Steam

SIE's 'China Hero Project' game finally gets a new gameplay showcase with a 2025 release window for PS5 and PC. View the full article

The pop culture crossover game Funko Fusion recently got some new content based on the Mega Man series, adding on to the game's existing content from the hit Capcom franchise and giving fans more characters to play as. The new DLC features two new playable characters, each with their own unique abilities, and expands the roster of pop culture icons available in Funko Fusion even further. View the full article

With Marvel Rivals now in full swing, players are likely looking for ways to improve their gameplay, though the developers are warning against altering the mouse settings for those on PC. Some players were rather shocked to find out Marvel Rivals does not feature a toggle for mouse acceleration, taking matters into their own hands. However, the game's developer NetEase is warning against doing so, claiming other problems may occur as players enjoy Marvel Rivals. View the full article

Zenless Zone Zero developer HoYoverse has recently released the game’s Update 1.4. The newest Zenless Zone Zero update brings two new playable characters, more story content, multiple bug fixes, and much more, and marks an important time for the popular action RPG. View the full article

The holidays have taken over Disney Dreamlight Valley and there are many winter tasks you can undertake, like searching for Festive Wrapping Paper. This seasonal material can be foraged from the valley to complete various quests. Festive Wrapping Paper is a key resource for the holiday festivities, but it’s fairly tricky to find if you don’t know where to look. A very limited amount is available at a time too, so acquiring it whenever you can is a must. Here’s how to get Festive Wrapping Paper in Disney Dreamlight Valley. View the full article

If recent leaks are to be believed, the next Epic Games Store free mystery game is none other than Vampire Survivors. The Epic Games Store free mystery game promotion ensures that December is always an exciting time for PC gamers. It's during free mystery game promotions that they are given the chance to seriously stack their digital gaming libraries at no cost. View the full article

With Diablo 4's Vessel of Hatred expansion and the meteoric early access launch of Path of Exile 2, it's safe to say that 2024 has ended well for ARPG fans. Good news has also arrived for Moon Beast Productions, the ARPG-focused studio that was spun up by some former Diablo developers in 2021. Moon Beast has revealed today that it has secured an extra $4.5 million in funding from investors which will go towards the creation of its incredibly ambitious debut game. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Win a GeForce RTX 4080 Super and copy of Diablo 4, thanks to Nvidia Netflix, Activision drama allegedly kills Overwatch, Diablo, and StarCraft shows After Diablo 4's first year, Blizzard says it wants to try new things View the full article

It's that time again when all of the apps and platforms you use every day begin rounding up what you watched, listened to, or played over the last 12 months. Following a less-than-popular name change last year, Steam's annual roundup is back and it comes bearing its original Steam Replay name as well. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: When is the next Steam *****? Best VR games on PC 2024 Valve just hinted at plans to bring Steam Deck OS to other PC gaming handhelds View the full article

Microsoft is reportedly working on a new cross-platform user interface. That’s according to a Windows Central report, which also claims that exclusive Xbox console games will be the exception rather than the rule going forward. “Sources tell us that Microsoft is also working on a set of in-game APIs and user interface features, called Project Rainway, which is some form of cross-platform Xbox guide menu,” the report claims. Read More... View the full article

Call of Duty’s massive move to becoming a day one launch title on Game Pass definitely impacted console sales this year, but maybe not in the way you think. According to Circana Retail Tracking Service’s Mat Piscatella, overall hardware spending at $927 million was “flat” compared to November 2023. But the interesting numbers are that the PS5 saw a 15 percent increase in console sales, while Xbox dropped a whopping 29 percent compared to last year at the same time. View the full article

