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"15 years ago, people understood it was an unfinished game": As Endless Legend 2 hits 1.0, Amplitude reflect on how early access has changed
PC

"15 years ago, people understood it was an unfinished game": As Endless Legend 2 hits 1.0, Amplitude reflect on how early access has changed

Amplitude have always used early access for their games, even before Steam Early Access was a thing. Ahead of Endless Space's release in July 2012, players who preordered the game got immediate access to an alpha build that was steadily patched and updated on the lead up to launch. To this day, the studio still uses its Games2Gether program, where they discuss design issues with players and poll them for thoughts on how to proceed. Right now, there are a small group of players giving feedback o

Low poly horror Tumblebee combines the joy of tumbling bees with the not-joy of being chased by huge spiders
PC

Low poly horror Tumblebee combines the joy of tumbling bees with the not-joy of being chased by huge spiders

For the last few years I've been labouring to transform my terror of spiders into guarded appreciation, even wonder. I've been drawing pictures of spiders, and writing stories about them. When I spy a spyder (spider) in the wild, I make a strenuous display of hunkering down to utter words like "ooh, what a beautiful False Widow, such poetry of form". Then the spider moves a fraction, and I hoot and holler on out of there, pawing imaginary silk strands from my face. Videogames like Tumblebee ar

MindsEye studio Build A Rocket Boy appear to be making fresh redundancies, as one staffer says he's "helping wrap things up here in the HR department"
PC

MindsEye studio Build A Rocket Boy appear to be making fresh redundancies, as one staffer says he's "helping wrap things up here in the HR department"

Update: The IWGB Games Worker Union have issued the following statement to RPS from vice-chair Ben Newbon: We cannot add any further insight into the heartbreaking job losses at BARB, a company that we think has been slowly spiralling for a long time. We came together to fight tooth and nail to prevent the hardworking people working there from such a fate after pouring their heart and soul into Minds Eye. We are proud of what we built there but still hearing of redundancies is always an injusti

Is Aniimo a gacha game?
PC

Is Aniimo a gacha game?

The creature catcher says Anii-no to typical gacha banner pulls.

"A dried husk of a product": former Doom producer berates Microsoft for making Halo a "mid-tier" game and mourns the "financialisation" of AAA
PC

"A dried husk of a product": former Doom producer berates Microsoft for making Halo a "mid-tier" game and mourns the "financialisation" of AAA

Former Doom: The Dark Ages producer Andrew Willis has shared tuppence on the state of the blockbuster videogame trade, arguing that the biggest companies and most popular series are going through the final stage of a familiar "cycle" whereby the moneyfolk finally displace the creatives, and start messing games up in the name of short-term returns. He reckons that the likes of Halo are well on their way to becoming "a dried husk of a product that everyone just now associates with like, slop".

"We're trying to make it easier": Valve confirm the Steam Frame is just the start of plans to get Steam games working on compatibility-challenged ARM PCs
PC

"We're trying to make it easier": Valve confirm the Steam Frame is just the start of plans to get Steam games working on compatibility-challenged ARM PCs

The Steam Frame, unfortunately RAM shortage-ravaged as it is, is unique among virtual reality headsets for its ability to run Steam games – VR or 'flat' alike – entirely on its own, internal compute hardware. It is, in effect, a SteamOS PC for your face. Yet as I waxed about in our review, this feature’s impact could extend far beyond the Frame itself, as it’s based on new compatibility tech that Valve now hope to bring to a broader range of PCs and laptops. Potentially,

"They often don’t make it in the door": Wardogs studio Bulkhead check for "anti-crunch messaging" on prospective hires' social media, CEO says
PC

"They often don’t make it in the door": Wardogs studio Bulkhead check for "anti-crunch messaging" on prospective hires' social media, CEO says

Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer has revealed that the studio behind recent FPS hit Wardogs check the social media accounts of prospective hires for public criticism of crunch practices, and deliberately prefer to avoid bringing such folks on board. In the exec's view, devs working extra or long hours to get a game or update out of the door - otherwise known as crunch - "is going to happen at some point", even if the studio "always try and avoid it". Read more