The Starfield devs at Bethesda continue to stay true to their word of releasing regular, large patches for the game and it is already in much better shape than when it launched last Fall.

A huge amount of fixes to the base game have been made and if you want to read the full Patch Notes you can do so on the Starfield Blog, but we will be picking out some of the cool bits we like the look of most here.

The patch also includes additional features to things such as Photo mode, which now allows you to pose characters in your screenshots, opening the possibility for some seriously funny meme action.

Other quality-of-life tweaks such as simply being able to open doors while you have the Scanner open should really have been a thing from the off, but then, we guess you would not have appreciated it as much as you will now.

Digipicks have also been altered because, of how we love the way Digipicks worked. Thankfully now they allow you to Undo without the penalty cost of a digipick during the Security mini-game. Now, if we could just get rid of the mini-game altogether with a slider in the menu. Maybe next time.

Latest Starfield Patch major features

• PHOTOMODE: Added the ability to set Expressions and Poses on player and companions in Photomode.
• SCANNER: You can now open doors and harvest with the scanner opened.
• Setting course on an inactive quest will now make it the active quest.
• Added support for adjusting FOV when using 3rd Person Ship view.
• Added an Anisotropic filtering quality slider (PC).
• Removed the digipick cost for using Undo during the Security mini-game.
• Added an autosave when fast traveling from a planet’s surface to orbit.
• Updated the Ship UI to perform more smoothly at higher framerates.

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It seems as though complaints about wooden acting and poor NPC dialogue will become a thing of the past as gaming development continues to use more and more generative AI in its processes. We aren’t there yet, but by the end of the year, we will probably have our first game with NPC characters generating their own realistic dialogue depending on what you ask them.

For gaming realism, this could be a game changer, and while it is unclear where it may actually lead us, Unity and generative AI company Convai are keen to give us a sneak peek into the future with the release of Project Neural Nexus – a demo “game” which will feature smart NPCs and Unity’s MUSE behavior tool.

“Step into the world of Neo City, a cyberpunk theme city where danger lurks at every corner. You wake up at a hotel and are being chased by the police and killer robots. Your objective is to make out of the hotel filled with assassins – alive. But you are not alone. You have help from your AI companion, who can equip you with weapons, teach you how to shoot, guide you at every step and is helping you get out of the hotel. Your decisions change the storyline but be careful, one wrong step and it’s game over. The game is powered by Convai’s smart NPCs where you can have open-ended conversations, make decisions, perform actions, interact with various environmental objects, and are guided by an AI companion. Welcome to Neo City. Your survival story begins now.”

That’s how Convai is positioning PNN and is more of a tech demonstration of where gaming could be headed and headed quickly. The problem will be if an NPC can talk to you about anything, and you can ask it anything, how do you keep the story on track? The idea of an NPC answering questions more realistically is appealing. What we see in demonstrations like this is the “game” being played the way the developers intend. The general public will not necessarily play as nicely.

When you watch the video there is no doubt it is exciting and impressive in equal amounts. Text to Speech might not still be quite there yet when it comes to vocal emotion and some of the dialogue sounds a little stilted but the potential is there for all to see. Especially as we move along towards a world that has GPT5 in it.

You can sign up for early access now and it should be released later in the year. Interesting times ahead

The post A cyberpunk game with AI actors that make up their own dialogue? Count us in appeared first on ReadWrite.

Dune is pretty big business at the moment with the second movie riding high at the Box Office and news of the new MMO from Funcom on the horizon.

Dune: Spice Wars, also from Funcom, however, is a Frank Herbert-based game you should not be overlooked if you are a fan of the story. It’s been out since around the time the first movie dropped and offers a great opportunity to get into the Dune universe (Duneiverse?), especially if you like your games with a more strategic flavor.

Today, the first major update for the game, as well as its first DLC drops and goes by the name of House Vernius of Ix.

The House Vernius of Ix DLC, priced at €12.99 / $12.99, introduces the technologically advanced Ixians as the game’s seventh faction. Hailing from the technologically advanced Ixian Confederation and led by the cybernetically enhanced Rhombur Vernius, they discreetly explore the self-learning tech forbidden by the Butlerian Jihad.

Meanwhile, the free Heroes of Dune update marks a major milestone for Dune: Spice Wars, allowing players to control legendary individuals from the Dune universe. With each faction offering a choice of two Heroes, players can recruit from a total of fourteen iconic characters, each with its own active skill, global effect, and localized effects. From Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck for the House Atreides to Chani Kynes and Otheym for the Fremen, players can now lead their chosen faction with legendary figures, reshaping the course of history on Arrakis.

The update also includes several improvements to combat, enriching its gaming experience and making it more accessible to players of all skill levels.

Dune: Spice Wars is a hardcore Dune 4x strategy game, and playing as iconic characters from the story will mainly appeal to fans of Herbert’s books but even if you are not invested in the Dune storyline it is still a really solid RTS game with lots of cool features that you should definitely check out.

