I hope you like news, because today there¡s double portion:

The Tuesday news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Steam’s Top 10

(Click here for the top 100)

Steam has six new deals:

• The IGN Fan Fest 2025 has a lot of upcoming games to discover, and a small number of deals. The Fest will last until the 28th, while the deals vary from game to game: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/IGNFanFest2025
• Publisher Annapurna Interactive puts its games on sale with up to 75% discounts until the 3rd of March: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/annapurnapublishersale2025
• Publisher New Blood Interactive celebrates its 11th anniversary putting its games on sale, up to 91% off until March 3: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/NewBlood2025
• Ultimate Fishing Simulator 2, still in Early Access, will have a 90% discount until the 6th of March: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1136380/Ultimate_Fishing_Simulator_2/
• Laika: Aged Through Blood, that has a demo, will be 50% off until March, the 10th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1796220/Laika_Aged_Through_Blood/
• And, of course, there’s the new weeklong deals

Fanatical has a new bundle: the Diamond Collection BYOB (February 2025), featuring 16 titles to build your 3+, 4+ or 5+ gams bundles during 33 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/diamond-collection-build-your-own-bundle.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Dark Souls 3 Seamless Co-Op Mod Is Available for Download
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/dark-souls-3-seamless-co-op-mod-is-available-for-download/
Earlier this month, we informed you about the Seamless Co-Op Mod for Dark Souls 3. And today, I’m happy to report that this mod is available for download. So, waste no time and download this must-have mod.
Going into more details, the Seamless Co-Op Mod allows you to play with friends throughout the entirety of the game with no restrictions. With this, it’s theoretically possible to play the game from the tutorial up to the final boss completely in one co-op session. This will be a dream come true for a lot of Dark Souls fans.
What’s crucial to note is that if a player dies, they will respawn in the same world at the last bonfire they rested at. The session will not be terminated. Moreover, defeating enemy bosses and clearing areas no longer sends co-operators home.
All fog walls/barriers that usually restrict the multiplayer zone are gone, and all NPC dialogue and talk events will be synchronised. When one player rests at a bonfire the world state will reset for all players. Plus, game progression events completed in online play will also progress the game in your own world.
The mod supports up to six players. This means that you can play in co-op with five of your friends. And that’s not all. The mod overhauls Dark Souls III’s peer-to-peer connection system, using Steam’s newer networking API. Thus, you should expect a more stable and robust multiplayer experience.
>> The article has a less than 2 minutes video.

GAMING NEWS

Free demos for Dragonhold, Gothic 1 Remake & Mecha BREAK
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/free-demos-for-dragonhold-gothic-1-remake-mecha-break/
Valve has launched Steam Next Fest and a lot of free demos are currently available for download. However, there are three games that you should definitely check out. These three games are Gothic 1 Remake, Dragonhold and Mecha BREAK.

Monster Hunter Wilds can effectively use 12 CPU cores on PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/articles/monster-hunter-wilds-can-effectively-use-ten-cpu-cores-on-pc/
Monster Hunter Wilds will come out in a few days and since this is a very CPU-bound game, I wondered how the game would run on our fully unlocked AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D. Can the AMD Ryzen 7950X3D brute force its way? Time to find.

La Quimera is a new futuristic sci-fi shooter from former Metro: Exodus devs
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/la-quimera-is-a-new-futuristic-sci-fi-shooter-from-former-metro-exodus-devs/
Reburn, an indie dev studio formed by leading talent behind the award-winning Metro series, today announced its debut title, La Quimera. La Quimera is a sci-fi first-person futuristic shooter, and you can find its debut trailer below.

Demo released for the Silent Hill-inspired game, Post Trauma
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/demo-released-for-the-silent-hill-inspired-game-post-trauma/
Raw Fury has released a demo for its upcoming Silent Hill-inspired survival horror game, Post Trauma. This is a time-limited demo as it will be available during the Steam Next Fest. Therefore, it will be playable up till March 3rd.

