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AMD Adrenalin 23.5.2 driver delivers Diablo IV support and Microsoft Olive optimizations by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe We are already in June but AMD is not finished with May it seems. The AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.5.2 release drops as May's second Radeon graphics driver update, and it carries official support for Blizzard Entertainment's latest game, plus AI improvements. Diablo IV is officially releasing on June 5, but Digital Deluxe and Ultimate Edition owners can jump in later today to begin their action-RPG adventure. This driver is a recommended install for anyone playing the game on Radeon hardware, although AMD hasn't detailed any specific improvements to look out for this time. The driver also touts major improvements to Microsoft's Olive DirectML pipeline for Stable Diffusion 1.5. In its testing on a Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics card for acceleration, AMD has seen double the performance when using Stable Diffusion 1.5's "text-to-image diffusion generating 512 x 512 images." There are no fixed issues in this release unfortunately, but there are known issues to look out for: High idle power has situationally been observed when using select high-resolution and high refresh rate displays on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs. Certain virtual reality games or applications may encounter suboptimal performance or occasional stuttering on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs. Application crash may be intermittently observed while playing RuneScape™ on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 5700 XT. Application crash or driver timeout may be observed during playback of AV1 video content using DaVinci Resolve™ Studio. Intermittent corruption may be observed after switching windows while play Nioh 2™ on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 6800 XT. The WHQL-certified AMD Adrenalin Edition 23.5.1 driver can now be upgraded via the Radeon Settings app on Windows. Anyone looking for a standalone download link to install it directly can find the driver link on its release notes page here.

