Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Stardock and Oxide Games have announced Ashes Of The Singularity II - or Ashes Of The Singularity 2, as people who hate unnecessary extra keyboard presses may prefer - sequel to the sci-fi real-time strategy game Brendy called "gorgeous, but plain", adding "there's nothing here that hasn't been done before and done better". The new RTS aims to improve that verdict by introducing: humans. It's a bold strategy, Cotton, but perhaps it'll work out for them.

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League of Legends: Wild Rift executive producer David Xu has said Riot "can and will do better," after sharing an anniversary video to the game's account on Chinese social media site Weibo that very much looks to be AI slop.

However, Xu hasn't confirmed that the video did use AI in this sort-of-apology, instead claiming this was a "creator-made" video that'd found its way onto the League of Legends' spin-off's official channels.

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I'm not the first journalist to accuse Battlefield 6 of failing to read the room. The new Battlefield's single player story explores a near-future in which NATO has collapsed, a dastardly private military corporation has filled the power vacuum, and the USA's somehow-outgunned military must fight to reunite old allies under the Stars and Stripes. The campaign includes an invasion of New York, with street battles waged against the balaclava-huffing scoundrels of "Pax Armata" in the shadow of Brooklyn Bridge. Many valiant helicopters lay down their lives in the process, and the soul of Bob Dylan is flown from every flagpole.

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Update: A Valve spokesperson responded that "Steam has never allowed games with sexual depictions/images of real people". They pointed to item two in the rules and guidelines regarding what should be published on the platform outlined in its onboarding document as the reason Vile: Exhumed was taken down, specifying that this isn't a "new rule".

A spokesperson for DreadXP has reached out with the following response to Valve's statement: "Everything in the game is censored and implied, which is the opposite of ‘explicit’ as pointed out in the guidelines. The content of Vile: Exhumed falls within compliance of this rule referred to by Valve in their statement to RPS, which is why we called the ban as ‘unjust’."

Original story continues below:

Horror game Vile: Exhumed, which sees you delving into a 90s computer to uncover a man's obsession with an adult film actress, has launched as a free download after being "wrongly banned" from Steam over sexual content, according to developer Cara Cadaver of Final Girl Games.

Initially released via Itch.io (where that version remains live), the game was set to to debut on Steam on July 22, but had its page on Valve's platform pulled down. Cadaver and publisher DreadXP say "sexual content with depictions of real people" was the reasoning given for this by Valve, despit the game featuring "no uncensored nudity, no depictions of sex acts, and no pornography".

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If you're planning to hop into Battlefield 6's open beta later this week, you might have to do some digging around in your PC's settings in order to get in. EA have elected to make enabling secure boot on your hardware mandatory, as part of an effort to limit cheating.

It's not that surprising a move, given the publishers opted to make it a hard requirement for Battlefield 2042 earlier this year. EA's not alone either, with the likes of Riot having already done the same with fellow online shooter Valorant. You see, the real war isn't about nations, resources, or petty rulers' personal grievances - it's to ensure you don't get sniped by a Terminator with permanent x-ray vision or auto-aim.

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Got three (or maybe four) monitors and want to condense things into one, suitably massive canvas for your work or the best ultrawide games? We might just have the deal for you.

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Peak developers Aggro Crab have taken issue with an imitation of their game created in 100% non-problematic kiddy funhouse sim Roblox, saying that they'd prefer people pirate their creation than play its predatory WonkoVision double.

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Helldivers 2's warp pack sounded like great fun as soon as it was announced as part of last month's Control Group warbond, and it's warped its way into many players' hearts. This is thanks in part to some cool tricks and glitches you can use it to pull off, with the game's latest patch having seen Arrowhead opt to outlaw the cheekiest of these.

You see, for the uninitiated, each mission in the shooter kicks off with you descending onto a planet and therefore ends with you being extracted via shuttle back up to your ship. It's the circle of Helldiver life and it moves us all. Well aside from folks who'd taken to using a well-timed warp to escape their ride home as it took off.

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In an ideal reality, power banks for the Steam Deck would not exist, and we’d all be able to play our portable PCs uninterrupted from sunrise to sunset. World peace, I imagine, would follow shortly thereafter. For now, however, there are plenty of games that will cut a Steam Deck and/or Steam Deck OLED’s battery life to a couple of hours or less, so it’s worth getting them some help – especially for lengthy travels that would deny you the use of their own chargers.

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