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A day after a screenshot leak spoiled the surprise, Electronic Arts has officially unveiled Need for Speed Unbound, a new addition to the long-running racing series coming in December that promises to blend "elements of the freshest street art with the most realistic looking cars in Need for Speed history."
I was a little iffy on Need for Speed Unbound's look when I first saw the leaked screens, but the trailer has me a lot closer to buying in. Keeping the cars as realistic as possible (at least visually) while surrounding them with highly-stylized characters and decidedly-unrealistic visuals is definitely an interesting approach to the genre: At the very least, it's a distinct break from the all-out hyper-realism that racing sims typically pursue.
The campaign, unfortunately, sounds a little less than innovative: "A robbery at a family auto-shop tears two friends apart and marks the rise from rookie to top racer on a journey to win the ultimate street race and reclaim the priceless car that was stolen." I mean, that's basically just a plot from one of the early Fast and Furious movies, right?
Multiplayer will also be a big part of Unbound, as players "connect with the online street racing community in underground meetups" and tear-'donkey' through the city of Lakeshore in an online freeroam mode. Naturally, there will be cops.
A$AP Rocky, who will feature prominently in the Need for Speed Unbound soundtrack—that's his new track in the trailer, called Shittin Me—will also be in the game as part of a brand-new event in which you'll have to "prove your skills... in style." Speaking of which, there will of course be all sorts of customization options up for grabs, for both your car and your driver, although there's no indication of how they'll be earned or what sort of monetization scheme (if any) Unbound will employ.
Need for Speed Unbound is set to launch on December 2 and will be available for PC on Steam, Epic, and Origin. For a closer look at what's in store, including some Lakeshore points of interest and a full list of in-game cars, head over to ea.com.
(Image credit: Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: Electronic Arts)(Image credit: Electronic Arts)(Image credit: Electronic Arts)(Image credit: Electronic Arts) -
Hello Zyr0Rick,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Zyr0Rick joined on the 10/06/2022.
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The Cyberpunk 2077 Sandevistan is one of the most enjoyable Cybernetic upgrades you can purchase in the futuristic hellhole of Night City. This nifty little operating system lets you slow down time so you can get one up on unwary foes. You may very well have noticed high-level enemies zipping around at super speed, making them a pain to shoot. That is effectively what the Sandevistan does.
It's an upgrade that's become pretty popular recently thanks to David Martinez from the Edgerunners anime using it as his primary piece of chrome. There are many different Sandevistans you can purchase in Night City, but here I'll lay out your top tier options, where you can get them, as well as the best mod choices for your fancy new tech. If you want to feel 100% the part, make sure to grab David's Edgerunners jacket, too.
Cyberpunk 2077 Sandevistan: The best choices
Image 1 of 3The QianT Mk.5 is available from the Downtown Ripperdoc (Image credit: CD Projekt Red)Image 2 of 3The Militech Mk. 5 is available from the Wellsprings Ripperdoc (Image credit: CD Projekt Red)Image 3 of 3The QianT Mk.4 is available from Fingers in Japantown (Image credit: CD Projekt Red)There are three really great Sandevistan operating systems that you can get in Cyberpunk 2077, and they each allow you to slow time while dealing increased damage to enemies. The trade-off between them is really damage vs. cooldown. The Militech "Falcon" Sandevistan Mk. 5 and the QianT "Warp Dancer" Sandevistan Mk.5 both massively increase crit chance and crit damage, but you can't use them all that often.
The QianT Mk.5 can only be active for eight seconds at a time, but boosts crit chance by 10% and crit damage by a massive 50%, making it the best option for attacking in bursts. The Militech Mk.5, on the other hand, has more general utility, buffing crit chance and crit damage by 20% and letting you stay in slow-mo for 18 seconds. However, it does have the longest cooldown at 60 seconds. Here's how to get each:
QianT "Warp Dancer" Sandevistan Mk.5
- Street Cred: 50
- Level: 18 Reflexes
- Location: Downtown Ripperdoc
- Cost: 35,000
Militech "Falcon" Sandevistan Mk. 5
- Street Cred: 49
- Level: 20 Reflexes
- Location: Wellsprings Ripperdoc
- Cost: 43,750
The best of both worlds for my money is the QianT Sandevistan Mk.4. This operating system lets you stay slowed for 12 seconds and boosts crit chance by 15%. But if you also attach mods such as the Neurotransmitters, you can add 15% crit damage to that, while Heatsinks will incrementally reduce its 15 second cooldown by up to four seconds, letting you use it far more often. Here's how to get it:
QianT Sandevistan Mk.4
- Street Cred: 27
- Level: 15 Reflexes
- Location: Fingers in Japantown
- Cost: 28,000
You can buy lower rarity Heatsinks from the Ripperdoc in the slum area of Kabuki if you have 14 Street Cred, but if you want Neurotransmitters you're going to have to craft them. You can get the crafting spec from the Ripperdoc in Downtown, while the spec for Heatsinks comes from the doc in Arroyo.
It's worth noting that if you want the full cooldown reduction from the Heatsinks, you'll have to craft the Legendary variant, which requires the Edgerunner Artisan skill in the Technical perk section.
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Russia's ambitions for 'digital sovereignty' had a sudden encounter with the real world this week, as the country's plans for a Russian "national game engine" went up in smoke just as soon as its parliament realised the project was going to cost a lot and earn little. It's not dead yet, though, Vedomosti reports that an unnamed private investor has stepped in to keep the project alive.
Minister for Digital Development Maksut Shadayev branded the saga of the Russian tech industry's plans for a homegrown alternative to Unreal Engine and Unity a "painful story". For good reason, too: Shadayev told the Duma—Russia's parliament—that the proposal for a Russian engine was "poorly monetised," and would cost far more than it would bring in. A bucket of cold water for a national ambition that once burnt very hot indeed.
Shadayev added that it would be "pointless" for the Duma to talk about grants for Russian developers who pledged to use a domestic engine. Seems reasonable, given the fact that the Russian national engine is purely hypothetical at this point and Shadayev himself just shot down its chance at state funding. But it does raise the question as to whether Russian developers have already been drawing up business plans based on securing 'patriotic' grants.
The Minister said that the scheme would have to rely on private finance if it wants to proceed, and someone seems to have listened to him. Sources tell Vedomosti that a private investor—thus far unnamed—has stepped in to fill the funding vacuum left by the Russian state. Of course, back in July, Russian media reported that the project would require "billions of rubles" to ever see fruition. One private investor—unless they're a particularly wealthy and spendthrift oligarch—may not be enough to see the project through, but it's probably enough for life support.
It's quite a surprise to see these plans run into a rough reception in Russia's parliament: they had the backing of big names in the Russian tech sector—like the country's state-linked Facebook-alternative VKontake—as well as the support of internet backbone Rostelecom. It seems that even heavy-hitters like those can't evade reality for too long, though. Although western sanctions have had a less severe impact than forecasts once suggested, Russia's economy is still in a very delicate position. It turns out no amount of backing can make throwing billions of rubles at a game engine during wartime look like a good idea.
