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While many The Sims 4 custom content creators were concerned EA's new policies would prevent them from monetizing their creations through early-access periods, the company has confirmed this is not the case. In an email to GameSpot, an EA representative stated that early-access periods are not prohibited under the company's new policies regarding monetization. "The Sims team has just updated the The Sims 4 Mods FAQ to clarify that all users must be able to access Mods in full for free," an EA representative told GameSpot. "However creators may still run a reasonable early-access period for their content." The new statement adds clarity to The Sims 4 recent policy update, which was shared on July 21 and stated that The Sims 4 custom content creators are no longer allowed to promote mods "in a way that suggests they are endorsed by or affiliated with The Sims, Maxis, or Electronic Arts," or utilize features that support "monetary transactions of any type." Many creators suspected … [Read more...] about EA Says The Sims 4 Modders Can Still Run Early-Access Period For Custom Content

Audio player loading… Without explanation and without warning, the developers at Our Machinery have announced that they are terminating work on their alternative to Unreal Engine and Unity: an engine they called The Machinery. The announcement came in the form of an email sent to users a few days ago. "Unfortunately, we've reached a point where it’s no longer possible for us to continue in the current direction," said the team at Our Machinery, before going on to say, well, nothing by way of explanation. Instead, the email simply stated that, per the engine's EULA, development would cease, access would be withdrawn, and licences would expire two weeks after the email was sent. Users were informed they would receive refunds and were requested to delete any source code or binaries they had in their possession. That last bit has proven controversial. Users on Hacker News (opens in new tab) did a bit of digging and found that the EULA had been updated toward the … [Read more...] about Alternative game engine The Machinery has been cancelled, with devs told to delete all trace of it

Audio player loading… This year's Warhammer Skulls showcase included announcements for several new videogames in Games Workshop's mega-gothic far future Warhammer 40,000 setting: a boomer shooter called Boltgun , a card game called Warpforge , and a cRPG from Pathfinder developers Owlcat called Rogue Trader . We also saw a bit more of the upcoming Space Marine 2 . While we wait for all those, here's an older game to tide you over. Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate is a squad tactics game published by SSI in 1998, and you can get it for free right now on GOG as part of the Warhammer Skulls 2022 Digital Goodie Pack (opens in new tab) . The pack includes a concept art book for 2006 strategy game Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, a bundle of wallpapers, including some promo art from last year's under-rated FPS Necromunda: Hired Gun (well, I liked it), and a few discount codes, as well as Chaos Gate. Chaos Gate pitted squads of Ultramarines against the forces of Chaos in … [Read more...] about Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate is free to keep for a limited time

Audio player loading… For many reasons, we included Beyond Good and Evil 2 in our list of ten games we can't believe are still technically in development (opens in new tab) . In fact, we led with it: That piggy in the picture at the top of the list is Pey'j, the mentor and adoptive uncle of lead character Jade. There's a good reason for that choice. Beyond Good and Evil 2 was announced in 2008 and we've been doing "it's still happening" posts since at least 2014 (opens in new tab) , yet all these years later it's still just a title and a bit of concept art: Ubisoft won't even commit to maybe— maybe! —having it out in 2024 (opens in new tab) . Yet faint signs of life persist, most recently in the form of a new lead writer: Sarah Arellano, who announced the new gig on Twitter. It’s my turn to do the thing pic.twitter.com/gS87kZn7UT August 3, 2022 See more Prior to the move to Ubisoft, Arellano was the narrative designer on Super Evil Megacorp's 2015 … [Read more...] about 15 years into development, Beyond Good and Evil 2 gets a new lead writer

Audio player loading… If you've lurked the Stalker subreddit recently, you've almost certainly come across a curious anomaly: a leaked build of a supposed console port of the original Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl. Rumoured to be due to release shortly before Stalker 2, footage of the build shows the familiar classic in a slightly altered state: there's no cursor in sight, there are controller prompts everywhere, and if that's mouselook I'll eat my hat. It all looks very legit and, while GSC refused to comment when PCG asked about it, this feels like too much work for even the most determined modder. But it's not this alien version of Stalker that's interesting, it's the document that accompanies  it. Written by a Russian streamer who goes by the names 'Nevazhno, Kto' and 'Velichaishii' (meaning 'It doesn't matter who' and 'The greatest', respectively), the five page pamphlet is part confession, part manifesto, and outlines the how and why of his leaking the port. "[GSC] … [Read more...] about A leaked Stalker port is a strange new front in the war in Ukraine

