The Complicated Legacy of the GameStop Craze
In early 2021, millions of ordinary people across the United States began buying shares of the declining video game store GameStop in increments of tens, hundreds or thousands of dollars. Their investments were mocked by financial experts, who cited the store’s poor underlying metrics. But the masses’ collective action proved shockingly powerful: they pushed GameStop’s price from under $3 to as high as $483 in late January 2021, causing the hedge funds that had bet against it to lose billions of dollars.
Nearly three years later, the new movie Dumb Money attempts to dramatize and make sense of the strange episode. Paul Dano stars as Keith Gill, a trader and livestreamer whose full-throated support of the stock on the subreddit community Wall Street Bets catalyzed a movement around “meme stocks”: assets that surged in price fueled by social media enthusiasm. Seth Rogen, Pete Davidson and America Ferrera all play various characters swept up in the mania that …
After two decades, Ratchet & Clank finally come to PC this summer-
The Ratchet & Clank series recently celebrated its 20th anniversary and, remarkably enough, it’s been around all this time without any of the games finding their way to PC. But as is the way of all PlayStation things now, barring Bloodborne, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is coming to PC on July 26.
The game is being handled by Nixxes Software in collaboration with original developer Insomniac Games (which is probably quite busy with Spider-Man 2 at the moment). In a blogpost making the announcement Nixxes’ Julian Huijbregts says the game “is a visual spectacle that is perfectly suitable for newcomers”, and it’s true that the Ratchet & Clank games have always been showcases: Sony loves to launch a new PlayStation in the vicinity of a new game in this series, to give the early adopters something to show off. As for this entry specifically, our sister site GamesRadar+ called it “the best in the series” and awarded five stars.
And the PC version is go…
Fight rat hordes with steam guns in this tactical, squad-based survival RPG-
An upcoming turn-based tactical RPG will put players’ choice of survivors against a horde of giant, mutated rats in the struggle to cross the ruins of a fallen city and survive another day. Shardpunk: Verminfall will release on April 13, 2023, and sounds like an interesting blend of the turn-based tactics, RPG, resource management, and survival genres.
The core of Shardpunk looks to be fast-moving tactical fights over the course of a day spent scavenging in the ruins of your steampunk-ish capital city—one where you must constantly move to outrun the oncoming vermin horde. At night your team shelters somewhere and you make choices about managing their health, morale, equipment, and stats.
“In Shardpunk: Verminfall you already lost. Now you need to run for your life while saving as many people and pieces of equipment as possible. Keep on moving and use every skill and item at your disposal to reach the safety of fusion core-operated bunkers,” says the developer.
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The PC Gaming Show returns December 5 with a sleigh full of the latest and greatest PC games
It’s arriving in December and represents a festival of togetherness that enraptures families the world over. That’s right: The PC Gaming Show is back, and it’s bringing a hefty sack of videogame magic when it hits this December 5.
What have we got in our bag? Oh, you know, just a buffet of premieres, announcements, and interviews that bring out the best of the best of the best of PC gaming. Expect faces both new and old in a show stacked to the gills with the greatest our hobby has to offer. Also expect us to create at least one intensely gif-able moment of our hosts that will live on in their social media replies until the end of time.
It’s our 10th year putting on the Ritz for this kind of thing, and we’ve gotten pretty good at it. We’ll be bringing some warmth to the doldrums of autumn with a true banger of a show. If you’re a developer, publisher or PR firm that wants to participate in it? You can hit up Editorial Director [email protected] or the sho…
Abiotic Factor, a 6-player survival game where you’re scientists in a paranormal lab, is rising up Steam’s top-sellers chart-
Gordon Freeman is a nerd who cuts a heroic profile, but in Abiotic Factor you’re just a nerd: a regular, lab-coat-wearing new employee in a Black Mesa-like science facility that’s undergoing an unspecified security situation. Your job, at least for starters, is to avoid dying.
Out in early access on Steam today, Abiotic Factor’s premise seems to be striking a chord with co-op survival crafting fans: It hasn’t hit Steam’s top concurrents chart at the time of writing, but it has jumped to seventh place in Steam’s US top-sellers list just a few hours after launch.
