The second part of the gaming news:

Hello Kitty Island Adventure is getting its first major content update today, including a new area, more visitors, and the ability to finally place items on tables
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/hello-kitty-island-adventure-is-getting-its-first-major-content-update-today-including-a-new-area-more-visitors-and-the-ability-to-finally-place-items-on-tables/
Hello Kitty Island Adventure's first major content update is finally here, and there are a plethora of new additions to get stuck into. From welcoming new visitors to the island, to a mass of additional quests to complete, the Friends, Flowers, and Frozen Peaks update has it all. Just as I think I'm done pouring hours and hours into my island getaway, now I've got even more reason to keep befriending Sanrio's beloved mascots.

Devs lament Oblivion Remastered's surprise release as Todd Howard eats their lunch: 'I noticed a complete stop in game sales from about 2 pm onward on Oblivion day'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-elder-scrolls/devs-lament-oblivion-remastereds-surprise-release-as-todd-howard-eats-their-lunch-i-noticed-a-complete-stop-in-game-sales-from-about-2-pm-onward-on-oblivion-day/
In terms of complexity, anxiety, and sheer turbidity, launching a videogame seems roughly equivalent to planning a land war on Mars. It's a constant, 5D chess game with thousands of players and no clear ruleset, where definite victories become humiliating defeats—and vice versa—according to no obvious laws. But at least one thing is clear: you're better off not launching your plucky little indie thing against GTA 6 or some other Vredefort-impact scale release.
So you can imagine a lot of devs' disappointment when Bethesda popped up last week to announce it was releasing Oblivion Remastered, suddenly dropping a humongous launch in the middle of what had been, previously, a relatively uncluttered release period.
"From the perspective of indies and indie publishers, this is the problem with these sort of massive shadow drops," said Raw Fury boss Jónas Antonsson (via GamesRadar) on X. "Everything more or [less] gets buried." Raw Fury is the publisher of puzzle-horror game Post Trauma, which released last week on, um, April 22. That's the same day Oblivion Remastered hit.

Fighting game Marvel Contest of Champions is coming to PC with over 300 characters
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/fighting-game-marvel-contest-of-champions-is-coming-to-steam-with-over-300-characters/
Marvel Contest of Champions, a free-to-play mobile fighting game first released in 2014, is bringing a roster of over 300 Marvel superheroes and villains to PC.
Surely that is too many Marvel people for a fighting game, I thought. But then I clicked through all 19 pages of Champion spotlights on the official site, and it's true: Spider-Punk, Rintrah, Platinumpool, Air-Walker, Count Nefaria, Sunspot, they're all there. (And I promise I didn't make any of those up.)

Nexon wins the bidding war to make a new StarCraft as well as distribute a Blizzard mobile game that's being called 'Overwatch 3'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/nexon-wins-the-bidding-war-to-make-a-new-starcraft-as-well-as-distribute-a-blizzard-mobile-game-thats-being-called-overwatch-3/
In late March the news broke that four Korean companies were competing to pitch for the StarCraft license from Blizzard. NCSoft, Nexon, Netmarble, and Krafton are all absolute giants and, attracted by StarCraft's long and storied history in South Korea, were pitching everything from an MMO to a mobile game as a continuation of the iconic RTS series.
South Korean financial news outlet MTN is now reporting that the process has ended with Nexon winning the license. Nexon's pitch was previously described as a "unique" take on the StarCraft universe, and the MTN report adds that the deal includes the Korean and Japanese distribution rights for "Overwatch mobile."
>> So, it’s likely not a RTS and it may not leave Korea. Nothing for you, guys.

After getting Stardew Valley to 'a good place' with update 1.6, Eric Barone is now fully focused on his next game: 'I'm committed to not working on Stardew Valley until I'm done with Haunted Chocolatier'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/after-getting-stardew-valley-to-a-good-place-with-update-1-6-eric-barone-is-now-fully-focused-on-his-next-game-im-committed-to-not-working-on-stardew-valley-until-im-done-with-haunted-chocolatier/
Eric Barone has a problem: He wants to make his new game, Haunted Chocolatier, but he also has a deep love for his indie mega-hit Stardew Valley—and, more to the point, a seeming inability to stop working on it. It's a tough spot alright, one he's talked about before, but speaking to PC Gamer's Wes Fenlon at GDC recently, Barone said he's got a plan, or at least an idea: Run away into the forest and stay there until it's done.
>> The video with the interview is in the article, and he also described both games in a rather vague way.