Audio player loading… Bam! You're dead. It was a headshot from far away with the same gun you're using. Dang, they're pretty good. Maybe even too good. Could they be smurfing? These are the considerations players make in the heat of a competitive FPS like CS:GO, Rainbow Six Siege, or Valorant. When a teammate or opponent seems to be overperforming based on their rank, they might actually be a higher-ranked player using an alternate account (a "smurf" account). The ethics of smurfing (opens in new tab) are complicated, but most agree that playing against a smurf sucks. Some believe smurfing is a problem that developers have little incentive to solve. That was the conclusion of one commenter on a Valorant subreddit post, who argued Riot is "downplaying the game's glaring issues," namely smurfing, in order to boost total player numbers and sell more skins. The comment specifically called out Valorant senior competitive designer EvrMoar, who personally wrote a 3,400-word … [Read more...] about Valorant dev tackles smurfing paranoia: ‘smurfs are less common than players think’

Audio player loading… A Microsoft Store leak (opens in new tab) in January pointed to a March 1 release date for Shadow Warrior 3 (opens in new tab) , the upcoming first-person tale of ninjas, demons, and really ridiculous guns. As it turns out, Microsoft got it right: March 1 is the day, and we've got a new trailer to prove it. The trailer leans into Shadow Warrior's by-now familiar blend of goofiness, oversized enemies, and extreme violence. It also appears more in line with Shadow Warrior 2 than the first game in the rebooted series, which is far from "serious" but more restrained than previous games. (Ironically, Devolver said in 2020 that Shadow Warrior 3 "is doing away with some of the excesses (opens in new tab) " of its predecessor, although that was more of a reference to stat management than explosions and gibs.) Sharp-eared fans may also notice that Lo Wang sounds a little different this time around. That's because Shadow Warrior 3 … [Read more...] about Shadow Warrior 3 confirmed for March 1, with a new voice for Lo Wang

Audio player loading… From Oval Office meetings to black helicopters coasting over the Middle East, Resident Evil's latest Netflix adaptation is packed with charged imagery—but please don't suggest it has any political ideas if you happen to be reviewing it, says Netflix. Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness' first season is out now, and by all accounts it sounds like a pretty decent show. But when reviewers examined their embargo materials that clarify when reviews can be posted, they noticed the unusual request from the series' producers. Promoting his own review (opens in new tab) on Twitter, Gizmodo staff writer Charles Pulliam-Moore noted that part of the embargo included not mentioning the show's pointedly political themes. Having been sent a copy of the embargo email, I can confirm that it does indeed ask that reviewers not link the "fictional" show with any real-world political topics. Capcom and Netflix both declined requests for comment. Actually … [Read more...] about Resident Evil’s Netflix show asked reviewers not to mention politics

On release earlier this month, indie date-your-swords 'em up Boyfriend Dungeon landed itself in a bit of hot water over a content warning fans felt didn't go far enough (opens in new tab) . Developer Kitfox would eventually update the warning, but the game's launch issues didn't stop there. Boyfriend Dungeon's release was marred by a week of discourse that saw many fans demand to be allowed to opt-out of the game's more sensitive subjects—namely, stalking—entirely. Voice actor Alexander Gross, who played the antagonist at the centre of Boyfriend Dungeon's uncomfortable themes, reported being sent hate mail (opens in new tab) for playing the character. It's unfortunate that much of this harassment didn't come from the usual suspects, but from ostensibly progressive, queer players. But speaking to queer artists and game developers over the last week, that reaction wasn't altogether unsurprising. "When [Boyfriend Dungeon] came out, I watched a lot of streams of … [Read more...] about The Boyfriend Dungeon backlash was nothing new for queer games

I'm a busy, high-powered man with lots of important things to be doing. It's for this reason—and not because my attention span has been withered to a peppercorn by Twitter—that I barely ever play games anymore without also listening to a podcast, watching a movie, or doing my taxes. I simply have too many weighty responsibilities (and a backlog of Better Call Saul episodes to watch) to focus on a trifling one thing at a time. That's why I was drawn to Desktopia, a medieval city builder (opens in new tab) that lives just above your taskbar. Made by a team of three devs, the game takes up about a quarter of your screen and is designed to let you "work, watch, or browse something else while you play". As someone with a long history of dividing my attention between two (or more) things and thereby remembering neither, it sounded tailor-made for me. It works well: Desktopia has perched atop the rest of my desktop for the last couple of days. As I've sat, written, and read, my … [Read more...] about This city builder that lives on my desktop has turned me into the world’s worst landlord