If you’re into Arthurian myths, you might be interested in Pendragon. It’s an upcoming “narrative strategy game” about chatting and turn-based whacking from the creators of 80 Days and Heaven’s Vault. If you’re really> into Arthurian myths, you might want to take a stab at writing one.

Developers Inkle are after short, lightly-interactive campfire stories for their heroes to natter to each other. They’re paying £40 a pop for any that make it into the game.

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As you’ve likely noticed on Discord or Zoom by now, some of your pals live in frustratingly noisy situations. Or if you’ve not noticed, maybe you’re the one that everyone else cusses out for all the doors slamming, keyboards clacking, washing machines rumbling, neighbours clunking, and bass pumping around you. Friends, be calm: technology is here to help us. Over the past fortnight, Discord and Nvidia have separately rolled out handy new tech to reduce background noise picked up by your microphone. Nvidia’s is particularly impressive. Really, I didn’t believe demonstrations of that there ‘Nvidia RTX Voice’ were real at first. Come see.

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I frequent a Counter-Strike level design forum called Mapcore. There, a Dutch teenager who goes by “RD” (“RealDespair”) has long claimed to have been the original author of fy_iceworld. His now defunct portfolio site went on a lengthy rant about it:

“Yes, you read it right. I am the creator of this unholy monster. When i created this map i had absolutely no idea how popular it would become. It is sad that there are many txt files in rotation from kids that claim to have made this map, but you have now stumbled upon the true author…”

Was RD actually responsible for making one of the most influential and popular game maps of all time? I began a forensic investigation to verify its authorship, digging through the ancient detritus of dead Geocities pages, Angelfire websites, and Romanian file servers. I even datamined the fy_iceworld file for clues. I now know what “fy_” actually meant, and it wasn’t “fight yard.” Originally, it wasn’t even called fy_iceworld either! But let’s start from the beginning.

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The next time you come across a Radstag in Fallout 76, have a quick check of its name before you start pelting it with bullets. The Wastelanders update brought with it many new and wondrous things, and one of those was the Observant Radstag. These albino versions of Fallout’s radioactive deer are a bit different to their regular Radstag brothers and sisters – some say, if you save them, they’ll become your ally and help kill any enemies in your path. Others claim the animal took them to big stashes of loot in hollowed out trees.

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Your gaming mouse is probably one of the most personal bits of kit you’ll ever buy for your PC, so replacing your favourite and best gaming mouse when it finally bites the dust can be right old chore sometimes, especially if it’s an old model you can’t buy anymore. The good news is that there are loads of great gaming mice around today that will (hopefully) fill that mouse-shaped hole in your life, and to help you in your quest to find your new best gaming mouse, I’ve put together this list of my top recommendations that you can buy right now.

Every gaming mouse on my best gaming mouse list has been tried and tested right here at RPS, and you’ll find everything here from the best cheap gaming mouse and the best ambidextrous gaming mice right up to my top wireless gaming mouse picks as well. I’ve also got gaming mice for different hand sizes, too, as some of us prefer lightweight mice to great big chunkers. Whether you’re looking for, I guarantee there’s a best gaming mouse pick waiting for you below.

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I see you PC gamers looking longingly at your Nintendo Switch wishing it was a tiny, miniature gaming PC. I know I do, and that’s partly why I’m hopeful / excited / vaguely optimistic about Dell’s Alienware UFO doodad, which they unveiled earlier in the year. But while the UFO was just a ‘concept’ device, the mad folk over at GamePad Digital, or GPD, have actually gone and made a proper 8in handheld gaming laptop. Sure, the GPD Win Max looks like one of those jumbo Nokia Communicator phones from the mid-90s, but inside it packs one of Intel’s new 10th Gen Comet Lake CPUs, Intel’s Iris Plus graphics, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, an 8in display and the disembowelled remains of an Xbox 360 controller. It’s absolutely nutty, but I also kind of dig it.

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Impeded by the hurdle of starting to work from home, Ubisoft have announced a delay for Trackmania, their arcade racing game with a big focus on letting players build their own tracks. Previously due on May 5th, it’s now expected July 1st. Ubisoft say this new Trackmania is a remake of 2006’s Trackmania Nations, the one which focused on the stadium races – none of those squillions of other cars types and that. For now, you can see a bit in the first trailer.

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Like the better known Beat Saber, Pistol Whip is a virtual reality rhythm game, but here you’re firing bullets at silhouetted figures in time to the music. It’s Hotline Miami via Guitar Hero.

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If you need some more period piece stealth to tide you over until Desperados 3, stealth platformer Wildfire might just do it. As one of few magic users left in the world, you’ll use your abilities to burn, freeze, and grow the environment as you protect villagers and outwit the enemies hunting you down. It’ll be burning down the house on May 26th.

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Steam Labs is back with another experiment and this time Valve are attempting to solve discrepancies in human communication with computers. You know how Steam do. Humans can’t ever seem to agree on how to classify games. What exactly is a “soulslike”? How about a roguelike or a roguelike-like? Is Stardew Valley a simulation? Not really, but we call it one. Steam is teaching its computers some logic so that it can give you better results when you search by tags.

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