Thursday news, part two:
Halo fans rejoice at the return of Mini Slayer
https://www.pcgamer.com/halo-fans-rejoice-at-the-return-of-mini-slayer/
Way back in the days of Halo 4, 343 Industries' first crack at the series post-Bungie, one of the developers had a mighty brainwave. What if Spartans fought, but they were all much, much smaller? Like, smaller than the guns they were carrying around small? Who knows which genius came up with the idea, but Halo 4 added the "Mini Slayer" game mode, and it turned out to be one of the few parts of Halo 4 that (for me anyway) captured the silliness that was always a part of Bungie's games.
Ten years on, Mini Slayer is making a comeback in Halo Infinite. It's now available in social matchmaking and, yep, you play as a shrunk-down Spartan who, with their oversized weapons, looks nothing short of comical. Adding to the effect is that the mini Spartans seem to get around on some sort of sci-fi rollerskates and, well, guess I'm re-installing Halo Infinite tonight.
Artists and developers worried about Unity's AI programs have been given a big shrug
https://www.pcgamer.com/artists-and-developers-worried-about-unitys-ai-programs-have-been-given-a-big-shrug/
Unity has caused concern and exhaustion among some game developers with its new UnityMuse and UnitySentis tools, both of which it revealed yesterday, with many professional artists and developers lancing the tools for being either impractical, unethical, or legally dubious.
>> I take back what I said yesterday.
If you die in WoW Classic's official hardcore servers, you'll be cursed to live as a ghost forever
https://www.pcgamer.com/wow-classic-hardcore/
When you die in World of Warcraft Classic's official hardcore servers, your character is permanently dead, but you get to live on forever as a ghost. Starting tomorrow, you'll be able to experience this on the WoW Classic PTR (public test realm) servers, which Blizzard is using to test its version of the surprisingly popular hardcore community ruleset. Then, later this summer, the official hardcore servers will be permanently added to each region.
I built some wonky robots in Mars First Logistics, and they keep spilling potatoes
https://www.pcgamer.com/i-built-some-wonky-robots-in-mars-first-logistics-and-they-keep-spilling-potatoes/
Have you ever wanted to be a logistics and delivery drone driver and engineer on the surface of Mars? If so then honestly, wow, that's a very specific wish, but congratulations: Mars First Logistics is here to fulfill that desire. The new open-world physics game has you design and pilot robots to transport a variety of both practical and whimsical cargo across the rolling dunes and rugged stones of the barren red world.
Veteran devs from Riot, Bungie, Respawn, and Blizzard have come together to make 'the world's next 10,000-hour game'
https://www.pcgamer.com/project-loki-reveal-theorycraft/
Revealed today in the video above, Project Loki is the codename for a team-based competitive PvP "hero battleground" from startup studio Theorycraft Games, which was formed by developers with MOBA, hero shooter, and battle royale experience from the likes of Riot, Bungie, Respawn, and Blizzard.
"In a session of Loki, players will assemble a squad of heroes; outplay other teams in sprawling, free-flowing battles; run the edge of a huge world in the sky; and dream up crazy strategies in a massive combat sandbox," said Theorycraft in a press release.
Darktide patch finally gets us crossplay between Steam and the Microsoft Store
https://www.pcgamer.com/darktide-patch-finally-gets-us-crossplay-between-steam-and-the-microsoft-store/
Patch 11 for Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is rolling out, and with it comes crossplay support between the game's two PC storefronts: Steam and the Microsoft Store. It's good news for those who were displeased to find that they were unable to play with friends after Darktide launched—at least if they still want to cooperatively shoot some plague cultists here seven months later.
Fervent speculation on a Red Dead Redemption remaster (or PC port) follows rating in Korea
https://www.pcgamer.com/fervent-speculation-on-a-red-dead-redemption-remaster-or-pc-port-follows-rating-in-korea/
Korean authorities have rated Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar Games' original cowboy epic, as of June 15, 2023. The listing, discovered and quickly propagated online, has fueled rampant speculation that a remaster of the game is on the way. In other corners, like ours, that's cause for some enthusiasm, given that the original Red Dead Redemption never released on PC.
