Man His Unibeam damage has been increased to 140 DMG/s. While at Armor Overdrive, the skill will then deal 190 DMG per second instead of 180. Magik ******'s Rage DMG has been reduced to 72 DMG/s. Darkchild will now cost 3400 instead of 3700 Energy. Mister Fantastic The range of Flexible Elongation has been increased to 5 meters. The skill will also generate a knockback and launch enemies, although at the cost of having a longer single-use CD (10 seconds). Reed's first Brainiac Bounce hit will now deal 70 DMG. In exchange, the Ultimate will now cost 3400 Energy. Brainiac Bounce will now be subjected to a decay mechanic, reducing its damage by up to 50 at 10 meters. Moon Knight The talons created by Hand of Khonshu will now fall slower. The Ultimate's damage has also been adjusted to 150 DMG per hit, no matter your placement in its AoE. Scarlet Witch Wanda will now get a 100 health bonus during the buildup of Reality Erasure. After the Ultimate is either performed or interrupted, the extra health will be consumed at a 50 HP per second speed. Spider-Man Web-Cluster's cooldown has been reduced from 3 to 2,5 seconds. Star-Lord Rocket Propulsion can now gather up to 1800 energy, thus boosting its uptime. Storm Wind Blade's damage falloff has been changed to 60% at 30 meters. Weather Control (Thunder) will now boost Storm's damage by 12% instead of 16%. The boost offered to allies, however, has been increased from 8 to 10%. Enhanced Thunder's DMG boost has been reduced to 25% All Strategist buffs and nerfs in Marvel Rivals 1.5 Image by Destructoid To the despair of all strategist mains, the boost in the energy cost of most of their Ultimates makes the class the biggest casualties of the new balancing patch. As you can see below, Adam Warlock was the only one to be spared, and instead, he received a few welcome buffs that were sure to help him become a viable pick. Adam Warlock Quantum Magic's damage was increased to 60. The skill's damage falloff has also been changed to 60% at 40 meters. The healing over time effect of Soul Bond has been boosted to 15 health per second. Cloak & Dagger Eternal Bond will now cost 4000 Energy, with each dash healing 250 health per second. The Ultimate's healing will no longer stack. The duration of the AoE effects of Eternal Bond has been reduced to 8 seconds and the interval between each dash was decreased from 1 second to 0.67s. Players can now freely work the camera during Eternal Bond. Terror Cape will now apply 28% Vulnerability. Invisible Woman Invisible Boundary will now cost 4300 Energy. Loki God of Mischief will now cost 4000 Energy. Mystical Missile now has 12 charges. Luna Snow Fate of Both Worlds will now cost 4500 Energy, making it the most expansive Ultimate in the game. All team-up ability changes in Marvel Rivals 1.5 Image via NetEase Games Going past the character-focused changes, a few team-up abilities are also set to get a few big changes with the debut of the midseason update, with the biggest one being the way both Spider-Man and Peni Parker will become invulnerable while performing Symbiote Bond's Suit/Armor Expulsion. You can check out all of the team-up changes below: Atlas Bond (Luna Snow + Iron Fist)Frozen Chi will now heal 70 HP and apply 30% slow on those hit. Dimensional Shortcut (Magik + ****** Panther/Psylocke)Psionic Disc and Wakandan Master's Rewind Time have been reduced to 3 seconds. The health-to-armor conversion rate of the ability was increased to 0.8 Gamma Charge (Hulk + Doctor Strange/Iron Man)When in Gamma Overdrive, Unibeam's DMG has been decreased to 200/s. Hulk will now only receive 100 Health from the team-up. Lunar Force (Moon Night + Cloak & Dagger)Moon Knight will now be healed by 25 health per second when in the ability's AoE. Symbiote Bond (Venom + Spider-Man/Peni Parker)Spider-Man: Suit Expulsion will now last for only 1 second. Spidey is now invulnerable during its duration. Peni Parker: Armor Expulsion will now last for 2 seconds. Peeny is also invulnerable during its use. With the balancing changes taken care of, don't forget to also check out How to play all Vanguards. If you are late to the party or looking to return to the grind once 1.5 drops, make sure to also check out our Marvel Rivals DPS tier list to know which way the wind blows. The post All Marvel Rivals Season 1.5 Hero changes, buffs and nerfs explained appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