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Dead Cells' latest in a long line of great updates is out now, and adds a boss rush mode that certainly lives up to the name. This presents the player with four stages to fight through which consist of:
- 3 bosses back-to-back
- 3 enhanced bosses back-to-back
- 5 bosses back-to-back
- 5 enhanced bosses back-to-back
Easy.
There's a new area in the Prisoner's Quarters, which shouldn't be difficult to find as it features a door with a big red boss head next to it. Through this are four more doors for the four stages above. The bosses within each stage will each be progressively tougher than the last, and the 'enhanced' part means "extra limbs, healing powers, buddies to help them kill you: all the good stuff!"
Between each stage you'll receive one of Dead Cell's regular upgrades, though in this mode they come with amulets and additional build choices. There's a transition between each fight also where there are shops, items, weapon upgrade/rerolls, mutation rerolls and health refills.
A new mode comes of course with new goodies, which unlock depending on the difficulty of what you've achieved. One of these is a new weapon, the Glyph of Peril, which has a seven-hit combo that crits after the third hit, but the full combo only unfolds if you've been damaged. There's also a new taunt that makes enemies go mad for you, and makes them take 75% more melee damage.
Other additions include a new mutation, eight new skins, and oddly enough a statue of yourself (!) that can be upgraded as your progress through boss rush stages. There are also all the usual balance tweaks, which can be read here: I did enjoy the tweak to the Money Shooter weapon. "Pay to Win: refund the shot's cost if it kills a target + innate super pierce. Can trigger multiple times if a shot kills several enemies."
Dead Cells is a model of how to support a successful indie game, and the pace of updates hasn't slowed yet. In fact, developer Motion Twin says 2023 is going to be "by far our biggest year" so, y'know, best get boss rushing.
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EventAutumn Has Come, Share the Harvest!
Event PeriodOct. 6, 2022 (Thu) after maintenance–Nov. 3, 2022 (Thu) before maintenance
Event DetailsAutumn Has Come, Share the Harvest!- NPC Sammy will appear at Austera, Marianople, and Diamond Shores during the event.
- The Order Machine will appear at Austera, Marianople, and Diamond Shores during the event period.
- You can get the daily quest "Grain Bundle Delivery" from Sammy.
- Accept the quest to automatically complete it and obtain the "Grain Order Receipt."
- Use the "Grain Order Receipt" on the "Order Machine" to obtain a "Grain Delivery Order."
- Use the "Grain Delivery Order" to accept the daily quest "Sharing the Harvest!" and interact with the "Stacked Grain" to pick up the "Grain Bundle."
- Deliver the Grain Bundle to the NPC at the destination to complete the daily delivery and obtain a "Grain Delivery Reward."
Event Quests- Grain Bundle Delivery
- About the Quest: Help Sammy complete his delivery.
- Quest Reward: Grain Order Receipt x1
- Sharing the Harvest!
- About the Quest: Deliver "Grain Bundle" to the destination.
- Quest Reward: Grain Delivery Reward x1
Event Achievements- It's Time to Harvest!
- Achievement Condition: Complete grain delivery x10
- Reward: "Title: Plentiful Harvester," "Icon: Light Footsteps"
- Achievement Condition: Complete grain delivery x20
- Reward: Manastorm Crystal x50
- Achievement Condition: Complete grain delivery x10
Event Rewards- Grain Delivery Reward
- Use 100 Labor to obtain the below items.
- Manastorm Crystal x5
- Fruit of Effort x1
- Greater ArchePass XP Boost x1
- Honorable Potion Crate: Rank 10 x1
- Bite-Sized Cake x2
- Not permanent.
- Use 100 Labor to obtain the below items.
Disclaimer- The event quest is available for level 55 or above.
- Daily Quests reset at CEST 23:00 (PDT 21:00).
- Sammy, Order Machine, and event items will disappear after the maintenance on Nov. 3, 2022.
- The Grain Delivery Reward will disappear after the maintenance on Nov. 10, 2022.
- If you put down the Trade Pack you get from the quest, it will immediately disappear. It will also disappear if you complete the quest, forfeit the quest, or upon death.
- If you lose the Trade Pack you got from the quest, you can get it again from the place where you obtained it.
- All event items cannot be restored.
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A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.
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Patch NotesContent Updates
- Increased the Gold attachment limit for Group Mails.
- Based on the feedback that the current Gold attachment limit of 3,000 Gold for Group Mails inconvenienced players in several ways, for instance, to send several mails when the funds distributed for Raids exceeded 3,000 Gold, we have increase this limit from 3,000 Gold to 6,000 Gold.
- Improved the duration of the "Memory Ember."
- Based on the players' feedback that the current 22 hours of duration of the "Memory Ember" is too short, we have newly added this item which can used for 3 days.
- It can be obtained by consuming 50 Labor through a "Memory Hearth." You can reobtain it through a Memory Hearth if it disappears after 3 days.
- The "Auto-Loot Powerstone: 30-Day Marvelous Mab only" obtained after the maintenance on October 6 will be "Bound on Pickup."
- In order to apply the trade type changes for the "Auto-Loot Powerstone: 30-Day Marvelous Mab only," listing items on the Auction House will be restricted for 48 hours before the maintenance on October 13.
- Added 2 new ArchePasses.
- Inheritor ArchePass Season 2: ArchePass available until the maintenance on December 29, 2022.
- Ill Tempered Baby Goblin: Advanced ArchePass that gives you the new Powerstone Pet "Ill Tempered Baku" as a premium ArchePass completion reward.
- Expired "Inheritor ArchePass Season 1" will no longer appear in the game.
- Added an October ArchePass to ArcheAge: Unchained.
Events- Fixed the awkward description of "(Event) Duun Silver Pass."
- Before: You can get the Duun Crate through Premium rewards.
- Now: The "ArchePass Upgrade Ticket" offers many premium perks!
- The "Autumn Has Come, Share the Harvest!" event has started.
Bug Fixes- Fixed the issue where having two or more players use the "Strength of the Faction" at the same time and fail would only consume the item.
- Fixed the issue where the neck of a male Firran or Warborn character looked awkward in certain situations when equipped with the Rabbit Queen Suit.
- Fixed the issue where some of the minimap info previously set was not saved when teleporting through a Worldgate.
- Fixed the issue where you would be trapped inside the residence when leveling up to Ancestral level while at a residence terrace.
- Fixed the issue where the purchased item names in the purchase pop-up were not displayed when purchasing items using Gilda Stars on Mirage Isle.
- Fixed the issue where the icons inside the map were abnormally displayed when viewing public farm/stablehand locations.
- Increased the Gold attachment limit for Group Mails.
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A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.
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Last night, I got to watch two of my great loves get smashed together: kitchen disasters and Tub Geralt. This unlikely combination was thanks to Nailed It, the best baking show on Netflix (and anywhere else; sorry Bake Off). For Halloween, it's doing baking challenges inspired by other Netflix shows, including The Witcher, which saw the inept contestants attempt to make a Geralt cake.
What they actually made was a series of nightmares that will haunt me forever.
(Image credit: Netflix)For the uninitiated, Nailed It's hook is that it doesn't invite talented bakers to participate; everyone sucks and every cake is a giant mess. I became obsessed over the pandemic, in great part thanks to host Nicole Byer, who approaches the role with unhinged glee. The whole thing is a delight.