I like how much Abiotic Factor commits to the ’90s parody corporate scientist theme: its character creator features 19 ties, 12 kinds of glasses, and 11 snazzy belts. And how refreshing it is to play a co-op survival crafting game that doesn’t immediately ask you to punch down a tree! The rough equivalent in Abiotic Factor is bashing an old beige computer case to bits and harvesting its power supply.
A…
Chrome got rid of the downloads bar- here’s how to defy the cruel whims of Google and get it back-
Even good UI changes are met with hostility from belligerent software users who liked things the way they were, so I won’t claim to know whether or not the choice to move Chrome’s downloads list from a bar at the bottom of the screen to a tray at the top right is good UX design or not. I’ll just meet it with hostility.
Until today, I was living in a dreamlike state of delusion over the loss of Chrome’s download bar. I tilted my head at its absence every time I downloaded something, but rather than believing that some cruel Silicon Valley fiend would really move my downloads from the place they’ve been since before I even started using Chrome—so, for decades—I shook it off, found the file in Explorer, and left the mystery for another day.
It wasn’t until I saw a tweet from Rust creator Garry Newman that I really comprehended the situation. “Chrome moving the downloads to the top right has ruined my entire life,” he wrote.
The update happened on …
One of Elden Ring’s nastiest bosses still has an invisible tail left over from the Dark Souls freak whose assets he’s built on-
Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion (due June 20th) is currently looming large over my gaming time, inspiring the urge to return to The Lands Between and hoover up everything I missed in my first playthrough. There’s plenty to be getting on with, because not only is this world vast but absolutely riddled with secrets both above and below the surface—including the dead hand of annoying Soulsborne bosses past.
One category of miscellanies, however, is not down to the authorial intention of FromSoftware but the dedicated efforts of dataminers who, drunk on the power of having stripped-down many previous Soulsborne games, have discovered some astonishing details buried away in the game’s code. A great recent example of this was the discovery of unused underground areas, tied to a planned ‘Cataclysm’ system (never implemented) which would have seen the map change as you play.
This new revelation isn’t on quite that scale but, for those who’v…
Pharaoh- A New Era used a ‘certified Egyptologist to ensure the game’s historical accuracy’-
Pharaoh: A New Era, a remake of the classic 1999 city builder from Sierra, is set to launch on Steam next week, and to ensure fans are ready for it publisher Dotemu has released a lengthy trailer showcasing its overhauled graphics and gameplay, and also dropped some hints on how to get off to a strong start.
The video covers all the basics, from the usual resource gathering and early construction to setting up trade missions with nearby cities. It also shows off the “completely redesigned” UI in Pharaoh: A New Era, which is aimed at simplifying the job of building and managing cities, and of course the new and improved visuals—it’s been a quarter century since the original, after all, and while that’s not exactly ancient in a civilizational context, it’s pretty old as far as videogame graphics go.
Also interesting, and kind of amusing (to me, at least), is the fact that all the remade buildings in Pharaoh: A New Era were “carefully evaluated by a certified Egyptolo…
Take back your swamp in Toads of the Bayou, a deckbuilding roguelike with a splash of turn-based-tactics for flavour-
I know we’ve had a downright deluge of roguelike deckbuilders over the past few years, but by golly I can’t seem to get enough of them—I just like gathering my funny little cards, and the process of rinse & repeat is soothing to me, as my recent Hades obsession can confirm. Toads of the Bayou certainly looks like the next darling to scratch that itch.
As revealed in this year’s PC Gaming Show, Toads of the Bayou is a deckbuilder-slash-roguelike game that blends cards with good ol’ fashioned turn-based tactics. Baron Samedi, a nasty spirit, has trapped you and your fellow hoppers in a cursed bayou to wallow and suffer.
Unfortunately for Samedi, he didn’t realise toads have invented firearms. Classic blunder, could happen to anyone.
What’s interesting, to me, is how Toads of the Bayou has both combat and movement cards on offer—generally-speaking, deck builders are turn-based affairs where your only real consideration is finding synergi…
Hollow Knight- Silksong may be delayed, has ‘gotten quite big’-
While Hollow Knight: Silksong didn’t have an exact release date, its appearance at the Xbox & Bethesda showcase in June of 2022—which Xbox made a point of saying was focused on games coming in the following 12 months—led us to expect that it would release by June, 2023. That may no longer be the case.