Tuesday news, part two:

WoW promising 3 expansions with a bunch of roadmap deadlines has, paradoxically, helped its devs slow down and take their time: 'The team is really energized'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/wow-promising-3-expansions-with-a-bunch-of-roadmap-deadlines-has-paradoxically-helped-its-devs-slow-down-and-take-their-time-the-team-is-really-energized/
Unless you've been under a rock somewhere (I wouldn't blame you, mind) you're probably aware that World of Warcraft put on its big boots and announced three expansions in 2023. This is downright unprecedented. Even games that plan big, multi-expansion story arcs like Final Fantasy 14 will keep their next expansion tucked under wraps to help keep the hype machine going.
You might also be aware that Undermine(d), the next big patch for WoW, is going to be arriving later this week—and it's all about the goblins, baby, taking place in the heart of their underground mercantile empire. While at a recent Blizzard event, I had the chance to sit down with game director Ion Hazzikostas and associate design director Maria Hamilton to have a chat about all things green.

'I think it kind of wouldn't make sense anymore': Monster Hunter Wilds is breaking my heart by doing away with its bespoke language voice option, but that doesn't mean it's vanished entirely
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/i-think-it-kind-of-wouldnt-make-sense-anymore-monster-hunter-wilds-is-breaking-my-heart-by-doing-away-with-its-bespoke-language-voice-option-but-that-doesnt-mean-its-vanished-entirely/
Something that I have always deeply adored about the Monster Hunter series is the fact that you can play the entire game in its own made up language, sporting the very unornamented name Monster Hunter Language.
Well, you could, anyway. Much to my dismay, as Monster Hunter Wilds executive director Kaname Fujioka revealed to me that the team is doing away with its in-game language voice option, instead only offering up those pesky real-life human languages.

This open world bicycling game from the developer of Nidhogg is so chill that 'you don't really have to do any of the challenges if you don't want to'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/this-open-world-bicycling-game-from-the-developer-of-nidhogg-is-so-chill-that-you-dont-really-have-to-do-any-of-the-challenges-if-you-dont-want-to/
For me, open world games like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption 2 really only peak when I've fought my way through the missions and completed the main story and there's not much left to do except… doing whatever the heck I want. Sometimes that's making sure I've explored every single inch of the map, sometimes it's completing a few activities to 100%, but often it's just cruising around and taking in the sights.
It's cool to hear the next game from Nidhogg developer Meshoff, open world biking game Wheel World, keeps that wandering, objectiveless spirit in mind for those who don't really wanna do much of anything but ride around and get lost in the world.

'It's like Die Hard but with more comedy': Immersive FPS Skin Deep has talking cats, banana traps, and enemies you can disable by making them sneeze
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/its-like-die-hard-but-with-more-comedy-immersive-fps-skin-deep-has-talking-cats-banana-traps-and-enemies-you-can-disable-by-making-them-sneeze/
Space piracy is a real problem in the future, but luckily there's a new and exciting loss prevention system to meet the needs of cautious space travelers. That's where you come in. In Skin Deep, you're Nina Pasadena, a former assassin turned insurance commando, part of the deluxe insurance package for corporate starships. You're frozen and stuck in a drawer on the ship, to be defrosted and put into action if pirates show up and try to kidnap the crew.
>> It has a demo.

The Katamari Damacy designer is releasing a game about a kid stuck in a T-pose
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-katamari-damacy-designer-is-releasing-a-game-about-a-kid-stuck-in-a-t-pose/
Before I get into what To a T is, you've gotta play the trailer above, because the song is sublime. It has the same effect on me as a sincere compliment from a stranger.
The premise of To a T, which you might gather from the trailer (or maybe not, there's a kind of lot going on), is that you're a kid whose arms are always sticking out. The T-pose is a default pose in the 3D modeling world, and game characters have been known to get stuck in it due to glitches. In this case, it's just the "extraordinary posture" of the protagonist, a teenager named Teen.

With remake rumours swirling, Persona 4 fans are ecstatic while P1 and 2 fans have crossed the horizon of despair
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/with-remake-rumours-swirling-persona-4-fans-are-ecstatic-while-p1-and-2-fans-have-crossed-the-horizon-of-despair/
As sure as night follows day, remakes that people buy will be followed by more remakes of games in the same series. So it's perhaps not too surprising that, following the success of Persona 3 Reload, the Persona community is currently hyper-sensitive to anything that could be perceived as a flicker of an ember of a hint that Atlus has got a Persona 4 remake cooking.
Today it's an Instagram post by Shihoko Hirata, the voice on P4 soundtrack bangers like Reach Out To The Truth; Time To Make History; and Heartbeat, Heartbreak (which has been looping in some corner of my brain for about 15 years now). Over on the 'gram, Hirata posted a photo of a recording booth that fans (via Rudiger__tw) clocked as the very same one used for a whole bunch of Persona games. Hirata didn't say which game she was recording for, only that it was "new," and then liked a bunch of comments on the post referencing P4.

