Brendan Greene, the modder-turned-millionaire who designed battle royale game PUBG: Battlegrounds, wants to make his studio's next game a "metaverse", although he says he's wary of using the term. The project is called "Artemis" (at least for now) and you won't be seeing it any time soon. That's because the studio is still working on the tech behind it all, and plans to release two other games before it. Meaning it'll be 10-15 years before it actually comes out.
Greene describes Artemis as an internet-like platform where users create and share things, but doesn't say specifically what those things might be. He doesn't know how his user-led "multiverse of worlds" will be moderated, or how it will prevent copyright infringement, or what makes this idea distinct from, say, Roblox. He is nonetheless "full of confidence".
]]>PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds - aka the game that inspired and then was overtaken by Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode - is seemingly borrowing a leaf from its cartoony cousin’s playbook by resurrecting its original map.
]]>The multiplayer FPS which fools would tell you is named PUBG: Battlegrounds has added destructible terrain in an update today, letting you dig your own hole or punch through to enemies. Some might tell you this is inspired by Fortnite or Minecraft, especially considering you can dig with a pickaxe, but in my heart it's further confirmation that Plunkbat is a stag & hen weekend simulator. After all, you can have your stag do at Diggerland. Awright lads, where we digging?
]]>Despite being the game that pioneered and popularised the battle royale shooter, it seems that PUBG: Battlegrounds has increasingly ended up left in the shadow cast by Fortnite’s ridiculous popularity, Lego and Eminem collabs, and big, flashy season changes. It seems that the earlier battle royale game is planning to borrow at least one leaf from its rival’s playbook this year, though.
]]>Playerunknown's Battlegrounds has experimented several times with PvPvE modes, but it seems like the next project from developers PUBG Studios will mine the genre further. Specifically, the latest earnings report from publisher Krafton says the studio are working on an open world "extraction shooter".
]]>Cycling in video games leans towards the extreme and the exciting: bombing downhill at murderous speeds, professional racing, treasure hunt, and such. I'd like to see more of the mundane too. For many adults, a bicycle is simply a way to get to work, to the shops, or to see your pals. So after battle royale shooter PUBG: Battlegrounds added bicycles, I decided to commute around the stag & hen weekend warzones by bike as much as possible.
]]>Chicken-loving battle royale PUBG: Battlegrounds is adding its ninth map today, the near-future and ecologically compromised Deston. There’s plenty of fancy features in the new map such as ascenders to zip you up the side of its skyscrapers, and areas that only drones can get to. Sit back on your favourite airboat and glimpse the only slightly terrifying fate that awaits us all in the trailer below.
]]>Seminal battle royale shooter Playerunknown's Battlegrounds is now free-to-play, inviting all stag and hen parties to parachute into holiday resorts for paintballing which accidentally uses real guns. Folks who previously paid for PUBG: Battlegrounds (the new-ish official name replacing Plunkbat) have been grandfathered into the new Battlegrounds Plus account tier and receive receive some edgy virtual clothes too. Everyone else, hey, in you come.
]]>This week's episode of the Ultimate Audio Bang is both festive, but tinged with sadness. It's Imogen's final run of the pod and I'm very sad about it. But we (I) gather ourselves and chat FPS news, like how PUBG is going free to play, Overwatch actually has something new, and lots of Halo Infinite stuff. We also get one final update on Imogen's Apex Legends rank. I'd love to say it's positive, but it's actually quite crushing. Merry Christmas.
]]>PUBG Battlegrounds is going free-to-play in January 2022. The low admission fee of zero pounds was announced at The Game Awards, which is a pretty good deal if you’re looking to participate in a battle royale that’s still very much alive and kicking. Players can also pay for Battlegrounds Plus, an account upgrade that’ll net you some extra in-game unlocks. And don't worry, if you already own the game you'll get that upgrade for free.
]]>Long gone are the days when the best battle royale games were all about picking up colourful guns in an ever-shrinking safe zone. There are still plenty that fit that description, of course, but now we have battle royales about swinging swords, wobbly beans, and wrestling, too, giving us a huge variety to choose from. The best battle royales all have one thing in common, though: they're all about being the last person (or people, for team games) standing. Oh, and you usually battle it out in weird and wonderful costumes.
