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Hardened battle royalists will remember Caldera, the sandy island map of bunkers and palm trees in Call Of Duty: Warzone. It got shut down last year as Activision focused their efforts elsewhere, making the map unplayable. But you can now revisit those bullet-strewn beaches. In theory, anyway. Activision have released it as a 4GB open-source project that can be explored in a 3D model-viewing tool. That's cool. But among their reasons for doing so, there ***** a predictably grubby logic: they want people to use the data to train AI. Read more View the full article

Seems like Aspyr Media actually did a pretty good job on this one, with STAR WARS: Bounty Hunter now available on GOG and Steam. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Of all the reworked Dungeons and Dragons classes, the DnD 2024 Ranger has had the most negative press. The Ranger was one of fifth edition's biggest problem children, and if fan reactions to the 2024 Player's Handbook are anything to go by, it seems like not much has changed. However, we've just finished a very thorough readthrough of the new rulebook - and we can now tell you exactly what's different for the DnD Ranger 2024. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Here's how the DnD 2024 Warlock works Here's what's new with the DnD 2024 Barbarian How do the DnD 2024 ******* Mastery rules work? View the full article

Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Here's how the DnD 2024 Warlock works Here's what's new with the DnD 2024 Barbarian How do the DnD 2024 ******* Mastery rules work? View the full article

The Pokémon World Championships is the biggest Pokémon event on the planet, and like any massive tournament, it has to have some awesome prizes, right? Not only do you get to take home a trophy if you win the Pokémon World Championships 2024, but there are other prizes, including prize cards, and, of course, cash. View the full article

The Viper Commandos premium Warbond added armor and a new passive to Helldivers 2. The choice of armor can heavily affect your performance, so here’s everything you need to know about the Peak Physique armor passive in Helldivers 2 and whether it’s worth using. How good is Peak Physique armor passive in Helldivers 2? Bring pain to the jungle. Screenshot by Dot Esports Peak Physique passive is available on two body armor pieces in Helldivers 2: PH-9 Predator and PH-202 Twigsnapper. Both are available in the Viper Commandos Warbond for 40 and 45 Warbond Medals, respectively. The passive increases melee damage by 50 percent and improves ******* handling with less drag on ******* movement. View the full article

Every Thursday we share the weekly Famitsu sales charts, which tracks physical boxed game sales and hardware sales in Japan. ... Read more View the full article

Xbox console sales suffered a staggering year-over-year decline during the quarter ending June 30. The situation regarding Xbox hardware has been dire for a while, but Microsoft's larger gaming business has performed well. Read Entire Article View the full article

The extensive Fallout 4 mod, Fallout: London has introduced several new factions, including the Vagabonds. As one of the first factions players will likely meet on the streets of post-apocalyptic London, many are likely wondering if it is worth joining up with them or if they should decline the offer. There are both benefits and drawbacks to joining the faction, as is typical with factions in many Fallout games, so players will want to know what theyre getting themselves into before they commit to any one group. View the full article

Disney Dreamlight Valley has many codes for players to take advantage of to help them acquire more items faster. There are a fair amount this month due to some extra events taking place, so players should have an extra fun time unlocking all of the various rewards. As always, make sure to redeem them fast, as it is not clear when they will expire. View the full article

The leaked stats for Feixiao in Honkai: Star Rail 2.5 could completely change the game if the information provided so far is accurate. Version 2.5 is still weeks away given that the turn-based RPG by HoYoverse has just entered Version 2.4. However, the beta tests for the next update have commenced and the upcoming content has started to be leaked. This means that the details about the new characters in Version 2.5, namely the 5-star units Feixiao and Lingsha, and the 4-star character Moze, have started to *****. Version 2.5 will continue to focus on the Xianzhou Alliance. View the full article

My first rendezvous with Closer the Distance was back during June’s Steam Next Fest, where I spent an hour exploring the quiet town of Yesterby and getting to know an array of distinct, authentic characters as they all deal with a heart-wrenching tragedy; one of their dear inhabitants — a friend and relative — passing away. It’s an understandably solemn start, and one that saw me keen to carve out space to breathe once my time with the demo came to an end. But I was desperate to jump back in and get to know Yesterby — and its delightfully human cast — despite the pressure of this dour starting point. I was keen to see what impact I could have on their story, considering this short, slice-of-life simulation game is all about what you can do to repair relationships and mend this struggling coastal town. The way in which this plays out is refreshing; it’s beautiful, vibrant, and despite the saddening subject matter, there is something magically understated about it. When you first step foot in Yesterby, you’re presented with this The Sims-inspired way of controlling and observing characters that is cross-pollinated with the deeply personal storytelling of Life is Strange. Read more View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

18 Lego games, as well as a steep discount on Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, are now available as part of a Humble Bundle. Currently, if you pay around $15, you'll get all of these titles, including the Lego adaptations of The Incredibles, Harry Potter, DC, The Lord of the Rings, and the Marvel series. View the full article

