Diablo 4’s beta shows a gripping, if self-conscious, revitalisation for the series

Diablo 4’s beta, closed to all except an elite cadre of press, pre-orderers, and, uh, chicken enthusiasts. And so, axe in hand, I set forth, confident that whoever I found myself temporarily adventuring with would at least be fortified with adequate protein to wield rippling gains against the lords of hell.

Mouse-clicking connoisseurs of a certain age may remember a time when the name Blizzard was synonymous with the most gorgeously impressive CGI cutscenes your tiny mind had ever been blown by, and while Diablo 4’s lengthy introduction comes at a time where there’s far too much widespread talent for any one studio to claim that crown, it is still a goshdarn treat to take in. Not just technically, either. This chronicle of a cursed expedition is a mission statement for Diablo’s new (old) tone, and it sets the scene for things to come spectacularly – even if that tone straddles the line between gripping and noticeably self-concious about past accusations of cartooniness.

Read more

2012’s IGF Nuovo award winner will finally launch next week

Storyteller around eleven years ago, which is also the first time RPS wrote about it. It was a story-building puzzle game in which players constructed three-panel comics by dragging and dropping characters and items such that they combined in delightful, dramatic ways.

It looks to still be that, more or less, now that it’s coming out in greatly expanded and polished form next week. Watch the launch trailer below.

Read more

Diablo 4’s pre-order beta is beset by long queues and connectivity issues

Diablo 4‘s pre-order beta is underway. That means people who have already paid for the hack-and-slash sequel are currently enjoying the quintessential modern Diablo experience: queuing to play for hours and being spontaneously disconnected should they manage to enjoy a few moments smashing monsters.

Blizzard saying they’re tracking the issues and, as of a couple of hours ago, say that they’ve applied fixes that have improved wait times.

Read more

Grab Corsair’s $2300 all-AMD gaming and streaming laptop for $1536

add a PC case like this one and then use code NEWBUILD, you can pick up the laptop and the case for significantly less than the cost of the laptop alone.

In fact, this $1800 laptop that debuted in December last year for $2300, complete with Ryzen 9 CPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, 2TB of NVMe storage, a 16-in 2560×1600 (16:10) 240Hz display and Radeon RX 6800M graphics card, goes down to just $1536. And you get a free case, essentially, which you can resell later if you don’t need it. Or keep it and build a PC in it, because these Corsair cases are actually really lovely!

Read more