Battlefield 2042 Season 5 hands-on preview: Another step forward, but is this the end? by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe 18 months of updates in, Battlefield 2042 is about to receive its fifth seasonal content drop. With the update slated to hit on June 7, EA invited me to try out the content before the launch in a closed online preview session. Here are my thoughts on the new content, as well as the future of the game. As previously announced, Season 5's launch comes with Reclaimed as a new map, three new weapons, three new grenade variants, squad management features, and a number of quality-of-life changes to vehicles, classic weapons, and more. The new map: Reclaimed Diving right in, my first impression of Reclaimed was just how small it felt compared to other maps of 2042. It turns out I was correct. DICE confirmed that this is the smallest map yet to hit the game, designed from the ground up to be 64-player centric. You read that right, and the only way to play Reclaimed in 128-mode is to spin up a custom Portal session, though I would hate to see the absolute meat grinder that it would be. Due to the lower player count and smaller map area, you won't find any jets or transport choppers on this map, though almost everything else, hardware wise, is fair game. If you ever played Battlefield 4's Zavod 311 map, the new arena may feel a little familiar. Set in Czechia, the new map presents a war-torn industrial environment that's been overtaken by nature. It's more naturally dirty and worn down than the maps we've seen so far for 2042. Trees are growing through the industrial buildings' broken roofs, and flashy graffiti covers many of their walls, made by anti-war groups of this universe. There are three objective points with open-ended flags that allow for vehicles to pressure and takeover, while the remaining three are closed off and need an infantry presence to effectively attack. Highlights for me were the two side-by-side set warehouses that make up two objectives. These let teams battle it out between them across the road as both buildings' walls slowly crumble from the ongoing battle, leaving only a skeleton in the end. You won't be taking down any of the buildings themselves though, we are way past that level of destruction it seems. Another highlight was the bunker that's carved onto a mountain, with multiple angles of attack available. Shield-wielding Dozer can be an optimal choice of operator here thanks to the more closed-off, narrow sections available. I can comment on the map layout being extremely heavy with cover too. There were almost no stretches of empty roads or natural landscapes like we've seen in the original launch maps before their reworks. The play session lasted a couple of hours and was split into two parts offering Breakthrough and Conquest. Unfortunately, the preview experience was mostly against bots, with players only making up a maximum of two squads per team through the whole session I was present in. This makes it both difficult to judge the map's balance, flow, and intensity, as well as to find if there are any natural chokepoints that can slow the momentum from an over-aggressive team. Weapons, Gadgets, and Squad Management The bolt action family has a new member: the XCE Bar. While the sound of its firing is not my favorite due to the lack of a proper 'Thud', players looking to drop enemies with well-placed headshots now have another highly customizable choice. Almost every attachment under the sun comes as an option for this sniper, letting it be whatever its user wants it to be. Battlefield 2042's live attachment swapping system shines here too, letting the gun go from a scoped, long-range assassin to a mid-range rifle with a holographic sight for aggressive players within seconds. Battlefield 4’s popular G36C is also here, which now sports the name GEW-46. The assault rifle is aimed at medium range engagements, which is basically perfect for the new map. I found the spread pattern a little hard to control over long bursts, but I'm sure with the proper attachments, it can be a monster for almost any scenario. Lastly, into the weapons front arrives the BFP.50, which is aptly described as a hand cannon by DICE. This can two-shot enemies at close range. If you miss though, the rather long gap between trigger pulls means the advantage goes to the enemy to do a quick and deadly spray in your direction. As with any Battlefield game, there are grumblings from fans about the overuse, or spam, of explosives in 2042. Already, there are grenades, a multitude of shoulder-fired rocket variants, weapon-mounted grenade launchers, C4, airburst launchers, sticky launchers, claymores, and more from the infantry side, and let's not forget all the firepower from ground and air vehicles. Now in Season 5, DICE is adding to that. We are getting spring grenades that jump up before exploding to flush people out of cover, low-power mini grenades that come in packs of three, and anti-tank sticky grenades that are self-explanatory. It's going to be Christmas for explosion lovers like me, but many others will probably switch to playing as Irish for his projectile neutralizing gadget. Delivering on fan requests, the classic RPG-7 (V2) is now an option as a standard carry for the Engineer class. It packs a punch too, delivering 35 damage to the back of tanks. Hitting long-range targets still has a special nostalgic feeling when using this retro launcher. Combined with the anti-tank grenades (around 20 damage a pop, and you get two), a lone engineer with the right toolset can now take down heavy armor relatively quickly if they can avoid the gunners. Finally, squad management is now a feature of Battlefield 2042, something that's weird to even type out considering it was such a mundane feature I had clearly taken for granted in previous titles. A new menu option now allows for the creation of new squads, joining one with free slots, and easily seeing if any squad has a friend in them. Previously, you could only switch to a random squad, and that was essentially a hidden setting tucked away in a corner. Adding to it, DICE plans to bring back XP bonuses for squad members that follow squad leader's orders in a mid-season update as well. Overall, this is another much-needed content and feature injection for the shooter. What's next? Battlefield 2042 was supposed to be the next major step in the long-running franchise, a true next-gen experience with doubled player counts, near-future set warfare, an extraction game mode, and even built-in customizable content from previous entries. Of course, the horrible launch took the wind out of the sails quite effectively. As I outlined in my original review of 2042, terrible performance, the shocking number of bugs, unbalanced maps, no class system, and lack of some basic features, which we are finally getting around to receiving, made this easily the worst launch of a Battlefield game ever. One and a half years of updates from DICE have brought the game to a point that probably should have been the launch experience. Classes were brought back, finally giving roles for players to follow, almost all launch maps have received reworks (final one coming later in Season 5), while crashes and visual bugs have all but disappeared. Despite being promoted for its massive battles and focus on team play, the lack of squad management hurt the game heavily in my opinion. But we are finally getting that resolved soon too. That doesn't mean there have been casualties on the way. The extraction mode's updates were cut early on, and Portal mode is yet to receive any new content from previous Battlefield games since launch too. The studio seems to be struggling with balancing 128-player maps. New specialists are also not in development. These were all major selling points originally. Sure, the game is still getting seasonal updates every few months, but with DICE's focus being moved to a future Battlefield entry that might take an entirely new form, I don't know how many more seasons 2042 has in it, if there are any more at all. At the time of writing, player counts on Steam shows Battlefield 2042 having around the same number of players as 2018's Battlefield V, which had its own launch controversies. When the newest game in a high-profile multiplayer franchise can't ditch the stigma surrounding a bad launch and attract new players even with continued updates, it won't be a big surprise to me if Season 5 ends up being the grand finale. Though I hope this is not the case. While DICE has said that work on the game will continue post-Season 5, the studio is being ambiguous about what kind of future support the game will see exactly. It's a shame if EA decides to put Battlefield 2042 in maintenance mode when the game finally feels like it's reaching a good state. Battlefield 2042 – Season 5: New Dawn hits PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 on June 7 as a free update for owners of the game. EA Play, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and PC Game Pass subscription holders are also gaining access for no extra charge. The gameplay impressions and screenshots in this article were gathered during a digital closed preview session of the upcoming content provided by EA and DICE.

