Ark 2 has been delayed, so they’re switching off Survival Evolved and charging $50 for a remaster

ARK 2 has been delayed until the end of 2024. The dinosaur survival sequel currently best known for having Vin Diesel in it, for some reason, was originally aiming for a 2023 release, but developers Studio Wildcard say they need more time.

To compensate, they’re going to instead release Ark: Survival Ascended in August, a remaster of the original Ark: Survival Evolved that moves it over to Unreal Engine 5. That’s the good news. The bad news is you can only buy it in a $50 bundle with the sequel (which won’t be finished for at least a year), and that the original Survival Evolved servers will be switched off when Ascended launches.

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Videoverse’s first chapter is the perfect portrait of early internet fan forums

Videoverse took me right back to the early 00s last night. I can still remember sitting at the family PC in our living room, begging my parents for more internet time because I wanted chat to my friend on MSN Messenger. We had to buy hours of internet in those days, and between my young teenage self and my three brothers, we absolutely devoured those meagre weekly limits, always pleading for more, more, more as we became absolutely captivated by this new world of the online.

Luckily, Emmett doesn’t have to contend with such antiquated restraints in Videoverse, as his portal to the internet is built right into his enormous Nintendo DS-like home console, the Kinmoku Shark. As well as using it to play games reminiscent of old 16-bit classics, there’s also a Nintendo Miiverse-esque social network on the Shark that Emmett uses to chat to his friends, post fan art of his favourite game, Feudal Fantasy, and feel part of something bigger. What hasn’t changed since those early internet days, however (or indeed, the internet today) are the types of people he interacts with – there are trolls, of course, but there are also plenty of nice people here to support him, and the emergence of seemingly new user (and budding fan artist) Vivi quickly becomes the main subject of Videoverse’s current free demo that’s available as part of Steam’s Storyteller Festival.

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Shocking nobody, this Life Is Strange superfan really liked the first Life Is Strange novel

Life Is Strange game since the franchise debuted in 2015.

I looked into it and sure enough, the current record-holder is the gap between the season one finale of Life Is Strange and the first episode of its prequel Before The Storm: 1 year, 10 months, and 12 days. That means that come mid-August of this year — specifically, the 14th, which marks the 683rd day since True Colors‘ Wavelengths DLC released — LIS fans will be leaving the Shire whether we like it or not.

I suspect that Life Is Strange: Steph’s Story — the first prose novel tie-in to the franchise, released on March 21st — was commissioned with fans like me in mind. Fans who work out useless trivia like the above because they need something to occupy them when there’s no new game on the horizon and they’ve played all the existing ones to death. Fans who know every character’s canonical middle name and birthday. Fans who complain that it feels like they never have time to read any more, but nevertheless finished the novel and wrote a silly supporter post about it within 10 days of publication.

Of course I really liked Life Is Strange: Steph’s Story. But will you, as a person whose relationship with this franchise is statistically guaranteed to be more normal than mine?

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The Electronic Wireless Show podcast S2 Ep9: modder, where art thou?

podcast talks all things mods – specifically, the ones that got real big and broke out from their respective source games. It’s a chat that’s been prompted by the developers behind Slay The Spire mod Downfall announcing their own brand-new game, Tales & Tactics.

There’s also a lot of undead fish chat, and Alice’s plans for entertaining herself on an upcoming long-haul flight. And in James’ hardware corner, the gang chat about Nvidia’s comments on AI and crypto, as well as Ubisoft’s AI writing software tool thinger.

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Windy Meadow is expanding the text-based world of Roadwarden

Roadwarden was one of many fantastic mystery games from last year, and fans of the text-based RPG can now look forward to solving more secrets from the world with Windy Meadow – A Roadwarden Tale, coming to PC later this year.

Windy Meadow is set in the same fantasy world as Roadwarden and similarly presents a slice-of-life story that can branch out depending on your choices. This time, though, you’ll be following three protagonists in their interweaving day-to-day lives.

Windy Meadow’s press release teases the stories of Vena, Fabel, and Iudicia: “Will talented huntress Vena depart the harmonious but harmless village and leave her family behind in pursuit of riches with a merchant guild? Can Fabel finally embrace his talents, ditching the figurative shackles of his difficult past as he chases his dream of becoming a famous bard? And will outsider and herbalist Iudicia take hold of her love life, choosing not to marry a man she doesn’t really love at the risk of leading a lonely future?”

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