So Modern Warfare Remastered is officially a thing. Though it was confirmed via, of all things, a poop emoji a few days ago, we didn't hear anything more of it until today's moderately leaky Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare reveal. When the official trailer finally landed, a couple of hours ago, it was accompanied by a coda revealing that Remastered would be a pre-order bonus for Infinite Warfare's Legacy Edition.

Now, a press release sheds a bit more light on how Modern Warfare has been spruced up for modern audiences.

Firstly, it's being developed by Raven Software, which has been involved with COD's development for some years now. Secondly, it features "vibrant current generation visuals, with fully improved texture resolution and detail, high-dynamic range lighting, lit and shadowing VFX particles, revamped animation and audio, stunning sound and much more", suggesting it's a wee bit more involved than many remasters. Ten of the original's maps will carry across to this new version, including Crash, Backlot, and Crossfire.

You can see a few comparision shots in this NeoGAF thread. It does look better.

One thing that isn't clear (I suspect purposely so) is whether or not Modern Warfare Remastered will be available to buy separately, or whether you'll have to shell out for Infinite Warfare's Legacy Edition, or above, to get hold of it. I think it's extremely unlikely that it won't be available separately at some point, but here are the various pre-order offers anyway:

Legacy Edition and Digital Legacy Edition Includes both Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered

Digital Deluxe Edition Includes Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered and Season Pass

Legacy Pro Edition Includes Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, Season Pass, collectible Steelbook, official game soundtrack and additional digital items

Oh look here's a sizable update for rhythm roguelike (somehow, it's still the only one) Crypt of the Necrodancer, that adds a whopping two new playable soundtracks to the game. Soundtrack the first is a "retro freestyle" OST by Shovel Knight composer Virt, while the second is a work of "pulse pounding synthwave" from Girlfriend Records. You can switch between the current soundtrack, and these new ones, from the menu.

There are also a load of bug fixes, but more importantly for those of us that don't yet own Necrodancer, there's a sale on Steam. You'll save 67% if you buy the game in the next 30-and-a-bit hours, which sounds like a bonny deal indeed.

Update: here's the trailer in good-o-vision, on the official COD YouTube account. It reveals that if you pre-order the 'Legacy Edition' of Infinite Warfare, you'll get that recently revealed COD4: Modern Warfare remaster bundled with it.

Well, here it is. A reveal trailer for the teased Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, now on Hulu, and in a million potatocam YouTube videos, one of which I'll embed below. One suspects this trailer has arrived slightly ahead of Activision's orchestrated marketing schedule, given that the official COD Twitter account hasn't yet posted anything about it, and hurrah for that.

As you can see, COD:IF will be out November 4, and will feature a big battle where an armoured vehicle thingy rolls down some stairs. Also, you'll be able to blast off into space! Fancy that. I should probably write more, but I wanted to post this posthaste, in case it suddenly disappears from the interwebs.

Eric Barone has been understandably busy these past few months, but after a short break to play Final Fantasy IX (among other games), he s ready to talk about Stardew Valley s future. The biggest talking point is that cooperative multiplayer is definitely coming, and it might not take too long either: Barone has agreed to let publisher Chucklefish handle some of the more finicky programming duties.

There s obviously a huge amount of work involved to achieve all this, and I am just one person, Barone wrote in the update. I know in the past I ve been very adamant about doing everything myself, and I still am when it comes to game design and content. However, I ve decided to seek outside help for some of the more technical things listed above.

In addition to cooperative play, localisation for other, non-English speaking countries is on the cards. In the more immediate future is version 1.1, which will roll out a bunch of new gameplay additions and changes, such as:

More late-game contentNew farm buildingsNew cropsNew artisan goodsNew advanced farming/producing mechanicsShane and Emily will be marriage candidates. They will also have more events and dialogue as a result.More marriage content for all spousesMore events for the non-marriage NPC sImprovements/Additions to mining and combatAbility to move buildings and other convenience featuresMore bug fixesMore secretsMore small, fun touches to the world

Have you played Stardew Valley yet? At least a million other people have, and according to our reviewer it s definitely worth your time.

Eric Barone has been understandably busy these past few months, but after a short break to play Final Fantasy IX (among other games), he s ready to talk about Stardew Valley s future. The biggest talking point is that cooperative multiplayer is definitely coming, and it might not take too long either: Barone has agreed to let publisher Chucklefish handle some of the more finicky programming duties.

There s obviously a huge amount of work involved to achieve all this, and I am just one person, Barone wrote in the update. I know in the past I ve been very adamant about doing everything myself, and I still am when it comes to game design and content. However, I ve decided to seek outside help for some of the more technical things listed above.

In addition to cooperative play, localisation for other, non-English speaking countries is on the cards. In the more immediate future is version 1.1, which will roll out a bunch of new gameplay additions and changes, such as:

Have you played Stardew Valley yet? At least a million other people have, and according to our reviewer it s definitely worth your time.

Leaving and receiving gifts is one of the few genuinely nice things you can do in Dark Souls 3. After all, if you ve got 99+ Embers in your inventory, why not drop a bunch for the pyromancer you ve just invaded? Better still, why not hand off that boss weapon you don t need anymore? It s a noble gesture for sure, but it looks like some hackers have been using the system to destroy save files.

In a statement by Bandai Namco at the weekend, the publisher warns that players receiving an invalid game data message upon booting the game might be the unsuspecting receivers of illicit goods. Basically, if a hacker has jacked the damage up on a weapon and then attempted to hand it to another player, the recipient will receive the message until they ve removed the offending save data.