]]>Earlier this week, Brendan "Playerunknown" Greene of Plunkbat fame announced that he would be leaving PUBG Corp parents Krafton to found a new studio called Playerunknown Productions. Today, Greene has posted a video explaining a bit about the studio's first project called Prologue—first teased back in 2019. It will launch first as a tech demo about surviving in a procedurally generated wilderness, Greene says, and it'll also be "a chance to look at what we've accomplished by leveraging machine learning" for huge open worlds. Greene has explained more about Prologue today, with more information coming soon.
]]>This week's episode of the Ultimate Audio Bang podcast kicks off with some chat about ice creams, which Imogen then sprinkles with some news shavings. We talk Apex Legends cross-progression, Titanfall hacking drama, and nice buffs. Also, Back 4 Blood is a bit good isn't it? PUBG has naked zombies, Splitgate is doing very well, and one Valorant Agent's feeling a bit stuck.
]]>Just last week, I reported on a leak that hinted at a new zombie-specific game mode coming to Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. Well they’re herrrrrrre. PUBG Labs, where the designers explore ideas without breaking the main game, has just added a time-limited 'Zombie Survival' game mode today. That name is very on the nose. It’s a PvE horde mode against waves of the undead. And they are nude.
]]>On this week's episode of Ultimate Audio Bang, Imogen shares some juicy news nuggets with us. Splitgate – a Halo meets Portal FPS – seems to have garnered some serious interest. Naturally, both of us haven't played it. Sounds cool, though. Elsewhere Halo Infinite's doing a thing this weekend, which we also aren't playing. To be fair, we're waiting for John Masterchief's invite. And just to round things off, Apex Legends has a new character, while PUBG might be going free-to-play. It's a stacked one, folks.
]]>Battle royale pioneer Plunkbat could finally be joining every other battle royale game by going free-to-play, according to a new rumour. Playerunknown's Battlegrounds has so far avoided the route that Fortnite ran with until it had all the money in the world. But an upcoming and (currently unannounced) free week could test the waters for a full-on free-to-play switcheroo.
]]>Now that we're over the E3 hump, Imogen and I thought we'd catch a break on this week's episode of the Ultimate Audio Bang. But no, the online shooters simply do not stop reloading. PUBG dropped a new map on its test servers, Warzone fixed its murder door, and Valorant's new agent sounds very overpowered.
]]>Around a month ago PUBG Corp teased "Tiger", a new map which would allow players to respawn if they died early. Well, that map's called Taego (I see what they did there), and it's out now on test servers. Seeing as I spend most of my time dead in PUBG, it has my attention.
]]>I never got into PUBG. I didn’t enjoy putting all that time and effort into the game only to die once and be returned to the main menu. That’s why I spend my battle royale funtimes in Warzone, where I can at least punch my way back into the game. But in Playerunknown's Battlegrounds’s 2021 roadmap, they’ve announced a new map that will allow players to respawn. Depending on the turnaround time, I might just have to get back into Plunkbat.
]]>The writing has maybe been on the wall for PUBG Lite for a while. The free-to-play, low spec version of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds ditched its in-game currency in November 2020, becoming completely free. Now a notice from the development team says that the game will close down forever on April 29th.
]]>Season 10 of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds has arrived with update 10.1 bringing a new map with some brand new enemies. The new Haven map is a small one, dropping in a total of 32 combatants on the map. You've got more than 31 enemies though, because some new AI baddies will be guarding the loot this season.
]]>Ah Christmas, what better way to spend it than *checks notes* fighting to the death on an industrial island in PUBG? That's right, Playerunknown's Battlegrounds Season 10 arrives on December 16th and it'll have players dropping in on a brand new 32-player map, the urban isle of Haven. Which also happens to be the hangout for a very unwelcoming military group. Delightful.
]]>Last week we got a teaser for some new Plunkbat lore as narrated by excellent narration man Jonathan Frakes and yup, it sure was a clue for a new map. The battle royale 'em up's next map will arrive on October 21st for PC players (29th for console) along with the game's ninth season. We're all hot-dropping now because Paramo is home to an active volcano.
]]>Celebrity cameos in games sure can dip into cringe territory but there is nothing, absolutely nothing, cringe-y about Jonathan Frakes narrating another lore teaser for Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. Regale me with the sordid, unsolved curiosities of Plunkbat, Mr. Frakes. Looks like PUBG Corp's also planning a whole new website dedicated to lore for the battle royale. What mysteries might it hold?
]]>The war between cheaters and anti-cheat technology might be endless, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun with it. I'm delighted to learn about the work of "ScriptKid", a fella who releases fake cheats that actually sabotage games for would-be cheaters. Wrong'uns go to Google looking for free cheats, find the fake cheat site he's set up, download and run his fake cheats, then... find they're forced to jump off buildings to their death in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, or their movement keys screw up, or their gun stops working, or worse. He uploads videos of would-be cheaters getting pranked, and it's quite cathartic to watch.
