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Working out how to upgrade burgage plots in Manor Lords is one of the most confusing steps in establishing your first medieval township. If you hadn't worked it out already, burgage plots are important; they not only provide shelter for your peasantry, but they give access to a variety of item-producing workshops—once you upgrade them, that is... Read more.View the full article

Fallout 4's next-gen update arrived late last week, and uh, a lot of folks weren't too impressed. While a lot of the initial backlash was due to technical issues or bugs, a lot of those on PC who've given the update a go now seem to be looking for ways to revert their game back to its pre-update state. Enter a couple of works that've quickly shot to the top of the game's Nexus Mods page. If you're just catching up on things, while a lot of the big complants folks have had about Fallout 4's next-gen update have involved problems that've either since been resolved or hopefully should be soon - such as PlayStation Plus users temporarily being unable to upgrade PS4 versions to PS5 without being charged. Meanwhile, on PC - as game updates often do - it's rendered a lot of key Fallout 4 mods unable to be used until they too have been updated, earning plenty of ire from those in the midst of modded playthroughs who hadn't made plans to stop their game from updating. So, this is how we've ended up with two mods specifically aimed at helping people who've installed the update get back to playing pre next-gen Fallout 4 rocketing right to the top of Nexus Mods' most downloaded Fallout 4 mods for the past week, despite only having arrived after the update did. Read more View the full article

Fade is an agent in VALORANT who excels in setting her team up for success, and she can also use her shadows to reveal the tree area on Lotus in a way that no one else can. On April 26, a player on VALORANT’s subreddit showcased a newly discovered Fade lineup on Lotus that makes her stronger than ever. To perform this useful, yet easy trick, you have to stand on top of a rock in A main, aim slightly above the door, and throw her Haunt ability. By doing so, you reveal the entire tree area, providing your team with a ton of information. View the full article

*****, it turns out, isn't always a bubbly pool of magma where like, devils prod you with forks. There is a second ***** in Helldivers 2, a ***** made up of wartorn planets and soldiers who ****** bile-spewing bugs and robots. And it is a ***** that is subject to patches. One such update has nerfed a bunch of weapons including the popular quasar cannon. It's also increased the number of ****** patrols based on player numbers and tweaked the game's level generation, with the former making life more difficult in *****, and the latter possibly making things more interesting. Read more View the full article

The Escape From Tarkov developers' efforts to escape from a DLC paywall quagmire of their own quagmiring continue with an update and apology from Battlestate chief operational officer Nikita Buyanov, who says he "did not foresee" the adverse reaction to selling a new PvE mode as part of a new special edition, after telling purchasers of a previous edition they'd get "all subsequent DLC" for free. Read more View the full article

Moon Studios CEO Thomas Mahler has made the always wise decision to frame No Rest for the Wicked as their own Lord of the Rings. The latest game from Ori and the ****** Forest developer Moon Studios, No Rest for the Wicked, launched into early access this week, with our Sherif saying it's made a ******* first impression, even if he's worried about all the crafting and survival guff. While the game's 1.0 is likely still a while away, Mahler has made it clear that once it does come out that there will be lots more to come after it. Writing on Twitter, the CEO wrote, "Judging by the questions I'm getting, it looks like some people think that we'll release 1.0 and then we're done? Folks, we're nowhere near done with No Rest for the Wicked. There is so much that we've already built that none of you even know about and we want to deliver this in a masterful way!" Mahler described the early access phase as "just the beginning for us" and that the studio already has plans for what comes after 1.0. "No Rest for the Wicked is like our Lord of the Rings. And to further use this analogy, what we've done so far is akin to doing a 'test screening' of the first bits. 1.0 will be our 'Fellowship of the Ring'. And as you all know, there's lots to come after that. So to be clear: We'll be working on No Rest for the Wicked for another 5-10 years. This is our Magnum Opus. We always had lofty ambitions and we said we're going to contribute in a huge way to the ARPG genre - and that is our intention." Read more View the full article