Matthew Griffin, who does marketing and publishing for Hollow Knight developer Team Cherry, has provided an update about its progress on Twitter. Griffin noted, “We had planned to release in the 1st half of 2023, but development is still continuing. We’re excited by how the game is shaping up, and it’s gotten quite big, so we want to take the time to make the game as good as we can.”
Silksong was originally conceived as an expansion for Hollow Knight, but quickly became a full-fledged sequel with a new protagonist, playstyle, and setting. Seems like it’s continued to expand during development, though whether this will result in a significant delay remains to…
The best VR boxing game, and my favorite VR game in general, is getting a sequel with multiplayer soon
Watch On
Is it just me, or do the newly revealed companions of Dragon Age- The Veilguard look like they’re in a hero shooter–
Watch On
After so long with nothing but vague teasers, it’s a relief to finally see something substantial of long-awaited sequel Dragon Age: The Veilguard (formerly Dreadwolf), even if it is just a CG trailer. But I’m not sure that the vibes are quite right here.
Revealed at the Xbox showcase, the trailer wisely puts the focus on the new characters, introducing all seven of the sequel’s playable companions in a quickfire barrage. We’re off to a good start with the return of fan favourite Varric, looking fashionably grizzled and finally sporting the beginnings of a proper dwarven beard, though it seems he’s an NPC this time rather than an active combatant, given the absence of his name on the official list of party members.
Scout Harding, meanwhile, is making the move the other way, promoted from NPC in Inquisition to full-fledged companion. Though I can’t say she made a huge impression on me in the last game, her chirpy personality certainly makes her likeable enou…
Valve collector shares his treasure trove of never-before-seen Half Life 2- Episode 3, ‘Alyx & Dog,’ and Stars of Blood concept art-
Following the release of its documentary on canceled Valve games, DidYouKNowGaming has made a collection of previously-unavailable Valve concept art free to download on the Internet Archive. The trove comes courtesy of David McGreavy, a games industry professional and self-professed Valve superfan.
McGreavy, who most recently was a marketing producer for 2K on games like Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, describes having multiple inside connections at Valve in the DYKG documentary. One such employee saved the pieces from being junked when Valve moved offices, and later sold them to McGreavy.
In addition to The Big One—Half Life 2: Episode 3—McGreavy’s collection contains art for Left 4 Dead, a very early version of Half-Life: Alyx tentatively titled “Alyx and Dog,” Dota spinoff Underlords, and the mythical Valve space pirate game, Stars of Blood. The Internet Archive post also makes mention of “Counter-Strike: Source 2,” which is literally a joke game I …
Today’s Wordle answer for Tuesday, June 11-
There’s a hint for today’s Wordle waiting below if you need it, some easily absorbed general tips if you don’t, and the answer to the June 11 (1088) puzzle just a little further down the page if you’re really stuck. However you want to win Tuesday’s game, we can help.
I would’ve given anything for a green letter today. Heck, I’d have been grateful just for a yellow or two. What I got instead was an endless supply of greys, every guess completely off the mark in a new and interesting way. I didn’t so much solve today’s game as run out of wrong letters to try.
Today’s Wordle hint
Wordle today: A hint for Tuesday, June 11
You’d use this word to describe the act of swaying, or moving back and forth in some way. Think of a monkey moving through the trees, or even voters shifting from one party to another. Past tense.
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Is there a double letter in Wordle today?
No, there is no double letter in today’s puzzle…
Warhammer Quest is being delisted from Steam in December, but will remain available on GOG-
Warhammer Quest was a well-liked Games Workshop board game from 1995, a halfway point between dungeon crawls like HeroQuest and tabletop roleplaying games. Its videogame adaptation was released on PC in 2015, and while its simplicity kept it from topping the list of the best Warhammer games, it made an ideal laptop time-filler. Which is why it’s a shame that in October it was announced that Warhammer Quest is being delisted on Steam.