]]>Remember a few weeks ago when "battle royale" made you think of gunshots and tactical gear instead of colorful jellybean critters? Well if you've forgotten, Playerunknown's Battlegrounds has added a new decoy grenade that sings you the song of spent ammunition which aught to get you back in the FPS mindset. The new grenade, a new gun, and other changes have now hit PUBG's live servers as part of Update 8.2.
]]>The small Playerunknown's Battlegrounds map of Sanhok is being revamped as part of Update 8.1 next week, developers PUBG Corp announced today. Numerous locations have been rebuilt, and an interesting new mini objective has been added. Autonomous Loot Trucks will be driving around the island, dropping crates of gear as they're attacked, and awarding particularly fancy gear when they're destroyed. Chasing a robopiñata in my tuk-tuk while the laaads in the back blast away sounds great fun. Today's announcement also brings a big boast: the battle royale shooter has now sold over 70 million units.
]]>If you've ever fancied giving Playerunknown's Battlegrounds a try, now is probably the time to do it, because over the next few days it's holding a free weekend. It kicked off yesterday and will run until 6pm BST on Monday the 8th of June, so there's still plenty of time left to get droppin' with the boys. And if you suddenly decide PUBG is the battle royale for you, you can pick it up for 50% for the duration of the free weekend.
]]>Update 7.2 for ye olde Playerunknown's Battlegrounds has landed hot on the live servers and it's coming with some changes that are likely to rock the boat a bit. Despite PUBG Corp calling them a "controversial topic," non-player AI contestants are dropping in to regular matches. For the extra-competitive players, a new Ranked Mode is replacing the old Survival Title system and is getting its own queue to boot.
]]>Yup, it's happening. Bots are going to be joining your Playerunknown's Battlegrounds matches—but only if you need some extra target practice. PUBG Corp say that bot opponents have been a "controversial topic" for the battle royale but that they think the widening skill gap between veteran players and the new chaff demands an easier entry to their murder islands. They're relegated to the test servers for now but will likely be joining proper matches soon.
]]>You know how it is. You think you're into videogame soundtracks, then you go and hear someone perform ten of them on a Mongolian string instrument. I recently spent 20 minutes listening to a man do just that, and I think you should too.
Genius Jaavka is the man. The morin khuur is his instrument. Songs from Horizon Zero Dawn (coming to PC this summer), Mortal Kombat, Dota 2 and Fortnite are just some of the ones he treats us to. He's really very good.
]]>A new Playerunknown's Battlegrounds in-universe documentary explores the history of a deserted dinosaur theme park with the perfect host: Jonathan Frakes. He's recently escaped the shadow of playing William T. Riker on the sci-fi show Lexx, finding new fame for saying "Not this time" and "It's a total fabrication!" in compilation videos of his time hosting 90s show Beyond Belief: Fact Or Fiction. Who better to probe the strange death of a mascot at the island of Vikendi's Dinoland?
]]>The small snowy map of Vikendi returned to Playerunknown's Battlegrounds with the start of Season 7 today, having been pulled from rotation in January for improvements. They've removed a few villages, added more cover in places, reduced the amount of snow across a lot of the island, and, most importantly, rebuilt the scrappy old Dino Park (which I did already adore) as the larger and flashier Dinoland. While you can't ride its rusty ferris wheel or the broken rollercoaster winding around a volcano, the overhaul has added something you can ride: new trains now trundling around the map. Pleasing.
]]>Turning the edgy murder enthusiasts of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds into daffy LARPers clad in homemade armour of tinfoil, buckets, and bathrobes sounds like an April Fools' joke, and it was - but the devs did still make it. The Fantasy Battle Royale event mode launched yesterday and is around for another six days, so I called up the laaads last night. It's really quite fun! The class-based LARPing is fun to play, charging about with swords and magic spells, and the whole thing is tonally fun in a very welcome way.
]]>Paladins, wizards, magic spells, unicorn motorbikes, and crafting are coming to Playerunknown's Battlegrounds with the silly Fantasy Battle Royale event mode celebrating April Fools' Day. Starting Wednesday, it's Plunkbat, right, but with fantasy classes. What I most like is how all this is dressed as shoddy LARP gear: the Paladin in tinfoil greaves; the Barbarian wearing a Buster Bluth muscle suit; the Wizard in his dressing gown; the Ranger with two off-brand Pringles tubes as thigh-mounted quivers; the unicorn mount that's a motorbike with a plush unicorn head strapped to the front. This live-action trailer is great too.
