After a few weeks of emotional burnout and technical difficulties (Not including the re-registration of this site, which went MUCH smoother than last year), we're back! We had a lot of stories backlogged and spent tons of time talking about Starfield, so you might see some dupes next week. I'll try to catch 'em all!
News
- One of the biggest Xbox leaks in history has occurred, thanks to the FTC v. Microsoft case
- Three men arrested for stealing thousands of dollars by hacking into ATMs with a Raspberry Pi device
- Baldur's Gate 3 is reviewing even better on PS5 than it did on PC | GamesRadar+
- Scientists may have a solution to the International Space Station's fungus problem
- Ukrainian official claims Elon Musk cost lives by refusing Starlink access during a drone operation
- FAA grounds Starship until SpaceX takes 63 'corrective actions'
- The AI-generated fake Drake and The Weeknd track is 'not eligible' for a Grammy
- Caffeinated RGB gamer noodles now exist, and I'm getting indigestion just thinking about them
- E3 somehow gets even deader as event organiser departs by 'mutual consent', ESA says no no it's still alive we promise
- Toyota factories grind to a halt after its servers run out of disk space
- Forget cash back: Microsoft's Xbox Mastercard exclusively earns game discounts
- And the Band Plays On: Embracer may sell Borderlands creator Gearbox amid financial woes
- Microsoft Paint is getting updated with one of Photoshop's most commonly used tools
- Rumor: Embracer is trying to sell Gearbox – and therefore Cryptic and its MMORPGs | Massively Overpowered
- Steam 20th Anniversary: Let’s look back in games and culture
- “Good morning, and welcome to Apple Park. Today, I like to show how we live under the oppression of the European Empire, and we have some products I think you are gonna eye roll to, let’s take a look” - Apple Product Launch
- The “free engine” has now been Elon Musked: Unity will start charging developers each time their game is installed
- STO: RIP Borg tactical cube
- Games consoles are infuriatingly exempt from California's otherwise important new right to repair bill
Media
- Starfield: Rushed and weird but dull beginning; Good transversal; Jump packs are always cool; Great vistas; NASApunk, but just for show; Large maps broken up with forced loadscreens; Excellent environmental art and engine sound; Scanner is cool except it has no compass; Plays more like Fallout 4 than expected; No one acts like a human (I hate my companions); PLEASE take Dora the Explorer off my ship; Bad game writing-Too wordy; No coherent tone; UI could use a dark mode; Everything feels like it takes 1-2 clicks more than it should; Hold v Press buttons could use some tweaking; Stealth barely working; Quests too on-rails; Some quests unsolvable without Security skill?; Everyone always talks at the same time!; End of humanity is a side quest?! - Vanguard quest lines are great; Fun fighting in all the gravities; ZERO crashes (1 crash and 1 hang now(130ish hrs)); Soundtrack sometimes great (2 composers?); Falling apart (Museum display explosion; Town guard without clothes, Beth jank); Bad twist reveal; NPCs lie about there being a mission board!; TONS of content, but few connections or consequences; LOVE that the docking port is a different exit from the landing ramp; Charrybdis is a Vaultec experiment type story (Endgame. Easy to miss); kzzt-16-16-16; The best ending is the one you walk away from. 7/10 as a BGS game, 8/10 otherwise. Patience with load times required. Kinda blah with occasional moments of awe.
- Legend has spent years making Portal for the N64 and by Gaben he's done it
- Butt-ugly Starfield ship defeats the enemy AI's perfect aim
- This Xbox 360 building set is a nostalgic, Halo-infused thrill LEGO
- The 'world's smallest VR headset' is finally shipping out pre-orders in the US
- Sony Japan is launching a 'foster care program' for its Aibo robot dogs
- In Starfield, the sun literally doesn't shine on AMD GPU users
- STO’s latest guest star is an interesting choice: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Erin_Macdonald
Odds and Ends
- MS Game Pass put Starfield on the app’s main menu (And skinned the app!)
- MS Game Pass works offline (if you set it up).
- Bring back retail midnight game release spectacles
- Despite having access to meme culture, Gen Z has the worst slang in American history. Bussin on Z fr fr !!
- Managers too stupid...Give me 2 hours and I become God
I lied. I'm probably not going to remember to check for dupes next week. Thanks for reading! Play Starfield if you like BGS games. Plenty to do and an easy, mildly entertaining ride. Even a dull BGS game is still a BGS game.