As per usual, the contestants managed to simultaneously over and underbake their cakes—which takes real skill—on top of a host of other errors. For instance, they didn't bother trimming the wires used to create Geralt's frame, giving him unnatural, gangly limbs. He looks more like one of the monsters he normally slays. There were some interesting creative choices, too, like the addition of a giant rat, which you'd not normally want in your bath.
There's a lot of playful ribbing of these terrible bakers, but the lovely thing about the show is that Byer, along with judge and chocolatier Jacques Torres, always tries to find something nice to say about the cakes, even while she's choking on gritty and soggy sponge. "The more I stare at it," she said when faced with one of the Cronenberg Geralts, "the more I like it."
Image 1 of 3(Image credit: Netflix)Image 2 of 3(Image credit: Netflix)Image 3 of 3(Image credit: Netflix)With less than an hour to create what is a very elaborate cake, I think a lot of talented amateur bakers would have just as much trouble making it look good. It's pretty stressful! So, naturally, when Byer asked one of the contestants if they had fun making it, he responded with a deadpan "No, I did not." Luckily for him, the judges actually had some nice things to say about its taste, if not its appearance.
It's a great episode that I heartily recommend watching. In fact, just watch all of them and enjoy the schadenfreude.
In other Witcher news, a new Witcher trilogy is coming, a spin-off with both multiplayer and a singleplayer campaign is in the works, and everyone agrees with me that Dandelion should be the next Witcher protagonist and nobody is calling for my execution for suggesting it.
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Rimworld will shortly receive its third major expansion, called Biotech, and it's going all Crusader Kings on our 'donkey'. Biotech introduces three new features to the already pretty wonderful space colony simulator: controllable mechanoids, genetic modification, and good old human reproduction. Yep: time to make space babies.
Colonists (and for the adventurous, outsiders) can now become pregnant and give birth. How about this for a classic patch note: "Pregnancy can begin naturally, or via technological means, and can be controlled by a variety of methods."
Babies will make colonists happy, for the most part, but also mean a boatload of extra work. Players will have to build lovely safe nurseries for them, with plentiful food and constant care, or the babies will not be little bundles of joy. And they grow up fast, so soon need a classroom, and a lesson plan, and will begin tagging along with adults to learn about Rimworld's important skills.
Essentially, though, there's a moral choice. You don't have to give these babies a good life, rich in creative pursuits and emotionally rewarding. You might just want worker drones. "Every few years, you choose which traits and passions a child will develop," read the notes. "The better-raised a child is, with smarter education and more attention, the more choices you’ll have, and the better their chances are to become a happy and talented adult. Some colonies will sacrifice everything to give a child the best upbringing, while others will use growth vats to pump out cheap workers and soldiers."
The mechanoid side perhaps alleviates the need for such tactics, though is pretty dystopian itself. These mechs are semi-living machines that have been in Rimworld previously as an endgame challenge, but now players can control them with a specific brain implant, and essentially automate a bunch of jobs: manufacturing, caring for colonists, building and repair, farming, and fighting. The secret sauce with mechanoids of course is that, unlike your human colonists, they don't get angry or sad or depressed: they just do the work.
Bring on the mechanoid army! Oh wait. Mechanoids produce toxic wastepacks throughout their operation which, if not frozen, cause environmental pollution. Pollution poisons your colonists and animals, creates environmental smog, and triggers hibernating insects to wake (I'm guessing these insects are not nice). Players have various options for dealing with it, but go big on mechanoids and you'll basically also need a climate change policy.
(Image credit: Ludeon Studios)Family drama
"From the most classic novels of high culture to the bawdiest barroom tales, questions of family obligation, sacrifice, life and death, and relationships are central to our most compelling stories."
Tynan SylvesterAs if we weren't getting into the future hell of science fiction enough, Biotech also adds gene modding. You can now make your humans into xenohumans through modifications that "range from subtle personality traits and eye color to hulking furry bodies, glands for fire-breathing, rapid regeneration, and even immortality." Well, at least Sonic the Hedgehog fans will be happy.
The fun thing about all of this, and Rimworld as a whole, is that these new options don't just apply to you. The hostile worlds you build on will now have their own babies, mechanoids and xenohuman types, among which is apparently a "psychic-bonding concubine" faction.
Rimworld creator and developer Tynan Sylvester has written at some length about the design goals of the game more widely and what Biotech is looking to add. Rimworld is one of those games people describe as a 'story generator', because the fun is very much in that narrative of how your colony grows, adapts, deals with disaster, and ultimately how it ends. You can see why adding babies and the associated familial relationships into that dynamic makes sense.
"Family-linked drama is the bread and butter of stories across older media," says Sylvester. "From the most classic novels of high culture to the bawdiest barroom tales, questions of family obligation, sacrifice, life and death, and relationships are central to our most compelling stories. From 'No, I am your father,' to 'I will find you and I will kill you,' to 'You are the father,' family relationships are at the center of story. This is true in the western stories that RimWorld is inspired by as well.
"Extending that into RimWorld makes obvious sense and it’s something I’ve always been interested in. However, it took a long time to get here because these are such complex topics. Reproduction, birth, baby care and child raising all have a lot of fine details and rich content that I always knew would take substantial effort to get right. I wanted to make sure we had the development power to make the game generate these kinds of powerful family-oriented emotions without cutting corners or excessive jank."
The update is marked as 1.4 and is currently live on the unstable branch of the game (you can opt-in by right-clicking the game on Steam, selecting 'properties', then the unstable branch option in the 'Betas' tab), with the normal game remaining on 1.3 for a few weeks while the developers iron-out any bugs.
As well as Biotech there are some notable improvements: the devs have spent considerable time optimising the game's launch and load times, and now say it's "roughly 37% faster!" It adds paint and colour customisation so you can get your colony looking just right, it makes the previously weeny shelves "actually useful" for storage, new turret types, new starting possessions for colonists, increased sophistication of how corpses decompose… yep, it's that type of game.
Most impressive—and fair play for this—is the addition of a mod manager UI. Rimworld has an absolute boatload of mods, and this splits your mods into active and inactive lists, lets you save and load certain mod configurations, identifies outdated or disabled mods, and adds a mismatch window to alert players when they're missing something essential.
Biotech looks like the biggest and most impressive Rimworld expansion yet: and this is already a great game. There's so much in it, apparently, that the developers considered splitting it into two, but "decided to keep it all together as one extra-juicy expansion." You can play it now, or wait for the official release "within weeks."
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Hello spindex1,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
spindex1 joined on the 10/06/2022.
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More Bannerlord guides(Image credit: TaleWorlds)
Bannerlord cheats: Get rich and dominate battles
Bannerlord tips: Our full beginner's guide
Bannerlord mods: The best player-made additions
Bannerlord marriage: How to start a family
Bannerlord money: Get rich quick
Bannerlord factions: Which should you choose?
Bannerlord workshop: Make easy money
Bannerlord caravan: How best to tradeCompanions are unique characters you can hire in Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord and they can complete quests for you or help offset your own weaknesses. If you're an unstoppable warrior in battle but lack the skills necessary to manage boring administrative tasks—or even your army's finances—that's where hiring the right companion comes in. In this case, one with a high Steward skill can make all the difference. Though they're often expensive, a retinue of highly experienced companions is far more valuable than a band of regular soldiers.