Intel releases another unexciting Arc driver, optimized for Diablo IV, Street Fighter 6 by Sayan Sen Intel has released its newest Windows graphics driver for Arc with beta version 31.0.101.4382. The driver comes optimized for Diablo IV and Street Fighter 6, and also claims to boost performance in Total War: Warhammer III in the Mirror of Madness benchmark by less than five percent. The release notes for the new 31.0.101.4382 driver are given below: GAMING HIGHLIGHTS: Intel® Game On Driver support on Intel® Arc™ A-series Graphics for: Diablo IV* Street Fighter 6* Game performance improvements versus Intel® 31.0.101.4369 software driver for: Total War: Warhammer III* (DX11) – Mirror of Madness Benchmark Up to 4% uplift at 1080p with Ultra settings FIXED ISSUES: Intel® Arc™ Graphics Products: Certain applications using Vulkan* API may experience an application crash. The Last of Us Part 1* (DX12) may experience an application crash during gameplay. Unreal Engine* 5.2 Editor may experience an application crash. Street Fighter 6* (DX12) – Battle Hub Benchmark may exhibit lower than expected performance KNOWN ISSUES: Intel® Arc™ Graphics Products: System may hang while waking up from sleep. May need to power cycle the system for recovery. GPU hardware acceleration may not be available for media playback and encode with some versions of Adobe Premiere Pro. Topaz Video AI* may experience errors when using some models for video enhancement. Intel® Iris™ Xe MAX Graphics Products: Driver installation may not complete successfully on certain notebook systems with both Intel® Iris™ X e + Iris™ X e MAX devices. A system reboot and re-installation of the graphics driver may be required for successful installation. Intel® Core™ Processor Products: Total War: Warhammer III* (DX11) may experience an application crash when loading battle scenarios. Call of Duty Warzone 2.0* (DX12) may exhibit corruption on certain light sources such as fire. Conqueror's Blade* (DX12) may experience an application crash during game launch. A Plague Tale: Requiem* (DX12) may experience application instability during gameplay. INTEL® ARC™ CONTROL KNOWN ISSUES: Using Arc Control Studio capture with certain games may incorrectly generate multiple video files. With Intel® Arc Control installed, systems may experience slightly higher than expected power consumption during system sleep or hibernate. May observe “could not stop Highlights” notification when stopping Auto-Game Highlights. The Camera on-screen preview may incorrectly persist when switching between Desktop and Overlay modes. The “Connector” type in the Display page may incorrectly show DP* when using an HDMI* display connection. Intel® Arc™ Control Performance Tuning (BETA): Intel® Arc™ Control Performance Tuning is currently in Beta. As such, performance and features may behave unexpectedly. Intel® will continue to refine the Performance Tuning software in future releases. The driver can be downloaded from Intel's official website by visiting this link. Arc release notes seem to be getting boring slowly. Initially, there were typically double-digit percentage gains from game optimizations and even synthetic benchmarks would be getting improvements. However, since the previous release, the new driver performance gains noted haven't been anything much to write home about. This could mean there isn't untapped potential left in Arc anymore.

Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is coming to PC in July by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Despite holding a major games showcase after a two-year year gap and showing off plenty of experiences, it seems Sony had held back an announcement that would have left a lot of PC gamers happy. In a Surprise announcement today with a simple blog post, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is getting a PC port on July 26. Catch the new PC reveal and features trailer of the port above. Released in 2021 for the PlayStation 5 as an exclusive, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart arrived as the ninth entry in the popular third-person platforming series. Franchise developer Insomniac Games returned for this entry too, taking a break from all its Spider-Man duties and delivering a game that was well-received and won several awards. Coming back to the PC version, its development is headed by the now Sony-owned porting specialist Nixxes Software, with Insomniac also lending support. "We are thrilled and honored to bring this iconic franchise to a new audience," said Nixxes community specialist Julian Huijbregts. "If you haven’t played a game from this series before, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is an excellent one to start with. The game is a visual spectacle that is perfectly suitable for newcomers thanks to a standalone storyline and the introduction of two brand new characters: Rivet & Kit." As with most ports of PlayStation exclusives, the PC version touts some new features over the original release too. This includes ray-traced reflections and shadows with multiple quality levels to choose from depending on the hardware. Ultra-wide monitor support extending to 21:9, 32:9, and up to 48:9 aspect ratio setups (for both gameplay and cutscenes) is confirmed too. Nvidia DLSS 3, AMD FSR 2, Intel XeSS, and Insomniac's own Temporal Injection technologies are also included to boost frame rates, which is now uncapped on the PC release as well. Moreover, full mouse and keyboard as well as controller support with rebindable keys are incoming too. Being a Sony game, the DualSense controller is supported as well, with wired connections offering the iconic haptic feedback and dynamic trigger effects. When the game was first released, it used the included SSD in the PlayStation 5 to help it handle its gameplay features, which included warping in and out of different settings with no load times. Sony has yet to reveal the PC specs for the game, but we expect that the PC version it might require an SSD as well Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart's July 26 launch will happen on Steam and the Epic Games Store for $59.99. Those who pre-order the title will also receive early access to Pixelizer weapon and Carbonox armor set.

Amnesia: The Bunker, Car Mechanic Simulator, Farworld Pioneers, and more hit Xbox Game Pass by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Amnesia: The Bunker It's not quite June yet but Microsoft already has the month's Xbox Game Pass drops planned out. Today's announcement carries major releases, hit indie titles, and even several day-one drops onto the Game Pass services. A Double Fine classic is included this time too, a developer that now resides under Xbox Game Studios umbrella. Here are the latest batch of games announced for Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, and Xbox Cloud Gaming, as well as their arrival dates: Supraland: Six Inches Under (Cloud, Console, and PC) – Available now Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Cloud, Console, and PC) – Available today Farworld Pioneers (Console and PC) – Available today Car Mechanic Simulator 2021 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – June 1 Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer (Cloud, Console, and PC) – June 1 The Big Con (Cloud, Console, and PC) – June 1 Amnesia: The Bunker (Cloud, Console, and PC) – June 6 Hypnospace Outlaw (Cloud, Console, and PC) – June 6 Rune Factory 4 Special (Cloud, Console, and PC) – June 8 Stacking (Cloud and Console) – June 8 Dordogne (Cloud, Console, and PC) – June 13 From the list, the Terraria-like sci-fi sandbox entry Farworld Pioneers, Frictional Games' highly anticipated horror game Amnesia: The Bunker, boomer shooter Slayers X, and the hand-painted indie adventure Dordogne are all day-one launches onto Game Pass. Thanks to EA Play being included as an additional service for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers, a 10-hour early access trial has now gone live for Super Mega Baseball 4. Don't forget that Battlefield 2042's fifth season and the Minecraft: Trails & Tales update will be available soon to Game Pass subscribers for no extra cost as well. As always, some older titles are leaving the services soon. June 15 will see these six games drop out from Game Pass, which includes the hit strategy game Total War: Three Kingdoms: Bridge Constructor Portal (Cloud, Console, and PC) Chorus (Cloud, Console, and PC) Maneater (Cloud, Console, and PC) Mortal Shell (Cloud, Console, and PC) Serious Sam 4 (Cloud, Console, and PC) Total War: Three Kingdoms (PC) Microsoft's massive Xbox Games Showcase is happening in just a couple of weeks, which can even be caught in some theaters. If previous events are anything to go by, that's where we will probably get to see what Microsoft has planned out for the service in the second half of 2023. Expect to see some big announcements from first-party and third-party studios for Xbox and PC Game Pass.