Bossa says 'disruption' in the game industry 'is not a phase, it's a fundamental transformation' of how games will be made in the future as it lays off more employees
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/bossa-says-disruption-in-the-game-industry-is-not-a-phase-its-a-fundamental-transformation-of-how-games-will-be-made-in-the-future-as-it-lays-off-more-employees/
Bossa Games, the developer of Surgeon Simulator, I am Bread, and I am Fish, is laying off an undisclosed number of employees as it moves to "scale back" its development efforts in order to focus on the upcoming release of the open world co-op adventure Lost Skies.
Bossa co-founder and co-CEO Henrique Olifiers acknowledged the "significant amount of disruption" that's wracked the videogame industry over the past few years in a message posted on LinkedIn. He doesn't believe it's a "phase" the business is going through, but rather "a fundamental transformation of the games industry, a reshape of how games are made and by what kinds of teams."

The Unpacking developer's next game finally has a release date, but if you can't wait until then, you can check out the free demo now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/the-unpacking-developers-next-game-finally-has-a-release-date-but-if-you-cant-wait-until-then-you-can-check-out-the-free-demo-now/
One of my favourite puzzle games of all time is Unpacking. I love it for its chill nature, cosy vibes, and incredibly satisfying organisation puzzles. With that in mind, I was pretty excited to hear that the developer, Witch Beam, is working on yet another puzzle game, which now has a release date right round the corner.
Witch Beam announced that Tempopo will release on April 17, 2025, on PC, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox. This is only a couple of months away, but if you want to check the game out beforehand, then you can give its demo a try.

BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk considered taking over EA 'from the inside', but he was thwarted by an MMO
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/bioware-co-founder-greg-zeschuk-considered-taking-over-ea-from-the-inside-but-he-was-thwarted-by-an-mmo/
There's a parallel universe where BioWare's co-founders staged a coup on the back of a Star Wars MMO launch and took over EA, changing it from the inside. At least, that was a dream harboured by Greg Zeschuk, before he left the company with fellow founder Ray Muzyka in 2012.
Chatting with Simon Parkin on his My Perfect Console podcast (cheers, Time Extension), Zeschuk discussed his final days at the company he founded, which had been acquired by EA four years prior. The last game to be released under Zeschuk and Muzyka's reign was Star Wars: The Old Republic—and Zeschuk had high hopes for it.

Physical copies of Assassin's Creed Shadows leak nearly a month ahead of its release date
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/physical-copies-of-assassins-creed-shadows-leak-nearly-a-month-ahead-of-its-release-date/
Nearly a month ahead of its scheduled release, physical copies of Assassin's Creed Shadows have reportedly leaked, and people on social media are sharing images, gameplay clips, and other details about the game.

And the third part of the Tuesday news:

Dauntless, the monster hunting game we had before Monster Hunter came to PC, will shut down in May
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/dauntless-the-monster-hunting-game-we-had-before-monster-hunter-came-to-pc-will-shut-down-in-may/
Dauntless, the monster hunting game that made such a splash when it launched five years ago, is coming to an end. Developer Phoenix Labs has announced on Steam that no further updates or new content will be released, and the game will become unplayable at the end of May.

Balatro finally escapes its silly 18+ age rating, PEGI promises 'a more granular set of classification criteria' for gambling-themed games in the future
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/balatro-finally-escapes-its-silly-18-age-rating-pegi-promises-a-more-granular-set-of-classification-criteria-for-gambling-themed-games-in-the-future/
One of the most head-scratch-inducing videogame ratings of all time has finally been changed, as game rating organization Pan European Game Information—PEGI for short—has decided that the indie card game sensation Balatro is not an 18+ game after all.
"The PEGI 18 rating for the game Balatro has been changed to a PEGI 12 following a successful appeal submitted by publisher Sold Out Sales and Marketing," the PEGI website now says (via Eurogamer). "The Complaints Board concluded that, although the game explains the various hands of poker, the roguelike deck-building game contained mitigating fantastical elements that warranted a PEGI 12 rating."
PEGI also announced today that Luck Be a Landlord, the slot machine roguelike that inspired Balatro, has also been given a PEGI 12 rating—down from its PEGI 18—for essentially the same reason: "Although the game features a slot machine mechanic, there were no specific transferable gambling skills and the game can therefore be rated PEGI 12."