This message is intended to inform end users that some external file, modification of game save data, exploit or cheat/hack, or alterations to the game have been detected by the Dark Souls III server team and that the end users' account/profile has been flagged for further investigation, the statement reads.

As a result of these shenanigans, players are warned to remove the offending save data quickly if they receive the message. Meanwhile, all users are warned to regularly back-up their save data if they want to keep swapping goods with other players.

The warning message will continue to be displayed until the Dark Souls III server team has determined whether or not a violation of the End User License Agreement (EULA) occurred, the statement continues. At that point the account/profile will either have restrictions placed on it (to limit the online interactions during multiplayer sessions and a further penalty message of "You have been Penalized" issued) or the "Invalid Game Data" warning message removed.

It s an unfortunate situation, but with an online system as freeform as Dark Souls these problems are bound to emerge. If you ve not mustered the bravery to interact with other players in Lothric yet, here s a good argument for why you shouldn't.

LMAOBOX is a program designed to allow players to cheat at Team Fortress 2, for instance by adding automatic aiming or removing weapon recoil. Somehow until now at least it's managed to pass under the radar of Valve's VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) technology, but LMAOBOX has finally been detected, despite claims on the website that it was VAC-proof. And with the detection, comes a wave of VAC bans. It's not clear exactly how many people have been affected, but it includes nearly 170 professional players in the TF2 UGC league. Here's a full list of the competitive players affected, in a Google doc seemingly sent to the players themselves.

PCGamesN has a good write-up of proceedings, but a few more details have come to light since publication. While the developer of LMAOBOX apparently stated that they would now quit the project and make the source code public, a moderator of this Reddit thread reckons that post was made by someone else, and that the (fake) code provided was riddled with malware. Others have disputed claims that the bans are backdated to anyone who has used LMAOBOX in the previous two years, suggesting it has only hit players who have used it in the last two weeks instead.

Either way, this is surely good news for anyone who plays TF2 in the traditional, non-cheaty manner. (Ta, mxdwm.com)

This week on the Mod Roundup, Fallout 4 gets a dynamic depth of field mod that changes depending on what you're looking at, plus a nifty configuration tool that lets you pop a holotape into your Pip-Boy and change the settings while in-game. Speaking of visuals, Cities: Skylines gets a mod that lets you enable weather and even change the position of the sun in the sky. Meanwhile, Stardew Valley gets a mod that easily lets you determine which of your animals feel loved, and which need some attention.

Here are the most promising mods we've seen this week.

Dynavision, for Fallout 4

Nexus Mods link

This mod provides a convincing dynamic depth of field that changes depending on what you're looking at. There's a documentary-length video above you can watch above to see how it works, and in an extremely clever touch you can edit the mod settings while in-game by inserting a holotape in your Pip-Boy and fiddling with the settings. Cool.

 Ultimate Eyecandy, for Cities: Skylines

Steam Workshop link

This mod really lets you go to town on your city's visuals. Change the sun's position in the sky as well as its intensity, switch on rain, snow, and fog, swap to your favorite LUTs while in-game, and save your choices as a preset that you can instantly apply to your other cities.

Loved Labels, for Stardew Valley

Nexus Mods link

This mods provides a tooltip when you mouseover your farm's critters and creatures. At a glance, you'll be able to tell if they feel loved or need a bit more attention. It's not just a time-saver for you busy farmers, it's also customizable, letting you enter your own text for the labels.

Looking for more mods? Check out or lists of the best Stardew Valleys mods and the best mods for Fallout 4.

Man, this YouTuber Activision has hired to promote its newest Call of Duty has kind of gone off the rails, hasn't he? I don't want to tell him how to do his job, but promising to rip us from the history books , blot out our skies , and bury us in darkness seems like a risky tactic. He doesn't even end the video with the traditional please like and subscribe .

What's that you say? Oh, he's the villain in the next Call of Duty? That explains his villainy appearance and his incredibly boring speech, then. While this first teaser for the next COD almost certainly titled COD: Infinite Warfare stops short of screaming hey, this what the next Call of Duty is all about , we can glean one salient bit of information: Mr. Villain up there is the leader of something called the Settlement Defense Front.

Which settlement are they defending, and why are they so upfront about it? I cannot say. But I do know that Infinite Warfare/the next COD is also being teased in Black Ops 3's Nuketown map, via the surprise appearance, among other things, of a futuristic airship.

Reports from March have it that Infinite Warfare takes place in the far-future, in a full on sci-fi setting.

Warhammer. Warhammer never changes, as Wrong Perlman once said. But Dota 2 does, it changes loads, and its latest alteration is its support for Warhammer-themed items in the Steam Workshop. As that support was just announced yesterday, there are currently no Warhammer-themed items in the Dota 2 'shop, but I'm sure 3D modellers and texturisers are busy inventing them as I type this. Here's the Warhammer tag, looking all sad and empty.

An incentive to do so is the Call to Arms contest, which runs from now until the end of August, and will reward up to eight of the best entries with a coveted place in a new Warhammer-themed Dota treasure pack. They'll also get a load of Sega games, including Total War: Warhammer, along with all the other Total Wars. The rules are linked above if you fancy your chances, but the main one is that entries should abide by the "visual themes" of Games Workshop's series. Designers of big spiky shoulderpads and massive guns will be in their element, I reckon.