The post Dune Spice Wars gets its first major update and DLC appeared first on ReadWrite.

Nearly there, so nearly there. One of the most eagerly anticipated games of the year is almost with us. It is so close we can smell it.

Many of you will have already created your characters ready to get going as quickly as you can as the free Character Creator was released ahead of the game last week. If you are unsure what role you want to play in the game we also have a handy breakdown of all the starting vocations you can choose from when you start off.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 worldwide release times

Capcom has handily provided a global map showing all the launch times across the planet for the game. The game unlocks at the same time for everybody but depending on where you are in the world, that will be a different time or even day for you. If you live in North or South America your game will unlock for you on the evening of the 21st whereas the further East you go the later it gets due to time differences.

Check out the map below to locate your time zone:

The key ones for ease are:

• PDT – 5pm 21st March
• EDT – 8pm 21st March
• GMT – Midnight 22nd March
• CET- 1am 22nd March
  
• JST- 9am 22nd March

Dragon’s Dogma 2 preload

As we are looking at a download size of around 70 GB and you will have already checked you hit the system requirements it is good news we bring that the game can be pre-loaded onto your systems from Wednesday 20th March. Pre-load is available for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation and will help you avoid any potential slow download times if the servers all get hammered at the same time of release, so we would strongly advise getting set up ahead of time if you possibly can.

The post Dragon’s Dogma 2 – Worldwide launch times and preload announced – when can you play it? appeared first on ReadWrite.

Lightyear Frontier might just be our new favorite game of the moment. The chilled-out space farming sim gives off No Man’s Sky vibes with its aesthetics and its simple crafting and and farming mechanics are really well done for a game that has just come out in an Early Access preview.

It’s easy to just crank up a game like this and make a load of mistakes early on that will need rectifying later on. If you don’t start your base camp in a good area, while you can move it at any time, it is a little bit of a pain and extra time and effort you can be spending elsewhere.

Also, there are a ton of early resources you can gather but some are much more vital than others to get up and running quickly. This guide will help you get off to the best possible start as a space farmer on the edges of the Lightyear Frontier.

What to do first in Lightyear Frontier

A fresh save in LF starts you off in the same spot – The Meadows – and gives you your initial tasks that need completing before you can start to forge your own path. Task one, you will need to locate and repair the damaged Mech that you fell from the sky in. It’s probably about a minute’s walk from your starting location and you can’t really do anything until you approach it other than walk – no tree-punching here. As you follow the navigation point on your compass and get nearer you will be given access to your axe so can start hacking away at some resources en route.

Unless you are in the Mech however, which you are not, you cannot add things to your inventory yet. This was quite confusing at first as we couldn’t work out how to pick things up. Once you are in your Mech you simply walk over the resource to collect it, but if out of it you have to grab it and throw it at your Mech to add it to your inventory. So not much point in bothering at this stage, just head to your Mech which should now be close by.

When you get there you will find it on its side and you need to reassemble the engine and the arm that has broken off. Pick them up one at a time and walk towards the Mech and they should automatically attach. Once both are on, Flip the Mech as per instructions and climb on board.

Locating tools in Lightyear Frontier

The next job is to find the farming tools that are scattered around the landscape. There are five of them and you can see where they are by the column of colored smoke that the crash site emits. They aren’t particularly close to each other so there is a bit of busy work to collect them all. As you get each one you will get instructions on how to use it. They can all be accessed from the tool wheel quickly if you need to change. There is no correct order to collect them but depending on what you get first, if it is the Saw for example you can cut some trees down and smash up some stone along the way which we will need for the next bit of the mission.

Best place to camp in Lightyear Frontier

Now you have all your tools and had a bit of a wander around The Meadows it’s possible you muight have seen a spot that looks good to make your camp. The tutorial will have been prodding you to make things as you go, but now we have everything it will be easier.

We are going to set up camp, at least for the start of the game in a flat area of the Meadows. It is important that there is space around because for your farming journey to flourish, you are going to need space to build things and also make sure you have enough space to plant seeds. You will want to plant tree seeds, maybe at the edge of your encampment so you have a constantly replenishing supply of wood. Plant them, water them once, and off they go.

The other vital natural resource you should set up camp near is water. You are going to be using a lot of it and you don’t need to be moving too far from place to place as the mech is quite a slow mode of transport.

Once you are happy with where you are going to base, build the things you are instructed to to progress the tutorial. By gathering resources as you mooch around you will also have opened up a few new recipes which you can also try out.

Once you have got the bones of your base up it’s time to complete the next starting mission which is to Restore Pine Heights and you can read our guide page on how to go about that for extra help.

Is Lightyear Frontier on Game Pass?