The mad lads at New Blood have remastered Ultrakill before actually releasing Ultrakill in the first place
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-mad-lads-at-new-blood-have-remastered-ultrakill-before-actually-releasing-ultrakill-in-the-first-place/
After months of teasers from lead developer Arsi "Hakita" Patala, early access boomer shooter Ultrakill has gotten a complete visual overhaul of nearly every level, with the lone exception being the newest batch, 2023's four-level layer of Violence.
Patala first previewed the visual revamp last May with a walkthrough of the gussied-up new look for level 1-1 Heart of the Sunrise. "While our programmers are busy with major rewrites that will take a long time, me and [3D artist Victoria Holland] are doing a visual pass on the old levels to get them up to par with the later ones," Patala wrote in the description of the first showcase. "There will likely be some functional changes here and there, but the general geometry, layouts, and encounters will remain the same in almost all cases since they work fine as is."

Yes, Marvel Rivals went down for a while
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/yes-marvel-rivals-servers-are-down-for-many/
No it's not just you, Marvel Rivals is having server troubles at the moment. Many can't get into a match at all, citing very long queue times, and others were kicked out of their last match and haven't been able to join another.
Update 8:40PM PST: NetEase says servers are coming back online. That didn't take too long!

Call of Duty admits it's using generative AI to 'help develop some in-game assets', and suddenly all those poorly made calling cards make sense
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-of-duty/call-of-duty-admits-its-using-generative-ai-to-help-develop-some-in-game-assets-and-suddenly-all-those-poorly-made-calling-cards-make-sense/
After months of players calling foul of suspected AI art in Call of Duty, Activision has admitted it's using generative AI to make assets for its billion-dollar franchise. This revelation comes not from a formal statement issued by the company, but a Valve-mandated AI disclosure now found at the bottom of the Call of Duty Steam page (as spotted by CharlieIntel)

'How do I know which fire is hot': Marvel Rivals players are finding it too hard to distinguish between friendly and dangerous Human Torch flames
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/how-do-i-know-which-fire-is-hot-marvel-rivals-players-are-finding-it-too-hard-to-distinguish-between-friendly-and-dangerous-human-torch-flames/
The Thing and the Human Torch are both finally in Marvel Rivals, and with their addition comes a whole host of new skills and abilities to be terrified of. While The Thing has the really quite useful power of immobility, meaning he can't be thrown around by Winter Soldier, Spider-Man, or Hulk, Human Torch has the more explosive and terrifying power of fire. The only problem is, players can't really tell the difference between their allies' and enemies' flames.

Balatro's new cards really show that every dev in the games industry is hooked on Balatro
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/balatros-new-cards-really-show-that-every-games-dev-in-the-industry-is-hooked-on-balatro/
Balatro has announced the new Friends of Jimbo card pack, available now, which in its breadth and range show that the poker roguelike is basically becoming the indie Fortnite. The new cards include designs from Civilization, Assassin's Creed, Fallout, Critical Role, Dead by Daylight, Slay the Princess, Bugsnax and Rust. As one wag puts it under the YouTube announcement video, developer "LocalThunk is just out here saying yes to everyone's emails lmao."

And now, let’s go now with the Wednesday news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

This post will self-destruct in 5 seconds: Steam's first ever spy game festival is kicking off in May
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/this-post-will-self-destruct-in-5-seconds-steams-first-ever-spy-game-festival-is-kicking-off-in-may/
Not long after mentioning how much I needed more good spy games in my life, I was given a heads up (via a dead drop, naturally) about the Spy Video Game Rendezvous, a dev-organised Steam festival showcasing spy-themed games, kicking off on May 23.
Hosted by There's Always a Madman solo dev Sunny Demeanor Games, the Steam fest will feature more than 30 spy romps and will run until May 30, with the week appropriately coinciding with the arrival of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and the 117th anniversary of Ian Flemming's birth.

GOG has a new sale: the Luden.io Publisher Sale, with up to 30% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250226_ludenio_publisher_sale.

Steam has three new deals:

• Monstrum is going to be 80% off until the 4th of March: https://store.steampowered.com/app/296710/Monstrum/
• The Coma: Triple Threat Bundle, with three games, gets a 67% discount. The individual games are also on sale until the 11th, which I assume is when this deal will also end: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/45978/The_Coma_Triple_Threat/
• And Publisher Cygames puts its titles up to 70% off until March 11: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/43153491/sale/Cygames_Feb2025

Humble Bundle has the new Indie Allies 2025 Bundle, featuring 10 games during the next 13 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/indie-allies-2025.

