Wednesday gaming news, part two:
RuneScape's monthly membership now costs as much as a World of Warcraft subscription as Jagex announces its second price hike in less than 2 years
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/runescapes-monthly-membership-now-costs-as-much-as-a-world-of-warcraft-subscription-as-jagex-announces-its-second-price-hike-in-less-than-2-years/
RuneScape developer Jagex announced earlier today that it is once again increasing the price of RuneScape memberships. Effective today, the price of a monthly membership subscription has increased from $13.99 to $14.99 per month while the price of an annual membership has increased from $99.48 to $131.88 per year.
Nightdive re-announces the Sin remaster it un-announced 3 years ago
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/nightdive-re-announces-the-sin-remaster-it-un-announced-3-years-ago/
Here are 100% of my memories of 1998's Sin: there is a bit early on—possibly the first level—where you were being flown into your mission on a helicopter. You were at the door gun, blasting away villains who have occupied the rooftops, and if you aimed right you could blow up and knock apart different bits of the level. There might have been a bank heist? I was literally six years old; cut my memory some slack.
Good news, though: I will shortly be able to refresh those memories, because Nightdive has unveiled Sin: Reloaded, the remaster of the game it actually already unveiled once before, all the way back in 2020. It got re-veiled, though, when the studio put the project on the backburner to focus on other stuff, notably the System Shock 1 remake.
But that other stuff is behind us, and now is the time of Sin. Or, well, sometime this year will be the time of Sin. There's no hard date on the game yet beyond 2026, but I confess to some excitement.
Sega says yeah you're all real nice about our games—but you sure ain't buying them
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/sega-says-yeah-youre-all-real-nice-about-our-games-but-you-sure-aint-buying-them/
Sega Sammy has released a new set of financial results, along with a Q&A explaining some of the finer points, but the long-and-short of it is: you all say you like our games, so why aren't you buying more of them? Amidst some truly incredible corporate jargon (what's a "B2B Omnichannel Solution Provider"?) Sega says that the "high valuations," i.e.the review scores and user feedback that some of its recent titles have received, simply didn't translate into increased sales, and that things are "stagnant."
Stardew Valley and Wordle sure do make for a cute combination in this daily guessing game on the farm sim's crops
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/stardew-valley-and-wordle-sure-do-make-for-a-cute-combination-in-this-daily-guessing-game-on-the-farm-sims-crops/
I'm not really a Wordle person, but I'm not opposed to the daily challenge format if you spice it up a bit with a theme. I've played quite a few gaming and anime-inspired takes since the word puzzle first took off, but Stardewdle—a fan-made mishmash of Stardew Valley and Wordle—is one of the best I've seen yet.
In Stardewdle, you start by submitting any crop as a first guess and seeing what criteria it shares with the game's daily pick. That leads you to a list of qualities that do and do not match with the correct answer, like how long the crop takes to grow, pricing, season, type of product, and whether or not the crop regrows.
Pokémon streamer's Kickstarter for a roguelite monster-collector hits its target in 10 minutes, then blows past $800K
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/pokemon-streamers-kickstarter-for-a-roguelite-monster-collector-hits-its-target-in-10-minutes-then-blows-past-usd800k/
Pokémon are everywhere right now. (...)
Wonderful Neoran Valley does actually seem like it could be a different kind of monster-collect-em-up, given that it has a bit of roguelite juice, listing "Slay the Spire, Balatro, and Inscryption" among its influences, and it disdains the idea of collecting creatures by doing anything as insipid as throwing balls at them. Instead, we'll have to talk to the monsters.
(...)
It's run-based Pokémon but even more JRPG, with a touch of creepypasta horror if the trailer above is anything to go by. That's a blend of things that are popular right now for sure, though the success of its Kickstarter probably owes more to the fact developer Nara Studio's creative director is a popular Italian Pokémon streamer called Cydonia.
Crabmeat is a horror game about catching crabs—no, not like that
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/crabmeat-is-a-horror-game-about-catching-crabs-no-not-like-that/
Crabs are basically the spiders of the sea. They've got too many legs and it's unsettling to see a swarm of them swarming toward you, or a single big one even if it's just minding its own business hanging out and being larger than I'd like. Crabmeat puts the unsettling nature of the crab to good use, crafting a short point-and-click horror experience out of being stuck on a boat in an ocean full of crabs.