]]>The unendingly changeable roster of PUBG guns and weapons takes a staggering amount of time to truly master. Each individual gun brings to the table a unique set of stats, spray patterns, behaviours, and other quirks.
Our PUBG guns & weapons guide seeks to level out this learning curve just a little, by providing you with all the most up to date stats and opinions on each weapon. So whether you're new to the game and still struggling to tell an UMP from a Bizon, or you're a more experienced player who just wants to check up a few updated stats, we've got what you need.
]]>The latest Playerunknown's Battlegrounds patch went live today, introducing a classic Team Deathmatch game mode. It's being added as part of a new Arcade section in the game, which will start introducing more varied ways to play PUBG aside from the usual battle royale stuff. There's some updates to that battle royale stuff too, though, including a few alterations to the new map Karakin, as well as some changes to how grenades and throwables work.
]]>Despite making its name as a last man standing game of 30-ish minute rounds, Playerunknown's Battlegrounds has dabbled with speeding up its matches over the years. It hasn't quite outrun the "running simulator" pejorative because apparently I'm one of the few folks that actually enjoys having sweaty palms and an elevated heart rate while tactically sneaking from bush to bush as the play area narrows. Everyone else wants more action and fast.
PUBG Coprp have attempted a team deathmatch mode before but it didn't stick back in 2018. TDM is back, for real this time, in the form of two teams of 8 shooting it out on small slices of PUBG's existing maps.
]]>Today in Playstyle Royale, the series where I head into a battle royale game and try to earn my chicken dinner while adhering to arbitrary rules, I will run someone over in a plane. They were added to Playerunknown's Battlegrounds servers last week, opening up a new frontier of aerial murder. I'm not going to give myself any additional handicaps, because I anticipate this will be bloody difficult enough as it is.
]]>The travel company behind Playerunknown's Battlegrounds today added a new stag weekend destination, the roasting North African island of Karakin. The new map is the smallest so far, only 2x2km but still cramming in 64 players. It's hazardous too, because its new 'Black Zone' bombings can outright destroy buildings and the new sticky bomb weapon lets players blast holes in some walls too. With Karakin coming in, PUBG Corp are making space by rotating Vikendi out for a while. And lads? Pack sunscreen.
]]>Playerunknown's Battlegrounds new year action will see players getting to drop in on a brand new 64-player map, the island of Karakin. Set in a delightfully arid desert location, Karakin has completely destructible buildings thanks to an edgy new feature named Black Zone - a hazard that changes the map layout each match.
On top of this, players who enjoyed the Motor Glider featured on PUBG Labs last month will be thrilled to hear it hits live servers today. I'm sure it won't be long now until you're all swooping cinematically, dodging bullets and debris from all of those crumbling buildings.
]]>Back in November, PUBG introduced PUBG Labs. It's a sort of middle ground between the cordoned off test server and the final, public version of the battle royale 'em up where players can opt in to try new features while they're still on the cooling rack. The latest addition to PUBG Labs is this daft plane that you can try flying for the next two days.
]]>Nary a game is safe from a December makeover complete with snow, fir trees, and presents. PUBG's 5.3 update has migrated from the test to public servers and although the patch notes make mention of actual quality of life changes, I admit I got distracted by the uncannily cheery change to its lobby. The last 2019 update for Plunkbat brings blood splatter changes, gun favoriting, and this very charming hearth screen. Did you spot the face in the window? I just did and now I won't sleep tonight.
]]>Brendan "Plunk" Greene today announced his next game after the battle royale ladfest of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, a mysterious game named Prologue. It is... a video game? About... something? But it's not a battle royale, and apparently not even connected to Plunkbat. This is the first game from Playerunknown Productions, the new research-y division Greene left the Plunkteam to lead earlier this year. Here, have a look at some wet trees in the announcement trailer below.
]]>Update 5.2 hit Playerunknown's Battlegrounds today, adding spike traps we can throw down to puncture tyres and overhauling a fair bit of the snowy map Vikendi. I can't imagine I'll often intelligently use a spike trap in an ambush, but you can be sure I'll throw down every last one I see, just in the hope of ruining someone's day. Probably my own when I immediately forgot about the trap and try to pull a three-point turn. And god help me if the laaads come across a cache of them. Long-overdue loot box changes start today too.
