Archived News:
Tuesday, Mar 11, 2025
The Division 2 Sixth Anniversary [8:11 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Ubisoft is celebrating an anniversary, as Tom Clancy's The Division 2
launched on March 15, 2019 after entering
premium Early Access six years ago today. A
6th anniversary
celebration video marks the occasion and includes a look at the game's
upcoming Battle for Brooklyn DLC. Players of the action/RPG/shooter are
also offered the chance to earn rewards through playing as well as watching
Twitch streams:
Anniversary in-game rewards include an Anniversary backpack displaying players’ SHD level, which can be claimed by logging in starting from March 12. Additionally, players can earn XP bonuses at 5 times the normal rate from now until March 18.Continue here to read the full story.
Players can also earn rewards out of game through Twitch drops from now until March 17. Viewers will earn free rewards, including Exotic and Named caches, arm patches, and weapon skins, by watching any partnered Division 2 Twitch stream during that period. Players will also be able to participate in Punishment and Crime cosmetic bundle giveaways, with more info coming tomorrow on the official Division 2 X and Instagram channels.
Centum Released [8:11 pm ET] – Share – 5 Comments
The scent of Centum is in the air, as this "unreliable" adventure game
from Serenity Forge and Hack The Publisher is now available for PC and consoles.
The Windows and macOS edition is
on Steam with a
20% launch discount, and a playable demo to sample. Here's honest word on why
the game is a lie: "Centum is an unreliable narrative-driven adventure that's
not what it seems. In this game, everything— characters, objects, even the world
itself— may be a lie. Can you find a way out? Do you even want to?" The
Launch Trailer is here
to lie to us some more, and here's more to run through your BS
detector:
You're a prisoner in a cell. You have to escape. But is that really the goal?Continue here to read the full story.
Unreliable Narrator: Centum challenges traditional gaming conventions by weaving an intricate narrative where reality is as fluid as the mind of its narrator.
Mind-bending Gameplay: Navigate a series of daunting scenarios, each shrouded in uncertainty and enigma. Every click and decision is remembered, forcing you to grapple with the unreliable nature of the narrator's hints and guidance.
On Sale [8:11 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- RPG Maker Beyond Expectations Bundle (pay what you want and help charity) - Humble.*
- The Ultimate Game Dev Music Bundle (pay what you want and help charity) - Humble.*
*Blue's News may receive a commission on sales of this item.
Evening Patches [8:11 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Official patches.
Virtual Reality Check [8:11 pm ET] – Share – 1 Comment
- Apple Vision Pro goes off to never never land with Metallica concert footage - TechRadar.
- Out of Sight VR - Official Announcement Trailer.
- POSTAL 2 VR - Official Announcement Trailer.
- Shadowgate VR- The Mines of Mythrok - Coming Soon Trailer - PS VR2 Games.
- Surviving Mars: Pioneer - Official Announcement Trailer.
Evening Multiplex [8:10 pm ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Official trailers.
Evening Tech Bits [8:10 pm ET] – Share – 3 Comments
Thanks Ant.
- Undervolted RX 9070 XT beats RTX 5080 — RX 9070 and 9070 XT models with heavy coolers have massive OC headroom - Tom's Hardware.
- Trump reverses new tariffs threat on Canada after Ontario rescinds electricity charges - CNN Business.
- How Trump could potentially claw back CHIPS funding - Ars Technica.
- Microsoft is phasing out its Remote Desktop app in May - Engadget.
- Apple security releases 11 Mar 2025 - Apple Support. New Safari, iOS, macOS, etc.
- Releases · paintdotnet-release 5.1.5 - Github. Thanks Broadband Bulletin.
Evening Legal Briefs [8:10 pm ET] – Share – 1 Comment
- Rockstar Owner Take-Two Sues PlayerAuctions for Allegedly Selling Hacked GTA Online Accounts and Currency - IGN.
- Coder faces 10 years' jailtime for creating a 'kill switch' that screwed-up his employers' systems when he was laid off - PC Gamer.
- Media Matters sues X to stop lawsuits outside of the US - The Verge.