If you want to try out Lightyear Frontier and have a Game Pass subscription you can jump right in. The game was announced as coming to Game Pass the day before it was released which is great news. It is also available on Steam, but if you have Game Pass you may as well plump for that option to try things out. It is Early Access remember so doubtless parts of it will be broken and need to change over the coming months.

The post Getting started in Lightyear Frontier: best place to camp, what to do first appeared first on ReadWrite.

If you are one of those people who hates the idea of Artificial Intelligence (AI) being used to create the games you love because it puts talented people out of work and replaces them with Chat-GPT’s overly enthusiastic writing or MidJourney’s seven-fingered monstrosities, you are going to hate this.

The new 2024 Unity Gaming Report has surveyed 7,062 workers in the game industry and “found that around 62% (4,378) of developers are leveraging AI tools during production” according to an analysis by GameDeveloper.com. 

Of those people, a further 63% (2,758) confirmed they used generative AI to help them create assets for the projects.

This means around 39% of everyone surveyed (7,062) is using AI to build assets for the game. It is super interesting as the games industry undergoes wave after wave of layoffs amid panic that AI will ultimately cost many jobs, that the very tools being blamed for redundancies are being flaunted by such a high number.

AI and generative AI should be being used as a tool and an aid, but whether decisions to bring our future robot overlords on board at this early stage are being made in the board room and being forced on the workers, or whether the developers themselves – the artists and programmers are embracing the tech to help them be more productive would be a wonderful thing to learn.

‘We’re empowering designers’

VP of product management, Kjell Bronder at Niantic (famous for Pokemon GO!), said:

“To increase our productivity, like many others, we’ve been really looking at AI and seeing how we can use this new generation of tools to empower our designers so they can create new assets to explore new ideas.”

“Also, how we can prototype new ways of characters, bring them to life, and have them animate in new ways.”

These empowered designers were obviously not part of the 25% of staff layoffs the company made in the middle of 2023.

Unity itself said, “While 2023 was a year marked with persisting economic headwinds, game developers are strategically navigating the challenges and successfully adapting to changes in technology, the economy, and player habits by doing more with less.” 

Presumably, the less includes the 1,800 people Unity itself let go at the start of the year. 

One thing is for sure, the better AI gets, the less work there will be for humans in the games industry. That is something we need to get our heads around and accept, but we, as the people who buy the games,  should not be expected to accept lower standards for profit.

Featured Image: AI-generated by Ideogram

The post Nearly 40% of game devs create assets with AI, as turkeys seemingly vote for Christmas appeared first on ReadWrite.

The Flight sim experts Aerosoft are going to be offering up something a little different in September this year. Today the German studio announced Highway Police Simulator – a new cop game it is working on alongside Z-Software.

Slated for a launch on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 5 the game will see you as a lone Highway Patrol cop in America [performing a work shift that includes breakneck high-speed chases, shootouts, and routine traffic stops.

When it is released Highway Police Simulator will include:

• Varied open-world environments, each with its own challenges and missions
• A storyline with exciting cases, career progression, ranking system, and more
• Unique vehicles, including different police cars, helicopters, and more
• A wide array of missions with traffic stops, accidents, car chases, and more
• A morality system that challenges players to make difficult decisions with real consequences for the story and the environment

“Highway Police Simulator encapsulates the investigative, often stressful role of law enforcement in a detailed and realistic world,” said Dirk Ohler, Head of Product at Aerosoft. “We’re thrilled to announce the title and our partnership with the talented team at Z-Software, and we look forward to all our new recruits joining the force in September 2024!”

The short launch trailer isn’t giving too much away although it is giving us some Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit vibes, but as well as the car chases it looks as though Highway Police Simulator is going to also feature a little legwork for your cop.

It’s set in the fictional American state of Caminora and can be played casually or with the simulation aspects ramped up. You can wishlist Highway Police Simulator on Steam right now and start polishing your boots in anticipation of its release in a few months time.

Aerosoft is more known for its work on games such as Microsoft Flight Simulator, so it is interesting to see it diversifying into a different kind of sim.

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We knew it was coming, we just didn’t know when, but now Square Enix has just announced that Final Fantasy XIV Online will arrive on Xbox on 21st March after completing its open beta which has been running since last month.

There are some great games coming to Game Pass already this week, you also do not want to miss out on Lightyear Frontier which arrives on the 19th.

The game will launch at 1 am (PDT) and will be available in the Microsoft Store in several different flavors.

Final Fantasy XIV Online Xbox versions

You are certainly not spoilt for choice when it comes to how many versions of FF XIV you can choose from. Here is what will be available. If you are a Game Pass Ultimate subscriber you can download the basic Online Starter Edition free of charge until April 19th.

FINAL FANTASY XIV Online Starter Edition

For newcomers, the Starter Edition includes three award-winning titles: the base game, A Realm Reborn, and the first and second expansions, Heavensward and Stormblood.
* Players with an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate plan may download the FINAL FANTASY XIV Online Starter Edition for free until Friday, April 19.

