A Plague Tale is a series inextricably tied to the Plague, the Black Death, which ravaged Europe in the 14th Century and apparently killed as many 200 million people. It was the plague carried, infamously, by rats. And so it is that A Plague Tale is also a series about rats - wonderfully and gruesomely so. More specifically, it’s a series about a young boy called Hugo who has something called the Macula inside of him, a supernatural bond with the rats....

A spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz that “Raven leadership has engaged in dialogue with its staff to hear concerns and explain the company’s overall investment in development resources. As previously announced, we are growing our overall investment in development and operations resources and converting nearly 500 temporary workers to full-time employees across our studios, the largest conversion in Activision’s history.” The statement continues: “For the 12 temporary workers at Raven whose agreements were not extended, we provided an extended notice period, included payment for the two-week holiday break, and will be working directly with those that need relocation assistance....

The company, which specialises in artificial intelligence, has developed a video pre-training (VPT) algorithm that allows its AI to learn through viewing. Unlike previous attempts at creating Minecraft algorithms, OpenAI’s plays in the same environment as humans using the equivalent of mouse and keyboard actions, making this a huge leap in AI technology. Out of the box, the AI learned actions such as chopping trees, making planks, and building crafting tables, as well as swimming, hunting, cooking and more....

Aliens: Fireteam Elite? With its gloriously gooey entrails, chunky gunplay, and plentiful frenzied fights, Aliens: Fireteam Elite does let me live out my power fantasies as Ripley - even if we technically have nothing to do with Ripley this time around. Between us, I didn’t expect that going in. The trailers and screenshots looked cool, if a touch generic, sure, but… well, we’ve been burnt by the Alien franchise before, right?...

The Ryzen 5600 is a cheaper alternative to the popular Ryzen 5 5600X that launched in 2020 with 200MHz slower base and boost clock frequencies; everything else is the same. Both processors have the same quantity of six-core 12-thread design, 65W power rating and compataibility with the same DDR4 memory amd AM4 motherboards. Hilariously, between the pair, the 5600X offers two percent more performance for a 23 percent higher price, making the 5600 by far the better value processor....

“Like Apple’s attempt to retaliate against all Unreal Engine customers, their refusal to restore Epic’s Fortnite developer account is vindictive and nonsensical,” Sweeney wrote on Twitter. “We’re fighting Apple over their iOS terms, but this ban blocks Fortnite from Mac too. Nobody’s arguing about Mac. “Mac is a highly secure open platform, like iOS should be. Mac users are free to install software from third party sources like Steam and Epic Games Store, as iOS users should be....

But in another back room there are arcade games - cabinets with playable games! It’s like opening a door and finding that aliens have landed. You can play these games - play clever spins on match-three, on Mr Driller, on plenty of others - but you can also earn money from them too. You can collect the money in their coin hoppers and whack that in the safe. And what if all this money you’re collecting, what if you used it to expand?...

It’s part of a wider partnership the two companies struck up towards the end of last year which introduced Vi’s sister Jinx to Fortnite last November. The new content will go live at 7pm US Eastern time, which is midnight tonight/tomorrow morning in the UK. “The Arcane Vi Outfit will be in the Item Shop alongside more new items of the Arcane: League of Legends Set,” Epic explains. “Put on the bunny Memories of Zaun Back Bling (sold with the Outfit) as a memento of how far Vi has come, equip Vi’s weapon of choice while her gauntlets are being repaired: the Piltover Warden Hammer Pickaxe, and show off why Vi’s called the Piltover enforcer with the Punching Practice Emote....

This isn’t Ark: Survival Evolved’s first outing as an Epic freebie - it was given away in June 2020 - but if you’re a survival fan who hasn’t yet given it a look, it’s still probably worth checking out. Released back in August 2017 after several years in early access, Ark’s base game offers a broadly compelling (if rather rickety) blend of dinosaur taming and breeding, base building, and survival meter management, all in service of massive-scale tribal warfare - unless you opt to join a PvE server, in which case your most terrifying foe is usually a pillar....

The content will focus on the characters Sir Edmund Rockwell and Helena Walker. In part two of the game’s Genesis expansion, Rockwell is voiced by David Tennant (everyone’s favourite Doctor in Doctor Who) and Walker is voiced by Madeleine Madden (known for playing Egwene al’Vere in The Wheel of Time). Both actors will reprise their roles for the new content. Developer Studio Wildcard has not announced many details about the update, but has stated it will include “new story cutscenes to introduce and conclude each ARK map” and voiceover by Tennant and Madden for in-game files which can be found by the player....