But where do you find new companions to hire in Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord, and how can you tell whether their skills are a good match for you? Like everything in Taleworlds' complex medieval sim, it's complicated. That's why we created this guide, which breaks down how Bannerlord companions work, where to find them, and what you can use them for.
How Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord companions work
Companions are a lot like regular soldiers in your party, only they have an actual name, backstory, and a set of skills. Those skills make companions a valuable addition to your clan, since the bonuses from them are applied to your own army—if a companion is riding with you—or any party you assign that companion to lead. Like your character, companions also level up as they gain more experience. That's why it's important to recruit companions early in your campaign so they have a chance to grow alongside you.
Here's a quick overview of why companions are great:
- Their skills automatically apply benefits to your party.
- They can lead their own parties once your clan is big enough.
- You can assign companions and a few soldiers to complete most quests, letting you focus on other tasks.
- You can individually outfit them with armor and weapons, unlike regular soldiers.
There are a few things to keep in mind, however. Companions are expensive to hire and often have an increased wage, they take up a slot in your party, and you can only hire a limited number. They can also die if you have permadeath enabled.
Where to find
(Image credit: TaleWorlds Entertainment)Where to find companions in Bannerlord
The continent of Calradia is a big place, but you have some handy tools to help you track down companions for hire. Here's how to find what companions are available to hire and where they might be located:
- Press 'N' to open the Encyclopedia and select the Heroes panel.
- Scroll down to the Occupation panel and select Wanderer—that's the designated occupation for any recruitable companion.
- Clicking any of the displayed names will take you to that companion's page where you can see their skills and if you look in the far right corner, a timeline of where they've been. This is how you can track them down, but companions move about frequently, so if it'll take you a few days to reach a certain city, the companion might have moved on.
- Once you arrive in any major city, enter the tavern district. Any recruitable companions will be listed in the character panel at the top of the screen. Click their portrait to talk to them directly, where you can learn their backstory, their cost, and offer to have them join you. Or if you prefer, you can ask tavern keepers about possible companion candidates.
Using the process above, you can find any companion anywhere in Calradia—assuming they haven't already died, that is.
Which to choose
(Image credit: Taleworlds)The best Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord companions
Until Taleworlds adds hand-crafted companions that are the same across each campaign, there are no best companions we can recommend. Each one has a randomly assigned set of skills and is suited to different tasks, so it depends on what your needs are: A merchant and a warlord probably want two very different kinds of companions.
That said, a companion's surname helps indicate what their skills are. Meeting a character with the surname Breakskull, for example, means that character will have a personality that is daring (+1 to Valor) and cruel (-1 to Mercy) and will favor two-handed weapons.
Here are some roles you should look out for, as well as the surnames associated with them:
- Medics: The Scholar has the best Medicine skill though The Surgeon and The Healer are acceptable alternatives, with the latter having a better Scouting skill.
- Rogues: If you're after a great rogue with good combat skills, The Prince is a solid choice, but The Black makes a good second option.
- Warriors: Bloodaxe, The Golden, and Coalbiter are all top-tier warriors with different dispositions.
- Scouts: Of the Wastes has the best Scouting and a high Bow skill, making them a little more versatile than the second choice, Of the Hills.
- Stewards: The companion with the highest Steward skill is The Spicevendor, and they also happen to have the highest Trading skill too. The Swift is an acceptable alternative.
How to equip
(Image credit: Taleworlds)How to equip your companion
Bannerlord's user interface can be a little messy, but equipping your companions or leveling up their skills is pretty much the same process as it is for your main character. By pressing 'C' or 'I', you'll open either the character panel or inventory. This will display your main character, but near their name at the top of the screen you'll see arrows you can select to change which character you're looking at.
From there, you'll have access to your companion's character sheet or inventory, where you can apply talent points, select new perks, or equip armor and weapons.
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RGB lighting has been the bright beacon of the PC gaming gaming world—illuminating everything from our PCs, keyboards, mice, even headsets. It's easy to spot that gamer aesthetic from that bright and colourful aurora. But one of the issues with this is it can become a bit of a mess with a myriad of devices all pulsing along to their own hue.
A good desk lighting set up should ideally have a few strong focal points outside of the accessories to create a uniformed and light blanketed feeling. But good quality RGB lighting solutions can be pretty expensive, and it's hard to know how much you need.
One of the more well known brands out there is Nanoleaf, which has recently released its Smarter Essentials range of globes and lightstrips. These are staples of the RGB lighting world and are great flexible choices. Globes are around $20 USD and can go in lamps you already have making them much cheaper than standalone light accessories. While the strips are also fairly reasonable, currently going for $50 USD. But how much can these simple offerings really improve a PC gaming desk.
The answer is a surprising amount. I already talked about the great versatility of globes in general as a coloured light solution, and these Nanoleaf bulbs look like a great choice. They're really bright and vibrant and paired with a funky polygon design helps suit a gaming set up to a tee. Plus it being a normal lamp I can move it around pretty freely to change my look. For example, setting one up behind my PC gave me an instant backsplash of colour.
Bulb specs(Image credit: Future)Size: 2.4 in x 4.4 in | 6.1 cm x 11.1 cm
Max brightness: 1100 lumens
Colours: 2700 - 6500K
Connections: Bluetooth, Thread
Price: $20If I had a thread router I could even set it to mimic the colours of my screen through the Nanoleaf desktop app. I don't, but this would be a great way to create that immersive feeling of bringing the game screen all around you to paint your walls with light.
The desk lighting strip is equally much better than I expected when it comes to brightness and colour. It does have clear LED points shining through, so it looks best used when you can't see the strip directly. Under a desk it provides an excellent amount of under glow which gives an eerily cool feel to your workstation, and makes it much easier to see the old stains on your carpet.
Due to it being a strip, it's a bit harder to set up. This one has an adhesive to stick to surfaces which so far works great, but it's just tricky if you don't want to stick with straight lines. To go around the corners of my desk I've awkwardly bent the lightstrip. You can't see it from above so it looks fine, but it was tricky to do and I'm not sure how well I trust it. Joiners and accessories are available to make this easier, but it's worth keeping in mind if you're after a similar use case. Still, the 2M strip was more than enough to cover the front and parts of the sides of my desk, which gives a surprisingly complete look, especially in conjunction with a globe that can really set the scene.
Image 1 of 4(Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 4(Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 4(Image credit: Future)Image 4 of 4(Image credit: Future)There is also the option of a 1M extension for the strip if you want a bit more length. Adding this I found it went all the way around my desk nicely giving me a nice back glow onto the wall behind. Unfortunately my wall behind is curtains so it gets a little lost. I wouldn't say it's necessary as my desk was lit up fairly well with the single strip, but if you really want the all encompassing strips or have a large desk, it's pretty easy to achieve with one of these added on.
A second globe on the other hand is a bit more of a game changer. Having two of these lets me set them up and move them about easily, creating different focus points and looks on my desk. This is especially helpful for streaming setups. Or I can leave them behind to backlight my curtained wall better for that immersive monitor feel—but again that would require a bit extra with the Nanoleaf software which is probably my biggest bugbear.
