Category: Games

UK Online Safety Act Killing games: Cult text-based zombie MMO Urban Dead is shutting down after “a full 19 years, 8 months and 11 days”

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The UK Online Safety Act passed into law in 2023, and it properly comes into effect in 2025 with the threats of millions of pounds in fines. For Kevan Davis, the solo British dev behind the text-based zombie MMO Urban Dead, the risks presented by this legislation are too great, and his browser game is Read more about UK Online Safety Act Killing games: Cult text-based zombie MMO Urban Dead is shutting down after “a full 19 years, 8 months and 11 days”[…]

EA just released source code for a bunch of old Command and Conquer games, and added Steam Workshop support to some more

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…]EA’s announced that it’s releasing the source code for a bunch of old C&C games and—here’s the bit where I, as a man who enjoys modding but is also very lazy, gets excited—adding Steam Workshop support to a few more. The games getting a source code release are Command & Conquer (Tiberian Dawn), Red Alert, Read more about EA just released source code for a bunch of old Command and Conquer games, and added Steam Workshop support to some more[…]

Ubisoft Facing Lawsuit Over Shutting Down Online Game

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In 2014, Ubisoft launched The Crew as an open-world, always-online racing game with a campaign and multiplayer mode. It was a fairly successful game for Ubisoft, spawning two sequels—The Crew 2 and Crew: Motorfest. But in December 2023, Ubisoft suddenly delisted the racing game from digital stores and, in April 2024, completely shut off its Read more about Ubisoft Facing Lawsuit Over Shutting Down Online Game[…]

A Million People Play This Video Wargame. So Do Militaries across the world.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Warfare is changing at a pace unseen in almost a century, as fighting in Ukraine and the Middle East shows. For military commanders, tackling that upheaval demands fast and constant adaptation. Increasingly, that entails playing games. Wargames—long the realm of top brass and classified plans—let strategists test varying scenarios, using different tactics and equipment. Now they Read more about A Million People Play This Video Wargame. So Do Militaries across the world.[…]

Feds Say You Don’t Have a Right to Check Out Retro Video Games Like Library Books. Want you to pirate them apparently.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Most of the world’s video games from close to 50 years of history are effectively, legally dead. A Video Games History Foundation study found you can’t buy nearly 90% of games from before 2010. Preservationists have been looking for ways to allow people to legally access gaming history, but the U.S. Copyright Office dealt them a heavy blow Read more about Feds Say You Don’t Have a Right to Check Out Retro Video Games Like Library Books. Want you to pirate them apparently.[…]

Minecraft is ending all virtual reality support next spring

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…]Developer Mojang announced last month that March 2025 would be the last update for the game on PlayStation VR. Yesterday’s patch notes for the Bedrock edition of the game use similar language, stating that “Our ability to support VR/MR devices has come to an end, and will no longer be supported in updates after March Read more about Minecraft is ending all virtual reality support next spring[…]

Steam adds the harsh truth that you’re buying “a license,” not the game itself

Posted on by Robin Edgar

It’s scary to think about how many games in your backlog will never get played; scarier, still, to think about how you don’t, in most real senses of the word, own any of them. Now Valve, seemingly working to comply with a new California law targeting “false advertising” of “digital goods,” has added language to Read more about Steam adds the harsh truth that you’re buying “a license,” not the game itself[…]

Nvidia’s third-party RTX 40-series GPUs are losing performance over time thanks to rubbish factory-installed thermal paste

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Modern graphics cards use lots of power and all of it is turned into heat. So if you’re paying many hundreds of dollars for a powerful GPU, you’d expect no expense to be spared on the cooling system. It turns out that for many Nvidia RTX 40-series vendors, the expense is being spared and cheap, Read more about Nvidia’s third-party RTX 40-series GPUs are losing performance over time thanks to rubbish factory-installed thermal paste[…]

Apparently the idiots who pay for pre-order are now paying for ‘early access’ in games

