In what appears to be an ongoing purge, Roku has now banned the popular cCloud TV service from its platform. cCloud makes available many thousands of streaming IPTV links on a number of platforms, from web browsers to Kodi, from Xbox One to Apple TV. Until recently the service was also available on Roku but like USTVNow before it, cCloud TV is now unavailable on the device. Despite being one of the more popular set-top box platforms, until last year Roku managed to stay completely out of the piracy conversation. However, due to abuse of its system by third-parties, last June the Superior Court of Justice of the City of Mexico banned the importation and distribution of Roku devices in the country. The decision followed a complaint filed by cable TV provider Cablevision, which said that some Roku channels and their users were infringing its distribution rights. Since then, Roku has been fighting to have the ban lifted, previously informing TF that it expressly prohibits copyright infringement of any kind. That led to several more legal processes yet last month and after considerable effort, the ban was upheld, much to Roku’s disappointment. “It is necessary for Roku to make adjustments to its software, as other online content distribution platforms do, so that violations of copyrighted content do not take place,” Cablevision said. Then, at the end of March, Roku suddenly banned the USTVnow channel from its platform, citing a third-party copyright complaint. In a series of emails with TF, the company declined to offer further details but there is plenty of online speculation that the decision was a move towards the “adjustments” demanded by Cablevision. Today yet more fuel is being poured onto that same fire with Roku’s decision to ban the popular cCloud TV service from its platform. For those unfamiliar with cCloud TV, it’s a video streaming platform that relies on users to contribute media links found on the web, whether they’re movie and TV shows or live sporting events. “Project cCloud TV is known as the ‘Popcorn Time for Live TV’. The project started with 50 channels and has grown over time and now has over 4000 channels from all around the world,” its founder ‘Bane’ told TF back in 2016. “The project was inspired by Popcorn Time and its simplicity for streaming torrents. The service works based on media links that can be found anywhere on the web and the cCloud project makes it easier for users to stream.” Aside from the vast array of content cCloud offers, its versatility is almost unrivaled. In an addition to working via most modern web browsers, it’s also accessible using smartphones, tablets, Plex media server, Kodi, VLC, and (until recently at least) Roku. But cCloud and USTVnow aren’t the only services suffering bans at Roku. As highlighted by CordCuttersNews, other channels are also suffering similar fates, such as XTV that was previously replaced with an FBI warning. cCloud has had problems on Kodi too. Back in September 2017, TVAddons announced that it had been forced to remove the cCloud addon from its site. “cCloud TV has been removed from our web site due to a complaint made by Bell, Rogers, Videotron and TVA on June 12th, 2017 as part of their lawsuit against our web site,” the site announced. “Prior to hearing of the lawsuit, we had never received a single complaint relating to the cCloud TV addon for Kodi. cCloud TV for Kodi was developed by podgod, and was basically an interface for the community-based web service that goes by the same name.” Last week, TVAddons went on to publish an “blacklist” that lists addons that have the potential to deliver content not authorized by rightsholders. Among many others, the list contains cCloud, meaning that potential users will now have to obtain it directly from the Kodi Bae Repository on Github instead. At the time of publication, Roku had not responded to TorrentFreak’s request for comment. Source: Torrentfreak.com

Content and revenue protection specialist Friend MTS has launched a 4K/UHD variant of its ASiD subscriber level watermarking service to protect premium sports and entertainment content from streaming piracy sourced from set-top boxes and OTT players. The ASiD global monitoring and watermarking service is highly-automated to allow scaling for the largest live sports events, which can generate thousands of pirate streams. By connecting directly with pay-TV operators’ subscriber management systems, ASiD allows thousands of pirate streams to be deactivated within minutes. By preventing content theft, broadcasters and rights owners can maximise their audiences and revenues. A key service within Friend MTS’s portfolio, the ASiD global channel monitoring uses fingerprint-based content recognition to identify broadcasters’ assets in seconds. This monitoring connects tightly with the invisible watermarking extraction to precisely identify subscribers who are responsible for streaming piracy. The ASiD service is designed to be highly-customisable, and protects premium assets ranging from live sports to on-demand entertainment. “With the continuing growth in 4K/UHD channels, typically driven by sports and premium entertainment, there’s a pressing need to secure this content against streaming piracy,” noted Neil Sharpe, Product Marketing Director. “Live sports is the toughest content genre to protect, due to the scale of the streaming piracy threat and the time dependence of the assets. The highly automated ASiD watermarking is optimised for this environment, and it also delivers the outstanding consumer experience sought by sports rights holders and movie studios,” concluded Sharpe.

Motion Picture Association Canada has revealed the scale of pirate site-blocking around the world. In a submission to the CRTC, the Hollywood group states that at least 42 countries are now obligated to block infringing sites. In Europe alone, 1,800 sites and 5,300 domains have been rendered inaccessible, with Portugal, Italy, the UK, and Denmark leading the way. Few people following the controversial topic of Internet piracy will be unaware of the site-blocking phenomenon. It’s now one of the main weapons in the entertainment industries’ arsenal and it’s affecting dozens of countries. While general figures can be culled from the hundreds of news reports covering the issue, the manner in which blocking is handled in several regions means that updates aren’t always provided. New sites are regularly added to blocklists without fanfare, meaning that the public is kept largely in the dark. Now, however, a submission to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) by Motion Picture Association Canada provides a more detailed overview. It was presented in support of the proposed blocking regime in Canada, so while the key figures are no doubt accurate, some of the supporting rhetoric should be viewed in context. “Over the last decade, at least 42 countries have either adopted and implemented, or are legally obligated to adopt and implement, measures to ensure that ISPs take steps to disable access to copyright infringing websites, including throughout the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, and South Korea,” the submission reads. The 42 blocking-capable countries referenced by the Hollywood group include the members of the European Union plus the following: Argentina, Australia, Iceland, India, Israel, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand. While all countries have their own unique sets of legislation, countries within the EU are covered by the requirements of Article 8.3 of the INFOSEC Directive which provides that; “Member States shall ensure that rightholders are in a position to apply for an injunction against intermediaries whose services are used by a third party to infringe a copyright or related right.” That doesn’t mean that all countries are actively blocking, however. While Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia have the legal basis to block infringing sites, none have yet done so. In a significant number of other EU countries, however, blocking activity is prolific. “To date, in at least 17 European countries, over 1,800 infringing sites and over 5,300 domains utilized by such sites have been blocked, including in the following four countries where the positive impact of site-blocking over time has been demonstrated,” MPA Canada notes. Major blocking nations in the EU https://torrentfreak.com/images/eublocktop.png At this point, it’s worth pointing out that authority to block sites is currently being obtained in two key ways, either through the courts or via an administrative process. In the examples above, the UK and Denmark are dealt with via the former, with Italy and Portugal handled via the latter. At least as far as the volume of sites is concerned, court processes – which can be expensive – tend to yield lower site blocking levels than those carried out through an administrative process. Indeed, the MPAA has praised Portugal’s super-streamlined efforts as something to aspire to. Outside Europe, the same two processes are also in use. For example, Australia, Argentina, and Singapore utilize the judicial route while South Korea, Mexico, Malaysia and Indonesia have opted for administrative remedies. “Across 10 of these countries, over 1,100 infringing sites and over 1,500 domains utilized by such sites have been blocked,” MPA Canada reveals. To date, South Korea has blocked 460 sites and 547 domains, while Australia has blocked 91 sites and 355 domains. In the case of the latter, “research has confirmed the increasingly positive impact that site-blocking has, as a greater number of sites are blocked over time,” the Hollywood group notes. Although by no means comprehensive, MPA Canada lists the following “Notorious Sites” as subject to blocking in multiple countries via both judicial and administrative means. Most will be familiar, with the truly notorious The Pirate Bay heading the pile. Several no longer exist in their original form but in many cases, clones are blocked as if they still represent the original target. https://torrentfreak.com/images/notb...3365258531.png https://torrentfreak.com/images/notb...3365307830.png The methods used to block the sites vary from country to country, dependent on what courts deem fit and in consideration of ISPs’ technical capabilities. Three main tools are in use including DNS blocking, IP address blocking, and URL blocking, which can also include Deep Packet Inspection. The MPA submission (pdf) is strongly in favor of adding Canada to the list of site-blocking countries detailed above. The Hollywood group believes that the measures are both effective and proportionate, citing reduced usage of blocked sites, reduced traffic to pirate sites in general, and increased visits to legitimate platforms. “There is every reason to believe that the website blocking measures [presented to the CRTC] will lead to the same beneficial results in Canada,” MPA Canada states. While plenty of content creators and distributors are in favor of proposals, all signs suggest they will have a battle on their hands, with even some ISPs coming out in opposition. Source: Torrentfreak.com

