J4MES OX4D

Not sure how extensive this will become on the platform but Valve have made available a feature where developers can offer timed free trials. Definitely a good option to have especially on games that have questionable optimisation or if a user wants to take a punt but isn't willing to pay up the whole amount with the refund being a fall-back. Will certainly reduce refund requests and the red tape that comes with that. Steam just quietly added a new free trial system | PC Gamer WWW.PCGAMER.COM Starting with the Dead Space remake.

Absolute catastrophe really. The one mode that was exclusively championed to justify a standalone sequel and was allegedly in solid development spanning years has been cancelled. Well that was the last chance of rejuvenating the brand to what it once was in terms of narrative potential and now all they have is a shell of an MP experience and the depleted community living of past glories of the lore that mean nothing now. Overwatch 2's PvE Hero Mode Is Being Scrapped, Blizzard Explains What Happened and Why - GameSpot WWW.GAMESPOT.COM Game director Aaron Keller and executive producer Jared Neuss discuss why the eagerly-anticipated mode will...

It's almost certainly to be a follow-on to MW2 based on the official sources gathered over the past 6 months. The only debate is whether it's gonna be a DLC like originally intended, a standalone spin-off, or Modern Warfare 3. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if they still haven't decided this yet. I can't see it being presented as DLC or an expansion though because of the state MW2 is currently in. A spin-off could be a nice alternative especially under new developers but it may be seen as a weak move for driving sales. MW3 it may turn out to be if Activision just want to wind up and conclude the trilogy early rather have yet another IW effort released within the next two years. I'm really not holding out much hope but still interested to see what SHG do as they always try their best despite being heavily under-resourced compared to the other studios and having huge personnel turnover. I'm not hyped in the slightest though and if someone said to me you can never play another COD game ever, I would not give a toss.

I believe it is along with even more in-depth survival aspects. Many games these days get berated for using stale, bloated and dated concepts like this but Zelda seems to get a free pass and people see it new and revolutionary when it just isn't. I watched a video on YouTube last night where some dude was passionately explaining how Nintendo were ingenious with BOTW's guided exploration yet all he was explaining was basically Ubisoft radio towers of the 2010 era🤣

Yeah, Nintendo have a very positive relationship with the media and community in which their games seem to be held to a different standard - I've seen countless family-friendly colourful games be awarded some huge plaudits, when in fact they would be considered basic and just decent under any other developer and on any other system. I have watched a few video reviews now and it does seem a highly-polished, complete and incredibly stable game (hard to believe this was the normal expectation once in this industry) and also a very good Zelda game. May grab it down the line even though I'm still not entirely sold on some aspects talked-up heavily and the visual style that we had in BOTW. People that review these games especially for the mass media seem to be Nintendo-focused specialists who don't play other multi-platform titles whereas I play a variety of games across the systems so I'm not sure I'm gonna be half as wowed as some of those who just focus exclusively on all things Nintendo.

Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC review | PC Gamer WWW.PCGAMER.COM The first in line for the Steam Deck's throne.

Nobody knows who the main devs are these days and that likely includes Bohemia themselves! The OG developer left and cashed out shortly after the game released into early access and then the project was banded around a few internals for years later. Then then began to take a more serious approach after Arma 3 was raking in the money yet DayZ was neglected and devs showed more of a presence but once they 'completed' it, it kinda went back to square one again. It's actually a miracle the game has been in such continued development despite varying levels of support over the years and nobody really knowing what even the next update would hold let alone the future. So many broken promises but credit to a few of the people that worked on the game for actually picking up the slack and turning it around to a degree.