According to tradition, the holiday season actually began over a month ago when Mariah Carey once again emerged from a giant block of ice to sing Christmas anthem "All I Want for Christmas Is You." Fortnite's is arriving a bit late to the holiday party, but leakers say an upcoming update to the game will replicate this timeless holiday tradition and have Mariah Carey burst forth from a large block of ice in the game, bringing with her holiday character skins and the Winterfest event. Santa Shaq, Snoop Dogg, and Mariah Carey [Hidden Content] — iFireMonkey (@iFireMonkey) December 18, 2024 This news comes from prominent Fortnite leaker iFireMonkey, who has previously been a source of credible Fortnite leaks. Per their information, Mariah Carey will be getting a Fortnite skin as part of its upcoming Winterfest 2024 event, alongside Snoop Dogg and Shaquille O'Neal. All of them will, of course, be dressed in holiday finery. Another leaker, Egyptian_Leaker, suggests that there will be an additional event involving a large block of ice that's already appeared on the Fortnite map. Per them, the ice block will defrost after three days, and Mariah Carey will appear in-game as an NPC handing out gifts to players. MINI-LIVE EVENT CONFIRMED: There's a very small Winterfest event at the start of it Mariah Carey will be an Ice block on the map for 3 days. After she defrosts there will be a small sequence with Fireworks. Mariah Carey will then be available as an NPC that gives gifts to… [Hidden Content] — Egyptian Fortnite Leaker (@Egyptian_Leaker) December 18, 2024 For the time being, she remains tragically frozen: Alongside Mariah Carey, iFireMonkey has posted a number of other holiday-themed leaks we're likely to see in the coming days. These include loads of holiday-themed skins and accessories (one of them is a backpack full of bread dogs!), new emotes and dances, and the return of Sgt. Winter as an NPC. We've also heard that Skibidi Toilet is coming to Fortnite...tonight. Just in time for the holidays. Winterfest 2024 launches on December 20 and runs through January 7. In addition to the rumored holiday skins and Mariah Carey's ice block extravaganza, Epic Games has confirmed we'll see the return of Jonesy's Cabin. Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected]. View the full article

Universities from the US and China collaborated on a paper titled Return to Office Mandates and Brain Drain, which tracked over 3 million tech and finance workers' employment histories reported on LinkedIn. Read Entire Article View the full article

Sony is furthering its partnership with AMD so they can create more AI-powered technology to make games look and play better — and not just on PlayStation hardware. The two companies are establishing a “deeper collaboration” to work on “Machine Learning-based technology for graphics and gameplay,” lead architect of the PS5 and PS5 Pro Mark Cerny announced on Wednesday. The two already partner on the PS5 and PS5 Pro’s GPUs, which are based on AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture, and the PS5 Pro uses a feature called PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) to improve image clarity and frame rates. Sony also released a 37-minute presentation by Cerny discussing technical aspects of the PS5 Pro and some additional information about the “multi-year” project with AMD, which is codenamed “Amethyst.” The two are vague about how, when, and where the tech resulting from Project Amethyst will be used, but general it sounds like it’s something we could see on the next PlayStation and other future hardware that AMD is a part of. “These components should be key in increasing the richness of game graphics” [/url] The companies have two goals with Project Amethyst, according to Cerny. “The first goal is a more ideal architecture for machine learning,” Cerny said, including something that’s particularly good at dealing with the lightweight convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for game graphics. The second goal is to develop “a set of high-quality CNNs for graphics,” Cerny said. “Both SIE and AMD will independently have the ability to draw from this collection of network architectures and training strategies, and these components should be key in increasing the richness of game graphics as well as enabling more extensive use of ray tracing and path tracing.” Sony and AMD don’t want this technology to be exclusive to PlayStation. “Through this technology collaboration we’re looking to support broad work and machine learning across a variety of devices,” Cerny said. That means “something that can be used broadly across PC and console and cloud,” Cerny said to IGN. [Hidden Content] The fruits of this work seem like they’re a ways out, though: “Don’t expect some massive hardware announcement immediately coming out of this,” Cerny told Digital Foundry. And since creating a console is “roughly a four year-journey,” Cerny said during the presentation, it’s possible we might not see hardware that uses tech from Project Amethyst until the PlayStation 6. (Cerny dodged a direct question from IGN about when we should expect a potential PS6.) If you want to read more of what Cerny said about Amethyst in his presentation, here’s the transcript of that part (which starts at around 34:32 in the video): I have some very exciting news to share. We have begun a deeper collaboration with AMD. For the project name we’re taking a hint from AMD’s red and PlayStation’s blue. The code name is Amethyst. With Amethyst, we’ve started on another long journey and are combining our expertise with two goals in mind. The first goal is a more ideal architecture for machine learning. Something capable of generalized processing of neural networks but particularly good at the lightweight CNNs needed for game graphics and something focused around achieving that Holy Grail of fully-fused networks. In going after this we’re combining the lessons AMD has learned from its multi-generation RDNA road map and SIE has learned from the custom work in PS5 Pro. But ML use in games shouldn’t and can’t be restricted to graphics libraries. We’re also working towards a democratization of machine learning something accessible that allows direct work in AI and ML by game developers both for graphics and for gameplay. Amethyst is not about proprietary technology for PlayStation. In fact it’s the exact opposite. Through this technology collaboration we’re looking to support broad work and machine learning across a variety of devices. The other goal is to develop, in parallel, a set of highquality CNNs for game graphics. Both SIE and AMD will independently have the ability to draw from this collection of network architectures and training strategies, and these components should be key in increasing the richness of game graphics as well as enabling more extensive use of ray tracing and path tracing. We’re looking forward to keeping you posted throughout what we anticipate to be a multi-year collaboration. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

