My Selection Box picks are of three games that I did not vote for in the Advent Calendar. Two of them didn't come out this year, which is an easy disqualification, but the reality is that I also don't think any of them truly deserve a place in one of those hallowed chambers.
Yet all three are games that in some way defined my year, and I feel affection for each of them. Let me explain why.
]]>If pushed, I’d describe my 2024 gaming habits as eclectic, but that would actually be a lie. All my favourite games for the year are actually very similar: they are all the best. Unfortunately, the realities of sharing website space with several less-correctos means they didn’t all make this year’s advent calender.
]]>Two men on the board of directors for Epic Games have stepped down from their positions after the US Department of Justice investigated the board under antitrust laws. The pair of directors were originally appointed to Epic's board by Tencent (who slurp upon a minority stake in the Unreal Engine company) but the United States government took a look at this and said: ah-ah-ah, you're not allowed to have a director in your boardroom if they're already fingers-deep in the pie of a competing company. Naughty Tencent! Naughty Epic! And, yes, naughty Riot Games!
]]>Bulletstorm, Painkiller and Outriders developers People Can Fly are "suspending or parting ways" with over 120 people, shelving one video game project, downsizing another, and "restructuring some of our support teams" in the face of market turmoil.
]]>Epic Games has given the OK for their 1998 shooter Unreal to be hosted on the Internet Archive, essentially making the classic sci-fi alien blaster free, and preserving it for the future. They've also given the same permission for Unreal Tournament to be hosted there too, making free the multiplayer muckabout that spawned speedier and speedier sequels throughout the early 2000s (not to mention the origin of one of the most memorable multiplayer FPS maps of all time, Facing Worlds).
]]>There must be hundreds of typewriters in the hall, their collective clacks a tidal wave of soulless automation, rising up to greet agent Kiran Estevez as she enters, pistol and flashlight in hands. Exploring rooms to the side, Alan Wake 2: The Lake House’s star finds whiteboards and documents revealing the typewriter’s purpose: to mimic Wake’s writing. Pages are graded along criteria such as ‘style’, ‘tone’, and ‘content’, then “fed into the algorithm” as references until “near-identical stories” to Wake’s can be produced.
“If Jules could simply cut the painter open and pull the painting out of him, he would,” reads one of the real Alan’s typewritten pages. That’s Jules Marmont, the obsessive head of the titular FBC centre. The Marmonts - Jules and his wife Diana - are running experiments to forcibly and synthetically create works of art, aiming to mimic creative passion convincingly enough for the paranatural entity inside Cauldron Lake to respond, as it has in the past.
]]>While we're getting a Gears Of War prequel in Gears Of War: E-Day, this does mean that Gears Of War 6 is yet to be a thing. In a recent episode of IGN's Podcast Unlocked, former Gears Of War director and current Diablo 4 lead Rod Fergusson revealed what his plans were for Gears 6 when he left. In short, he was going to take the game to space. Righto.
]]>Remedy's Alan Wake 2 has now "recouped most of its development and marketing expenses", CEO Tero Virtala has announced in a business review for January-September 2024. Speaking as somebody who would quite like there to be more Alan Wake games - or at least, moderately weird and pretty decent blockbuster singleplayer horror games - I am both pleased by this news and a little troubled that Remedy's eldritch forest fable (which came out in October 2023) has yet to break even.
]]>Remedy have released the first proper in-game trailer for Alan Wake 2's second expansion, The Lake House. It's billed as even more of a horror experience than the base game, and takes place in a research facility run by the Lynchian ghostbuster organisation you may have encountered in Remedy's paranormal shooter Control. As such, the expansion forms a direct connection between the games, and may - read: definitely will - harbour a few clues about the story of the forthcoming Control 2.
]]>Epic Games laid off over 800 people a year ago, following what CEO Tim Sweeney confessed was an "unrealistic" period of investment designed to "grow Fortnite as a metaverse-inspired ecosystem for creators". Now, it's time to start talking about brighter, metaversal tomorrows and hopefully, not do the whole thing all over again. Epic have detailed early plans for Unreal Engine 6, which Sweeney says will combine Unreal Engine with Fortnite's easy-to-use Unreal Editor to create a gigantic, "interoperable" metaverse platform that lets developers sell stuff that can seamlessly be transferred to other games, whether they run on Unreal Engine or not. Stealth blockchain post? Genuinely, I can neither confirm nor deny.
]]>Last year we reported horror game Alan Wake 2 would be getting a couple of expansions. We've already had one of these in the form of Night Springs. And Edwin noted that the other would probably be a crossover with Remedy's other big game, Control, featuring secret government agency, the Federal Bureau of Control. He was right, judging by the trailer shown at yesterday's PlayStation Showcase.
The Lake House DLC is due out in October, and does indeed feature a facility run by the shady organisation whose job it is to keep powerful "altered items" from running amok. But it looks like somebody let a messed-up oil painting out of its cage.
]]>A European consumer advocacy group have published an open letter to the European Union Commission expressing their concerns about video games that make use of premium in-game currencies - aka, make-believe money you can buy with real money, such as Minecoins in Minecraft's Bedrock Edition.
