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Speaking with Press Start, Director Naoki Hamaguchi talked about the world map, revealing that the team took the map of the original game and recreated it all in a one-to-one scale, meaning that all towns, dungeons, and other points of interest are now included in the same space as one seamless map. Elaborating further on how players will get to explore such a vast world, Hamaguchi said that while the whole of the map will be available right from the start, the size of the world will actually grow as players make progress and learn new abilities that let them access previously unreachable areas.

While the latest gameplay footage, and an official document, hinted at this type of recreation of the original world map, it is nice to get a confirmation that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth won't feel as restrained as its predecessor in terms of exploration. Remake, in my opinion, managed to represent the scale of Midgar rather well, but the excessive linearity ended up hurting the experience a bit.

The Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1 is setting out to be a rather disappointing collection on PC, as resolution and framerate will be locked at low values in all games.

A recent update of the collection's official website confirmed the output resolutions and maximum framerates of all included games. On PC, all games will have a maximum resolution of 1080p, a 30 FPS cap for the original Metal Gear Solid, and a 60 FPS cap for the second and third entry in the series. Needless to say, this is extremely disappointing and a missed opportunity to update some of the best games ever released.

A new Forza Motorsport game is just a few weeks from launching, six years after the previous installment. The new entry in the racing simulation franchise will feature much more detailed physics, fast machine-powered AI, and RPG-like mechanics, but developer Turn 10 is also changing its approach to post-launch content, which will be integrated seamlessly into the career mode.

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We certainly don’t want to split the Forza Motorsport community up, especially multiplayer. So all of the tracks right now for the foreseeable future, they’re all coming to the game for free. So that’s going to be enjoyed by everyone.

The European Commission has re-imposed a fine of around €376.36 million on Intel for a previously established abuse of dominant position in the market for computer chips called x86 central processing units ('CPUs'). Intel engaged in a series of anticompetitive practices aimed at excluding competitors from the relevant market in breach of EU antitrust rules.

With today's decision, we are re-imposing a €376.36 million fine on Intel for having abused its dominant position in the computer chips market. Intel paid its customers to limit, delay or cancel the sale of products containing computer chips of its main rival. This is illegal under our competition rules. Our decision shows the Commission's commitment to ensure that very serious antitrust breaches do not go unsanctioned. - Commissioner Didier Reynders, in charge of competition policy

Baldur's Gate 3's Patch 3, which was so massive Larian held it back a day to test it properly, will release today, and it'll add an RPG feature many of us have been requesting since we stepped clear of the Nautiloid - the ability to change a character's appearance. Alas, it comes too late for the Wood Elf Druid I rolled during my first try at the 1.0 version. I wanted her to look like a sort of Kung Fu Galadriel, with cool tattoos and aerodynamic scars, but she emerged from the character creator looking like she'd been mugged by a packet of demon crayons. I've left my active character, a High Elf Sorceress, safely tattoo-less.

It's been a clear decade since the last entry in this co-op crimeathon FPS series, so I was interested to play Payday 3. Payday is exactly the sort of online multiplayer I can get behind: PvE with clear but theoretically malleable goals (theft!). But although compared to Crime Boss: Rockay City it's a crushing 60st monster truck tyre, Payday 3 isn't really reinventing the Payday 2 wheel. In some respects you might think it's rolling backwards, and while dedicated Payday 2 players may well switch over to the current gen iteration, you get the sense they'll be complaining about things the whole time.

Malenia, Blade of Miquella, is a menace. Even among Elden Ring’s cast of bastard-hard bosses, the Goddess of Rot distinguishes herself as an ender of lives, a relentless steel tempest that has shredded the most prepared and dextrous of adventurers. She’s also been beaten, rather soundly, by a man using only his mouth.

