Auto Added by WPeMatico
It’s one in, one out this November. Don’t Nod’s Banishers: Ghosts Of New Eden has been delayed until February 13th, 2024 from its original November release date. That’s because its developer and publisher want to avoid the busy release season.
The Talos Principle 2, not so much. The philosophical puzzler is launching November 2nd.
We’ve already covered a few RX 6800 XT deals that have come across as a result of the recent release of the 7700 XT and 7800 XT, and now it’s time to look at the slightly smaller RDNA 2 card: the RX 6700 XT.
This model is a good option for 1440p gaming and examples are now significantly cheaper than they were a few months ago, including the ever-reliable Sapphire’s Pulse RX 6700 XT 12GB model. This used to go for $340, but is now available for $309 when you use code SSCW2574 at the cart at Newegg.
On the latest-but-one revision of their About page, Metacritic describe the process of calculating a videogame’s aggregate “Metascore” as a kind of “magic”. The FAQ cheekily invites you to “peek behind the curtain”, evoking the figure of the theatre conjurer beckoning the audience on-stage to inspect the props, before performing the trick. You’re only shown so much, however. There are tables for conversions between different review scoring systems, demonstrating how a B- becomes 67/100, but the “weighting” Metacritic gives to each source publication when producing the combined Metascore is a closely-guarded mystery.
You could argue that the secrecy is necessary to avoid heavily weighted publications being targeted and pestered by fans to deliver positive reviews of forthcoming games, so as to swing the average (though in practice, Metascore soothsayers have long since sussed out which outlets have the most votes). But I think it’s better understood as a mixture of basic trademark protection and a mechanism of enchantment, a means of both deterring imitators and keeping avid readers guessing about the output. After all, no professional magician seriously wants to give away how the trick is performed, much as no meat magnate wants to show you the inside of a sausage factory.
CD Projekt have formally commented on the presence of references to the Russia-Ukraine war in Cyberpunk 2077‘s recently added Ukrainian localisation, apologising for dialogue lines “that can be considered offensive by Russian gamers”, while reiterating their support for Ukraine.
In case you missed it, the Ukrainian script and menu localisation currently includes a number of antagonistic references to Russians and to the on-going Russian invasion of Ukraine. One dialogue line refers to a particular bandit group as “rusnia”, and there’s photo mode menu text for a squatting character that translates as “like a Russian”. There’s also lore text that apparently riffs on Ukrainian government rhetoric during the war, and a piece of in-game wallart that alludes to the dispute between Ukraine and Russia over Crimea.
El Paso, Elsewhere feels like the cancelled shooter PS2 adaptation of an incredibly short-lived Image Comics horror series from the mid-90s, leaked by a disgruntled developer over Google Drive more than a decade after the fact. It’s something that would have had a six episode animated series, broadcast out of order at 1am. It’s a testament to that moment in pop culture where the coolest thing imaginable was a tortured guy in a trenchcoat, holding a gun in each hand and fighting monsters. Whether you regard this aesthetic with respect or disgust will help you determine whether there’s anything here for you.
You may have read that always-online crime caper Payday 3 has had a disastrous launch, with players forced into long queues for the privilege of playing by themselves. The chaos continues this week, as developer Starbreeze has now elected to take the game wholly offline for several hours at a time across Tuesday 26th and Friday 28th September, while exploring ways to minimise the game’s reliance on internet access.
I’ve been greatly looking forward to Fortune’s Run, despite absolutely sucking at the demo. Scandalously, we don’t appear to have covered this indie sci-fi FPS on these golden pages, so here’s a quick overview: you’re the high-jumping, sword-wielding, bullet-pumping lovechild of Deus Ex and DOOM, galloping through a world that recalls the Imperial bases and sewers of Dark Forces, taking down grungy pixelart sprites by means of precision parries, grabs, combos, headshots, terrain traps and much more besides. Between dust-ups, you can play basketball and leave crayon graffiti for other players care of a Dark Souls-style messaging system. It’s a feast!
The game was due to launch into Steam early access tomorrow, 27th September, but unfortunately, there’s been a delay. Valve’s testers have denied Fortune’s Run approval to launch on the platform. Among the reasons, according to developer Team Fortune themselves, is that Valve don’t feel the game’s content warning for sexual assault is actually necessary.
I’ve read several comments here and elsewhere that Bethesda’s Starfield is “a mile-wide but deep as a puddle”, or variations on that theme. Said commenters might be tickled to know that there is, in fact, a puddle in the game’s Akila City that contains infinite loot: by dint of peering into it, you’ll magically gain access to a nearby store’s inventory. Strip the shelves, then wait a day or two, and you’ll be able to do so again, forever and ever. Or at least, that was the case till this week’s Starfield patch, a small update consisting of exactly ten bulletpoints, including one that tackles “an issue that allowed for a vendor’s full inventory to be accessible”. Boo! Time to go looking for another convenient in-game metaphor, I guess. Perhaps there’s something incredibly clever you can say about all the flying cities.
Before I discuss the flying cities, find the patch notes in full below. Again, this is a smaller update. Bethesda are working on larger patches that include the addition of official Starfield mod support – tentatively dated to arrive next year.
Normally you’d expect to pay the better part of $100 for a new mechanical keyboard, if not more, but today you can find a full-size model for just $30. The Pulsar Gaming Gears PK020 Lunar Alloy is down to that price on Amazon USA following a 50% reduction from the keyboard’s MSRP, making for a great deal on a keyboard that ticks all the boxes and actually looks cool too.
Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield has departed The Callisto Protocol developers Striking Distance Studios in the wake of the underwhelming performance of their first game.