Posted on by Robin Edgar

While it didn’t technically start last year, in 2023 we saw an increase in the number of games offering “early access” for a price. Mortal Kombat 1, The Crew: Motorfest, Starfield, Diablo 4, and a few others all offered players an option: Pay the standard price to play the game at launch or pay extra Read more about Apparently the idiots who pay for pre-order are now paying for ‘early access’ in games[…]

Helldivers 2 Won’t Require PSN Account On Steam after all, Sony Confirms

Posted on by Robin Edgar

PlayStation has announced that, after about three days of online yelling and reviewing bombing, it will no longer require Helldivers 2 players on PC to link their Steam account to a PlayStation Network account in order to continue accessing the popular sci-fi co-op shooter. On May 2, PlayStation and Arrowhead Games Studios—the developers behind Helldivers Read more about Helldivers 2 Won’t Require PSN Account On Steam after all, Sony Confirms[…]

Sony Shuts Down LittleBigPlanet 3 Servers, destroying Fan Creations – don’t trust the cloud

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Sony has indefinitely decommissioned the PlayStation 4 servers for puzzle platformer LittleBigPlanet 3, the company announced in an update to one of its support pages. The permanent shutdown comes just months after the servers were temporarily taken offline due to ongoing issues. Fans now fear potentially hundreds of thousands of player creations not saved locally Read more about Sony Shuts Down LittleBigPlanet 3 Servers, destroying Fan Creations – don’t trust the cloud[…]

Ubisoft is deleting The Crew from players’ libraries, reminding us we own nothing

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Ubisoft’s online-only racing game The Crew stopped being operable on April 1. Some users are reporting, however, that things have gone a bit further. They say that the company actually reached into Ubisoft Connect accounts and revoked the license to access the game, according to reports by Game Rant and others. Some of these users Read more about Ubisoft is deleting The Crew from players’ libraries, reminding us we own nothing[…]

Ubisoft At The Center Of A Fight To Stop Online Game Shutdowns – help out yourself

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In an increasingly digital age, owning media outright has become less and less possible. Whether it’s movies, music, books, or video games, the pivot to digital has made it harder for consumers to own permanent, physical copies of their favorite pieces of media. In video games, myriad titles that players have spent time and money Read more about Ubisoft At The Center Of A Fight To Stop Online Game Shutdowns – help out yourself[…]

No Man’s Sky gets unique computer-generated space stations and ship customisation

Posted on by Robin Edgar

No Man’s Sky is still getting major updates. Developer Hello Games’ “Orbital” update, due Wednesday, adds procedurally generated space stations (so they’ll be different every time), a ship editor and a Guild system to the nearly eight-year-old space exploration sim. Up until now, space stations have been one of the few parts of No Man’s Read more about No Man’s Sky gets unique computer-generated space stations and ship customisation[…]

Apex Legends streamers surprised to find aimbot and other hacks added to their PCs in the middle of major competition

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Apex Legends Global Series is currently in regional finals mode, but the North America finals have been delayed after two players were hacked mid-match. First, Noyan “Genburten” Ozkose of DarkZero suddenly found himself able to see other players through walls, then Phillip “ImperialHal” Dosen of TSM was given an aimbot. Genburten’s hack happened part Read more about Apex Legends streamers surprised to find aimbot and other hacks added to their PCs in the middle of major competition[…]

Doom running on gut bacteria, proving you really can play the game on anything

Posted on by Robin Edgar

An MIT biotech researcher has been able to run the iconic computer game Doom using actual gut bacteria. Lauren Ramlan didn’t get the game going on a digital simulation of bacteria, but turned actual bacteria into pixels to display the 30-year-old FPS, as reported by Rock Paper Shotgun. Specifically, Ramlan created a display inside of Read more about Doom running on gut bacteria, proving you really can play the game on anything[…]