Kao The Kangaroo FREE on Epic until the 11th https://store.epicgames.com/it/p/kao-the-kangaroo-62abe3

4/10 on IGN and 44% from PC Gamer in the last 24 hours taking the Metacritic score to below 60. There's a lot of almost-unheard of publications which are propping up the score and most of the recgonised critics and content creators have severely panned the game. It's really disappointing because you look how remarkable the Dishonored games are in terms of visual flair, gameplay and polish and then you get this tripe a decade later. An interesting take from Mack who makes some good points here and this can be said for a lot of these games in recent years which get very positive press and once everyone has paid their money, only then are the cracks exposed

It's all about the money and that's why Microsoft's prospective takeover of Activision would have no impact whatsoever other than where the profits are going. I was hoping that Microsoft would make available their technologies including the Azure framework - Bethesda are probably the one developer in dire need of such things for quality and stability, and then we find out Starfield is running on an extended build of their ageing and clapped-out Creation Engine! Hopefully this will be a wake-up call for Microsoft - been a miserable period for them that will extend all the way into the summer and Q3 and with PS5's now available and soaring, they really need to engage better in their products. They can't live off the Game Pass forever and we can't be having having games of such a dismal standard releasing. I'm already very worried about Starfield's delays and I just hope their big reveal next month puts some concerns to rest for the time being at least.

Sir Phillip of Spencer has broke cover and apologised Xbox boss Phil Spencer apologises for Redfall's disastrous launch: "We let a lot of people down this week" WWW.EUROGAMER.NET Xbox boss Phil Spencer has personally apologised for the failure of Arkane's Redfall, which was widely panned this week… This is also a really miserable period for Game Pass and Microsoft's support within its acquired studios will have to be called into question because the output quality has been far worse in all games across the board on games they've acquired either through ownership or exclusivity. Not sure if they are so far up Starfield's arse that it's to hell with everything else or whether they've completely taken their foot off the gas and brickwalled because their business plan has stalled. I do find it a bit stupid that Jedi Survivor has escaped a lot of flak despite releasing in a technically abysmal state yet Redfall is being held to account on the matter despite its other woes.

Coming out next week. I'm kinda not feeling this for some reason - it looks more like a Breath of the Wild expansion if anything with a focus on small floating islands and elevated gameplay. I think they've played it very safe for the most part and there's doesn't seem to be enough to demonstrate it as a significant step up or sequel. I still think it will be a great game and well-received but it wont have the same impact its predecessor had. I did get a bit burned on BOTW in the end and wasn't too enthused by the art style choice so I'll be in no rush to experience this. Game rom has already leaked online which is downright humiliating for Nintendo too.

I thought this was a Tottenham Hotspur thread for a second! I'll get my coat then..

Also the fact they are not willing to remove Bobby Kotick or any of the existing Activision board just shows it's all about the money and dominance and nothing for the gamer. They've done sod all to benefit Bethesda and all their other acquisitions in the last few years are just Game Pass fodder. The prospect of Activision operating under new ownership and vastly improved ethics was initially promising but as soon as they voted to retain Kotick and the rest just means the only tangible change his where the profits are funneled. Microsoft are clearly delighted with the way that company is currently ran despite condemning them weeks before they made their shock cut-price bid (what a funny coincidence) for their behaviour in the abuse/culture scandal. This is a deal simply to isolate Sony, capture another huge part of the current market, diminish Playstation's potential and cover all bases in the sector going forward. Maybe if they spent the last 15 years invested in building and growing studios like Sony have then they wouldn't have to throw around the cash to capture such talent for themselves. If they fail to get the deal over the line with the CMA, EU and FTC then it may not be a terrible thing or be all that noticeable.

Skimmed through a few reviews and there's a couple of things that have only just come to light - this game has no online matchmaking so it is strictly co-op and doesn't even have public P2P. Then the ultimate kick in the teeth is that people joining the host don't have their stats or progress saved so the only way get anywhere in this game is by playing with bots or trying to convince your friends to replay swathes of the game they've already done so you can rank and progress the story yourself. This is utterly ridiculous!

Talked about this in the Deathloop thread but it doesn't have its own one so I thought I'd create one even though interest seems non-existent or that people don't even know it exists. Out tomorrow, heavily review embargoed and already soaking up negative press thanks to it releasing on console at 30fps. Available on Game Pass but is £60 on its own which is absolutely insane for a non-licensed co-op driven game. Mitigating lost revenue through game pass players against full price purchasers is always a disastrous move as it's seen as punishing players who want to own the product against temporary free-riders. This is also an online-only game despite having single player and is also expected to have underlying DRM on PC which just adds further woes. It's another game that has been poorly marketed from Arkane and Bethesda and I feel it's another very poor effort from a company that has brought us titles like Dishonored and Prey. This looks even more dismal that Back 4 Blood and I think it's yet another mistake from the developers to produce such games. Redfall will only do 30 fps on Xbox consoles, and people are starting to worry | PC Gamer WWW.PCGAMER.COM Arkane says a "performance mode" option enabling 60 fps will be released later, but that won't help on launch day.