FC Fantasy is going to be the next promo coming to EA FC 25 Ultimate Team, and it could include some amazing cards for players to obtain. Fantasy is going to be a returning promo since we had the campaign back in FC 24. So far, EA Sports hasn't dropped any hints about which cards are going to be released during the campaigns. A few leaks have already started doing the rounds ahead of the promo's official release in Ultimate Team. All EA FC 25 FC Fantasy promo players (Leaks) If you believe the leaks, the upcoming promo will have special cards for both active footballers and Heroes. The latter represents former footballers who have hung up their playing boots following illustrious careers. Last year, we had the same pattern, so history might be about to repeat itself. Eden Hazard Joe Cole Omar Marmoush Heung-Min Son Khvicha Kvaratskhelia Donyell Malen Aurelien Tchouameni Crystal Dunn Viktor Tsygankov Moises Caicedo Philip Billing Babajide Of course, the leaks so far are limited in numbers, as more names are expected to appear as we get closer to the release date. Once again, the promo cards might be Dynamic: they will receive boosts and upgrades based on results from real-life football. EA FC 25 FC Fantasy promo release date The release date was given away when we received Season 5 of Ultimate Team. Based on the available information, the upcoming promo will be a two-week-long affair, and the first team will be released on Friday, February 21. This will be followed by the second team on February 28, which will add new cards to packs. Once again, most of the promo items are going to be available in packs, but expect to find a few great items in the form of objectives and SBCs. Last year, we had some great SBCs like Timo Werner and Fridolina Rolfo. It will be interesting to see what EA Sports has planned for the community as part of the upcoming campaign for Ultimate Team. The post EA FC 25 FC Fantasy promo player leaks and release date appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Despite being in an incomplete early access form, Hades 2 is already a contender to become one of the best roguelikes ever. We'll need to wait until it's totally finished before judging it against its exquisite, genre-leading predecessor, but Supergiant appears to be doing everything right so far. A brand new major update - the second of Hades 2's life so far - has just arrived, and not only does it flesh out, rework, and improve many key systems, it also adds in a final encounter for the surface route that sees you reach the top of Mount Olympus. However, despite the huge amount of content being added, Supergiant says it's still not confident enough to talk about 1.0 plans for Hades 2 just yet. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Hades 2 guides and release date estimate All Hades 2 Chaos Trials New Hades 2 patch preps for major update with balance tweaks and fixes View the full article

Revelations of new layoffs in the gaming industry in 2025 is nothing new, but it will always raise eyebrows when it happens to those working on a massive success like Marvel Rivals. A game director at Marvel Rivals‘ publisher NetEase Games, Thaddeus Sasser, revealed yesterday how his entire Seattle-based team for NetEase were let go in a post on LinkedIn. The team “specialized in game and level design in the Seattle area to work on Marvel Rivals,” according to Sasser, while “offering guidance, strategy, and design direction over the last couple of years.” View the full article

Disney Dreamlight Valley’s first free update of 2025 is nearly here, and it promises lots of fresh content to delve into. If you’re looking forward to it, you may want to know exactly when the Tales of Agrabah update will be released. This update includes two new characters, a Realm to explore, another Star Path event, and so much more. There’s plenty to see and do, so if you want to start playing as soon as possible, here is the exact time and date the Tales of Agrabah update will be released for Disney Dreamlight Valley. View the full article

Following an uproar over the new Rainbow Six Siege operator Rauora, Ubisoft has quietly made a change to the character's biography, moving her date of birth from March 15 to May 11. The original birthdate coincided with two mass shootings at mosques that left 51 people dead and 89 others injured in Christchurch, New Zealand, the city where Rauora was born... Read more.View the full article

Welcome back to Waifu Wednesday, Niche Gamer’s column where we talk about characters, their appeal, and a little on their history. This week’s Waifu is Squirrel Girl from Marvel Rivals. Specifically from Marvel Rivals because goodness did she get done dirty by 2015’s The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and we won’t be acknowledging it. We’ll give a pass to […] Source View the full article

