A new champ is possibly the more eye-catching midweek League of Legends [official site] news to catch up on but I’m far more interested in the overhaul Riot are giving to the game’s honour system. Or, because they’re a US-based company by and large, the honor system.

The overhaul is about making it easier for players to reward positive behaviour in teammates and attaching incentives to accumulating rewards for your own positive behaviour. Here’s the video which breaks down what’s happening and I’ll add my own thoughts just after! … [visit site to read more]

After being finally announced in March — confirming rumours that felt like they d been going on forever — StarCraft Remastered [official site] now has a release date: August 14th. The remastered version will contain all the original content from the main game and the Brood War expansion, gussied up in 4K. It s available for pre-purchase now.

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If you’re not entirely out of money by now thanks to Steam’s rather massive Summer Sale, or if today is the day that you’ve been paid, welcome! It’s time to take a look at the very best deals that the last week had to show us, so let’s get to it.

As usual, we ve got deals that ll work in the UK, deals that ll work in the US and some deals that will work in both the UK and US, as well as presumably many other places. Let s get started.

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In the time it took for me to attend an esports meeting Kayn, The Shadow Reaper, has made his Rift debut, joining the League of Legends [official site] champion roster and dragging his sentient scythe, Rhaast, with him.

Kayn’s whole deal revolves around whether he controls the weapon or the weapon controls him so there’s a Lord of the Rings vibe to the story. In terms of how the game gets played this manifests in a unique flexibility when it comes to Kayn’s role. As the reveal post notes: “Kayn’s the only champ in League who can change his class in the middle of a game.” … [visit site to read more]

Paradox Interactive have acquired Age of Wonders 3 [official site] developer Triumph Studios, the pair announced today. It doesn t look like the sale is ushering in too many changes, however. Triumph s current team will remain with the studio, and all projects in development will continue, but now they ll be published by Paradox. No fantasy-themed Europa Universalis for us quite yet.

… [visit site to read more]

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

In Sethian you find an alien computer and, as an archeologist of such things, you must decipher the language of its ancient users. It s a very clever piece of interactive fiction that I happily recommend despite a glaring central problem, which was summed up perfectly by a comment on my original review:

You’re essentially trying to talk about philosophy with a chatbot,” it said, “while possessing the linguistic ability of a toddler. … [visit site to read more]

We ve been teased for months by Robert Yang, creator of Radiator 2 and Cobra Club, with 3D models of high-grade urinals and promises of pee physics but now the game he s been working on is out. The Tearoom [itch.io page] is a historical public bathroom simulator about anxiety, police surveillance, and sucking off another dude’s gun . You might think that s a euphemism – and, I mean, it is – but also: no, it really is a gun. … [visit site to read more]

Big, slow, sweeping strategy games expose their rules in a way no other game does. Call of Duty doesn t have floating numbers above enemy heads, telling you their movement speed, for example. But in most 4X and grand strategy games, there is no attempt to hide exactly how everything works: the stats, their interactions, are all laid out and plain to see. Yet these games are utterly dependent on their ability to evoke a sense of place, scale, and history they have to be much more than just a fancy chessboard, they have to feel alive, or they re just not much fun. How can these games survive and thrive under such conflicting pressures? I spoke to three of the world s top strategy game designers, from Firaxis, Paradox and Amplitude, to find out. … [visit site to read more]

A new edition of Stronghold 2 [official site] is coming to Steam with some fresh textures, a nicer interface and, most importantly, fully restored multiplayer a feature that has been missing since GameSpy Arcade collapsed and died in 2013, rendering matchmaking impossible. The new edition will also be free for anyone who already owns the Stronghold Collection, say developers Firefly Studios in a video explaining all the small licks-of-paint and changes to the game. A video which you, my friend, can find dowwwwwn theerrrrrrre> … [visit site to read more]

World of Warcraft [official site] 7.3 represents a dramatic shift in the war against the Burning Legion. Taking place after the Tomb of Sargeras raid, the heroes of Azeroth are going to be taking a trip to the Legion s unpleasant homeworld of Argus, where they ll become the invaders. The patch is now available in the Public Test Realm.

… [visit site to read more]