Games

Later projects revealed that the protagonist had been remarkably lucky. Rockstar veteran Dan Houser joined Lex Fridman’s podcast and spoke about his involvement in a number of the studio’s games. It emerged that the life of Grand Theft Auto IV’s hero was truly at risk. Niko could have been killed, but fortune intervened — at...

Gamers now have an unexpected reason to revisit Condemned: Criminal Origins. A few days ago Condemned: Criminal Origins was featured in a Steam sale — but the situation has since changed. Publisher SEGA has pulled the game from sale on Steam and other digital storefronts. Valve has not removed the game’s store page. Instead, it...

Multiple iterations of Agent never came together as an open-world title. The espionage action game Agent, announced by Rockstar Games many years ago, ultimately never reached release. For years, fans speculated about what went wrong; recently Dan Houser offered an explanation. The Rockstar veteran spoke with Lex Fridman, and the pair discussed Agent during the...

Another iconic franchise has arrived in the world of Fortnite. Fortnite’s developers have announced a fresh crossover — a season themed around The Simpsons is now live. The team unveiled “Springfield Island,” built for 80 players. The classic Battle Royale rules remain, but with twists crafted by the show’s creators: Giant donuts will rain from...

Players who prefer a more relaxed experience can join less intense matches. Dedicated farm servers quickly gained popularity in Battlefield 6, where players could rapidly level accounts and complete challenges by taking down specially configured bots. The developers responded by disabling the completion of activities and assignments within Portal mode. The Battlefield 6 team has...

Certain interface elements can occasionally lead to unintended spending. The Diablo IV team is preparing to deploy patch 2.4.3. As usual, Blizzard Entertainment has published the full patch notes ahead of the release. The update contains various technical fixes and specifically addresses situations in which players were accidentally spending the premium currency, Platinum. Previously, members...

The developers have opted to refresh the design of several interface elements. The team behind the long-haul driving simulator Euro Truck Simulator 2 has published a development diary focused on the upcoming 1.57 update. In this entry they outline their work on revamped company logos and new truck liveries. SCS Software spent several months refining...

The developers opted to experiment. Recently, Relic Entertainment — renowned for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War — introduced Earth vs Mars on Steam. It launched under the “Relic Labs” label — a brand intended for titles that depart from the large-scale strategy games the studio typically produces: [these games] assemble small teams with shorter development...

PoE’s developers haven’t forgotten the franchise’s original installment. A new Path of Exile league, “Keepers of the Flame”, has recently launched. As is typical, its debut produced a noticeable uptick in Steam activity. According to SteamDB, the league’s launch reached a peak concurrent player count of 185,970. That’s several thousand more than the previous league....

The promotional material for the new character keeps brightening fans’ spirits. miHoYo (HoYoverse) is continuing to introduce the community to a new character in Zenless Zone Zero. The team released a story trailer for Yidhari, opting to present the character with “minimal elements” — for a significant portion of the clip she appears without clothing....