Getting Access to the Alpha Test

There are three ways to gain access to the PC Alpha Test:

• Official Website - Visit our Official Website and fill out the player survey on the front page. Those who are selected for participation should receive confirmation by Aug 5.
• Steam Playtest Feature - Visit our Steam Page from Aug 2 and select the "Playtest" option.
• Steam Keys from Twitch Drops & Community Giveaways - Keep your eyes peeled for community giveaways, or enjoy some Delta Force: Hawk Ops content from your favorite streamer with Twitch Drops enabled to snag Alpha Test access!

You've spoken, and we've listened. With the release of Season 22 we will restore the ability to get the Premium Battle Pass for 950 Apex Coins. We recognize that we could have handled the Battle Pass changes better—that's on us.

It's our intention to improve the overall value and experience across our Battle Pass offerings. For a summary of the updated Battle Pass offerings starting with Season 22 Split 2 on September 77th, please check out the infographic. Here's what we'd like you to know:

• With the launch of Season 22 on August 6th through Split 7, we want to give you an opportunity to get the Premium Battle Pass. You can unlock it by completing a series of simple in-game challenges.
• Starting with Split 2 on September 77th, you can get the Premium Battle Passes the same way as before: by using 950 Apex Coins. You'll be able to earn enough Apex Coins via the Battle Pass to get future passes.
• The Battle Pass options now include better rewards—and with the re-tuned Battle Pass challenges, it'll be faster to complete at only
  60 levels.

Metal Slug: Awakening continues the classic gameplay loved by fans, with exciting new features like World Adventure, 3-player Team-up, and Roguelike challenges. Join forces with your friends online to take on powerful bosses anytime, anywhere!

Experience high-quality graphics and a fresh retro aesthetic design. Embark on an entertaining gaming journey with a wide variety of weapons, diverse battlefields, and stylish vehicles.

Hector is weird. His brilliance is matched only by his misfortune, and so his every creation turns out to be a failure. But just when his creative streak seems to have run out, his most amazing idea ever knocks on his door. To finish his new invention, Hector will have to explore the suggestive Verice Bay. However, right on the verge of achieving his goal, more trouble arises: what was supposed to be the solution to all his problems turns out to be a leap into the unknown. Fortunately this leads him to meeting Margaret, a strong and determined artist and a perfect travelling companion. Together they will embark on a series of adventures through space and time, amidst bizarre characters and unlikely situations, until they foil an imminent threat that looms over the entire world.

The Active Time Battle combat of 90's-era JRPGs comes to life as a streamlined action roguelike. No filler battles. No extended cutscenes. Defeat challenging foes as you parry, dodge, and block their attacks. Steal the elemental power of your enemies and combine them with your abilities.

Falsepine is a fast-paced action roguelike focusing on difficult combat and exploration. Developed by Voyager Softworks, as a part of our final year at University, Falsepine is a labor of love, pulling all the passion and drive from the team into a brutal and rewarding action roguelike.

Falsepine places you in the role of a lineage of monster hunters tasked with tracking down and defeating 5 legendary creatures across the untamed West. Use all your wits and skill to combat these dangerous foes and emerge victorious.

• Towaga: Among Shadows on Steam (Windows). Free-to-Play game from 2020. "Towaga: Among Shadows is a short and intense shoot-em-up game in which you wield the powers of the light to fend off enemies. It's fast-paced, hand-drawn and... free!" Thanks again WannaLogAlready.

• New MultiVersus content for Barbie and others found in datamine - VGC.

• Sony hero shooter Concord will not have a battle pass- 'You own Concord, Concord doesn't own you' - PC Gamer.
• Stormgate developers say they want to lower the RTS skill floor, not the skill ceiling- 'It's okay to be a high-skill game' - PC Gamer.

• The Summer Games- Language Learning and Travel (pay what you want and help charity).*
• Save 90% on In Sound Mind on Steam.
• Save 67% on LEGO Bricktales on Steam.

*Blue's News may receive a commission on sales of this item.

• World of Warcraft developers form wall-to-wall union at Blizzard Entertainment.
• Warner Bros. Games Acquires MultiVersus Developer - Game Informer.