Marvel Rivals’ first mid-season update adds The Thing and Human Torch, completing the Fantastic Four—but players worry the fiery superhero could overshadow another hero. In a Reddit discussion, Marvel Rivals players are getting worried about the possibility of Human Torch taking away the spotlight from Iron Man, who is one of the other aerial duelists in the game. “What will be even point in picking up Iron Man anymore,” one player asked, highlighting how Johnny Storm will be a perfect Duelist compared to Tony Stark. View the full article

Palworld has revealed that it has amassed more than 32 million players across PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One, a little over a year after its monumental launch. Developed by Pocketpair, Palworld is currently in early access. View the full article

Made by the original creators behind the legendary Fallout New Vegas, Avowed is shaping up to be a story-rich RPG experience with a unique presentation of the genre. Taking heavy inspiration from games like Skyrim, Dragon Age, and even D&D,Avowed offers classic action-adventure gameplay set in a fantastical world that's crossed with the mutated horror of annihilation. While these combinations make for a unique gameplay offering, its fleshed-out inspirations leave the door open for a future adaptation with incredible potential. View the full article

Xbox is looking to utilize its just announced generative AI model for the preservation of classic video games, it’s said. On Wednesday, Microsoft’s gaming division announced Muse, a generative AI model that it says can generate “game visuals, controller actions, or both.” The company’s main demonstration of Muse showed how it could generate video game visuals using training data from Ninja Theory’s 2020 game Bleeding Edge. However, it also discussed how Muse could help preserve classic games in the future. Read More... View the full article

Imperator Titans are the largest ground-based war machines in the arsenal of Warhammer 40k's Imperium of Man - 330-foot tall walking cathedrals, with gun arms half a football field long. So, I've often wondered: what would I see and hear when one turns its barrels on me and fires? As of today, I'm no longer curious, though, because the work of two intrepid YouTubers has created a one-minute animation of that exact experience, in awesome, terrifying detail. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Warhammer 40k lore: All 21 Primarchs, explained Get a trio of Warhammer 40k strategy bangers at 91% off - for one day only! The best Warhammer 40k games View the full article

Huge, game-redefining patches are the norm in Dota 2, but even so, there’s always some fun to be had whenever they come out. In Patch 7.38, which changed the entire map and most heroes in the game, Techies can now solo Roshan by letting him voluntarily walk through a minefield. This latest update, released on Feb. 19, once again influenced the layout of the Dota 2 map. By expanding the river, Roshan’s old pit was washed out and flooded, so Ice Frog decided to put him back in his old spots—between mid and the side lanes. Instead of teleporting through the gate, Roshan now simply walks from one pit to the other, crossing the mid lane every five minutes. However, he likely doesn’t expect Techies to come out of nowhere with dozens of mines planted to take him down while he’s on a stroll, which is exactly what this sly hero can do as of this Dota 2 patch. View the full article

For a while now, many AI researchers have been working to integrate a so-called "world model" into their systems. Ideally, these models could infer a simulated understanding of how in-game objects and characters should behave based on video footage alone, then create fully interactive video that instantly simulates new playable worlds based on that understanding. Microsoft Research's new World and Human Action Model (WHAM), revealed today in a paper published in the journal Nature, shows how quickly those models have advanced in a short time. But it also shows how much further we have to go before the dream of on AI crafting complete, playable gameplay footage from just some basic prompts and sample video footage are reality. More consistent, more persistent Much like Google's Genie model before it, WHAM starts by training on "ground truth" gameplay video and input data provided by actual players. In this case, that data comes from Bleeding Edge, a 4 vs. 4 online brawler released in 2020 by Microsoft subsidiary Ninja Theory. By collecting actual player footage since launch (as allowed under the game's EULA), Microsoft gathered the equivalent of seven player-years' worth of gameplay video paired with real player inputs. Read full article Comments View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is getting two major updates filled with exciting features to take the colorful martial arts action to the next level, with the first dropping sometime this week. While Power Rangers fans didn’t get a new series in 2024, they were treated to a nostalgic throwback to the side-scrolling beat-em-ups of old with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind. This 2D brawler puts players behind the helmets of the original teenagers with attitude as they battle against the evil Robo-Rita in a plot that ties into 2023’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once and Always Netflix special. View the full article