All hail the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which in recent years has been used by the bloc to force various tech giants into being a little more considerate of consumers. The DMA's latest glorious victory comes against Microsoft which, ever since September 2023, has been designated by the EU commission as a "gatekeeper" thanks to Windows: meaning it has to publish yearly compliance reports about how it's adhering to...

I concur with PC Gamer's Mollie Taylor, my fellow Final Fantasy 14 enjoyer on our illustrious staff, that FF14's Occult Crescent patch has made the game feel like an MMO again. I actually got downright emotional, hopping into my first critical encounter and seeing swarms of strangers crowding around a chance to give a boss a beatdown: 'Oh,' I thought, 'I'm playing an MMO again'.But with that joy came a...

Elden Ring Nightreign has had a slightly tumultuous launch, at least for a FromSoftware game. Despite achieving a monumental 2 million copies sold in just the first 24 hours, Nightreign also had a somewhat poor reception, with it garnering Mixed user reviews on Steam (though it's since picked up to Mostly Positive).Since then, FromSoftware has gone into damage control mode. Nightreign's first major update saw big changes to its singleplayer,...

Most of my time playing Elden Ring Nightreign has involved scrambling to piece together a good build out of the garbage the game gives me—I don't have good luck in roguelikes, you see. If I need a four in Balatro, I won't get one. But last night, cackling with glee as my starting sword gave my foes nearly every possible disease, I had finally beaten the game of fate: The...

Four years after acquiring the studio, Zynga has confirmed with IGN that Torchlight 3 developer Echtra Games is being closed."Zynga has made the difficult decision to cease operations at its Echtra studio, ending development on future titles and reducing roles," the company told the site. "This decision is part of a strategic realignment of the company's resources and priorities. We will work closely with impacted employees so they are treated...

The San Antonio Express News reports that Jonathan Joss, an actor who appeared in videogames including Red Dead Redemption, Days Gone, Wasteland 3, and Cyberpunk 2077, as well as the long-running King of the Hill animated series, was killed over the weekend in an apparent dispute with a neighbor. He was 59.Police say Joss was shot "several times" by his neighbor after the two became embroiled in some sort of...

I am Mr. Antisocial Souls⁠—I don't play many multiplayer games in general, and FromSoft's offerings have always been, for me, private affairs. So I'm just as surprised as anyone that Elden Ring Nightreign's multiplayer focus has really hooked me.I still thought I'd be playing solo at least half the time until I realized that Nightreign's singleplayer experience elevates all the game's flaws to their maximum annoyance level. Two patches have...

Trial begins this week at France's Bobigny Criminal Court for a trio of former Ubisoft executives, according to French news service Franceinfo (Google Translated). Former chief creative officer Serge Hascoët, former vice president of editorial and creative services Tommy François, and former game director Guillaume Patrux face allegations of "moral and sexual harassment" following reports of systemic workplace abuse at Ubisoft that emerged in 2020.In hearings scheduled to last five...

Larian is a certifiable CRPG rockstar right now, having taken the once-niche genre to chart-topping blockbuster status with home runs like Divinity: Original Sin 2 and the superlative Baldur's Gate 3. A lot of people, myself included, started gnawing the bars of their enclosure last year in anticipation of Baldur's Gate 4, an idea Larian mulled over before moving on from the series completely.And so, tantalizing mystery takes the reins....

Although Elden Ring Nightreign has a main story, which you'll finish by beating the Night Aspect, most of the narrative actually comes from the characters' Remembrances. These are quests that see you talking to NPCs, completing "personal objectives" while on expeditions in Limveld, or beating a boss in a separate instance.Unlocking and beating Remembrance quests isn't as simple as you might think, though, as you're given little direction as to...