Archived News:

Friday, Jul 19, 2024

River City Saga: Three Kingdoms Next Announced

Arc System Works highlights more trouble right here in River City with the announcement of River City Saga: Three Kingdoms Next, a new installment in the platforming action/RPG (which rhymes with "p" which stands for "pool!"). Word is this is to launch for PC and consoles on November 7th, though it says November 6th on Steam. The Announcement Trailer is here showing off this mix of history and not-history. Here's more:
Follow the wild antics of over 100 River City characters coming together! The River City Saga: Three Kingdoms Next sequel story begins following the Battle of Red Cliffs and continues with a mad dash towards the climax of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel, the Battle of Wuzhang Plains. The beloved River City ruffian Kunio takes on the role of the hero of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu, joining the hot-blooded battle over the nation.
Continue here to read the full story.

New AMD Adrenalin Driver

AMD now offers a new version 24.7.1 Adrenalin Edition reference driver for running AMD Radeon graphics cards in Windows. The Release Notes have a detailed rundown on changes, including new game support for Zenless Zone Zero and Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, new HYPR-RX Profiles, Anti-Lag 2 support in Dota 2, and more. There's also an extensive list of fixes:
Fixed Issues and Improvements

  • Improvements to stutter when AMD Radeon™ Anti-Lag and AMD FidelityFX™ Super Resolution 3 frame generation is enabled.
  • Improvements to stutter while playing Fortnite with DirectX® 12 API.
  • Texture corruption may be observed while playing TEKKEN™ 8 with Ray Tracing or Upscale enabled.
  • Corruption may be observed while playing Dying Light 2 Stay Human: Reloaded Edition with Radeon™ Boost enabled.
  • Intermittent system crash or corruption may be observed while playing Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy with Ray Tracing enabled.
  • Virtual Super Resolution or Display Color Enhancements may be set to disabled after driver upgrade.
  • Unable to change display pixel format with certain Windows display languages.
  • Intermittent black corruption may be observed on scaled 3d models while using Origin or OriginPro application.
  • Black corruption may be observed while fast forwarding using PotPlayer.

Evening Patches

Official patches.

All Access

FTC Raps Game Pass Price Hike

A tweetX from Tom Warren, senior editor at The Verge, reproduces a letter to the US Court of Appeals from the US Federal Trade Commission. Following the recent news of a Game Pass price hike, the FTC calls the standard Game Pass a "degraded product" and points out the antitrust issues it predicted are now coming to pass:
Microsoft's price increases and product degradation—combined with Microsoft's reduced investments in output and product quality via employee layoffs, see FTC's February 7, 2024, Letter—are the hallmarks of a firm exercising market power post-merger. See United States v. AT&T, 916 F,3d 1029, 1045 (D.C. Cir. 2019) ("Vertical mergers can create harms beyond higher prices for consumers, including decreased product quality and reduced innovation"); accord Areeda & Ilovenkamp, ANTITRUST LAW.

Importantly, Microsoft's actions are inconsistent with Microsoft's representations below. Microsoft's price increases coincide with adding "Call of Duty" (COD) to Game Pass's most expensive tier, and discontinuing the Console tier will happen shortly before releasing CoD's newest game. Below. Microsoft promised that "the acquisition would benefit consumers by making [COD] available on Microsoft's Game Pass on the day it is released on console (With no price for the service based on the acquisition)." LCF 108 at 20. Microsoft's post-merger actions thus vindicate the congressional design of preliminarily halting mergers to fully evaluate their likely competitive effects, and judicial skepticism of promises inconsistent with a firm's economic incentives. See FTC Br. 6-7, 62-65.

CrowdStrike Causes Worldwide Windows Outage

Reuters reports that CrowdStrike has patched out a problem with a code update that bricked PCs around the world and caused major outages affecting airlines, banks, and broadcasters. A complete recovery may yet take longer, though, according to this from the BBC. The outage caused the cancellation of over a thousand flights in the US, leaving passengers stranded in airports. The problem struck at about 1:30 am EDT and a tweetX from CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz about four hours later says the company is working with affected customers. The irony is that CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity outfit, and its software is supposed to protect systems and networks, rather than take them down. An explainer on CNN Business has background on the company and its operations and a post on Tom's Hardware has help for those with bricked PCs. Here's the recap of what happened:
Crowdstrike's "Falcon Sensor" software was causing Microsoft Windows to crash and display a blue screen, known informally as the "Blue Screen of Death," according to an alert sent by Crowdstrike earlier to its clients and reviewed by Reuters.
The travel industry was among the hardest hit with airports around the world reporting delays and issues with their system network, while banks and financial institutions from Australia and India to South Africa warned clients about disruptions to their services.

Union of Gnomes Early Access

Union of Gnomes is now available in Early Access on Steam, offering Windows gamers the chance to strike in this deckbuilding roguelite. It's 10% off for the rest of the month as a launch discount. HeroCraft PC and Hoolignomes provide an Early Access Release Trailer with a look and this post discussing Early Access in detail. Here's word:
Behold a quirky fairy tale set in the revolutionary times of a far far away kingdom.

Embark on the challenging journey to lead the gnome’s uprising, stand against Snow White’s oppressive rule, assemble your liberation forces, and bring freedom to this land.

Free your gnome comrades to bolster your squad with the best freedom fighters. Experiment with the lineup to reveal powerful synergies and combos with 130 cards that will either hit, poison, weaken, blind your enemies, or get your gnomes drunk…
Continue here to read the full story.

Forestrike Announced

Devolver Digital unveils Forestrike, an upcoming tactical kung-fu fighting game in the works at Skeleton Crew, though a gameplay clip from two years ago revealed this already. This is expected next year on PC and Switch, and a new Reveal Trailer has a more complete introduction. Here's word:
As a martial artist named Yu, you embark on a journey across the country to free the Emperor from an evil Admiral’s influence. Adopting techniques from one of five unique Masters, each battle presents a puzzle that must be solved using your mind as well as your fists.

Yu encounters many foes on his path to the capital, and he is always outnumbered, but he has a secret weapon: the Foresight, a meditative technique that allows him to mentally perceive fights over and over until he finds a sequence of movements that allows him to overcome the odds.
Continue here to read the full story.

Shuffle Tactics Announced; Playtest Next Week

The Arcade Crew announces Shuffle Tactics, a tactical/RPG that reveals its deckbuilding elements right there in the title. An Alpha Trailer accompanies the news with a look. This will come to PC next year, but a playtest will begin on Wednesday, July 24th. This is called a public alpha, so it sounds likely everyone will be accepted. Interested players can on Steam. Here's the deal:
In Shuffle Tactics’ medieval world of Asteria, King Ogma has cursed the land while attempting to revive his beloved queen. Instead of returning his true love to her kingdom, King Ogma has inflicted Glimmer upon the world. This mysterious force has corrupted the inhabitants of Asteria and the King himself, while also imbuing Shuffle Tactics’ starring heroes with special powers. Discover the secret behind the curse that repeatedly revives these warriors after they fall in battle, all while fighting to bring down the corrupted King Ogma to restore peace to the realm of Asteria.
Continue here to read the full story.
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