The group in question are the Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs, or BEUC, who represent 44 non-governmental consumer organisations from 31 countries, and have been around since 1962. They're accusing the publishers of Fortnite, EA Sports FC 24, Minecraft, Clash of Clans and others of misleading people - specifically children - with their in-game premium currencies, and breaching European Union consumer protection laws. On a press site that summarises the results of various longer studies, they offer the below broad complaints about the practice.
]]>Ho, wayfarer! Beware slight spoilers for Alan Wake 2 in the passages ahead.
Deep in the Dark Place of Alan Wake 2 there is a forest that is not a forest - a zig-zag tunnel adorned with murals of a grisly woodland scene. Entering that tunnel, you find yourself sealed in at either end. But the mural suggests a way out: it changes when you turn around, following an unspoken narrative. It's a device as delicate as the graffiti elsewhere in the Dark Place is obnoxious. In hindsight, it feels like an example of "metsänpeitto", a concept from Finnish folklore about forests which, as writer Sinikka Annala explains, saturates the design of Alan Wake 2. It's a fascinating idea I'd love certain much larger, less intriguing video game worlds to learn from.
]]>I know as much about programming video game monsters as I do the exact flavour and consistency of the sands on Mars, but I've always thought the chief advantage of the Slime monster archetype is its economy. A slime, in most games, is a squashy smiley face. Why, I could grow myself one of those right this very instant, by doodling a circle in MS Paint and squinting very hard. Slimes do take more complex forms - chrome slimes, fire slimes, slimes with angry eyebrows, etc - but come now, it's not on the same level as rebooting Lara Croft's hair to billow in the blowback from grenades.
The simplicity of slime creation may soon become a distant memory, however, for Epic Games tech artist and current Duck Shake Games Asher Zhu is hell-bent on reinventing the homely Dragon Quest sludgeball as a technical tour de force on par with his previous contributions to Unreal Engine showcase Matrix Awakens. That's the impression I garner from the below video of Zhu's latest project, anyway, whose description also tantalises with talk of "Splatoon mechanics in dungeons".
]]>An Unreal Engine developer has got classic Doom running in Fortnite, in a manner of speaking broad enough to justify a series of headlines about it, including my own. Jackson Clayton honoured the proud tradition of getting the 1993 FPS to run on things where no Doom should be by porting classic opening stage E1M1, via level editor Ultimate Doom Builder, into Fortnite’s Unreal editor as a 3D model. Welcome, newcomer Fortnite, to the vaunted halls currently occupied by gut bacteria, jar-grown rat neurons, lawnmowers, teletext, electric toothbrushes, Windows notepad (sort of), and a pregnancy test.
]]>Night Springs is a fictional TV show within the world of Alan Wake 2, so of course that's also the focus of the meta-horror action game's expansion. It's three episodes, and it's out in under 24 hours.
]]>We've known for some time that Fallout was coming to Fortnite, we just weren't entirely sure in what capacity. Well, now we know that this season's wasteland offerings take the form of a sort of Mad Max meets Fallout meets Borderlands- battle royale affair. There's a big emphasis on deserts and vehicles, basically, with highlights including: mechanical fists, turrets on cars, and the possibility of manning one of two War Buses that patrol the reworked map.
]]>War never changes, and either does Fortnite's love of a crossover. Thus, Fallout and Fortnite are colliding as the post-apocalyptic RPG heads to the battle royale shooter’s upcoming next season.
]]>Ready for a sentence that could only apply to the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink pop-culture smorgasbord of modern-day Fortnite? Here we go! A rucksack containing Star Wars’ Yoda has been temporarily banned from the battle royale game, after crashing games when players wearing the green Jedi master on their back do the Zoidberg Scuttle emote from Futurama.
]]>I need to take all the opportunities to write about Fall Guys that I can get, given how much time I spend playing it with my son. This is a pretty good opportunity, too: a set of Star Wars skins are coming to the bean battle royale, as announced yesterday on May 4th, and they coincide with some major changes to Fall Guys' platforming physics.
]]>In its continuing quest to become Everything to Everyone, Fortnite has shapeshifted, The Thing-like, into a new Lego Star Wars game. The Lego Fortnite survival mode has been expanded with a new, permanent Star Wars world, with this weekend - which includes May the Fourth, don’tcha know - also kicking off a new battle pass and bringing additions to every other part of Fortnite: whether you’re playing it as a battle royale shooter (remember that?), racing game or music-rhythm successor to Guitar Hero.
]]>People Can Fly, the developers of Bulletstorm and Outriders, have cancelled development of a co-op action RPG codenamed Project Dagger. The Polish company informed investors of the decision to cancel the game, which was initially to be published by Take-Two, earlier this month.
]]>Royale-battler Fortnite will soon allow players to hide a handful of emotes the developers concede are "sometimes used in confrontational ways". This includes the emote reported as the most-used in Fortnite's seven-year history. That's either a worrying indictment of the game's players, or a (more?) worrying indictment of universal human psychology. What is the offending animation? Well, turns out people don't like being laughed at.