And Fanatical has a new Star Deal: LEGO® Bricktales will have an 80% deal during the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/lego-bricktales.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Excellent throwback mod Team Fortress 2 Classic is coming to Steam later this year
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/excellent-throwback-mod-team-fortress-2-classic-is-coming-to-steam-later-this-year/
It's been a big week for Team Fortress 2's modding community (well, specifically a big eight days, but let's call it a week for convenience). Last Tuesday, Valve finally released The Team Fortress 2 SDK, updating the Source SDK with all the netcode gubbins from its 2007 shooter, thereby enabling players to "build completely new games based on TF2." Now, one of the best existing Team Fortress 2 mods is formally coming to Steam, making it easier to play than ever.
Team Fortress 2 Classic is a professional-grade mod that reimagines the shooter's early years, before the hats and the bots. Commencing in 2014, it initially released in 2020 in non-vapourous form, and has been consistently updated since. Developer Eminoma announced the move to Steam in a short, daft Steam update: "'Steam' is a mysterious resource created when coal is burned in certain situations — a harrowing thought to coal-lovers like the civilian, to whom burning coal is like setting one's own children on fire. But maybe a foray into the Steam industry is just what the company needs to capture new eyes."
The civilian is TF2's Classic's bespoke playable class, based on a character of the same name from the VIP mode of Team Fortress Classic. It's one of numerous features the mod adds to TF2's pre-2010 skeleton, alongside reverse-engineered versions of TF2 prerelease weapons like the Nailgun and Dynamite pack, and a chaotic "four-team" mode that adds green and yellow factions alongside red and blue.
As well as these "new-old" features—ideas inspired by or excavated from Team Fortress' past—TF2 Classic also adds "new-new" features, including weapons like flak cannons and "chains wrapped around your fists" as well as custom modes like VIP Race, where each team gets a civilian who must capture control points in enemy territory. It's basically an alternate history for Team Fortress 2, imagining a more traditional update path for Valve's shooter.
>> The article doesn’t have any media, but it has the link to the Steam page of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

Fable delayed to 2026, gets first pre-alpha gameplay video
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/fable-delayed-to-2026-gets-first-pre-alpha-gameplay-video/
Microsoft has announced that Fable has been officially delayed until 2026. Moreover, IGN has shared the first pre-alpha gameplay video from it. So, if you are remotely interested in this new action RPG, I recommend watching it.

Square Enix has removed Denuvo from Visions of Mana
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/square-enix-has-removed-denuvo-from-visions-of-mana/
Square Enix has just removed the Denuvo anti-tamper tech from its JRPG, Visions of Mana. Visions of Mana came out on PC in August 2024, which means that it took around six months for SE to remove it.

Game of Thrones: Kingsroad is a new story-driven action-adventure RPG
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/game-of-thrones-kingsroad-is-a-new-story-driven-action-adventure-rpg/
Netmarble has released a demo for its upcoming Game of Thrones story-driven action-adventure RPG, Game of Thrones: Kingsroad. Game of Thrones: Kingsroad will come out in Q2 2025, and you can also find below its official PC system requirements.

Wednesday news, the second part:

Soulsborne fans tackle the ultimate boss of private healthcare, paying off beloved community figure's huge bill within hours while collectively urging: 'Don't you dare go hollow'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/soulsborne-fans-tackle-the-ultimate-boss-of-private-healthcare-paying-off-beloved-community-figures-huge-bill-within-hours-while-collectively-urging-dont-you-dare-go-hollow/
The longtime Soulsborne content creator Zullie the Witch has been datamining FromSoftware's games for pretty much as long as I've been playing them, producing countless deep-dives, neat findings and lore tidbits for fans to chew on. They've covered every Soulsborne game including Elden Ring and Sekiro, but under their most recent video on Elden Ring Nightreign shared that things weren't going so well personally (thanks, GR+).
"I am clawing my way out of a pit of depression, but the pit is deep and my claws are blunt," wrote Zullie. "I'd been hoping to get back to making videos at the start of the month, only to find myself just slipping in at the end of it instead. Between that, the fact I haven't been able to secure a sponsor video in a while, and a looming $15,000 in medical expenses, I'm reluctant to do this, but I'm openly asking for donations."
Within hours Zullie chose to remove the donation links "because this has already smashed every expectation I had and I'm kind of overwhelmed by how quickly and emphatically you've all lent your support." The Ko-fi page shows 6467 donations at the time of writing, which with a minimum donation of $5 means the community has ponied-up a minimum of $32,355 and probably a great deal more.

