Wargaming sends an update of what's going on with its employees at Persha Studio / Wargaming Kyiv amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The company outlines what's being done to protect the safety of its staff. Also, saying "we will be able to proceed with further humanitarian help if situation requires," Wargaming says it is donating one million dollars to the Ukrainian Red Cross:

“At Wargaming, the safety and security of our employees is the top priority. Currently, all available company resources are helping and supporting our 550+ colleagues: providing them with alternate housing, early salary payments, additional funds to aid travel and relocation.

We are helping our employees’ families to travel to neighboring countries and organizing accommodations for them.

And lastly, today Wargaming Kyiv is donating $1m to the Ukrainian Red Cross. These funds will be used to support Ukrainian hospitals and doctors, those citizens who have been displaced and other vital activities of the humanitarian organization as is needed.

SCS Software offers a statement about the war in Ukraine, noting this is not far from its home in the Czech Republic. The company says it has already donated over €20,000 to multiple charities. The company also says its working furiously on a paint job DLC for Euro Truck Simulator 2 to generate more financial support for the war torn country:

We are in close touch with multiple charities to which we have already sent over 20,000€, and more of such direct financial help from our side will come in the upcoming days and weeks. We have also relocated a part of our team to immediately start working on a much needed DLC - the Ukrainian Paint Jobs Pack, which we are racing to bring to the Steam Store as soon as possible and from which we are going to donate 100% of the income towards those in need.

Besides all this, we are also doing our best to support our team members in any way we can. Several of our colleagues are from Ukraine. We have bound ourselves to give them and their families all the support we can, whether it is financial support for any extra costs they might have during these hard times; early salaries; mental health support; extra days off, or special and flexible working times; or even providing them the company spaces and facilities for accommodation. We are not only doing this as a company, as we are getting multiple messages from almost all of our team members, that they are joining and supporting charities, providing blankets, clothes, hygiene, medical supplies, and other items to charity collections, and more.

ArenaNet announces that the End of Dragons expansion is now live in Guild Wars 2, its MMORPG sequel (thanks slipmat). This forum post has complete patch notes for the update. Here's a Launch Trailer with a look. Appropriate to a game that's been live for nearly a decade, word is the add-on focuses on max-level characters:

Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons content is designed for level 80 players. If you’re new to Guild Wars 2 and you received a max-level boost with your purchase of the expansion, you can start playing after you use the item in your inventory and finalize the boost on your preferred character.

To begin the first chapter of the expansion story, press [H] to access your Hero panel and select Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons in the Story Journal.

Continue here to read the full story.

Frontier Developments announces the Camp Cretaceous Dinosaur Pack will arrive next week in Jurassic World Evolution 2. Check out the Announcement Trailer for a look at how this includes "fan-favorite" dinosaurs from the movie series for your theme park. This features another of the franchise's evolution-defying concepts, genetically engineered hybrid dinosaurs. Sadly, we haven't reached the point where we can use them as household appliances like in the Flintstones, but life finds a way. This will come alongside an update with improvements on the base game. Here's more:

The PDLC launches alongside a free update offering existing players a range of new features, such as: a Species Viewer, allowing players to view each species in even greater detail; First Person View, providing more ways to get up-close and personal with prehistoric species in their enclosures at guest height; new decoration items including individually placeable trees, perfect for budding park managers to add finishing touches; changes to sandbox mode content; plus a host of other exciting enhancements.

Continue here to read the full story.

Steam announces that an event is underway celebrating the Steam Remote Play Together service that allows some Steam games to be played cooperatively even when only one of the players actually owns a copy. This will involve livestreams as well as a special sale on supported games. Here's the plan:

Save All Week Long
Explore the thousands of games you can share with friends and family online in our Remote Play Together Sale & Livestream Event. Save now through Monday March 7th at 10am Pacific. Grab a game, fire it up, then send a link to your game session to anyone. They don't even need a Steam account!