- Alleged Co-Founder of Garantex Arrested in India – Krebs on Security.
- FTC’s $25.5M scam refund treats victims to $34 each • The Register.
Into the Black [8:10 pm ET] – Share – 2 Comments
Rise of the Ronin Rises [11:59 am ET] – Share – 9 Comments
Rise of the Ronin is now available
on Steam,
offering PC gamers a Windows edition of KOEI TECMO's open-world action/RPG that
was previously only available on PlayStation 5. Previous PS5 ports received
criticism for requiring a PlayStation Network login, but
as it recently
announced, Sony is no longer making this extra step mandatory.
This post heralds the news, outlining PC-specific features like 8K
resolution, ultrawidescreen support, ray tracing, and more. It also features a
Steam Version Launch
Trailer and this description of this feudal endeavor:
In Rise of the Ronin, fans will play as a ronin in 1853 Japan in turmoil. With Japan’s fate now in their hands, players will encounter various historical figures and factions with differing ideologies, and make significant decisions such as whether to confront or defend them. Players will also be able to form special relationships with some characters thanks to the “Veiled Vow” system, which will allow them to freely shape their own experience of the Bakumatsu period.Continue here to read the full story.
Vanguard Exiles Early Access [11:59 am ET] – Share – 1 Comment
Vanguard Exiles has entered Early Access for Windows
on Steam,
giving birth to the newest game by Richard Garfield, famed for creating
Magic: The Gathering. This is an auto-battler promising "a unique and
eclectic gameplay experience" thanks to its combination of tabletop design with
digital design. The previously released
Gameplay Trailer takes
a look, and the playable demo remains available to see what that's all about.
This post marks the occasion with a discussion of what to expect from Early
Access. Read on for more:
Vanguard Exiles is set in a fantasy post World War I diesel punk era where magic and technology fuse together.Continue here to read the full story.
Following the cataclysm that was the Day of Ash, the exiled people of each of the world’s factions were thrust into a war-torn realm. With survival hinging on putting differences aside, Generals like you came forward to band exiles together to form Vanguards; and lead them into battle to reclaim the broken world before them.
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Reviews [11:59 am ET] – Share – 20 Comments
Here's a roundup of evaluations of AMD's new gaming CPU, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D:
- Ryzen 9 9950X3D review- AMD irons out nearly every single downside of 3D V-Cache - Ars Technica.
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D review- 16 cores plus top-tier gaming performance - Eurogamer.net.
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU Review & Benchmarks vs. 9800X3D, 285K, 9950X, & More - Gamers Nexus (video).
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Review, 3D V-Cache For Work & Play - Hardware Unboxed (video).
- Ryzen 9 9900X3D Analysis: Another AMD pricing disaster - KitGuruTech (video).
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D review vs 7950X3D, performance benchmark in gaming, Office, productivity - Neowin.
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Review - PC Gamer.
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Review - Great for Gaming and Productivity - TechPowerUp.
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Review- Stunning gaming performance meets top-tier productivity - Tom's Hardware.
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D review and benchmarks - The Verge.
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D Review Roundup - VideoCardz.com.
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D review- Is $150 V-Cache worth 5% gains- - Windows Central.
BlizzCon Returns Next Year [11:59 am ET] – Share – 6 Comments
Blizzard has broken radio silence on BlizzCon, and while there will be no
BlizzCon 2025, word is the self-centered gaming gathering will return in
September 2026. This follows the
cancellation of BlizzCon 2024, which followed the chaos of pandemic lockdowns
and online events. Blizzard has been though a lot in the years since this event
was a must-attend for a rabid fanbase, so it will be interesting to see how this
is received. Here's word on the distant future plan:
BlizzCon is back! The ultimate celebration of our games and the community that unites us is returning to the Anaheim Convention Center Saturday, September 12, and Sunday, September 13, in 2026.Continue here to read the full story.
One of our favorite traditions, BlizzCon brings us together over our shared passion for Blizzard’s universes, but at its heart, BlizzCon has always been about so much more. It’s about you, the communities you are a part of, and gives us the chance to connect, build friendships, and create unforgettable memories together.
