Cliff Bleszinski, aka Cliffy B, aka The Cliff Man, aka The Blesmeister, is unveiling Project Bluestreak tomorrow. The free-to-play shooter has been in development for a while now, and a pre-alpha teaser released in March has, for a long time, been our only glimpse of the title.

That's changed now, but not dramatically: Boss Key has released footage very similar (basically identical) to the pre-alpha teaser, with one subtle difference. Can you see it?

Here's the original:

And here's the new one:

What's the difference? Well, skip to 0:32 in each video and take note of the skybox in the background. You'll notice that there's a tonne of debris floating upwards. It's not a very interesting change in and of itself, but it may have something to do with "The Shattering" an oft-referenced phenomenon on the game's teaser website.

Whatever the case, it seems to indicate that something apocalyptic has happened. We'll find out for sure tomorrow, I bet.

Windows 10 s release marked the return of the Start Menu, and what a glorious return it was. Desktop users could say goodbye to the confusing parallel of the Start Screen and the desktop and finally navigate programs and folders with an interface built for the mouse. Windows 10 s Start is a big improvement over Windows 8 s, for sure, but if you love the Start Menu of old, you may still have some quibbles with this new implementation.

I ve got two complaints, myself. One: the block of color behind each application icon is garish, and stands out next to an otherwise elegant design. Two: the only way to pin applications to the Start Menu is to pin them as tiles, unlike in Windows 7, where the left side menu was split between recently used and pinned programs. I think Live Tiles are a cool way to display information like news headlines or the weather, and I like the big tiles for pinning games with attractive thumbnails. But other programs like Notepad and the Calculator I d much rather have as entries on a list, not large tiles (or very small tiles that I have to hunt for in a sea of blocks).

With those criticisms in mind, I tried out two customization tools for the Windows 10 Start Menu, Classic Shell and Start10, to bring back the Windows 7 Start functionality. Unfortunately, neither tool could mix Live Tiles with the pinning format of old, but they do offer more choice in appearance and organization than you get with the default Start Menu. Here s how to customize Windows with both of them.

Start10

Download here | Price: $5 (30 day free trial)

Stardock has been offering Start Menu customization software for years and years, and you may have used its Start8 software to bring back the menu in Windows 8. Start10 will look plenty familiar, if you did: it s a straightforward piece of software that lets you choose between the Windows 7 style menu, Modern menu, and Windows 10 menu. Here s what each menu option looks like:

Windows 7 style menu

Yep, this sure looks like Windows 7. The All Programs menu opens the same way you remember, taking up the left menu column. The links on the right column to Documents, Music, etc. can be customized as usual.

There are also a couple more options. You can choose to make the menu transparent (default) or not, and give it curved edges to match Windows 7 s style or leave them sharp and square to match Windows 10 s.

Modern menu

The Windows 8-styled Modern menu is functionally very similar to the Windows 7 Start menu. The main difference here is aesthetic: the entire menu uses a unified color scheme. There are also options with both the Windows 7 and Modern menus to use large or small icons.

An advanced option allows you to use extra large icons in a grid, if you prefer, but at that point, you may as well stick with Windows 10 s tiles.

Since the entire Modern menu is colored, it s ideally suited to customization, either the color of your choice or a texture. Textures are a good way to make your Start menu garish (or more subtly patterned, depending on your choice).

Windows 10 menu

It s the Windows 10 Start menu, all right.

No matter which theme you choose, Start10 allows you to customize the menu icon and color scheme. You can also choose some shortcuts options, like what key combination you press to open the unmodified Windows 10 menu. It s nice to be able to reach that menu with a simple Alt+Click, either for the sake of comparison or to access something potentially hidden by the customized Start10 menu.

My favorite feature of Start10, though, is that it allows you to retain Cortana s search even with a classic Windows 7 or Modern style menu. Cortana won t work if you customize the menu theme, but pairing Cortana with those classic menu form-factors is still a nice bonus. If you do go for a theme, you ll still have search, just without Cortana s extra functionality. And if you prefer that more basic file search, Start10 can give it to you.