Lord of the Rings: Gollum is the latest game to be released with bugs and an apology by John Callaham 2023 isn't even half over, but we have seen an unusual amount of major PC and video games released this year with show stopping bugs. The latest example is Lord of the Rings: Gollum, the third person action adventure game from Daedalic Entertainment that launched on Friday. However, reviews of the game have not been kind. The game's Metacritic score is just 36 as of this writing. Many of the reviews have commented on the issues the writers have had while playing the game. Game Informer's reviewer stated, "I constantly struggled against the controls, camera, and objectives as they were presented." A few words from the " The Lord of the Rings: Gollum™ " team pic.twitter.com/adPamy5EjO — The Lord of the Rings: Gollum (@GollumGame) May 26, 2023 Daedalic Entertainment quickly posted a statement on its Twitter page. It began with a big apology about the game's release: We would like to sincerely apologize for the underwhelming experience many of you have had with The Lord of the Rings: Gollum upon its release. We acknowledge and deeply regret that the game did not meet the expectations we set for ourselves or for our dedicated community. Please accept our sincere apologies for any disappointment this may have caused. The message added that the development team is listening to feedback from players and that it is "working diligently to address the bugs and technical issues many of you experienced." Of course, we have seen this pattern of a big developer launching a major game, followed by players discovering lots of bugs, and the developer quickly posting a message with an apology and a pledge to fix things with patches. This seems to happen especially with PC ports of games. This year alone, we have seen this happen with Forspoken, The Last of Us Part 1, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and more. As we mentioned in a recent editorial, more pre-release testing could be done to help cut down on these kinds of issues.