Japan’s renowned manga culture is facing a crisis. The spread of smartphones and tablet computers allows people to read e-comics anywhere at any time. According to the Research Institute for Publications, annual sales of digital comics last year grew 17.2 percent from the previous year to ¥171.1 billion, surpassing sales of their printed brethren for the first time. But this digitalization has also cast a shadow on the heart of Japanese pop culture. Amid the increasing e-comic readership, some free-riders let visitors read pirated manga online without charge while they line their own pockets with advertising revenue. One of the most notorious manga pirate websites in Japan drew a whopping 174 million visitors in the month of March, making it the 25th busiest website in Japan, according to web analysis tool SimilarWeb. The number was a dramatic increase from the 690,000 visitors it attracted in September. The rapid growth of piracy websites has prompted publishing houses and the government to campaign against piracy, hoping to protect one of Japan’s famed cultural export items. But so far no silver bullet has been found. Here is a closer look at the current picture of comic book piracy in Japan and the struggles of the manga industry: Why does manga piracy matter? Manga creators aren’t being compensated fairly because no royalties are paid for content that is distributed without the consent of the copyright holders. A Tokyo-based manga creators’ group, Manga Japan, has expressed concern that the comic book industry may eventually perish if manga piracy continues unabated on the web. While some legitimate services let visitors read e-comics for free, they are contracted to pay royalties to creators, unlike piracy websites, Manga Japan says. The group is urging readers not to access such websites. Piracy websites “only care about making money. They don’t care about how they will affect the future of manga creators. They are not manga fans. They are just exploiting it,” the group said in a statement. Another group of content creators, the Japan Cartoonists Association, says that while it is “truly wonderful” that more people can enjoy manga on computers and mobile phones, the business ecosystem that nurtured Japan’s manga culture has been devastated by “some thoughtless companies.” Damage done by pirated comics to the domestic manga market may have reached ¥50 billion, according to research commissioned by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and released in 2014. The damage in the U.S. was even more severe: An estimated ¥1.3 trillion may have been lost to piracy. Isn’t it illegal to spread pirated copies? Uploading illegal copies obviously violates copyright law. But cracking down isn’t so easy, says Orie Kishimoto, counselor for the Cabinet Office’s Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters. Japan’s most notorious piracy website takes the form of a “leech site,” which aggregates links to manga, music, videos and other computer files uploaded on other websites, she said. Such websites often claim they don’t violate copyright law because they neither upload the files themselves nor have illegal copies on their own computer servers. But last October, police arrested nine people on suspicion of violating copyright laws by running a website containing links to illegal copies of content. Another difficulty lies in identifying who runs the malicious websites and where they are located, making it difficult for copyright holders to file a lawsuit, Kishimoto said. One notorious piracy website claims it is breaking no laws because its management body exists in a country “which doesn’t have diplomatic relations” with Japan and therefore this nation’s copyright protection doesn’t apply. In addition, copyright law cannot be used against people who read or download pirated comics online. The current law applies to downloading illegal copies of music and videos, but it does not apply to image files like manga. “Although we can’t say what you are doing is illegal, people (who read pirated copies) should realize that you are hurting manga creators and destroying a significant base of Japan’s prized manga culture,” Kishimoto said. Are there any effective countermeasures? The government has taken a number of measures, but “no definitive solution has been found,” Kishimoto said. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry launched a joint campaign last month with China and South Korea to urge people not to access pirate websites. But “it’s difficult to make people listen to us without naming actual illegal websites. If we do, that would make more people learn about such websites and, as a result, more people may access them. That is a difficult part,” Kishimoto said. With no solution in sight to eradicate manga piracy, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said last month that the government will consider more proactive measures, including blocking access to pirate websites. Kishimoto said the government plans to announce a new strategic program on protecting intellectual property in May, which may include “some new measures” to combat piracy. But some critics claim that shutting down access to a certain website would violate the Constitution, which states: “No censorship shall be maintained, nor shall the secrecy of any means of communication be violated.” A similar debate on internet freedom occurred in the U.S. over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which triggered protests by some major websites such as Google and Wikipedia in 2012.

With thousands of websites blocked all around the world on copyright grounds, pirates are continuing to innovate. The rise of apps designed to provide free content represents a fairly recent development but one the entertainment industries are keen to stem. The CEO of Warner Music Russia now says his company has infringing apps firmly on the anti-piracy agenda. In some way, shape or form, Internet piracy has always been carried out through some kind of application. Whether that’s a peer-to-peer client utilizing BitTorrent or eD2K, or a Usenet or FTP tool taking things back to their roots, software has always played a crucial role. Of course, the nature of the Internet beast means that software usage is unavoidable but in recent years piracy has swung more towards the regular web browser, meaning that sites and services offering pirated content are largely easy to locate, identify and block, if authorities so choose. As revealed this week by the MPA, thousands of platforms around the world are now targeted for blocking, with 1,800 sites and 5,300 domains blocked in Europe alone. However, as the Kodi phenomenon has shown, web-based content doesn’t always have to be accessed via a standard web browser. Clever but potentially illegal addons and third-party apps are able to scrape web-based resources and present links to content on a wide range of devices, from mobile phones and tablets to set-top boxes. While it’s still possible to block the resources upon which these addons rely, the scattered nature of the content makes the process much more difficult. One can’t simply block a whole platform because a few movies are illegally hosted there and even Google has found itself hosting thousands of infringing titles, a situation that’s ruthlessly exploited by addon and app developers alike. Needless to say, the situation hasn’t gone unnoticed. The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment has spent the last year (1,2,3) targeting many people involved in the addon and app scene, hoping they’ll take their tools and run, rather than further develop a rapidly involving piracy ecosystem. Over in Russia, a country that will happily block hundreds or millions of IP addresses if it suits them, the topic of infringing apps was raised this week. It happened during the International Strategic Forum on Intellectual Property, a gathering of 500 experts from more than 30 countries. There were strong calls for yet more tools and measures to deal with films and music being made available via ‘pirate’ apps. The forum heard that in response to widespread website blocking, people behind pirate sites have begun creating applications for mobile devices to achieve the same ends – the provision of illegal content. This, key players in the music industry say, means that the law needs to be further tightened to tackle the rising threat. “Consumption of content is now going into the mobile sector and due to this we plan to prevent mass migration of ‘pirates’ to the mobile sector,” said Leonid Agronov, general director of the National Federation of the Music Industry. The same concerns were echoed by Alexander Blinov, CEO of Warner Music Russia. According to TASS, the powerful industry player said that while recent revenues had been positively affected by site-blocking, it’s now time to start taking more action against apps. “I agree with all speakers that we can not stop at what has been achieved so far. The music industry has a fight against illegal content in mobile applications on the agenda,” Blinov said. And if Blinov is to be believed, music in Russia is doing particularly well at the moment. Attributing successes to efforts by parliament, the Ministry of Communications, and copyright holders, Blinov said the local music market has doubled in the past two years. “We are now in the top three fastest growing markets in the world, behind only China and South Korea,” Blinov said. While some apps can work in the same manner as a basic web interface, others rely on more complex mechanisms, ‘scraping’ content from diverse sources that can be easily and readily changed if mitigation measures kick in. It will be very interesting to see how Russia deals with this threat and whether it will opt for highly technical solutions or the nuclear options demonstrated recently.