At the end of 2023, Nexon subsidiary, Embark Studios, released THE FINALS, and it was a smashing success. Reportedly, Nexon’s next project is a Game of Thrones MMORPG. According to Redanian Intelligence’s post from April 29, Nexon is working on a game set in Game of Thrones’ Westeros, mainly Winterfell and The Wall. The story should start around the fourth or fifth season of the popular fantasy TV series when Roose Bolton starts ruling the North as Warden. During this time, Jon Snow and Sam Tarly are still closely watching The Wall. View the full article

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has released a significant patch for the game that makes big balance changes to weapons, stratagems, enemies, and missions. Patch 01.000.300 includes a much-needed tweak to burning damage, now reduced by 15%. Burning damage was causing chaos to friend and foe alike in the hugely popular PlayStation 5 and PC co-op shooter after a recent buff. Hopefully now planets such as Hellmire, which features ***** tornados, will be more manageable. Elsewhere, armors with an armor rating above 100 now also reduce damage on headshots, and victory poses will now only play for the extracted, which means, as Arrowhead put it in the patch notes: “no stolen valor on my ship.” As for weapons, it’s worth checking out the patch notes, below, for the details, but one highlight is a quickfire change to the recently released RL-77 Airburst Rocket Launcher, which was causing havoc. It will now no longer detonate when shot near stratagems (HMG turret, Sentries, Resupplies) and other Helldivers, and has a reduced proximity radius. On enemies, again, it’s worth checking out the patch notes, but players will welcome a change to Gunship spawners, which now have a much lower cap on how many gunships they can have active at the same time. Meanwhile, patrol spawning has been increased when there are fewer than four players. The fewer the players the ******* the change, Arrowhead said. For four-player missions there will be no change compared to before. The biggest noticeable change will be for solo players at higher difficulties, Arrowhead clarified. Welcome gameplay changes include the ability to disable automatic climbing and vaulting while sprinting, which will help with movement. There are some fun “democracy spreading” changes, too. For example, when readying up, Helldivers now salute “to ensure maximum democratic readiness.” And be warned: shots that ricochet from heavy armored enemies will now properly hit the Helldiver who fired them. “Trigger discipline is highly recommended,” Arrowhead said. If you’re looking for more on Helldivers 2, check out IGN’s feature on the Let Me Solo Her of Helldivers 2, a player who has answered over 100 **** Beacons as part of a mission to help others. Helldivers 2 has become one of the surprise hits of 2024 since launching in February, topping the charts on Steam and reportedly selling around three million copies. According to at least one analyst, it's still growing. Check out IGN's Helldivers 2 review to find out why it's going down so well. Helldivers 2 update 01.000.300 patch notes in full: Overview For this patch, we have made improvements and changes to the following areas: Balance changes to weapons, stratagems, and enemiesChange to the Spread Democracy mission Balancing General Armors with armor rating above 100 now also reduce damage on headshots.Victory poses will now only play for the extracted. (No stolen valor on my ship.)Burning damage reduced by 15% Primary, Secondary & Support WeaponsCB-9 Exploding Crossbow Slightly smaller **********Increased staggerDecreased number of maximum mags from 12 to 8Increased number of magazines received from resupply from 6 to 8Slight reduction in ergonomicsMuzzle velocity increased LAS-99 Quasar Cannon Increased recharge time by 5 seconds BR-14 Adjudicator Full auto is now the default ***** modeReduced recoilIncreased maximum mags from 6 to 8Increased number of magazines received from resupply from 6 to 8Now placed amongst ******** rifles LAS-98 Laser Cannon Slightly increased damageSlightly reduced damage versus large volume bodies SG-8P Punisher Plasma Decreased maximum mags from 12 to 8Increased amount of magazines received from resupply from 6 to 8Increased projectile speed, but will still keep a similar rangeDecreased damage falloff on the **********Now placed in the energy weapons category ARC-12 Blitzer Increased shots per minute from 30 to 45Now placed in the energy weapons category R-36 Eruptor Decreased number of maximum mags from 12 to 6********** damage drops off slightly faster LAS-16 Sickle Decreased amount of magazines from 6 down to 3 LAS-5 Scythe Increased damage from 300 to 350Decreased max number of mags from 6 down to 4 RS-422 Railgun Increased armor ************ in both safe mode and unsafe modeStagger force slightly reduced MG-101 Heavy Machine **** Third-person crosshair enabled 63CS