]]>As if you needed more proof that Baldur's Gate 3 is, in fact, a pretty damn fine video game, Larian’s D&D RPG swept through the video game BAFTA awards yesterday, picking up five of the British entertainment org’s top trophies. Even more impressively - after all, Baldur’s Gate 3 winning a shedload of awards is old hat by now - its latest Best Game triumph means that the sprawling RPG-slash-fanfic machine is now the first video game to win all five of the industry’s major Game of the Year awards.
]]>The PC and console market grew by 2.6% to $93.5 billion in revenue last year, according to a new report by video games date company Newzoo (cheers, Kotaku!) That’s good, right? Growth is universally a good thing, otherwise all those nice, dead-eyed men in suits wouldn’t keep saying it was. You can’t just lie about growth, that’s a business crime. However, here’s some slightly more worrying news, depending on how much you value new ideas: Of all the game time that gamers spent gaming in quantifiable Big Year for Gaming 2023, just 20% of that time was gamed on games other than the 66 specific games mentioned in the report.
]]>Head over to the Epic Games Store on April 4th and you'll be able to grab The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition and Thief (2014) for free and to keep forever. Like a thief!
]]>Lego Fortnite's latest update lets players construct their own vehicles. The Mechanical Mayhem update, out now, adds three vehicle builds, and new items which let players craft their own custom designs. It's the second major update to the blocky survival game since its launch last year.
]]>Fortnite, one of the biggest third-person shooters in, well, ever, could be about to become one of the biggest first-person shooters ever. Epic have revealed that a first-person camera mode is headed to their ridiculously popular battle royale game later in 2024, letting you blast Peter Griffin, Solid Snake's flat butt and other pop-culture icons up-close.
]]>The Epic Games Store's spring sale is underway, from today until March 28th. That makes it twice as long as Steam's spring sale, which also started today. I'm not sure if that makes it twice as exciting, but here's what does: Deus Ex Mankind Divided is free to keep for the next week.
]]>After cracking open its virtual Pandora’s Box using the magical key of “shooting it with a lot of bullets”, Fortnite’s mythical next season is due to roll out later today. Chapter 5 Season 2 - or Myths & Mortals, if you prefer - will bring a pantheon of god powers, locations from Greek mythology and, uh, Korra from the Avatar: The Last Airbender sequel, who has a gun now I guess.
]]>Last week's alleged Epic Games hack was a scam, so-called "ransomware" group Mogilevich have confessed, or at least, are reported to have confessed in a self-congratulary new statement. The group have not, it now seems, stolen a bunch of login data, WIP software and payment information from the creators of Fortnite; they were only pretending to have done so with a view to duping other hackers into buying their tools.
Or at least, that's what they're said to be saying now. I haven't tracked down the original source for Mogilevich's latest statement, and in any case, anything you read from a self-described "professional fraudster" should probably be treated with caution. Still, it lines up with Epic's own comments last week that there was no real sign that a hack had taken place.
]]>In an unexpected twist, a large amount of my time is now spent playing Fall Guys, the rubberised, free-to-play competitive bean racing game. I am therefore well equipped to tell you about its Survival Update, released this week, which adds new levels, new powerups and makes it possible to create survival rounds via the in-game level editor.
]]>Epic Games are investigating a claim that the Fortnite publishers have suffered a massive ransomware attack, with almost 200GB of data reportedly stolen including emails, passwords, full names, payment information, source code and more besides.
]]>Epic have outlined their 2024 plans for the Epic Games Store, which includes a new download manager, a proper offline mode, pre-loading of games, and a focus on game discovery in general.
These plans were outlined in the store's 2023 year-in-review, which paints a mixed picture of Epic's storefront's growth over the past 12 months.
]]>Alan Wake 2, last year’s best horror game, best game overall or best-game-featuring-an-unexpected-but-extremely-welcome-musical-dance-number depending on who you ask, has shifted over a million copies. Musical dance numbers don’t come cheap, though, so it’s still yet to turn a profit - despite outpacing the momentum of any of Remedy’s previous games, including Control.
]]>Disney are taking out a $1.5 billion minority equity stake in Fortnite publisher Epic Games, and have announced "an all-new games and entertainment universe that will further expand the reach of beloved Disney stories and experiences". According to Disney CEO Robert A. Iger, it's "Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games". Friends, we are witnessing the birth of a franchising megamoeba of titanic proportions - a new, Unreal Engine-driven "persistent universe" of playing, watching, shopping and other content-tickling opportunities, featuring characters and stories from Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar "and more". Where are your puny gods now?
]]>There's life in the ol' Alan Wake 2 yet. Last year's multimedia horror extravaganza game has a new patch, and of note is that it includes chapter select but, interestingly, also the "much-requested option to tune down the horror flashes", according to the notes here. What is a horror flash, you ask? It's that thing where a horror game or film or TV show suddenly flashes up a semi-transparent image of like, a monster, or a screaming woman, or a big weird eye. A jump scare meets the Kuleshov effect.