With Diablo 4's Vessel of Hatred expansion and the meteoric early access launch of Path of Exile 2, it's safe to say that 2024 has ended well for ARPG fans. Good news has also arrived for Moon Beast Productions, the ARPG-focused studio that was spun up by some former Diablo developers in 2021. Moon Beast has revealed today that it has secured an extra $4.5 million in funding from investors which will go towards the creation of its incredibly ambitious debut game. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Win a GeForce RTX 4080 Super and copy of Diablo 4, thanks to Nvidia Netflix, Activision drama allegedly kills Overwatch, Diablo, and StarCraft shows After Diablo 4's first year, Blizzard says it wants to try new things View the full article

The third annual Steam Year In Review Steam Replay has arrived, and your very own jaunt down gaming memory lane awaits! It's a fun-filled, fact-filled, friend-filled (because you can share it!) look back at what you played in 2024. Name change? What name change?Ok, you got us. We called it Steam Replay when we launched it in 2022. Then last year, some of us thought "Hey! What if we changed it to Steam Year In Review for giggles?" Then we all giggled and did it. Then this year, someone said, "Um, that was a dumb idea we had last year. Are we crazy if we change it back to the better name for it?" And we all said "Shut up, Gabe, that's too much work." HA HA we kid, it was actually Chris. Or Eric? No wait it was Jane. Or maybe Tom? And we actually said "That's a great, collaborative idea, fellow teammate!" and here we are. You, on Steam, by the numbersHow many games did you play, and how does that compare to last year? Did you unlock a bunch of achievements? What about your longest streak? These fun numbers and more are in your Replay. There are spiders! ...graphs. Spider GRAPHS, we mean, showing in spider language what kinds of games you played. ...and so much more!There are so many fun ways to look at your year in Steam gaming: playtime by month; playtime by what you played on; even playtime across your Steam Family if you're part of one! Sharing is caringEach Steam Replay is different, so what will yours look like? Take a look at your own, and share it both on and off Steam with your friends (and see what theirs look like too!)View the full article