Diligence Counter ******* Damage increased from 128 to 140Ergonomics improved R-63 Diligence Damage increased from 112 to 125 P-19 Redeemer Slight increase in recoil P-2 Peacemaker Increased damage from 60 to 75 P-8 Senator Increased damage from 150 to 175Speedloader added when reloading on an empty cylinder–speeds up reload on empty considerably LAS-7 Dagger Increased damage from 150 to 200 AR-19 Liberator Damage increased from 55 to 60 AR-23C Liberator Concussive Damage increased from 55 to 65 JAR-5 Dominator Damage decreased from 300 to 275 AX/AR-23 Guard Dog Decreased damage by 30% StratagemsA/MG-43 Machinegun Sentry Increased health to match other Sentries A/ARC-3 Tesla Tower Increased health by 33% FAF-14 Spear Added reload stage reload after the spent missile had been discarded RL-77 Airburst Rocket Launcher Airburst Rocket Launcher will no longer detonate when shot near stratagems (HMG turret, Sentries, Resupplies) and other Helldivers.Reduced proximity radius Enemies Bile Spewer and Nursing Spewers movespeed slightly reducedHulks: Force required for them to stagger slightly increasedHulk Scorcher direct flamethrower damage reduced by 20%Devastator ***** rate slightly increased (only the standard devastator)Gunships sideways movement slightly increasedScout strider Riders now less vulnerable to explosionsFog Generators health and armor increasedGunship spawners now have a much lower cap on how many gunships they can have active at the same time ****** Patrols Patrol spawning has been increased when there are fewer than 4 players. The fewer the players the ******* the change. For 4 player missions there will be no change compared to before.The biggest noticeable change will be for solo players at higher difficulties Gameplay Made minor level generation improvements to how we distribute locations throughout the mission map. This should improve variation in distance between objectives, and objectives will likely not spawn as far away from each other as often as before.Added setting in the options menu gameplay section to disable automatic climbing and vaulting while sprinting.The Spread Democracy mission otherwise known as “raise the flag” can now be enjoyed on higher difficulties for maximum freedom spreading.When readying up, Helldivers now salute to ensure maximum democratic readiness.Added ambience to the Tremor planetary hazard to underline the severity so Helldivers can react accordinglyShots that ricochet from heavy armored enemies will now properly hit the Helldiver who fired them. Trigger discipline is highly recommended. Fixes****** fixes Fixed ****** that could occur when host abandoned mission with squad.Fixed ****** that could occur if a player tried to enter an occupied EXO-45 Patriot Suit.Fixed ****** that could occur for all players after or during mission results screen.Fixed ****** that could occur after ********* from the EXO-45 Patriot Suit’s rocket launcher.Fixed ****** that could occur for all players apart from the one that rejoined the ongoing mission with different armor and got reinforced.Fixed Superior Packing Methodology ship module not working properly.Fixed Blast Absorption ship module so that it correctly increases sentries’ resistance to explosions.Fixed issue where players could not navigate to the search results in the Social Menu.Fixed some issues where items equipped in a Warbond were not actually equipped.Fixed an exploit that allowed overly eager Helldivers to use grenades excessively.Fixed issue where ****** from orbital barrage did not progress Indirect ***** Exercise order.Fixed issue that allowed traitors to try to sabotage the extraction shuttle by deploying sentry stratagems below it.Fixed issue where ion storms incorrectly prevented extraction beacon from deploying.Fixed some stratagem beams using incorrect ******-coding.Fixed issue where the left stick on a controller could not be used to navigate the Social menu.Fixed some issues where various UI elements were cut off, off-centered or too close to the edge of the screen on ultrawide displays.Fixed Anti-Materiel Rifle facing away from the Helldiver after deploying it.Fixed bug where player could duplicate rounds by canceling the reload of Anti-Materiel Rifle at a specific time.Fixed bug where Anti-Materiel Rifle would consume an extra magazine after a canceled reload.Fixed bug where Recoilless Rifle would consume an extra shell from the backpack if the reload was canceled just after a shell was inserted, but before the reload was completed.Fixed issue where the Sickle and Quasar Cannon could not ****** through foliage.Fixed several issues where ******* thumbnails would disappear when scrolling through Armory.Fixed issues where Automaton Gunships sometimes could not see the player.Fixed incorrect collision being left over after destroying Automaton bunkers or detector towers with hellbombs.Fixed issue where Hellbombs would not deploy on certain missionsFixed certain issues