]]>The results are in! The links between the longevity of Steam Charts and the decreases in violent crime, the improvement of sanitary water supplies, and sudden global drops in serious health issues, are no coincidence at all!
To quote from the paper recently published in Nature, "Causal links have been shown connecting Rock Paper Shotgun's Steam Charts articles to a remarkably number of positive worldwide trends, with strong suggestion that a global dependence on the column has been established, such that its weekly appearance is vital to humanity."
]]>There is nothing worse for a world-leading chartologist (PhD) like me than a Steam sale. All sense is lost, all decorum thrown to the wind, as the same few games come stamping all over everything like an uninvited six year old whose parents let him go to bed whenever he wants. And we're entering Sale Season, people. It's going to get stampy.
]]>The Schwarzschild radius of the Steam Charts continues to shrink as the effects of the Universal Collapse take greater impact on our daily lives.
Read on if you want to know how to protect your family from complete atomic devastation.
]]>Season 5 of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds began this morning, kicking off with a big update that overhauls the Mexican map of Miramar and adds the ability to throw items. Drive over jumps and through loops! Toss energy drinks to your pals! Pelt your foes with pans and scythes! This is Miramar's transition from battleground to banterground.
]]>People, I face a dilemma. (Great cars, them Dilemmas. - Ed) This week Destiny 2 takes up an astonishing five out of ten spaces on the Charts. So what's a professional games journalist of 20 years experience to do? Write ten octopus facts in less detail but with more jokes, or six more involved entries perhaps better celebrating our cephalopod friends? I've opted for the latter, and I hope you'll endorse me in this decision rather than join the inevitable social media backlash.
]]>Ever since I saw the throwing pans of Mordhau, putting a banging donk on people with a pan in Playerunknown's Battlegrounds just hasn't been the same. So I am delighted to see that the next major update will let us hoy melee weapons at our foes, or use our strong throwing arm to toss a cold fresh can of juice to our pals. Plunkbat Season 5: The One With The Throwing. The update, launched onto the test servers today, will also bring an overhaul of the Miramar map following Erangel's great refresh earlier this year.
]]>Everything you thought you knew to be true has been undermined by the Great Revelation. Please read on to learn about your new role in society, and how this affects the games you will be allowed to play.
]]>Scientists have confirmed that the circle-chasing murder fever they refer to as PUBG Lite has today spread to Russia and "several European countries".
]]>Has your account been hacked? Have your favourite game's servers been compromised, revealing private data about you and your family? Are your bank details at risk?
]]>As planet Earth continues its inexorable trajectory toward the encroaching black hole, and ever more aspects of our daily lives are being affected, even the weekly Steam Charts are feeling its affliction.
This may seem a more trivial aspect of our final months, but I believe it's vital to recognise the severity of the impact here to better understand the wider implications for how deeply calamitous this situation really is.
]]>The free-to-play version of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds for slower PCs is coming to Europe in October, developers PUBG Corp have announced. PUBG Lite is a separate standalone game, not a mode or option for the original. And yeah, it looks worse and it gets updates later, but also it's free and can run on a laptop with a cruddy Intel integrated graphics card - two huge barriers to entry removed. After debuting in Thailand in January, PUBG Lite will next come to European countries including the UK, Russia, and even Vatican City in open beta from October 10th. I bet The Young Pope loves a good Plunk with the lads.
]]>Perfect timing. Usually, I track my progress in online games by how large my pile of broken mice is, but during a recent intervention by my bank manager, my therapist, and my cleaner, it was made clear that that’s unsustainable. So I’m happy to report that Playerunknown's Battlegrounds 4.3 update is another step towards a proper progression feature and that the good people at Corsair’s support site can take me off their blocklist.
]]>What’s Another Thing You Could Buy Instead Of GTA V Again?
]]>Exciting news! Steam Charts is proud to announce it's to be an Epic exclusive! From now on you can read your favourite article about the top selling games on Steam exclusively on the Epic Store!
But don't worry, long-term readers - you'll still be able to read the articles right here on RPS, after just one year. Everyone's a winner!
]]>URGENT: Disparaging words have been said about the game you like by people who like the other game you don't like.
]]>Why, what's this? Oh I say, a Steam Charts you say? How intriguing.
]]>Ever-changing weather has drifted over the lovely revamped version of Erangel in Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, with all manner of precipitation adding an extra touch of drama to the stag & hen weekends. The previous version of Erangel had dynamic weather and I had half-worried it might not carry over to the new but naw, we're good. I still miss Erangel's old full-time fog variant, even if I do accept why it had to die, so I'm glad to see this return in today's update.