* ends today * Till Sunday, We are accepting AMAZON CARDS for ALL DONATIONS. We're doing this for a bigger infrastructure. Not going to do this again for a bit again but a lot of people can't figure out bitcoin. If you can help out for April that would be awesome. Bye for now. You will get for $40+ (use amazon.com not canada) (more days on both of these as you donate past 40) (You can also add on to your current time on radio) Radio Access 120 days Plex Access 120 days Donor Status 2x -GB Removal <3 Love Status Open a staff ticket to donate Amazon.

PUBG has a cheating problem, and no we’re not talking about the PC version this time. Looks like some PUBG Mobile players have found a way to “cheat” by using a mouse and keyboard. Thanks to the precision a mouse provides for aiming, it messing with game balance (thanks, PCgamesN). One of the ways folks are able to use keyboard and mouse with PUBG Mobile is by installing the game on a Chromebook, according to Motherboard. KBM which are bluetooth enabled can also be pared with a tablet or smartphone to be used. Another way is to run the game on PC is by using one of the available Android emulators on the market. Whether folks view this as cheating or not is a manner of perspective, but however you look at it, KBM users have an unfair advantage over others who are sticking with touchscreen controls on PUBG Mobile. PUBG Mobile was released earlier this month on Android and iOS in the US following a soft launch in Canada and an initial release in China.

DICE has put out a new Battlefield 1 patch designed to fix many stability problems introduced in previous patches, and make one particular graphical feature less annoying. The update is out now for all Battlefield 1 players, clocking in at around 3.5GB. This Easter patch lessens the effect of bloom, or exposure adjustment, players get when viewing bright environments from darker, indoor areas. This most commonly happens when you spend a few seconds in a building then run outside or go towards a window. The light of the environment outside the room blinds you for a split-second before your eyes readjust. It’s something that happens in the real world, but Battlefield 1 always had a more pronounced representation. This effect has now been lessened, though DICE noted that this will have a greater effect on certain maps but not so much on others. The update is also introducing a mid-round team balancer that will kick in anytime one team has three or more players. The more team a player has spent on one team, and the higher their score with that team, the less of a chance the balancer will move them to the opposing team. When it does happen, it’ll only happen once per player. Players in a party won’t be affected, and being in squad decreases your chances of being moved. Outside of these fairly significant changes, the Easter update brings more stability improvements and bug fixes. Take a look at the full log below. Stability and match experience Improved stability on all platforms. Improved matchmaking into Battlefield 1 Apocalypse maps. Enabled a Mid-Round Team Balancer, following the below criteria There are 10 or more players in the server. There must be a mid-round change to the player count in the match. If the team sizes differ by at least 3 players, an imbalance will be indicated and after 30 seconds the teams will be rebalanced. Players will be evaluated by the amount of score they have contributed and duration of time they have been on the team – the higher in both criteria will lessen, or remove, your chances of moving. If a player is moved by the Mid-Round Team Balancer, they will not be moved a second time. Players in parties will not be moved. Players in squads are less likely to be moved. The Mid-Round Team Balancer will wait until a player has lost their life before switching teams; if a player is already in the deploy screen when the balancing occurs, they would need to deploy and lose their life before being moved. Weapons, vehicles, and gadgets Fixed an issue in Caporetto where the Heavy Bomber spawned too low on the Austrian-Hungarian side and took damage from the ground immediately upon spawning in. Fixed an issue where players occasionally detonated Tripwires when they didn’t trip on the device. Fixed an issue where the Howell Automatic Sniper had different ammo count to the Factory variant. Fixed an issue where the Dreadnought horn occasionally would not stop blaring. Maps and modes Improved visibility when looking outside while standing indoors in Amiens, Ballroom Blitz, Sinai Desert, Verdun Heights, Soissons, Lupkow Pass, Galicia, Tsaritsyn, Heligoland Bight Improved the balance of Volga River in the Red Tide Operation. Fixed an issue where players were able to reach unintended rooftops in Amiens. Fixed an issue where players would encounter invisible collision after destroying bridges on Amiens. Fixed an issue where players would encounter invisible collision when existing the fort on Monte Grappa. Fixed an issue where players would encounter invisible collision near the D capture flag in Fao Fortress. Fixed the fidelity of some trees on the River Somme map. Unlocks and player journey Corrected the rarity grade of the PTFO weapon skins to Legendary. Corrected the rarity grade of the Incarcerator weapon skin to Distinguished. Fixed an issue where the Reaper Affliction would trigger a constant grunting sound effect while the player was taking damage. UX and UI Fixed an issue where long Platoon names sometimes would run out of the Best Squad list. Fixed an issue where the Howell Automatic Rifle Grenade HE gadget was missing an icon. Fixed an issue where the Doughboy M1911 occasionally would not display in the Customize screen. Fixed an issue where the Trench Clearer skin on the M1909 would not appear in the Customize screen. Fixed the thumbnail for the Battle of Festubert skin on the Automatico M1918. Fixed an issue where players who are using VOIP were not being indicated on the End of Round screen. Fixed an issue where the map voting images for London Calling: Scourge and London Calling: Raiders did not appear. Fixed an issue where the Operation name remained on screen when entering the Best Squad screen. Fixed an issue where the player would not return to the Globe after canceling the matchmaking initiated through the “Join Any Operation” button. Fixed an issue where the capture progress indicator would display the incorrect color when planting explosives at the telegraph in Frontlines. Fixed an issue where various weapons were missing components when viewing them in the Modify screen on the front-end menus. Fixed an issue with z-fighting (two graphical objects occupying the same coordinates, making the game engine show both in a flickering way.) This appeared on the magazine of the Autoloading 8.25 Extended when viewing it in the Modify screen with the Battle of Cote 304 skin equipped. Fixed an issue where the rarity indication colors were missing for Distinguished and Legendary skins when opening the Assault Edition Class Battlepack.

"It's our largest update so far, and we're working our socks off." In the wake of its fairly sophisticated Atlas Rises update, Chris returned to No Man's Sky and found a better game that still lacked magic and mystery. The space survival sim's next venture is due at some point in "Summer 2018", is billed as its "largest update so far", is free to existing players, and is named No Man's Sky NEXT. "Coming in Summer 2018 is No Man's Sky NEXT, a free update for PS4, PC, Xbox and WeGame. It's our largest update so far, and we're working our socks off" "Really thanks to the community, each previous update for No Man's Sky has been more successful than the last," Murray tells us via email. "Atlas Rises, our most recent update, was surprisingly so. That represented a real inflection point in the legacy of No Man’s Sky. This team has never stopped running at sprint pace over the last few years, so perhaps it would have been tempting to stop after that. Surprisingly though it had the opposite effect on this team, and it emboldened us all to go further and faster." In doing so Murray describes NEXT as "an important next step" in No Man's Sky's journey—one that is "far from over"—and is confident he and his team can surprise the game's community with what lies ahead. I think the following images are new, but the colours are gorgeous even if they're not: Img Img2 Besides Steam, No Man's Sky will also feature on Tencent's WeGame (formerly the Tencent Games Platform), with China forming the game's second biggest audience. Not much to go on beyond the announcement, then, so expect more information in the coming weeks and months. And, if history has taught us anything, I wouldn't rule out an ARG between now and summertime.

Kingdom Come Deliverance PC update 1.4 and a free HD texture & audio pack have been released by developer Warhorse. Creative director Daniel Vávra already confirmed that the patch might be released soon alongside some free DLC, and the studio has delivered. The 1.4 PC update adds new hair and beard mechanics alongside 200 major bugs fixes. In addition, players will now be able to customize their style in bathhouses and gain extra charisma with a new haircut. The game’s first free DLC enhances the game’s visual and audio experience by boosting visuals and audio quality. We’ve included the patch notes down below: Release Notes for Kingdom Come Deliverance version 1.4 New Hair and Beard mechanics. Customize your style in bathhouses and gain extra charisma with freshly cut hair. Unarmed mercy kill added for a more “subtile” way to solve quests. Real Easter eggs added. The hunt for the golden egg can begin! Traditional Czech Easter-themed weapon to be found, called “Pomlázka”. Resurrection day is upon us! Some NPCs that have died due to the physics glitches have risen from their graves. Fixed problems with the “Mightier than the Sword” quest related to the scribe. Rattay archery competition works on advanced difficulty. Fixed save issue for the “House of God” quest. Another 200 major bugs fixed Free DLC – HD Texture and Audio Pack As said, the update is now available for PC players trough both Steam and GOG. The patch will be made available for consoles following certification by Sony and Microsoft.

