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Wednesday, Dec 09, 2020 Quake II Released (1997)
Cyberpunk 2077 Launches [8:53 pm ET] – Share – 59 Comments
Cyberpunk 2077 is now available for Windows, offering the chance to play
CD PROJEKT RED's eagerly anticipated sci-fi role-playing game. You can find
where to pick this up on the official
website and there's more support for the launch on
GOG.com. Here's
the previously released
Launch Trailer and here's a refresher in case you've been sleeping in the
Matrix:
Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure story set in Night City, a megalopolis obsessed with power, glamour and body modification. You play as V, a mercenary outlaw going after a one-of-a-kind implant that is the key to immortality. You can customize your character’s cyberware, skillset and playstyle, and explore a vast city where the choices you make shape the story and the world around you.Continue here to read the full story.
GRAVEN and More Game Awards Demos [8:53 pm ET] – Share – 3 Comments
There is now a playable demo for GRAVEN
on Steam,
offering the chance to sample this HEXEN-inspired first-person shooter from
Slipgate Ironworks. Don't hesitate if you're interested, as this is a
limited-time demo in conjunction with tomorrow's
Game Awards, and it will go away on
December 13th. Here's a
GRAVEN Game Awards Trailer to celebrate the occasion. Publisher 1C
Entertainment also notes this demo is playable through
GeForce NOW,
and a visit to that link reveals there are other demos there and on Steam in
conjunction with these awards. Some of these may follow that unfortunate trend
of being time-limited, so this may be a test of your time-management skills,
depending on how many of them are of interest:
Browsing Steam Experiment [8:53 pm ET] – Share – 1 Comment
Valve is testing out a feature called Browsing Steam as their latest Steam Labs
Experiment. This features new views of games on Steam, which they say "aims to
provide greater exposure to the breadth of games available on Steam through new
useful points of entry such as sub-genres, themes, and player modes." The
details are in
this post, which is also where to sign up to participate, and they are
monitoring the feedback in
this
discussion thread. Here's more:
Introducing New Ways to Browse Steam
With this experiment, we aim to increase the surface area of the store by introducing a broader set of ways to browse Steam’s catalog of games from the outset—no login or complex searching required. Our new views provide greater exposure to the breadth of games available on Steam through new useful points of entry such as sub-genres, themes, and player modes. We hope you’ll opt into our Store Browse Experiment to give these news views a try, then let us know what you think in the discussions.
New & Noteworthy
Many users rely on our charts for quick snapshots of what’s new and popular on Steam. These are now accessible from one menu, New & Noteworthy, which also provides direct access to the biggest events currently running Steam—including game festivals, publisher sales, and other seasonal celebrations.
Control Sells 2M [8:53 pm ET] – Share – 4 Comments
Remedy's Thomas
Puha tweets that Control has now sold more than two million copies,
saying November was the best sales month to date for their
action/adventure:
My boss just revealed in the @remedygames CMD stream that the past November was Control's best selling month (15 months after launch). In total, Control has sold over 2 million copies to date.
F1 2020 Gets Free F2 Update [8:52 pm ET] – Share – 2 Comments
Codemasters announces a new free update is now available for F1 2020 to
add the F2 2020 season to the open-wheel racing simulation. This is for PC and
consoles, and the Windows edition is available
on Steam.
There's
this accompanying post on Steam with details and screenshots. Here's an
overview:
After the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship™ went down to the thrilling final race weekend in Bahrain, Codemasters today allows players to rewrite history with a free F2™ 2020 season update as part of F1® 2020, the official videogame of the 2020 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP™. Players can now compete with the full 2020 line-up featuring all 11 teams, cars, and drivers including the new FIA Formula 2™ Champion, Mick Schumacher.Continue here to read the full story.
The F2 game option replicates its real world counterpart with 12 weekends, each made up of two races. The first, known as the Feature Race, follows a standard format with drivers lining up based on their qualifying times, and points awarded to the top 10 placings. The second, Sprint Race, sees the Feature Race top eight positions reversed in a shorter race, with fewer points awarded to the top eight drivers. For both, there are two additional points available for the fastest lap.