]]>Hi, it's me! Yeah! No, nothing's wrong, all's good. I was just calling to see if you wanted some Steam Charts? ... STEAM CHARTS ... Yeah, that's right. No, no it's not. You don't? Oh, um, I already sent them over.
]]>Hello, I'm high school sweetheart, John Walker. Welcome, if you can, to Steam Charts.
]]>Competitive Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds is a strange beast. Teams rack up points across multiple games for eliminating others and being one of the last few left alive, in various amounts depending on the tournament. That usually means that you can tell who’s going to win before the end, but not this time. Home team South Korea had pulled ahead early and stayed there – until the last game, where Russia pipped them to the post. And down at the bottom of the table, Great Britain managed to save themselves from last place by a single point.
]]>Usually after the Steam summer sale horror show, the Steam Charts offer us some respite in the lull between AAA releases and allow us to celebrate the successful release of a bunch of indie games. But as you'll have noticed if you've looked at 2019, nothing follows the rules of sense and decorum any longer. So it is that last week and this, we've had charts that feature only a single recently released game.
So this week we're taking a trip!
]]>It's never a good sign when Skyrim's back in the Charts. It means mischief is afoot. And not the good kind. In this case, it's Bethesda's Quakecon sale, meaning a whole bunch of the dreariest of usual suspects return to droop our eyelids and weary our souls. And Nier and Flibble Glibble Pants are both on sale yet again. In fact, this week's top 10 features precisely one game released in the last TWO YEARS.
So this week I think I shall describe to you the feelings I feel when I see these games appearing once more.
]]>According to a recent study by civil rights group the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), 74% of people who play online multiplayer games have experienced some form of harassment, with 65% experiencing “severe” harassment, which may include physical threats or stalking. And that's only the start of their downpour of awful numbers, which cover bigotry, extremist views, which games have the worst occurrence rates, and more.
]]>Pros: A bright makeover; ruin porn aplenty. Cons: Risk of revolution; mayor is creepy voyeur. In brief: Get back amongst it like you never left. Rating: ★★★★★
While cheap air fares have opened up far-flung places like Mexico and Thailand to stag & hen parties, there's a lot to say for celebrating your last weekend of freedom somewhere familiar. After larging it in Miramar, Sanhok, and Vikendi, we found ourselves reminiscing about favourite spots on Erangel, old banter-related accidents, and one particularly rowdy night out round Rozhok. It was decided: we would return to the traditional hen heaven of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds to see how it's changed over the years.
]]>As pretty as the Erangel makeover headlining the new Playerunknown's Battlegrounds patch is, and it is both nicer and more noticeable than I'd expected, that's not what I've most enjoyed. No, the true joy of Update 4.1 for me is being able to heal while walking and automatically keep applying bandages until my dozy arse is fully patched. Some long-overdue quality-of-life features there. You need to understand I'm too easily distracted by landscapes and sunsets so I get shot an awful lot, and this makeover so far has seen me shot even more for admiring sculptures and wood panelling in the middle of gunfights.
]]>Here's a fascinating fact: Steam Charts has never won an award. I KNOW. If there's nothing else that demonstrates the corruption of the entire system, it's this. High quality, groundbreaking, Woodwardian journalism, are just some of the terms I use to describe this most esteemed of columns. And yet the silverware shelf gathers dust. It's a disgrace.
]]>All my regular esports tournaments are on cooldown at the moment, so I’ve had my head peeked around the corner of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds for a bit. It’s good! I like getting into a new scene and deciding which team to support. I like how it gradually builds across the course of a match from something I’m not really watching in the background to the engrossing final fight. I like that the best way they’ve figured out how to quantify victory is to make them play dozens of matches in a single weekend and hand the reward to the best statistical average.
I could not be more creeped out by the eye-tracking that they sometimes put on the screen.
]]>The world's finest stag & hen weekend banter simulator, Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, has revealed its supposed 'true' story with an outrageous retcon in a new trailer. No, we're supposed to believe, the game isn't about lads and lasses going too hard and getting carried away with pranks. Now it's some wank about a kid surviving a massacre then hosting megamurders so other people can discover who they really are by doing murders like a bad horror film about neo-Paleo dickheads. Awful.
I am now deeply concerned about the "original narrative experience" they're making.