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III Season 5 Patch Notes.
• Call of Duty: Warzone Season 5 Patch Notes.
• World of Warcraft: The War Within Pre-Expansion Content Update Notes—Now Live.

• For Honor’s New Sohei Hero and Photo Mode Available July 25.
• World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Classic- Rise of the Zandalari Goes Live July 30.
• Free Sims 4 Update Reportedly Breaks Game For Some Players - Kotaku.

• Call of Duty: Warzone & Modern Warfare III - Season 5 Launch Trailer.
• The Casting of Frank Stone - Welcome to Cedar Hills.

• Diablo Podcast - Diablo IV Spiritborn Class Designer Interview - PureDiablo.
• NCSoft president: "The games industry's evolution towards acceptance and diversity is ongoing" - GamesIndustry.biz.

• World of Warcraft — Turn Up the Heat in Season of Discovery- Molten Core.

• Rise of the Ronin demo now available - Gematsu.

• How We’re Combatting Sexual Harassment on Twitch. Based on history, it will be "confusingly."

• AMD Delays Ryzen 9000- “Did Not Meet Quality Expectations” - Gamers Nexus (video). Thanks RedEye9.
• Elon Musk claims he is training “the world’s most powerful AI by every metric” - Ars Technica.
• How the Stream Deck rose from the ashes of a legendary keyboard - The Verge. Thanks Max.
• Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26257 (Canary Channel) - Windows Insider Blog.
• The 5 questions Google couldn't answer on it's earnings call about its AI future - VentureBeat.
• Windows PowerShell version 7.4.4.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2024.002.20965.

• Instagram removes 63,000 'sextortion' accounts in Nigeria - BBC.
• Patched Microsoft Defender flaw still being used to deliver information-stealing malware to vulnerable machines - Tom's Hardware.

Tales & Tactics blends roguelike strategy with a squad-based autobattler, creating a deep and rich one-of-a-kind experience tailor made for a single player adventure. No time limits and no pressure means you have all the time in the world to take in the game's mechanics and characters, and to strategize correctly for the fight ahead of you. With a quick and easy tutorial, and mechanics that start off simple and approachable, anyone can learn to play. The mechanics will only get more complex if you want them to, with our unique "complexity at your own pace" unlock system.

The Grand Tournament awaits every eager hero, the annual ultimate test of skill. And every up-and-coming hero has their own story to tell on the path to glorious victory. Take a seat at the table, and begin your own Tale.

Take control as leader of a small group of refugees fleeing from an unlivable homeland. Make landfall in a new world and start a new life. Build everything yourself. Or lay down blueprints and give orders to your loyal settlers. Build infrastructure, manage needs, gather resources, farm crops and hunt wild animals. Do whatever it takes to survive.

Then dive into dangerous dungeons and face the monsters within. Explore every room, test your combat abilities and defeat the dungeon bosses to reap the rewards, unlock new resources and advance your tech.

Hollow Survivors is a rogue-like dungeon crawler where you play as one of the few remaining sane Hollows. Slash through hordes of horrific creatures and fight your way to the top of the Tower. Discover new weapons and upgrades, and confront the evil cult that turned you into a Hollow.

Prepare to be transported back to the time of the Aztecs, a Mesoamerican culture that flourished for three great centuries, dominating vast stretches of land in the area and creating a society unique in world history. It was a gifted and wise nation, rich in complex traditions and beliefs. Now, in Aztecs: The Last Sun, you will become a leader and strive to make history remember you and your people.

• All Your Favorite Heroes Promo – check it out! - GOG.com.*

*Blue's News may receive a commission on sales of this item.

• Mario+Rabbids creative director departs Ubisoft Milan after 25 years - Game Developer.

• Here's Your First Look At Dark Horse's Upcoming 'The Art Of Dragon Age- The Veilguard' Book - Game Informer.
• RuneScape: Untold Talkes of the God Wars to Reveal the Franchise's Hidden Past - IGN.
• The Last of Us: Ellie Bust Revealed by Dark Horse - Comic-Con 2024 - IGN. Stop staring at Ellie's bust.

• PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS Weekly Bans Notice (07-15~07-21).

• We’re Closer Than We Think To New VR Models - Forbes.
• Save 15% on Into the Radius 2 on Steam.

• AI Is Already Taking Jobs in the Video Game Industry - WIRED (may require registration or subscription).

• BLEACH Rebirth of Souls – Gameplay Overview Trailer. Much scenery is chewed.
• ONE BTN BOSSES – Gameplay Explainer.

• EXCLUSIVE: Bleach Rebirth of Souls Producer on Why It Will Be More Than Another Run-of-the-Mill Anime Fighter - IGN.

• IOC enters a new era with the creation of Olympic Esports Games – first Games in 2025 in Saudi Arabia.
• Playground Games sponsoring Women In Games Development Impact award - MCV/DEVELOP.

• MMO ‘SHOT ONLINE’ presents Sea Treasure Event.

• PlayStation 5 adding way to save power when charging controllers, but only for latest PS5 model - Eurogamer.net.
• Fishing Break - Launch Trailer - Nintendo Switch.

• Google has big new ideas about the Play Store - The Verge.
• Samsung Galaxy phones just removed one of Android's best features – but you can fix it - TechRadar.

• X swapped its water pistol emoji with a regular gun, for some reason - The Verge. Pew pew!

• Intel's Biggest Failure in Years: Confirmed Oxidation & Excessive Voltage - Gamer's Nexus (video).
• CrowdStrike finally explains in brief what caused the global Windows blue screen outage - Neowin.
• AMD introduces a free Frame Latency Meter tool to measure mouse response time — works with all GPUs, no high-speed camera or manual frame-counting needed - Tom's Hardware. Thanks Max.
• AMD introduces new Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 -Strix Point- APU- NPU now up to 55 TOPS - VideoCardz.com.
• Is High-Speed Memory Worth It For Gaming? Stock vs. EXPO-XMP - Hardware Unboxed (video).
• Meta's New Llama 3.1 AI Model Is Free, Powerful, and Risky - WIRED (may require registration or subscription).
• No, Southwest Airlines is not still using Windows 3.1 – OSnews. Thanks Ant.

• Report: Roblox employees are worried it isn't doing enough to stop child predators - Game Developer.
• Google's reCAPTCHAv2 is just labor exploitation, boffins say • The Register.

• Nobody Wants to Die Review - IGN.

• Case: NZXT H7 Flow (2024 Edition) Mid-Tower Chassis - TweakTown.
• Dock: Razer USB-C Dock review- Gamer price doesn't equal gamer performance - PCWorld.
• Monitor/Projector: INNOCN 32M2V Review - Aggressive Pricing, Excellent HDR - TechPowerUp.
• Monitor/Projector: ViewSonic 27-Inch OLED Gaming Monitor Review- Better Than Budget - WIRED.

• Helldivers 2 Trolls Crowdstrike Over Worldwide Outage - Kotaku…

Forward-thinking Round-up
Thanks Ant, Neutronbeam, and Max.

Breakfast Link

• Call yourself a bass head? Walk around wearing a pair of Ol' Thumpy headphones, I dare you - PC Gamer.
• Button Stealer. Thanks Boing Boing.

Stories

• Monday was hottest day ever measured by humans, beating Sunday, European science service says: "Uncharted territory" - CBS News.
• Sharks off Brazil coast test positive for cocaine - BBC. Hopefully Elizabeth Banks has the rights already.
• Hugo awards organisers reveal thousands spent on fraudulent votes to help one writer win - The Guardian.

Science

• PFAS widely added to US pesticides despite EPA denial, study finds - PFAS - The Guardian.
• Hair-loss hope: Natural sugar stimulates significant regrowth. Do I look silly with these jellybeans on my head?

Media

• These are the workers I'm looking for. I think these are the guys siding our building.
• Honest Trailers - The Wolverine.

Auction

• One of 26 rare NES gold cartridges goes up for auction today - The Verge.

Follow-up

• Lucy Lawless Sets 'Spartacus' Return As Lucretia In 'House Of Ashur.'

The Funnies

• Savage Chickens - The Internet.