I haven't been inside a real casino in years, but I remember enjoying the Wheel of Fortune slot machines. It was like any other three-reel machine, but if you got the special wheel symbol on the payline, you could then spin the big Wheel of Fortune on the top for a bonus prize. The machine would shout "Wheel! Of! Fortune!" and the big wheel would spin and anyone nearby would stop what they were doing to watch. A fun, satisfying, and extremely stupid way to give away your money.

As I was walking through GTA Online's new Diamond Casino yesterday, I noticed a couple of the virtual slot machines had Wheel of Fortune-style wheels built into them, too. I sat down at one called Fame or Shame to see if I could win the chance to spin the big-ass wheel. Next to me was an NPC playing a different slot, so as I sat there I watched her reels, too, to see which of us would hit three matching symbols on the payline first. Sort of like a race to pass the time.

I figured I'd win easily because I was spinning the reels much faster than she was—the casino NPCs tend to react, curse, complain, look around, and fiddle with their bets between each spin. Meanwhile I hit the button as soon as possible, so I was spinning my reels about three times for every one of hers.

But she hit three sevens on her payline pretty quickly. And soon I began to notice she wasn't the only one. The casino NPCs are hitting three sevens suspiciously often. All of them. They're winning hundreds of thousands of dollars every couple minutes. You know who isn't? Me. An important person.

I took a few laps around the casino, peeking over the gamblers' shoulders. Everywhere I went, I saw winners. And not just sevens on the payline! Below, I walk by five different gamblers and see lots of matching symbols on the payline. Three grapes. Three grapes. A miss. Three sevens. And three more sevens. At any given time, four out of five gamblers are hitting a damn jackpot. What gives?

This isn't random. I played slots for two solid hours last night because in addition to having no life I wanted to gather evidence. I'm not saying I never won anything—each slot has a symbol that pays off even if you only get one or two of them, but in all that time I hit three symbols exactly once. About an hour in I got three grapes. That was it! Three lousy goddamn grapes.

At the end of the night I was down 10 grand on a slot machine with a max bet of $25.

All the AI-controlled NPCs, though? In that same period of time they won hundreds of thousand of dollars. Over and over again I'd walk past a gambler or park my ass next to one of them and they'd come up all sevens. Where are my sevens?

Is it a conspiracy? Are these NPCs paid by the casino to sit there and win to convince idiots (me) that these are the loosest (and only) slots in town? Are they all part of a collective of cheaters who cracked these machines' algorithms and know how to hit the jackpot 25% of the time and won't tell me how they do it? Did one of my many, many deaths in GTA Online deliver me to hell, like in that Twilight Zone episode, but instead of me always winning, everyone else is always winning? (Note to the writer of that episode: that would be a much more punishing version of hell. Oh, wait, the writer of that episode died in 1967. Disregard.)

Lost in this frustrating slot machine conspiracy is the fact that I never got the chance to spin the Fame or Shame wheel and win a shirt or a watch or whatever prize it dispatches. You need to get three golden microphones on the payline to spin it, and I never got those. I also never got three sevens or three melons or three bells. Just those three measly grapes, once, in two hours.

Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em! I've been strolling around in a white suit, white shoes, a white scarf and a white top hat—decidedly un-NPC-like. This morning I buy myself a standard NPC outfit, and drive back in a dull brown car, obeying all the traffic rules like an obedient AI.

I buy a sensible 500 chips from the cashier—not the usual 50,000 some high-falutin' player character might. I stand around in a cluster of NPCs for a bit, blending in, then pretend to notice an interesting looking slot machine for the first time. 

"Fame or Shame? Say, that sounds like a lark! Maybe I will give it a try! Excuse me, fellow automatons, I'll be right back." I walk nonchalantly over, glancing at at NPC sitting nearby (of course she has just hit triple sevens) and give the reels a spin.

Huh. Triple cherries. Just like that. What took me two hours last night, I just accomplished in a single spin.

It ain't triple sevens—frankly, it's not even as good as triple grapes—and I still haven't gotten to spin the Fame or Shame Wheel. But it's an instant win for this fake NPC. Maybe I'm onto something.

Vermintide 2's first expansion, Winds of Magic, is set to unleash the stampeding beastmen into Fatshark's first-person mix of magic and melee. It's becoming a veritable menagerie. It's due out this month, so take a look at the first gameplay trailer above. 