Ubisoft Just Delisted The Crew Game Without Warning – will be unplayable

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Ubisoft’s The Crew, which was released in 2014 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, has been delisted without warning. Its servers will shut off next year, too. And because the game is an always-online experience, Ubisoft has confirmed that it will become unplayable once that happens. The Crew is a massive open-world Read more about Ubisoft Just Delisted The Crew Game Without Warning – will be unplayable[…]

Former GTA Developer’s Blog Removed After Rockstar Complains

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Former Rockstar North developer Obbe Vermeij had been enjoying a few weeks of sharing some decades-old tales. Reminiscing on his many years with the GTA developer, Vermeij took to his personal blog to recall revealing inside stories behind games like San Andreas and Vice City, and everyone was having a good time. Until Rockstar North Read more about Former GTA Developer’s Blog Removed After Rockstar Complains[…]

Latest Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch Nerfs Sex Speedruns because… Americans?

Posted on by Robin Edgar

For being a role-playing game based on 5e Dungeons & Dragons, Baldur’s Gate 3 is notoriously horny. Regardless of mythical race, gender, or social station, many of the game’s alluring party members are willing to at least spank you, and because of this, BG3 has a thriving and official sex speedrun category. For a time, Read more about Latest Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch Nerfs Sex Speedruns because… Americans?[…]

An Alarming 87 Percent Of Retro Games Are Being Lost To Time

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) partnered with the Software Preservation Network, an organization intent on advancing software preservation through collective action, to release a report on the disappearance of classic video games. “Classic” in this case has been defined as all games released before 2010, which the VGHF noted is the “year when Read more about An Alarming 87 Percent Of Retro Games Are Being Lost To Time[…]

EVE Online player uses CEO vote to pull off the biggest heist in the game’s history

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Back in 2017, we learned about the biggest heist in EVE Online history (opens in new tab): A year-long inside job that ultimately made off with an estimated 1.5 triillion ISK, worth around $10,000 in real money. But now another EVE player claims to have pulled off a heist worth significantly more than that—and with Read more about EVE Online player uses CEO vote to pull off the biggest heist in the game’s history[…]

Hogwarts Legacy Is Twitch’s Most Popular Game Right Now – woke loud minority haters don’t actually have any influence at all

Posted on by Robin Edgar

According to the data analytics site TwitchTracker, Hogwarts Legacy had a peak concurrent viewership of over 1.2 million between February 6 and 7. The game’s ranked sixth overall on the site, with more than 16 million hours watched in the last few days. Looking at Twitch right now, Hogwarts Legacy is the most popular game Read more about Hogwarts Legacy Is Twitch’s Most Popular Game Right Now – woke loud minority haters don’t actually have any influence at all[…]

With ChatGPT, Game NPCs Get A Lot More Interesting

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Not only is AI-driven natural language processing a thing now, but you can even select from a number of different offerings, each optimized for different tasks. It took very little time for [Bloc] to mod a computer game to allow the player to converse naturally with non-player characters (NPCs) by hooking it into ChatGPT, a Read more about With ChatGPT, Game NPCs Get A Lot More Interesting[…]

D&D Publisher In All kinds of trouble Over Controversial License changes – unsubscribes caused server crash, PR statement made

Posted on by Robin Edgar

After a week of silence amid intense backlash, Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast (WoTC) has finally addressed its community’s concerns about changes to the open gaming license. The open gaming license (OGL) has existed since 2000 and has made it possible for a diverse ecosystem of third-party creators to publish virtual tabletop Read more about D&D Publisher In All kinds of trouble Over Controversial License changes – unsubscribes caused server crash, PR statement made[…]

Epic Cutting Off Online Service, Servers For Some Old Games

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Fortnite developer Epic Games announced today that it will no longer provide online service or servers for 17 older games, including six from the Unreal series dating back as far as 1998, and it will end access to some additional games entirely. […] The full list of affected games is as follows: 1000 Tiny Claws Read more about Epic Cutting Off Online Service, Servers For Some Old Games[…]