Jennifer English (Shadowheart) and Nolan North (Nathan Drake) will be the illustrious hosts of the Future Games Show this year
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/events-conferences/jennifer-english-shadowheart-and-nolan-north-nathan-drake-will-be-the-illustrious-hosts-of-the-future-games-show-this-year/
The Future Games Show—hosted by our friends at our sister site GamesRadar+—will be arriving at GDC in San Francisco, March 20, which means we're just only a month away from getting a healthy serving of game trailers and news to chew over. But who, I hear you cry, will be telling me about all the videogames that'll be eating a hole in my bank account this year? Great question!

PUBG's creator is focusing on raising funds for his next project to 'insulate the team' so they don't end up making 'just another PlayerUnknown game'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/pubgs-creator-is-focusing-on-raising-funds-for-his-next-project-to-insulate-the-team-so-they-dont-end-up-making-just-another-playerunknown-game/
Prologue: Go Wayback! is the next game for PlayerUnknown Productions. It's an upcoming survival game which is heading into early access soon, but it has longer aspirations and goals than just getting to launch, it's just the first step towards the ultimate goal of making a meterverse.
"The bigger vision is creating an Open Source Engine to create digital places," Brendan Greene, creator of PUBG tells me. "Like multiple digital worlds for everyone. The three steps or three games are basically solving technology challenges, the first being the terrain." The next step is to test out massively multiplayer worlds, and the final part will be meshing everything together in a 3D internet. But getting there will take some time, by Greene's estimation, 10 to 15 years. To ensure the devs can keep working on this long haul project, Greene is currently looking for different ways to finance it.

Marvel Rivals is giving away 200 units to everyone as an apology for the server outages, and players are very happy: 'I literally made 200 units in my sleep'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/marvel-rivals-is-giving-away-200-units-to-everyone-as-an-apology-for-the-server-outages-and-players-are-very-happy-i-literally-made-200-units-in-my-sleep/
Last night, Marvel Rivals' servers went down. After confirming the issue, NetEase took a bit of time to figure things out and implement a fix. After all was said and done, it took less than an hour, but even still, players have been given some Marvel bux for the inconvenience.
"As a token of our appreciation for your patience, we've credited your account with 200 units as compensation," a post on Marvel Rivals' Discord says. However, in order to claim this gift, players need to log into the game and claim the item from the in-game mail section. It'll only be available to grab until March 11, so it's better to do it sooner rather than later.

Haste: Broken Worlds finally lets me live out my childhood fantasy of running really fast and then slamming into a rock at Mach 1 and breaking all my bones
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/haste-broken-worlds-finally-lets-me-live-out-my-childhood-fantasy-of-running-really-fast-and-then-slamming-into-a-rock-at-mach-1-and-breaking-all-my-bones/
I've always had a hope, ever since I was little—that I would, someday, be able to run really fast and hit a rock and break all of my bones.
Okay, that's not the exact dream, but as a mentally hyperactive kid with a strong imagination, I did spend a lot of my car journeys running an imaginary stickman along parallel traffic, or walking my fingers like legs across various obstacles in my home. You see, we didn't have tablets back then, so we had to fill in the time between episodes of Bamzooki (look it up).
Luckily, Haste: Broken Worlds is here to finally make my dream come true. This roguelike bone-breaking simulator has an available demo during Steam Next Fest, and it's rather worth the concussions you'll be enduring.

Inzoi director says 'we have great respect for the legacy The Sims has built' and doesn't see their game as a director competitor: 'Our aim is to provide a different experience'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/inzoi-director-says-we-have-great-respect-for-the-legacy-the-sims-has-built-and-doesnt-see-their-game-as-a-director-competitor-our-aim-is-to-provide-a-different-experience/
Inzoi is looming ever closer, and with it the first real competition The Sims has had, well, ever. Krafton's take on the life sim genre looks like it'll be the closest we get to EA's scope and scale for a good while. Despite that, director Hyungjun Kim doesn't view his game as a rival.

The Callisto Protocol studio lays off more employees, but 'remains operational'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-callisto-protocol-studio-lays-off-more-employees-but-remains-operational/
Krafton has confirmed another round of layoffs at Callisto Protocol developer Striking Distance Studios, but says it remains operational and that the cuts will not impact any projects currently in the works.