FINAL FANTASY XIV: Endwalker

Players can experience the main scenario quests and content available in the Shadowbringers and Endwalker expansions. Requires FINAL FANTASY XIV Starter Edition to play.

FINAL FANTASY XIV: Endwalker Collector’s Edition

The Endwalker Collector’s Edition includes several in-game bonus items. Requires FINAL FANTASY XIV Starter Edition to play.

FINAL FANTASY XIV Online Complete Edition

For newcomers, this is the most comprehensive edition and includes A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker expansions.

FINAL FANTASY XIV Online Complete Collector’s Edition

This version includes the in-game bonus items from the A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker Collector’s Editions.

FINAL FANTASY XIV Online Free Trial

Play for free up to level 70 and experience the main scenario quests and content from A Realm Reborn, and the Heavensward and Stormblood expansions with no restrictions on playtime.

Pre-purchasing will get you the rather underwhelming free in-game cosmetics:

• Wind-up Palom Minion
• Menphina earring (grants 30% EXP bonus up to level 80)

The post Final Fantasy XIV Online will drop on Xbox in just three days time appeared first on ReadWrite.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 offer us a huge range of possibilities when it comes to our character creation and class. You may have already played around with the free Character Creator that has been released, once, of course, you have checked your system requirements to make sure your rig can play the thing in the first place.

Just like in the first game, all those years ago, classes in Dragon’s Dogma 2 are known as Vocations – but we will let you off if you are still referring to them by the ior more traditional moniker for this sort of thing. Anybody who is used to playing RPGs will likely already be drawn to certain play styles, so the table below will show you the Vocation and what it specializes in, so you can get off to a flying start when you begin your first game.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 Vocations (Classes)

There are 10 Vocations / classes in DD2 at launch. Let’s have a closer look at what each offers us: There is one notable omission from the original game The Mystic Knight vocation is very much Missing in Action here. It may be that they have blended the Vocation into the 10 below to give a more rounded character, or well, future DLC is always a possibility.

	Vocation	Description
	Archer	Archers are experts in ranged warfare, adept with bow and arrow. They launch their assaults from a distance, capable of hitting targets in elevated positions and playing a pivotal role in supporting the vanguard. By pinpointing enemy vulnerabilities, Archers pave the way for allies to launch effective strikes.
	Fighter	Masters of close-quarters combat, Fighters excel with sword and shield in hand. They carve through adversaries with ease and land-crushing hits, while their shields serve as steadfast protection for themselves and their comrades.
	Mage	Armed with a staff, Mages bolster their group with a diverse array of support abilities, from unleashing magical assaults and enhancing allies’ weapons to casting restorative spells. The thrill of strategy comes alive as Mages carefully time the casting of their increasingly potent spells.
	Magick Archer	Unique to the Arisen, Magick Archers dominate ranged combat with enchanted arrows. Beyond attacking and healing, they adeptly support allies and can sacrifice a portion of their maximum health to deliver a sweeping, area-wide assault.
	Mystic Spearhand	Exclusive to the Arisen, the Mystic Spearhand merges martial prowess with magical aptitude, ensuring effectiveness at any distance. Wielding the Duospear, they command spells to immobilize foes or launch a barrage of objects, showcasing their versatility.
	Sorcerer	Dedicated to the art of magic, Sorcerers wield their power to alter the battlefield’s dynamics. Channeling spells with a grand staff, they must choose the perfect moment and position to unleash their lengthy incantations, turning the tide of conflict.
	Thief	The Thief strikes with lightning speed, unleashing a flurry of attacks using dual daggers, coupled with remarkable agility. They dart in and out of combat, seizing opportunities to ambush foes and deal significant damage. Thieves are also skilled at pilfering items from NPCs and adversaries.
	Trickster	An Arisen-specific vocation, Tricksters weave illusions from their unique Censer’s smoke. They manipulate these deceptions to turn enemies against each other and can briefly amplify their Pawns’ strength, pushing them beyond their usual capabilities.
	Warfarer	Exclusive to the Arisen, the Warfarer is a jack-of-all-trades, proficient with every weapon type and borrowing skills from across vocations. Their adaptive arsenal allows for a versatile combat approach, combining weapons and skills to form unique combos. The Warfarer’s adaptability is key, compensating for their lower base stats by exploiting the strategic advantages of diverse weaponry.
	Warrior	Warriors showcase formidable strength and a preference for up-close battles, thriving under the weight of enemy blows. Proficient with heavy weapons like greatswords and hammers, their devastating attacks, following a moment of charge, stand as some of the most powerful amongst the vocations.

How to change your Vocation in Dragon’s Dogma 2

As you travel around the world of Dragon’s Dogma 2, keep a close eye out for wandering Vocation Masters. Interactive with these wise old NPCs to gain access to their vocations and teachings.