Some fans had feared the concept would be cut - as other pandemic-era bonuses and gameplay have already been - especially as Niantic recently announced a new in-person only raid variety, which will debut this weekend for the game’s next Community Day. “That’s a unique experience that we’re setting up just for these extra bonuses in Community Day,” Pokémon Go game director Michael Steranka told me today, referring to the bonuses players will get to extend their local Community Day experience by taking part in the game’s new in-person-only event raids....

The August 2023 release date means Baldur’s Gate 3 arrives, in full, just shy of three years after it first appeared in Steam Early Access, in October 2022. A lot has happened there of course - a lot of tweaking and tuning and honing the experience of the game. Its popularity allowed Larian to breathe and make BG3 a bigger, better thing. Just for giggles: the August 2023 date also means BG3 arrives 23 years after BG2, and 25 years after the original Baldur’s Gate....

The Garden Path wants you to roam. It doesn’t tell you what to do. I find a broken tool – looking at it in my inventory reveals there must be a person who can fix it, so I decide just to get going. I already carry an axe with me, so I fell a few trees, as you do. Some trees shed twigs, or even seeds, which I automatically pocket....

We’ve updated this article as of fall 2022 after testing more than three dozen new keyboards, adding new options for wireless and low profile models, modular keyboards offering deep customisation and high-end premium keyboards with unique features and eye-catching designs. Whether you’re looking for the ultimate gaming keyboard, a surprisingly solid budget offering or just something to code on, we’ve got you covered. Let’s take a look at the ten best mechanical keyboards on the market, all tried and tested by Digital Foundry....

The history of KOF actually begins long before Kyo Kusanagi first stepped into the fighting arena in 1994. In fact, the game’s lineage can be traced all the way back to founding fighting game titles from the ’70s and ’80s, such as Heavyweight Champ, Champion Boxing and Karate Champ, the latter of which was a major influence on the seminal arcade classic Street Fighter, released in 1987. Street Fighter was the brainchild of Takashi Nishiyama, who cut his teeth at Japanese gaming firm Irem on fighting-filled beat-’em-up titles such as Kung-Fu Master and Avengers....

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Blizzard boss Mike Ybarra said his company wanted “to return to a live event that enables us to celebrate the community” and was “committed to bringing back BlizzCon” next year. The annual BlizzCon event held in Anaheim has recently been pushed online due to Covid, and was then scrapped completely this year as Blizzard faced various allegations of staff misconduct and a toxic company culture....

The company has released its latest financials, with once again a drop in overall sales propped up by the success of MMORPG Final Fantasy 14. Yet the prominence of blockchain technology is particularly eye-opening. Watch on YouTube Announcing FINAL FANTASY XIV FAN FESTIVAL 2023-2024! As part of the company’s medium-term business strategy, it aims to take on new domains, as well as strengthen its IP ecosystem and optimise business structure for a covid world....

The recent demake from Unreal Engine 4 tech artist and engineer Lilith Walthe saw Bloodborne going back to Sony’s PlayStation 1 roots. Gone were the more realistic graphics of modern games, and in place fans were treated to a wonderful and pixelated nightmare. Eurogamer’s Ian Higton gave it a whirl, delighting in the demake’s ability to combine two of his favourite things - Retro games and spanking werewolves. It appears that Ian is not alone in his enthusiasm for Walthe’s Bloodborne PSX demake....

Levelling up your Guardian Rank will allow you to invest in a variety of Bonus Stats, which will give you an advantage over your enemies, especially if your playing in Mayhem Mode. Alongside the Bonus Stats, you can also receive special rewards if you invest enough Guardian Tokens into a specific set of Bonus Stats. On this page: The purple Guardian Rank experience bar will appear above your regular experience bar....

You can watch our entire process in matching PlayStation 5’s visual make-up to PC in the embedded video below, but through a process of careful testing, it was possible to provide a very close match, up to and including ray tracing features, so let’s get straight into the nitty-gritty. The volumetric lighting setting controls the resolution of lit volumetric fog in the game, where PS5 is closest to PC’s low setting....