It’s not quite the leviathan of TV satire it once was, but there must still be some thrill in seeing South Park reference something you’ve made. No one needed the rude cartoon boys to confirm that Baldur’s Gate 3 has been a huge success, but a joke about cross-dimensional BG3 save files in the latest South Park special does underscore how wildly mainstream the D&D RPG has gone.
But like a good, stern DM who doesn’t let the rules go out the window just because the players are joking around, Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios was quick to log an objection to the gag. Greeting the show with a wonderfully dry “Hello @SouthPark,” the studio pointed out that the joke misrepresents BG3’s cross-save capabilities.
The special, called South Park: Joining the Panderverse, premiered on Paramount+ today, and based mostly on the trailer, has to do with an alternate South Park universe influenced by the show’s take on ‘diverse casting.’ All you need to know in this cont…
Following complaints about a price increase and widespread perception of a drop in value, the previous DLC for Total War: Warhammer 3, Shadows of Change, was significantly expanded to make it better value. Creative Assembly isn’t done placating its audience, and has announced the next DLC, Thrones of Decay, which expands three of the game’s armies, will be available in three separate parts.
“Back when we got started with production on Thrones of Decay close to a year ago,” Total War’s head of community Adam Freeman wrote, “we had envisioned shipping this as one big package just like we did with Shadows of Change, and after talking with many of you these past few months we recognise that these large sized, higher priced packs aren’t always what you’re looking for. So, we’ve decided to do something different just for Thrones, and used this extra time to help show that we were listening to what you had to say.”
Thrones of Decay expands the rosters of the Empire, Nurgl…
Lord of the Rings online is celebrating its 16th anniversary this year, releasing this past week update 35.1 (wow) and adding a cool new raid alongside a bunch of upgrades and gifts for players. While players long-ago plundered the Witch-king’s citadel at Angmar and deposed the wraiths dwelling there, it turns out that like every other evil in Middle-Earth they probably should have just gone and chucked everything there in a volcano for good measure.
“Gwathrenost, the Witch-king’s Citadel is a new Raid for Level 140 Players set in a re-imagined Carn Dûm! This raid will be available on Tiers 1 and 2 in the near future. Once the seat of the Witch-king of Angmar, the dread citadel of Gwathrenost casts a long shadow upon the city of Carn Dûm. All but abandoned after the Steward of Angmar was deposed, the remnants of the Iron Crown have crept forth from the shadows, seeking to master a lost artifact of the Witch-king and reclaim dominion over the realm,” says the announ…
Lurid swear-em-up Shadows of the Damned—a 2011 action-adventure collaboration between Suda51 and Shinji Mikami—is getting a remaster. It was announced yesterday—amid a deluge of Summer Game Fest announcements—in the form of a trailer in which main character Garcia Hotspur arrives at the developer’s offices and shoots an unarmed man in the head. I think Nintendo announced that new Zelda the same way.
If you’re unaware, Shadows of the Damned is a splashy, weird third-person shooter that’s been trapped on the PS3 and Xbox 360 since it released 12 years ago. It’s loud and brash and zany—your signature gun is called “The Boner,” which should give you some idea of the plane we’re operating on here—and while it wasn’t a smash hit in its day, it’s occupied a sacred space in the hearts of fans as a cult classic for over a decade.
Thing is, of course, that the devs at Grasshopper Manufacture haven’t said anything about what platforms the remaste…
Looking for today’s Wordle answer? There’s a clue for the daily puzzle not far down this page—feel free to use it if you’re running out of guesses and need a little push. Need something stronger? Sure thing. The answer to the September 14 (817) Wordle is only a click away.
Uncovering the solution to today’s puzzle took a bit of a leap of faith, after my results soon made it clear that the normal, “safe”, combinations I kept reaching for weren’t going to be much help. I’m glad I was brave: I wouldn’t have gone for today’s Wordle answer—and I would have lost—if I’d been more careful.
Today’s Wordle hint
A Wordle hint for Thursday, September 14
Remembering the name of a specific semi-synthetic fabric is the key to winning today’s Wordle. This common textile is often used in everyday clothes, and is apparently made from regenerated cellulose. You’ll need to uncover two different vowels to win.
