PC Gaming

The original World of Warcraft—no bells, no frills, no expansions—was a very special videogame. It was also occasionally insufferably annoying. Part of the reason it was so successful is because it was less annoying than the competition at the time, sure, but it also had some real stinkers when it came to quest design. One…

One of the biggest issues I’ve had since Overwatch first launched 10 years ago has always been just how much coordination the game demands from five or six complete strangers. For better and worse you live and die by your team, a feature that ex-Overwatch boss Jeff Kaplan seems to regret. “One of my hindsight…

Back in my day, I would pass the time waiting for my Sims family to load back into existence by staring out of the window and appreciating all the natural beauty that surrounded my folks’ place. Not so anymore—compression tech has gotten so good that the only fronds I have time to contemplate are the…

The original beta for cancelled multiplayer Star Wars shooter First Assault popped up again in the wild this week, in the form of YouTube videos that showed the game being played online. Cancelled in 2013, First Assault was just gearing up for announcement, with a playable beta already in place. Then, a few years ago,…

Not sure about you, but I’m still wrapping my head around the nuances of AMD’s FSR 4 and FSR Redstone upscaling platforms. But never mind, because here comes a whole new one, FSR Diamond, announced yesterday by AMD’s consumer computing boss, Jack Huynh. Ostensibly, this one is specifically for Xbox rather than the PC. But…

Remember, hang on a second, let me check… three years ago? Back then, our entire executive class was possessed of the same mental malady: a curious fixation on words like “blockchain,” “NFT,” “Web3,” and “Metaverse.” Those dark days are behind us now—the execs got bored and decided to make RAM cost $1,000 a stick instead—but…

Perhaps setting the groundwork for the future launch of Microsoft’s Project Helix, Windows users will be getting access to a dedicated Xbox mode this April. This will work on laptops, desktops, and tablets, according to Microsoft. As announced via the Windows Blog, “Xbox mode delivers a controller-optimized experience to your Windows 11 device, letting players…

The factions of World of Warcraft don’t mean as much nowadays—which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. MMOs are having a tough enough time without splitting their playerbase and, furthermore, Azeroth has faced so many cosmic threats that continuing the faction war nonsense while the world’s about to end would be comically stupid. But there was…

I had a pleasant surprise recently when I noticed that my purchase of the hit song Eatin Rats! came bundled with a massive tactical roguelike named Mewgenics. It’s pretty good! A tiny bit like XCOM but instead of an alien mothership you’re defending against the sentient contents of Edmund McMillen’s litterbox. It’s also massive. According…

Earlier this year, Dawn of War 4 developer King Art Games showed off its combat director, which synchronizes melee animations to go a step beyond the already impressive sync-kills that were a trademark of the original Dawn of War. As senior game designer Elliott Verbiest explained on the latest episode of Deep Strike, an interview…