This year marks the sixth anniversary of The Elder Scrolls 6’s teaser trailer. And with Skyrim turning 13 years old this November, it’s safe to say that Elder Scrolls fans have endured – and will continue to endure – a long wait for Bethesda’s next fantasy RPG. But while the famed single-player studio has been focusing its efforts on nuclear wastelands and outer space, the beloved world of Tamriel hasn’t been neglected. The Elder Scrolls Online, once much-maligned and suffering sinking player counts, is now celebrating its tenth anniversary and the launch of its eighth major expansion. And while it may be an MMO by genre, by design it’s much closer to the classic Elder Scrolls RPG format than you might expect. If you’ve spent a decade desperately searching for more stories from Tamriel, then you need look no further than Elder Scrolls Online’s ongoing saga. Rich Lambert, game director at ZeniMax Online Studios, explains that the Elder Scrolls Online team made a “big design call to move into a more Skyrim-adjacent lane” several years ago. When TESO first launched, it was derided by many for feeling like a traditional MMO (level grind and all) wearing Elder Scrolls pajamas. Nowadays, the developers don’t even consider the game to fit the ‘MMORPG’ label. “We decided that this was going to be more of an Elder Scrolls game and focus on Elder Scrolls things first, and be multiplayer second,” Lambert says. “Once we did that it started informing lots of things.” Unsurprisingly, Lambert sees the core appeal of The Elder Scrolls Online as being one and the same as Skyrim and Oblivion: “One of our core pillars is freedom of exploration and freedom to be and live in the world,” he says. “That traditional Elder Scrolls feeling where you see something in the distance, you can just run to it and explore it.” The game as it stands now straddles the divide between single-player and online RPG design, offering all the elements you’d expect of a mainline Elder Scrolls game (including a world that permanently changes based on your story decisions, via some smart instancing), but it took a couple of years to get there. We decided to focus on Elder Scrolls things first, and be multiplayer second. Once we did that it started informing lots of things. Lambert notes that 2015’s Orsinium DLC saw the game’s storytelling “shift away from traditional MMO style to a more Elder Scrolls narrative style, focused more on the character, their beliefs and how they experience the world.” Later, in early 2016, some more traditional Elder Scrolls elements were introduced, such as Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood quest-lines, which encouraged stealing from or assassinating NPCs in the shared world. But it wasn’t until late 2016 that the game truly turned itself around. The One Tamriel update was the turning point for TESO, removing traditional level-based progression in favor of scaling player’s stats to match whatever region you’re in. Outside of dungeon matchmaking being unlocked gradually as you level up to ensure total newbies don’t frustrate more experienced players, there’s nothing stopping a new player from immediately skipping out on the main story and running straight into an ‘endgame’ dungeon. With a decent party, you might even win. Finally, you could treat the game like Skyrim, albeit with a shared world and dungeons geared for co-op. As such, the much memed wait for a new Elder Scrolls game needn’t be as long and torturous as the seemingly endless journey towards Todd Howard’s next project. The sixth Elder Scrolls is (sort of) already here. Many fans are turning to TESO over replaying Skyrim yet again, partly because of that re-tooled gameplay, but also because of how much of the world’s previously-underexplored lore is elaborated on here. Each major expansion and piece of DLC brings a set of new environments, and the game has been around long enough to fill in many of the blanks of The Elder Scrolls’ world map. I once wrote off The Elder Scrolls Online as a half-hearted cash-in. Now, it’s a game I’ve been playing on and off for around five years now, dipping back into and thoroughly enjoying when that Elder Scrolls ***** needs scratching. While the incredible community keeps Skyrim alive through mods, that’s a very different experience to exploring brand new, official stories and regions of Tamriel. TESO may not be The Elder Scrolls 6, but it’s a continuing Elder Scrolls game that’s successfully shifted and changed to reflect the wants of a fanbase that grew up on acclaimed single-player RPGs. And that’s a fine place to be for a ten-year-old online game. The product of a wasted youth, wasted prime and getting into wasted middle age, Dominic Tarason is a freelance writer, occasional indie PR guy and professional techno-hermit seen in many strange corners of the internet and seldom in reality. If you're looking for something new and potentially very weird to play, feel free to poke him on Twitter. View the full article

MMORPG fans aren’t exactly spoilt for choice, so when a new MMO comes along and promises the world, it immediately grabs our attention. One ambitious MMORPG that’s been in development for nearly eight years just got a two-hour gameplay showcase, but fans online aren’t impressed. Intrepid Studios broadcast a lengthy development update for its expansive MMORPG-in-development, Ashes of Creation, in a July 31 Twitch stream. The video shows a party of six (fairly run-of-the-mill) fantasy characters exploring a forested area; you can see the interface and talent trees, a few buff spells from the Bard class, and some basic combat. The graphics and animations are nice, but there’s nothing particularly unique or exciting on show. View the full article

Much like Newegg's GPU trade-in program that launched in September last year, the CPU addition lets customers send in their old processors for credit toward a new CPU. Read Entire Article View the full article