The third annual Steam Year In Review Steam Replay has arrived, and your very own jaunt down gaming memory lane awaits! It's a fun-filled, fact-filled, friend-filled (because you can share it!) look back at what you played in 2024. Name change? What name change?Ok, you got us. We called it Steam Replay when we launched it in 2022. Then last year, some of us thought "Hey! What if we changed it to Steam Year In Review for giggles?" Then we all giggled and did it. Then this year, someone said, "Um, that was a dumb idea we had last year. Are we crazy if we change it back to the better name for it?" And we all said "Shut up, Gabe, that's too much work." HA HA we kid, it was actually Chris. Or Eric? No wait it was Jane. Or maybe Tom? And we actually said "That's a great, collaborative idea, fellow teammate!" and here we are. You, on Steam, by the numbersHow many games did you play, and how does that compare to last year? Did you unlock a bunch of achievements? What about your longest streak? These fun numbers and more are in your Replay. There are spiders! ...graphs. Spider GRAPHS, we mean, showing in spider language what kinds of games you played. ...and so much more!There are so many fun ways to look at your year in Steam gaming: playtime by month; playtime by what you played on; even playtime across your Steam Family if you're part of one! Sharing is caringEach Steam Replay is different, so what will yours look like? Take a look at your own, and share it both on and off Steam with your friends (and see what theirs look like too!)View the full article

Disney Dreamlight Valley has launched a new gift-giving event, which will be available until the very end of the year. Called The Gift of Giving, the newly debuted promotion gives Disney Dreamlight Valley players an opportunity to engage in some holiday-themed activities. View the full article

The Game Awards 2024 broke the event’s viewership record with an estimated 154 million livestreams. That’s according to event producer and host Geoff Keighley, who said viewership for last Thursday’s show was up 31% compared to 2023’s event. It marks a tenth consecutive year of growth for The Game Awards, which had 118 million livestreams in 2023. Read More... View the full article

Some Zenless Zone Zero players are upset that, following the recent Update 1.4, they can no longer look up at their character’s panties. With the eagerly awaited Update 1.4, Zenless Zone Zero received new characters and a new part of the main story, but what seems to be dominating the discourse around the patch is an otherwise small change that has been deemed “censorship” by part of the player base. View the full article

The developers of Catly, a game about cats, have denied using generative AI to create the announcement trailer that debuted last week at The Game Awards, and have also rejected suggestions that their game is built on blockchain technology or makes use of NFTs... Read more.View the full article

This year's crop of cozy games felt like it ran completely perpendicular to the trends in PC gaming as a whole. The main release calendar for this year was mostly lacking obvious blockbusters, leaving room for some really delightful surprise hits. Meanwhile, the best cozy games of this year mostly wound up being the ones that I'd been anticipating since last year and I wasn't as taken in by the surprise hits that this indie-infused corner of the hobby usually delivers... Read more.View the full article

Mew ex set the Pokémon TCG Pocket community ablaze when it was revealed in the Mythical Island teaser trailer and ever since, it’s been popping up in a number of decks across the community thanks to its intriguing move set and competitive potential. Here, we’ve picked out the best Mew ex deck build list for Pokémon TCG Pocket, including every card and how to get it, the strengths and weaknesses of a Mew ex deck build, and how it all works, too. View the full article

As I was reading the latest 'Grotmas' detachment for Warhammer 40k, the Genestealer Cults 'Final Day' detachment, I realised something neat - the Warhammer 40,000 rules designers have finally figured out how to make cross-faction alliances work. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: This adorable indie tabletop wargame is like Warhammer 40k with ****** All the Warhammer 40k primarchs, and where they are now Warhammer 40k lore: What happened to the lost legions? View the full article

Disney Dreamlight Valley has lots of secret quests you can complete to earn rewards. These hidden puzzles are always fairly complex but worth tackling, as is the case with the secret snowman crafting task in the Winter Gift of Giving event. The snowman isn’t easy to make, but it’s certainly worth creating if you’re hoping to claim all of the special event items. Here’s how to complete the secret craft a snowman quest in Disney Dreamlight Valley’s Gift of Giving Winter event. View the full article

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind just received a new update patch for December 2024 that fine-tunes some of the old-school beat-em-up's gameplay based on fan feedback. While there wasn’t a lot of Power Rangers news in 2024, fans of the classic characters did get a brand-new video game this month from Digital Eclipse in the form of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind. Building off last year’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once and Always special, Rita’s Rewind sees the evil Robo-Rita travel back to 1993 to join forces with her past self to destroy the Power Rangers just as they are coming together for the first time. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]