Strip specs(Image credit: Future)Size: 80 in | 2 m Starter Kit / 40 in | 1 m Expansion
Max brightness: 2200 lumens
Colours: 2700 - 6500K
Connections: Bluetooth, Thread
Price: $50I've set up most of this on my phone, given that I don't have a thread router or compatible device to do it any other way. It's not a frustration free experience, and took several goes to add them and also get the firmware updated. It can be very slow to start up and connect to devices too, but once running everything seems to be ok. I have a few older Nanoleaf devices like the Hexagon Shapes that might allow me thread control but they've had their own issues with the app and falling off the system since day one. Thankfully I haven't found that yet with this essential line, yet, but I am still limited to using this software and only on my phone rather than my PC.
Adding a few other touches like your RGB lit mouse, keyboard, speaker or whatever else helps you add focal points to the desk itself. This looks cool and is helpful for playing in the dark, but also gives you little accent points you can use with your lighting setup. Have it all match or taste the rainbow for that final spark.
As far as nice RGB lighting setups go, the Nanoleaf Essentials bulbs and lightstrips are great choices in a lot of respects. They offer bright, beautiful colours that should match up to each light along the collection for a very conclusive feel. The hardware for the bulbs and strips are both super easy to install, even if you do wind up with some curves in your strips, though it's let down by the software component of the experience. Still, these are very fair prices for brand name products that really do look mint in a room and add a lot of flexible RGB light options.
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Hey, can I borrow you for the rest of your life? Because the latest Humble Bundle is a collection of some of the greatest CRPGs in games history, but you might need to quit your job and retreat to the woods if you want to finish them before the mid-century.
Humble's RPG Legends bundle will net you Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 plus the Siege of Dragonspear expansion, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. They're all in their modernised Enhanced Edition form (except Pathfinder, since that only came out last year), so you won't have to spend time tinkering with mods to get them working like I had to do back in the day. You kids have it easy.
We've named some of these games a few of the best RPGs of all time, and for good reason. Baldur's Gate made Dungeons and Dragons cool again back in 1998, telling an epic fantasy story across two games and one expansion that started out with you trying (and failing) to whack rats in a warehouse and ended with you summoning demons and bargaining with gods. It defined Bioware and continues to define its genre: it'd probably be quicker to list the modern RPGs that don't take inspiration from Baldur's Gate than the ones that do.
Planescape, on the other hand, was a journey to the centre of the self that preferred to ask questions about mortality, ideology, and belief. Where Baldur's Gate was extroverted and operatic, Planescape: Torment was inward-looking and reflective. It's beautifully written, and thank god for that, because the game is like 75% reading. No wonder that the creators of Disco Elysium—currently occupying PCG's number one spot on our top 100—credit it as a major influence.
Baldur's Gate and Planescape are the big headliners, but it'd be an injustice to snub the other games in the bundle. Neverwinter Nights is a kind of transitional fossil that marks Bioware's switch from isometric games to its more recognisable 3rd-person style from KOTOR and Mass Effect, but it's a fun D&D adventure in its own right and has so many fan modules you could probably spend a few months just playing those. Icewind Dale is a more combat-focused take on a Baldur's Gate-style adventure, and you can trace its lineage (and even some developers) in modern games like Pillars of Eternity. As for Pathfinder—we liked it a fair bit when it released last year, giving it 76% and praising its "meatgrinder of war, politics, and interplanar travel".
You can pick up all the games in the RPG Legends bundle at any point in the next 20 days for $20, or around £17. Just, you know, maybe clear your schedule first.
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A simple piece of plastic but a clever idea: Noctua has made a thermal paste guard to protect your AMD Ryzen 7000 chip from becoming an absolute mess once it's slathered in thermal paste.
AMD has put together a wonderful looking heat spreader for its Ryzen 7000 CPUs. So wonderful, in fact, it's a bit of a nightmare to clean once you put much-needed thermal paste all over it. Every corner and crevice will get loaded with the stuff. But you might be able to make life a little easier with Noctua's new NA-STPG1 guard and cleaning set.
The guard is literally a piece of well-fitting plastic and it sits around your processor to catch any paste that's squeezed over the edge of the heatspreader. The kit also comes with 10 cleaning wipes if you're a particularly mucky pup.
Ultimately, it shouldn't really matter if your chip gets thermal paste all over it. Most standard paste is non-conductive nowadays, so even if it does get over your processor, VRM, graphics card, desk mat, monitors, face, etc. you're probably alright, electrically.
If you do get thermal paste on your face, probably best to wash it off immediately, yeah?
Your next upgrade(Image credit: Future)Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD
Best gaming motherboard: The right boards
Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits
Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the restI imagine this kit will appeal a lot more to anyone that benchmarks overclocks chips often, or has a tendency to fiddle with things incessantly, as you really accumulate a lot of thermal grease on your chip when you're swapping them out and reapplying every couple of hours/days/weeks. I've had to get the alcohol out just to clean layers of gunk off even regular looking CPUs, let alone AM5 ones. The alcohol is to clean the chips, I'm not getting drunk before I start. Most of the time, anyway.
Noctua has only today announced the kit so as far as I can see it's not available anywhere to purchase just yet. That said, it is listed over on Amazon marketplaces across the globe, and you can find your local link here.
AMD's Ryzen 7000-series CPUs are out now, though. You can find out what we think about them before you buy over in our AMD Ryzen 7950X review and AMD Ryzen 7 7700X review.
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Next year, Magic: The Gathering turns 30, which means it'll finally be old enough to sit down on a crowded train without feeling guilty about it. Publisher Wizards of the Coast has announced various promos and events as part of a lengthy birthday celebration, but one of them has made Magic tragics even more upset than they usually are. It's a box with four 15-card booster packs in it that will set you back $999, making it the most expensive official Magic product ever released.
The 30th Anniversary Edition contains old school Magic cards like Shivan Dragon, Serra Angel, and Swords to Plowshares with their original art. Some of them are in retro frames, and to really jam the needle deep into your nostalgia vein, they include such hallmarks of 1990s Magic as the original white mana symbol and land cards that say "Tap to add" instead of having the modern curvy arrow symbol to represent tapping.
It even has cards from the Reserved List, a set of cards that would ordinarily never be reprinted like Black Lotus and the rest of the infamous Power Nine. They're only included here because all the cards have a distinct back marking them out as the 30th Anniversary Edition and aren't legal for tournament play or any sanctioned Magic event. They're a collector's item, something streamers can open on-camera and coo over rather than a way of bringing Magic as it was played circa 1993 back into rotation.
The reaction online has not been positive. The cost is an obvious point of contention: "All these big huge piles of money around me have really gotten in the way of me playing Magic: the Gathering," says @HexproofHarry, "I'm so glad they're releasing 4 booster packs for $999". The fact that a whole grand buys you four randomized packs with no guarantee you'll get a cool Black Lotus or whatever has also come under fire, with u/Last_Mandalorian posting on the r/magicTCG subreddit, with a Redditor's typical sense of appropriate response, "This is the most predatory thing Wizards has ever done, and I am seriously considering whether or not I should give this company one more dollar."