that resulted in Helldivers drowning in deep water upon landing.Fixed issue where Hellpod Space Optimization made ammo go above capacity.Fixed issue where Stalkers became very visible in fogMines are now pingable for better coordination with your team.Receiving friend requests now gives the player a pop up.Improved readability of prompts and hints displayed in the tutorial and onboarding.Total experience is now visible in the career tab.Added better support for ultrawide monitors by fixing the aspect ratio of menus to 16:9 and adding a setting to control the width of the HUD.Keybinds bound to numpad will no longer reset upon restart.Fixed inconsistent audio when headphones are plugged into the Dual Sense controller while playing on PC.Playing Rock, Paper, Scissors in front of the ship no longer causes player to fall out into space.APW-1 Anti-Material Rifle and MG-206 Heavy Machine **** now trigger hitmarkers while scoped in.Secondary ******* no longer ******** in the Ballistic Shield ADS position after using a stim with the Ballistic Shield Backpack equipped."Open Text Chat" is now rebindable.Explosive weapons such as R-36 Eruptor, CB-9 Exploding Crossbow. GP-31 Grenade ******* no longer pulls players inward from the blast.Disabled the squad invites during the tutorial which caused an overlap in the UI.Fixed Primary and Secondary weapons overlapping on the character model in the armory.Fixed UI elements during first boot are cut off on a 21:9 aspect ratio monitor.Report and block player is now visible in the squad menu.***** Scavengers now stop screaming for help if ******* while calling in reinforcements.Fixed Anti Air cannons showing up as "Stratagem Scramblers" in danger warnings. Known Issues Various issues involving friend invites and cross-play Friend Request cannot be accepted when the requesting player changed their username before the request was accepted.Cross-platform friend invites might not show up in the Friend Requests tab.Players cannot unfriend players befriended via friend code.Players cannot unblock players that were not in their Friends list beforehand. Damage-over-time effects may only apply when dealt by the host. We expect to have this fixed in the next patch.Reinforcement may not be available for some players who join a game in progress.Helldiver may be unable to stand up from crouching when surrounded by enemies.Game may ****** if the host leaves while ***** and rejoins the same play session.Game may ****** if the player changes the text language while on a mission.Players may experience delays in Medals and Super Credits payouts.Enemies that bleed out do not progress Personal Orders and Eradicate missions.Scopes on some weapons such as the Anti-Materiel Rifle are slightly misaligned.Arc weapons sometimes behave inconsistently and sometimes misfire.Spear’s targeting is inconsistent, making it hard to lock-on to larger enemies.Stratagem beam might attach itself to an ****** but it will deploy to its original location.Explosions do not break your limbs (except for when you fly into a rock).Area around Automaton Detector Tower makes blue stratagems such as the Hellbomb bounce and be repelled when trying to call them down close to the tower.Planet liberation reaches 100% at the end of every Defend mission. Wesley is the *** News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Capcom has finally fully revealed Street Fighter 6’s long-awaited DLC character Akuma, confirming a release date and showing off gameplay. The famously overpowered Street Fighter fan-favorite launches on May 22, Capcom said. Owners of the Deluxe and Ultimate Edition or the Year 1 Character Pass and Ultimate Pass for Street Fighter 6 get Akuma immediately when he releases. Year 1 Ultimate Pass owners also receive the new stage, Enma's Hollow. The gameplay reveal, below, shows off Street Fighter 6’s version of Akuma, older than previous incarnations but complete with his famous moveset. Akuma has his air fireball, ***** kick, and his teleport move. Capcom saved the best for last: Akuma’s iconic Raging ****** *******. It very much looks like poor Ryu ***** one thousand deaths. Alongside the Akuma update comes a major balance patch where all characters will receive changes, Capcom signaled. The Year 1 DLC characters for Street Fighter 6 are Rashid, Akuma, Ed, and A.K.I. Akuma rounds out the list nearly a year after Street Fighter 6 launched in June 2023. The fighting game has sold three million copies so far, and enjoyed critical acclaim. IGN’s Street Fighter 6 review returned a 9/10. We said: “Street Fighter 6 is the most feature-rich a Street Fighter has ever been at launch, but even beyond that, it's roster of 18 characters is excellent, the new mechanics revitalize the one-on-one fighting formula, and it absolutely nails all of the little things that make for a stellar fighting game.” Wesley is the *** News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article

