Archived News:
Tuesday, Jan 21, 2025
Eternal Strands Demo [8:08 pm ET] – Share – 2 Comments
The promised demo for Eternal
Strands is now available, offering a sample of this upcoming
action/adventure from Yellow Brick Games, the studio founded by former BioWare
Creative Director Mike Laidlaw. To check this out, just follow the yellow brick
road to the
Epic Games Store or
Steam.
This contains the early portion of the full game, which arrives next week, and
if you buy the game, your progress from the demo will carry over.
This post has the details. Check out the
Launch Trailer for a
look at gameplay and read on for more:
Play as Brynn, a young but fearless Weaver, determined to recover her people’s cultural home in the debut fantasy action-adventure title from Yellow Brick Games, a new independent studio founded by industry veterans.Continue here to read the full story.
Armed with powerful magical abilities and an arsenal of magical weapons, face enemies that range from humanoid constructs to towering beasts. Use the environment and temperature to your advantage in battles against a diverse roster of fantastical creatures, like turning a dragon’s fiery breath against ice-covered minions. Climb every surface and use arcane skills to create new paths. Explore the world in pursuit of the Enclave’s lost mysteries and challenge giant titans on your journey.
Team Fortress 2 Double Down Update This Week [8:07 pm ET] – Share – 8 Comments
Sneaking in like the Spy, The
Team Fortress 2 Website has details on the Double Down Update,
a new event launching on Friday in the multiplayer shooter. This will play the
VIP race card, adding an escort mission race featuring two civilians and one
cup, err two limousines. There's a new cane to earn along the way, offering the
boost to movement for which they're known.
The Double Down Update
doubles down on this with a look, and here's more:
Each Civilian's limo is parked deep in enemy territory, at the end of a series of control points. Escort your whimpering billionaire from point to point, secure his limo, and win the match: same old gig, but stop the enemy Civilian from doing the same! When a Civilian dies, his team's progress is reset, and he has to re-capture those points all over again.Continue here to read the full story.
Liquidation Testing Signups [8:07 pm ET] – Share – 1 Comment
MicroProse and Divio invite strategy gamers to sign-up to playtest
Liquidation to help steer development of this upcoming RTS game. You must
request access
on Steam, but the announcement calls this an open beta, so presumably this
is just a formality. A new
trailer introduces the game's four factions and classic magic versus
technology conflict with a look at gameplay. Here's more on the struggle for
unobtanium:
Set in the wake of "The Splintering," a cataclysmic event that fractured the world of Veá, Liquidationplunges players into a brutal 38-year conflict known as The Quenrium War. As the formidable substance quenrium becomes both a source of power and destruction, four unique factions contend for control of the shattered world. Players will take command of their chosen faction, building cohesive armies, unlocking advanced technologies, and leveraging unique abilities to outsmart their enemies and secure dominance.Continue here to read the full story.
DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO - Hero of Justice DLC [8:07 pm ET] – Share – 1 Comment
Bandai Namco announces the release of new Hero of Justice DLC for
DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO, adding 11 new combatants to the roster of this
fighting game for Windows and consoles. This requires the base game and is
already part of the Deluxe, Ultimate, and Premium Editions. Word is it should
also be available separately, and while it may be added, the only other way to
get this
on Steam at this time is by purchasing the Season Pass. There's also a patch
for the base game, and
the notes for that outline what it changes. The
Announcement Trailer
takes a look, and here are some details:
The DLC 1 - “Hero of Justice” Pack adds eleven new fighters to the roster of 182 fighters and features iconic characters from the DRAGON BALL SUPER: SUPER HERO original feature film. The roster additions include Gohan (Super Hero), Ultimate Gohan (Super Hero), Gohan Beast, Piccolo (Super Hero), Orange Piccolo, Gamma 1, Gamma 2, Cell Max, and more. Players who purchased the DLC 1 - “Hero of Justice” Pack will also receive 1 new costume as well as 3 new custom battle stages.Continue here to read the full story.
Balatro Sells 5M [8:07 pm ET] – Share – 5 Comments
A post on Xitter
from LocalThunk shares a milestone for Balatro, saying the
poker-inspired roguelike has now sold over five million copies. It uses this as
an opportunity to promote other independent developments:
The last few weeks have been pretty wild.
To everyone who picked up Balatro after seeing it at @thegameawards, we hope you're having an amazing time with it!
If this is your first time picking up an indie title, try to make it a habit!
