A tweet from Devolver Digital seems to offer some serious news about Serious Sam. It's phrased as a hypothetical question, rather than a statement, but the clear implication is that a new installment in the fast-paced shooter series will be announced next week, and will arrive before the end of January:

What if a new Serious Sam game was being announced next week and released this month?

A report on TweakTown follows up on interest SEGA has expressed in incorporating NFT technology into future games (thanks VGC). The article notes a recent company meeting where SEGA CEO Haruki Satomi discussed possible issues with such a plan. It sounds like this may not happen, as he says this will not proceed if it's perceived as "simple money-making," and it's probably hard to find gamers who will not view it that way. Here's word:

"In terms of NFT, we would like to try out various experiments and we have already started many different studies and considerations but nothing is decided at this point regarding P2E.

"There have been many announcement about this already including at overseas but there are users who shows negative reactions at this point.

"We need to carefully assess many things such as how we can mitigate the negative elements, how much we can introduce this within the Japanese regulation, what will be accepted and what will not be by the users.

"Then, we will consider this further if this leads to our mission "Constantly Creating, Forever Captivating", but if it is perceived as simple money-making, I would like to make a decision not to proceed."

A year-end developer update on Steam for RUST recaps 2021 in the survival game and takes a look at what players should expect in 2022 (thanks Eurogamer). This delves into the years of development behind the game, last year's DLC and console releases, the game's eighth birthday, and more. Included are some stats to illustrate the game's remarkable success. Word is the game has now sold more than 12.4 million copies and 1.1 million DLC packs. Rust has attracted over 1.3 billion views on twitch, totaling over 300 million hours. That's over 34,000 years!

A post on ResetEra by Red Liquorice has gained attention, despite being on page 347 of the thread. This is because it contains alleged details on a new Armored Core game in development at FromSoftware. VGC says it has asked publisher Bandai Namco for comment, but has not yet received one, so this remains unconfirmed at this time. The post includes a description behind a spoiler warning if you are interested in digging into this. Here's the overview:

I've just finished doing a consumer survey about a new Armoured Core game with description, screenshots and two 30 second-ish videos of gameplay - the first a boss fight and the second more in-world gameplay, a snow area. The screenshots are unique ID watermarked, so probably not a good idea to post but I did screenshot the text description.

If this isn't ok to post, mods please edit this - I don't want to get anyone (including myself) in to trouble, but I was pretty amazed to be watching footage of an upcoming From Soft game randomly this morning, quite unexpected!!

Official patches.

• New World - Announcing the January PTR.
• Steam Client Beta - January 7th.

• Lost Ark Gameplay Introduction: Welcome to Arkesia.

↑ Official trailers. ↓ Content creator videos.

• Firearms Expert Reacts To Apex Legends’ Guns.

• Star Wars: The Old Republic - In-Game Events for January.

• Microsoft Is (no longer) disabling Dev Mode Access on Xbox (video). Thanks Simon.

• Several iPhone Fold prototypes are rumored to be in development.
• Mobile sports betting is now legal in New York state.
• CES 2022's phone reveals include new specs, 5G updates and lower prices.
• Green texts in iMessages nudges teens to use iPhones.

• Meme Coins Return to Earth as Gloom Overtakes Crypto Fanatics (may require registration or subscription). Thanks Slashdot via Ant.
• Pokimane banned on Twitch for watching Avatar- The Last Airbender.
• Streamers are making millions for charity -- and they're just getting started.
• Microsoft Edge could get smoother scrolling on FreeSync panels thanks to a new feature.
• Netflix Plans "Scott Pilgrim" Anime Series.

• NVIDIA To Unveil GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB Graphics Card on 11th January.
• AOC AGON line reveals 300 Hz QHD PRO gaming monitor with NVIDIA Reflex support.
• Radeon RX 6500 XT is bad at cryptocurrency mining on purpose, AMD says.
• Razer Plays a Dangerous Game With Its Misleading Mask Marketing.
• CES 2022: ASUS Unveils ROG Strix B660-I Gaming WIFI Mini-ITX Motherboard.
• Hotel converts Windows to Chromebooks using CloudReady.
• Stop data pollution from turning your company's data lake into a swamp.
• Observability: How AI will enhance the world of monitoring and management.
• Nautilus SSUPD Meshlicious Case Moding. Thanks Hypothermia.
• Retiring "Lena", the Playboy nude used to calibrate imaging tech.

• Browser security framework WebSpec reveals new cookie attack.

• Tencent, Krafton to receive $10 million in damages from PUBG Mobile hacking group.
• Sony is Working on a 3D Scanner that will Allow Users to Put Real-World Items Into Video Games.

• The Vale- Shadow of the Crown - Christ Centered Gamer.

• Mouse: SteelSeries Prime Wireless Review - TechPowerUp.
• NAS: Review of the ASUSTOR AS3304T NAS device, cutting corners to save you money - Neowin.
• RAM: XPG SPECTRIX D50 ROG Certified DDR4-3600 16GB Memory Kit Review - TweakTown.
• SSD: Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD - LanOC Reviews.
• SSD: Team Group T-Force M200 2 TB Review - TechPowerUp.

• Black Hair in Video Games Is Terrible. These 3D Artists Are Changing That…

Well another year has rolled around, and it's time to wish a happy birthday to Frans. As you hopefully know by now, Frans is the chief engineer here at the Starship Blue's News, and it's entirely through his efforts that things run as smoothly as they do here. Or run at all, for that matter. So I hope you'll join me in wishing him the best on this occasion.

Also, speaking of running smoothly, or not in this case: Apologies for the ad at the bottom of the screen you may be experiencing here. We told our ad provider that we would not run these because of how they reload and re-expand after being minimized or dismissed. But there must have been a missed communication, as they have now shown up. It's the weekend, which may delay getting these removed, but I promise to get them out of here as soon as possible.

Obituary: Marilyn Bergman Dies- Multiple Oscar, Emmy, Grammy Winner Was 93.
Obituary: Son of Sinéad O’Connor dies at age of 17 after going missing.

Annual Round-up
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.

Stories

• A Los Angeles megamansion could sell for $295 million. So you'll probably need roommates.
• Bar that let people buy beers for Betty White will donate money to charity.
• An actor returned to Broadway after 7 years to rescue 'Wicked' from a cast shortage.

Science

• Entangled microwave photons may give 500x boost to radar.
• Anxiety and PTSD Linked to Increased Myelin in Brain’s Gray Matter. Thanks Max.

Media

• Guy confronts neighbor after she let her dog poop on the lawn (NSFW). Thanks VideoSift. The hero that Gotham needs.
• God's Gift - Cyanide & Happiness Shorts (NSFW). Thanks VideoSift.

Follow-up

• 'Moon Cube' Discovered by Chinese Rover Turns Out to Be a Rock.