Weekend PC Game Deals: Hordes of Warhammer drops, free New Vegas, and more by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Weekend PC Game Deals is where the hottest gaming deals from all over the internet are gathered into one place, every week, for your consumption. So kick back, relax, and hold on to your wallets. It’s raining freebies this weekend. Starting things off is the weekly offer from the Epic Games Store. Obsidian Entertainment's fan-favorite Fallout: New Vegas is yours to keep until Thursday, June 1. This is the Ultimate Edition as well, which means you also gain Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, and Lonesome Road expansions for free. Next week's freebie is once again a mystery. Next up, Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War is free to claim over on Steam until June 1. Arriving as part of the Skulls event, this is a war-focused 4X strategy entry. Also free on Steam right now is Hue, with the vibrant puzzle adventure available to claim until June 8. Free Event Four games are temporarily free-to-play this weekend. Squad kicks things off offering its tactical action in both infantry and vehicle forms. Also having a free event is Solasta, a turn-based tactic isometric RPG where you can team up with friends to have a tabletop RPG-like experience. Also having free events are Roguebook and Project Winter, the former is a roguelike deckbuilder while the latter is an eight-player social deduction game where you backstab your friends. Big Deals Epic's 25% coupon and Mega Sale are still going strong, but that doesn't mean other stores and taking it slow. With Warhammer discounts thanks to the latest Skulls event and more, here's our handpicked highlights list from the piles of discounted games this weekend: Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales – $33.49 on Epic Store God of War – $29.99 on Epic Store Cyberpunk 2077 – $29.99 on Epic Store Warhammer 40,000: Darktide – $27.99 on Steam Hello Neighbor 2 – $25.99 on Steam Asterigos: Curse of the Stars – $24.49 on Steam Scorn – $21.99 on Steam DAEMON X MACHINA – $19.99 on Steam New World – $19.99 on Steam Red Dead Redemption 2 – $19.79 on Epic Store Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition – $17.99 on Steam The Jackbox Party Pack 7 – $17.99 on Epic Store Hunt: Showdown – $15.99 on Steam Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Anniversary Edition – $14.99 on Steam Tinykin – $14.99 on Steam Democracy 4 – $13.49 on Steam Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition – $12.84 on Gamebillet Battlefield V – $12.49 on Steam The Jackbox Party Pack 4 – $12.49 on Steam Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition – $11.99 on Steam S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Bundle – $11.99 on Steam Solasta: Crown of the Magister – $11.99 on Steam PlateUp! – $10.79 on Steam Total War : Warhammer – $10.25 on Gamebillet Patch Quest – $10.04 on Steam DOOM Eternal – $9.99 on Steam Spyro Reignited Trilogy – $9.99 on Steam DRAGON BALL FighterZ – $9.59 on Steam NBA 2K23 – $9.59 on Steam The Ascent – $8.99 on Steam Pathologic 2 – $8.74 on Steam Surgeon Simulator 2 – $7.99 on Steam Ultimate Chicken Horse – $7.49 on Steam Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince – $7.49 on Steam Space Crew: Legendary Edition – $7.49 on Steam Graveyard Keeper – $6.99 on Steam Lawn Mowing Simulator – $6.79 on Steam Autonauts – $6.79 on Steam Iron Harvest – $5.99 on Steam Human: Fall Flat – $5.99 on Steam I Am Fish – $5.99 on Steam Sid Meier’s Civilization VI – $5.99 on Steam Hello Neighbor – $5.99 on Steam The friends of Ringo Ishikawa – $5.84 on Steam Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion – $5.09 on Steam For The King – $4.99 on Steam Embr – $4.99 on Steam Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – $4.99 on Steam Streets of Rogue – $4.99 on Steam SpeedRunners – $3.74 on Steam Clustertruck – $3.74 on Steam I Am Bread – $3.24 on Steam Titanfall 2 – $2.99 on Steam Caveblazers – $0.99 on Steam Hue – $0 on Steam Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War – $0 on Steam Fallout: New Vegas - Ultimate Edition – $0 on Epic Store DRM-free Specials The Skulls Warhammer event has also reached the GOG store, and on the front page, you will find Final Liberation: Warhammer Epic 40,000, plus a goodie pack, to grab for free. With other Warhammer deals and more, check out our highlights below for this weekend's DRM-free deals: Prodeus - $17.49 on GOG Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden - $13.99 on GOG Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - $9.99 on GOG Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Master Collection - $9.49 on GOG Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft Series - $8.49 on GOG CARRION - $7.99 on GOG Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling - $7.99 on GOG Blade of Darkness - $7.49 on GOG Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus - $5.99 on GOG Blood Bowl 2 - Legendary Edition - $5.99 on GOG Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor GOTY Edition - $4.99 on GOG INSIDE - $4.99 on GOG Mount & Blade: Warband - $4.99 on GOG Loop Hero - $4.94 on GOG The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut - $4.49 on GOG Alan Wake - $4.49 on GOG Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War - $3.99 on GOG Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - $3.99 on GOG TIS-100 - $3.49 on GOG Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - $2.49 on GOG Disciples 2 Gold - $1.99 on GOG Evil Islands - $1.79 on GOG Final Liberation: Warhammer Epic 40,000 - $0 on GOG Keep in mind that availability and pricing for some deals could vary depending on the region. That's it for our pick of this weekend's PC game deals, and hopefully, some of you have enough self-restraint not to keep adding to your ever-growing backlogs. As always, there are an enormous amount of other deals ready and waiting all over the interwebs as well as on services you may already subscribe to if you comb through them, so keep your eyes open for those, and have a great weekend. Neowin may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.

Homeworld 3 gets delayed once again, this time to February 2024 by John Callaham One of our most anticipated PC games of 2023 won't be released this year after all. Today, developer Blackbird Interactive announced that its space-based RTS sequel, Homeworld 3, has had its release delayed from the first half of 2023 to February 2024. The announcement of the release date delay was made on the official Homeworld Twitter page. It stated: Our primary goal is to deliver a Homeworld experience that lives up to the standards set by its predecessors and is worthy of this series' incredible legacy. Homeworld 3 is shaping up to be exactly that, but in order to fully realize that vision we need more time to refine and polish the game. We deeply appreciate your passion and dedication to this game, and we are working hard to get Homeworld 3 to you as soon as we can. Thank you. This is, unfortunately, the second time the release date for the game has been pushed back. When Homeworld 3 was first announced in September 2019, it was supposed to come out in late 2022. In June 2022, it was announced the game would launch in the first half of 2023. This new delay to February 2024 means Homeworld 3 will miss its original target date by over a year. Blackbird Interactive, which is made up of many of the developers of the first two Homeworld games at Relic Entertainment, previously released Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak in 2016. It acted as a planet-based prequel to the main game series. It got solid reviews, and the team got the chance to make a third game in the main series via Homeworld's current IP owners, Gearbox Publishing. In addition to Homeworld 3, Gearbox released remastered versions of Relic's first two Homeworld games. It also released Homeworld Mobile, a free-to-play all-new game in the series made for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets from developer Stratosphere Games.