There's some amazing stuff out there!
Evening Patches [8:07 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Subscriptions, Clouds, & Streams [8:07 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Evening Mobilization [8:07 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Evening Metaverse [8:07 pm ET] – Share – 3 Comments
- How Meta Tried To Lure TikTok Users to Instagram - WIRED (may require registration or subscription).
- New year, same streaming headaches- Netflix raises prices by up to 16 percent - Ars Technica.
Marvel SNAP Snaps Back [1:55 pm ET] – Share – 2 Comments
Second Dinner
X/Tweets that Marvel SNAP has
snapped back online. The collectible card game got the Thanos treatment
following the closure of TikTok because TikTok
owner ByteDance also owns SNAP publisher Nuverse. And while the game's shutdown
was said to be unplanned and the TikTok flip-flop is in motion, word is the
developer is seeking another publisher to safeguard the game against future
political wind shifts:
MARVEL SNAP is back online in the U.S. But to make sure this NEVER happens again, we’re working to bring more services in-house and partner with a new publisher. This is the start of a new era for MARVEL SNAP.
We know this probably leaves you with even more questions than answers. We appreciate your patience, but in the meantime enjoy playing MARVEL SNAP.
We’ll continue to update with more information as soon as possible!
Platoon Commander Announced; Demo Released [1:55 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Slitherine announces its participation in the
Steam
Real-Time Strategy Fest with a Windows demo for
Platoon
Commander, a previously unannounced real-time strategy game set in the
Eastern Front of World War II. The
Announcement Trailer
shows off the game's tactical battles and the description has details on the
demo: "The demo offers a significant experience of the first mission, where
players step into the role of a German commander during the autumn of 1941.
Tasked with capturing and holding a Soviet village, players will customize their
platoons by choosing a mix of infantry, armor, and artillery to defend against
the inevitable Soviet counterattack." Here's more on the game:
Platoon Commander is a Real-Time Strategy game set in World War 2 and focused on the German advance toward Moscow in the fall and winter of 1941. It combines real-time tactical battles with a turn-based campaign map. Players will take command as platoon leaders in some of the most significant battles of World War II. The goal for German forces is to breach Moscow before winter conditions make further progress impossible, while the Red Army must push back the invaders.Continue here to read the full story.
Cyber Manhunt 2: New World Released [1:55 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Early Access for
Cyber Manhunt 2: New World - The Hacking Simulator has concluded, and
the puzzle game is now officially available for Windows and macOS
on Steam.
This post has details on what's new for those who've played this already,
along with the Official
Launch Trailer outlining a pretty basic AI gone bad scenario. There's a 12%
launch discount or a 20% discount on a bundle of this and the first game what's
now a series. Here's more:
Cyber Manhunt 2: New World is the gripping sequel to the award-winning Cyber Manhunt. Set in a world echoing the predecessor, this hacking simulator brings players on a fresh, thrilling narrative that delves into profound real-world issues and challenges.Continue here to read the full story.
In the wake of the "Eternal Code" incident and hacker Van's disappearance, the world tightens its internet laws. Meanwhile, Titan Corporation emerges at the forefront with a pioneering AI project that promises hope. Yet, the implications of such a leap forward remain ambiguous.
Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel Early Access [1:55 pm ET] – Share – 1 Comment
Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel is now in Early Access for Windows on the
Epic Games Store and
Steam, and the debut of this "roguelike horde-survivor" game is 10% off for
the next two weeks. As the spelling suggests, this is steeped in Norse
Mythology, and the Early
Access Launch Trailer suggests it's a Hel of a ride. Here's more on where
this will take you:
Players can choose from four unique heroes, each with their own dark tale: the bloodthirsty Berserker, wielding an axe in their pursuit of infamous glory; the wolf-spirit possessed Revenant, hunting their deceiver with deadly precision; the mysterious Flame Sister, channeling Loki's fiery powers; or the shadowy Seeress, whose mastery of dark arts challenges the ancients themselves.Continue here to read the full story.
The battle will rage across two contrasting realms: the scorching inferno of Muspelheim, domain of the apocalyptic fire giant Surt, and the primordial darkness of Niflheim, the misty underworld beneath Yggdrasil's roots. Harness the divine powers of four legendary Norse gods: Odin the All-Father, master of war and sorcery; Freya, the powerful Queen of Valkyries; Thor, wielder of lightning and thunder; and Loki, the cunning god of chaos and fire.
