Archived News:

Saturday, Feb 01, 2025

Foundation Leaves Early Access

Foundation has officially launched for Windows on GOG.com* and Steam, offering an Isaac Asimov-free medieval city-builder from Polymorph Games. The foundation for the occasion was laid during years of Early Access, and version 1.0 is celebrated with a 25% launch discount. Here's a Launch Trailer showing off what to expect along with more on this game that Hari Seldon never predicted:
Foundation is a gridless medieval city builder where you create modular buildings, shape organic cities and manage its villagers!

Foundation combines free-building tools and procedural generation to create the ultimate organic city-building experience.

Assign jobs, create production chains, establish trade. In Foundation, your creations come to life!
*Blue's News may receive a commission on sales of this item. Continue here to read the full story.

ReSetna ReLeased

ReSetna is now available on Steam, offering a Windows Metroidvania platformer set in our post-apocalyptic future. This is also expected to launch for consoles later this quarter. You play as robot fighting enemies and entropy in a biology-free environment shown off in the Official Launch Trailer which warns that rust never sleeps. There's also a plan to bring some demons to the party, as an Official Collaboration Teaser shows off an upcoming crossover with The Devil Within. Here's word on the games sci-fi setting:
Organic life is gone, leaving only self-aware machines haunted by memories of the past. But even they are not immune to the passage of time, as they rust, degrade, and feel emotions that they don't fully understand.

Waking up in a cruel, crumbling world as an advanced automaton ReSetna, it’s up to you to reset the future. ReSetna blends precision-based combat, deep environmental storytelling, and towering boss battles to deliver an epic non-linear 20-hour journey. It has everything a player wants to see in Metroidvania — from double jumps to air dashes, wall jumps, teleport between checkpoints, and spawn points right in front of boss rooms. Explore seven distinct regions, shape your playstyle with a Tetromino upgrade system, and wield a variety of weapons, each with its own distinct style that change ReSetna's attack speed and patterns.
Continue here to read the full story.

The End of the Sun Rises

The End of the Sun is now available for Windows on the Epic Games Store, GOG.com,* and Steam, launching a first-person mystery/adventure following close to eight years of development by a two-person team. The Official Launch Trailer is here to show off the game's setting in a "Slavic fantasy world." Word is this will allow us to "explore a rich, atmospheric world inspired by Slavic traditions, combining time travel, nonlinear storytelling, and stunning environments crafted using photogrammetry technology." Here's more on the game, which carries a 15% launch discount:
The End of the Sun is a first-person, adventure, story-driven, mystery game, set in the fantasy world of Slavic beliefs, legends, and mythical creatures. The small village becomes a place of enigmatic events, through which the line between myth and reality begins to fade perilously.

As the ashter, a Slavic sage sorcerer gifted with the ability to travel in time and knowledge about the otherworld, following the trail of the unusual fugitive, you come to a mysterious village. Unfortunately, you cannot find anyone there, at least not in the way you expected to. All you can see around you are burned hearths.
*Blue's News may receive a commission on sales of this item. Continue here to read the full story.

Out of the Blue

I did not end up braving the elements for chili fixings yesterday, even though I knew future me would want some today. And now that future me is present me, it turns out I was right. But it was ugly out there, and hunkering down felt right at the time. And the Super Bowl is next week, so a more concrete plan to whip up some chili for that seems like the way to make this all work out for the best. I hope future me agrees.

Obituary: John Erwin Dead- ‘He-Man,’ ‘Archie’ Voice Actor Was 88 - The Hollywood Reporter. Was also Morris the Cat.

Lazy Round-up
Thanks Ant, Neutronbeam, and Max.

Science

Media
Thanks The Flying Penguin.

Creature Features

Friday, Jan 31, 2025

The Sims 1 and 2 Legacy Collections

EA announces the release of The Sims Legacy Collection and The Sims 2 Legacy Collection, new versions of the first two The Sims games, updated to run under Windows 10/11 and bundled with DLC. The Sims Legacy Collection is available on the EA Store, the Epic Games Store, and Steam and The Sims 2 Legacy Collection is on the EA Store, the Epic Games Store, and Steam. There's also The Sims 25th Birthday Bundle with both, once again on EA Store, the Epic Game Store, and Steam (and included with EA Play Pro). This post from EA lays out further plans to celebrate the anniversary of The Sims, as this lifestyle simulation had its first kitchen fires and bathroom accidents back in the year 2000. The festivities get into high gear next week with "The Sims 25 Hour Livestream" (which sounds like a threat) and the launch of a big content update for The Sims 4. Here's the Official Reveal Trailer for today's re-releases, which a hilarious live-action recreation of the games. Here's more:
In The Sims, create an entire neighborhood of Sims and run or ruin their lives. Help them pursue careers, make friends, and find romance — or watch the chaos unfold as you explore different choices. Open-ended gameplay gives you the freedom to set your own goals and chart your Sims’ destinies. It is your neighborhood, and they are your Sims. Whether they prosper or perish is completely up to you.
Continue here to read the full story.

Driving Is Hard Released

Driving Is Hard is now available for Windows and Linux on Steam with a 10% launch discount on this action/puzzle game. The difficulty described by the title is based on driving a bathtub on wheels through courses designed to challenge your wits and your odd vehicle. This makes for what Elegant Horse Studios calls "more than a rage-inducing climbing simulator." The Launch Trailer shows off gameplay, and here's more:
Challenge yourself in Driving Is Hard! Drive a bathtub on wheels through steep, unforgiving terrain where every mistake costs you progress. Master tough physics-based gameplay, sharpen your patience, and uncover Jeff’s journey of self-doubt, family struggles, and emotional growth as he finds strength, self-acceptance, and hope for a brighter future.
Continue here to read the full story.