Dune-inspired indie roguelike admits it kinda ran out of ideas, but releases out of early access anyway and goes 100% free: 'Only so many things you can do that fit into the 'lateral worm cannon' mold'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/dune-inspired-indie-roguelike-admits-it-kinda-ran-out-of-ideas-but-releases-out-of-early-access-anyway-and-goes-100-percent-free-only-so-many-things-you-can-do-that-fit-into-the-lateral-worm-cannon-mold/
Indie developer Emerick Gibson first released Iron Mandate on Steam early access in March 2023: a roguelike shooter loosely inspired by Dune's sandworms, Gibson subsequently spent around a month updating the game, before seemingly abandoning the idea.
Two years later Gibson returned to fully release the game, make it free of charge, and share a post mortem "retrospective on a 'failed' project" (thanks, GamesRadar+). And he doesn't sugar-coat it either: there's "a lack of time, money and fundamental issues with the core idea, [so] I'm moving this game out of early access, leaving it free and moving on."

Electronic Arts lays off hundreds of employees and cancels 2 'incubation projects' including a new Titanfall game
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/electronic-arts-lays-off-hundreds-of-employees-and-cancels-2-incubation-projects-including-a-new-titanfall-game/
Electronic Arts has reportedly laid off 300 and 400 people, according to a new Bloomberg report, including roughly 100 at Apex Legends studio Respawn Entertainment. Respawn has also cancelled at least two early-in-development projects, one of which was reportedly a Titanfall-based extraction shooter.
>> Bad news for Titanfall fans.

'AI is going to become more and more difficult to detect': Fortnite has no plans to clean up increasing number of AI thumbnails cluttering up user-generated experiences
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/ai-is-going-to-become-more-and-more-difficult-to-detect-fortnite-has-no-plans-to-clean-up-increasing-number-of-ai-thumbnails-cluttering-up-user-generated-experiences/
Head into Fortnite's ever-growing library of user-generated game modes and you'll be inundated with all kinds of AI-generated thumbnails vying for your attention.
That won't be changing anytime soon either, as Epic product management director Dan Walsh and executive vice president Saxs Persson dove into the rise of generative AI usage in Fortnite during a YouTube livestream around moderation in the battle royale.

Splitgate 2 open beta test kicks off in May with a 'massive amount of new content'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/splitgate-2-open-beta-test-kicks-off-in-may-with-a-massive-amount-of-new-content/
The Splitgate 2 open alpha test that ran earlier this year was "very fun," in the opinion of PC Gamer shooter pro Morgan Park, with some significant changes made based on feedback from a playtest that ran in 2024. And there's good news if you missed it: 1047 Games announced today that a much bigger open beta test is set to begin on May 22.

Wagon is a 1-bit card-based spiritual successor to survival classic The Oregon Trail, and wastes no time getting right into the cannibalism
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/wagon-is-a-1-bit-card-based-spiritual-successor-to-survival-classic-the-oregon-trail-and-wastes-no-time-getting-right-into-the-cannibalism/
Things could get pretty bleak in classic text adventure The Oregon Trail, with dwindling supplies, damaging storms, and hostile entities making the frontier journey a test of resource management and strategy. Dying of dysentery was only one of the risks, along with (depending on which of the many versions you played) broken limbs, typhoid, or starvation.
Wagon, which launches this week on Steam, is a spiritual successor to The Oregon Trail, where the word spiritual is pretty literal. There's a strong thread of the occult running through the 1-bit adventure: the calendar you mark the passage of time with has a pentagram on it, and that's just for starters.

Tomorrow there'll be no gaming news, but I'll post something else. More news on Friday.

Clumsy me misclicked while checking the PCGamer news and missed an entire page. Oopsie!