Lethal Company has its fair share of terrifying moons and nightmarish residents, and they all share the same goal: to ruin your high-quota run. While the Facility interiors repeat across the moons, the number of monsters you can meet depends on the moon’s threat level and weather. So, which moons are you courageous enough to enter? Here’s everything you need to know about Lethal Company‘s moons. This includes each moon’s cost to visit, threat level, and the long list of lovely monsters you can encounter throughout your career at The Company. View the full article

If a recent job listing is to be believed, a sequel to Hogwarts Legacy is in active development seemingly confirming rumors that have swirled for months. 2023 proved to be a massive year for video games with titans like Baldur's Gate 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom raking in awards for their innovative systems and immersive designs. Having said that, the year's best-selling game didn't even earn a nomination for Game of the Year but that's not stopping plans for a sequel. View the full article

Hype has been swirling for a while around the potential power of AMD's upcoming Strix Halo gaming laptop CPU. However, this new AMD Strix Halo **** size ***** really hammers home the potential power of this new chip. The single chip contains both a CPU and GPU - known as an APU - and houses a GPU **** that's larger than the AD104 chip used to make the RTX 4070, hinting at the grandeur of its graphics grunt. This new AMD chip should in theory unlock a whole new category of best gaming laptop contenders, potentially strikinh a balance of gaming power and compact, portable design. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Best Buy just leaked all the AMD Ryzen 9000 prices, and they look good AMD's free new software could boost frame rates in thousands of games AMD's new Ryzen 9000 CPUs are delayed because of a typo, says ***** View the full article

I try to keep an open mind. This is the world of videogames, after all. Strange things happen. You can never predict what tomorrow will bring. But even though I'm jaded, wizened, and almost immune to surprise these days, this one caught me off guard. 27 years ago, in the same halcyon age that brought us the first Fallout, the original Age of Empires, and The Curse of Monkey Island, the bizarrely named Whoopee Camp launched Tomba. An action game with 2.5D graphics and evil pigs, despite a cult following, for almost three decades it's been relegated to the dustiest shelves of the proverbial library of videogame history. Until now. Read the rest of the story... View the full article

If you've been waiting for the right moment to splash out on a new OLED gaming laptop, then now is the time to ***** in. This OLED gaming laptop deal on Best Buy enables you to save $400 on an Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, bringing the price down to $1,599.99. Amazingly, that buys you a great spec too, complete with an Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU, 32GB of RAM, an AMD Ryzen 9 CPU, and a 1TB SSD as well. We fell in love with the exact spec of this machine in our Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 review, where we particularly praised the quality of its screen, and awarded it a place on our guide to the best gaming laptop. Our main criticism of it was Asus' decision to use soldered RAM that can't be upgraded, but that isn't an issue with this 32GB spec, giving you plenty of memory for both gaming and work in Windows. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Asus' new laptop lets you upgrade its smell Save big on these Asus gaming keyboards on Amazon, if you're quick Asus' new ROG Ally software is broken. Here's how to fix it View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

The Genshin Impact 5.0 livestream already has a date and time to occur, as was officially announced by developer HoYoverse. As is the case with any livestream, the upcoming special event will present most of the new content related to the patch, from teasers of the story mission, details about the Nation of Natlan, limited-time events, and, of course, the character banners in Genshin Impact 5.0. The new characters for the update have already been revealed, but their order in Phases 1 and 2 has not been confirmed, despite the information being present in leaks. View the full article

Back in April 2024, I wrote about the Stop ******** Games initiative from Ross at Accursed Farms. Now, it's heading to the ********* Union with a ********* Citizens' Initiative you can give you vote to. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

The v50 monsters have forever changed the sound design of Lethal Company, making this co-op horror not only visually scary but downright terrifying once these entities come into play. With so many monsters to face off against in Lethal Company, it can be hard to know what can and can’t be *******. What’s worse, these enemies almost trick you into a false sense of security. Continuing the jump-scaring nature of the Coil-Head and Masked, these monsters have multiple layers to their ******* that will surely surprise you if you’re unprepared. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

After leaving Netflix's The Witcher series behind, Henry Cavill set his sights on a big-screen reboot of Highlander and, more importantly, an Amazon-backed Warhammer 40,000 TV series that would mark the start of a (hopefully) long collaboration with Games Workshop. Now, however, we're learning it all might not happen after all, but there's still hope. IGN first shared the news, which popped up during Games Workshop's annual financial report. Long story short: The company's very serious about either getting it right or not making it at all. Back in December 2023, we learned Games Workshop had finally signed an agreement with Amazon to commence work on the tentative series and further universe-building, as it was keen on getting movies off the ground too. The fine print stated Games Workshop would only exclusively work with Amazon for 12 months, starting December 2023, "to agree creative guidelines for the films and television series to be developed by Amazon." It appears such creative guidelines haven't been figured out yet, so Amazon might not have exclusive rights to the IP after all if something hasn't been worked out by December 2024. Read more View the full article