]]>In addition to resolutions, new years are always good times to start thinking about the futureeeee, with or without a wibbly oooOOOoooOoooOh intonation. Predictions about what's going to happen over the next 12 months abound, some of which are more spurious (and light-hearted) than others. But such near-sightedness is not what we're concerning ourselves with today in this latest edition of Ask RPS. We're looking much further ahead, thanks to this excellent question from MiniMatt.
They ask: "Dearest RPS, This being your 150th year in PC gaming [Ed: this question was submitted in 2023], please tell us what the next 150 years hold? Will VR become universal? Will the desktop PC box survive or will we all move over to laptops & steam decks? Will industry continue to consolidate or fragment? Get yer nostradamus on and tell us Peter Molyneux's future.
Indeed, a lot has changed in the world of PC gaming since our esteemed founding in 1873, so come and find out our best guesses for what the future holds below.
]]>I will not lie to you, reader, I used up about 95% of today's remaining creative energy/caffeine on that headline joke, but let's charge our flashlights, sharpen our hooks and struggle on through the body copy anyway. Remedy's Alan Wake is joining Behaviour Interactive's Dead By Daylight as a playable Survivor, having been conjured from his writing desk by the latter game's villainous Entity.
Mind you, I'm a little unclear on the causality here. The press release includes a cheeky quote from a lost Alan Wake manuscript in which the perennially troubled horror author suggests that he is the creator of Dead By Daylight's universe, not Behaviour Interactive. "As I searched for a way out, memories of a script I wrote for Night Springs about a fog-engulfed place flooded back," it reads. "Surrounded by the same fog, I became a pawn - trapped. I must find a way out. Rewriting that script is key." Oh Alan. Have you tried laying off the coffee and going for a stroll, now and then?
]]>At last, every door on the RPS Advent Calendar has been ripped open, leaving nothing but foil wrapper remnants, and the odd pixel crumb of the digital delights once contained within them. But that doesn't festivities are over! Like a Boxing Day bubble and squeak, we've gathered together all of our favourite games of the year once again, this time in one handy location. If you've been following along with our Advent goings-on, you'll already know what our game of the year picks are for 2023, but just in case you missed them, here's the list in full. Enjoy!
]]>The Epic Games Store will allow blockchain games rated Adults-Only back on the PC marketplace after a new exception to its content policy.
]]>Before you open this door on the Advent Calendar, make sure you have enough batteries for your mega-powered torch. The environment be damned, throw those spent batts on the floor where you stand and open-palm slam the new ones in, because light is the only way you're getting out of here alive.
]]>Epic have won a victory in their attempt to argue that Google violates antitrust laws, as a jury has agreed that the Google Play app store and Google Play Billing service constitute an illegal monopoly. The decision comes three years after Epic first attempted to bypass Apple and Google when selling in-app purchases within Fortnite, leading to the game being yoinked from both the Apple and Google app stores and Epic filing lawsuits against both tech giants.
]]>Fortnite’s much-touted crossover with Lego is almost upon us - and it’s showing off a pretty darn impressive transformation. Lego Fortnite won’t just add a few minifig skins or some blocky guns, but a completely new co-op survival and crafting game mode with more than a touch of Minecraft about it.
]]>Fae Farm and Dauntless developers Phoenix Labs have cut 34 jobs following an internal review. It's a sad end to a busy year for the Canadian studio, who bought their independence back from previous owner Garena in February, and laid off 9 per cent of their workforce in May.
]]>Fortnite’s devouring of all pop culture into its gigantic maw continues apace, as leaks suggest that next on the menu for the IP-gobbling battle royale shooter is Metal Gear Solid’s Solid Snake and Family Guy’s Peter Griffin. (Don’t worry, The Maw is safe from the maw, for now.)
]]>Battle royale shooter-turned-virtual music festival Fortnite is amping up its next musical collaboration - and this time, it’s bringing rapper Eminem back to the world of the video games for the first time in years.
]]>Widely embraced/feared search engine business Google - hello, Google! Please top-rank our Best Of features, if you'd be so kind - considered buying out Fortnite and Unreal Engine creator Epic in partnership with Tencent, according to documents revealed as part of Epic and Google's on-going legal battle over whether Epic should be able to sell stuff within the Android version of Fortnite.
]]>Razer have just launched, in a teamup with UK retailer Laptops Direct, one of the more unusual Black Friday deals I’ve seen thus far. In addition to several-hundred-quid savings on various Razer Blade gaming laptops, these also come bundled with a Razer Edge Android tablet and its Kishi V2 Pro controller – a bonus package worth £450 by itself. A free bag, worth £89, is thrown in as well, as is a copy of Alan Wake 2 for selected models. Potentially, then, you could walk away with £579 in freebies, all on top of your savings on the laptop itself. Interesting.
]]>Almost five years since it launched - and two years after Epic revealed they hoped to gobble up half of all PC gaming revenue - the Epic Games Store is still yet to turn a profit.
