Steam

The key to this surprising development lies in a single instruction: POPCNT, or "Population Count." This CPU-level instruction is used to calculate the number of bits set in a binary value, which is vital for many low-level operations in modern software. Until now, Nvidia's drivers required this instruction, excluding older... Read Entire Article View the full article

In many ways, DOOMis still the cornerstone of the modern FPS genre, but John Romero's favorite shooter is about as far from that formula as you can imagine. As one of the co-creators of the DOOM franchise, John Romero founded developer id Software with John Carmack and Tom Hall and designed much of the original games. The franchise's heavy metal sensibilities and his gaming rock star image went hand-in-hand, and it would be easy to assume that he maintains a preference for fast-paced, bloody FPS games that pack a punch. View the full article

An interesting Genshin Impact chart shows the overall character usage rate for the current Spiral Abyss in update 5.6. Genshin Impact's Spiral Abyss is probably the hardest domain in the game, as it requires players to use their strongest characters in order to complete it, especially on the last two floors. View the full article

A new Honkai: Star Rail leak has revealed more information about the long-awaited Firefly skin, sparking discussion in the community. Unlike most HoYoverse titles, Honkai: Star Rail has not introduced many alternate skins for its characters, which might seem surprising considering that new roster additions are the main focus of each update. View the full article

Ever since I tested the Philips Hue Sync Box, I’ve been obsessed with how lighting can enhance the immersive nature of gaming and media. The Govee AI Sync Box Kit 2 represents the latest advancement in this field, offering a sophisticated solution that addresses many of the limitations found in previous-generation products. It improves on the Philips Hue Sync Box in several ways, but some software quirks and minor hardware issues hold it back from becoming my new top option. The Govee AI Sync Box Kit 2 arrives as a comprehensive package, featuring a flexible LED strip for your display, two lighting towers, and a robust hub that serves a dual purpose as both an HDMI switch and processing unit. The LED strip now boasts 75 bulbs per metre and supports RGBWIC technology, enabling more precise white LED control and a broader range of colour temperatures. It was surprising how complete the overall package felt, offering everything you need to get up and running straight out of... Read more View the full article

The Lego Group has shut down a long-awaited fan project after eight years in development, just a few short months ahead of its planned demo. Bionicle: Masks of Power was a non-profit, open-world action RPG set in the universe of Lego Bionicle. It followed the Toa's quest to collect the masks of power and free the island of Mata Nui from the evil Makuta, and developer Team Kanohi was due to launch a playable preview in August, but now it is no more. Read the rest of the story... View the full article

Square Enix has revealed that Final Fantasy XIV is one of its most financially successful releases, and, having spent just under 400 hours in the game, I totally get it. I first started playing FF14 almost a decade ago, and have been an on-and-off player ever since. While my 400-hour playtime may sound impressive on the surface, it's actually considered fairly low-commitment; I've wasted far too many hours at the Gold Saucer, and still haven't even touched the latest expansion, Dawntrail. View the full article

Stellaris Biogenesis has largely been a success, even if Steam ratings tell a different story. The new expansion for Paradox's space strategy game has been marked down because of its rocky launch and the game's troubled 4.0 update, yet the reviews are almost all filled with praise for the DLC itself. Creative, flavorful, and offering some of the most unique ways to chart your journey through the 4X game, it's an undeniably promising new chapter. Speaking exclusively to PCGamesN, game director Stephen 'Eladrin' Muray reveals his personal favorite addition, and talks about the team's plans for future expansions. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Stellaris 4.0 "needs to get better," but its director is happy with the launch Before Europa Universalis 5, get Paradox's finest grand strategy games cheap Paradox apologizes for "disappointing" Stellaris 4.0 update, commits to fixes View the full article

Interview | Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's composer Lorien Testard on RPG soundtracks, the mime battle music, and working on that one track with Ben StarrView the full article

At this point in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim's life cycle, those still playing can practically craft their own experience with mods, making the exact game they want to play set in Tamriel's northernmost country. Some have made cozy life sims, others soulslike, gothic experiences, but there tend to be some mods always at the top of a load order. Of course, general improvement mods, like The Unofficial Skyrim Patch and SkyUI, usually end up in almost everyone's load order. Still, a few are vital to the specific experience modders are looking to create. View the full article

