Rockstar’s Agent was compromised because open worlds and spies don’t mesh well, Ex-GTA writer Dan Houser says Despite that, a secret agent-themed GTA 5 DLC subsequently ended up “half-done” before it was abandoned Image credit:Rockstar Games Cancelled Rockstar espionage flick Agent ended up being filed away without releasing because the studio found a spy narrative impossible to reconcile with their open-world approach to games, according to long-time GTA writer Dan Houser....

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 release window pushed back again to September 2024 to fix “technical imperfections” New shooter still needs “more time in the oven”, say GSC Game World Image credit:GSC Game World Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl ’s release date is September 5th 2024, GSC Game World have announced, as the developers make some final adjustments to a post-apocalyptic FPS that was revealed way back in 2010 and has been racked by more than its fair share of setbacks and changes of circumstances....

Shapeshift while chatting to surreal, conversational mortals to figure out where God went in Burden Street Station Don’t you just hate it when God ghosts you? Image credit:Iodine It is an incredibly difficult thing to sell someone on a game in just one sentence. What are you meant to focus on, genre, specific mechanics, an interesting element of the story? There’s not a right answer! I’m not going to figure out a recipe for success right here and now, but what I can do is at least show you a single sentence that sold me on a game called Burden Street Station quite quickly: “A surreal, narrative adventure game where you shapeshift during conversations to uncover how God went missing....

Should you bother with… gaming earbuds? The bell tolls for Bluetooth Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun In hindsight, it’s surprising that it took so long for hardware manufacturers to start making “gaming” earbuds. If the likes of chairs, glasses, and chewing gum can be painted stealth-bomber black and prefixed with the G word, why not something that can actually get off its harshly angled bum and help pipe the games themselves into your head?...

Skyrim wizard makes it possible to fix mod conflicts and patch issues by just moving stuff around in the game Make your own patches without ever leaving Tamriel Image credit:Bethesda Skyrim modders have yet again managed to pull off something remarkable. You know how creating patches to ensure two mods work together smoothly’s long been something that requires firing up the likes of the creation kit or xEdit? Well, thanks to a new mod dubbed the in-game patcher, it’s possible to resolve issues like that simply by wandering up to the location as the Dragonborn and editing the very make-up of the world....

Slay The Spire meets Yakuza’s claw machines in Dungeon Clawler Clawing a smile back on my face Image credit:Stray Fawn Studio Maybe you can relate, but I tend to find I crave twee and colorful things proportionally inverse to my melancholy. If I’m having a good week, give me Fear and Hunger and horrible films like Speak No Evil. If, like this week for some reason , I feel like bursting into tears at inopportune moments, I need silly little guys doing whimsical activities....

Sleep Awake, a visually inviting horror game from the lead dev behind Spec Ops: The Line, has a demo out now And Nine Inch Nail’s guitarist worked on it too? Weird! Image credit:Eyes Out It’s been a while since we’ve had a new game from Spec Ops: The Line director Cory Davis. As far as I can tell, the last game he made was 2016’s Here They Lie, a survival horror game....

Smite 2 reworks MOBA’s Conquest mode with more interaction, progression and some seriously powerful effects New developer deep dive shows a map that’s both back-to-basics and richer with options Image credit:Titan Forge Smite 2 was revealed as a standalone sequel to the third-person god-battling MOBA last month, using Unreal Engine 5 for a visual overhaul on the front end while making a number of significant gameplay and balance changes behind the scenes....

Speed Crew is an Overcooked-like that swaps out kitchens for pit stops Race your way to high blood pressure Image credit:Wild Fields If I’m over at someone’s place with a bunch of people and they say, “Let’s play Overcooked !” I will always visibly recoil. The game is bad for my blood pressure and for the solidity of my friendships. So, I am terrified by the prospect of Speed Crew , an Overcooked-like set in racing pit stops as opposed to kitchens....

Stardew Valley Baldur’s Gate 3 mod back online after D&D owners “mistakenly” send a copyright strike Larian boss calls out Wizards Of The Coast for treating free mods as infringement <img loading=“lazy” src=“https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/bg3-mod.png?width=690&quality=85&format=jpg&dpr=3&auto=webp" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=“Pixelart representations of two Baldur’s Gate 3 characters framed against scenes from a Stardew Valley mod based on the Larian RPG, with “Baldur’s Village” in Stardew text in the middle - 1”> Image credit:baldursvillage Dungeons & Dragons company Wizards Of The Coast have apologised for “mistakenly” sending a legal takedown to the creator of a free Stardew Valley mod that adds a village inspired by and featuring characters from Baldur’s Gate 3 ....