]]>Fortnite returned to its map circa 2018 (or Chapter 1 Season 5 if you prefer to measure time that way) last Friday, reviving locations like Tilted Towers, Loot Lake and Greasy Grove and unlocking the battle royale game’s vaulted weapons, vehicles and items in a four-week nostalgic event dubbed Season OG. As it turns out, with the old map and items came a whole lot of players, setting a new all-time concurrent player record for the multiplayer shooter that surpasses even its previous heights in the pop-culture zeitgeist.
]]>Fortnite’s nostalgic latest season has kicked off, bringing back a slew of weapons, vehicles, items and cosmetics from the battle royale game’s first chapter. The truncated Fortnite Chapter 4 Season OG - which will last just four weeks, rather than the usual three months - has also restored the game’s original map as seen in Chapter 1, meaning the return of places like Tilted Towers, Loot Lake and Greasy Grove.
]]>Fortnite's original map is coming back, Epic have confirmed. The news was announced via X (formerly Twitter) weeks after several leaks had suggested that time travel shenanigans would revert the free-to-play shooter's map back to its original Chapter 1 layout.
]]>Final Fantasy 14’s crossover with Fall Guys looks as gloriously chaotic as the original mean bean gauntlet - and it’s out very soon. The incoming minigame playable inside the MMO will see 24 Warriors of Light race across Fall Guys courses given a Final Fantasy-themed twist.
]]>Who had ‘playable remake of Alan Wake inside Fortnite’ on their 2023 bingo card? Nobody? Well, nevermind: either way, you can now relive the events of Remedy’s battery-powered horror game before its sequel comes out later this month.
]]>The fleetingly Epic Games-owned online audio distribution company Bandcamp have shed "at least" half their staff in the course of being sold off to Songtradr as part of mass layoffs at Epic this summer. That's according to the union Bandcamp United, who are even now restarting discussions with Epic in the hope of obtaining a better outcome.
It's terrible news for those affected, of course, but it also doesn't bode well for the future of independent music. Bandcamp, which has now traded hands twice in two years, is one of the few places where indie musicians can make a living. There are plenty of angry reactions from musicians and bands on social media, as you'd expect, but game developers are also rallying in support of Bandcamp United, with criticism aimed at Epic and Songtradr in equal measure.
]]>Epic have dropped a bunch of details as to planned improvements for the Epic Games Store in the on-going race to out-Steam Steam - the Coca-Cola to Epic's Pepsi Max. Amongst other things, we can expect more robust search features, support for third-party subscriptions, better EGS launcher performance, a download manager with improved controls, and a new "for you" personalisation tab - all of that rolling out across 2024 and 2025.
Naturally, Epic will be continuing with their free games program through "2023 and beyond", and they've also put together a couple of special publishing offers for developers, Epic First Run and Now on Epic, which are designed to lure more studios from the amoeba-like embrace of Valve's gaming empire.
]]>Sergiy Galyonkin - aka Mr. SteamSpy himself - has left Epic Games after almost a decade at the Fortnite maker, including six years as its director of publishing strategy, saying that he is no longer “a good fit” for the publisher.
]]>Fortnite is to increase the price of its in-game currency V-Bucks in a number of countries, including the US and across Europe. While publisher Epic Games attributed the decision to economic factors - citing previous “pricing alignment” in countries including the UK over the summer - the move will follow hundreds of job losses at the company, partially as the result of lower than expected revenue for their immensely popular battle royale shooter.
]]>Unreal Engine and Fortnite publisher Epic Games are making an absolutely enormous round of job cuts. As announced by billionaire founder and CEO Tim Sweeney in an email to staff today, the company will lay off approximately 830 people, totalling “around 16%” of their workforce, in order to achieve “financial sustainability” following a period of heavy investment and lower-than-hoped returns from Fortnite.
]]>Cor, has it really been almost half a year since we've done one of these? Apologies, readers. I honestly don't know where the time goes. It's probably because we're spending too much time with our favourite guilty pleasure games, which is the subject of this latest Ask RPS column.
The question comes courtesy of ronzilla, who asked: What were your favourite guilty pleasure games of 2022? As in, I play this all the time and I'm semi-embarrassed to admit it?
A good question! In canvassing the wider RPS Treehouse for their responses, it quickly became clear that most of our guilty pleasure games extend way beyond the bounds of just the year 2022, so we've answered a bit more broadly than the original question perhaps intended. Still, hopefully there are still some entertaining answers in here nonetheless.
]]>Every now and then I think back to my first experience of Fortnite, back in the dingy early-mid 2010s - a clever but laborious wave defence game inspired by Minecraft and CliffyB's childhood memories of building sofa cushion forts. I compare this project, which seemed pretty much doomed at the time, with the globe-straddling free-to-play battle royale/concert venue/art gallery/Olympic sport/all-swallowing multiverse Fortnite has become, and I feel extremely old. My sense of time's crushing burden is not alleviated for learning that Epic are staffing up for work on "a new experience in the Fortnite ecosystem", which sounds a lot like a Fortnite open worlder. What fresh hell is this, Epic? When will enough be enough?