Some people really need Borderlands 4 to dropView the full article

This demo had a lot of charm, and left me curious to see what other manner of silly shenanigans Nico Papalia has in store with this goofy little game. View the full article

Beloved Rapture doesn’t reinvent the wheel, nor does it even try to. Instead, it’s content to do what it’s doing, and doing it well — bringing back that retro RPG experience. View the full article

In this episode, we review Yasha: Legends of the ****** Blade, and we discuss the cancellation of Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link & new Kingdom Hearts IV screenshots. Also, we chat about six other Gacha games including Persona 5: The Phantom X. View the full article

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered is frustrating some players with its vampirism system, particularly those who expected it to be more akin to Skyrim. While these complaints sparked some interesting fan discussion over game design and TES tradition, they also led to players proclaiming that they "hate" the way being a vampire works in Oblivion Remastered. View the full article

Final Fantasy 16 is a truly exceptional game for a lot of reasons, but perhaps the biggest is its phenomenal protagonist, Clive Rosfield. He is a stoic, brave, and nuanced character that carries the complex, politics-ridden, and ever-mysterious plot to the very end, delivering iconic line after line and proving to be a genuinely fun character to fight as. Of course, much of the brilliance of Final Fantasy 16's Clive is the voice behind him who delivers all of those iconic lines, screams, grunts, and occasional quips: Ben Starr. View the full article

We've been following the development of co-op action-horror game Blight: Survival for a good long while now, going back to a gameplay reveal trailer in 2022 that showed filthy knights fighting filthier zombies. A recent sign of life in what might have looked like a *******-encrusted peasant corpse, the Blight: Survival team recently shared a look at the development of the Marshlands biome in a post with an evocative name: Mud, rot and the weight of a dying world... Read more.View the full article

Level-5 has detailed the Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time version 1.1.1 update coming to PS5, Xbox, and Steam with it coming a bit later to Nintendo Switch and also detailed cross save and more. View the full article

DOOM: The Dark Ages is the newest installment in the legendary franchise and is available now on all major platforms. The position of The Dark Ages in the larger DOOM timeline is interesting, particularly because we're seeing a part of the lore that has been speculated about for some time. The Dark Ages explores the ******* after the early DOOM installments —DOOM (1993), DOOM II: Hell on Earth, and DOOM 64 — when Doomguy has descended into Hell and is imprisoned, eventually becoming the Doom Slayer we know and love in DOOM (2016) and DOOM: Eternal. View the full article

Once you've built your drug empire in Schedule 1 and maxed out your rank, you are officially at the top of the food chain. You are the drug lord of Hyland Point. But when you can no longer move up in the world, it can be difficult to decide what you should do next. View the full article

Among its myriad of graphical improvements, Oblivion Remastered players can't help but praise Virtuos for imbuing the NPCs of Cyrodiil with new depth. The world of Tamriel has once again captured the hearts of Bethesda fans, as Oblivion Remastered continues to enjoy critical and commercial success. While it still features a decent number of bugs and technical issues, this hasn't stopped many players from enjoying their adventure in Cyrodiil and the Shivering Isles. View the full article

New Genshin Impact leaks are teasing the lineup of characters set to receive "Traveler's Tales" quests during the Version 5.7 update, featuring more than ten new cast members. Traveler's Tales serve as one of Genshin Impact's most exciting new forms of storytelling, giving players a more casual look at many of its major characters. Players can find different characters dotted around the in-game map and interact with them to start a small story segment, being rewarded for completing multiple. Now, HoYoverse is gearing up to add even more new stories. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

It's been a little under a year since the vehicular combat racing game Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks launched into early access, and yesterday developer Caged Element Inc. announced that it'll be receiving its 1.0 launch next week, May 22nd. There are a couple notable changes that come with this launch though. For starters, Wired Productions are taking over from Plaion on publishing duties. As the devs explained in a Steam post, the reason this matters to you is the second change, which is that you'll have to pay for it when it arrives next week. Some of you, anyway. Read more View the full article