]]>It's another dire old week in Chartland, with the last breaths of the Summer Sale ensuring, with the exception of spots #4 and #5, that all the usual suspects dominate. But we won't let that change us! We're better than this! We're going to have fun anyway!
]]>Yes, yes, it's me. I know, I know, but calm down. While it's obviously very exciting to have a celebrity as handsome and excellent as me writing you some Steam Charts, I'm still just a regular ordinary guy underneath it all. I leap into my trousers both legs at once, same as anyone else.
]]>If there's one thing that's guaranteed to sweep through the Steam Charts like a giant fart, it's a Steam Sale. Blowing out all the fresh, original or interesting new releases, the mid-year discount warehouse (Junction 45 off the M91) ensures it's a top 10 of games you already bought or decided you don't want to buy.
So who is buying them? Baddies. You lot are the goodies. It's the baddies who do this to us.
]]>Glen Schofield, the director of Call Of Duty: WWII and executive producer of Dead Space, has joined PUBG Corp to lead an "original narrative experience" set in the world of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. The developers today announced Schofield as CEO of their new studio, Striking Distance. I am, as a leading authority on the narrative of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, fascinated to see what the new team bring to this game about stag & hen weekends turned deadly. Will Striking Distance go with a take inspired by comedy movies like The Hangover, slightly more fantastical comedy movies such as The Hangover Part II, or gritty comedy movies like The Hangover Part III? I can hardly wait.
]]>Hello friendly people! Welcome to the always-lovely, always-cheerful soft-play-of-fun-and-hyphens that is Steam Charts!
Today we're going to laugh together, learn together, and maybe, just maybe, if we're lucky, laugh and learn a little. Please, pull up a trouser, take a seat (take as many seats as you need - we have too many seats), and prepare to enjoy, laugh, and maybe even learn.
]]>The world's deadliest stag and hen weekend holiday company are introducing the final three features for a truly unforgettable night of deadly banter: a foolish ride in a novelty vehicle, daft pyrotechnics, and climbing onto the roof of a restaurant. The next Playerunknown's Battlegrounds update will add an amphibious boatcar, make the vehicle-refuelling petrol cans explode when shot, and let us grab onto ledges in mid-air to haul ourselves up. Oh you'll be stumbling down the church aisle with one leg in a cast and your jaw wired shut, I see you. But at least it's also adding Apex Legends-style contextual text messages to point out places and items, so you'll be able to ping her hand with an "I do."
]]>I'm declaring it: this is the Worst Week Ever for Steam Charts. And let's face it - this is entirely your fault. If you were a better person, you'd buy better games. But instead you buy the same eight bloody games every bloody week, and then buy a game that isn't even out for over a year. A YEAR! You are awful, and you do not deserve me. This is your punishment.
]]>This week: Rude swears! Writing about more interesting games than the ones you boring people keep buying! And battle advice to people who've been dead 1,800 years! It's some Steam Charts.
]]>Good hello. Please, grab hold and sit, for this is some Steam Charts.
]]>Hello person. This is the Steam Charts, the weekly round-up of the top-grossing PC games on the online store Steam. We write it cynically to collect your clicks, and then we take those clicks and we use them to poke innocent orphans in their stupid orphan eyes.
]]>Our former John (RPS in peace) has vanished in odd circumstances, last heard claiming he'll be flying through the sky in a big metal snake, so I'm taking over this week. Not even an employee anymore and he's still making work for me.
Join me for a stroll down the hit parade to inspect last week's top-selling games on Steam.
]]>WARNING: If you're reading this, there is a very strong chance you're looking at news on your favourite game. Please, it's imperative you click on to discover crucial information.
]]>OK, two things on the agenda. Firstly, I'm heading off on my expedition to attempt to break the Curse Of Steam Charts for the next couple of weeks. I'm returning to Ursidae, Caniformia, to find that ancient temple once more and attempt to appease the enraged spirit of Horace. Hopefully we'll never speak again!
Secondly, Toby's back! This week's Steam Charts are brought to you through the filter of a four year old who was really excited about doing this again, but then got into a right grump about it as soon as we started. But his naming skills remain as excellent as ever.
]]>Haha, that was funny last week wasn't it! Remember how we did that whole bit where I had left RPS, but then I was still stuck writing Steam Charts? Heh, they do some good goofs at this site. Anyway, let's... [looks straight into camera]
]]>Hello, and welcome to RPS's weekly round-up of the top selling games on Steam for the last weeeeee...
WHAT?