ViewViewViewView
Is the…
After months of waiting, Bandai Namco finally revealed its first model kits for Armored Core 6 at the end of March. The first run is set to launch this September, and includes fan-favorite NPC buddy Rusty’s Steel Haze, enemy pilot Raven’s Nightfall, and a weapons pack with the pulse blade, laser rifle, laser drone, and vertical plasma launcher.
I don’t think I ever set a Google Alert for AC6 model kits, because the last time I tried that the search giant would just email me nonsense results instead of crucial intel on the US release of the Platypus Squishmallow Santino my partner required. Despite periodically checking back on the status of AC6’s model kits, I missed the first showcase of the models in a Japanese language stream on March 20.
In the past, I had a little fun at the expense of AC6’s $230 limited edition, which came with a mech, as well as the game’s $450 limited-er edition with a mech and a hangar. What I failed to realize at the time was how much I w…
We’ve been talking an awful lot about Starfield over the past few weeks, but hey, what about Bethesda’s other upcoming mega-RPG, The Elder Scrolls 6? It’s been a full five years since the next great adventure in Tamriel was announced, and we still know absolutely nothing about it. That’s unlikely to change anytime soon, judging from a new interview with GQ, in which game director Todd Howard admitted that if he had to do that reveal all over again, he might handle it a little differently.
The announcement of The Elder Scrolls 6 at the tail end of Bethesda’s E3 2018 conference was incredibly brief—so brief that there were really only two things we could say about it: It’s a very long way off, and there will be mountains. Nonetheless, the reaction to the long-awaited confirmation that something was coming at some point was uproarious. In fact it far outstripped the response to Starfield, which Bethesda had revealed immediately prior to the TES6 news.
Now here we are,…
Gigabyte G5 | Core i7 12650H | RTX 4060 | 16GB DDR5-4800 | 512GB SSD | 15.6-inch | 1080p | 144Hz | $998.90 $798.99 at Walmart (save $199.91)
This is a lot of laptop for not very much money. To start with, you’re getting a 10-core, 16-thread CPU that will easily cope with pretty much any game you throw at it. There’s an RTX 4060 Mobile graphics chip too, that supports DLSS upscaling and frame generation. The storage is a bit disappointing, and you’ll probably want to upgrade it at some point with a large SSD. For portable gaming and school work, though, this Gigabyte G5 laptop will keep you and your wallet happy.
Gigabyte G5 | Core i5 12500H | RTX 4060 | 8GB DDR4-3200 | 512GB SSD | 15.6-inch | 1080p | 144Hz | $1,099 $749.99 at Newegg (save $349.01)
This is essentially the same version we reviewed &n…
RPG fans out there are really getting their fill this year, and it looks like 2023 might be going out with a bang. The release date trailer for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader has just dropped, and—barring any unexpected delays—we’ll be getting our hands on Owlcat Games’ latest RPG on December 7.
With the huge success of Baldur’s Gate 3 (an RPG with turn-based combat, based on one of the most popular tabletop roleplaying games in the world), Rogue Trader (an RPG with turn-based combat, based on one of the most popular wargames in the world) might grab the attention of a few more people than it would have if released earlier.
Speaking with Polygon, Alexander Mishulin, creative director at Owlcat, pointed out that “Baldur’s Gate 3’s success is very encouraging” and that Larian is “renewing a lot of passion” for RPGs. With the undeniable impact of other RPGs as well this year like Starfield and Diablo 4, Rogue Trader is in a good position to reach fur…
World of Warcraft celebrates its 20th year in 2024, and the head of the franchise says there is one big thing the company could have done better: listen to its players.
Holly Longdale joined the WoW team to work on WoW Classic in 2020 after a long stint on EverQuest and EverQuest 2. She swiftly became the lead for all WoW titles and now she’s the VP and executive producer for the series. Her era at the company has been marked by three things: a lot more in-game content, a lot more transparency on what’s coming when, and a lot more adherence to deadlines.
I asked her, looking back over the game’s history both before and after she joined the company, what the one thing she might change would be.
“I think I’ll talk about this with the lens of [experiencing] a large part of the journey as a player, and a recent journey as a very humble and lucky leader on this team,” she said. “I think we should have listened more to the player base.”
WoW executives have always h…