It's time for another musical BitLife challenge to roll by. During BitLife's Unlike Us challenge, your goal is to have a character become a famous rapper with several records that go platinum and successful tours that bring in millions. With this success comes some enemies, making everything even more fun. Table of contentsBitLife Unlike Us challenge guideBe born in Los AngelesBecome a famous rapperTurn a friend into an enemyMake millions while going on tourHave three records go platinumBitLife Unlike Us challenge guide BitLife’s Unlike Us challenge has five tasks to complete: Be born in Los AngelesBecome a famous rapperTurn a friend into an enemyMake $1M+ while going on tourHave 3+ records go platinum Completing this challenge requires purchasing the Musician expansion pack. Without it, you won't be able to become a famous rapper, go on tours, or obtain platinum records, despite the other two objectives being easily achievable without it. Be born in Los Angeles Your first task in BitLife's Unlike Us challenge is to have a character born in Los Angeles. To do this, set your starting country as the United States and Los Angeles as your place. Your name and gender are entirely up to you. You'll also want to select Music as your special talent to make later tasks in this challenge easier. Screenshot by Destructoid To make your odds of becoming a famous rapper easier later, create a character with high looks stats. Although you don't require high looks for this challenge, your odds of success are generally higher, especially when raising your fame later on. Alternatively, you can use plastic surgery and gym visits to achieve the same effect. As you age up, make a few friends through elementary and high school. You'll need them in the challenge's third task. Having more than one will prepare you for any unexpected losses in friendships. Become a famous rapper Once you create a new character born in Los Angeles, it's time to prepare for your future rap career. Once your character turns 8, head into Activities, Mind and Body, and Voice Lessons to begin taking free singing classes. Your goal is to max this stat as early as possible to land auditions to become a musical artist. Screenshot by Destructoid Once your character turns 18 and maxes out their singing skills, head into Occupation, Special Careers, and Musician before auditioning as a Singer Solo Artist. You have three opportunities to do this annually, with your audition performance determining whether you get a contract. If you perform poorly, age up and try again next year. If you succeed with your audition, you'll receive a pop-up telling you you've been offered an exclusive contract to produce music. If the genre isn't rap music, turn it down and keep auditioning until it's a rap singer contract. Accept this to become a rapper. From here, becoming famous will depend on whether you have the Hollywood Star. If you do, you'll instantly become famous without releasing a single album. Otherwise, produce music and perform concerts yearly until your character becomes famous if you don't have the Hollywood Star. It may take a few years, but it's generally much easier in BitLife's music industry than with other professions. Turn a friend into an enemy Throughout your life, you had the chance to make friends through school and random pop-ups. To make one of them your enemy, head into Relationships, select a friend, and tap their name to find a Change Our Status button. Pick enemies and confirm your choice to knock out this challenge. Your new enemy will now start annoying you occasionally throughout your character's life, so what you do with them is up to you. Make millions while going on tour Shortly after you become a rapper, you'll unlock a job menu for this career. Selecting this through your job menu will show options such as making a new album, putting on a live concert, and practicing your skills. For this task, select Tour after raising your fame and popularity to embark on a World Tour. You can do this once a year, netting you money that scales with your popularity. Embark on these tours each year until you have one that rewards you with $1 milliom in net earnings. Have three records go platinum The fifth task of BitLife's Unlike Us challenge is the most difficult to complete. Your goal is to have at least three records—Singles or Albums—go platinum. This goal is almost completely random, with factors like your genre, cover art, and random event response slightly contributing to your success. Screenshot by Destructoid To put this into perspective, my character's first album went double platinum instantly. I chose hip-hop as my genre, a ****** and white image of my character as the cover art, and picked a random name for the album. I used a similar strategy the following year and didn't even hit gold. There's some randomness to it, and it's mostly a matter of persistence and determination to hit three platinum records. Fortunately, even records that were previously Gold or Diamond can reach platinum in later years as you become more popular, so don't stress if you go several decades with only one or two. Once you become a famous rapper with three platinum records and a friend-turned-enemy, you'll complete BitLife’s Unlike Us challenge and receive a random cosmetic prize for future characters. The post How to complete the Unlike Us challenge in BitLife appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

A new leak about Honkai: Star Rail’s future updates has been shared, and it contains daunting news about how the game’s biggest problem may persist for much longer than what players had hoped for. Currently, the turn-based RPG by HoYoverse is in Version 3.2, set to move into Version 3.3. The upcoming patch will be a big one, as it will expand the Amphoreus story arc and introduce a new weekly boss to fight against as the narrative reaches a tense moment. Furthermore, Version 3.3 will also introduce Hyacine and Cipher to Honkai: Star Rail. View the full article