There isn’t another game series more loaded with pop culture references than Goat Simulator. Pilgor, the crazy, ragdoll-tossed, licking protagonist of the series has been getting up to endlessly ******* hijinks for 10 years, and what started as a daft premise built from a game jam idea has now spawned a decade of insanity, spoofing almost every major video game along the way such as Skyrim, ***** Island and even P.T. But not every crazy Goat Simulator idea makes the cut, and concepts based on the Hitman series and L.A. Noire never made it past early development. We spoke to developers Coffee Stain North about how these ideas came about and why they never made it to the finish line. We have one rule. It [needs] a goat. Everything else is open. “We started with very broad themes for all of the [game] jams.” explains lead producer, Sebastian Zethraeus. “[The themes were] Under the Sea, Mythology, and Dev's Choice, which is what turned into the Hitman one.” Since Goat Simulators' inception in 2014, Coffee Stain Studios has regularly run game jams with their teams and these small, freeform creation events give developers the freedom to create any idea, despite how ludicrous, from scratch. “We have one rule.” shares art director, William Birgersson. “It [needs] a goat. Everything else is open.” To come up with DLC for Goat Simulator 3, Coffee Stain North let its staff run wild, which resulted in ideas not only inspired by other popular games like Hitman and L.A. Noire, but allowed the associated genres to dictate the gameplay. “What can we do that breaks the mould?” says Birgersson. “What if we place Pilgor in a single-player, noir detective story? How do we implement the Goat Simulator jankiness and weirdness? How do we make it not too silly, but also very silly? It's a super weird balancing [act] you have to do. How can we make this special? That's where we found the key is changing the gameplay essentially.” Most references from Goat Simulator 3 are visual jokes and tend not to stray too far from the run, jump, lick and headbutt gameplay. But for the DLC, Coffee Stain North was looking for an idea that not only referenced a popular series but also significantly altered the gameplay, and the game jams allowed them to go crazy with those concepts. I loved the Hitman idea. I want it to become a full game so much. “It's super low effort [when you only make] something for a week.” says Zethraeus. “You can go all the way with a very, very implausible theme and if it's thrown away, that's not an issue. Before we showed [IGN] we didn't think [the ideas] would amount to anything, and that's okay because that's part of the creative process. Finding what sticks.” One of those discard ideas was ‘Goat55’, which was based on IO’s much-loved ********* series Hitman. During its development Coffee Stain ran with the concept of implementing Hitman’s social stealth mechanics in the world of Pilgor, allowing players to *****, hide bodies, change outfits and infiltrate to reach their target. It was Hitman for all intents and purposes, but with a goat instead of a bald *********. And in classic, whacky Goat Simulator fashion, there was also a reference to another great of the stealth genre, with a familiar-looking cardboard box triggering a giant Metal Gear Rex to rise from the sea. “I had forgotten all about that!” exclaims Birgersson. “The social stealth part of Hitman was [what] enticed us, but Metal Gear Solid’s stealth would be awesome as well. An actual stealth experience with goats… That would be pretty great.” Coffee Stain North tried out