Tune in Thursday 3/3 for Our Livestream with Hosts Slacks & Flax
Join hosts SirActionSlacks and Pyrion Flax for an 8-hour livestreaming marathon to witness Remote Play Together in action, and even join the games in progress when we share invite links in chat on Steam, YouTube, and Twitch. Anything could happen! Join us for the action March 3rd, 7am - 3pm Pacific.

Valve offers its latest monthly update, outlining bestselling new titles on Steam. This covers the top new releases of January, and there's a handy sales page to pick up any of these you missed. As usual, the post discusses both top-selling new premium games as well as the most engaging free-to-play titles. Here's a bit:

It’s hard not to be wowed each month as Top Releases showcase the latest 3D animations and effects from studios around the world. January was certainly no exception, with players absorbed by Capcom’s latest adventure, MONSTER HUNTER RISE, alongside Sony’s critically-acclaimed PC arrival of God of War. But not to be outdone by its extra-dimensional counterpart, the 2D genre showed strong representation in January with nearly half of the month's Top Releases. What 2D might lack in stunning visual effects and realistic environments, it more than makes up with unique mechanics, creative aesthetics, and more often than not, less demanding hardware requirements. January's 2D titles boast great variety as well, including a politics simulator - Democracy 4, an occult puzzler - Strange Horticulture, and an incredibly original linguistic adventure - Word Game.

• Elden Ring creator Miyazaki "feels apologetic" towards players defeated by his games.

Official patches.

• What's changed with the GTA Trilogy patch 1.05.
• Microsoft Flight Simulator Release Notes (1.23.12.0) Sim Update VIII Now Available.

Content creator video.

• Cyberpunk VR Mods - Which is the right one for you? Thanks The Flying Penguin.

• WoW Classic Season of Mastery- Enter Zul'Gurub March 3.
• Hunt- Showdown -- 4th Anniversary - Final Gameplay Livestream.

• Apex Legends Mobile Limited Regional Launch FAQ.
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra doesn't play nice with hot TikTok filters - and that stinks.

• The future is a very weird place. Ukrainians are uploading videos on TikTok about how to drive abandoned or captured Russian military vehicles. Thanks The Flying Penguin.
• TikTok to allow longer-form content with up to 10-minute videos, challenging YouTube.
• Peacock Orders Mackie-Led "Twisted Metal."

• Graphics Card Prices Dropped 11% in February.
• Bitspower Quietly Launches its First Ever Air CPU Cooler, The Phantom.

• After Ukraine recruits an “IT Army,” dozens of Russian sites go dark.
• 250,000-plus lawyer disciplinary records leak.

• Bandai Namco Announces Significant Pay Raise For Developers…

Last Link of the Day: Matt Reeves' "The Batman" Reviews Are In.

Publisher The Arcade Crew and developer 1P2P Studio announce Young Souls will arrive on PC and consoles on March 10th. This crowdfunded "co-op ready" brawler/RPG features a cast of what are described as "teen misfits" in a battle against a goblin invasion. The post about this news on the PlayStation.Blog also offers new details on the game's combat systems. Here's the Release Date Trailer and here's a bit on the video and the game:

The release date arrives alongside a new overview video, which follows protagonists Jenn and Tristan as they plunge into another world for tense, dungeon-clearing battles, eventually retreating to their sleepy town to catch a breath and prepare for their next fight. See how the duo juggle all-night fights against surreal foes as formidable warriors with leisurely trips around town as average, laid back teens during the day

Continue here to read the full story.

PLAYISM announces plans for a remake of Ib, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the freeware launch of the original version of this adventure game. The updated version is expected to come to Steam this year. The listing says English language is not supported, and according to the announcement, the localization plan is "Japanese (other languages to follow)." Here's a Teaser Trailer and here's word:

A young girl named Ib visits an art gallery with her parents.
While perusing the various works of art, Ib suddenly realizes that she is alone.
As she searches for someone – anyone – else, the museum begins to change...

A 2D exploration adventure game set in a creepy, mysterious art gallery.
Inspect the area around you, discovering items and disarming traps to find your way out of the strange gallery.