You need to drink. Just don't drink too much—because there's a lot going on with this combat system, and it's a blast. Here's what I love about the short alpha demo of The Bard's Tale 4, which I've now played through three times: there's no basic attack button, no block button, no scrolling through a long menu of spells to decide what to cast. Before The Bard's Tale 4, this is an accurate representation of what I'd do if you asked me what I thought about dungeon crawlers: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I adore NetHack and Darkest Dungeon and loads of other RPGs, but the combat-over-story approach of first person dungeon crawlers has always bored me. The Bard's Tale 4 plays like no other dungeon crawler I've ever touched, blending bits of classic Bard's Tale and Japanese tactics RPGs into something new. It's not full of ideas that will shock you, but its approach to a genre that's now nearly 40 years old still feels mildly heretical. Most classic RPGs either don't care where your party is standing in combat or are best played with fairly codified formations (brawlers in the front, softies in the back). But constantly repositioning is the most crucial element of any encounter in Bard's Tale 4, and moving costs an action point just like an attack. When I started planning out a whole turn in advance—who attacks then moves, who should end the turn on the front line, how a charged-up magic attack can trigger another ability—I knew developer inXile was working on something exciting, here. Also, bards get more powerful when they drink, and will hurl an empty tankard at an enemy to deal one damage when they get angry drunk. Move over, drunken boxing. When I visited inXile in the summer of 2017, we talked about how The Bard's Tale 4 would approach exploration and puzzles and dungeons and characters. None of those larger elements of the game are really present in the alpha build that is now available to Kickstarter backers—it's a short demo snippet with a couple easily solved puzzles and only a few rooms to explore. It's all about the fighting. There are so many small but significant twists on combat that I like. Enemies and your units line up on a 4x8 grid, and most attacks hit specific spots on the grid. That usually means one or two spaces in a line in front—a head-on strike—which makes exceptions important. After this fight I got a new sword for my fighter, which let him perform a sweeping strike against the three squares in front of him, a crucial way to hit multiple enemies or attack without moving, because moving costs an action point. Some abilities use mana instead of action points, which adds another layer. The bard and practitioner can each spend an action point to chug alcohol or meditate, charging up to use a magical attack instead. Coupled with a taunt from a fighter, this is a great way to play defensively one turn and then drop a big attack the next turn. There's more to movement than just lining up an attack. If you or an enemy are inflicted with bleeding, moving causes two damage. So you can make an enemy bleed, then use taunt to draw them forward. Two damage. Then hit them with an ability that causes knock-back. Two more damage. Of course, the same can happen to you, and even taking that extra damage to get in place for an attack makes you think it through. Turns aren't questions of "what should this character do?" but rather "how should I divvy up this pool of actions?" I expect all this to get vastly more complex in the full game, when you'll be able to have a party of up to six adventurers, all relying on the same pool of four action points per turn. There's already a hint of how much interplay between movement and action the designers plan to add: one pair of boots I discovered lowered the cost of magic spells by one mana after moving. Weapons and other equipment have abilities attached to them, but use that ability enough and you'll master it and be able to keep it equipped when you upgrade to new gear. It's not a new idea, but I love seeing it in a dungeon crawler as a way to make equipment more significant than stats you throw onto a character. Using weapons to master skills also imbues them with a bit of personality, and that's especially true of The Bard's Tale 4's puzzle weapons, which grow in power as you fiddle with them and solve little mysteries. Here's one from the alpha, which I found too simple to power up—I hope these are genuinely intricate and challenging puzzles in the final game—but the idea is just great. I've only played a small slice of The Bard's Tale 4 so far, but it feels like a dungeon crawler made for me, which I didn't know was possible. With a combat system this fun, the rest of the game has a lot to live up to. inXile still plans to have The Bard's Tale 4 out by the end of 2018.

Get ready to get up close and personal, because PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is getting a new map, and it’s a lot smaller those that have come before. The map, currently called Codename: Savage, is 4×4 km, a quarter the size of the 8×8 km Erangel and Miramar maps. PlayerUnknown himself Brendan Greene recently provided a peek at the map on Twitter: PlayerUnknown himself Brendan Greene recently provided a peek at the map on Twitter: The first public testing phase for the Codename: Savage map kicks off on PC on Monday, April 2 at 7 PM PT and continues until Thursday, April 5 at 4 AM PT. This will be closed test, with PUBG Corp. encouraging fans to “keep an eye on [PUBG] social channels to maximize your chances of getting a key.” PUBG introducing a smaller map is a fairly obvious attempt to combat Fortnite Battle Royale, which recently overtook PUBG in terms of monthly revenue. One of the criticisms Fortnite fans often level against PUBG is that games are too drawn-out due to its larger maps. Of course, PUBG partisans will tell you the sprawling maps are actually a good thing. We’ll see how PUBG harcores respond the new 4×4 battleground. Can’t wait to try out the new map? Well, you can busy yourself this weekend with PUBG’s latest Event Mode, Flare Gun. Here’s how PUBG Corp. describes the limited-time match type: Flare Gun Flare Gun is a special weapon that can be used to call in a care package to your location. Just aim it up, fire the flare and the airplane will drop a superior care package on that location. Only a limited number of Flare Guns will spawn in small single-story houses throughout the map (at this time only in Event Mode), but finding one is going to be worth your time! Flare Gun mode is available right now, and will expire on April 1 (Sunday) at 7 PM PT.

I'm a gigantic fan of RPG games. I love a good gripping storyline, that draws you in with great character depth and a deep and intriguing plot. Neverwinter Nights was an absolutely stellar game in my opinion, and it boasted quite the awesome online community as well. Thankfully, it’s just been released in an enhanced edition on Steam as well as all the expansion packs, by developer Beamdog, with complete support for penguin users! Features The steam page says, “Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition adds all-new enhanced features to the content of Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition. Slink through the shadows as a deadly half-elven rogue, wield fearsome magics as a powerful gnomish sorcerer, vanquish your foes as an armor-clad dwarven paladin... whatever hero you create, incredible adventures await. Discover magic, wonder, and danger at every turn on your own or with friends in these classic Dungeons & Dragons adventures.” The Steam page also lists some new enhancements: Improved Display: Your portrait, combat bar, inventory, and other UI elements adjust in size based on your chosen resolution including 1080p and 4k. Advanced Graphics Options: Pixel shaders and post-processing effects make for crisper, cleaner visuals. Enable contrast, vibrance, and depth of field options as preferred. Community Endorsed: Original developers have teamed with key members of the Neverwinter Nights community to curate important fan-requested improvements to support players, storytellers, and modders. Backwards Compatibility: Works with save games, modules, and mods from the original Neverwinter Nights. A galaxy of community created content awaits. My thoughts Being a gigantic D&D Fan, and having been a big fan of the game from my older Windows days, I personally am totally excited about this. The storyline was good, the character depth is great, and I personally am really hoping this will bring back the giant online Roleplaying communities that used to exist as well. But, for those of you who didn’t know, this isn’t the first big name RPG game Beamdog has brought back. If you’re a fan of Baldurs Gate, or Icewind Dale for example, you’ll be happy to know you can also find these, on Steam, with Linux Compatibility: Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition Baldurs Gate II: Enhanced Edition Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition Martin's thoughts I played the classic Neverwinter Nights game back in the days and loved it. I like roleplaying games as well and Neverwinter Nights introduced something back then that other classic Dungeons and Dragons games did not offer: multiplayer. I played the game with a friend which in my experience catapulted the game to a new level of fun. The developers added an editor to the game that gave you options to create your own adventures or integrate adventures created by other users of the game. The game includes two expansion packs and three premium modules but it is not a complete offer as you may purchase additional modules on Steam. I have not played the enhanced version of the game yet and can't say how good it is. Initial Steam reviews are mostly positive; users who rated it negative complain about crashes, bugs and other issues. I recommend you check out the review section or read reviews on game sites for additional information. I have added the game to my wishlist and will buy it eventually, maybe on the next sale whenever that may happen. Check it out More information can be found on the official Steam page, here http://store.steampowered.com/app/70...anced_Edition/