What are Pawn Vocations in Dragon’s Dogma 2?

Pawns in DD2 are characters you can control with your main character. You can have up to three of these under your spell which is great, however the downside is, Pawns do not have access to all Vocations, in fact they can only be one of the following six:

• Archer
• Fighter
• Mage
• Sorcerer
• Thief
• Warrior

The post Dragon’s Dogma 2: Every Vocation you can play when it launches appeared first on ReadWrite.

Cities Skylines II has had a rocky start, part of which is down to just how good playing the original Cities Skylines, even today, with all its mods, patches, and tweaks, can be.

A ropy start, poor optimization, and a feeling that the devs Colossal Order were fire–fighting from the off have meant some poor publicity for the game, but things have been getting better slowly but surely.

The lack of official mod support has been a huge bugbear of the community for a while now but a post today on the official blog should now help put that to bed with the news that we are just a week away from getting mod support – albeit in a beta format initially.

The post reads: “With Mods (short for modifications), you can tailor your gaming experience to your unique preferences. Uploaded by creators all over the world, you can pick between anything to create the city of your dreams. Along with Beach Properties, the first wave of Cities: Skylines II Modding will be available. The Beta release of Modding will initially support Map and Code mods.

With the Map Editor, you can make maps with the Terraforming Tools you’re used to, import hightmaps to create highly accurate depictions of your hometown, and upload your creations to Paradox Mods.

With the Code Tools, you can show off your coding skills and create Code Mods to meet your heart’s desire!”

This will be news to warm the hearts of Skylines II players. The prospect of mods to improve quality of life quicker than the devs can push them out should now help propel the games towards where it should have been at launch.

The Mods beta will launch on March 25th alongside a beach Properties Asset Pack that will bring a new Waterfront Zone to the game.

The post Official City Skylines Mod Support finally nears release – new roadmap released appeared first on ReadWrite.

We are definitely a little bit in love with Lightyear Frontier and if there is one thing the demo has taught us is that things are not always obvious in this beautiful little life/farming sim with chilled No Man’s Sky vibes.

From the off, you will be getting tasks popping up in the window at the top right corner of your HUD, one of which will be Restore Pine Heights. All well and good, except you don’t know where it is, or what to do when you find it. Let’s solve those problems for you now.

It’s a multi-part process so let’s get going

How to restore Pine Heights

First things first, check out the Map (the M key on your PC. Here you will see you starting area and Pine Heights to your North West. It’s actually quite a sizeable area of the initial map, but there is no point heading there yet. You need to first locate all your missing tools after you have recovered your Mech.

Get in the Mech and wander around the map until you have collected all the tools it tells you to. You can spot them on the terrain because they will be issuing colored smoke from the wreckage.

You are now going to use two of those tools to restore Pine Heights. The first you need is the Vacuum Harvester. Access your Tool Wheel (Q) and find a pool of water, there are plenty about but you are going to need multiple visits as the vac doesn’t hold anywhere enough of the resources to get the job done. Slightly irritating, but such is life. Use the Vacuum Harvester on the water to suck it up until the meter is filled.

Now we can head off to Pine Heights. It’s worth noting here it is so called as it contains a lot of Pine Trees which are a source of Soft Wood.

Make your way to Pine Heights using the map if need be. Here we are going to have to wash away the Noxious Slime pools with the fresh water you sucked up just now. Switch your tool to the Irrigation Hose and now you can spray water on the slime to get rid of it.

Don’t go crazy because you will soon need another trip to a pond to refill so try and use just the correct amount.

As you trot about removing the slime a Percentage bar will fill up showing you how close you are to restoring Pine Heights. Note, it will go up slower than you would like it to. There is a lot of slime hanging around and it is quite a big area and it is easy to miss a patch or two and struggle to fill the bar and complete the job.

The best advice to find it all is it glows more obviously at night and to try and get a higher vantage point to see where there might be some left.

Once it has all gone, Pine Heights is restored. Mission accomplished.

The post Lightyear Frontier – How to restore Pine Heights appeared first on ReadWrite.

Minecraft devs Mojang has urged players not to update their Minecraft games for fear of losing all their worlds in what is a pretty major big deal when you think some people have been creating their worlds, for like, oooh, ten years or so.

Mojang, who today also launched the Minecraft Marketplace monthly subscription, posted the following message on its official Mojang Status X account:

“Do not update Minecraft through the Xbox app on PC. If you do, your worlds may be lost. We recommend that you run the Gaming Services Repair Tool for PC before installing the Minecraft update.”

This is all well and good, as long as you actually see this post, which is on an ancillary account on X before pushing the update button in your Game Pass app and potentially crying yourself to sleep for the rest of your days.

A further post on the linked Microsoft support page states:

“Do not download the recent update for Minecraft through the Xbox app for PC.