Continue here to read the full story.

The release of Shadow Warrior 3 is expected tomorrow. But you don't have to go in blind. We have a roundup of reviews that have begun appearing today:

• Shadow Warrior 3 Review - AusGamers.com.
• Shadow Warrior 3 Review "God of Wang" - AGC (NSFW video).
• Shadow Warrior 3 Review - Attack of the Fanboy.
• Shadow Warrior 3 isn't revolutionary, and that's refreshing - Digital Trends.
• Shadow Warrior 3 - Native 4K vs NVIDIA DLSS vs AMD FSR Comparisons & Benchmarks - DSOGaming.
• Shadow Warrior 3 will be available on PlayStation Now from launch next week • Eurogamer.net.
• Shadow Warrior 3 review - Lo-Wanging fruit - God is a Geek (video).
• Review: Shadow Warrior 3 - Hardcore Gamer.
• Shadow Warrior 3 Review - Noisy Pixel (video).
• Shadow Warrior 3 review -- Bare to the bone - PC Invasion..
• Shadow Warrior 3 review- a promising arena shooter that squanders potential with repetition - Rock Paper Shotgun.
• Shadow Warrior 3 Review - A Fun, Old-School Shooter - Screen Rant.
• Shadow Warrior 3 review: The third one - Shacknews.

A new Official Gameplay Walkthrough Trailer offers a look at 20 minutes of gameplay from Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. At the same time, it appears an embargo just expired, as previews for the game are popping up all over. It sounds like this mashup of Borderlands and a tabletop RPG is more of the former and less of the latter:

• Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands - Hands-On with the Borderlands Spin-Off - AusGamers.com.
• Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is Borderlands and not Borderlands - Digital Trends.
• Tiny Tina's Wonderlands Hands-On Preview - DualShockers.
• Tiny Tina's Wonderlands Preview - Tiny Tina's Wonderlands - New Gameplay Today - Game Informer.
• Tiny Tina's Wonderlands Hands-On Impressions - GameSpot.
• Tiny Tina's Wonderlands: The Final Preview - IGN.
• Not So MMO: Tiny Tina's Wonderlands Preview - MMORPG.com.
• Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is surprisingly charming - PC Gamer.
• Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands needs less Borderlands, more DnD - PCGamesN.
• Tiny Tina's Wonderlands Hands-On Preview: Borderlands With A Touch Of D&D - PlayStation Universe.
• Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands preview- Borderlands’ zany DM gets a bigger campaign - Polygon.
• Tiny Tina's Wonderlands Hands-On Preview - 4 Things We Learned From Our Time in the Wonderlands - Press Start.
• Tiny Tina's Wonderlands Preview: Tabletop Shoot N' Loot - ScreenRant.
• Tiny Tina's Wonderlands Preview - Borderlands With Dragons, And That's Enough For Me - TheGamer.
• Tiny Tina's Wonderlands Preview - TheSixthAxis.
• Tiny Tina's Wonderlands preview: Classic Borderlands with a magic twist - Windows Central.

Continue here to read the full story.

• Sid Meier warns the games industry about monetisation.
• Don’t expect games designed just for the Steam Deck, Valve say.
• James Gunn Reveals His Top Three Favorite Video Games. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy doesn't make the cut.

• Weekly Sale: a mix of titles to lose yourself in up to 80% off - GOG.com.

Official patches.

• Cyberpunk 2077 PC Hotfix.
• Eternal Return 0.52.0c Hotfix.
• RuneScape: The Abyssal Breach.

Content creator videos.

• 18 Minutes of Tiny Tina's Wonderlands Gameplay.

• Sea of Thieves - Creator Spotlight - Micromads.

• Tokyo Game Show confirms public physical event for first time in 3 years.
• PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS -- PUBG Epic Fails Contest - Winner Announcement.