Therefore, here's an unnexpected part three of the gaming news:

'A lot of people hate it, but I think it's fun': Eric Barone backs Stardew Valley's fishing minigame, but does admit that 'it starts too hard'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/a-lot-of-people-hate-it-but-i-think-its-fun-eric-barone-backs-stardew-valleys-fishing-minigame-but-does-admit-that-it-starts-too-hard/
Stardew Valley's fishing minigame gets a surprising amount of hate, whether it's because of how annoying it is to find all the legendary fish or because fishing minigames are a dime a dozen nowadays. But I've always loved it as a way to break up my farming hyperfixation, and it sounds like Eric Barone, the creator of Stardew Valley, is also backing this system.

Apex Legends writer gets laid off 24 hours after the character she wrote is revealed, because that's what the games industry in 2025 looks like
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/game-development/apex-legends-writer-gets-laid-off-24-hours-after-the-character-she-wrote-is-revealed-because-thats-what-the-games-industry-in-2025-looks-like/
EA has laid off hundreds of employees—reportedly around 300 to 400—across its studios, including around 100 at Respawn Entertainment, developers of Titanfall and Apex Legends. Among the many developers left scrambling in an industry where this has become shockingly routine, one in particular leapt out.
Heather Woodward, a now-former narrative designer at Respawn, was laid off a literal day after the character she'd spent a whole year writing debuted. On April 28, Apex Legends introduced a new character by the name of Sparrow:
"My first born is finally here," Woodward posted to Bluesky. "I’ve been working on this sweet ragazzo for well over a year. Writing a music video style trailer was a tough but rewarding challenge and I can’t believe I get to see my work animated by the incredible team at Sun Creature."

'Don't leave trash on Arrakis'—Dune: Awakening creative director implores players to 'clean up your old bases'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/dont-leave-trash-on-arrakis-dune-awakening-creative-director-implores-players-to-clean-up-your-old-bases/
Funcom's Dune: Awakening launches June 5, and in the runup to release has allowed some players to begin exploring Arrakis in beta. PCG's Chris Livingstone spent 25 hours there, and left impressed with what it offers as a survival game, but a little iffy on the MMO side of things.
One problem that jumped out to our man was the "ugly, boxy player-made bases" that covered the map when he was getting started. These were so notable that Chris ran most of the way across the map to find an uncluttered spot to build his own base: next time he logged in, "my little base was flanked by two huge ones other players had built maybe 20 feet from my front door."
(...)
This very topic came up in a new livestream focusing on the building and crafting side of the game, and was addressed by Dune: Awakening's chief creative director Joel Bylos (timestamp).

'Please give us one more chance': Infinity Nikki developer grovels in lengthy apology letter following disastrous launch of its newest patch
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/please-give-us-one-more-chance-infinity-nikki-developer-grovels-in-lengthy-apology-letter-following-disastrous-launch-of-its-newest-patch/
Version 1.5 of Infinity Nikki is Infold's biggest update yet, but the launch didn't exactly go well. Bugs, crashes, and login issues left tons of players unable to even try out the new patch, leading to its new Steam launch settling into Mixed reviews within hours. Subtle monetisation changes were also ruffling feathers with Chinese players taking to the Steam forums to warn off potential stylists. Safe to say, it wasn't the warm reception Infold was likely expecting.
It didn't take long for the developer to release a lengthy apology letter complete with some in-game currency to say sorry—apologems if you will—addressing some of the more glaring issues and simultaneously not really doing much about others.

Yennefer's voice actor not only knows nothing about what's happening with The Witcher 4, she seems only vaguely aware she was in The Witcher 3: 'I didn't know what I was doing'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-witcher/yennefers-voice-actor-not-only-knows-nothing-about-whats-happening-with-the-witcher-4-she-seems-only-vaguely-aware-she-was-in-the-witcher-3-i-didnt-know-what-i-was-doing/
Did you know that the actor who plays the brilliantly horrible Dedra Meero on Star Wars show Andor, Denise Gough, was also the voice of Yennefer in The Witcher 3? Don't feel too bad if not—it seems like she didn't know either.
In a new interview, Eurogamer asked her if she knows anything about production on upcoming sequel The Witcher 4. Needless to say, she does not.