The Sims 4 is finally bringing the burglar back to the series after a decade away
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-sims/the-sims-4-is-finally-bringing-the-burglar-back-to-the-series-after-a-decade-away/
I enjoy The Sims most when it's ruining my day with random events and today The Sims 4 is bringing back one of the greats: the burglar. After a not-so-sneaky teaser this week The Sims 4 has dropped a base game update which, among a list of bug fixes, also adds a unique new thief to snatch your family's stuff. It is great to see the old gag make it back to the series, especially after I've had such a good time getting burgled in The Sims 3 recently.

Warner Bros. is closing Monolith, Player First Games, and WB San Diego, and has cancelled its Wonder Woman game
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/warner-bros-is-closing-monolith-player-first-games-and-wb-san-diego-and-has-cancelled-its-wonder-woman-game/
Just a month after Warner Bros. Games chief David Haddad announced that he's stepping down after 12 years in the role, the company is closing its Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB San Diego studios, and cancelling the Wonder Woman game first revealed in 2021.

Former Piranha Bytes veterans unveil their new dungeon crawler, and it's tripping my Arx Fatalis alarms in all the right ways
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/former-piranha-bytes-veterans-unveil-their-new-dungeon-crawler-and-its-tripping-my-arx-fatalis-alarms-in-all-the-right-ways/
Back in July 2024, former Piranha Bytes creative director Björn Pankratz and his wife, game designer Jennifer Pankratz, launched a new indie outfit called Pithead Studio, which they said would enable them to "keep doing what we love." Today we got our first look at what that is, and I am—with all appropriate caution engaged—very excited.

Yes, there's also a third part of the Wednesday news:

Get ready to get weird in Pathologic 3: Quarantine, a free 'prologue chapter' about a young doctor looking for immortality in the world's most miserable town
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/get-ready-to-get-weird-in-pathologic-3-quarantine-a-free-prologue-chapter-about-a-young-doctor-looking-for-immortality-in-the-worlds-most-miserable-town/
Announced in October 2024, Pathologic 3 promises to blend the notorious weirdness of the Pathologic series with a new twist: Time travel, enabling players to "revisit key events and alter them" in hopes that things will turn out slightly less awful than they did the first time around. We still don't have a release date, although it's slated to be out in 2025, but we'll soon be able to get a taste of what's coming in Pathologic 3: Quarantine, a free prologue chapter that's set to arrive in March.

Autographed copies of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 collector's editions are being auctioned for charity, but it'll cost you more than 59 copies of the regular game just to get in the door
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/autographed-copies-of-kingdom-come-deliverance-2-collectors-editions-are-being-auctioned-for-charity-but-itll-cost-you-more-than-59-copies-of-the-regular-game-just-to-get-in-the-door/
Warhorse Studios is auctioning off a trio of autographed Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 collector's editions for charity—one each for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S—and if you're interested I hope your wallet is fat, because bidding has already exceeded $3,500.

Baldur's Gate 3's stress test update has, mercifully, made one of its new OP cantrips halfway balanced again—but it's really still quite good
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/baldurs-gate-3s-stress-test-update-has-mercifully-made-one-of-its-new-op-cantrips-halfway-balanced-again-but-its-really-still-quite-good/
Baldur's Gate 3 has a big stonking new patch on its way, which is currently in stress testing—and it's almost certainly doomed me to another honour mode playthrough because, well, I've got 12 new subclasses to tinker with and I'm a bit of a build fiend.
One thing had been concerning me, though: The scourge of Booming Blade had been looming large over its current stress test. For the uninitiated, with new subclasses comes new spells and cantrips, including the ever-yearned for 'Blade' cantrips from D&D 5e's TTRPG rules. To sum it up, these spells make a lot of spellblade builds, such as the terrifying Sorcadin, possible.
(...)
Well, that's changed in the stress test patch notes, which read: "Limited the Booming Blade cantrip so it cannot be used more than once per turn." Praise Mystra!