A pair of games based on popular cartoon Adventure Time will be leaving digital stores at the end of March. The two titles, Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom and Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations, will no longer be available for purchase on Steam, PSN, or XBLA as of midnight PST on March 31st. Publishers Little Orbit made the announcement via Twitter, revealing a farewell sale of 25% off on Steam for the games and stating that anyone who’s purchased them digitally by the cut-off point will continue to have access to them for the foreseeable future. The reason for this is simple: the studio is losing the rights to the property and unless they re-up their original deal or re-negotiate a new one, their games can no longer sell at retail. This includes physical copies too, and while Finn and Jake Investigations had quite a large physical shipment across multiple systems, Secret of the Nameless Kingdom did not. Little Orbit is one of several publishers who’ve gotten the right to make games based on the hit Cartoon Network show over the years, but they are the first to have to delist their creations in such a manner. Deals to use IP can be complicated and nebulous and every contract is different, so whether this is Little Orbit voluntarily opting against re-negotiation or something else involving the rights holders remains to be seen. More pertinently, this is another example of the incongruous relationship between current IP laws and the digital market. Streaming and purchasing online of digital products have only come into their own the last few years, and how we manage and maintain copyright within these spaces is an ever-growing concern. Previously to this, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game disappeared unceremoniously from the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Arcade in 2014 and has since remained unavailable, as did Marvel Vs. Capcom Origins, both for expired licenses. They’re among a growing list that ranges from banner IP to the use of particular songs and products within a game. Occasionally a heads up will be provided by the publisher, but often the title just ceases to be available, leaving fans to figure out what happened for themselves. This is a concerning practice for games as a medium. Digital retail has become the primary option for many creators, especially those making smaller or niche projects. Shipping a physical version just isn’t feasible for many and if one does happen, it’s usually limited because the majority of sales still come from digital. The Scott Pilgrim game is, as far as the general public is concerned, inaccessible except to those who already had it bought. This means there’s no legal way to play an officially licensed version of the, well-reviewed game based on a cult classic film. Moreover, conserving the work as a piece of gaming history is made exponentially more difficult when the only copies are tied to specific accounts of an online marketplace that’s swiftly becoming out-moded and will, one day, cease to be. And in the case of these Adventure Time games, there’s also the collector’s market. The buying and selling of retro and hard-to-find games can be a very competitive place and the digital version disappearing will be an instant booster of demand for copies of the product. New players or completion-ist collectors may find themselves having to pay well above standard retail price for a copy if another mode of purchase doesn’t surface, further driving fans towards finding other avenues of access. There is still a brief window with which to buy Little Orbit’s Adventure Time games, but once they’re gone, they’re gone. Two games based one of the most popular shows of the last decade will suddenly become part of gaming past. It’s a difficult situation, and one all artistic industries need to wrestle with sooner or later, lest entire swathes of our collective culture become lost thanks to expired licenses and the rollover of digital storefronts.

The first piece of official artwork for Square Enix’s upcoming game Shadow of the Tomb Raider has been unveiled, showing Lara Croft armed to the teeth and looking a little worse for wear. This month saw the release of a movie based on the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, starring Alicia Vikander in the lead role, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider will be the third entry in this particular iteration of the video game franchise. Although the game wasn’t officially announced until last summer, the existence of an in-development sequel to Rise of the Tomb Raider was first uncovered in November 2016. We recently learned that the game is set for a September 2018 release, and Xbox has released a brief teaser for the game that shows Lara running, fighting and climbing her way through a Mesoamerican jungle setting. The artwork was shared on the official Tomb Raider Twitter account, and you can also download a high-resolution version from Flickr. There are two major elements of note in the image (aside from Lara herself, of course). The first is the solar eclipse happening behind her head, which means that we could be dealing with apocalyptic prophesies again, and fits very well with the title of the game. The second is the pyramid in the background, which appears to be Aztec or Incan. After all, it wouldn’t be a Tomb Raider game with a tomb to raid! Right now the Tomb Raider website has a puzzle game called Path to the Stars that you can play, and also has a timer counting down to a reveal event on April 27th – must likely a full-length trailer for the game. Square Enix has said that Shadow of the Tomb Raider will mark “Lara Croft’s defining moment as she becomes the Tomb Raider” – the final step in a journey that began with a young and very inexperienced Lara Croft going on her first adventure in 2013’s Tomb Raider. Both of the previous entries in the series received high praise for their gameplay and storytelling, as well as their fresh take on one of gaming’s most iconic characters. Anticipation for Shadow of the Tomb Raider is naturally high, and if Lara’s appearance in this picture is anything to go by, players will be able to get into all sorts of dangerous situations out in the jungle. Shadow Of The Tomb Raider will be available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on September 14, 2018.

PUBG Xbox One Patch 12 Planned for a Release Next Week PUBG Xbox One patch 12 is planned for a release on all Xbox One systems next week, Microsoft’s executive producer Nico Bihary has said. The upcoming new update for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on Microsoft’s console will likely be submitted for certification this Friday if no major issues are found during testing. “I’ve been waiting until we have material information before making any posts/tweets”, Bihary said on the PUBG Xbox One Reddit. “We shifted to a longer window between patches, and therefore the “news cycle” has widened.” He added, “New patch in sub this Friday (assuming no major issues), and a release sometime next week (again, caveated). I’d like to have details of the patch out later this week (or early next week at the latest).” On Twitter, the executive producer clarified that the team intends to release the patch between April 9 and April 12 and that it’s currently being tested internally. “Targeting submission of “Patch 12” for the end of this week, with release sometime [between] 9th/12th”, he said. “Just internal testing at this point (which is going well), but nothing more to share at this time”, he continued. PUBG Xbox One update 11 was released two weeks ago and focused on continued performance optimization, and stability improvements across the family of Xbox consoles. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is available now for the Xbox One family and PC via Steam.