Vambrace: Dungeon Monarch Early Access [1:55 pm ET] – Share – 1 Comment
Now's your chance to get Vambrace in your warm embrace, as Vambrace: Dungeon
Monarch is now available in Early Access
on Steam. This strategy game from Headup and Dvora Studio includes
deckbuilding, dungeon defense, and tactical gameplay elements, which can be seen
in the Early Access
Release Trailer. Here's
a post celebrating the news with an Early Access roadmap, and here's an
overview:
Step into the role of a Dungeon Monarch, a chosen guardian of your master's dungeon. Equipped with formidable magic and an inexhaustible army of summonable troops that synergize with one another, your mission is to repel adventurers, envious rivals, and other deities seeking to invade and raze the dungeon.Continue here to read the full story.
Vambrace: Dungeon Monarch features a unique, fast-paced combination of deck builder, tactics, auto-battler, and dungeon defense gameplay!
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Reveals Expansion Plans and 1M Sales [1:55 pm ET] – Share – 5 Comments
Owlcat Games announces Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader has now surpassed
one million lifetime sales since the launch of this Warhammer CRPG
at the end of 2023. Word is
work continues on an expansion called Lex Imperialis and details are
promised in the coming months. To celebrate, the game is
on sale on GOG.com* for 45% off for the
next two days. Here's word:
Today, Owlcat Games is thrilled to announce that its critically acclaimed CRPG Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader has reached one million copies sold worldwide. To celebrate, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is on sale on GOG for the next two days, so grab your copy while you can!*Blue's News may receive a commission on sales of this item.
The Owlcat team is hard at work developing the game's upcoming expansion, Lex Imperialis, which will introduce a wide array of new content to the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Stay tuned for additional details in the coming months.
Soldiers: Heroes of World War II Surprise Update [1:55 pm ET] – Share – 2 Comments
Best Way and Fulqrum Publishing make the
surprise announcement of a new patch for Soldiers: Heroes of World War II,
updating this RTS game that debuted
more than two decades ago on June 29, 2004. It's been a hot minute, so there
was a lot to patch. The game now includes full support for Windows 10/11, Steam
Workshop, 4K upscaling, "fixes to the occasional memory leaks," and more. Here's
word:
Highlights
- Added Steam Workshop support. Players can now upload and download mods via Steam Workshop.
- Added Steam network multiplayer support
- Added Steam friends integration. Players can invite friends to coop/multiplayer sessions.
- Added support for Windows 10 and 11 support
- Added 4K support by upscaling
- Added support for widescreen monitors
- Enhanced multi-core CPU support
- Improved the net code
- Added multi-language localization support similar to the Gem RTS engine. (.en, .ru, .de, etc.)
Demos & Freebies [1:55 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- Urban Myth Dissolution Center on Steam (Windows). "Join forces with the psychic Director of the Urban Myth Dissolution Center and solve a variety of cases involving cursed relics, rental properties with shady histories, and dimensional anomalies. Monstrous oddities and otherworldly planes abound in this occult mystery adventure game!"
Quoteworthy [12:58 pm ET] – Share – 42 Comments
On Sale [12:58 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Business & Finance [12:58 pm ET] – Share – 2 Comments
- Mat Piscatella: With 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico on the way, I can see a sharp downtick in the number of disc-based games that get released physically in the US, as much of that production infrastructure is in Mexico.
- Huuuge cutting 29 percent of global workforce to focus on social casino business - Game Developer.
Morning Multiplex [12:58 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Official trailers.
- Adventures of a Cat in Space - With Arthur Darvill from Doctor Who (Video Game Teaser).
- Darkest Dungeon II - Inhuman Bondage DLC Launch Trailer.
- THE DEMONS TOLD ME TO MAKE THIS GAME - STORY TRAILER.
- For Honor- Khatun Hero - Reveal Trailer.
- A Game About Digging A Hole - Release Date Trailer. February 7th.
- NARAKA: BLADEPOINT - New Hero: Lannie Cinematic & Gameplay Showcase.
- Tails of Iron 2 - Gameplay Overview Trailer - Out 28th Jan - PC, PlayStation, Xbox & Nintendo Switch.
Morning Crowdfunding [12:58 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- Voxile by VoxRay Games — Kickstarter. "Voxile is a stunning, ray-traced voxel FPS RPG Survival game where you can explore hand-crafted worlds or build your own. Every world in Voxile is a self-contained island with its own unique quests and gameplay style!" Here's the Official Re-Reveal Gameplay Trailer and there's a demo on Steam.