]]>Epic is taking the fight to Steam by rolling out a new revenue sharing model in the form of Epic First Run, an initiative that will offer developers up to 100% of revenue for six months if their PC game remains exclusive to the Epic Games Store.
]]>Stephen Kick, CEO of Nightdive Studios, has said he'd love to remaster Epic's 90s FPS Unreal. Not familiar with Nightdive? They're the team behind this May's triumphant System Shock remake, which Jeremy Peel described in his review as "a breathtakingly beautiful and astonishingly faithful remake that proves the enduring power of Looking Glass design". They're also the studio behind last week's surprise-released Quake 2 remaster, and a bunch of other classic 90s remasters including the PC version of DOOM 64 and Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition. It's safe to say they know how to pull off a retro (sorry, Kamiya-san) comeback.
]]>Game designer, sometime Gears of War frontman and nowadays, comic book author Cliff Bleszinski would very much like Epic to make another Jazz Jackrabbit. In case you're unfamiliar, or disgracefully young, Jazz Jackrabbit was a platform game for MS-DOS, published in 1994 - it was Bleszinski's first project as a designer for then-named Epic MegaGames. He worked on the game alongside coder Arjan Brussee, who would later found Guerrilla Games before moving to Visceral Studios and finally, reuniting with Bleszinski to launch Bosskey Productions, the ill-fated creator of the generally rather decent Lawbreakers. Cor, people don't half move around in this industry.
I never played Jazz Jackrabbit - if memory serves, the first in the series launched during a particularly cursed/blessed (delete as appropriate) part of my early youth, when my gaming consisted exclusively of shareware titles on Apple Macintosh. But I can certainly get behind Bleszinski's follow-up remark that he'd like a potential Jazz Jackrabbit 3 to be a first-person game in the vein of PS1 classic Jumping Flash.
]]>Jujutsu Kaisen will be the next smash-hit anime series to be turned into Fortnite skins, according to a number of reputable Fortnite dataminers known for leaking the battle royale’s upcoming crossovers.
]]>The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) have proposed a new method for guaranteeing parental consent to help protect children's privacy online. The method involves "Privacy-Protective Facial Age Estimation" technology, which would scan an adult's face to confirm their age before they're able to consent on behalf a child.
]]>It looks like Bulletstorm and Outriders developer People Can Fly are working on a Microsoft IP, but no one knows which one just yet. This comes from People Can Fly themselves via a statement provided to Polish financial site Interia Biznes, where the studio shared that the game currently has the title Project Maverick (via Eurogamer). All of the funding is coming from Microsoft, with a budget ranging from $30-50m.
]]>The Epic Games Store has introduced a "rewards program" through which players can get 5% back on eligible purchases. That means that if you buy a game for £20, you'll get £1 back to spend on a future game.
Today is also the start of the Epic Games Mega Sale, which includes discounts on games across the store and an additional 25% off eligible games with the Epic Coupon.
]]>This week, the Electronic Wireless Show podcast – minus Alice, who’s away – goes faster, higher, and maybe even stronger as we discuss the upcoming Olympic Esport Series 2023. Yes, those Olympics. Battle royale megahit Fortnite recently joined the events list, but are the Olympics folk really making the best use of games if they’re just recreating real-life competitions? And which games would we choose for our own hypothetical esports event, which may or may not involve the unleashing of big cats? Listen in to find out, though you probably already know Nate is going to say Age of Empires. Also, we attempt to crack the case of a mysterious graphics card/lobster smuggling operation, chat about what we’ve been playing this week, and make some zesty recommendations.
]]>Fortniters everywhere, rejoice! Playing Fortnite can now put you on the road to the Olympics, so teachers can no longer scold kids for sneaking in a game during class - that’s how you win gold medals now, goddammit. The Olympics have today announced that the money-printing battle royale has joined the line-up for the Olympic Esport Series 2023, taking place in Singapore next month.
]]>Epic Games held their State Of Unreal presentation last night, where they talked about the new tech coming to Unreal Engine 5.2, unveiled Fortnite’s Creative 2.0 mode, and debuted new looks at upcoming UE5-developed games such as Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. The first hack-and-slashing adventure already had pretty lifelike faces, but the spooky sequel is taking things a step further with some frighteningly realistic tech.
]]>Epic Games have married their two money makers, creating holy matrimony between battle-royale mainstay Fortnite and Unreal Engine 5. As part of the company’s State Of Unreal presentation, Epic unveiled Unreal Editor For Fortnite (UEFN), a UE5-powered version of the game’s Creative mode which the community has been referring to as Creative 2.0 for the past few months. UEFN is out right now in beta form, and some of what’s possible with these tools are downright wild.
]]>Indie Soulslike Bleak Faith: Forsaken launched earlier this week on March 10th, and as expected, it shares lots of similarities with FromSoft games such as Elden Ring and Dark Souls: an interconnected world, big boss battles, animation-heavy combat, and so on. But comparisons began to surface online showcasing mirrored animations between Bleak Faith and FromSoft’s titles, leading to accusations of stolen assets, as reported by PC Gamer. Archangel have now responded to the allegations of plagiarism, pointing to the Epic Marketplace where the team purchased the assets.