Expect gors, ungors and, of course, minotaurs. The battlefield is going to smell atrocious. I didn't notice any in the trailer, but given the title of the DLC, I'd be surprised if we didn't have to fight any of the nasty beastmen shamans, too.

Winds of Magic doesn't just introduce this hirsute new set of enemies—the main course is really the new mode. Vermintide's levels have been transformed by the titular Winds, which also add a mutator, like regenerating health that also causes players to lose health when they hit an enemy. These level remixes will also feature different objectives, from simply killing loads of enemies to capturing objectives. 

You'll need to progress through a never-ending series of stages with your adventurer pals, with the difficulty increasing as you go. The difficulty will apparently keep scaling and goes beyond the highest difficulty in the game. Fatshark doesn't want players to ever reach a hard cap, instead it will just become too hard for them to finish. 

It's a shame the maps themselves aren't new, but remixes, mutators and beastmen will hopefully have almost the same impact. Winds of Magic doesn't have a specific release date yet, but it's due out this month. 

In Take-Two's latest earnings call, the publisher told investors that it had beaten expectations and was rolling in dough like a feral hog in mud, despite the absence of big game launches so far this year. 

GTA 5 continues to be a big earner, with GTA Online seeing a significant spike thanks to the casino update—that means more microtransaction cash for Take-Two. But it's not the only older game that continues to sell well. Borderlands 2, which launched seven years ago, a whole year before GTA 5, has also sprung back to life. 

To bridge the gap between Borderlands 2 and 3, Gearbox released the Commander Lilith DLC for free. Rather than being a throwaway piece of exposition, it's a solid adventure with some new villains, monsters and the return of the still uncomfortably ripped Vaughn. And it didn't just bring back old players—sales of Borderlands 2 are up 2 million since May 2019.

That's a big jump for a game that came out in 2012, even with the recent big discount. It's been pretty cheap for years. The Borderlands GOTY Edition also gave it a shot in the arm in April. This has resulted in Take-Two selling more than 6 million copies of Borderlands games, and more 4 million players have downloaded the Commander Lilith DLC. 

Last month, Take-Two studio Rockstar North was accused of receiving millions in UK tax relief while not paying UK corporation tax for nearly a decade, despite the huge profits Take-Two enjoys. Most of the profits generated by games like GTA 5, much of it designed by a British studio, are reported by the US side, while Take-Two's UK studios claim comparatively little, making them eligible for tax breaks. 

Cheers, GamesIndustry.biz

Most modded Stardew Valley farms are all about increasing acreage and maximizing efficiency, but modder Exblaster has gone a totally different route with this island getaway farm map. If you need something new while we wait for more information on the next Stardew Valley update, this laid-back ocean-side property may help you relax. Rather than a countryside locale perfect for planting corn, this beach farm is covered in cliffs on the north and dotted with palm trees. 

There are only a few places on the Hidden Spirit Cove map that look well-suited to rows of crops. But that's okay, because this island looks primed for relaxation. So you're better off planting some crops in your greenhouse rather than spending hours tilling the sand on the beach. 

But a cozy island isn't all that grandpa left you in this mod. "Attached to his will, you found a snippet saying his grave will bring you closer to his domain in the spirit world." Apparently interacting with your grandpa's shrine will teleport you to a hidden cove in another realm. Sunny and spooky.

This is Exblaster's second custom farm map on Nexus. You can also try out the Quiet Basin Farm which has a similar style-over-space approach. After over 200 hours playing Stardew Valley, I don't know that I need perfectly proportioned farm plots as much as a fresh new perspective on the valley. The quiet basin map even has an underground tunnel system for traversing the huge farm, as all of the streams and bridges breaking up the area can make getting around a chore. 

Exblaster is apparently on a roll, as they've posted a poll to vote on what the theme of their next custom farm map should be. Give it a vote and keep an eye out for more funky farms in the future. 

Why would anyone watch a video featuring Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas stars CJ and Big Smoke duking it out in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice? Well, I'm not sure many would. When I was sent the below video, featuring the above described scenario, I didn't think I'd bother watching it either. But then I did, and then I felt a great compulsion to share it, and so here we are.