Do not update Minecraft through the Xbox app on PC. If you do, your worlds may be lost. We recommend that you run the Gaming Services Repair Tool for PC before installing the Minecraft update. For more information, go here: https://t.co/9X1am8dzHG

— Mojang Status (@MojangStatus) March 15, 2024

If you do, your worlds may be lost. We recommend that you run the Gaming Services Repair Tool for PC in the Xbox app on PC before installing the Minecraft update. Using this tool updates the Gaming Services to version 19.87.13001.0, which will avoid the update error. Below are instructions on running the tool;

• Launch the Xbox app on PC.
• Click your Profile picture.
• Click on Support.
• Click on Gaming Services Repair Tool
• Click on Start Troubleshooting.

For more information about this tool, see our support article here: Gaming Services Repair Tool for PC.

A further issue is that the Xbox App will probably try to automatically update the game for you, regardless of whether you are even in the building so this could be a blocky disaster.

There is no indication as yet as to what the problem is, but Minecraft is not the first game to suffer save game issues this year, with Baldur’s Gate 3 players also losing hours of gameplay due to save game corruption.

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If you like War Thunder you are in for a treat with Gaijin Entertainment’s new Alpha Strike content update.

Alpha Strike contains dozens of new military vehicles including the European Alpha Jet attack aircraft, the M60 120S tank, the most up-to-date Chinese infantry fighting vehicle – the ZBD-04A, the American F-20A Tigershark fighter jet, the Hungarian aviation subtree, as well as the North Holland map and other content and improvements.

The Alpha Jet is a compact two-seat attack and trainer jet created by European designers in the 1970s for the local Air Forces. It was exported to a couple of dozen countries, is still in service with France, and is actively used by the Nigerian Air Force in missions against Boko Haram.

Every nation in the game has received at least one new ground vehicle, so no matter who you play as there is something fresh to try out.

If you like playing as Japan, the Imperial Japanese Navy now has the IHN Mutsu, which has the largest guns in the whole game.

Map-wise another new addition is the North Holland location for ground forces which features a city battleground complete with a large mall that is big enough to get your tank into!

The update isn’t all vehicles and new stuff however, a lot of fixes and balances are included in the patch which is the first major update for War Thunder in 2024.

All new vehicles in War Thunder Alpha Strike

Aircraft

Ground Vehicles

Helicopters

Naval Fleet

The post War Thunder gets Alpha Strike update with new jets and dozens more vehicles appeared first on ReadWrite.

Oh good. Another monthly subscription. This time for Minecraft and its catalog of DLC. Fed up with rarely spending any money in the Minecraft Marketplace for skins? Great news, now you can hand over a monthly fee to Mojang and Microsoft so you can access all the things you mainly never wanted for “free”.

As the world surely closes in on critical mass for subscription services even though humans everywhere continue to sign up and forget to cancel, never really noticing the drip, drip, drip of monthly cash from their accounts, the options keep coming.

Sidenote, I scanned my account the other month to tot up outgoings on subscriptions and the amount was scary. YouTube Premium, Game Pass, Spotify Family, and so on, are all sucking money from my account at different times of the month so I never really notice. Do I, or indeed we now need to pay more to download DLC from the Minecraft Marketplace?

Well, Mojang seems to think we do and the pass is going to cost you $3.99 a month and for this, you will receive access to a rotating catalog of DLC and other Minecraft items and goodies. Long gone is the time when we would just eagerly await a new beta drop of the game from Notch back in the day before corporate Minecraft.

A total of around 150 items will be available at any one time as they come and go and the Pass is available for all Bedrock versions of the game.

If you are mad-keen on downloading the latest and greatest Minecraft worlds like this great Hogwarts one then this could work out well for you, but there seems little point if you only have a passing interest and download the occasional new asset to play around with. A limited free trial is available before you jump in properly. If you do try it, don’t forget to cancel before the billing period starts if you have no intention of staying around.

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Palworld will forever be known as the game that poked its fingers into the cage holding the giant Nintendo bear. Its fairly unashamed take on the Pokemon world attracted a lot of adverse attention on launch, all the while helping to propel it to one of the most talked about games of the game and garner a player base in the multi-millions in the process.

The launch version was still on the janky side, its Early Access roots well and truly showing above ground. Since then the devs have been constantly tweaking and updating in the background, while fending off legal probing from the Japanese gaming giant and is now ready to launch its first boss into the wild.

So which Pokemon is it based on? That’s probably a highly cynical question but the “internet” is generally happy it is loosely based upon Gardevoir. But it might not be. We do still have to give credit to the devs at Pocketpair for this weird purple Pal that would not look out of place in The Nightmare Before Christmas or Beetlejuice.