Marvel Rivals fans think NetEase is teasing the Hellfire Gala and Emma Frost in a small excerpt from its newest gallery card
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/marvel-rivals-fans-think-netease-is-teasing-the-hellfire-gala-and-emma-frost-in-a-small-excerpt-from-its-newest-gallery-card/
There's a lot going on in Marvel Rivals. Between grinding out ranks in the new competitive season and completing limited-time events like the Spring Festival, most players are kept on their toes pretty much constantly. But one area of Marvel Rivals that perhaps isn't given as much attention is the Gallery Cards.
Gallery Cards are a feature in Marvel Rivals that serves as a reward for completing seasonal tasks. They are collated in seasonal comic books called Serials, with each season having a dedicated comic strip that stores all the unlockable art. But as well as giving players cool art of some of their favourite heroes, completing these pictures also gives players access to some lore drops. For example, in Doom's Rise (the Serial for Season 0), after completing events to unlock the 'Your Biggest Fan' comic strip, you can read more about the non-playable narrator Galacta. Some bits of lore are more exciting than others, but the latest drop is something that has really stood out to players.

Deadlock gets a massive map overhaul that shrinks its map from four lanes to three: 'This has a large range of accompanying map-wide changes'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/deadlock-gets-a-massive-map-overhaul-that-shrinks-its-map-from-four-lanes-to-three-this-has-a-large-range-of-accompanying-map-wide-changes/
It's been almost a month since Deadlock's last notable update, with Valve recently reducing the frequency of changes to its third-person MOBA to 'improve' its design process. That adjustment has resulted in a much more substantial update this month, however, with Valve completely overhauling Deadlock's map.

Delves have given WoW's devs the confidence to put mandatory grinds firmly in the rear-view, says game director Ion Hazzikostas
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/delves-have-given-wows-devs-the-confidence-to-put-mandatory-grinds-firmly-in-the-rear-view-says-game-director-ion-hazzikostas/
World of Warcraft, in case you haven't been keeping tabs since the mass exoduses of Shadowlands, has been on a bit of a self improvement kick lately. It hasn't all been roses, mind, but as an occasional dabbler, I'm feeling downright positive about the overall shift away from borrowed power systems and into things the players might conceivably have fun with.
(...)
Speaking to both game director Ion Hazzikostas and associate design director Maria Hamilton at an event last week—celebrating the release of the goblin-themed major patch, Undermine(d)—I asked how they felt things were going. It's one thing to promise three expansions, and to commit to evergreen content like skyriding and warbands and delves. It's another thing to, well, actually be doing it for a few consecutive months. From the dev's point of view?

Inzoi's wild karma system can turn cities into literal ghost towns that you have to cleanse, game director says: 'If too many ghosts appear in the city, new Zois cannot be born'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/inzois-wild-karma-system-can-turn-cities-into-literal-ghost-towns-that-you-have-to-cleanse-game-director-says-if-too-many-ghosts-appear-in-the-city-new-zois-cannot-be-born/
Beautifully realistic life sim Inzoi is nearly here and we're learning more every week about features as its game director Hyungjun Kim shares plans with fans. In a recent interview from the newest issue of the PC Gamer magazine, Kim goes even deeper into one of its less realistic elements, the karma system, where things can get really out of hand if your Zois are too evil.

I hope those aren't the real prices but it would be very typical of Radeon to price theirs $50 less than Nvidia and then also price the slightly worse one $50 less such as 7700XT vs 7800XT.

Also Powercolor is on crack if they think they can charge $1100 for 9070 XT.

I only believe three are correct prices; Microcentre has taken them down apparently. 

My biggest problem is the apathy around it.

Look at the Hot Topics or th Latest Topics section and you won't see a thread asking or explaining what has happened. That's bad. And it's bad because it happens so often that the usual reaction, or at least mine, isn't "Oh! The site doesn't work? What happened?" but more like "Oh, it's down again. I wonder how long will it take this time."

We're so used to is that we longer care, and that's a dangerous position to be because the less we care, the closer we find ourselves to not coming back the next time.

Indeed, it's their tried and proved to fail strategy of Nvidia's MSRP -$50, that leads to nowhere other than people holding their purchaes because they know AMD will lower the price soon after launch.

But well, it's their company and they're allowed to run it in the worst possible way they seem fit. If the leaked prices and performance numbers are to be believed.

Let's hope they've really fixed that problem and the fix doesn't cause more issues (you can't rule out anything this gen with Nvidia).

I'm baffled by some of the mark-ups some companies are trying. But since the store removed some of them, maybe they were just wild placeholders.

Still, I'm not sure if AMD is out of its mind or just plain dumb. The small $50 between the two 9070 is ridiculous. Not only because we saw how the upselling strategy failed badly with the 7900XT and 7900XTX to the point they had to lower the price of the former not even three months later to be able to sell some units, but because the 9070 will likely go face to face with the 5070... which is a $549 part! It's just nuts!