Boot up the nostalgia machine, we're going in. Here's the thing about PC gaming: every year is great for one reason or another. Just for fun, though, we let the PC Gamer staff select the best years in PC gaming, through a vigorous process of putting a line next to the years they wanted to vote for, based on the games that were released in those twelve months. The results below definitely reflect the respective ages of the team (most of us are in our thirties), so it's worth keeping that in mind. This process offered an interesting at-a-glance perspective of how quickly PC gaming changed, and how certain types of games would come and go. Let us know your choice for PC gaming's best year in the comments. 5: 1999 Key releases: System Shock 2, Everquest, Unreal Tournament, Planescape Torment, Homeworld, Age of Empires 2, Alpha Centauri, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, X-Wing Alliance, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Team Fortress Classic, Alien versus Predator, Driver, Dungeon Keeper 2, Outcast, Soul Reaver, Quake 3 Arena, C&C: Tiberian Sun, Theme Park World There's a quick buck to be made remastering or rebooting all of the best PC games of 1999. Indeed, many of them have received updates already, but we would play the hell out of a new X-Wing, or a new Dungeon Keeper, or a new Alpha Centauri. 1999 was a year of great experimentation. System Shock 2 gave us one of the best gaming villains ever in Shodan, and pioneered aspects of the immersive sim as we know it today. You don’t have World of Warcraft without Everquest. Arena deathmatch classics Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 Arena clashed at the end of the year, giving audiences a splendid Christmas full of frags. Away from the noise and bluster of rocket launcher duels, Relic turned out the beautiful, melancholy space RTS, Homeworld. 4: 1993 Key releases: Doom, Day of the Tentacle, The 7th Guest, Sam & Max Hit The Road, Syndicate, Master of Orion, X-Wing, Frontier: Elite 2, Aces Over Europe, Betrayal At Krondor, Ultima Underworld 2: Labyrinth of Worlds, Rebel Assault, IndyCar Racing, Wing Commander: Privateer This feels like a pivotal year in the course of PC gaming: Lucasarts' adventure games were arguably at their peak, and the release of Doom was obviously a huge moment for the first-person shooter. X-Wing marked Lucasarts' first foray into space flight simulation, and hammy FMV puzzle game The 7th Guest would delight dads worldwide by justifying their purchase of a CD drive (Myst was released on Mac in 1993, but on PC in 1994). This was also the year that PC Gamer magazine launched in the UK, making 1993 an obvious candidate in this list. In issue one, released in November 1993, we gave IndyCar Racing 93%, Star Trek: Judgment Rites 92% (which writer Richard Cobbett would later call 'pretty good' in his piece on Star Trek games) and Frontier: Elite 2 90%. 3. 2007 Key releases: The Orange Box, Bioshock, CoD4, Crysis, World in Conflict, Supreme Commander, Unreal Tournament 3, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, WoW: The Burning Crusade, Peggle Many great games were released in the 2000s, but in 2007 the PC enjoyed smash hits across shooter and strategy genres. The Orange Box was an insane deal. TF2 and Portal are modern classics and a new Half-Life episode was released amid furious hype. Elsewhere, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 revolutionised the online shooter and showcased some of the best linear singleplayer shooter missions ever. Meanwhile, Bioshock and STALKER showed us that shooters could be atmospheric and intelligent. Supreme Commander and World in Conflict deserved a greater legacy than they received. SupCom leveraged 2007 tech to create massive battles and World in Conflict tried to create a new style of RTS multiplayer free of bases and mineral lines. It didn’t take off, but it's a great game nonetheless. What a year. 2. 1998 Key releases: Half-Life, Baldur's Gate, Fallout 2, Thief: The Dark Project, StarCraft (and Brood War), Grim Fandango, Unreal, Rogue Squadron, The Settlers 3, Starsiege: Tribes, Commandos, Tomb Raider 3, MechCommander, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, Railroad Tycoon 2, Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, Shogo The games released in 1998 are still shaping games released in 2018. Half-Life pushed the 3D shooter forward. Baldur's Gate refined the template that Pillars of Eternity sticks to today. StarCraft celebrates its 20th anniversary this weekend, having spawned hugely successful esports tournaments all over the world. Grim Fandango was remastered in recent years because its sense of humour and Day of the Dead meets Casablanca design still feels fresh today. 1999 was brilliant, too, as we’ve mentioned, which made the run-up to the millennium a pretty special time for PC gamers. 1. 2015 Key releases: MGS5: The Phantom Pain, Rocket League, Cities Skylines, Fallout 4, Invisible Inc, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Kerbal Space Program, GTA 5 (finally), Her Story, 80 Days, Pillars of Eternity, Life Is Strange, Prison Architect, Rainbow Six Siege, Undertale, Heroes of the Storm, Dying Light, Nuclear Throne, Soma, Tales From The Borderlands 2015 felt like a ridiculously strong year for PC gaming while we were still living it. The amount of amazing games is staggering, and they're spread across such different genres: everything from FMV game to open world RPG to city builder. You can see how strong it was just by examining our GOTY choices—we had more great games than awards to give, really, and the selection process has been slightly more straightforward in the years since. To dig in deeper, this year featured the start of a competitive gaming phenomenon in Rocket League, a future PC Gamer Top 100 winner in The Witcher 3, a beloved narrative adventure game in Life Is Strange, a CRPG revival in Pillars of Eternity and the start of another competitive gaming phenomenon in Rainbow Six Siege. The Witcher 3, Fallout 4 and MGS5 all releasing in the same year was quite an event, in retrospect, considering these were all massive games from studios that take their time to release projects. PC gaming is definitely in a golden age—the volume of new releases means there's always too much to play, but there's no denying the excitement that comes from the amount of choice we now have in what we play. 2015 was just extraordinary.

God of War game director Cory Barlog has confirmed that the game will have an extra graphical mode on PS4 Pro. Games that are enhanced for PS4 Pro typically offer players more options when it comes to frame-rate vs graphical fidelity. The upcoming God of War will too have a similar option. Though we don’t know what the modes are going to be called, or the details of what specifically will be prioritised, the game’s director confirmed that PS4 Pro owners are in for a treat, even if they don’t own a 4K TV. “Nope, you don’t have to, but if you do 4k is AMAZING, if you have a 4k TV, of course [emphasis his],” Barlog told a fan on Twitter asking whether PS4 Pro is required to enjoy the game. “If you don’t, we have a performance mode that puts the extra power to good use and makes the game run so so smooth!” It’s not clear if 4K TV owners will also have access to a similar mode, as this sort of support is not standardised and typically varies with each game. Horizon Zero Dawn, another PS4 exclusive, offers the choice between performance and visuals regardless of the TV resolution. A similar solution could be implemented here, or God of War could simply only show the performance mode when running a 1080p TV. “If you run in 1080 on pro it will use the power normally used to render in 4k to make the game run faster. It looks/moves sooooooo nice,” he added in another Tweet. When asked if that means 60fps, Barlog wouldn’t commit, and simply said it would be “smooth.” All will be revealed when God of War launches April 20 on PS4. In other God of War news, the game was recently revealed to have four difficulty settings, with the hardest preventing players from reducing the difficulty when things get too challenging.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' new map, Codename: Savage, officially enters player testing on PC tonight. The game's closed experimental server goes live at 7 PM PT / 10 PM ET ET (3 AM BST on Tuesday), and players can now sign up to give it a try. The test runs from now until April 5 at 4 AM PT / 7 AM ET / 12 PM BST. You can sign up to access Codename: Savage's test server here. PUBG Corp. says this is a smaller test, and you'll need a copy of the base game already to play. The developer also says it plans to run bigger tests in the future, once it's "gotten the map into a better state." PUBG's creator Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene has shared some details about the new map. At the Game Developers Conference, he said the island map will be smaller and "should give you all a much more intense and faster paced Battle Royale experience." The map is 4 km x 4 km, quarter the size of the game's two other 8 km x 8 km maps. GameSpot will have keys to give away in the future, too, so keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook accounts for more details. PUBG Corp. also recently rolled out an update that introduced a weapon skin system to the game. As a way to celebrate the first anniversary of PUBG's Early Access release, the developer is also offering a free weapon skin to all players on PC for a limited time.

Pokemon Go's latest update might make you a little nostalgic. Instead of its typical 3D models, each Pokemon in your Pokedex has taken on a rather familiar 8-bit appearance. "Experience Pokémon GO like never before with cutting-edge 8-BIT GRAPHICS," a post on the Pokemon Go website reads. "Registering approximately twice the definition of 4K, the chunky squares of each pixel provide realistic detail and unbelievable definition. Your Pokédex will feel lifelike in ways previously unimagined on any handheld device ever created." The update launched yesterday, turning all those once-3D models into pixelated pocket monsters. Not only does it affect all of the Pokemon that you've caught and hatched, the 8-bit changes can also be seen on the Nearby menu. But we're afraid that the nostalgia does have its limits--out on the field of battle, Pokemon Go's traditional graphics do return. For avid Pokemon Go players, today is the final day to catch Lugia. The title's big update, which added quests and Mew, is also available now.

In the three years since its release, Techland has continually been churning out content for Dying Light. In addition to a number of quality-of-life updates and tweaks to the gameplay, the open-world zombie survival game has also seen a number of new modes--including The Following DLC campaign and additional multiplayer options. And now, the developers are riding the wave of interest for battle royale with their own take on the familiar every-man-for-themselves game type. While at GDC 2018, we got to go hands-on with the upcoming DLC Bad Blood--launching later this year--which pits several players in a race against time--and the zombie hordes--to acquire enough resources and make it out of Harran alive. In Bad Blood, six players are dropped into random locations around the map in a race to acquire enough samples from several elite infected. From the starting point, you'll have to find weapons and support items as you go. Every player starts on an even playing field as they maneuver through the streets and rooftops of the ruined city. As you take down these special zombies, you'll be able to collect samples and potentially level up your character--boosting their health, agility, and attack power. Of course, other players have similar goals, and they may find that attacking you while you're being swarmed by infected is the smart thing to do. As in traditional battle royale fashion, you only have one life to live, so you'll have to make the right choices and play smart. While this mode may initially come off a bit gimmicky, the actual experience is surprisingly tense. Bad Blood is a constant race for resources, with the virus samples being the most valuable. In a some cases, encountering another player felt like the last thing you wanted to happen, resulting in a mad dash to evade them. The end-game portion which focuses on booking it to the helicopter is a where things get really hectic. The player with the most samples will have to reach the evac site and wait for the chopper to land, which paints a large target on their back. Only the player with the required amount of samples can make it out alive, and some players may forge quick alliances to try and take down the lead player--only for it to quickly fall apart as they scramble to scavenge the samples to make it out alive. Battle royale has been one of the most talked about topics for the last year, with many people wondering what games would benefit from such a mode. In the case of Dying Light, it makes some rather clever choices with how it incorporated BR into its current strengths of survival and action gameplay. With Dying Light still going strong, and with the developers experimenting with adding even more players into the battle royale mix, Bad Blood looks to be a refreshing change of pace for players looking to dive back the game, which has only gotten better with age.

