Where You Buy Your Computer Cases?

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Palworld community manager John "Bucky" Buckley has shared his thoughts on 'dead games', saying he believes it isn't healthy for the industry to play the same game all the time if it wasn't created with this sort of playstyle in mind.
Bucky first got involved in the 'dead game' discourse earlier this year, when he addressed Palworld's player numbers. Palworld was the first big mega-hit of 2024, surpassing 2m concurrent players on Steam back in January. It was only the second game to ever achieve this, the other being PUBG. As expected, however, player numbers declined after release, as they do with many games. Palworld was then branded a 'dead game' in certain corners of the internet.
Speaking about this player dip back in February, Bucky acknowledged "there are so many amazing games out there to play", and said people didn't need to feel bad about trying something different.
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The Star Wars Outlaws team has devised a solution to that 'yellow paint' debate.
Many video game developers have introduced yellow paint into their games, as a way of signposting players where to go next. Not sure where to climb? Look for the yellow scuffs on the cliff side. If it's a building, maybe look out for a yellow drainpipe or window ledge. Resident Evil even features yellow locks for players to pick.
Needless to say, yellow paint - or indeed any brightly coloured marker - is a pretty common occurrence across the video game landscape. It is a useful accessibility tool for many players. And, this same paint-based path finder also features in Star Wars Outlaws. That is, unless you don't want it to.
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Microsoft's continued decline in Xbox console sales continued through the last financial quarter, the company has confirmed.


In what is now a familiar pattern - and one not limited to Microsoft - revenue from gaming hardware fell again, this time by 42 percent. That's down further on the 31 percent fall reported back in April this year, for the quarter before.


Microsoft's gaming revenue overall was up overall by 44 percent, thanks to a significant boost from the addition of Activision Blizzard, which Microsoft bought for $68.7bn before its latest round of layoffs. Without Activision, growth would have sat around three percent.

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Mafia: Definitive Edition will be available to play via Xbox Game Pass next month.
Microsoft along with publisher 2K confirmed Mafia: Definitive Edition will be coming to the subscription service last night, after a leak earlier in the week suggested as much.
"A re-made classic is on its way," the Xbox Game Pass social media account posted.
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EA CEO Andrew Wilson has discussed the impact of the SAG-AFTRA actors strike, stating the company doesn't anticipate "any significant short-term impact".


Wilson's comments were during a Q&A after its latest earnings call, where an investor questioned the impact of the strike.


The CEO replied the company is "working diligently to negotiate at the table" but doesn't expect "near-term disruption to any of the games we have in development" or current live-service games.

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Cleansing the land of an ancient evil, purging its demon spawn in a flurry of Japanese artistry, and watching new life spring forth as nature returns to peace and harmony… Nope, I'm not talking about the brilliant inkwash battles of Okami, but the demon-slaying kagura dances of Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. It is, in fairness, a connection that Capcom has increasingly leaned into in the run-up to Kunitsu-Gami's release. If the shared themes and free Amaterasu and Waka costumes for its deuteragonists Soh and Yoshiro weren't a sign that, yes, this is likely as close as we're ever going to get to a pseudo-spiritual successor to Clover Studio's 2006 romp through Japanese folklore, then the option to substitute Kunitsu-Gami's musical score for remixed Okami tracks surely seals the deal.
But to say Kunitsu-Gami is simply a sheep in this particular white and red wolf's clothing would also be doing it a great disservice. For underneath all the Ammy nostalgia, this is a finely crafted action strategy game that has both the brains and brawn to stand on its own, marrying fast and visually hypnotic swordplay combos with the cerebral plotting of quick-witted tower defence. Of course, this being Capcom, these towers aren't static objects to slap down and hope for the best. They're fellow villagers you can move about the battlefield and assign different roles and classes to in order to help you combat the waves of yokai monsters that pour out of torii gate portals every time the sun goes down. As Soh, your goal is to protect and escort the priestess Yoshiro toward these torii gates so she can banish their corrupting influence for good, though with the risk of defeat ratcheting up the closer you get to victory, you'll need to do plenty of thinking on your feet to help win the day.
The expert pacing of Kunitsu-Gami is arguably what binds it altogether. Thanks to the inherent ticking clock of its day-night cycle (beautifully portrayed as a reflection of the sun arcing round a bowl of water), each individual level rarely exceeds 10-15 minutes in length. These bursts of concentrated action make your days feel tense and urgent as you make your preparations, but sharp and punchy when nightfall comes and you battle the menacing Seethe monsters. Combat isn't simply about living to see a new dawn either. With every Seethe defeated, you'll collect crystals that can be ploughed back into assigning your villagers new roles if you need to switch up your strategy, as well as carving a path for Yoshiro so she can shimmy up to the big torii gate at the end of level to perform her cleansing ritual.
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Wildermyth, the acclaimed procedural storytelling RPG from developer Worldwalker Games, is - after three years revelling in its many accolades garnered while exclusive to PC - coming to Switch, PlayStaton, and Xbox on 22nd October this year.