]]>It has happened. The day spoken of in legend. After two years, I am finally to be set free of the Curse Of Steam Charts. All its taken is entirely leaving my job in four days time to end this purgatory. The only decision left is to whom I shall pass this vexation. That, and how to avoid mentioning the actual games for one more week. And this time I've come up with a self-indulgent doozy.
]]>According to reports from multiple Nepalese news sites, Playerunknown's Battlegrounds has been banned in Nepal. Permission was granted by Kathmandu District Court on Wednesday, the very same day that the Metropolitan Crime Division filed a Public Interest Litigation asking for a ban, on the grounds that the game was "having a negative effect on the behaviour and study of children and youths".
Justice, as they say, is swift.
]]>As this is my penultimate edition of Steam Charts, before I return to nuzzle into the warm infinite belly of Horace for all of time, I thought it might be fun to take a bit of a look behind the scenes of Steam Charts, to see how this weekly column comes together.
So, hey, join me as we step behind the curtain, and learn a little bit about the magic of Rock Paper Shotgun.
]]>As time inexorably ticks away, its guttural screaming horror counting down the seconds until our infinite deaths, it's important we remember what really matters: that the game you like best isn't as good as the game I like best. The game you like best, the game you like reading about the most, is indicative of how foolish you are, how you're wasting your precious moments on this planet. Whereas I, liking my game, am making the most of it.
]]>John had the presence of mind to take today off, after flying back from San Francisco on Sunday. Young Matt and I got a red eye that took off on Friday night and landed on Saturday afternoon. I didn’t sleep for 30 hours, then slept for 12, was wired for the next 16, and then slept for another four. Which brings us to today, when I am writing these charts, unsure which meal I should be having next and shaking off a lingering dose of The Fear, which I get from long haul flying more than I ever did from hangovers.
With that in mind, it’s me, back once again with the ill behaviour, to fill in doing the Steam Charts. I’m very much flying by the seat of my pants here, so let’s see what I come up with, shall we?
]]>Oh hello! John is away in San Francisco gobbling up gum left on the underside of chairs at the Game Developers Conference, so I'm filling in for our regular rundown of last week's top-selling games on Steam. As is customary for weeks where I need to take over, the charts are full of the surprises he grumbles they never have. What can I say, John - video games must make more of an effort for me. And for goodness' sake, leave that gum. I don't care if Sid Meier himself stuck it there.
]]>Who says games aren’t educational? When I woke up this morning, I didn’t know the Korean word for “Red Zone.” That’s “Red Zone” as in, the randomly selected section of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds’ map that becomes an artillery test site for a time every few minutes, and “Red Zone” as in “the roving death circle that you really don’t want to be stuck inside.”
Now, thanks to three helpful Korean guys placed on my team in PUBG’s squad mode, I now know very well how to say Red Zone in Korean. My squadmates told me that I was standing slap bang in the middle of one during our game together, yelping the words repeatedly down their microphones as I sprinted across a snowfield, dodging howitzer shells in a dash to find cover.
]]>Microsoft have blasted out a Windows 10 patch to fix a bug which was causing poor performance in games for many people. Destiny 2 is the only game Microsoft name as an example, though it seems to have hit many more. This problem was introduced in update KB4482887, released on March 1st, and Microsoft had advised affected players to uninstall the update and wait for a fix. That arrived yesterday, in update KB4489899, so get your Windows Update a-updatin' and all should be well.
Good news if you want your games to run well again, bad news if you've been glad to have "It's all Microsoft's fault for that lousy patch" as an excuse for dying.
]]>Brendan "Plunk" Greene, the lead designer of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, is leaving the development team to head a new 'PUBG Special Projects' division at PUBG Corp. He'll still have a consulting role on the battle royale FPS, presumably suggesting people add more buckles to jackets, but his focus will very much be on the new team and their research and development into new multiplayer experiences. How mysterious!
]]>Hahaha, I can't believe you think the game you like is good! The game you like ISN'T good! Your liking the game you like makes you look just SO silly. Find out which games everyone else likes, and then start liking those games instead, with our handy Steam Charts guide.
]]>Despite growing competition, Playerunknown's Battlegrounds is still going strong, but its original, Arma-inspired Russian map, Erangel, is starting to feel a little long in the tooth. Developers PUBG Corp have announced that they're going through the game's older bits and polishing them up a bit. Their remastering of Erangel is well underway, with cartographically inclined data-miners on Reddit comparing the old and present test-server maps, and spotting scads of new buildings. That means more places to find loot, take cover and hopefully make the later phases of matches more interesting.
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