Plotting a course: how Mass Effect 3 brought the trilogy to a close

 Posted on February 5, 2023  |  14 minutes  |  2930 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Whatever you think of Mass Effect 3's final moments, it's fair to say BioWare's third chapter brought the trilogy to a close in style. Over the course of the game, every squadmate past and present gets their turn in the spotlight, major story arcs get revisited and tied off, and Shepard is prepped for their last big mission. But how did BioWare begin planning Mass Effect 3? How much was set in stone already? [Read More]

Remember PS3 hacker Geohot? Now he works for Google

 Posted on February 5, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  405 words  |  Fernande Dalal

George "Geohot" Hotz - the man who hacked the PlayStation 3, among many other things - now works for Google. The 24-year-old New Jersey-born hacker works as part of Google's Project Zero, an elite team of full-time hackers who are paid to find security vulnerabilities in software, reports Wired. Apparently Hotz picked through browser Chrome earlier this year, told Google about it and scored himself a $150,000 reward. Then, they offered him a job. [Read More]

Resident Evil 4, Remake and Zero on Nintendo Switch are competent ports of brilliant games

 Posted on February 5, 2023  |  7 minutes  |  1294 words  |  Patria Henriques

There's been some degree of controversy surrounding the Switch ports of Resident Evil Remake, Resident Evil Zero and Resident Evil 4 - principally in terms of their price-points compared to other platforms and the lack of extra features designed to make the most of the Switch hardware. There's no denying that these are all valid criticisms, but personally, I have few problems recommending two of the three releases, with the third just a patch away from greatness. [Read More]

Taki looks like Taki in Soulcalibur 6

 Posted on February 5, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  242 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Taki's back for Soulcalibur 6, Bandai Namco has announced. Taki wasn't in Soulcalibur 5, so here appearance in 6 marks a return of sorts. Based on the video, below, the fast-moving ninja's design from previous games hasn't changed much at all. Her terrible voice acting is present and correct, too. Here's the official blurb: "Taki is a famous ninja also known as the Fu-Ma's Shadow, so there's no doubting her fighting skills! [Read More]

The Ascent's latest patch is causing problems

 Posted on February 5, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  421 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Players of The Ascent have reported a number of problems with its most recently-released patch. This week, developer Neon Giant released an update (2.1.4.0) for The Ascent on Xbox and Windows 10 platforms that was meant to bring parity with the Steam version. That is, it included DLSS support for Windows 10 (and, as a result, the Game Pass on PC version), as well as co-op, stability and mission fixes. [Read More]

Activision has updated Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War today

 Posted on February 4, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  257 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

2020's Treyarch-made Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has been given a surprise update today - and it sounds like more updates will follow over the course of this year. It's an unusual step for Activision, which typically operates a fire-and-forget approach to its annual Call of Duty releases. Of course, there's context here. Last year's Call of Duty Vanguard has underperformed, and Activision is said to have quietly delayed its unannounced 2023 Call of Duty game by up to 12 months. [Read More]

Apex Legends' Caustic and Fuse getting buffs in Emergence patch

 Posted on February 4, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  368 words  |  Trudie Dory

We've already heard a little about new Apex Legend Seer's abilities, but some existing characters are also getting a rejig in upcoming season Emergence, with both Caustic and Fuse due to get some buffs. As explained by Gamespot, Caustic's gas will no longer deal a flat five ticks of damage per second. Instead, it will increase in damage every other second: for instance, causing 5,5,6,6,7,7 points of damage, with no limit on how much it can increase. [Read More]

Civilization Revolution gets Xbox One backwards compatibility

 Posted on February 4, 2023  |  1 minutes  |  185 words  |  Trudie Dory

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution and Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet have been added to the Xbox One's backwards compatible library. Civilization Revolution launched in 2008, marking the strategy series' console debut. We rather liked it too, with Eurogamer contributor Alec Meer saying "This slick new Civilization may be more reduction than Revolution, but it's easily one of the most distinctive games on 360 and PS3" in his Civilization Revolution review. [Read More]

Cyberpunk 2077 mod "StreetStyle" makes clothing choices more meaningful

 Posted on February 4, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  623 words  |  Trudie Dory

In the vanilla version of Cyberpunk 2077, you may find yourself wearing some absurd clothing combinations just for the sake of your armour stat. Bucket hats and high heels, biking boots and pencil skirts - it all goes on just to increase that number. What you wear in Night City doesn't have much of an impact on your interactions with others, but one modder has introduced a system to make clothes more meaningful. [Read More]

Dark Souls October release date

 Posted on February 4, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  280 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Update: Namco Bandai has confirmed a 7th October European release date for Dark Souls. Original story: Dark Souls - the spiritual successor to wickedly wonderful action RPG Demon's Souls - has a release date: 4th October. The 4th October date comes at the end of a new Dark Souls video for E3 (posted below). Dark Souls, like Demon's Souls, pits you against the odds - you're not supposed to succeed first time. [Read More]