a handful of different gameplay ideas during the game jam and another popular stand-out was Detective Pilgor, a *******-mystery detective story that bared more than a striking resemblance to Rockstar Game’s 2011 hit, L.A. Noire. “Writing a who-done-it mystery story was super, super fun. We [even] did an entire interrogation sequence where you could actually doubt.” shares Birgersson, referencing L.A. Noire’s lauded interrogation scenes, which infamously often resulted in the characters pulling insane-looking facial expressions. ”I don't think it made it in but the idea was to go for [those] facial expressions. Like their eyes sticking out, mouths opening up. Yeah, we could have had a lot of fun with that thing.” “I want to make Detective Pilgor so bad,” Birgersson continues. “A story mode is something that we've always talked about [for Goat Simulator] and we would like to try it out. Having one be the main part of the game is super interesting I think.” Surprisingly, Goat55 and Detective Pilgor look surprisingly complete, despite them being very much unfinished following the small amount of time they were in production. Additionally, there was also a rhythm game that made it a reasonable distance during the game jam, as well as a familiar-looking mythology idea. After learning about all these amazing ideas it was time to address the elephant (or goat?) in the room: Why did they never get completed? “We found something better.” admits Zethraeus. “We found something that was even more enticing I think. I loved the hitman idea. I want it to become a full game so much, but when you try to finalize a product and make it into a complete package somewhere along the line, we tend to go a bit big.” It's going to be super interesting to see the audience's reaction to this. “It's always that balancing between what's fun for the player and how much content the player wants (or needs) for this to be fun.” continues Birgersson. “It's going to be super interesting to see the audience's reaction to this and what they’re interested in.” Coffee Stain North was quick to state that nothing is definitive though, and should there be enough player demand, perhaps one day it would revisit these ideas. One thing is for certain though, the Goat Simulator series has been built on the foundation of game jams and the opportunity for improvisation they provide. “Essentially all the best ideas are ******* ideas that someone comes up with on the spot.” laughs Birgersson. “It's such a perfect game for ideas to come alive. I wouldn't dream about making a rhythm-based dance game with goats, but trying that was super fun.” Since 2014 Coffee Stain has been putting Pilgor in increasingly crazy scenarios and that’s not slowing down anytime soon. And in such a po-faced industry, a decade of successful, silly goat games isn’t anything anyone expected, including the developers. “Dedicating my life to goats wasn't something I was prepared for.” admits Birgersson. “My mother asks me weekly if it’s still relevant? And I'm like, ‘yeah’.” “There's so much variety in it, so much creativity, and it's just a framework.” says Zethraeus. “You have the same base – everyone's love for goats and what the goats will do when released on society and you can go crazy with it. That's what's so beautiful about it. It's so creative we can do whatever we want.” Dale Driver is IGN's Executive Producer of Video Programming and kindly requested Coffee Stain North seriously consider a Metal Gear Solid Goat Simulator parody. You're welcome. Follow him on Twitter. View the full article