Other players who've been clamoring for reprints of the Reserve List cards for years are frustrated that it's finally happening, but in a format they can't use. Which is no worse than it not happening at all, but you can't tell the internet that.
Meanwhile, next year's Dominaria Remastered set, releasing on January 13, will be full of returning cards for regular prices and in a format that's standard-legal. Some of them are the exact same cards as in 30th Anniversary Edition, like Swords to Plowshares and Birds of Paradise, and some will have retro frames too. As another part of the birthday celebration, a retro-framed card from each year of Magic will be reprinted as a promo for in-store prerelease events, starting with 1993's Serra Angel, which is also in the 30th Anniversary Edition.
So if you're interested in old school cards in a playable format without bank-busting prices, some of those will be available. Just not Black Lotus, because that bad boy in mint condition is still worth thousands of dollars on its own, and Wizards of the Coast isn't about to bring down the fury of the secondary market.
"I think this 30th anniversary edition is the exact kind of thing WotC *should* make", said card game designer, former Magic pro, and voice of reason Brian Kibler. "It doesn't gatekeep actual game pieces from people behind high prices and allows them to target collectors directly, like with Secret Lairs. I'd much rather this than even more sets all the time."
On the off-chance you really do want to drop one thousand whole dollars of your own money on the 30th Anniversary Edition, it'll be available from 30thEdition.wizards.com after November 28. If you'd rather just look at a gallery of the cards in the set, go "hey, I remember when Black Vise looked like that" and then move on with your life like a normal person, that's an option too.
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Whether you're just after the answer to today's Wordle, you'd like to read a fresh hint for the October 6 (474) puzzle designed to nudge you in the right direction, or you're hoping to find a range of tips and guides to teach you how to play and win, you'll find it all just a short scroll down the page.
I was so sure I had this one on my second go, the greens found in the first making victory almost a formality. But no. I can't really complain about a whole row of greens on the third go though, can I?
Wordle hint
Today's Wordle: A hint for Thursday, October 6
The answer today is one of the seven deadly sins… and also the name of a creature so laid-back it has algae growing in its fur. Either way, it's all about taking it slow.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
If there's one thing better than playing Wordle, it's playing Wordle well, which is why I'm going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to success:
- A good opener contains a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants.
- A tactical second guess helps to narrow down the pool of letters quickly.
- The solution may contain repeat letters.
There's no time pressure beyond making sure it's done by midnight. So there's no reason to not treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you're coming up blank.
Wordle answer
(Image credit: Josh Wardle)What is the Wordle 474 answer?
Let's save your win streak. The answer to the October 6 (474) Wordle is SLOTH.
Previous answers
Wordle archive: Which words have been used
The more past Wordle answers you can cram into your memory banks, the better your chances of guessing today's Wordle answer without accidentally picking a solution that's already been used. Past Wordle answers can also give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle solving fresh.
Here are some recent Wordle solutions:
- October 5: MARSH
- October 4: BOUGH
- October 3: STING
- October 2: TWINE
- October 1: LEAVE
- September 30: SCORN
- September 29: SCALD
- September 28: USURP
- September 27: SOGGY
- September 26: BRISK
Learn more about Wordle
Every day Wordle presents you with six rows of five boxes, and it's up to you to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them.
You'll want to start with a strong word like ALERT—something containing multiple vowels, common consonants, and no repeat letters. Hit Enter and the boxes will show you which letters you've got right or wrong. If a box turns
️, it means that letter isn't in the secret word at all. 
means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 
means you've got the right letter in the right spot.You'll want your second go to compliment the first, using another "good" word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn't present in today's answer.
After that it's just a case of using what you've learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there's an E). Don't forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).
If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you'd like to find out which words have already been used you'll find those below.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn't long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it's only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
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UL solutions, the company that develops the 3DMark benchmark, has released a new feature test for Intel's XeSS AI-enhanced upscaling technology. It's available as a free download to owners of the Advanced and Professional editions, though only if your edition includes the Port Royal upgrade.
The release of the test coincides with that of Intel's Arc graphics cards. Do check out our Arc A770 review, though XeSS also works on newer Nvidia and AMD GPUs too. The test is based on the Port Royal benchmark. It's a very intensive sequence with lots of ray traced effects and reflective surfaces to show off XeSS' capabilities.
The benchmark runs twice, once with XeSS disabled, and then with it enabled. Both FPS readings are displayed along with the percentage gain. The second test option is called XeSS Frame Inspector, and it shows 15 frames in total. Then the user can zoom into any part of the image to judge XeSS's image quality.
I ran the test on an RTX 3080 Ti system that included a Ryzen 9 7950X CPU. Without XeSS it returned 59.44 FPS, while with XeSS on, the result was 76.23. That's a nice 28.2% performance improvement with no discernible image quality penalty. However, running the DLSS 2.0 Feature Test results in a better than 100% improvement, jumping from 62.18 FPS to 134.65.
To run the Intel XeSS feature test, you need to have a GPU that supports Shader Model 6.4 and Microsoft DirectX Raytracing Tier 1.1. XeSS-compatible GPUs include Intel Arc GPUs, as well as AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce GPUs supporting the above tech. You also need Windows 11 or Windows 10 64-bit 20H2 or newer.
If you plan to buy an Arc GPU, it's definitely worth playing around with XeSS to get better performance or higher image quality (or both). It's also nice to see Intel open the XeSS standard, though with each maker focusing on optimizing its own upscaling implementation for its specific architecture, sticking to your brands' tech seems like the safest bet. For now, anyway.
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Originally teased way back in 2016, Witchbrook is an upcoming life simulation and social RPG that puts you in the shoes of a witch in college (you could call it Big Witch Academia). Developed by Chucklefish, the indie studio that helped publish Stardew Valley, the comparisons are inevitable—pixel art, farming, relationships, and magical battles against forest monsters will all be part of your academic journey. If all goes according to plan, you will follow in your ancestor’s footsteps and take over as the resident witch of the sleepy seaside town of Mossport.
Witchbrook is now one of Steam's most-wishlisted games, and alongside Eric Barone's Stardew successor Haunted Chocolatier, it has a chance of being the next breakout cozy life sim. Here's everything we know about it so far.
What is the Witchbrook release date?
Despite its lengthy time in development, we don’t have a release date just yet for Witchbrook, and can probably expect it in 2023 at the earliest. According to Chucklefish, early on Witchbrook was being coded in the programming language Rust, but it eventually switched to an in-house engine created for Wargroove. That game came out in early 2019, so it's safe to say that Witchbrook's development began (or restarted) in earnest after Wargroove was finished.
In a 2022 Reddit AMA Studio Chucklefish gave another reason for the slow development: "Chucklefish is a zero-crunch studio." In 2019, the indie developer was criticized for using unpaid contributors in the development of its first game, Starbound. The studio didn't exactly admit it was wrong, but did say "Chucklefish has grown considerably into an indie studio that has a strong emphasis on good working practices, providing a welcoming environment for all employees and freelancers."
After a long period of silence from the Witchbrook developers, we’ve recently gotten some new updates from the team. In June, Chucklefish updated the Steam page for the game with new screenshots, features, and information. If you’re really enchanted, you can even put the game on wishlist.