Start10 comes with a free month-long trial, so you can easily install it and spend a few days tinkering with the menus to decide which you like the most. Buying Start10 costs $5, which I d say is worth the price for the degree of customization and retaining Cortana. But if you want to go the free route, ClassicShell is a strong alternative.

ClassicShell

Download here | Price: Free

ClassicShell has been around for a long time, and like Start10, it was recently updated to support the latest version of Windows. Unlike Start10, ClassicShell lets you roll back the menu to an even older iteration, Windows 2000-style. After you install ClassicShell, clicking on the Start Menu for the first time will bring up its configuration screen.

Classic Start menu

If you want a lean Start menu with jumplist sub menus when you highlight folders, this is your jam. I think later menus offer more practical usability, but it s a nice throwback.

Classic 2 Column Start menu

The two column menu jumps up to the XP era, and is more usable, though it still has the jumplist programs sub menu.

Windows 7 Start menu

This is probably the one you want; a Windows 7 style menu that fits into the Windows 10 aesthetic. There are a number of skin options in ClassicShell, so the Windows 7 menu can follow the Modern UI style or adopt the Aero glass of Win7.

With any ClassicShell Start menu, color follows your Windows settings, which you can change by right-clicking the desktop and opening the settings menu.

In both Start10 and ClassicShell, you can of course choose which menus are displayed in the right-hand column and futz with transparency vs. opacity (access those on the Customize tab). ClassicShell s Basic settings tab houses the important settings for how to access the default Windows menu.

While I think Start10 looks a bit nicer out of the box, ClassicShell gives you more skinning potential. Check out the ClassicShell forums for some skins that the community is creating, though Windows 10 s recent release means there aren t a ton just yet.

Wrapping up: a few more tips

Unfortunately, there s no Start menu alternative that retains live tiles while modifying the left side of the menu. Perhaps that s not possible, based on the way Windows pinning functionality works, but I m hopeful a future mod will give us even more control over the Start menu. For now, either Start10 or ClassicShell can give you a more traditional layout. I m going to continue using Start10 s Modern layout and the default Windows 10 menu to see which I find most useful long-term.

Even if you stick with the Windows 10 menu, there s a thing or two you might not know about it. First, right-clicking on Start brings up a small menu of power tools that you ve probably typed into the search box a hundred times: device manager, disk management, network connections, control panel... pretty much every system tool you need is available right here. Make use of it!

Second, you can change which folders appear on the Windows 10 Start menu by right-clicking on the desktop and opening the settings menu, then moving to the Personalization tab. On that tab, click Choose which folders appear on Start and select from the big old list that includes Settings, Documents, Music, Network, etc.

Finally, you can pin items from the Settings menu to the Start menu simply by right-clicking on them and choosing Pin to Start. Want to pin Windows update because you regularly check for updates, or the Personalization menu because you love changing colors and wallpapers on a whim? Pin em! Thanks to Lifehacker for those last two tips.

That s as deep as I ve gone with my own Start menu customization, but if you want to go even further, check out How To Geek s guide to organizing shortcuts on the apps list.

YouTube Gaming, the video service's answer to Twitch, will launch August 26 in North America and Europe, and August 27 in Australia. In addition to this newly launched landing page (which boasts a nifty interactive logo), YouTube Gaming will also have iOS and Android applications. 

The service will allow 60fps streaming, and the ability to easily convert streams into archived YouTube videos. Over 25,000 games will have their own dedicated pages at launch, and the search functionality will prize game-related results (Google claims "when you search 'call', you'll end up with Call of Duty, not Call Me Maybe".)

There's not much else to report at this stage, though we'll be keeping an eye on how the launch pans out. So will Twitch, of course: the company released their own statement today, promising important developments in the near future.

