The CEO of Terraria developers ReLogic says they're binning the planned Stadia release, after Google disabled his account without explanation and he's been unable to get it back. Andrew Spinks is sick of 'em, and publicly said "I will not be involved with a corporation that values their customers and partners so little." Goodness me.
This morning, CD Projekt Red revealed they've fallen victim to a cyber attack. Yesterday, they discovered an unknown hacker had gained "unauthorised access to [their] internal network", leaving a ransom note claiming they'd nabbed full copies of the source codes for Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3 and Gwent, as well as internal legal documents. At this time, CDPR don't believe any personal player data has been taken. They're still investigating the incident.
I’ve never really been one for pre-packaged emotes in games. There’s just some deep-seated arrogance in me, which always sneered at the idea of a piece of software boiling down all the vastly different ways I might react to a situation into five or six cutesy, pre-packaged sentiments, and letting me have no further say in the matter.
But then I met Hearthstone’s ‘Sweating Panda’ emote, and now everything has changed. Blizzard, it turns out, knew me better than I knew myself all along.
I've been on quite a Matrix kick as of late. Maybe it's the whole being confined to my dingy flat for months on end thing, but the idea of plugging my noggin into a new world feels quite appealing. I've watched the three movies, and even dipped into the Animatrix. Given just how influential The Matrix has been, it's surprising there haven't been more video game adaptations. It seems like a no-brainer for The Matrix to spin off into video games, but other than an online game and a Max-Payne homage called Enter the Matrix, there's not been much. But there was 2005's The Matrix: Path Of Neo.
This year's big live bowling match is over I gather, so Cyanide Studio are looking forward to their own sporting game Blood Bowl 3. In a new trailer for the orc and elf football game, the creators say that it will launch in August this year.
Lots of gaming conventions and events were cancelled last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, including E3. Unlike other events that ended up going online, the Entertainment Software Association announced the event was fully cancelled in 2020 and would return in 2021. E3's organisers have confirmed that they will be putting together an online E3 this year.
Forza Horizon 4 is busting out of the Microsoft Store and making its way to Steam. Playground Games have announced that their British racing festival will make its way to the new store in March with DLCs sold separately and cross-platform multiplayer.
In the 90s, the largest figure in video gaming on telly was the giant cyborg head of Sir Patrick Moore, the president of the British Astronomical Association and a Commander of the Most Excellent Order Of The British Empire. I swear this is not some twee British joke. The show was named GamesMaster, and now Channel 4 are looking at 'rebooting' it with a focus on celebrities battling to win that coveted Golden Joystick. But which celebrity baldie can fill the role of GamesMaster this time?
The folks of Failbetter Games announced the next story-based adventure in their Fallen London universe in December. They're now kicking off a Kickstarter campaign for Mask Of The Rose, a visual novel set in their gothic, underground London setting. It's to be part romance and part detective story following several characters as they navigate the newly underground and destroyed London.
It's been a little while since Epic Games announced a new store exclusive. Some of you may be happier with that than others, given their exclusivity deals have been a little bit cursed previously. However, they certainly aren't slowing down on those schloosies: rather, it seems Epic plans on releasing loads more in the not-so distant future. This weekend, they revealed they have more exclusives than ever arriving on the Epic Games Store over the next couple of years.