Or, to be more precise, a QuadStick FPS, a specialised game controller comprised of a mouth-operated joystick and several 'sip and puff' switches. It’s the favoured tool of professional streamer and Guinness World Record holder Rocky "RockyNoHands" Stoutenburgh, who in 2022 used it to become the first quadriplegic Elden Ring player to claim Malenia’s scalp. This was a win for a QuadStick as well: a showcase of how adaptive hardware and clever controller design could make games more accessible than ever, enabling players with disabilities to match and exceed the heroics of their able-bodied peers. And yet, there’s little sense – among disabled players, advocacy groups, or even controller manufacturers – that accessible hardware is entering its golden age. While major breakthroughs have been made, high prices and commercial concerns still carry the threat of willing, eager players being left behind.

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If you enjoy tower defence, video games presented as fake PC desktop environments, and big sexy mouths in Hell, cast your innumerable unblinking eyes over Heretic's Fork. The deck-building tower defence game casts you as an employee of Hell tasked with punishing sinners by building towers and deploying troops using a demonic computer system. I've played a few hours since Heretic's Fork launched yesterday and while it hasn't quite enraptured my hellbound heart, I am enjoying figuring it out—and seeing what my paperclip helper will do next.

Launch Trailer
Steam Page

At 22.5 x 9 x 3 cm, the Ayaneo Air 1S is more like a Nintendo Switch than a Steam Deck. In fact, it's a touch smaller than the Switch. Or slightly bigger than a medium-large banana. The retro model I've got in for review weighs only ~405g on my scales, which is a little heavier than my Switch at around ~400g but far lighter than my Steam Deck at ~650g. There's even a thinner and lighter model, the Air 1S Thin, though that's a limited edition.

Point is, it's a handheld gaming PC that feels more like a handheld gaming device of old than any other I've used. It's a powerful GameBoy Advance, and boy, is it powerful.

The Ayaneo Air 1S may look like it needs a downgrade to stuff all its parts into that tiny shell. But, no. It comes with the same AMD Ryzen 7 7840U chip found within the AOKZOE A1 Pro or the OneXPlayer OneXFly. That's a full eight-core, 16-thread Zen 4 processor. I still can't really believe that sort of spec comes in a compact PC at all. It's paired up with a Radeon 780M integrated graphics, powered by 12 RDNA 3 CUs—four more CUs than the Steam Deck's RDNA 2 chip.

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Last month, Microsoft submitted a new deal to the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority regulatory agency that proposes Ubisoft get the rights to Activision Blizzard game streaming for 15 years. Microsoft did this to get its acquisition of Activision Blizzard approved by the CMA after the regulator previously blocked it over cloud gaming concerns. One month later, the CMA has granted preliminary approval to Microsoft due to its new Ubisoft deal.

The CMA says it has "identified limited residual concerns with the new deal" but that Microsoft has put forward remedies (see: Ubisoft's role) that the CMA "has provisionally concluded should address these issues." The CMA is now consulting on those remedies before making a final official decision ahead of the October 18 deadline to do so.

A cosy new hobbit-based Lord of the Rings spinoff game has been teased by Wētā Workshop and Private Division. Yes, it is actually happening.

Tales of the Shire was announced to celebrate Hobbit Day, and promises to provide a snuggly "heart-warming" experience set in Tolkein's Middle-earth universe. It's coming from Wētā Workshop and Private Division and will arrive sometime next year. Needless to say, I am more than a little bit excited.

To accompany this announcement, a small teaser was also released. It is short and suitably charming, showing a young person humming as she sits at a table strewn with flora and art supplies. There are also modern bits and pieces, such as headphones. She is painting in a book, and while I have nothing to base this on other than my hunch, she looks to be painting herself as a hobbit. Could this be Tales of the Shire's soon to be pint-sized protagonist?
Reveal Trailer with no gameplay

Yesterday, Activision announced what players can expect in Season 6 of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone, The Haunting, which has a spooky theme just in time for Halloween.

A number of crossovers with other franchises are always to be expected, and this Season players will be able to purchase some horror (and horror adjacent) icons as Operators.

Diablo's Lilith and Inarius (everybody's favourite Mother and Father from hell), He-Man nemesis Skeletor, Evil Dead's Ash Williams, and Alucard from the manga series Hellsing will all be entering the fray.