With many games paying homage to the nostalgia-ripe 2D-era of the '80s and '90s, Pixel Ripped 1989 seems like it could get lost in the crowd. But when it comes to reliving a bygone era, this strange yet surprisingly relatable throwback goes about things a bit differently, offering one of the most impressive and self-aware VR experiences in quite some time. During GDC 2018, we had the chance to go hands-on with the game ahead of its Oculus, HTC Vive, and PS VR release on May 22, while also speaking with creator Ana Ribeiro about its rather lengthy development. "I started this as my final project in university for the master's degree program, and it was at a university more well-known for movies and stuff [National Film and Television School], and then when I put it on Oculus share, it got a lot of press," said Ribeiro. "People seemed to have liked it. It was more of a proof of concept to try and get a job, but then I decided to work on this game and get it a full release. It's been four years altogether. This is the dream. It actually has a lot of my life experiences in the game. I used to be a bad student, throwing paperballs, playing games in the background--it's all from a really personal place. " Set in the late '80s, you're placed in the shoes of rebellious grade-school student Nicola, who loves to spend time on her handheld game system. Her favorite videogame is the action-platformer game Pixel Ripped, starring the blaster-wielding and platform-jumping Dot. When the evil Cyblin Lord's ambitions go beyond the realm of the videogame, he escapes into the real world, bringing familiar enemies along with him. To stop the main baddie, Nicola must guide Dot through increasingly difficult stages where she'll shoot monsters and other baddies--all while avoiding the gaze of her overbearing teacher and other distractions around the school. As a game within a game, you'll be tasked with alternating between two different mechanics. In the world of Nicola's handheld, Dot controls in familiar style to a Mega Man game, where she'll blast enemies while traversing dangerous jumps and sketchy platforms to make it to the end boss. Of course, playing your videogame in the middle of class is asking for trouble, and Nicola's teacher becomes extremely angry when she catches you looking down at your game. In order to low-key get your game on and help Dot, you'll have to cause distractions around the classroom. Using spitballs, you can cause a ruckus to distract the teacher to keep your focus on the game. Of course, many of these familiar tropes are mechanics wrapped up within the VR medium, which is what makes this particular game so interesting. What Pixel Ripped 1989 does well is center on the relatable experience of keeping your head buried within the game--while still trying to be aware of the real world around you. Balancing twitch-based platforming action when playing on Nicola's handheld system with perspective-focused controls that challenge your peripheral vision, it leads to some rather tense and humorous moments where you're trying to make a dangerous jump in Nicola's game, only to be caught by the teacher in the classroom at the worst possible moment. Eventually, there are moments in the levels where the 'game' will spill out, bringing together the two parallel game mechanics as you guide Dot through virtual constructs scattered around the classroom--all the while using Nicola's spitballs to open up pathways for the character. In terms of mechanics, Pixel Ripped 1989 is a relatively simple game, but it makes some rather clever choices in how it presents those familiar and relatable actions in the VR experience. One of the most striking aspects of Pixel Ripped 1989 is its vibrant style, and the sort of exuberance that comes from being sucked into a good game. Going all in with the retro-80s aesthetic, the game features heavy doses of old-school charm with neon lights and chrome decals. Pixel Ripped 1989 replicates much of the same escapist joy that came from playing videogames as a kid, while recontextualizing it as a different kind of VR experience. It's about what it's like being engrossed in a game--even feeling like your success in it can have consequences in the real world. For its creator, she aims to have Pixel Ripped 1989 be the start of a series of retro-themed games that focus on different eras of gaming, while also showing different experiences of the characters that play them. "After four years I never get tired of this game. I always have fun working on it. Previously, I had some problems sticking to things, like working longer on things, but surprisingly after all this time, I'm not tired of it. I'm happy to do four more episodes of this game--this is first set in 1989--but after the success of this release, we'll do a Pixel Ripped 1978 set in the early arcade era with Atari graphics, 1983 will be arcades, 1985 would be the Mega-Drive, and then 1995 would be about the N64 era. We'll try to reference all the different eras of games."

The Witness and Cars 2 are available to download for Xbox Live Gold members right now, a day earlier than each month's typical release. You won't be able to grab them from the Games with Gold Hub today, but a quick search in the store shows that both titles are available for free now. The Witness will be up for grabs until May 1 and Cars 2 will see the end of its rotation on April 15. Download The Witness here, and Cars 2 here. Xbox has not commented on why both were marked down early. But just because the next round of games are up now, it doesn't mean March's final batch has been cut short. Today is the final day to pick up Trials of the Blood Dragon and Quantum Conundrum on Xbox One. April 2018 Games With Gold Xbox One The Witness (April 1-30) Assassin's Creed Syndicate (April 16-May 15) Xbox 360 (playable on Xbox One) Cars 2 (April 1-15) Dead Space 2 (April 16-30) For even more Xbox One deals, be sure to check out the Xbox Spring Sale. This year's seasonal sale has big savings on Rocket League, Assassin's Creed Origins, Star Wars Battlefront II, Call of Duty WWII, and more.