"We have a very ambitious and long-term product roadmap," the statement read, "some of which will be revealed in the coming weeks and months, particularly at TwitchCon, where we ll have the chance to catch up in person with some of our most prolific partners, and their legions of fans."

Twitch currently has 1.5 million broadcasters and 100 million viewers a month.

The 16-bit-styled action-RPG Hyper Light Drifter is a poster child for Kickstarter success. It went live in September 2013 with a $27,000 goal, and finished in October 2013 having raised $645,000. That's a lot of stretch goals covered, and therefore a ton of extra work, but developer Heart Machine is zeroing in on actually getting the game out. According to a new Kickstarter update the game now has a "release window" of spring 2016. And there's a new trailer too, in case mere words are not sufficient to sate you.

"Release dates are a sensitive subject, and our attitude has been to take the time we need to do this right. Though we have hinted at estimated dates before, we are thrilled to finally come to you in certainty with our official release window!" the update states. "The first release will come to Windows and Mac, followed as quickly as possible by consoles. A very significant labor of optimization and platform requirements go into bringing a game to consoles. We have already begun juggling that process in tandem with the completion of the core game, but have decided to not withhold the PC version while we wait for the console versions to pass certification."

The development process has taken this long simply because Hyper Light Drifter is a big game being made by a small team. It was expected to be out this year, but the studio has decided not to rush the process. "We've been working full-blast for almost two years, and the team as a whole needs to continue to steadily pace ourselves, instead of crunching," the update says. "Pushing any harder would burn us out, leading to a negative outcome."

Tim got some hands-on time with Hyper Light Drifter in March, as did Andy in October 2014, and they both seemed rather impressed with what they saw. More information about Hyper Light Drifter, and a link to preorder, are up now over at heart-machine.com.

The first part of the Pillars of Eternity: The White March expansion went live today, and of course that means it's time for a proper launch trailer. Just as interesting, though, are the many changes made to the game by the 2.0 update, which Obsidian detailed on Steam.

The expansion adds a number of new areas to explore, "largely focused on the snowy environments inspired by Icewind Dale," with a new quest hub, quests and dungeons. The level cap has been increased, allowing your party members to climb to level 14 (the previous limit was level 12), and they may also now wield Soulbound weapons that grow more powerful over time and take on different characteristics depending on the class they're bound to. There are also two new companions who can join your party, a rogue and a monk, who can travel with you back to the base game once the White March fun is over.

On the more under-the-hood side of the coin, multi-class talents are now available, and Pillars now supports party AI and enhanced enemy AI. It will also now be possible to re-spec party members at any inn or tavern. "It gives flexibility for the player to experiment with the RPG systems and try out builds with the newly added multi-class talents," Obsidian said. "If you aren't completely satisfied with your character, you can now do a rebuild and start over fresh."

I'm excited about the release of update because it means I can finally get on with playing Pillars of Eternity: The expansion was announced just a day or two after I installed the game, and with so many improvements promised in 2.0, I didn't see much point in sinking my time into 1-point-anything. Pillars of Eternity: The White March Part One is available now on Steam and GOG.

Yacht Club Games has just put out a new trailer showing off the playable Plague Knight character for their successful retro platformer Shovel Knight. In the update, which is free, you ll not only get to play as the Plague Knight, but also experience a new story, mechanics, and remixed game content.

According to the developer: You play as Plague Knight, the villainous master of alchemy, in a quest all his own. Using his maniacal scientific mind, Plague Knight is seeking to concoct Serum Supernus, the Ultimate Potion. However, to retrieve these ingredients, he must extract them from his former allies… the villainous knights of the Order of No Quarter!"

The update will no doubt be welcomed by speedrunners, giving them a new character to route through Shovel Knight s challenging world. There s no release date yet, but Yacht Club Games says you can:  expect it very, very soon.

Ubisoft has announced that the second Might & Magic Heroes VII closed beta will run from August 26 to September 2, with no level cap and unlimited access to players who get in.