Minecraft Dungeons Howling Peaks Released [8:52 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
The
Minecraft Website has the news that the Howling Peaks DLC is now
available for Minecraft Dungeons, the dungeon crawler based on Minecraft.
Take a peak at the
Launch Trailer and read on for more:
Climbing a mountain has been the peak of my bucket list for years now, so imagine my surprise when I was finally offered the chance without ever leaving the comfort of my couch! It’s all thanks to the newest DLC for Minecraft Dungeons, Howling Peaks. For everyone with the ambition of reaching a mountaintop (but with the physical stamina of climbing over a pile of laundry) this is a perfect way to experience the summit views you’ve always dreamed of. Forget airline tickets, all you need is access to a Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, or Xbox One!Continue here to read the full story.
But just as a mountain range has many peaks (and just like I get endless mileage out of this metaphor), this release has even more to deliver. We’re also releasing the new Season Pass and a free update (including six new enchantments) – all available today! For more information on everything that is releasing today, please check out our previous announcement post here.
Unto The End Begins [8:52 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Unto The End is now available for Windows and consoles, and you can find
the Windows edition of 2 Ton Studios' combat game
on Steam.
Here's the
Launch
Trailer showing off the game's throwback graphics, and here's more on the
game:
Unto The End is a challenging combat adventure game in the style of a cinematic platformer. The story is simple: get home to your family. Master read-react combat in intense sword fights. Spot opportunities to trade and use items. An adventure told through your actions, how will you make it home?Continue here to read the full story.
On Sale [8:52 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- Humble Game Dev Map & Level Creator Bundle (pay what you want and help charity).*
- Humble RPG Book Bundle: Pathfinder Monster Lore by Paizo (pay what you want and help charity).*
- Square Enix Sale at Green Man Gaming.*
*Blue's News may receive a commission on sales of this item.
Evening Crowdfunding [8:52 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- The Emperor's Own by Volga Studios — Kickstarter. "A story-driven adventure game with RPG elements, set in an alternate universe, inspired by early 19th century Russian Empire." There's a playable alpha teaser on Steam. Here's a trailer.
Evening Tech Bits [8:52 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Evening Legal Briefs [8:52 pm ET] – Share – 7 Comments
- Facebook antitrust case: FTC and several states launch lawsuits. Thanks Acleacius.
Into the Black [8:52 pm ET] – Share – 1 Comment
Last Link of the Day:
The world’s largest organism. Oh, "organism?" Never mind.
New NVIDIA GeForce Drivers [12:58 pm ET] – Share – 23 Comments
NVIDIA now
offers new version 460.79 GeForce Windows drivers. Unsurprisingly, these are the
game ready drivers for the release of Cyberpunk 2077, which comes
at 7:00 pm EST tonight. These also support the release version of Minecraft with
RTX, more G-SYNC compatible displays, and one-click optimal settings for more
games.
This article has specifics on all that's new. Here's what they say about
Cyberpunk support:
Game Ready For Cyberpunk 2077Continue here to read the full story.
Cyberpunk 2077, perhaps the most anticipated game of all time, launches later today. On PC, it features numerous ray-traced effects, and its performance is boosted by 60% or more by NVIDIA DLSS, GeForce RTX’s critically acclaimed AI-powered tech.
With the performance provided by DLSS, you can enable Cyberpunk 2077’s immersive ray-traced effects on any GeForce RTX GPU, as shown in our trailer:
Desperados III Gets Bounty Mode and Editor [12:58 pm ET] – Share – 2 Comments
A new update for Desperados III is now available
on Steam,
adding a new bounty mode to the wild west strategy sequel as well as a "Level
Editor Light" to allow some gentle modding. The
Bounty Mode Update Trailer shows this off and there's a
tutorial playlist of videos to help you with the editor. Here's the
explanation from
this post:
Desperados III gets another free update - the Bounty Mode is now part of the game and lets you choose, which of the five Desperados you want to play in almost every major mission.* Either you make it easier for yourself or spice the mission up a bit - or you try to finish the game with Hector all over the place!Continue here to read the full story.