At first glance, Wildermyth is pretty familiar stuff, taking players on a fantasy flavoured adventure of party based levelling and tactical turn-based combat. Those bits are all perfectly good, but the real cleverness starts with its procedurally generated story, where campaigns are cunningly, convincingly assembled from beautifully illustrated, wonderfully written narrative fragments and choose-your-own-adventure-style scraps.


And that all builds out from your highly customisable party of characters, who each get distinctly defined traits, personalities, histories, and abilities. And each of them can forge alliances, develop rivalries, fall out, fall in love, die and be reborn is a constantly swirling maelstrom of variables that keep things fresh. And that's without factoring in some of other clever stuff, like the way your journey - passing in days, months, and years - unfolds across a dynamic world map that evolves, not always positively, depending on your actions.

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Arrowead Game Studios has detailed Helldivers 2's latest Premium Warbond. It's called Freedom's Flame and promises new fire-themed armaments and other treats when it launches alongside the bug-splattering, bot-bothering live-service shooter's previously announced "biggest ever update" next Tuesday, 6th August.


"Incinerate everything standing in your path with new weaponry almost too hot to handle," Arrowhead exclaims on the PlayStation Blog. "Survive the heat of battle with lifesaving armour; and burn brightly across the cosmos with fresh emotes, capes, and skins."


If it's specifics you want though, Freedom's Flame includes the SG-451 Cookout as a new primary weapon capable of unleashing a "burst of incendiary phosphorus pellets" at enemies. It also features the FLAM-66 Torcher lightweight flamethrower as a second primary.

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Following news of yesterday's layoffs at Bungie, CEO Pete Parsons has faced criticised from staff for spending millions on classic cars since the studio was purchased by Sony in 2022 and bragging about his lavish collection, as the company headed towards this week's latest brutal round of job losses.


Employees - some of whom are now unemployed - have shared links to an array of classic cars purchased via the Bring a Trailer website, with Parsons profile public and listing a vast number of auction wins. The earliest was in September 2022 costing $34,000; the most recent was 1st June this year costing $91,500, just a month before these latest layoffs. "How exciting!" wrote Parsons in a comment. "I have wanted a c1 since I was a little kid. My second hot wheel ever (in gold). Going to its forever home."


Parsons spent $79,000 on a vehicle in October 2023 just ahead of the previous layoffs, followed by three more purchases over the remainder of the year - including a Porsche costing over $200k. In total, Parsons appears to have spent $2,414,550 on vehicles.

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Last week, Ubisoft raised eyebrows when it issued a vaguely-worded apology for "some elements" in Assassin's Creed Shadows' promotional materials that had "caused concern" among some fans.


Fans widely attributed the statement as referring to the ongoing backlash towards the game's inclusion of historical figure Yasuke as a Black samurai and its dual protagonist. Moderators of the main Assassin's Creed reddit this week described the topic as a "tedious discussion" that Ubisoft's statement had only "exacerbated".