PC port is a joke too - 4090 running the game at 1440p low settings and getting 52fps🤣 Shameful and very surprising from Respawn especially when using Unreal 4 which is one of the most well-known and highly optimised engines out there. Developers are clearly spread too thin having to bail out BF2042, whilst working on Apex and other titles.

Spurs 3-0 down after 15 minutes which is an improvement on last week being 3-0 down after 9mins😎 Leaking so many goals they could very well end up finishing the season with a negative goal difference which is insane. *edit brought it back to 3-3 in the 93rd minute through Richard Arlison of all people and then go and concede a 94th minute winner. Shambles at the back - 12 conceded in a week.

This is gonna be the best ground in the championship when it's finished Cannot wait for the Everton v Fleetwood derby😎 Good game last night between Spurs and United but a bad result for both sides overall. United bottled a good lead and Spurs had enough chances to win themselves. Eric Dier is really on his last legs. Southampton look pretty much down now.

Breathedge FREE on Epic until May 5th https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/breathedge Same with Poker Club https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/poker-club-6e18ee

Microsoft are more than just Office, Outlook etc... This isn't 1994. They will not tell the UK to 'suck it' because places like hospitals, universities and other major companies including essential ones rely on such vital services. It would be astonishingly hypocritical if they even remotely took this line because MS are still trying to worm and maintain their way in certain Russian domains. Money isn't everything and the knock-on effect that removing such services would be absolutely catastrophic globally. Imagine seeing Cancer Research UK have their entire portfolio left in limbo or be lost because some American company had a hissy fit about not being able to buy another multi-billion dollar company ran by a pervert that employed perverts. The CMA's findings were perfectly legitimate and Microsoft have already delayed their final submission to the EU commission because it will not be even close to passing just like several other Amercian companies in recent years and these have to be respected. It's already embarrassing enough that Bill Gates's bum boy Brad has thrown his toys out of the pram in spectacularly ignorant fashion but now arrogant corporations are finding it much harder to buy their influence and presence all over the world and it's glorious to see. The US Federal Trade Commission has already opened legal proceedings against the deal citing competition laws so for them to blame the UK solely when that lawsuit is not concluded, nor has the EU assessment been completed is just beyond stupid. They have much tougher hills to climb with the FTC and EU so if they can't convince the UK then the current deal will be dead in the water and they only have themselves to blame.

One thing for sure if that whether the deal goes through or not, nothing with change with Activision or Call of Duty. Bobby Kotick will remain as CEO as already confirmed and no other infrastructural changes are expected either.

Because the UK is still a huge business of their commercial, educational and entertainment sectors and despite throwing a tantrum, they have to respect the legal ruling if they wish to operate within the region and they certainly aren't going to pull the plug of crucial services just because their merger was rejected at the first hurdle. American money and laws can't buy influence of rights in other countries like it used to. It's fucking hilarious because I've lost count of how many times the EU has taken legal action against American companies for breaching anti-trust and competition laws. I swear Apple and Spotify have been buttfucked all over Brussles in the last few years alone. Love seeing these capitalist corporations get schooled by basic laws. The merger is dumb anyway - two companies of this magnitude shouldn't be allowed to merge. Doesn't benefit anyone but the money-men. There's not been one successful acquisition so far from Microsoft's recent aggression. It probably will go through with amendments in the end but anyone thinking this will radically change the world is beyond delusional.

The way I see it is Spurs don't deserve Champions League football so I have no gripes with us missing out if that is what happens. It's actually a miracle they are so high up in the table after some of the defeats and the off-field woes this campaign. It would be a blow financially and in terms of prestige but it may prove a welcome kick up the arse during a rebuilt. Chelsea are in a far worse place and could even fall behind Crystal Palace and Wolves by the next game and if West Ham can overturn that 5pt gap then they will be the worst team in London which would be hilarious😎