It's not rare for mods to combine two or more highly incompatible things: just check out this Sekiro mod that replaces the playable character with Woody from Toy Story. Blending GTA and Sekiro isn't the weirdest thing you could do. But it's still an oddly hypnotic and disorientating video. I did, despite myself, watch the whole thing through. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The video above belongs to YouTuber horheristo, and it uses two mods created by modder DropOff. The mod for replacing the player-character with CJ is here, while the mod for turning Genichiro Ashina into Big Smoke is here. See? Now you can do it yourself.

Check out the video below:

Ooblets developers Rebecca Cordingley and Ben Wasser announced last week that their long-awaited farm life sim Ooblets will be an Epic Games Store exclusive at launch. The message, written by Wasser, was lighthearted and unapologetic: He said that threatening to pirate games because they don't appear on a particular storefront is the epitome of "immature, toxic gamers," and that while getting mad is "cathartic," people should remember that "this is all low-stakes video game stuff we’re dealing with here" and it's "nothing to get worked up about."

Unsurprisingly, some got very worked up in response. In an update posted to Cordingley's Patreon (via USgamer), the developers said that they seriously misjudged just how angry the response to their message would be.

"We've been getting thousands if not tens of thousands of hateful, threatening messages across every possible platform nonstop," they wrote. "It's especially hurtful since we've had such a positive, supportive relationship with our audience throughout development.

"I couldn't have guessed the scale of what it would feel like to be the target of an internet hate mob. I already had a lot of empathy for other targets of previous hate mobs, which is why we wanted to address that sort of thinking in our announcement, but I had no idea it was this bad."

Wasser said on August 3, for example, that someone had faked a screenshot of him saying that "gamers would be better off in gas chambers." The day after, a video claiming to show him posting the message, and then deleting it, began to make the rounds—not hard to fake, either.

Cordingley also addressed an "out of context" quote about Ooblets Patreon that was being presented as a dismissal of backer concerns, saying that it was part of a response to claims they were "scamming" Patreon supporters by the timing of the announcement, which was being inaccurately reported.

"We actually really love and appreciate the vast majority of our patreon backers and so far they've been super understanding," wrote Cordingley. "The majority of anger we've seen around patreon money is from people outside of our backer community." 

The Ooblets Patreon update also indicates that the bulk of the vitriol aimed at the developers comes from outside that community, which currently has just over 1,100 patrons.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney initially expressed playful glee over the forthright Ooblets statement, but the blowback grew so fierce over the weekend that Epic has now posted a much more serious "statement on misinformation and abuse," in which it expressed support for "the entire game community's right to speak freely and critically" about games and companies, including Epic and its store, while condemning the harassment directed at the Ooblets devs:

"The announcement of Ooblets highlighted a disturbing trend which is growing and undermining healthy public discourse," wrote Epic, "and that’s the coordinated and deliberate creation and promotion of false information, including fake screenshots, videos, and technical analysis, accompanied by harassment of partners, promotion of hateful themes, and intimidation of those with opposing views.

"Epic is working together with many game developers and other partners to build what we believe will be a healthier and more competitive multi-store world for the future. We remain fully committed, and we will steadfastly support our partners throughout these challenges. Many thanks to all of you that continue to promote and advocate for healthy, truthful discussion about the games business and stand up to all manners of abuse."

I've emailed the developers for more information and will update if I receive a reply.

343 Industries admits its July development update for the Master Chief Collection doesn't deliver much new information. But we do get a visual on ultrawide monitor resolutions, and better yet, a silly roundup of bugs that 343 says won't make it to launch day.

In the blog post, 343 shows pictures of the MCC running on ultrawide monitors as part of the customization options that it plans to bring to PC players. The above screenshot shows the game HUD centered on the screen while the second image in the post shows the HUD spread out to fill the corners of the screen. A centered HUD may look slightly less sleek but it sure is a lot less distance for your eyes to cover in a split second.

The blog post also has a section that shares videos of the best bugs found by the team during development. There are six in the blog post but I have to agree on the #1 pick by the developers: the worst checkpoint.

Few things are worse than pushing yourself to a checkpoint only to get stuck in an inescapable death loop. Fortunately, this is definitely a bug, not a feature. So we should be able to count on not getting stuck in this particular trap when we play.