Sony's advanced black marker technology fails to stop super sleuths from reading confidential numbers
https://www.pcgamer.com/sony-ftc-microsoft-redacted-document/
A couple games we expect to see on PC someday, Horizon Forbidden West and The Last of Us Part 2, cost a whole lot of money to develop: $212 million for Horizon, and $220 million for The Last of Us Part 2, according to a Sony document.
>> It's no wonder they're porting them to PC!
Our favorite extraction shooter just got an update that adds its greatest enemy yet: rain
https://www.pcgamer.com/our-favorite-extraction-shooter-just-got-an-update-that-adds-its-greatest-enemy-yet-rain/
Hunt: Showdown's latest event, Tide of Shadows, marks the first time in two years that a new boss has entered the bayou: the Rotjaw, a snarling alligator that "defies the physiology of any known aquatic reptile," according to Crytek's in-lore patch notes, and stalks knee-deep bogs waiting for its next meal. Rotjaw is Hunt's first outdoor boss, and she apparently only appears in nighttime conditions or in rain.
In this beautiful strategy city builder from the creator of The Settlers series, 'You don't have to make your people happy, instead, your people have to make you happy'
https://www.pcgamer.com/pioneers-of-pagonia-strategy-city-builder-gameplay-trailer/
There are all sorts of city builders these days: survival, strategy, urban, medieval, sci-fi, fantasy, and even cozy. But all city builders roughly fall into one of two categories: the kind where if you mess up, your citizens move out of your city, and the kind where if you mess up, your citizens die horrible, agonizing deaths.
Or so I thought. While talking with Volker Wertich this week about his upcoming strategy city builder Pioneers of Pagonia, I asked what happens if things go wrong, such as not harvesting enough food for the city's population. Do citizens leave when their needs aren't met, or do they die?
After around 150K kills, Old School RuneScape hero becomes first in history to collect every boss drop in the game
https://www.pcgamer.com/old-school-runescape-hero-makes-history-by-completing-ludicrous-multi-year-quest-to-collect-every-boss-drop-in-the-game/
In an act of, sure, let's call it heroism, an Old School RuneScape (OSRS) player has become the first ever to acquire every single one of the potential drops spat out by the game's bosses on death. Spotted by GamesRadar, a player named Bazilijus managed fill every entry in the Bosses section of the game's Collection Log—basically a checklist of the game's many, many items—making RuneScape history and putting themself squarely in the #1 position of the game's Collection Log leaderboard.
>> That's what I call commitment, dedication, and also a bit of obsession.
Cities: Skylines 2 has no cap on the number of people it can track, and it's basically the Matrix
https://www.pcgamer.com/cities-skylines-2-has-no-cap-on-the-number-of-people-it-can-track-and-its-basically-the-matrix/
Earlier this week, a developer post for Cities: Skylines 2 revealed that some beefy improvements had been made to the game's "Agents"—developer speak for pedestrians, cars and the like—that have massively upgraded its capacity for on-screen civs.
Silent Hill 2 remake studio Bloober Team says it's finished with 'psychological horror' games, it's 'mass-market horror' from here on out
https://www.pcgamer.com/silent-hill-2-remake-studio-bloober-team-says-its-finished-with-psychological-horror-games-its-mass-market-horror-from-here-on-out/
Bloober Team, maker of the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake, is getting out of your head. In a chat with Engadget, studio CEO Piotr Babieno said that this month's release of Layers of Fear—a UE5-ified remake of the original Layers of Fear games—marked the conclusion of "the era of making psychological horror games". Going forward, Bloober is going to instead focus on "mass-market horror," which it anticipates will bring in a much larger audience.
Please excuse my bad English.
Currently gaming on a PC with an i5-4670k@stock (for now), 16Gb RAM 1600 MHz and a GTX 1070
Steam / Live / NNID : jonxiquet Add me if you want, but I'm a single player gamer.