Does Witchrbook have a gameplay trailer?
No, believe it or not. Well, sort of—Chucklefish shared a short video of the earlier incarnation of Witchbrook way back in 2017, before it restarted development on a new engine and switched to an isometric perspective. That's no longer representative of the game that exists today, and we don't have so much as a teaser trailer yet.
That gif is pretty nice, though.
Here are all of the Witchbrook screenshots so far
Image 1 of 5(Image credit: Chucklefish)Image 2 of 5(Image credit: Chucklefish)Image 3 of 5(Image credit: Chucklefish)Image 4 of 5(Image credit: Chucklefish)Image 5 of 5(Image credit: Chucklefish)What will being a witch be like?
Even without gameplay footage, we know a fair amount about what your daily life as a witch will look like. You can:
- Attend classes and improve your magical abilities.
- Grow plants and brew them into potions.
- Customize your character’s features and outfit.
- Spend time at your cozy forest cottage, gardening and raising animals.
- Develop relationships with other witches and townsfolk, including romance and rivalry.
- Cruise around on your broom and participate in broom races.
- Hang out in Mossport and take advantage of shops and restaurants.
- Participate in seasonal events. We’re definitely going trick-or-treating.
In an interview back in 2018, developers cited references from Terry Pratchett to Studio Ghibli. Looking at the art style in early screenshots, I can definitely imagine the game feeling a bit like Kiki’s Delivery Service—I can only hope that I, too, can bring my kitty along for a broom ride!
Speaking of bringing people along for broom rides, multiplayer has also been confirmed for the game. We don’t know what this will look like just yet, but coming from the same team that worked on the Stardew multiplayer is a good sign. Maybe we can work together to fetch wood for some fancy new wands, or come up with a spell that dumps stinky pondwater on some jerk that looks like Draco Malfoy. And it definitely wouldn’t be college without scraping what little money we have together for a trip to brunch. We’ll probably be a bit less hung over, though.
Will Witchbrook be multiplayer?
Yes, though Chucklefish hasn't confirmed how many players it'll support.
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Well, this is one way to score yourself an RTX 3080. Games Workshop is giving anyone subscribed to Warhammer+ (which costs £5/$US6/$AU10 per month and gives you access to Warhammer animations and hobby shows, a vault of old publications, free miniatures, and so on), whether new or existing subscribers, a chance to win one of two gaming PCs. One of them's in a case decorated with Total War: Warhammer 3 art to celebrate the open beta of Immortal Empires, while the other features the Grey Knights from Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters.
As well as a chance to win one of those, everyone subscribed by the end of the month will score the Ogre Kingdoms DLC for Total War: Warhammer 3 and a copy of hex-grid strategy game Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War. Those are being handed out as Steam keys on November 1.
While they may not have the RGB plasma cannon of that one PC case built to look like an Arkurian-pattern Stormblade tank, the two gaming PCs are decent under the hood, with RTX 3080 cards and 32GB of RAM. Here are the specs for both.
Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters custom PC
- MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ventus 3X graphics card
- Intel Core i7 12700KF CPU
- 500GB SSD
- 1TB memory
- 32GB of RAM
Total War: Warhammer 3 custom PC
- NZXT H510 Tempered Glass Case
- Intel Core i9-12900K CPU
- Gigabyte Z690 AORUS ELITE AX D5 Motherboard
- 32GB DDR5 RAM
- Corsair Hydro H100x CPU Cooler
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB Graphics Card
- 1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD
- 750 watt power supply
As well as subscribing by the end of October, to be eligible to win the Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters rig you also need to follow @ChaosGate on Twitter, and for a chance to win the Total War: Warhammer 3 PC, follow @TotalWar on Twitter. (You don't need to link your Warhammer+ account, they'll apparently check at a later date.) The winners will be drawn on November 2. More details are available at the Warhammer Community site.
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We've known that aliens exist in the Fallout universe for a long time now, with crashed spaceships and alien corpses appearing in several games in the series. Heck, you can get beamed up to a mothership in an expansion for Fallout 3, and there's an alien invasion event in Fallout 76.
In Fallout 4 you can find a spaceship and fight a single living alien, but modder RascalArt decided it was time to finally begin a proper alien invasion. In the Zetans—Alien Invaders in the Commonwealth mod, extraterrestrial visitors are done being coy and let their true intentions be known. The occupation of Earth has begun with flying saucers and alien ground forces.
I can't direct you to a specific place to find the extraterrestrial visitors—the aliens of the Zetans mod seem to pop up as random encounters, just like lots of other vanilla Fallout 4 enemies. I installed the mod and began exploring the world looking for them, eventually coming across an amazing sight. As I was crossing a field near a ruined bridge, a flying saucer slowly rose from the ground, spun around, and began attacking me.
And it was kinda awesome to see! I was so transfixed by the sight of a flying saucer I just sort of stood there as it began strafing me with energy weapons. I couldn't just gawk, though, because an alien soldier also opened fire on me from the ground. When I'd finally killed them both (the saucer took a long time because I didn't have any heavy weapons on me) I got a couple rewards. First, the saucer hit the ground and detonated in a brilliant explosion, and second, the alien grunt I killed had a Zetan pulse rifle on him. Perfect. I'll use their advanced technology against them.
It's not just flying saucers and simple soldiers you'll have to contend with: the Zetan's ground forces have different weapons and capabilities. There are basic Zetan grunts with blaster pistols and light armor, commandos with advanced rifles and cloaking tech, and even rocket troopers who fly around in jet packs and dual-wield pistols. An hour later I even encountered a Zetan overlord, who looked like a space wizard in a long cloak, used telekinetic attacks, and was flanked by two hovering combat drones.
(Image credit: Bethesda)The UFOs come in different flavors, too. There's the standard issue flying saucer and a more durable, heavily armored transport UFO that can beam down squads of alien soldiers for a ground assault. Even after playing a few hours with the mod installed I haven't come across all the different flavors of Zetan yet. I know there are more out there, I just need to spend more time hunting for them. And I'm happy to do it, they're fun to fight and a nice change from the vanilla mutants and monsters you encounter in the world.
The Zetans aren't alone. They've brought some cannon fodder with them, frog-like aliens called froggos who have been forced into the Zetans' service. You may have to contend with mobs of froggos while you're out in the world, and some even stomp around in armored mechs with acid-spewing cannons. On the plus side, you can also liberate one of these cute little guys. A froggo named Frogbert is in the Speakeasy basement in Concord, and you can add him as a follower. Don't forget to pick up his stuff from the nearby duffel bag: It contains some hats, armor, and other items you can equip on him. He's adorable.
(Image credit: Bethesda)And don't worry, the aliens aren't just there to kill you. I came across some fighting a pack of raiders, and in one particularly memorable close encounter, two saucers opened fire on some ghouls who were already battling a swarm of bloodbugs in a swamp. That gave me a chance to crouch down and admire the UFOs as they circled around and blasted everyone to pieces. Unfortunately, then they blasted me to pieces.