• PSVR 2 rumoured to release at the start of 2023.
• Young Souls is coming to PS4 on March 10.
• Shadow Warrior 3 will be available on PlayStation Now.
• Endzone - A World Apart- Survivor Edition - Console Announcement Trailer - Release Date Announcement.

• Lenovo’s New Gaming IdeaPads are Basically Budget Legion Laptops.
• Apple Watch 8 could be joined by two more watches, but an old favorite may retire.
• OnePlus confirms it's working on foldable phone software, but don't expect hardware yet.
• Honor has finally unveiled a successor to my favorite smartwatch.

• Facebook removes Russian misinformation network pushing fake news about the war in Ukraine.
• Google disables Maps traffic data in Ukraine to protect citizens.
• Apple Pay and Google Pay cut off some Russian customers.
• The Original Hybrid Workers Can Teach Us How to Do It Right (may require registration or subscription).
• NoScript..V.11.3.5. Thanks DSLReports via Ant.
• 5 Extensions That Level Up Your Email Game (may require registration or subscription). Thanks Neutronbeam.

• HyperX Now Shipping Pulsefire Haste Ultra-lightweight Wireless Gaming Mouse.
• Notepad++ v8.3.2. Thanks DSLReports via Ant.

• Nvidia Hackers Threaten to Release Mining-Limiter Killer.
• Most common passwords hackers leak on the dark web.

• What Are the Rules for Celebrities Promoting NFTs (may require registration or subscription)? Rules? In a knife fight?

• Cyberpunk 2077 Benchmarked, Again- v1.5 Update With Built-In Benchmark - TweakTown.
• Elden Ring PC Performance Analysis - DSOGaming.
• Little Orpheus review- an adventure that dazzles the eyes - Rock Paper Shotgun.

• Laptop: MSI Creator 15 review- A gaming laptop turned into a creator PC - XDA. Thanks Neutronbeam.
• Microphone: Neat King Bee II Cardioid Solid State Condenser Microphone - Christ Centered Gamer.
• Motherboard: Asus Prime Z690-A Review- More USB, Please - Tom's Hardware.
• Motherboard: Asus ROG Maximus Z690 HERO Motherboard Review - My Hero! - ThePCEnthusiast.
• Mouse: Cooler Master MM731 Review - APH Networks.
• RAM: Crucial DDR5-4800 C40 Review- The Old Reliable - Tom's Hardware.
• RAM: T-CREATE EXPERT 2x16GB DDR4-3600MHz CL18 Kit Review - BabelTechReviews.

• Gabe Newell seems to be hand-delivering signed Steam Decks. Didn't realize he'd left New Zealand…
• Developers of Japanese Studio PocketPair Given Time Off to Play Elden Ring…
• Elden Ring pranksters are abusing the messages system. Pranksters?…

I recently finally did something I should have done a long time ago. I had a meeting with my phone to decide which notifications I should continue to receive. A prime culprit was getting news notifications from three different apps, which can get busy when there's a lot going on in the world, which is every minute of every day. The excessive notifications were causing the opposite problem for me than you might expect. Rather than constantly checking my phone, at times the information overload caused me to ignore notifications as they arrived. Cutting down to a single news source and deeming a couple of other apps unworthy of my attention has had the desired impact on my signal-to-noise ratio. This makes me much more responsive to texts from friends and family. I wish I'd been more conscious of this situation getting out of hand, but happily it's addressed now.

There's a Round-up for that
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.

Breakfast Link

• How to Get Rid of Dust Mites. Mite work!

Science
Thanks Max.

• Humpback whales no longer listed as endangered after major recovery. Commandeering that Klingon Bird-of-Prey totally worth it.
• One type of vitamin D found to boost immune system, another may hinder it.
• NASA’s New Shortcut to Fusion Power - IEEE Spectrum. No Doctor Octopus arms required.

Media

• Where Do You Want To Eat- - Anwar Jibawi.
• Tractor Trailer Carrying Mail Crashes Into Charles River in Weston.

Follow-up

• Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron likely due to immune selective pressure. Thanks Acleacius.