Like the unbelievably popular book on which it's based, Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One sends viewers to the incredibile virtual world of The Oasis. It's a VR paradise in which anything is possible, you can go anywhere, and everyone is welcome. Unfortunately, it makes no sense within the movie. The Oasis is a beautiful fantasy, but it falls apart when you stop to think about it. Unlike Ernest Cline's book, the film doesn't have the time to delve into the specific rules for the virtual world. It leaves some of them deliberately vague to make room for plot twists and exciting action set pieces--like whether you can harm other players anywhere in the Oasis, or just in certain areas. The movie repeats other rules--like how progression and death within the Oasis work--as if they're gospel, then ignores them in multiple scenes. None of this should prevent you from enjoying Spielberg's Ready Player One adaptation for what it is: A super fun homage to all the nerdy stuff we love. But since we also love picking those things apart, let's explore a few reasons why Ready Player One's Oasis doesn't work as a video game. Movement makes no sense This one should be fairly obvious, even to a casual viewer: The ways that players move within The Oasis don't really work. The movie does just enough to try to explain this that you might not notice right away. Wade has an omni-directional treadmill in his junkyard hideout, and you see those throughout the movie. Sometimes, he sits in a chair while he plays, presumably to mimic sitting in a car and other similar activities. Other players, like IOI executive Nolan Sorrento, have big, expensive-looking rigs that look like they might be able to move in more complex ways (not that we ever see that), while Aech's van has wires that players can hang from. Oasis players without these advantages apparently just run around on the street with their headsets on, as we see toward the end of the movie. Besides being incredibly dangerous, that just doesn't make sense. Players are fighting on a huge battlefield in the movie's climax; are they actually running that entire length, throwing punches and roundhouse kicks, while out in the streets of Columbus, Ohio? How does the Oasis detect your movement if you're just dashing around on the asphalt in sneakers? In that same battle scene, Aech tosses Wade a murderous Chucky doll to unleash on their enemies. We only see this in the real world, where actress Lena Waithe literally balls up her hands and mimes an underhand toss in Wade's direction. Only, in The Oasis, Aech is currently inhabiting the Iron Giant (more on that later), and Parzival is driving his DeLorean through the carnage. Did the Iron Giant just stop what it was doing in the game to physically toss a Chucky doll into Parzival's car? There's a reason we only see that little gesture play out in the van, and not in the game. It gets even worse when you think about a scene like the dance club, where Parzival and Artemis go to hunt down the second clue. They spend half the scene twirling gracefully through the air, spinning and kicking like mermaid ballerinas. But as we can see when our view returns to the real world, Wade is still sitting placidly in the chair in the back of his van. Are they using pre-programmed dance move macros? Either way, the movie doesn't bother to establish that. Death and progression make no sense This is a big one, as it's one of those rules the movie repeats over and over again, yet also breaks constantly. When your avatar dies in The Oasis, you lose everything you have--all your money, loot, equipment, and items. The movie's version of The Oasis kind of has a leveling system, as it does refer to the levels of certain magic artifacts, like the level 99 artifact The Orb of Osuvox. But it never refers to characters' levels, so we have to assume that your gear is the only method of progression that exists. But besides the most hardcore, niche games in existence, that's not how video games work, and if that's how The Oasis worked, it wouldn't be so popular. People definitely wouldn't be investing their life savings into upgrades or equipment that they might lose permanently the next time they log in. Most actual video games have a way to store things you earn, and purchases you make--especially expensive ones--are tied to your account so you can't lose them. Well, doesn't The Oasis have ways to store things? It must, since we see multiple environments--like Aech's workshop and virtual home--where she has everything from furniture, clothes, and posters to vehicles and half-finished projects stored. And yet, an experienced player like TJ Miller's character I-R0k is carrying "ten years' worth of s***" on him at all times, as he laments in the climactic scene, before being decimated by the Cataclyst. If there was a way to store things, surely I-R0k would have used it; so then what's going on with Aech's stuff? It makes zero sense, and it's even worse when you consider the next point. Combat makes no sense In the book, there are PvP zones--player-vs.-player areas where you can attack other people's avatars--and non-combat zones where you can't, like the virtual school Wade attends. Like those VR schools, the idea that there are some places in The Oasis where you're safe from being attacked is completely left out of the movie. I can see why they'd choose this route. The movie tries to establish only the most basic and simple rules for this game world, and leaves everything else up to the imagination. And this creates opportunities for narrative drama, like when IOI's sixers ambush Parzival and Artemis inside the Distracted Globe, a nightclub that, in a realistic game, would be a non-PvP social space. But that also makes the previous point--that you lose everything your character has when you die--seem even more nonsensical. If any random player could walk up to you at any place and at any time in The Oasis, pull out a gun, shoot you in the head, and steal all your stuff, the entire virtual world would be a bloodbath that makes Planet Doom look like a merry-go-round. There'd be nowhere safe. If a place like the Distracted Globe actually existed in The Oasis, it would have to be a non-combat safe zone, or it would be impossible for players to relax and have a good time there. But the movie establishes explicitly that the Distracted Globe, like Planet Doom and the rest of The Oasis, is indeed a PvP zone (unless IOI can somehow cheat and break the game's rules, in which case, why would they need to do any of this at all?). And that doesn't make any sense. The Economy makes no sense Aech being a superstar on The Oasis's "mod boards" is a cute little character detail that establishes that she's handy and resourceful, setting up her later use of her custom-built Iron Giant. But I have to ask: How does The Oasis's economy work? Because it seems like it doesn't work at all, if you look at it logically. In the scene where Parzival and Aech go shopping after Parzival's first big win, we can see that Tracer from Overwatch is a purchasable skin within The Oasis. We see her zipping around in several other shots, so presumably more than one player is running around with a purchased Tracer costume on. You have to assume Blizzard is making money off those sales, since they own Overwatch and by extension Tracer. So why is Parzival so amazed when Sorrento tells him that IOI owns the Millennium Falcon? We don't see any visual Star Wars junk in Ready Player One for real world licensing reasons, but if something like that existed within The Oasis, wouldn't anyone be able to buy it? Why would that be impressive? Maybe it's just prohibitively expensive, so few people can afford to own one. OK, so where does Aech's game mod workshop fit in? Games that support modding don't typically mesh well with microtransaction-driven in-game economies. If Aech builds and sells a custom Iron Giant, or the Galactica, or The Valley Forge from Silent Running, do the rights holders get a cut? Why doesn't Aech just build everyone in The High Five a custom Millennium Falcon, with Ghostbusters decals and the dashboard from Knight Rider, that transforms into a Gundam suit and lasts indefinitely? Why would an artifact that lets you turn into a giant robot for two measly minutes, like the one Daito uses in the final battle, even be special if you can just build your own Iron Giant and run around in it forever (or at least until Mecha Godzilla owns you too hard)? It doesn't make sense. The Easter Egg hunt makes no sense Lastly, the entire hunt for the Easter Egg makes virtually no sense. This is an interesting one, because the version in the book--incredibly obscure puzzles hidden in remote corners of The Oasis where you'd never think to look--arguably makes more sense, even if the movie's high octane race and recreation of The Shining are more exciting. When building his ultimate Easter egg hunt, Halliday would have known how gamers operate when faced with a challenge. Therefore, he would have known that any puzzle with a solution as simple as "drive the wrong way on the race track" would have been solved on day one. You can even ignore the fact that IOI has teams of researchers supposedly poring over every second of Halliday's life, and that the clue Parzival discovers--Halliday literally saying "put the pedal to the metal and go backward as fast as possible"--is way, way too obvious for them to have all missed it. Just look at the lengths gamers in the real world have gone to solve massive, game-spanning puzzles like Destiny's Outbreak Prime, the Trials Evolution riddle, or Spelunky's infamously elusive depths. And that was without the fate of "the world's most important economic resource," as Sorrento calls it, hanging in the balance. As soon as it became clear that getting past King Kong was impossible, the thousands or even millions of players hunting for the first key would have simply brute-forced the solution by trying every possible variation of every action that could be taken during the race. Driving the wrong way is way too easy to have taken five years to discover. It doesn't make any sense. But that's OK I have way more questions about how The Oasis actually works. Like, how can Ogden Morrow be the curator? When the hunt started, there must have been thousands or millions of players clamoring to access the Halliday journals, despite the fact that they're virtually empty by the time the movie takes place. One man dressed up as a robot butler couldn't possibly handle all their requ What about Parzival's climactic live broadcast to everyone in the entire Oasis? We see that every player has a floating droid companion that can take selfies for them. Does Wade's have special abilities? Because if not, and every player has the option to broadcast a live video to the entire Oasis at any time, then this virtual world would be constantly flooded with spam and trolling and none of it would function. If Wade somehow gained this ability through his fame or wealth, the movie never explains it. I could go on and on. The more closely you examine this movie, the less sense it makes. But the strangest thing of all is that I ultimately don't care. Ready Player One's virtual video game world was designed to be as simple and accessible as possible, not to please nitpicking gamers, but to appeal to the widest audience it can. Ultimately, Ready Player One is a blast, and no amount of nitpicking can change that--not that that will stop us.

Far Cry 5 has some dark and gritty moments as you infiltrate a doomsday cult, but much more of the open-world exploration is light and even wacky. That extends to the Easter eggs Ubisoft inserted into the game, which reference other Ubisoft games, Uwe Boll, and even President Trump. Many of the references to other Ubisoft games are kept in the family of Far Cry itself. You can find bobbleheads of characters like Vaas (Far Cry 3) and Pagan Min (Far Cry 4), and cave paintings as a subtle wink toward Far Cry Primal. Plenty of references are also made to the sci-fi spin-off DLC, Blood Dragon. You can find a movie set for making the campy schlock-fest, or dress up as one of its Cyborg Soldiers. Then there are moments when Far Cry 5 borrows liberally from the real world. One mission has you obliquely securing a video tape to avoid embarrassing a powerful man. As it progresses it becomes more clearly a reference to the rumored Donald Trump "pee tape." For more Easter eggs, including this latest iteration of the famous Far Cry "see credits in five minutes" secret ending, check out the full video above. And be sure to check out GameSpot's full Far Cry 5 review for more on this romp through Montana on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.