It's clean, bright and open. There's colourful art on the walls, the lingering but not unpleasant scent of toast, a fish tank bubbling away at the front desk.

A mental health unit looks just like a run-down Travelodge. It's a quiet place for people to get respite from unfair, unstable, unsupported lives, somewhere to learn some sustainable coping strategies. I worked in this unique setting for quite a few years, and it was there that I learned how FIFA can build resilience.

I thought I already knew all about resilience. It had been drummed into me from an early age, from the magical resistance spell in Dungeons & Dragons to the resilience stat in World of Warcraft. It was intrinsic to card-battling and choose-your-own-adventures. Games had been teaching me about the need for a valid defense against the perils of the world, a magic suit of armour. I guess I hadn't been listening closely enough.

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EVE Online developer CCP Games has announced that work on its EVE-themed multiplayer shooter Project Nova will cease in its current form. Instead, CCP will now "take a step back and return to the drawing board".

Project Nova was first announced in 2016, as a spiritual successor to CCP's long-defunct PlayStation 3 free-to-play shooter Dust 514. News on the game, which was being co-developed by Sumo Digital, remained sparse until earlier this year.

In October, CCP finally shared some solid information on Project Nova, revealing that the sci-fi shooter would combine "tactical co-op PvE and explosive PvP modes, with a strong emphasis on mastery and strategy". It also unveiled a new teaser trailer, released first gameplay footage, and opened registration for an invite-only alpha to be held in November.

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Monster Hunter World is getting in the festive spirit with its first ever Winter Star event. It's accessible now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, and introduces new quests, new outfits, new Guild Card customisations, and more.

The focal point of Monster Hunter World's Winter Star Fest is Astera's Gathering Hub - otherwise known as the Celestial Pursuit - which is currently festooned in seasonal trimmings. It will remain so until the event ends at 11:59pm on December 17th on all platforms.

During the event, players will be able to collect Winter Star Tickets which can be used to craft the Orion α outfit - a high-level armour set for female hunters - alongside the standard Orion series, a low-level armour set for male hunters. Winter Star Tickets are also required to craft the Snow Set, which transforms your trusty Palico pal into an adorable snowman.

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Bethesda has banned a group of Fallout 76 players for life after a shocking in-game homophobic attack.

The following contains language some may find offensive.

The move relates to an incident in which a group of Fallout 76 players targeted and harassed another group of players, saying over the proximity chat: "we have come to eliminate all gays."

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Today's Amazon Deal of the Day is a particularly good one - an 8TB Seagate external hard drive has been reduced from 180 to only 120. At that price, you're paying just one-and-a-half pence per gigabyte (!) for one of the highest capacity external drives on the market.

With that much storage, you'll basically never have to uninstall a game ever again, making it perfect for use with an Xbox One, PlayStation 4 or PC. You're also likely to have plenty of room left over to back up your photos, videos and other media, or to transfer files from one PC to another. The drive connects via USB 3.0, so it works with basically any kind of computer or games console with a USB port right out of the box - laptops, desktops, Macs, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles will all be basically plug and play.

Of course, this isn't the fastest storage available - it's a 5400RPM spinning disk hard drive connected via USB 3.0 rather than an NVMe SSD or anything like that - but for game and media storage, it's fast enough. (If you'd prefer an SSD though, you can see our top gaming SSD recommendations here.)

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EA has announced that the closed alpha for BioWare's upcoming multiplayer space shooter Anthem will begin on December 8th for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

While EA says the closed beta event - which runs from December 8th to December 9th - is an opportunity for players to experience the game, it also warns that BioWare will be "adjusting things like matchmaking and server load on the fly". As such, the event is "more limited than what we want to share in the pre-launch demos".

Given the Anthem Closed Alpha's limited nature, players that want to join in will need to sign up to EA's Community Playtest programme by December 3rd. Access will be available on all platforms - PC, Xbox One, and PS4 - but participants can only register to play on one device.

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UPDATE 18TH DECEMBER: The release date for Episode 2 has been revealed: 24th January 2019.

Accompanying the date announcement is an all-new live-action "visualisation of a pivotal moment" starring Gonzalo Martin, who voices protagonist Sean Diaz.

ORIGINAL STORY 29TH NOVEMBER: Developer Dontnod has revealed that Life is Strange 2's long-awaited second episode will launch in January 2019.

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Microsoft has announced three new games coming to Xbox Game Pass.

The Gardens Between hits Microsoft's Netflix-style video game subscription service on 29th November - that's today!

It's a puzzle game developed by Australian studio The Voxel Agents, and launched in September 2018 for PC, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.

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Surprise! There's a new title by Facepunch in the pipeline - and this one looks very different to Rust and Garry's Mod.

Breaking from sandbox and survival games, Facepunch is now venturing into the world of strategy games with Clatter: a cartoony "arena tactics game" featuring bouncing robots and cubes with moustaches. Players can command "customisable squads of fighting robots" in either multiplayer or solo matches, although the game has apparently been designed with the latter in mind. The robots each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and with names like "Grabbers", "Flippers" and "Mortars", it's pretty easy to guess what they do.

According to the press release, there are two main match modes - deathmatch and control - which can be played on an "ever-changing roster of maps". There's also a career mode which requires players to build their team across a season's worth of matches. Like if you combined Football Manager with Wall-E.

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