New York ravaged by a pandemic isn’t quite the jaunty thought experiment it was when The Division launched in 2016. If you’re not too wracked with existential dread at the prospect, then there’s a free game in it for you. The Division is free for keeps on Uplay until September 8th if you log in with your Ubisoft account to claim it.

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Tis the season / use a brolly / tra la la la / la la la la.

Hello, it’s me, the list goblin, here in this festive first week of December to deliver a big black bin bag of presents to you. And by presents, I mean a single irrevocable inventory of the most disastrous and terrible winters in the videogames of recent history. Yes, there will be cannibalism. Yes, thousands will die of exposure. But from this great compendium of coldness will come knowledge, strength, and, okay, at least one adorable puppy. Here are the 9 harshest winters in videogames. Wrap up.

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Rural life is disgusting. All those shrubs and trees, how awful. You should pack your checkered pouch and head into the big smoke. The shining cities of videogameland are calling to you, and the team of the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, will be there to help you get settled in to your disgusting, overpriced flat no matter which giant urban maze you choose. Trust us, life is so much better in the city.

Ignore the rats. You’ll get used to them.

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Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 launches in March, but those confident enough to put money down on Ubisoft Massive’s MMO-lite shoot n’ looter get to play around in its post-apocalyptic Washington DC early. A beta weekend will be running from Thursday, February 7th to Monday, February 1th, it’ll be open to all pre-ordering players, but those merely curious in the game can sign up for a chance to get in free here. Below, a predictably patriotic and bombastic story trailer, and a breakdown of some of the PC version’s finer features.

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Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 won’t be launching on Steam, but Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft’s upcoming co-op shooter will launch on Epic’s increasingly popular games store, as announced here. Ever since Epic unveiled their store in early December, they’ve been racking up independent exclusives, but signing a multi-game agreement with Ubisoft feels like a big deal. The game will still be available direct from Ubisoft via Uplay, but the Steam store page has now vanished (a Google-cached copy here), with an Epic Store page taking its place. The game launches March 15th.

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Yakuza 0 and Tom Clancy’s The Division (which is rather good too) are the headlining games in the latest Humble Monthly. That makes it a very cheap way to get to know Yakuza hero Kazuma Kiryu – everyone should, unless you’re some kind of jerk in which case run>. Despite his occupation as a Professional Crimesman, he’s the nicest man alive, and will help you with all your problems, especially> if those problems can be punched. Get those two now for $12 (around 9.40), and after a month you’ll get a bundle of mystery games too. Trailers and some thoughts below.

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We’ve just passed the half-way point of 2018, so Ian Gatekeeper and all his fabulously wealthy chums over at Valve have revealed which hundred games have sold best on Steam over the past six months. It’s a list dominated by pre-2018 names, to be frank, a great many of which you’ll be expected, but there are a few surprises in there.

2018 releases Jurassic World Evolution, Far Cry 5 Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Warhammer: Vermintide II are wearing some spectacular money-hats, for example, while the relatively lesser-known likes of Raft, Eco and Deep Rock Galactic have made themselves heard above the din of triple-A marketing budgets. (more…)

Tom Clancy’s shooty MMO-lite The Division 2 has a lot of endgame planned for those who burn through its main story, Ubisoft announced at their E3 press conference. After completing the story, you’ll get to choose a prestige class with its own dedicated special weapon, as well as unlocking a new set of “specialisations”. You’ll probably need a few of these extra ranks under your belt to tackle the new 8-player raids, which (if the high-level stuff in the first game was any indication) will put most squads through the wringer. It also looks like it’ll have a more reasonable approach to expansions and updates for dedicated players, saying many episodic updates will be free.

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“Miss, Miss, it’s so sunny, can we have Steam Charts on the field?”

“NO. Sit down and write about popular PC games in this oppressively hot room until the DAY YOU DIE.” (more…)

Ubisoft today revealed The Division 2, continuing their near-future post-apocalyptic online open-world shooter-RPG series. This time, players will be fighting for survival–and to establish order–in Washington DC. Unlike the first game’s snowy New York City, this seems quite a pleasant place, aside from the virus and all the gangs and factions murdering each other. Here, watch the first lump of gameplay footage in a demonstration vid from Ubi below. And yes, you bet your botty it includes ha-ha-hilarious scripted banter between players. (more…)