]]>After more than 18 months of closed beta testing, Epic's self-publishing tools for developers are now available for all to use on the Epic Games Store. Previously, Epic had their own internal curation process for publishing to the store, but this changes from today, with developers now having much more control over getting their games onto the EGS. Well, almost.
]]>Epic Games and Iron Galaxy have announced they’re sunsetting their melee battle royale Rumbleverse, six months after launch. Live services will go offline on February 28th at 4PM GMT/10AM CST/11AM ET. In a blog post from the team, Iron Galaxy shared that Season Two will be Rumbleverse’s last, but it should be receiving one final update soon to remove the game's monetisation. This continues the trend of me discovering a new battle royale game, thanks to the announcement of its death.
]]>Shadow Tactics is such a good real-time tactics stealth strategy game that it rejuvenated the genre. There's a chance you already own the sneaky samurai sim, however, and much less of a chance that you own its standalone expansion, Aiko's Choice. It's the latter that is currently being given away for free over on the Epic Games Store.
Bricky puzzle game Lego Builder’s Journey is the latest freebie being given away on the Epic Games Store as part of their Christmas sale. Honestly, I did not immediately mistake this for Lego Bricktales, which I’m sure you didn’t either. Builder’s Journey tasks you with solving puzzles by, well, building with Lego. It’s also a bit of a looker, with some snazzy visual accoutrements such as ray tracing and global illumination. You can have a watch of the very pretty Builder’s Journey trailer below.
]]>Fortnite developer Epic Games is settling two complaints made to the US Federal Trade Commission by paying out a total of more than half a billion dollars. Wall Street Journal report that the FTC alleged Epic had violated protections intended to secure children’s privacy, and tactically drove players to make unintended purchases that amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars. The company are now settling for $520 million (£427 million).
A federal court case claimed that Epic breached the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting details about Fortnite players who were younger than 13 years old without getting parental consent or contacting their parents. That’s been settled for $275 million. The complaint also alleged Epic illegally enabled real-time voice and text chat for young players as Fortnite’s default, which the FTC said put them at risk from strangers.
]]>Sandy hoverbike-riding climb ‘em up Sable’s being given away for free on the Epic Games Store up until 4pm GMT on December 19th. That’s today, if you’ve not checked your advent calendar yet. This one’s got my attention because I’m a sucker for a fishing minigame, something Sable added in a free update just last month. It’s also a relatively peaceful game to add to your pile ahead of the beckoning wintertide break, thanks to the complete lack of combat. John Lennon would be chuffed.
]]>The Epic Games Store's Christmas sale is now underway, with discounts including 40% off FIFA 23, 25% off Spider-Man Remastered, and 100% off one new game each day for the next fifteen days. Each new free-to-keep mystery game will be revealed each day at 4pm GMT/8am PT/11am ET. Today's first game? Bloons TD6, a tower defense game that has over 200,000 positive reviews on, uh, Steam.
]]>A class-action lawsuit against Epic Games’ Fortnite is going ahead in Quebec, more than three years after it was originally filed. CTV News report that parents of three Canadian children who regularly play Fortnite claim the game was created to be “highly addictive”, and allege the battle royale has caused their kids psychological and physical problems, along with financial issues. Although the families are seeking damages from Epic, no figure has been put on those yet. Epic has 30 days to appeal the case or it’ll go to trial.
]]>It’s that time of the week again, when the Epic Games Store reveal what new games they’ll be giving away for free next Thursday. If you haven’t jumped on it straight away, then you can nab EA Motive’s decent sci-fi dogfighting sim Star Wars: Squadrons for precisely nowt until December 1st. Starting from December 1st, you’ll have the opportunity to claim game creation tool RPG In A Box and fantasy turn-based strategy Fort Triumph.
]]>The end of another Fortnite map is nigh, with Chapter 3 of the free-to-play battle royale drawing to a surprisingly early close next month. The change will coincide with the end of Season 4 in an event called Fracture, teased by devs Epic Games at the end of the Fortnite Champion Series held over the weekend. Fracture kicks off on December 3rd at 9pm GMT / 1pm PST.
]]>Buried beneath an Everest sized pile of TikTok dance emotes, Marvel skins and lavish live concerts for Ariana Grande lies the actual reason Fortnite has kept me playing for the best part of half a decade: Fortnite is one of the finest multiplayer shooters on PC, and no, I’m not joking. It rules.
]]>What are the most important Rumbleverse tips you need to know to win fights? Iron Galaxy's unique free-to-play wrestling-focused battle royale may look chaotic, but there's a lot of depth and a startlingly high skill ceiling hidden behind all that spandex. I've played Rumbleverse since its first open beta, and I've learnt enough in my time playing to beat almost every player I've come across so far at launch. So if you're looking to improve, you've come to the right place.