Alan Wake 2 costs $60 on consoles and $50 on PC thanks to digital-only release by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Remedy Entertainment delivered the first gameplay trailer of Alan Wake 2 during Sony's PlayStation Showcase yesterday. Alongside it arrived pre-orders, and there was a pleasant surprise for fans looking to jump in. The game costs $59.99 / €59.99 / £49.99 on consoles while on PC, a $49.99 / €49.99 / £39.99 price can be found. When most top-end publishers are moving, or have already moved, towards $69.99 releases, offering a highly-anticipated AAA game using the pricing formula of the previous generation does seem surprising. According to Remedy and publisher Epic Games, this is due to the game being a digital-only release. "There are many reasons for this. For one, a large number of [gamers] have shifted to digital only. You can buy a Sony PlayStation 5 without a disc drive and Microsoft’s Xbox Series S is a digital only console," says Remedy regarding the move to ditch a physical launch. "It is not uncommon to release modern games as digital-only." "Not releasing a disc helps keep the price of the game at $59.99 / €59.99 and the PC version at $49.99 / €49.99," adds the developer on an FAQ on the game's web portal. The Alan Wake 2 team also didn't want to follow the growing trend of releasing a physical copy but still requiring a complete re-download of the game or an update afterward to play. Alongside Standard, a Deluxe Edition is also up for pre-order. This $59.99 / €59.99 / £49.99 (console) and $49.99 / €49.99 / £39.99 (PC) version offers access to future expansions via a season pass, three weapon skins, and unique looks for both protagonists, as well as a flashlight battery upgrade charm, on top of the base game. Pre-ordering either version will get fans a revolver skin and a "Survival Resources Pack" to stay alive just a little longer. Alan Wake 2 is out October 17 across PC via the Epic Games Store, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. Checkout the latest gameplay trailer and details about the survival horror-focused sequel in our previous coverage over here.

AMD Adrenalin 23.5.1 WHQL driver has Lord of the Rings: Gollum support and bug fixes by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe AMD's driver team has a brand-new driver for those on the red team. AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.5.1 WQHL driver is out now with support and optimizations for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum as well as a handful of useful bug fixes. The new Daedalic Entertainment-developed stealth adventure title set in The Lord of the Rings universe is releasing tomorrow, May 25. While it's an Nvidia-sponsored title, AMD has delivered day-one support with major performance improvements with this driver. According to the company's testing, Gollum's adventures will run up to 16% better with this driver on Radeon RX 7900 series GPUs. Meanwhile, on RX 6000 series (6900XT, 6800XT and, 6700XT) graphics cards, AMD says users can expect an FPS uplift of up to 12%. The test systems were running Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPUs with 32GB of DDR5 RAM on Windows 11. The game was running at 4K resolution, though exact graphics settings were not shared. Even for those on older generation graphics cards, this driver is a recommended install for Radeon users picking up the game for a smooth experience. Diving into the bug fixes, Last of Us Part 1 continues to receive updates. RX 580 owners will also be happy to see a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare fix that's targeting their ageing but capable hardware. Here's the full list of fixes: Application crash or driver timeout may be observed during video playback using DaVinci Resolve™ Studio. Brief display corruption may occur when switching between video and game windows on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 6700 XT. Higher than expected memory usage during shader compilation time when first launching THE LAST OF US™ Part I. Intermittent system crash while playing Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 580. The known issues are mostly RX 7000 series-related: High idle power has situationally been observed when using select high-resolution and high refresh rate displays on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs. Video stuttering or performance drops may be observed during gameplay and video playback with some extended display configurations on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs. Some virtual reality games or applications may experience lower-than-expected performance on Radeon™ RX 7000 series GPUs. Application crash may be intermittently observed while playing RuneScape™ on some AMD Graphics Products, such as the Radeon™ RX 5700 XT. AMD's Adrenalin Edition 23.5.1 WHQL driver can now be upgraded via the Radeon Settings app on Windows. Those looking for a standalone install download link can find one on the driver's release notes page here.

Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake and Classic Collection announced for consoles and PC by Omer Dursun Konami has officially confirmed the long-awaited Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater remake, titled Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. The announcement was made during the PlayStation Showcase event, revealing that the remake will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Konami also unveiled the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection: Volume 1, which includes remastered versions of the original three MGS games— Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Snake Eater. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, initially released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2, is widely regarded as one of the greatest stealth action games ever. Snake Eater follows the protagonist, Snake, on a mission to infiltrate a Soviet military base in the Russian wilderness. Unlike its technologically advanced successors, the game emphasized camouflage and survival mechanics, such as hunting animals to maintain stamina. The decision to remake Metal Gear Solid 3 has generated much fan anticipation, as it presents an opportunity to experience modern graphics, gameplay enhancements, and potentially additional content. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The release date is unknown for now. As for Metal Gear Solid Master Collection: Volume 1,the collection brings together the original three Metal Gear Solid games, offering fans a chance to revisit or discover the series' iconic beginnings. The release date for the collection is set for autumn on PlayStation 5. The announcement of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater remake and the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection: Volume 1 represents a significant step in revitalizing the Metal Gear franchise. Since the departure of series creator Hideo Kojima from Konami in 2015, the franchise has remained dormant.