Morning Metaverse [12:58 pm ET] – Share – 13 Comments
- President Trump signs executive order delaying TikTok ban - BBC.
- Instagram hides search results for 'Democrats' - BBC.
- The Trump Memecoin's 'Money-Grab' Economics - WIRED (may require registration or subscription).
- Canon’s new livestreaming app doesn’t support Canon cameras - Engadget. Thanks Slashdot via Ant.
- Mozilla Firefox 134.0.2, See All New Features, Updates and Fixes. Thanks Frans.
Morning Tech Bits [12:58 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- DLSS Coming To Eternal Strands, Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap, Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. & More - GeForce News - NVIDIA.
- AMD now plans to release its Radeon RX 9070XT & 9070 RDNA4 GPUs in March 2025 - DSOGaming.
- Microsoft to force Windows 11 24H2 on Home and Pro users • The Register. Thanks brother19.
- China to host world’s first human-robot marathon as robotics drives national goals - South China Morning Post. Thanks Slashdot via Ant.
- Evernote version 10.123.4. Thanks Console General.
- How shutdown Bay Area tech companies ditch their fancy gear fast - SFGate. Pulling back the curtain on the tech startup circle-jerk. Thanks Neutronbeam.
AI Yi-Yi! [12:58 pm ET] – Share – 3 Comments
- Trump revokes AI risk regulation in day one executive order - TechRadar. Officially off the Skynet hit list.
- NoTraffic Reduces Road Delays, Carbon Emissions With NVIDIA AI and Accelerated Computing - NVIDIA Blog. Next best thing to trains?
Morning Safety Dance [12:58 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Hardware Reviews [12:58 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Thanks Neutronbeam.
- Case: Fractal Design Terra review - PC Gamer.
- CPU/GPU/AIO/SSD Cooler: Review- Tryx Panorama ARGB 360 - an AIO with a panoramic screen - Guru3D.
- Handheld: Acer Nitro Blaze 11 hands-on review- Large and (sort of) in charge - Tom's Guide.
- Headset/Earbuds: PowerColor Alphyn AH10 Review - TechPowerUp.
- Laptop: Lenovo ThinkBook 16 G7+ review - A 16-inch multimedia laptop with AMD Zen 5 and a 3.2K display upgrade - NotebookCheck.net.
- Motherboard: ASRock Z890 Lightning WiFi Motherboard - OCInside.
- Motherboard: ASUS TUF GAMING CAPTURE BOX-4KPRO Review - ThinkComputers.org.
- Printer: HP Color LaserJet Pro 3201dw Review - PCMag.
- PSU: NZXT C1500 Review - TechPowerUp.
- UPS: Eaton Ellipse ECO 1600 UPS - Nikk Tech.
Out of the Blue [12:58 pm ET] – Share – 25 Comments
I know some of you live in more arctic climes, but it's been pretty damned
frigid here in the BlueTower for a while now. Today it calls for a low of -3°F,
which is simply not enough degrees. The good news is we still have that batch of
chili I made the other day. But there's more bad news, as it's actually not
spicy enough! In cutting the recipe in half and substituting peppers I managed
to make a mild batch of chili for the very first time in my life. I would put
this at maybe 1½ stars out of five, and I bet my mildest ever before that was
three times as hot. Oh well, we can always add some hot sauce. That feels like
cheating, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
Mild Round-up
Thanks Ant, Neutronbeam, and Max.Breakfast Link
Science
- Sleeping pills stop the brain’s system for cleaning out waste - Ars Technica.
- Ozempic-style drugs tied to more than 60 health benefits and risks in biggest study-of-its-kind - Live Science.
- Peeing is contagious among chimps - Ars Technica.
Media
- Forgotten Manned Mars Mission Plans - The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered. Thanks RedEye9.
- Part II of -Shrouded Destiny- A Star Wars Long Tale - Fan Production.
- AFK- A Hole in the World - Part One - Created with Unreal Engine and Reallusion Iclone - AFK.
Auction
Follow-ups
- Study Finds Coffee Linked to Lower Risk of Dementia, But There's a Catch - ScienceAlert. Must be unsweetened and caffeinated, as nature intended.
- Antibacterials are everywhere- for the sake of our microbiome, we need to control their use - The Conversation.
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