And now I'm done with the news until Friday.

Leisure suit larry games 1-7 are getting delisted off of Steam soon.

I wonder why they're delisting them. It's not like there's a license that can expire or anything.

In any case, thanks for sharing.

And talking about sharing, here's something for you all:

*** NEW COMPETITION ***

Win this blistering 540Hz AOC AGON PRO AG246FK gaming monitor
https://www.club386.com/win-this-blistering-540hz-aoc-agon-pro-ag246fk-gaming-monitor/
or https://gleam.io/wfKws/win-this-blistering-540hz-aoc-agon-pro-ag246fk-gaming-monitor

It's a 1080p TN monitor, so I don't think many of you will be interested in it.

This contest is limited to residents of the UK and Europe.

Good luck!

Truns out that leaving Steam in the background while playing on other stores has had a secondary effect on me: I missed the reports of the best launches from January and February (despite been now in May, those two are the only articles I found. Feel free to let me know the one for March if you've founf it).

So, here are the best launches for:

JANUARY 2025

Age of Darkness: Final Stand link	Aloft (Early Access) link	Assetto Corsa EVO (Early Access) link
DYNASTY WARRIORS: ORIGINS link	ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist link	FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH link
Foundation link	Hello Kitty Island Adventure link	Heroes of Hammerwatch II link
Hyper Light Breaker (Early Access) link	Marvel's Spider-Man 2 link	My Summer Car link
NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black link	Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap link	Sniper Elite: Resistance link
Space Engineers 2 (Early Access) link	SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada link	Tales of Graces f Remastered link
The Headliners link		Tokyo Xtreme Racer (Early Access) link

And here come the best launches for

FEBRUARY 2025

A Game About Digging A Hole link	Avowed link	Door Kickers 2: Task Force North link
Keep Driving link	Kingdom Come: Deliverance II link	Legacy: Steel & Sorcery (Early Access) link
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii link	Lost Records: Bloom & Rage link	Mind Over Magic link
Monster Hunter Wilds link	PGA TOUR 2K25 link	R.E.P.O. (Early Access) link
Rift of the NecroDancer link	Sid Meier's Civilization VII link	SWORN (Early Access) link
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II link	Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered link	TRIBE NINE link
Urban Myth Dissolution Center link		WARRIORS: Abyss link

Intel Expected To Release Only One Panther Lake Configuration In Q4 2025, Full-Scale Rollout Targeted for 2026

https://wccftech.com/intel-to-release-only-one-panther-lake-configuration-in-q4-2025/

AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT with 8GB memory still on track

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-9060-xt-with-8gb-memory-still-on-track

AMD’s Several Upcoming Mainstream, Workstation, And Data Center CPU Lineups Leaked: Gorgon Point, Soundwave, Grado, And More!

https://wccftech.com/amds-several-upcoming-mainstream-workstation-and-data-center-cpu-lineups-leaked/

Samsung’s HBM4 Memory Reportedly Attracts Interest From NVIDIA, Google & Broadcom; Korean Giant Hopes to Turn Around HBM Business

https://wccftech.com/samsung-hbm4-memory-attracts-interest-from-nvidia-google-and-broadcom/

NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstation GPU design has even denser PCB layout

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-rtx-pro-6000-blackwell-workstation-gpu-design-has-even-denser-pcb-layout

It's a shame, but it's not a surprise. Board partners have already produced those cards and I'm sure AMD didn't want to get into more troubles with them after the whole pricing surprise of the 9070 cards.

The best we can hope for is that the 8GB model is cheap and that it vanishes from the shelves soon, leaving only the 16GB cards available.

Given what we've seen with the desktop cards, I would touch that workstation card.

Actually, it does.

See, they were owned by Codemasters when they published tem on Steam. But Codemasters got bought by EA, and they didn't seem to be interested in continuing the licensing agreement with Steam...

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:7vagxrj6ra6fikqrpm6a45v2/post/3lo2sbtrw7k2t

Edit: How do you embed blusky posts?

Was to be expected, OEMs already had made the cards by then, so they had to release them.

Here's hope however that going forward the vast majority of 9060XT cards will come with 16GB VRAM.