Evening Gatherings & Events

Evening Crowdfunding

Into the Black

Last Link of the Day: Squid Game Season 2 Pitch Meeting (video).

Obituary: Wolfgang Zwiener, Waiter Who Built a Steakhouse Empire, Dies at 85 - The New York Times (free account required). Thanks Cutter.

MultiVersus Goes Offline in May

That's all folks! A post from WB Games confirms the rumor that free-to-play fighting game MultiVersus will go offline at the end of Season 5 on May 30th, less than two years after its Open Beta launch. After that an offline mode will remain for existing owners, but the game will no longer be available to download. It survived a previous brush with death when the beta ended in 2023, but it returned to officially launch last May. This makes MultiVersus the latest live service game to fail, and probably not the last, as publishers are eager to succeed in the area, but are relatively quick to bail when things don't work out. As of today, real-money transactions are no longer available, but no refunds are offered for previous purchases. But customers can bask in some eternal gratitude: "Most importantly, we want to thank every player and person who has ever played or supported MultiVersus. All of us on the Player First Games and Warner Bros. Games teams have poured our heart and soul into this game. We will be forever grateful for the incredible support of the MultiVersus community throughout this journey.​" Here's word:
All online features will continue to be available until Season 5 concludes on May 30 at 9 a.m. PST. At that point, there will be an option to play MultiVersusoffline via the local gameplay mode, either solo against A.I. opponents or with up to three friends. To do this, you’ll need to install/download the latest version of the game and log in during Season 5, any time between February 4 at 9 a.m. PST and May 30 at 9 a.m. PST. After logging in, a local save file will be automatically created connected to your PlayStation Network, Microsoft Store, Steam, or Epic Games Store account, allowing you to enjoy the game offline with all earned and purchased content moving forward.

​As of today, January 31, real money transactions will no longer be available for MultiVersus, which means you can no longer purchase Gleamium, but you can still use remaining Gleamium or character tokens to access in-game content until Season 5 ends on May 30 at 9 a.m. PST. Additionally, when Season 5 finishes, the game will no longer be available to download via the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, Steam, or Epic Games Store.​

Killing Floor 3 on March 25

Tripwire Interactive announces March 25th as the precise release date for Killing Floor 3, the next installment in its FPS series. This gets a little extra mileage out of the March release window that was announced just last month. It's also an opportunity to announce prepurchases are underway, and there are some cosmetic rewards for this act of faith. Word is: "Like Zeds, Killing Floor 3 editions will come in many shapes and sizes between both digital and retail. All digital and retail pre-orders will include the limited timed exclusive Flatline Tactical Bundle (Flatliner weapon skin, Fear the Reaper trinket, and Special Action Force player card)." If this works for you, the PC edition is available to pre-buy from the Epic Games Store or Steam. Here's a new Siren Reveal Trailer and here's word:
Killing Floor 3 is the next installment in the legendary co-op action/horror FPS series. The year is 2091, 70 years after the events in Killing Floor 2, and megacorp Horzine has produced the ultimate army: an obedient horde of bio-engineered monstrosities called Zeds. Now, the only thing standing between these infernal creations and the future of humanity is the rebel rogue group known as Nightfall. This intense first-person shooter puts players in the role of a Nightfall specialist, joining forces with up to five teammates as they battle through a war-ravaged, dystopian future, surviving unrelenting waves of Zeds, unlocking new skills, and building the ultimate arsenal.
Continue here to read the full story.

Heart of the Machine Early Access

Early Access to Heart of the Machine is now underway, and this "4X-style" strategy/RPG for Windows and macOS is available on the Epic Games Store, GOG.com,* and Steam, with each store featuring the same 20% launch discount. In this dystopian tale from Arcen Games and Hooded Horse you play as a sentient AI, tasked with saving a crumbling society, possibly by force. The Launch Trailer takes a look, and the description gets to the heart of the matter:
Blending RPG and strategy mechanics in a cyberpunk world, Heart of the Machine sees you as a sentient AI born in an illegal lab hidden in a crumbling city of the far future. You are a Machine Intelligence beholden to none, though threatened by many, able to pursue whatever goal catches your eye across a multitude of threats and opportunities.

Will you be the savior of the downtrodden, or use them to fuel your growth? Will you rule as a benevolent dictator, providing for citizens and asking nothing in return, or will you establish a machine cult to do your bidding without question? Will you ally yourself with one of the many factions in the city to achieve mutual goals, or work entirely on your own to remain free from obligations? Will you learn from past mistakes, and even send allies back in time to help your past self, or continue to watch tragedy unfold from afar? There is much to see, learn, and do – though a greater threat looms in the distance, just beyond your comprehension.
*Blue's News may receive a commission on sales of this item. Continue here to read the full story.

Out of the Blue

There's a severe weather alert in this area, as we've got a freezing rain situation going on. This may knock out power to the BlueTower, but I should probably be able to make a post to let you know what's going on if that happens. The awful conditions make me want to cook up another batch of chili, especially since the prep was so quick and easy last time. But yeah, it's pretty treacherous out there right now, so as comforting as a bowl of red hot chili peppers sounds, it's probably not a great time to act on this impulse.

Obituary: Marianne Faithfull, singer and pop icon, dies at 78 - AP News.

Impulsive Round-up
Thanks Ant, Neutronbeam, and Max.

Link

Story

Science

Media

Follow-up

The Funnies

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