If you want to bring an alien invasion to the Commonwealth, and I definitely recommend it, you'll find the mod here at Nexus Mods. The Zetans mod doesn't need any other mods to get it running, which is great, though it does require Fallout 4's Automatron add-on which is conveniently 60% off on Steam until October 18. Not a bad time to grab it if you haven't.
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Blizzard's plan to neutralize player toxicity in Overwatch 2 includes the significant step of recording all in-game voice chat, but a somewhat less drastic change may be what ends up causing the most headaches and controversy.
SMS Protect, as it's called, requires all Overwatch 2 players, on all platforms, to have a phone number attached to their Battle.net account in order to play the game. It's a fairly basic 2FA system, but the idea is that it won't just help players protect their accounts, but also help Blizzard to take more control over who can access Overwatch 2.
"SMS Protect helps verify ownership of your account in the unforeseen event of an account compromise," Blizzard said. "Similarly, if a disruptive player has been suspended or banned, SMS Protect makes it more difficult for them to return to the game."
The problem is that SMS Protect is excluding certain players for reasons unrelated to their in-game behavior. Each Battle.net account requires a separate number, which could exclude households with multiple Overwatch fans and a shared phone line and worse, "certain types of numbers, including pre-paid and VOIP, cannot be used for SMS Protect." That potentially locks out a large chunk of people even though they do have a unique phone number, especially younger players who can't, or just don't want to, sign up for a multi-year phone contract. And as a final kick in the head, the requirement holds even if you purchased the original Overwatch for full price.
"I played Overwatch from almost day one and I loved it. It's the entire reason I enjoy competitive games in the first place," redditor WavePheonix wrote. "Now, a few days before launch, I wanted to get around to linking my phone number to my account. Come to find out, I can't play because I have a pre-paid plan and I'm devastated. I can't just change my phone plan for one game and now despite me paying the money, playing all the betas, and having been a fan for years I don't think I'll ever get to play it."
"So...what happens in a household that only has one phone number...but multiple people?" Chromeglow asked. "Blizzard really isn't expecting people to get another phone number just to play their game, right?"
"I have Cricket wireless. It's what my family can afford. Idk what else to say," RLmclovin wrote. "I'm not going to tell my family that we should switch because of a video game. Now I can't play overwatch. I'm really sad about this. I've been playing with friends and family for years, now I can't play with any of them because of my phone plan."
TheNocron posted an image of his rejected effort to add a phone number:
(Image credit: TheNocron (Reddit))"This sucks!" they wrote. "I can't even play a game I paid for because of my phone plan." (They later clarified that they paid for Overwatch 1 and now have no choice but to move to Overwatch 2.)
Confusing the situation even further, some prepaid plans do appear to work, despite Blizzard's policy. Our Overwatch 2 reviewer and all-around good guy Tyler Colp told me he uses Mint Mobile prepaid and said the SMS Protect system works fine with it, and that he's aware of others who have had success with it as well. Redditor Sophie_bear said they've also been able to use SMS Protect with Tello Mobile, another prepaid system.
Prepaid phones are portrayed in TV dramas as the tools of criminals and spies, but the reality is not so sensational. A February 2022 report from Research and Markets, for instance, says prepaid mobile services in the US "have become increasingly competitive in recent years as they evolve offerings to be more on par with post-paid service features and plans," and anticipates continued growth in prepaid usage "as part of a dominant trend towards prepaying mobile services becoming increasingly more comparable with post-paid wireless."
Even now, the numbers are huge. A November 2020 report from Fierce Wireless says there were roughly 74 million prepaid users in the US as of the third quarter of 2020. That's an awful lot of phones, and that number is not going to shrink.
Some Overwatch 2 players, presumably those who aren't impacted by the system, say they actually support the restriction because it'll cut back on smurfing—that is, highly-ranked players creating new accounts so they can gank lower-skill players—and, hopefully, toxicity in general, as it'll be much harder than it was previously to bounce back from an account ban. A new phone contract is an expensive penalty to get back into a game. That may be true, but excluding legitimate players may not be worth it.
Given the backlash, I wouldn't be surprised to see Blizzard modify this policy, or drop it entirely. I've reached out to the company for comment, and will update if I receive a reply.
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The world's most dangerous plant is said to be the Dendrocnide moroides, also known as the "stinging tree." One touch from this Australian plant can cause you to suffer months of excruciating pain. Sounds bad, right? But what if I told you there was a plant out there even more dangerous, capable of swinging around a machete like a bad guy in Far Cry or like that dog in Metal Gear? Well, it's true, and it's art—I hope.
I first learned of the existence of this armed flora thanks to Twitter user canneo2103145, who shared this terrifying piece of Aperture Labs-esque art in a series of tweets. The installation is called 'plant machete' and was created by David Bowen, an artist whose work often fuses nature and mechanical systems using robotics and custom software.
According to Bowen, the robot arm has a control system that interprets the "electrical noises found in a live philodendron." This is done through a series of open-source microcontrollers attached to the plant that translate its electrical impulses into movements in the robot arm. And the robot arm is holding a machete.
As you can see from the video, the arm movements go from random and awkward to "oh my god, someone is going to get killed by a philodendron." This isn't the first time Bowen decided to arm nature with a human weapon, either. Nine years ago, he created an installation called 'fly revolver', where a group of flies in a transparent sphere could control and fire a revolver via video-tracking. No, really. A sphere of flies that can shoot a gun.
In his site bio, David says, "These devices and situations create a dissonance that leads to an incalculable changeable situation resulting in unpredictable outcomes." Though if you give a plant a sword and some flies a gun, I'm pretty sure the outcome isn't that unpredictable: You'll either get stabbed or get shot, or be in danger of getting stabbed or shot.
This is one of the coolest tabletop gaming setups I've ever seen
in Gaming News
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All you need for a good tabletop adventure is some pals—thanks to apps like Roll20 you don't even need a table, or to gather everyone for an in-person game. But some GMs like to put a bit more effort into their campaigns. GMs like Bryan Versteeg, who combines detailed maps and models with an overhead projector to create some tabletop gaming magic.
Using the painting app Procreate, Versteeg is able to create all sorts of things that are then projected onto the table. In the clip below, posted on Twitter earlier this week, you can see him clearing up the fog of war. The projector shrouds the ramshackle village in shadows, but using a tablet Versteeg can brighten things up in real-time.
"I use this for grid overlays, stats, fog of war, area of effect simulations, and for some dramatic lighting," the wizard explains.
Here's a better look at his setup.
"Any projector with Airplay can screen match your tablet," he notes in a follow-up tweet. "I have an open ceiling so mounting was easy. Then any drawing program (I use Procreate). Buildings are 3d printed and hand painted but you could project the entire map itself. Infinite uses."
I'm always impressed whenever I see people using a bespoke lighting setup for their tabletop campaigns, but this is some next level stuff. And if you've got the space for it, it seems like something anyone could use for their next adventure. Though, it's worth noting, Versteeg is a concept artist with skills that must come in handy. You can check out his work on his personal website.
Versteeg has also put up a bunch of videos showing off the creation of various Martian dioramas, including a nifty lightbox habitat that you can check out below.
Now, if only I could get him to fly over from Canada to GM for me. That's the dream. In the meantime, I'm going to see how easy it would be to install an overhead projector in my gaming area.
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