Voxile Early Access [11:59 am ET] – Share – 2 Comments
Early Access is now underway
on Steam to
Voxile, a sandbox voxel-powered world in which almost everything can be
destroyed. This recent
Re-Reveal Gameplay Trailer shows off ray-traced visuals, combat, building,
and destruction, as well as a little mining and a little crafting. Here's the
pitch on the launch, which is 15% off for the next week:
VoxRay Games just released Voxile (formerly Voxlands) into Early Access on Steam! Get ready to blast, build, and battle through stunning, fully destructible voxel worlds!Continue here to read the full story.
Players can play through one of the many interesting prebuilt RPG scenarios to get a grip on how the game plays, but that's only the start of the fun. Everyone is free to craft their own gorgeous raytraced voxel worlds and share them with their friends or the Voxile community, the possibilities are endless and only limited by your own creativity.
Disco Elysium Follow-up PROJECT [C4] Revealed [11:59 am ET] – Share – 1 Comment
ZA/UM Studio offers
a new Teaser Trailer
for PROJECT [C4], which is the codename for the next project from the
Disco Elysium developer. There's no official announcement yet, but
Inverse
has details from a press briefing with first discussion of the game and its
espionage theme:
The new game hearkens back to award-winning Disco Elysium even if it’s not a direct sequel. It has all the same trappings — you play as an agent, this time, unraveling greater conspiracies that you serve as an unwitting pawn in. The boss you serve is of dubious morality. (In Disco, you were, similarly, an alcoholic cop with severe amnesia, a cog in the larger machinations of others.) And just as before, it sounds like you can do substances and drink to alter your state of mind, and receive temporary benefits — in what the writers are calling “a new mind-warping espionage RPG.”Continue here to read the full story.
Wanderstop Released [11:59 am ET] – Share – 1 Comment
Wanderstop is out for PC and consoles, and you can wander over to
Steam if
you want to pick up the Windows edition of this "narrative-centric cozy game
about change and tea."
This post on Steam News has more on what that description means, illustrated
by the launch trailer.
There's a deeper dive in
Ritual + Repetition- Creating Meaning in Wanderstop's Game Design, a video
where developer Annapurna Interactive further outlines it goals. Here's the
description:
Wanderstop is a narrative-centric cozy game about change and tea. Playing as a fallen fighter named Alta, you’ll manage a tea shop within a magical forest and tend to the customers who pass through. But Alta does not want to be here. And if she gets her way, the tea shop will be nothing but a brief and painful memory.Continue here to read the full story.
Wanderstop is a tea shop management ritual. Grow and harvest the ingredients needed for tea, and then mix them together in an unusual tea-making contraption. Along the way, speak with the many travelers who pass through the shop, learn their stories and make tea that’s just right for them.
Battlefall: State of Conflict Early Access [11:59 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Battlefall has commenced, as
Steam now features Early Access to Battlefall: State of Conflict, a
real-time strategy game from MicroProse Software and Kyoto Video Game Concern.
This features three factions that have decided the solution to a post-apocalyptic
world is to keep fighting. Described as an "unapologetic love for the Command &
Conquer legacy," this
trailer shows off a decidedly old-school feel.
This post has a development roadmap charting the game's course through Early
Access, and here's more on the launch, which comes with a 20% discount for the
next two weeks:
Battlefall: State of Conflict is a high-octane real-time strategy (RTS) game that catapults you into a post-apocalyptic ruin in which the battle thunder of three distinct factions - 'Earth Forces Network,' 'Scrappers,' and the 'SEL' - rolls across the globe. Build your base, train your forces, evolve your strategies with unrivaled freedom and no pop-limits. Your fortifications are only as efficient as your imagination allows it to be. How you complete your objectives is entirely up to you: gather resources and amass your armies to steam-roll the enemy, or formulate and engage an alternate approach-- with Battlefall Upgrades, Base Expansion units, and Unit Veterancy at your disposal no two battles are ever the same!
