Sightseeing meets wight-fleeing There’s a YouTube channel I’m fond of called Virtual Japan, where a 4K camera serenely glides through gorgeous Japanese hotspots:Sapporo in the snow,Christmas lights in Tokyo,residential back streets in the pouring rain. You hear nothing but ambient city sounds and the tromping of a cameraman’s feet. You could be watching a HUD-free FPS, albeit with incredi-graphics. Finally, inGhostwire: Tokyo, someonehasmade a game of it, albeit with occasional ghost zapping....

Don’t turn away now Riot Games have acquired a “significant” stake in Fortiche, the French animation studio they’ve worked with onLeague Of Legendsmusic videos and the spin-off Netflix series Arcane. Riot’s unspecified share isn’t large enough to buy control of Fortiche, but they say “this agreement ensures we’ll be working closely for decades to come.” Fortiche’s League animations have been better than Riot’s games so yeah, go on, I’ll take more....

In space, no one can hear the audio system governing your scream I quite how the stream approached tech. It introduced some fairly basic concepts, complete with good demonstrations, and explained how they’re using it. Here’s the section on sound occlusion: I particularly enjoyed the section introducing the remake’s A.L.I.V.E. system (a convoluted backronym), which puts a lot more care and attention into making Isaac’s breathing, heart rate, grunting, and dialogue fit his physical and mental state....

With better DOSBox support and companion apps If that is you, then good news: they’re coming to Steam on March 29th, with some spit and polish. The Gold Box games are enormously influential, being based on classic D&D settings like Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, and Dark Sun and helping to establish the early template for CRPGs. They are honestly hard to return to now, but these releases will be enhanced by companion apps, a unified launcher, improved DOSBox support, and a tool for transfering parties of characters between games....

EA no longer have to remove them in the Netherlands Part of the ruling concerns whether FIFA Ultimate Teams constitutes “an isolated game” unto itself, which the court ultimately decided was not the case. “They are part of a game of skill and add an element of chance to the game,” says the ruling. The fullruling is available online in Dutch. “This decision confirms our belief that no aspect of FIFA or FIFA Ultimate Team can be considered gambling under Dutch law,” EA said in a statementgiven to Polygon....

While outlining the current state Valve’s Steam Deck can run most games, but that doesn’t mean it can run most gameswell. In listing out the status of their own games, Microsoft say that Psyconauts 2 is “Verified” - meaning it’s fully supported - while Sea Of Thieves is merely “playable” andHalo Infiniteisn’t supported at all due to its anti-cheat. Hopefully those games will be better supported in future, but, Microsoft say, “It’s up to our studios how they fit Steam Deck integration for their games into their busy schedules....

It’s apparently a functional game though WWE 2k22 isout now on Steam, and if Steam reviews are any indication, it’s pretty good. That’s not a given: WWE 2k20 was so busted, in bothfunny ways and not, that the series took last year off. Now that it’s back and in form, 2K Games have outlined plans for new characters to be added to the game via post-launch DLC. It includes checks list hoo boy....

Square Enix have improved it a lot since launch! This week’s new update introduces support for 21:9 screen ratios, so people on the bleeding edge of expensive hardware can enjoy a game from the last millenium. D-pad controls are improved. The speed of Auto Battles is boosted to 1.5x. It also increases the number of save slots to 20. They’ve fixed a few bugs. Tweaked a few other bits and pieces....

Because it still needs fixing Odyssey is the expansion which added first-person exploration and violence on foot. Since it launched, many players have complained about bugs, performance problems, boring grind, and other issues. Our own review wasn’t impressed either. Frontier have released a load of updates since then but ten months later, it has not improved enough. So they’re taking drastic steps. “Over the last several months, we have been wrestling with the best way to move forward, and it is with a heavy heart we have decided to cancel all console development....

Hang out with Mondstadt’s favorite idol If you’re hoping to spend more time with Mondstadt’s favorite deaconess idol, Barbara, you’re in luck! You’ll be able to do so through her Hangout Event, where you’ll be tasked with searching for Barbara, who’s suddenly gone missing. Based on your choices, you’ll be able to end up with one of five endings. Here’s everything you’ll need to know about unlocking and reaching all endings of Barbara’s Hangout Event, Wellspring of Healing, inGenshin Impact....

To be showcased in Trafalgar Square, and around April 1st will bring the start of theLondon Games Festival, a loosely affiliated series of events which almost inevitably involves some poor fella in a Sonic costume posing for press photos on Westminster Bridge. Today, the Festival announced its Official Selection, 33 games which will be showcased online and in various events. Some good games in there, includingPowerWash Simulatorand Failbetter’s Mask Of The Rose....

A showcase of the latest laptop CPU and GPU champions Intel’s 12th Gen notebook processorsand the mobile version ofNvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 Tiare now finding their way into gaming laptops, after their respective reveals this January. And both have found their way into the MSI Raider GE76, that top-spec GPU getting paired with a fittingly top-spec CPU: the Core i9-12900HK. The result is an enthusiastically exclusive laptop; so exclusive, it turns out, that I can’t find the exact model I tested on sale anywhere....

The speakers won’t work, though Valve have gathered up some crucial Windows drivers for theSteam Deck, improving performance for those who want to ditch the default SteamOS and replace it with Windows 10. GPU, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth drivers are all available fromSteam Support, so early Deck adopters looking for a change can get the requisite downloads all in one place. These drivers come with caveats, mind. Audio drivers are still a work in progress, so only USB-C, 3....