Alan Wake 2 gameplay trailer shows off two protagonists and plenty of horror by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Sony's PlayStation Showcase today had a surprise for Remedy fans. The studio's highly anticipated next project, Alan Wake 2, received its first gameplay trailer at the event, showing off the horror title in action and revealing a brand-new playable character. Watch the footage above, where players may see more than one familiar face. Ditching the action formula from the first game, Alan Wake 2 will offer players a psychological survival horror experience. Just like for Control, Remedy's in-house Northlight engine is powering the new game, with the studio promising a next-gen experience with "stunningly detailed visuals that bring our story, action, and environments to life." The studio is also making sure that nobody is left behind too. Players who have never played the original game from 2010, or the remaster, will still be able to follow along with the sequel, but veterans will still pick up on more tidbits. There's also the surprise reveal of a second protagonist. Saga Anderson is an FBI agent investigating a string of ritualistic murders in the small-town community of Bright Falls. This is where she finds the missing horror writer Alan Wake, and we continue the story from there. The studio described how the two perspectives will be played out in this single-player experience: The game begins with Anderson coming to investigate the murders in Bright Falls with her veteran fellow agent Alex Casey. After certain events have transpired, fans can play Wake and Anderson’s respective stories in any order they choose. Their journeys echo and foreshadow each other, in this intense atmospheric story, taking players on two separate dark and disturbing paths. Confirming recent leaks by the voice of Wake himself, Alan Wake 2 is coming out on October 17. It is coming out on PC (Epic Games Store), Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.

Sony announces Fairgame$ for PC and PS5, a PVP heist game by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Sony's PlayStation Showcase announced Fairgame$ today, the first project from Haven Studios. The title throws a heisting twisting into the standard competitive PVP formula and aims to bolster Sony's growing live service corner. Watch the cinematic trailer above. The game has players joining an underground movement to destabilize the ultra-rich's hold. This involves robbing them blind with your friends, but it means going through other robbing teams in the process. While gameplay footage isn't here yet, the cinematic trailer does show off gadget usage, highly mobile characters who may have their own specialities, and plenty of vertical gunplay. Haven Studios is the developer behind the game, a Montreal-based studio that joined the PlayStation Studios family just over a year ago. "We founded Haven with the goal of making the kind of games we all love to play," says creative director Mathieu Leduc. "As huge fans of competitive multiplayer experiences, Fairgame$ came from a desire to create a new type of PvP game with emergent sandbox gameplay. We want to deliver a fresh multiplayer experience that rewards creativity and mastery and delivers surprising stories each and every time you play." Fairgame$ is coming out on PlayStation 5 and PC. A release date was not shared today, unfortunately.

Helldivers 2 revealed as third person shooter and it will drop into PS5 and PC in 2023 by John Callaham During Sony's PlayStation Showcase today, it revealed a new entry in the Helldivers game franchise from developer Arrowhead Game Studios. However, this new game, Helldivers 2, will be a bit different than the original in one big aspect. Instead of a top-down shooter like the first game in the series, Helldivers 2 will be a third person shooter. That means fans of the original will be down on the ground battling enemies up close and personal. A post on the official PlayStation blog site offers up more info on Helldivers 2: You’ll step into the boots of an elite class of soldiers whose mission is to spread peace, liberty, and Managed Democracy using the biggest, baddest, and most explosive tools in the galaxy. Team up with up to four friends and wreak havoc on the alien scourge that threatens the safety of your home, Super Earth. One interesting thing about the game is that friendly fire will always be on during missions, so you will have to be careful to not shoot your online teammates, while also avoiding the bullets that might be coming after you. However, it looks like Helldivers 2 will retain the satirical humor of the original. Indeed, one could say that the game is more than just a homage to the Starship Troopers movie. Players will have to go on missions to defeat a host of aliens. The blog post added: Players can decide how to take down each enemy surge using a multitude of offensive and defensive tools. As you complete missions, you’ll be able to upgrade your ship and build an even more impressive arsenal. Everything from shield generators to turrets to large-scale airstrikes can be used to give your team the upper hand. The game is due later in 2023 for both the PlayStation 5 and the PC.

Nvidia WHQL 532.03 drivers adds RTX 4060 Ti support and brings AI model optimizations by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe It has been a few weeks since Nvidia released a new graphics driver, and with new hardware and games looming, a fresh update has landed today. The GeForce Game Ready 532.03 WHQL driver has support for the company's brand-new hardware, the RTX 4060 Ti, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum optimizations, and major performance uplifts in AI models. The GeForce RTX 4060 Ti launches today, targeting 1080p displays with a hefty $399 price tag for the 8GB VRAM model. Reviewers have not been kind to the new GPU, with even AMD reportedly reacted to the release with lowered pricing for an upcoming product. Anyone picking up the RTX 4060 Ti will want to install the 532.03 drivers to receive official support and make sure the new hardware is running smoothly in their systems. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, the stealth adventure title from Daedalic Entertainment, is releasing tomorrow, May 25. Being an Nvidia-backed title, Gollum's chase of the One Ring has been injected with Nvidia's DLSS 3, DLAA, Reflex, and ray-traced effects. Per the company, the RTX 4090's FPS can be boosted from 48 to 169 using DLSS 3 Frame Generation with all settings maxed out at 4K. Nvidia also said this driver has major optimizations to improve performance in AI models and applications. Users may see "up to 2x inference performance" according to the company, with Stable Diffusion being named as one of the AI applications benefiting from the upgrade. Two issues have been fixed in this release: [Age of Wonders 4] Application stability issues [4101637] [Bus Simulator 31] Ansel & Freestyle not working [4090979] Here are the known issues to look out for: Toggling HDR on and off in-game causes game stability issues when non-native resolution is used. [3624030] Monitor may briefly flicker on waking from display sleep if DSR/DLDSR is enabled. [3592260] [GeForce RTX 4090] Watch Dogs 2 may display flickering when staring at the sky [3858016] Increase in DPC latency observed in Latencymon [3952556] Applying GeForce Experience Freestyle filters cause games to crash [4008945] The Nvidia 532.03 Game Ready driver is available to download from the GeForce Experience app. Standalone download links can be found below. Here are the release notes (PDF). Desktop GPUs: GeForce Game Ready Driver Download: Windows 11, 10 – DCH Notebook GPUs: GeForce Game Ready Driver Download: Windows 11, 10 – DCH