Ian Baverstock, director of publisher Chilled Mouse, told PC Gamer that December 12 will be the day of Warhammer Quest’s removal from Steam, although “It isn’t being delisted from GOG at this time.” Presumably GOG is subject to different licensing terms, which makes sense given its original remit as the home of Good Old Games. Man O’ War: Corsair, a kind of “Sid Meier’s Pirates goes Warhammer”, also suffered a delisting on Steam but remains available on GOG.
Warhammer Quest’s sequels, Warhammer Quest 2: The End Times and Warhammer Quest: Sil…
The Twitch hot tub meta has reached new heights with a green-screen booty scene, and I’m mostly just upset by how inefficient it is-
Twitch has had, let’s call it a complicated relationship with adult content over the past few months. In case you’re completely uninitiated, the rough timeline is as follows: back in 2021, the “Hot Tub Meta” was born—wherein streamers would rake in viewers by streaming in, you guessed it, a hot tub. Twitch played ball after a brief controversy wherein a hot tub streamer was demonetised without warning, despite playing the game to the letter of the platform’s law at the time.
Then, late last year, Twitch decided to get a little more relaxed about the whole thing by permitting “artistic nudity” on the platform. This lasted 48 hours before Twitch decided actually, no, no wait, nevermind, that was a bad move, and shut the whole thing down.
The arms race between sexy entrepreneurs and Twitch is back with a vengeance in 2024—first up, Twitch had to step in and add implied nudity to its list of sexy no-nos, after streamers were bending the rules…
This anti-meat industry horror game was inspired by the death of the dev’s pet chicken, and it’s basically Abe’s Oddysee plus Resident Evil but you’re poultry-
Like Morrissey once said: Meat is murder. I strongly encourage you not to look up anything else he ever said, but the man had a point with that one. Whether you’re a devoted vegan or a full-on carnivore, I don’t think many would disagree that the meat industry is a bit of a nightmare, and that in general humanity’s stewardship of the planet Earth has been—for all the beasts that walk upon it—a bit of a mixed bag.
I doubt anyone understands this better than Jean Lima, the single developer behind Saborus, the horror game in which you play a chicken, the demo for which I just got done playing. Lima was inspired to make the game “precisely because he had a pet chicken and suffered when his beloved pet died,” which led to a lot of reflection on “on the daily horror that animals that are part of most people’s diet suffer.”
Think ‘Abe’s Oddysee but you’re poultry’ and you’re pretty much there. Saborus tasks you with guiding its fowl protagonist out of a slaugh…
Wordle hint and answer #621- Thursday, March 2-
Turn those unruly yellows into winning green letters with our daily Wordle help. Keep scrolling, and you’ll find everything from general advice designed to help you squeeze the most use out of every guess, a helpful clue for the March 2 (621) puzzle, and if you’re out of ideas, time, or patience, you’ll find the answer to today’s Wordle just below that.
I had an unremarkable but not worthless open today, only to make a total mess of things on my third guess—that’ll teach me to attempt Wordle first thing in the morning. Luckily I did pull it back in the end, but that was a lot closer than it had to be.
Wordle hint
A Wordle hint for Thursday, March 2
Here’s today’s clue: any object that is currently higher than something below could be described as being _____ it. A plane flying over the clouds, for example. The same word is also used when talking about someone who feels they are too good for a “lower” task, or superior to another person.…
Final Fantasy 14’s director says the Dawntrail expansion will be a ‘second rebirth’ similar to A Realm Reborn-
Way before I sunk hundreds of hours into Final Fantasy 14, I watched it die and eventually return with A Realm Reborn in 2013. The major rework of FF14’s entire world was a critical moment for the MMO that shaped the next 11 years of the game. The most recent expansion, Endwalker, was still tying up loose ends that originated in that rebuilt foundation.
The MMO’s director Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida told Famitsu in a recent interview (translated via Aitaikimochi and RPG Site) that he and the team approached development on this year’s expansion, Dawntrail, like a “second rebirth” to the game: A Realm Reborn but without the apocalyptic destruction.
Yoshida described this new era as less a function of the narrative and more that the team has vastly improved their skills at making the game. He says Dawntrail will be “three or four times more solid” than what came before and that it will mark a shift in the game’s direction going forward.
While it’s true that Dawntrail will…