Toxicity in games is no fun, and in this year of our lord 2020, there seems to be a growing trend of using artificial intelligence to find and deal with toxic players. I don’t just mean in text chat either; the companies Modulate and FaceIt have both created AI that can supposedly detect toxicity in voice chat from the way that someone says something.

Part of me that feels like this is a good idea. Having a way of quickly and easily getting rid of them is great. However, I’ve heard one too many stories about AI learning to be racist, so I do wonder if it’s the best sort of tech to put in video games.

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Rocket League

went free-to-play yesterday, which, naturally, caused loads of new players to hop into those funky little football cars for a few matches. The game’s new competitive season began, too, bringing in a load of returning players as well. Unfortunately, Rocket League’s servers did not like this. Not long after the game updated, the servers went down and players struggled to connect to its online features.

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Vrom vrom football’s gone free-to-play and that’s far from the only change in Rocket League today. The explosive car sports game has another season of its Rocket Pass, overhauled its Challenges system, and moved to the Epic Games Store.

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Rocket League

is almost, finally free. A little over 5 years after its debut, videogames’ favourite vehicular footy match is going free-to-play and moving to a new home on the Epic Games Store next Wednesday, September 23rd. It’s leaving Steam to do so, sadly – but if you pick up the keys within a month of its Epic debut, you’ll snag a free $10 to spend on Sweeney’s storefront.

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Ever since I squeezed my face into David Braben’s Rift hole (humblebrag), I’ve been a VR convert. I’ve moved house three times since then, and each time I’ve managed to tether up some sort of VR system, from the pokiest of rooms to my reasonably spacious home office. That last one is not a humblebrag, as I’m far too humble to do two in one paragraph. It’s just a brag.

I’ve been using VR for a long time, so I thought I’d ask myself what people might be worried about before committing to it themselves. What about those awkward tangibles, like wires, space, and PC power? Or troublesome intangibles, like what you look like when you watch a John Travolta movie in VR.

Here’s what I’ve learned in the past eight years.

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Hey, can you keep a secret? See, I still haven’t played Rocket League, and I’m a little worried it might be too late. Fortunately, developers Psyonix have just announced that they’re making their spectacular car footy game free-to-play later this year – but there’s a bit of a catch. Once it ditches that pricetag, Rocket League is leaving Steam’s parking lot, taking its acrobatic hatchbacks exclusively to the Epic Games Store.

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From an early age, humans know that if they want to be taken seriously, they must learn how to deliver a convincing car noise. Vrrrrummm, they might say. Or perhaps: brrrrrr-bp-brrr. These are the nascent efforts of the budding speed freak, and they must be respected. But once again the realm of videogames encroaches upon the germinal life of the human with pitiless velocity. Car games put a stop to make-believe noise, and introduce fully realised cars on a screen, ready for the racing, shiny bonnets and vrrrrummm noises included. Thus, the imagination dies, and these, the 10 best cars in PC games, are born. Beep beep.

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It’s a bit weird to hear Rocket League isn’t even five years old, given how timeless it is. Was it not created by caveman who punted balls around from the comfort of their foot-powered Flinstones cars but wanted a digital version to play on the days lava swept the pitch? No, apparently, it launched on July 7th, 2015. With the birthday approaching, developers Psyonix have announced plans for a big ol’ Fifth Anniversary event starting next week. Running for a fortnight, it’ll Limited Time Modes and new cosmetics to decorate your cars.

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Football. Tennis. Conkers. What do these historic, reputable sports have in common, I ask you. That’s correct, they are not extreme enough. Please, quiet now. I am here to do the talking. Yes, there are sports videogames, your FIFAs and your Mario Tennises. But they do not fulfill the desire within all of us for the extreme, the radical, the pushing of it to the max. I will now demonstrate, through force of listicle, the 9 most extreme sports in PC games, from bone-breaking snowboarders to motorcycle Wipeout. And you, in your turn, shall be thankful to this website for providing such diversion. Now, read.

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Psyonix have hit the breaks on Rocket League‘s upcoming World Championships. Scheduled to take place from April 24-26 in Dallas, Texas, growing concerns around the Covid-19 situation have convinced the developers to cancel the event, move the rest of Season 9’s championship games online and offer full refunds to anyone who’d pre-purchased a chance to see some world-class car footy.

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