“Roadmapping for our future” The news comes fromreader-fundededitorial websiteAftermath, which was recently founded by a number of seasoned journalists, including former RPS staff writer Nathan Grayson. Amazon themselves have now confirmed Aftermath’s report and shared an internal email to staff about the layoffs. “We’ve listened to our customers and we know delivering free games every month is what they want most, so we are refining our Prime benefit to increase our focus there,” Amazon Games VP Cristoph Hartmann wrote in the email....

Savings on mice you’ll want to keep hold of The only shame is you can’t reach into the screen and try them yourself, though I suppose that would mean you’d need a newmonitoras well. At least be assured that, as with all our Black Friday deal guides, we’re only recommending gaming mice we genuinely think you’d like. This is no place for the sluggish or the uncomfortable – especially not when there are already enough good offers on quality hardware to go around....

MicroSD cards, docks, cases - everything a growing Steam Deck needs I don’t know if Valve timed theSteam Deck OLEDto coincide withBlack Friday, but now that both have arrived, it’s clearly a happy coincidence at the very least. Thebest Steam Deck accessoriesdeals are perfect for new handheld owners to start kitting it out – though the classic Deck benefits from these add-ons and extras too. EspeciallymicroSD cards. You’re gonna want one of those, trust me....

This is the best WSP Swarm loadout you can get in Modern Warfare 3 right now Looking for the best WSP Swarm loadout in MW3?The WSP Swarm is a new gun inCall Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, with a fire rate that blows away all expectations and is among the best of all SMGs in the game. As its name might suggest, this gun is like a mad swarm of bees - perfect for overwhelming enemies with a constant assault of bullets....

Performance fixes are still in progress A huge part ofCities: Skylinesappeal lay in its modding community, which expanded on the citybuilder’s robust foundations with new maps, assets and more for years post-release.Cities: Skylines 2is still waiting on its own official mod support, but Paradox have offered a new update on progress, saying that the editor is “a couple of months” from being in a releasable state, with no concrete timeline as yet....

$20 cheaper than the last time we featured them on sale. Edifier’s R1700BTs are some of the finest PC speakers I’ve ever used - andcriticsandusersalike agree - and today you can pick them up for $140 rather than their usual $200. That’s thanks to a 30% discount at Amazon US when you clip the coupon on the product page. These 2.0 speakers come with a classic wooden enclosure packed with modern conveniences, including Bluetooth 5 with aptX HD, a sub out port and two RCA outputs with one RCA to RCA cable and one RCA to 3....

But it’s the vaulting that’s exciting Tactical extraction shooterEscape From Tarkovis adding vaulting, a recoil rework and new armour, as revealed in a developer livestream. Of the bunch, it’s vaulting - the act of clambering over a low wall - which has been greeted most feverishly by Tarkov’s community, a fact which is honestly not surprising. You can watch a low-wall hopping sizzle reel on X: Vaulting#EscapefromTarkovpic.twitter.com/cmJr0AOstK I think and talk a lot about one of the times I visited EVE Fanfest and saw an announcement of a UI feature which made it slightly easier to transfer items from one spaceship cargo hold to another....

Making a strategy game is “harder than people give it credit for,” Bit Reactor’s CEO Greg Foertsch tells me. The same could probably be said of any game this yearin particular, but having spent over 20 years shepherding the art teams at Firaxis on Civilization, XCOM,Sid Meier’s Pirates,Alpha Centauriand most recentlyMarvel’s Midnight Suns, Foertsch has seen firsthand what it takes forstrategy gamesto break new ground over the years, and what an arduous road it’s been for the genre to get where it is today....

Here’s how to disable squads and play MW3 Zombies solo. Looking to play Modern Warfare 3 Zombies solo?MW3 Zombies is back with a bang, living up to the tried and tested formula that has always been a standout for fans - or should that be unliving up? However, you’ll notice as you boot it up that the game tends to load you into matchmade squads automatically, making it hard to tell if there’s even a solo mode to begin with....

Squid Game If you’ve been enjoyingJusant, Don’t Nod’s post-apocalyptic climbing sim, you might also like the alpha playtest forChasing The Unseen, which has just been updated with a new level. It doesn’t have Jusant’s quietly innovative grip and abseiling mechanics – the climbing is closer toShadow Of The Colossus, consisting of just one button you hold to cling on till your stamina runs out. Nor does it have the Don’t Nod game’s beautifully nested chunks of backstory - no seashells you can press your ear to, alas....

Windie gaming Just a quick one before I clock off for the day: you would not believe what the kids are up to inMinecraftright now. Well, you probably would, because it’s Minecraft, the sandbox building sim that contains all possibility and all human endeavour, with the exception of good PvP mechanics, yes I went there. Anyway,Minecraft update 1.21is just around the corner, and a few players have gotten early accessvia Mojang’s snapshot releases....

Need a hint for today’s Connections? Read our guide for help with Connections #156 This guide is for a previous day! Looking for today’s solution? Check out theConnections hint and answers for Thursday 12th December! Want a hint for Connections today?Piggybacking off the monumental success of daily puzzle gameWordle, the New York Times has another fantastically popular word game out now. It’s calledConnections, and if you haven’t played it before, now’s the time to start....

An easy excuse ThePersona 5kids are trapped in high school, their semesters stretched into infinity by the inescapable march of spin-offs that have been retroactively stuffed into every available blank spot. Since the credits rolled on Persona 5 (and also before, and sometimes concurrently), the Phantom Thieves have spent their time in a rubbishDynasty Warriorsknock-off, got lost in a dream about a really cheap rhythm-action game and ended up trapped in a cross-generational dungeon crawler....