Another day, another No Man’s Sky [official site] update. Hello Games have had their noses to the space-grindstone ever since launch, with the recent Atlas Rises (1.30) update bringing enormous> changes to the procedurally generated space-sim sandbox. This Tuesday, they rolled out another update, and a slew of minor changes. Patch, 1.38, (full notes here) gives top billing to save system improvements, expanding the number of usable slots to five, each of which can have a separate difficulty setting assigned.

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Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day, perhaps for all time.>

No Man’s Sky has changed a great deal since the initial release, switching from a pure, lonely exploration experience to a game with base building, harder survival-based modes, rudimentary multiplayer and a lot more. I still prefer that original lonely exploration, though. (more…)

No Man’s Sky [official site] patch 1.37 has added a new (but toggle-able so therefore optional) ship control scheme for mouse and keyboard.

Hello Games say: “This option can be toggled, and changes ship controls to be cursor based, meaning you’ll be able to direct your ship easily using your mouse”. Pip says: “I just booted up the game and hopped in my ship, immediately becoming distracted by the new interface which is less ace piloting and more kind of like pulling a ball through the air using an elastic band?”

It might take some getting used to is what I’m saying. (more…)

Hello Games are in a deeply unenviable position. In the wake of No Man’s Sky‘s [official site] release with its waterfall of unkept promises, to me it seems the studio is trapped in the Sisyphean task of trying to tweak, patch, update and amend their game until it can meet the impossible imagined version created by the combined efforts of its developers and its players. Rather than compare this hugely embellished version of the game that greets players now with that of just over a year ago, the temptation is to compare it to the dream version we will never get.

But it’s crucial to push that aside, and accept that no, No Man’s Sky was never going to be this game of true universal exploration, of truly unique realistic planets with truly unique creatures existing in an intricate ecosystem, where we might stumble upon another player and interact, where we might see flocking dinosaurs hunted by predatory beasts as trees fall down in their wake… Instead, let’s look at what we do> have now, because it’s actually rather a lot. (more…)

You want to know which are the top ten selling games on Steam this week, but you also still> don’t know the capital city of Turkmenistan. What is a person to do? Well worry not, because here at Steam Charts HQ, we’ve got you covered! All the games that are in the top ten games in the Steam top ten games chart, and all the facts you need for that surprise government test!

Join us today as we laugh and> learn. (more…)

Toss another podcast episode upon the fire, stranger. The cold is closing in but the Electronic Wireless Show will keep us warm. Pip, Alice and Adam gather round the podfire this week to talk about the lies (Adam tells) at Gamescom, the icy reception to The Long Dark‘s story mode, the cleansing rain of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, and the deadly climates of No Man’s Sky.

We then turn to you, listeners, to discuss your favourite in-game weather. And somewhere in the middle there’s also a long discussion about karaoke, for some reason. (more…)

The Steam Charts is the only place on the internet to find out the most up-to-date information about the games you care about the most, the latest rumours of upcoming changes to early access hits, and secrets that can see your way to coming top of the gaming high score tables! (more…)

UPDATE: Atlas Rises is out now and is 4GB – so says the download my Steam account is currently doing!>

Did you know that I still play No Man’s Sky [official site]? I started a new save recently with the intention of building a base and following the storyline and possibly having a greenhouse and then ended up ignoring all of the above and instead pootling from planet to planet, chasing a sort of multi-headed cactus creature. Business as usual for Pip.

BUT I’ve been keeping an eye on the imminent update, mostly just to see what it brings and how my ongoing voyage might change. It sounds like Atlas Rises (which is what update 1.3 is called), in addition to ancient portals, terrain editing, 30 hours of new story content and so on, is also making baby steps towards synchronous co-op (i.e. a very basic form of multiplayer). (more…)

The Steam summer sale is in full blaze. For a while it even blazed so hot that the servers went on fire and all the price stickers peeled off the games. Either that or the store just got swamped with cheapskates looking for the best bargains. Cheapskates like you! Well, don t worry. We ve rounded up some recommendations – both general tips and some newly added staff choices.

Here are the things you should consider owning in your endless consumeristic lust for a happiness which always seems beyond reach. You’re welcome.

… [visit site to read more]

The Steam summer sale is in full blaze. For a while it even blazed so hot that the servers went on fire and all the price stickers peeled off the games. Either that or the store just got swamped with cheapskates looking for the best bargains. Cheapskates like you! Well, don t worry. We ve rounded up some recommendations – both general tips and some specific staff choices.

Here are the things you should consider owning in your endless consumeristic lust for a happiness which always seems beyond reach. You’re welcome.

… [visit site to read more]