Button mashing is advised against in fighting games if you want to climb the ranks. But those of us who've been destroyed by unpredictable little brothers going ham on a joystick know a secret. Sometimes spamming works. One Tekken 8 player is proving this point. They have programmed a **** of Eddy Gordo, the whirling Capoeira fighter, to slap the same button repeatedly, and nothing else, while broadcasting its performance against real players on Twitch. The **** is doing surprisingly well. Read more View the full article

Here we go again, I am about to be suckered into yet another survivor-like game. You love all of these as well right? Vampire Survivors, Deep Rock Galactic Survivor and more can move over and make room for Pest Apocalypse. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

“Given the opportunity, players will become a merciless egg baron and sit chuckling on a throne of shells while medieval Europe cowers beneath their imperious yolk,” is what I assume Soren Jonson once said, and it looks like Manor Lords is proving this timeless adage right once more. Despite shifting over a million units and hitting the highest concurrent player count of any ‘city builder’ on Steam, creator Greg ‘Slavic Magic’ Styczeń is already looking to the future of how the building game handles trade. Read more View the full article

Dragon's Dogma 2 seemingly has a path-tracing renderer hidden with it, and there's now a mod that lets you turn it on. Now, right out the gate, I should be clear that just because something is in a game doesn't mean that it's cut content. Sometimes certain things just exist as tests, or were just earlier versions of something that still exists. Having said that, earlier this month it was discovered that Dragon's Dogma 2 has a path-tracing feature that gives the game much more realistic lighting. Last week, a modder by the name of EXXXcellent reached out to Digital Foundry about their mod that activates the feature, and the latter went hands on with it to see exactly how the game shapes up with all that new lighting. Right out the gate, it really does look quite good. Reflective surfaces like metal and bottles have a much more realistic look to them, shadows have a lot more definition to them, even just brickwork and cobblestones look great. Character models and things like hair get a real boost too, overall it really works with the game's visual style, though there are some indoor areas that actually look worse due to a lack of light. But here comes the but. But! This unsurprisingly comes at the cost of performance. Read more View the full article

It’s no secret Smolder has been a balancing nightmare since his League of Legends release in January 2024. But if Riot Games shipped this little dragon in its original state, he would have broken Summoner’s Rift. On April 28, Spideraxe shared a post on their X (formerly Twitter) revealing Smolder’s scrapped design looked completely different. This was based on details Riot’s August Browning shared earlier. The dev planned for Smolder to automatically become “the son of whichever dragon rift for the game and gain a unique bonus on his Q.” View the full article

Developer Mike Blumenkrantz is once again blogging about working on the Zink driver, and this time a nice optimization is on the way for startup times. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

It's been a bit of a longer wait between Helldivers 2 patches than we've previously been used to lately, with the last one have dropped back on April 16 to fix some misbhaving passives. That's just changed though, with a big new update dropping - and casually making balancing changes to 24 different weapons and stratagems. Yup, while folks are just finishing up battling to secure themselves a new rocket launcher in the game's latest Major Order, a lot of the other stuff in their arsenals has just been re-jigged. The good news for those who're worried about the community's capacity to keep on recording impressive victories is that a fair amount of this update's **** tweaks do look to be on the buff side of the coin. If you take a gander at the notes for Patch 01.000.300, you'll be greeted by a huge list of changes to primary, secondary & support weapons. Some of these, such as the Exploding Crossbow and BR-14 Adjudicator, have undergone pretty substantial reworks, while others have only been tweaked in a couple of ways. Read more View the full article