A post on the Palworld X account announced its impending arrival:

Attention Pal Tamers

A powerful evil Pal has appeared and is laying siege to the Palpagos Islands!
Only the most skilled Pal Tamers stand a chance against her…

Palworld’s first raid, Bellanoir, is coming soon! pic.twitter.com/jZ4iWVl1Qk

— Palworld (@Palworld_EN) March 15, 2024

“Attention Pal Tamers

A powerful evil Pal has appeared and is laying siege to the Palpagos Islands!
Only the most skilled Pal Tamers stand a chance against her…

Palworld’s first raid, Bellanoir, is coming soon!”

But that’s about it to be fair. We know it will be part of a wider patch that will again attempt to address the rampant cheating issue the game is still going through alongside general fixes and balances as the game pushes toward its V1.

In the meantime, the game is included in the current Steam Spring Sale, so if you haven’t picked it up yet, you can get 10% off as we speak.

The post Palworld gets its first Raid Boss and it’s probably based on a Pokemon appeared first on ReadWrite.

As the months go by, excitement in the flight simulator community is growing as the launch window for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 draws ever closer. News on the latest version of the popular sim has been a bit thin on the ground since the end of last year but in a dev stream, Microsoft and developers Asabo have some more to say, including potentially an accidental clue as to the release date.

The potential slip-up came while talking about one of the included aircraft – an upgraded version of the Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet, of which the current model is available to buy in the in-game store.

Jorg Neumann of the Microsoft Flight Simulator team was talking about potentially pulling the download from the store so as not to upset anybody who bought it in September, only to discover right after that that it comes in MSFS 2024. Does that mean we are looking at a September/October launch? Time will tell.

Microsoft will be present at FlightSimExpo 2024 in Las Vegas at the end of June so we are definitely expecting them to be showing the sim in all its glory by that point.

A whole new world

We did learn that the entire planet in 2024 will be updated using the very latest data from Bing maps. While mountains are unlikely to have moved much, certain areas of the inhabited world will greatly benefit from updated data.

A brief mention was made that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will feature ray tracing and that this is being worked on at the moment, but whether this is something that will appear further down the line is unclear at this point.

With plenty more updates for the current version of MSFS before we get to launch there should be lots to talk about in the coming months.

The post Microsoft Flight Sim 2024 – latest info from the dev stream, including ray-tracing news appeared first on ReadWrite.

You get to play with some crazy concepts in this job, but Vampire Therapist is definitely one of the most out there in a long time. The new question-the-undead-’em-up from Berlin-based Little Bat Games has just dropped a new trailer and it’s done more than enough for me to add this to my Steam Wishlist list of weird and wonderful stuff I want to play this year like Dystopika.

The premise is simple, if utterly bonkers, you are a trainee therapist for the undead and you need to get them sat on the couch and work through their issues and traumas with them. You will get visits from vampires, ghouls, and all manner of specters and spooks and give them the counseling they need to help them rest in peace.

You are probably thinking this is all a bit crazy-sounding, but we urge you to watch the trailer because this is in fact going to be very cool.

All of the techniques shown throughout the game and in the trailer have been created with the help and support of licensed therapists, lending authenticity to the game and its overall message.

“We are dead, don’t we deserve to rest in peace?” asks Andromachos in the trailer, a reformed warrior and assassin, and mentor to players on their therapy journey with the terminally blood-thirsty.

You will take on the role of Sam, a trainee Vamp-therapist and you must, “will challenge their fellow undead to face up to their distorted versions of reality, and see if they can battle their demons and come out on the other side.”

The trailer looks at the mental distortion of ‘should statements’ which are a common cognitive distortion or ‘unhelpful thinking style’. The undead do this too it seems.

Vampire Therapist is a hugely interesting concept because, if the trailer is anything to go by, players are going to learn quite a bit about psychology and therapy by osmosis almost as they play the game. A very cool concept.

Vampire Therapist will be released on Steam in June. We can’t wait.

The post Vampire Therapist – Counsel the undead and help them rest in peace appeared first on ReadWrite.

The greatest rock guitarists of all time have at one point or another wielded the iconic Fender Stratocaster, and now you can too, indirectly, courtesy of a deal between Fender and Epic Games to bring its guitars to Fortnite Festival as skins.

Yes, no item is beyond getting a paid-for skin in the Item Shop. As well as future leaks about character skins such as the Turtles or yesterday’s PS+ exclusive skin, we look forward to exciting leaks about a new skin for a set of Maraccas or a deal with Korg for a keyboard skin. Ah well, such is the world we live in.

Initially, at least Fortnite will get two of Fender’s iconic axes – the aforementioned Stratocaster so you can re-enact your favorite Kurt Cobain moments, and the Precision Bass, in case you are more of a rhythm klng.

Get ready to hit the stage in classic Fender style.

The legendary @Fender Stratocaster and Precision Bass make their debut in the Shop tonight! pic.twitter.com/lYB2QbE37B

— Fortnite Festival (@FNFestival) March 13, 2024

Obviously, this is Fortnite so this stuff is not free. To be fair it is actually more reasonably priced than it could have been, with each coming in at 800 V-Bucks. Now obviously you can’t just buy 800 V-Bucks, but a 1000 will set you back $8.99/£6.99 so if you want both models you are going to be looking at around just shy of $15 in real, actual money.