In contrast, Ubisoft creative director Julian Gerighty has now acknowledged online criticism of Star Wars Outlaws - specifically, the aesthetic appearance of main character Kay Vess - by stating that "bad-faith" debates are "not worth engaging with".

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A mod has been released for the fan-made Fallout 4 mod Fallout: London to change all football references to soccer.


Fallout: London, unsurprisingly, transports the post-apocalypse of the series to the English capital and has been created by a group of British fans, Team Folon.


That means the mod is full of British references, but the It's A Soccer Ball mod on NexusMods from GrumpyOldNord changes things for American players.


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You can currently re-subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online and get an extra two months' worth of membership time for free.


Nintendo announced the offer today as a feature of its new Mega Multiplayer Festival, which runs from now until 8th September.


Purchase a 12-month Nintendo Switch Online membership option during this period from the eShop or My Nintendo Store and you'll be credited with 14 months of membership time.

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Pokémon Go's upcoming addition of Dynamax mechanics has been something of an open secret - and now we're able to see how some elements will look in-game for the first time.


Fans of Pokémon Go have peered inside the popular mobile game's files to find visual elements of the upcoming Dynamax system, which also offer clues as to how Dynamax Pokémon will be obtained.


For the first time since Pokémon Go's launch all the way back in 2016, new locations look set to appear on the game's overworld map - currently labelled as "stations". These gym-like structures look like they'll host raids for Dynamax Pokémon.

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Cor, it feels good to be ricocheting hats off chrome skulls again, let me tell you. It's been almost ten years since the original SteamWorld Heist showed us how XCOM could work in a 2D play space, and Thunderful's sequel has only doubled down on what made this particular bag of bolts such a joyful offshoot in the turn-based strategy genre. Case in point: the hats that you could whizz off the head of your enemies and claim for your own (for no other reason than sheer cheekiness) are back in full force, with 101 of them ready to be pilfered in your search for tasty loot. Its new cast of characters are also daft and brilliant in equal measure, and I'm not ashamed to admit that one of my first recruitment decisions was based purely on the pun work. Why yes, Dame Judy Wrench, I will have you on my crew with your Harsh Language special attack that can shame an enemy for three damage. Why is that even a question?
SteamWorld Heist 2 isn't just more of the same, though - even if that is a large part of its overall appeal. Apart from the shift in setting from space to a more explorable and connected ocean planet, there's a new class system that lets you pinch skills learned in other jobs you've undertaken. Of course, Heist 2 isn't the first game to land on this particular idea, and its execution is perhaps only partially successful in practice (more on that in a sec). But given this sequel is easily double the size of the original, it does need some form of progression support like this to help prevent its missions from buckling under the weight of its lengthy environmental crisis story. In truth, that reach for something bigger and better is arguably SteamWorld Heist 2's undoing in many ways, but what's here is still eminently enjoyable - and you're certainly not left hungry.
Let's start with the good stuff. Aside from its copious array of optional headwear to parade and pilfer, the heists themselves are as sharp and thrilling as ever. In your bid to find out what's causing this world's freshwater shortage (salt water doesn't play nice with a Steambot's metal work, after all), you'll be raiding all manner of moored ships, rigs and naval facilities to find the source of the problem. Unsurprisingly, there are several hiccups, detours and other obstacles you'll need to deal with along the way, taking you from the balmy, tropical shallows to deep, icy northern trenches and more - which you'll pootle around in your trusty submarine in real-time, travelling from one mission to the next on the high seas.
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Developing games for Apple platforms has been described as "like an abusive relationship", due to a lack of support or strategy.


In a new report, MobileGamer.biz has spoken to a number of anonymous developers making games for the Apple Arcade mobile platform and the Vision Pro VR headset.


Sources describe a whole litany of issues, suggesting Apple simply "does not understand gamers" or the industry.

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