* similar to the Baron's Challenges, this mode will unlock during the second chapter
Also, the newly activated "Level Editing Cheats" allow you to create your own mission setups and share the savegames with all other Desperados III players. Basically, it's a level editor light. By using the cheat codes, players can easily clean a map and then spawn all types of enemies in any location on the map and have fun by placing different objects throughout the level. You want to use 20 dynamite crates and 10 Gatling guns in Flagstone for maximum chaos? You got it! Get creative and share your own mission setups as savegame files with other players!
El Hijo - A Wild West Tale Released [12:58 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
The post above includes a "shameless cross-promotion" for a new release. El
Hijo - A Wild West Tale came out last week
on Steam, offering a "spaghetti-western stealth game" for Windows. Put on
your poncho and your Ennio Morricone playlist, check out the
Release Trailer, and read on for what this is about:
The journey begins when a farmer and her son El Hijo are attacked by bandits who raze their farm to the ground. The mother decides to leave "El Hijo" at a secluded monastery in order to protect him. However, El Hijo decides that the monastic life is not for him and decides to escape. "El Hijo - A Wild West Tale" is a non-violent stealth game. Violence is instead exchanged with the mischievous, playfulness of a young child. Shadowplay is in the core of the game and "El Hijo" will often have to hide. Without needlessly adding new mechanics, the gameplay is extended naturally, as variations of existing mechanics are gradually introduced and then combined with each other to increase the challenge. These twists on familiar mechanics are often a product of the varied, increasingly dangerous environments that "El Hijo" must traverse to reach his ultimate goal.Continue here to read the full story.
Features:
- Survive the Wild West with the cleverness of a young hero
- Explore dark monasteries, deserts and boomtowns in a spaghetti-western world
- Merge with the shadows to hide from the lawless
- Solve playfully tricky environmental puzzles
- Use a playful arsenal of tactical toys to bypass and distract diverse desperadoes
- Inspire other children towards the path to freedom
- Enjoy the gripping storyline of a brave son searching for his mother
Learning Factory Demo [12:58 pm ET] – Share – 1 Comment
Learning Factory is an upcoming game about machine learning, factory
building, and... cats. As if it couldn't be more unusual, the game is also set
on Mars. You can learn all about this offbeat project through
this blog
post and see it in action in
this
video. It is coming to in 2021 to
Steam,
where there's a free alpha demo you can sample right now. Here's
more:
Learning Factory is a factory automation game where you have to build an increasingly bigger and complex factory, named KOTOVOD and located on Mars, to make goods for cats. Then you get data about sales analyzing what cats liked or disliked, and use this data with machine learning models to optimize prices and make sure you’re selling what cats really long for.Continue here to read the full story.
But just as with while True:learn(), there’s more to this game: backed by actual specialists in the matter and using real-world machine learning models, the game aims also at teaching how big data is collected and processed in machine learning. You will be learning about two of the most relevant technologies of our time while you play a super fun strategy game -- if you want to, that is; because at its true heart it’s above all a quirkily engaging factory automation game with lots of cats in it!
Woodsalt Delayed Again [12:58 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Team Woodsalt announces another delay to Woodsalt. Like
last time they waited until the actual release
date to reveal the setback. And yes, this sci-fi JRPG is the latest (and last?)
release to fall victim to the Cyberpunk 2077 juggernaut. But they also
admit there are some quality of life fixes they want to add before getting this
out there. Here's word:
When we chose December 9th, it looked lovely and clear. Then Cyberpunk was postponed and they announced their release on December 10th. As confident as we are in Woodsalt, we can’t possibly compete for media space with that behemoth. We don’t have that Keanu money. We barely have Kevin James money (lol jk, we’re dirt poor).Continue here to read the full story.