Epic Games said of the partnership, “Over the years, through numerous live in-game performances to music video debuts, Epic has shown that Fortnite and music go hand in hand. The latest partnership with Fender further solidifies the game’s commitment to working with the most established and forward-thinking brands in music.”

Fortnite currently has a fair bit going on right now with Lantern Fest during Ramadan and the launch (eventually) of Chapter 5 Season 2. It also beat its record for a concurrent number of players this year.

The post Want to own a Fender Stratocaster? You can now in Fortnite, but it’s gonna cost you appeared first on ReadWrite.

Infinite Craft is still going strong and you guys are still playing it, so let’s recreate one of the most popular games of all time in one of those most popular games of the moment. Whoah, it’s getting like the Matrix in here.

How to craft Fortnite

We can get to Fortnite surprisingly quickly, and, as ever, if you have been following our other guides carefully you may already have Castle and Internet so can just mash the two together and be done with the whole thing in seconds. You’re welcome. 

• Water + Fire = Steam
• Steam + Earth = Mud
• Mud + Fire = Brick
• Brick + Brick = Wall
• Wall + Brick = House
• House + Wall = Castle
• Steam + Fire = Engine
• Engine + Engine = Rocket
• Rocket + Rocket = Satellite
• Steam + Engine = Train
• Train + Rocket = Bullet Train
• Satellite + Bullet Train = Internet
• Internet + Castle = Fortnite

You can also then mix Fortnite + Earth = Battle Bus for a little extra gaming fun. Or maybe try Fortnite + Castle to give you Tilted Towers as well. Experimentation is the key to Infinite Craft.

Featured Image: AI-generated in Ideogram

You may like these other Infinite Craft guides

• How to make Taylor Swift in Infinite Craft
• How to make Harry Potter and Hogwarts in Infinite Craft
• How to make Pokemon and Peter Griffin in Infinite Craft
• How to make Donald Trump in Infinite Craft
• How to make cool monsters in Infinite Craft
• How to make disasters in Infinite Craft
• How to make Superheroes (Batman, Wonder-Woman and Superman) in Infinite Craft
• How to make Spongebob Squarepants in Infinite Craft
• How to make religion, Islam and Christianity in Infinite Craft
• How to make the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Infinite Craft
• How to make a Nuclear Bomb in Infinite Craft
• How to make AI in Infinite Craft
• How to make Infinite Craft in Infinite Craft
• How to cheat at Infinite Craft
• How to make the Internet in Infinite Craft
• How to make Apollo 13, Saturn V, and NASA in Infinite Craft
• How to make Rambo in Infinite Craft
• How to make Britney Spears in Infinite Craft
• How to get The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything in Infinite Craft

The post How to make Fortnite in Infinite Craft appeared first on ReadWrite.

Soon after the turn of the new century,  after we had all calmed down about the Millennium Bug bringing planes crashing out of the skies, and nuclear armageddon a little game called RuneScape came out. It’s still going, indeed we talked yesterday about how RuneScape publisher Jagex has been busy strengthening its management team.

The designer Andrew Gower and his brother Paul created one of gaming’s longest-lasting legacies. RuneScape and old-school RuneScape are still played by many to this day. So the news that Andrew has a new MMO coming out this year, and one that he has been working on for ten years should excite a lot of players.

Developed by his studio Fen Research, “Andrew Gower’s Brighter Shores” can be wishlisted on Steam as we speak, and is currently slated for a release at some point during Q3 this year. And to complete the circle of life, brother Paul is the game’s Narrative Designer.

It’s an exciting day today. I’m the narrative designer on Brighter Shores, an upcoming MMO that has just been announced today! Follow the link to our Steam page below, and add it to your wish list if it looks like something you might enjoy!https://t.co/h8g2d65Tmz

— Paul Gower (@PaulJGower) March 13, 2024

Gower told PC Gamer via a statement, “Creating this game has been a real labor of love, At times it has felt like an insurmountably ambitious task, so it’s amazing to finally see it coming together in the way I hoped. I can’t wait to see the world full of players enjoying what we have created.”

Brighter Shores will release as free-to-play but will have a Premium Pass with more quests and professions, as well as a player-to-player trading system.

It has been designed with Gower’s own Fenforge engine, and as you can see from the image above, this has given it a unique look, reminiscent of RuneScape but what interests us most is Fen Research says it will seek to minimize the “grindy” gameplay that plagues the genre.

If they can all pull this off, we could be about to get another MMO that will stick around for the best part of a quarter of a century and more.

The post Legendary RuneScape creator shows off new MMO after decade of development appeared first on ReadWrite.