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And the rest of today's news:

 

STEAM REVIEW SCORES WILL NO LONGER INCLUDE UNPAID GAMES OF ANY KIND
http://www.pcgamer.com/steam-review-scores-will-no-longer-include-unpaid-games-of-any-kind/
In September of last year, Valve made changes to Steam's user review system in an effort to combat "artificially inflated" review scores. The problem, as Valve saw it, was that free game keys could be used by developers to manipulate review scores, and so the solution was simple: Reviews based on games that were acquired from outside of Steam—review copies, giveaways, purchased from other retailers—would not count toward a game's final overall rating.

 

TWITCH DESKTOP APP ANNOUNCED, OPEN BETA TESTING BEGINS LATER THIS MONTH
http://www.pcgamer.com/the-twitch-desktop-app-begins-open-beta-testing-later-this-month/
Curse bills itself as "the next generation in gaming communication," with features including enhanced text and voice chat, an in-game overlay, multiplatform friends sync, and more. It was acquired last summer by Twitch in a deal that VentureBeat said could indicate interest in establishing a greater presence in the field of gamer-specific services. And that does appear to be the case: Less than two weeks after revealing its plan to start selling games, Twitch has announced that Curse will be enhanced, rebranded, and relaunched as the Twitch Desktop App.

 

HEARTHSTONE CARD PACK PRICES ARE GOING UP IN THE UK AND EU
http://www.pcgamer.com/hearthstone-card-pack-prices-are-going-up-in-the-uk-and-eu/
Blizzard has announced that the price of Hearthstone card packs, adventure wings, and arena tickets will be "adjusted" in non-US markets as of March 22, which of course means that they'll be going up. And as you might expect, an awful lot of people in the Hearthstone subreddit are not happy about it.

 

ELITE: DANGEROUS PAX TRAILER HINTS AT TROUBLE AHEAD FOR THE HUMAN RACE
http://www.pcgamer.com/elite-dangerous-pax-trailer-hints-at-trouble-ahead-for-the-human-race/
The search for the mysterious alien race known as the Thargoid in Elite: Dangerous seemed to finally bear fruit back in January, when a pilot encountered a bizarre, flower-like alien ship. The incident ended peacefully, although nobody seemed to believe that would last: As the first contact pilot put it, "If they are Thargoids, we're up shit creek without a paddle." Going by the "Unknown" trailer released today at PAX, he was 100 percent right—and it's time to start splashing.

 

QUAKE CHAMPIONS WILL BE FREE-TO-PLAY, WITH AN OPTION TO BUY IT OUTRIGHT
http://www.pcgamer.com/quake-champions-will-be-free-to-play-with-an-option-to-buy-it-outright/
Id Software creative director Tim Willits told Polygon today that the upcoming arena shooter Quake Champions, which id and Bethesda have recently been showing off, will offer players both free-to-play and paid options. Willits said that "at its core, it's a free-to-play game," but added that there are plenty of people who know what Quake brings to the table and would rather just pay up-front and jump in.

 

HERE ARE TWO OF THE MONSTERS YOU'LL BE ROUGHING UP IN ACTION RPG DAUNTLESS
http://www.pcgamer.com/here-are-two-of-the-monsters-youll-be-roughing-up-in-action-rpg-dauntless/
There's not a hint of daunt on display in the latest trailer for co-op action RPG Dauntless, and yes, 'co-op action RPG' is a fancy way of saying 'Monster Hunter-style game'. The major difference between this and yer actual Monster Hunter is that, hooray, it'll be on PC (and no, the Monster Hunter MMO didn't count). Another, smaller difference is that you'll be hunting 'behemoths' instead of 'monsters'—and those are totally different things, before a lawyer pokes their head out from a nearby bush. Brace yourself for a couple of minutes of cinematically shot, presumably in-game footage, featuring a group of hunters whacking a couple of beasties square in the chops.

 

NEW FRIDAY THE 13TH TRAILER IS LIKE AN '80S-STYLE MONTAGE OF BRUTAL MURDER
http://www.pcgamer.com/new-friday-the-13th-trailer-is-like-an-80s-style-montage-of-brutal-murder/
Friday the 13th developer Gun Media has released a new trailer for its multiplayer murder simulator, and surprise! It's brutal as hell.
Jason doesn't hide the fact that he's a big bully, giving those sinful camp kids swirlies and killing them in gruesome fashion. Seriously, it's actually kind of rude. It's all set to a hair metal song that sounds like it's straight from the '80s. The whole thing looks like it could be a montage for a movie like The Karate Kid or Rocky, where Jason is practicing his murderin' for his competition at the big tournament. Check it out in the embed at the top of this article.

 

MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA'S 'RECOMMENDED' SYSTEM PREDICTED TO RUN 30 FPS AT 1080P (UPDATED)
http://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-andromedas-recommended-system-predicted-to-run-30-fps-at-1080p/
The Mass Effect: Andromeda system requirements were made public a couple of weeks ago, and they were a little on the high side but not really any more than you'd expect from a big-budget action-adventure released in 2017. More recently, though, EA has posted performance predictions based on the minimum and recommended system specs, and those you might find a little surprising.
Update: We've received a little clarification on the question of exactly how well Mass Effect: Andromeda will perform on a 3GB GTX 1060. At PAX East today, we asked producer Michael Gamble if the card would really deliver 30 fps at best on high.

 

NEW MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA GAMEPLAY TAKES US THROUGH LIAM KOSTA'S LOYALTY MISSION
http://www.pcgamer.com/new-mass-effect-andromeda-gameplay-takes-us-through-liam-kostas-loyalty-mission/
Mass Effect: Andromeda is nearly a week away, and with it comes the return of Loyalty missions. We won't be able to play them for a little bit, but BioWare did show off part of one during its PAX East panel. You can watch the full panel in the embed above (via TheModernCamEraGuy).

>>There was also a Mass Effect livestream from PAX, with an article here.

 

TALE OF RONIN IS A GORGEOUS ROLE-PLAYER ABOUT THE HUMAN SIDE OF THE SAMURAI
http://www.pcgamer.com/tale-of-ronin-is-a-gorgeous-role-player-about-the-human-side-of-the-samurai/
Texan developer Dead Mage launched Shadow Blade: Reload in August 2015—an underrated action platformer with a striking art style. Its latest project, Tale of Ronin, further explores the studio's self-proclaimed "extreme interest" in Samurai culture, however does so in a very different direction.

 

PHANTOM HALLS LANDS ON EARLY ACCESS WITH EVIL DEAD 2 CROSSOVER
http://www.pcgamer.com/phantom-halls-lands-on-early-access-with-evil-dead-2-crossover/
As we reported last month, Phatom Halls is a neat-looking, papercraft-fashioned survival horror game said to be inspired by both Worms and Spelunky. Boasting 12 different enemy types, ten playable characters and six different procedurally-generated haunted house environments, it's out now on Early Access and celebrates with the following launch trailer.