Steam Families is out of beta, letting you share games with up to five others and you call them that despite the fact they are obviously grilled Steam’s family sharing feature Steam Families is now available to everyone on the platform, letting up to six total people share games from a single library, with each individual having access to their own saved games, achievements, and workshop files. This means that, yes, when you all sit down together in the evening, you can enjoy a hearty family meal in the knowledge that between you, you technically own six copies of the Cities Skylines Big Butt Skinner Balloon ....

Steam’s Space Exploration Fest kicks off deals and demos on September 2nd That’s Monday. Space Monday. Another week, another Steam Fest looms. From September 2st until the 9rd you’ll be able to find intergalactic discounts and demos in the Steam Space Exploration Fest . Steam Space Exploration Fest trailer.Watch on YouTube The sale isn’t live yet, but the trailer above provides a glimpse of some of the games featured. I highly recommend the awkward-to-type ΔV: Rings Of Saturn, a physics-based 2D space mining sim about venturing ever further into an asteroid field....

Straftat review: an anarchic First-Person Speed dater you’ll fall in love with One more round Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Lemaitre Bros Developer: Sirius Lemaitre, Leonard Lemaitre Publisher: Lemaitre Bros Release: Out now On: Windows From: Steam Price: Free Reviewed on: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, Nvidia RTX 2080 Super, 32GB RAM, Windows 10 It’s tempting to frame Straftat as a throwback to an older, better time for the multiplayer FPS , when the lingo was coded in frags and gibs and sucking it down, when satisfaction was drawn entirely from performance rather than some convoluted, artificial system of progression....

Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton allegedly looked to ChatGPT to figure out how to not pay that $250 million bonus Get me off this ride Image credit:Krafton Is this what life is now? Witnessing massive, incredibly successful companies turning to AI to get advice on legal proceedings? You don’t need to pinch me, I’ve already done it, and this world is real. The company in question here is Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton, who you might remember are being sued by three ex-leads of the game ; developer of the game Unknown Worlds are (technically) also suing this trio of developers in kind ....

Tekken 8’s eye-grating colourblind mode is causing concern among accessibility experts Director claims players have “misunderstood” the filter in wake of reported migraines and vertigo Image credit:Bandai Namco/Gatterall The director of Tekken 8 has responded after a video of the upcoming fighting game’s colourblind mode was reported to have caused migraines and vertigo among players, with accessibility experts expressing their worries that the filter could cause even more serious side effects among those with epilepsy and other photosensitive conditions....

That Oblivion Feeling A quick one from me Image credit:Bethesda The wallpaper on my phone is of a nondescript street in Shibuya. If I hold my thumb down on the photo in my phone’s gallery, it actually springs to life for a few seconds and rewinds time in the process. It shows me wobble the phone into position and take the snap: a giant crab clings to a restaurant, a lady totters towards us with a white plastic bag looped around her arm, colourful signs stacked like Legos jut out of grey, “The Body Shop” lies in the distance because of course it does....

The 10 best MMOs and MMORPGs Where to play with your massive friends If you’re looking for an entire second life, we’re here to judge. We’re only here to serve, which is why we’ve curated a list of the best MMOs and MMORPGs on PC right now. There’s many a massively multiplayer experience to find out there these days, running the gamut from fantasy to sci-fi and… well mostly those two things, but you can still build a little you and live in a whole new world, make virtual friends to share your life with, engage in huge battles against massive enemies, and spend your evenings on raids to grind out levels....

The Cave Diver blends the joyful physics of QWOP with the less joyful physics of being trapped underground Cracked software Image credit:Ovsko “What morbid force is calling you deeper into the heart of the caves?” asks the Steam page for The Cave Diver . It ain’t calling me, developer Ovsko. I read the opening words of your description and immediately started running away from my laptop. I’m still running, in fact....

The Dead Rising remaster no longer gives you points for “Erotica” creepshots because it’s not “required” or “appropriate” Capcom insist the change isn’t “a response to a changing cultural climate” Image credit:Capcom Aside from being a game where you run around a shopping mall murdering the living dead, the original Dead Rising from 2006 is a clownish satire of sleazy tabloid photojournalism. It expresses this by way of its scoring system, where you earn “Prestige points” for snapping pictures that fit one of five categories: “Brutal” scenes of characters being slain; moments of “Horror”, such as the spectacle of an approaching horde; comical “Outtakes”, like characters caught in bizarre poses; moments of “Drama”, such as people reacting to discoveries; and “Erotic” photos of women alive or undead, which range from snaps of exposed underwear to close-ups of cleavage....

The Electronic Wireless Show S3 Episode 3: the Palworld controversy Ever shopped in Aldi? Image credit:Pocketpair We at the Electronic Wireless Show podcast have our finger on the beating pulse of current events, which is why we’re going to talk about the accusations that are flying around Palworld , the new and extremely popular Pokémon-meets-Rust. Does it contain AI? Did it directly steal from Pokémon? Can The Pokémon Company sue? Probably not....