Minecraft Live will return on March 21 and promises 'behind-the-scenes secrets, awesome guests, and more exciting stuff to come' over the next year
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/minecraft-live-will-return-on-march-21-and-promises-behind-the-scenes-secrets-awesome-guests-and-more-exciting-stuff-to-come-over-the-next-year/
Minecraft has announced that its bi-annual showcase, Minecraft Live, will be taking place on Saturday, March 21, and from the trailer it looks like an event worth getting excited about. Although nothing new has been teased or revealed within the announcement, we can expect the "scoop on game drops" which is particularly exciting. Even more so given Minecraft is yet to receive its first drop of 2026.
>> Here’s how to watch it (link).
Overwatch's mid-season update has given Mizuki a jawline buff before Anran's redesign (alongside actually important changes)
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatchs-mid-season-update-has-given-mizuki-a-jawline-buff-before-anrans-redesign-alongside-actually-important-changes/
As soon as Anran's in-game model got revealed in Overwatch, there were calls from her voice actor and fans alike to redesign her face. She looked younger and more generic than her pre-release artwork, and it just didn't match. In a video on X, game director Aaron Keller confirmed that the team was "hoping to make" an update to Anran's design in season 1 at a later date.
Yesterday was Season 1's mid-season update, and there's no word on Anran's redesign. However, eagle-eyed players somehow noticed that Mizuki's jawline got buffed in his Streetwear shop skin to make it much wider and sharper. I'll admit, Mizuki's jawline wasn't quite how I expected it to look in this skin, but it's the way the hat sits on his head that always put me off it.
While this was a stealth buff, it's not the only love Mizuki's received in the latest patch notes. The devs explain that his healing field could feel restrictive, so Remedy Aura has had its radius increased from 10 to 12 metres, but the degeneration delay has been reduced from 2 to 1.75 seconds. In other words, it's easier to reach more players with your heals, but slightly harder to maintain.
Marathon's latest update fixes just about everything you had on your wishlist (no, seriously)
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/marathons-latest-update-fixes-just-about-everything-you-had-on-your-wishlist-no-seriously/
Marathon's difficulty has been a hot-button topic since the Server Slam, where many players felt the UESC AI were too tanky, and meds and ammo were too limited to fight back. This inadvertently caused PvE to get in the way of PvP too much, which is where Marathon shines brightest.
Well, Bungie's listened by tweaking just about everything that's been on players' lists in the new 1.0.0.4 update, starting by increasing the spawn rate of Med Cabinets and Munitions Crates on the Perimeter map. You can scavenge more supplies mid-run when you're a fresh-faced Runner on Tau Ceti, which is where these issues were most felt. However, Bungie has also increased the starting ammo in MIDA, CyberAcme, and Arachne sponsored kits to give these free loadouts a little boost.
>> They’ve also added more skins to its battlepass after players compained (link).
Fortnite: Save the World, the game that spawned Epic's money-printing battle royale, still exists, and after nearly a decade it's going free to play
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/fortnite-save-the-world-the-game-that-spawned-epics-money-printing-battle-royale-still-exists-and-after-nearly-a-decade-its-going-free-to-play/
Well, here's a name I haven't heard in a long time. Fortnite: Save the World, the game that gave us Epic's absurdly popular battle royale, has been quietly persisting for the better part of a decade, just chilling in the shadow of its offspring. And now it's going free to play.
I know: was it not F2P already? Apparently not!
Industry legend Shinji Mikami has a new(ish) studio with staff benefits like 'a chocolate fountain on Valentine's Day'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/industry-legend-shinji-mikami-has-a-new-ish-studio-with-staff-benefits-like-a-chocolate-fountain-on-valentines-day/
Shinji Mikami left Tango Gameworks in 2023, and shortly beforehand had started up a new development studio called Unbound. The company's website appears to have been live for over a year, but has only recently come to wider attention (first spotted, I believe, by VGC), and has some scant details about what they're cooking up.
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