Odinfall Early Access [11:59 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Odinfall is now available in Early Access
on Steam,
kicking off a Roguelite twin-stick shooter that combines Viking lore with
science fiction weaponry in a battle against robotic Norse gods. You know, the
ususal. The Early Access
Launch Trailer shows how all this comes together. Here's word:
Take on an army of robotic Norse gods at the dawn of the second Ragnarok in brutally fast, intense twin-stick action. Equip wild modifiable weaponry, upgrade your skills, unlock over-the-top abilities, and carve your path through destructible levels in a savage post-apocalyptic Viking future.Continue here to read the full story.
Try, die, and try again, choosing from a variety of playable characters each with unique skill trees. Stampede foes as a Viking Moose, punch gods in the face as the Cyberserker, slice through mobs as a Dark Elf, mine gold as the Dwarf, or dual-wield miniguns twice your size as a Gnome. Defy death in a fight for men and moose-kind in an epic battle against hordes of enemies and colossal bosses in a Norse-mythological future to MAKE. ODIN. FALL.
Demos and Freebies [11:59 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- Inspector Schmidt - The Ebbing - Prolog on Steam (Windows). "This is the prologue to Inspector Schmidt - The Ebbing. In this detective RPG, the captain of a steamship collapses under mysterious circumstances during lunch. What happened? Question the passengers, discover and combine clues, and succeed in dice-based skill checks to solve the case."
Release Dates [11:58 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- Burden of Command Release Trailer. April 8th.
- Cyber Knights: Flashpoint - Official 1.0 Release Date Announcement Trailer. May 15th.
- The Fool's Apprentice Release Announcement - Wizard School Management Sim. April 14th.
- JDM- Japanese Drift Master - Release Date Update. May 21st.
- Steel Hunters - Early Access Date Announcement. April 2nd.
Morning Patches [11:58 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Virtual Reality Check [11:58 am ET] – Share – 1 Comment
- Can Gaming Save the Apple Vision Pro? - WIRED (may require registration or subscription).
Morning Multiplex [11:58 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Official trailers.
Morning Esports and Competitions [11:58 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- Trackmania Weekly Shorts – New Rules & Guidelines. Thanks Frans.
Morning Crowdfunding [11:58 am ET] – Share – 3 Comments
- Ludocene: Game Discovery From People You Trust by Andy Robertson — Kickstarter. "A dating app that matches you with games rather than people. A deck-builder that profiles your gaming taste."
- After suing a Disco Elysium writer to prevent him from making his own game, a tech CEO who's allegedly banned from the Disco Elysium subreddit is trying to crowdfund a spiritual successor - PC Gamer.
Morning Mobilization [11:58 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Morning Audio Files [11:58 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
- Audacity v3.7.2. Thanks Ant.
Hardware Reviews [11:58 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
Thanks Neutronbeam.
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Review- A New Level of Zen for Gaming PCs - Guru3D.
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Review - Vortez.
- Laptop: Apple M4 MacBook Air review- I have no notes - Ars Technica.
- Monitor/Projector: Alienware 27 4K QD-OLED (AW2725Q) Review - PCMag.
- SSD: PNY CS2150 SSD review- This is the PCIe 5.0 value buy to beat - PCWorld.
Out of the Blue [11:58 am ET] – Share – Post a Comment
If you visited around the time made the first update here yesterday you'd have
seen it was a bit of a disaster, with all sorts of problems and formatting
errors. After all my praise for my Expression Web experience, something went
terribly wrong. The software seems a trifle buggy, but I think a search and
replace I attempted caused part of the problem. I'm still proceeding with my
experiment though, as I am pretty good at finding bugs and workarounds, and I
think with some experience I can keep from being bucked off this bronco.
Expressive Round-up
Thanks Ant, Neutronbeam, and Max.Breakfast Link
Stories
Science
- Think You Understand Your Dog? Think Again. - The New York Times (free account required). Thanks j.c.f.
- 'One doctor told me I was making myself feel pain'- What happens when autoimmune disorders are misdiagnosed a 'psychosomatic' - Live Science.
- Hydrogen plasma breakthrough unlocks emission-free metal industry - Interesting Engineering.
Media
- 20 Mechanical Principles combined in a Useless Lego Machine - Brick Experiment Channel. Thanks The Flying Penguin.
Follow-up
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