To everyone who has been waiting and were aware of Woodsalt, I’m sorry if you’re deflated by this and I do totally get it, but I hope you understand that while this is our passion, we also need to keep the lights on. If this game tanks, we’re out of jobs and my choices affect our team as well as myself. Ultimately they’ve been by my side and supported me, and I can’t risk my impatience causing them to lose their future employment.
The other reason is that through testing, there have been a number of “quality of life” changes suggested that we think would really benefit the title. So far the reception has been really, really good and these little changes seem to just add a bit of intuitiveness into the gameplay.
Morning Multiplex [12:58 pm ET] – Share – 1 Comment
Gatherings & Competitions [12:58 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- The Gayming Awards 2021 will be handed out on February 24, 2021.
Morning Previews [12:58 pm ET] – Share – 1 Comment
Morning Consolidation [12:58 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- Good luck finding a PlayStation 5- Walmart and other retailers battle ‘bots’ snatching up hot products. Thanks A51Abductee.
- How One Retailer Is Fighting PS5 Scalpers.
- Players Drive Record Engagement as Xbox Expands Cloud Gaming to More Devices in 2021.
- Xbox Owners Can Play Cyberpunk 2077 Early By Changing Console Region.
- Cyberpunk 2077 Gets 28GB Console Update Ahead of Launch.
- Unto The End Is Now Available For Windows 10, Xbox One And Xbox Series X|S (Xbox Play Anywhere).
- Solitaire 3D Is Now Available For Digital Pre-order And Pre-download On Xbox One And Xbox Series X|S.
- Do Not Feed The Monkeys Is Now Available For Xbox One And Xbox Series X|S.
- Autumn's Journey Is Now Available For Xbox One And Xbox Series X|S.
Morning Mobilization [12:58 pm ET] – Share – 6 Comments
Morning Tech Bits [12:58 pm ET] – Share – 1 Comment
- GeForce 457.51 Driver Performance Analysis – Using Ampere and Turing.
- What Happened Last Time AMD Beat Intel?
- 'They demolished my house for this?' Residents outraged by the Foxconn factory that fizzled. Thanks Neutronbeam.
- Seagate Designs RISC-V Cores to Power Data Mobility and Trustworthiness. Thanks Hypothermia.
- Mushkin's new Alpha series SSDs pack a huge 8TB with 3.3GB/sec speeds.
- Gaming Headset - For Playstation, Xbox, PC - SCUF H1 - Scuf Gaming.
Hardware Reviews [12:58 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Thanks Neutronbeam.
- Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 3070 XC3 Black - Modders Inc.
- Keyboard: Higround mechanical gaming keyboard brings sneaker culture to your keycaps - CNET.
- Headset: Audeze Penrose X Review - IGN.
- Laptop: 2020 HP Pavilion 13 11th gen Core i7 Review- It's Actually Pretty Good - NotebookCheck.net Reviews.
- Motherboard: ASRock B550 Steel Legend Motherboard Review - TweakTown.
- PC: Maingear Turbo gaming PC review- A steel and glass minitower of power - CNET.
- SSD: Crucial P5 1TB NVMe SSD Review - Crucial P5 1TB NVMe SSD Review - Neoseeker.
Out of the Blue [12:58 pm ET] – Share – 17 Comments
Today is the release date in the US for Cyberpunk 2077, as midnight GMT
December 10th is today at 7:00 pm EST. As a jaded old school gamer I tend to be
fairly immune to hype these days, but I won't deny I'm looking forward to this.
I can't recall the last time I preordered a game, but I did so for Cyberpunk.
Preordered Round-up
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.Breakfast Link
Stories
- Gangs Are Doing Fast & Furious-Style Heists on Moving Semi-Trucks to Steal PlayStation 5s. Thanks brother19.
- 'Massive' goldfish weighing 9 pounds found in South Carolina lake.
- Mount Everest: China and Nepal agree on height after years of dispute.
Science
- Dogs don't really know what humans are saying. Balderdash.
- Strange object recaptured by Earth is 1966 booster rocket from Surveyor 2.
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