In this beginner's guide to Rumbleverse I'll teach you some of the most important tips you need to bear in mind if you want to consistently win fights and matches. We'll cover everything from looting to stamina management, from attack priorities to particular combos, and other useful little tidbits that may save your life on the punishing streets and rooftops of Grapital City.
]]>Free-to-play battle royale brawler Rumbleverse is now available on the Epic Games Store. It comes with two additional modes not seen in the pre-launch playtests: the chance to pair up with a pal in Duos and a sort of free roam practice mode called Playground.
]]>It’s fair to say that this hasn’t been the coolest week on record in many places around the world, so I’m giving Fortnite the side-eye for the No Sweat Summer event that’s running until August 9th. It’s a bit daft, as you’d expect from Epic Games’ battle royale by this point. You’ll get the opportunity to boogie down, race boats and help rebuild Tilted Towers. Watch the trailer below and marvel at how they can all dance without keeling over.
]]>Fresh off the back of last weekend’s final network stress test, 40-person brawler battle royale Rumbleverse has revealed it will finally be going live on August 11th. Devs Iron Galaxy say that season one will begin a week later on August 18th. Put up your dukes and get ready to go toe-to-toe when you watch the trailer below.
]]>Wacky battle royale Fall Guys is going free to play from today, so you no longer have any excuses not to try it other than an inability to decide on an outfit for your bean to wear. I’m partial to the giant foam hand costume myself. However, Fall Guys has also been removed from sale on Steam so it can become an Epic Games Store exclusive. Don’t worry if you already own the game on Steam though, because you’ll still have access through Valve’s launcher. Here’s some bouncy Free For All update gameplay in the trailer below.
]]>One of the ways Steam wormed its way into every inch of PC gaming was by releasing useful tools that make developers' lives easier. Epic would like their Epic Games Store to also be wormy, and an early step is, hey, still about Steam. The Epic Online Services SDK 1.15, released this week, includes tools that let developers enable crossplay between players on Epic Games Store and players of the same game on Steam.
]]>What is building a PC but piecing together an elaborate, electronic jigsaw? Equally, what is building a jigsaw but piecing together an analogue cardboard PC you can't do anything with after it's finished? These similarities are why building a PC isn't as strange a subject for a videogame as it first appears.
If you like your electric jigsaws, then good news: there's now an open beta available for PC Building Simulator 2.
]]>You can obtain Gearbox Software’s zany FPS Borderlands 3 without exchanging any currency over on the Epic Games Store from, well, now. The freebie coincides with the start of this year’s discounterrific Epic MEGA Sale, which runs from today until June 16th. That means there’ll be three more “blockbuster” free games coming over the next few weeks, according to Epic Games.
]]>Mediatonic’s bean-themed party royale Fall Guys will go free-to-play on June 21st, the studio announced last night. However, this will also coincide with the game being delisted from Steam. From that point on, Fall Guys will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store, although it will still remain playable for existing owners on Steam without them having to move to Epic's launcher. The news came as part of Mediatonic’s announcement that Fall Guys is coming to Nintendo Switch and Xbox next month with full cross-play and cross-progression support, alongside its current homes on PC and PlayStation.
]]>Steam Deck news followers may recall Epic Games deciding against making Fortnite compatible with the Deck, citing cheating concerns despite simultaneously making sure its own Easy Anti-Cheat system could work on the handheld. That hasn’t changed, but there is now at least one legit way to play the crossover-happy battle royale on the Steam Deck, as it’s just launched on Xbox Cloud Gaming.
]]>For me, the fun of Rocket League lies entirely in how its supersonic acrobat rocket-powered battle cars control. That means it's still fun even if you remove the ball and, say, turn it into a free-for-all battle royale about punting opponent cars out of bounds. That's what the time limited Knockout Bash mode does, which is available from now until May 10th.
]]>Last week, Epic and Lego announced their intent to build "a space in the metaverse" for children. Today, Sony and KRIKBI - the investment company behind The Lego Group - announced that they'd each invested $1 billion (around £769m) in Epic Games to aid more broadly with "the company's vision to build the metaverse."
As always, all of this is more fun if you replace the word "metaverse" with, for example, "Habbo Hotel."
]]>The makers of Lego are teaming up with Fortnite creators Epic Games to build some sort of "metaverse" play space. I think that means they're making an online Lego game, a concept which has existed many times before, but they don't really say what it is they're up to. In lieu of explanation, they repeat the word "metaverse".
]]>It would seem to safe to assume that there's always a Tomb Raider game at some stage of development, but Crystal Dynamics just confirmed it. At the tail end of today's 'State of Unreal Engine' stream, they said that they've "just" started work - and in Unreal Engine 5, obviously.
]]>Unreal Engine 5 has finally released, after nearly a year of early access and nearly two years since its reveal (featuring that Tomb Raiderish tech demo). Having launched a few minutes into Epic Games’ State of Unreal event, Unreal Engine 5 is likely to be the basis of many a PC game over the next few years, in addition to a few in-development games that have already made the jump: games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and Black Myth: Wukong.
]]>