The entire Master Chief Collection is expected to release by the end of 2019. Check out everything we know about it at that link.

"The story here is this guy cannot be stopped," said commentator Aris, as 23-year-old Arslan Ash mopped the floor with EVO 2018's Tekken 7 champion. Tekken 7 had an exciting grand final at this year's EVO fighting game tournament, but not because it ever really looked neck-and-neck. South Korean champion Knee, who won EVO last year and has been a powerhouse in the Tekken scene for years, never looked like he had the match under control.

Knee scrapped his way through a few rounds, but Arslan pressed on relentlessly, and then all of a sudden it was over: With a perfect sidestep and two quick jabs, Arslan was the new EVO champion. The excitement was in knowing just how hard it was for Arslan to get to that point.

Arslan Ash is undoubtedly, in 2019, the best competitive Tekken player in the world. Earlier this year he beat Knee and the rest of Tekken's finest at EVO Japan, ragged from two-and-a-half days of air travel across five flights. Arslan is from Pakistan, and has had trouble getting visas for countries like Japan and the US just to compete. Pakistan has a huge Tekken community, according to Arslan, but few of its players compete internationally, and his sudden dominance over the last year has taken the Tekken world by surprise.

Dominance really is the right word: Arslan stayed in the winners bracket through all his EVO 2019 matches, beating Knee in the semifinals and another Tekken favorite, Anakin, to make it to the grand final. And then he took down Knee again, without a bracket reset (meaning Knee, fighting from the loser's bracket, couldn't take enough rounds to force a second set, which often happens in nail-biter grand finals).

And it's not like EVO and EVO Japan were Arslan's only accomplishments. He won another tournament in Vegas the day before EVO, casually tweeting that it was a good warm up. Since winning EVO Japan in February he's been gaining attention, and the fighting game community has rallied behind him—a project called the EFight Pass helped Arslan get a visa to travel to the US.

"He is now the guy to watch out for," commentator Mark Julio said as Arslan celebrated his victory on the EVO stage. "But like many champions in the past, once the mark is on you, everyone's going to come after you. So Arslan Ash, I'm sure you were ready already, but everyone's going to be gunning for you."

In Tekken, at least, Arslan is the first winner of EVO Japan and EVO Vegas in the same year. Last year, Knee—who Arslan has now beat time and again—took EVO Japan and the Tekken World Tour championship. Arslan has an unprecedented shot at a triple crown, and while he fights for it he's lifting the rest of Pakistan's Tekken community up along with him.

If you're still upset about Snake not sneaking into Tekken 7, this wonderful mod might cheer you up and inspire you to fire up Metal Gear Solid 5 again. It gives Snake a banana. 

That's it. 

It's not a deadly banana. Just a fruit rich in potassium. In Snake's hands, however, even a banana can be a powerful tool. 

While the banana is not the kind that shoots bullets, it comes with its own accessory (a jacket), and its shape means it's easily mistaken by intimidated soldiers for a gun. It's also much healthier than the other things Snake brings with him on missions. Unless he tries to smoke it. 

If you add the tasty snack to your loadout, it will replace your water pistol.

Cyberpunk 2077 won't let you see everything in a single playthrough, with the choices you make killing off other paths you might have taken, and it looks like CD Projekt Red has other plans to get players to stick around for round two. Though only hinted at before, a New Game Plus mode has been confirmed. 

The confirmation came out of a preview with Polish magazine PSX Extreme (cheers, Reddit). While the preview covers a lot of the same ground as most of the previews since E3, this is the first time CD Projekt Red has mentioned that it's actually working on a New Game Plus mode. Unfortunately, it's not ready to share any other details. 

PSX Extreme's preview also touched on V's apartment, which will be a place you see see a lot, though you won't be able to do any interior decorating. Given the way the future is heading, it's highly unlikely that anyone in Cyberpunk 2077 owns their own home, so decorating is probably some fancy luxury. 

Elsewhere, the preview digs into the skill system, NPC relationships and what happens if you try to steal a car and get caught. And while it's not new information, my heart was broken once again at the news we won't be able to get a dog because most of the dogs are dead. If we can pal around with a hologram of Keanu, though, maybe we'll be able to befriend some holographic pooches.