Bandai Namco has revealed its roadmap for Tekken 8 throughout the rest of 2024, including the game’s second DLC character, new story, and plenty more. The second DLC character is Lidia Sobieski, who is teased at the end of the roadmap trailer, below. In the world of Tekken, Lidia is the Prime Minister of Poland who made her debut in Tekken 7 as DLC in the Season 4 Pass. For Tekken 8, Lidia launches this summer, with early access for Character Year 1 Pass owners. Meanwhile, in the fall, a brand-new story involving Eddy Gordo launches as a free update. Other additions include a sweeping balance pass in the spring (the first battle balance adjustments for the season are coming soon, with patch notes for update 1.04 set to be released tomorrow, April 30, 2024), and a new stage, the Seaside Resort, and the photo mode in the summer. Additional modes, such as Ghost vs. Ghost or Online Practice are planned to be added at a later date, Bandai Namco said. Tekken 8 launched in January on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S to critical and commercial acclaim, selling over two million copies in the first month of release. However, sentiment soured due to what was deemed aggressive, post-launch monetisation more akin to what you'd see with a free-to-play game than a $70 release, leading to a ‘mostly negative’ recent user review rating on Steam. IGN’s Tekken 8 review returned a 9/10. We said: “Tekken 8 is an incredible evolution for the series, with tons of single player content, an excellent suite of training tools, a great online experience, and exciting new mechanics that make Tekken more dynamic than ever.” Wesley is the *** News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld. View the full article

Lightfoot Bros Games recently revealed their new point and click adventure Sleepytime Village, a "creepy AF" classic-style point & click adventure game about learning to rediscover both your inner child and the joy of creativity. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Akuma has just gotten a shiny new gameplay trailer at Evo Japan, signaling the imminent arrival of the fighter to Street Fighter 6. Alongside the trailer, we now know that Akuma will be coming to the game on May 22nd. As for what we actuallly see in the trailer, we get a great glimpse at all his moves in-action, as well as his rad new design that's taken the ********* aspects of the Street Fighter V and taken it to 11. He looks brilliant, and much like the other SF6 characters his kit has ben pushed to its limit with explosive new attacks and supers. You can watch the trailer yourself below! Shout out to the returning legacy costume for Akuma, and perhaps the coolest version of the raging ****** super ever. Just saying, it's fantastic. Read more View the full article

Oh *****, this is quite exciting as an Alien fan and might be a reason to pop my VR headset back on again. Alien: Rogue Incursion is coming sometime in late 2024. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Left handed people, you get a win today, as Counter-Strike 2 has added in the ability to switch which hand you're using in its latest update. Being able to play as a left-handed person in video games is few and far between. It's not exactly a deeply pressing matter when it comes to representation, but as a left-handed person whenever I see such an option I do think "oh, neat!" That's exactly what I thought today when I saw that in a recent update for Counter-Strike 2, the option to switch which side of the screen your ******* is on has been added, ergo, the game now lets you choose whether you're left- or right-handed (thanks, PC Gamer). OK, technically it's just made everyone in the game ambidextrous, but when only 10% of the world is left-handed, you take what you can get. Obviously I'm goofing around here a bit, but the update is honestly a useful one. The problem with first-person-shooters that only allow you **** to hang out on one side of the screen is that it takes a whole lot of your visual real estate up in that area. That means if you're trying to say, look around a corner, it might be blocking your view, meaning you're more likely to get hit. Now though, you can just switch up which side you want your ******* on and hey presto, you can see it all! You can even set which hand you prefer to start with, as well as switching mid-round, so all around it seems like a useful update. Read more View the full article

VALORANT Episode Eight, Act Two is about to close its curtains, but that hasn’t stopped players from calling out its shortcomings. When a player pointed out how difficult Act Two has been due to its “matchmaking problems to map pool, smurfing, boosting, and various concerns about win/loss ratio of RR” and asked the community for its thoughts, no one could deny it. View the full article

Bazzite 3.0 has been released with the internals upgraded to Fedora 40, which brings with it numerous improvements for gamers looking to get Linux on their PC or handheld gaming device like a Steam Deck or ROG Ally. Read the full article here: [Hidden Content] View the full article

Bandai Namco has revealed who will be the second DLC character in Tekken 8, along with news of free updates coming throughout the year. Lidia Sobieski will be DLC fighter number two, and will be added to the game this summer with an early access ******* for Character Year 1 Pass owners. Lidia – who made her debut as a DLC fighter in Tekken 7 – is the prime minister of Poland, and a karate expert. Read More... View the full article