The Haven and Academy factions will be joined by the Sylvan and Dungeon factions in the second beta, which will also see the addition of two new Skirmish maps, Fire & Blood and Irresponsible War. Access to the closed beta can be had by preordering the game, and Ubisoft will also be doing occasional beta key giveaways online. Uplay account holders can sign up for the waiting list and hope for the best.

We—which is to say, Richard—went hands-on with Might & Magic Heroes VII back in March, and came away from the experience with a certain amount of ambivalence. "It can be difficult to spot the difference between a game that s found its groove and one that s a bit stuck in its rut," he wrote. "It s too early to say which side Might & Magic Heroes VII falls, but it s certainly a very, very familiar looking sequel."

Nice trailer, though. Might & Magic Heroes VII is scheduled to come out on September 29.

Five Nights at Freddy's creator Scott Cawthon says the new FNAF 4 content release on Halloween will be an update, not DLC, that will add a cheat menu, a challenge menu, and "a twist on a familiar minigame that provides a boost when playing challenge modes." One thing it will not do, however, is open the box.

Cawthon said on Steam that he was amazed at how quickly players figured out the lore and story of the original Five Nights at Freddy's, and then again in the second. "Then part 3 came out, and once again the story was uncovered by the community," he wrote. "It seemed that there was nothing I could hide!"

With part four, however, you guys have apparently dropped the ball. The aforementioned box, as explained by Design & Trend, was discovered at the end of the seventh night in Five Nights 4, but nobody has been able to figure out how to open it.

"No one, not a single person, found the pieces. The story remains completely hidden. I guess most people assumed that I filled the game with random easter eggs this time. I didn't," he continued. "What's in the box? It's the pieces put together. But the bigger question is—would the community accept it that way? The fact that the pieces have remained elusive this time strikes me as incredible, and special, a fitting conclusion in some ways, and because of that, I've decided that maybe some things are best left forgotten, forever."

His message has so far attracted 55 pages of responses, and not all of them are especially appreciative of Cawthon's creative approach. Many are demanding that he reveal the secret, and at least one user said he wishes he could get a refund on all the Five Nights games he's purchased. Of course, it's possible that Cawthon is just messing with people, or it could tie in with his plans for a new game—not Five Nights 5—that he plans to show off this Halloween. But if he's sincere, and committed to his vision, then that's that: Either you figure it out, or it stays unfigured.

Thanks, Kotaku.

As part of its ongoing, and frankly Sisyphean, efforts to combat toxic behavior in League of Legends, Riot Games offered a "mystery gift" to players who managed to get through 2014 without being a jerk to other people. It will do the same thing this year, but as Riot's Jeffrey Lin explained on Ask.fm, there are going to be some changes to its policies.

"We always want to encourage reform, and celebrate players that successfully reform by the end of the season. So, players that got a Chat or Ranked Restriction during the season, but manage to reform and DO NOT HAVE active Chat or Ranked Restrictions by the season end cutoff will still get their Ranked Rewards," Lin wrote. "Players that still have active Chat or Ranked Restrictions by the season end cutoff will not be eligible."

Players who have received a few Low Priority Queues will also be eligible for Ranked Rewards, because Riot doesn't want to punish anyone who may have simply had problems with their ISP or hardware. "Extremely chronic leavers" will not be eligible for the rewards, however, nor will anyone who's received an escalated (seven or 14-day) ban at any point during the 2015 season.

"Players that have received these types of bans have shown some of the most egregious behaviors in the game, and we have a zero tolerance policy against things like racism, sexism, homophobia and other kinds of hate speech," Lin wrote. "These players WILL be eligible for Ranked Rewards in future seasons if they reform and are not flagged for excessive behaviors in future seasons."

It's safe to assume that Riot will be true to its word: In March, it lifted a two-year-old permaban against Nicolaj 'Incarnati0n' Jensen, declaring that he "has continued to demonstrate behavior in game that is well above the normal standards of good behavior across all of his accounts since at least January 2014."

Thanks, GamePolitics.