Mortal Kombat 1 on the PC will take up 100GB of storage space with its hardware requirements by John Callaham Last week's reveal of Mortal Kombat 1 didn't offer a lot in the way of info about the reboot of the long-running fighting game series. However, the listing of the PC version of the game on Steam did yield some further information specific to that release. It looks like gamers will have to make some choices if they want to install and run the game. The Steam listing for the game shows that the PC version will require 100GB of onboard storage. This is slowly becoming a trend for high-end PC games to need 100GB or more of storage space. Last month's launch of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor needs a whopping 155GB of PC storage. A couple of other PC games released so far in 2023 have also reached 100GB or higher for their storage requirements. They include Redfall which is right at 100GB, and Forspoken at 150GB. It would appear this trend will not be going away anytime soon, so PC gamers should be thinking about buying some more storage now. The rest of Mortal Kombat 1's PC system requirements are not nearly as bad, as you can see below: MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 64-bit Processor: Intel Core i5-6600 | AMD Ryzen 3 3100 or Ryzen 5 2600 Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 or AMD Radeon RX 470 or Intel Arc A750 DirectX: Version 12 Storage: 100 GB available space RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 | AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT or Intel Arc A770 DirectX: Version 12 Storage: 100 GB available space We still don't know what the frame rates or resolution will be like for either of these system specs. Mortal Kombat 1 is currently scheduled to be released on September 19.

Elden Ring 'Seamless Co-op' mod adds support for up to 127 players and boss rush modes by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Almost a year ago, modder LukeYui released the Seamless Co-op mod for Elden Ring. It's a project that offered a separate multiplayer experience from the base game that took away most of the inconvenient aspects of FromSoftware's implementation. Now, a beta release of version 2.0 is ready for action, and it carries a couple of major new features for Souls-like fans. Version 2.0's release is dubbed experimental, and for good reason, as Its player count jump is a huge one. The previous version allowed for up to six players to band together. Now, 127 players can explore The Lands Between in co-op. Even LukeYui admits though that he has only been able to test a 15-player run internally, so the public release should help in gathering data for larger groups, especially on the performance side. The next major feature is the addition of boss rush gauntlets, and they come in various difficulty flavors. With it, players can challenge bosses and enemies of Elden Ring in waves in an arena without having to go through the open world. This is a feature that many fans have been requesting for as an official mode in the base game. Players can now jump into PVE, PVP, and boss rush modes via the Marika shrines at Roundtable Hold, Limgrave, and Caelid arenas. Catch the video below for early footage of it from previous tests. Touting over two million total downloads on its Nexus Mods page, Seamless Co-op has been receiving steady updates since its public release in May of last year to fix bugs and add more quality-of-life features for co-op enjoyers. As the creator describes it, Seamless Co-op is a "mod which removes all multiplayer boundaries and allows for connections to persist after death," and that "game progression is shared between all players." To download the Elden Ring Seamless Co-op mod, head to its Nexus Mods page here and read through the installation instructions. The 2.0 experimental release can be in the Optional section in the page's file downloads tab. Keep in mind that returning players are recommended to do a clean install of the mod. LukeYui, the creator behind this hugely popular project, has a history of adding custom content to FromSoftware's Souls-like games. This includes the multiplayer injecting Sekiro Online mod, along with the Blue Sentinel and Randomizer mods for Dark Souls 3. We will have to see if the studio's upcoming Armored Core VI will pique the modder's interest in some way too.

Weekend PC Game Deals: Stranded freebies, Unending coupons, Sports Fests, more by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Weekend PC Game Deals is where the hottest gaming deals from all over the internet are gathered into one place, every week, for your consumption. So kick back, relax, and hold on to your wallets. Before we get to all the big sales and freebies that have gone up this weekend, it's time for the bundles. Humble's May Multiplayer Madness Bundle begins with Generation Zero, Northgard, and Midnight Ghost Hunt for $8. The second and final tier takes things up a notch with Borderlands 3: Super Deluxe Edition, Destiny 2: Beyond Light, Gloria Victis, and PULSAR: Lost Colony being offered for $12. Roguelike deckbuilder fans have the Luck of the Draw Bundle to check out too, which has Dicey Dungeons and Luck be a Landlord in the $8 starting tier. That is followed by Tainted Grail: Conquest, Chrono Ark, and Alina of the Arena for $12, as well as Fights in Tight Spaces plus Beneath the Oresa for the final $20 tier. Meanwhile over on Fanatical, another Bundle Fest has kicked off. The Steam Deck verified Pick and Mix collection featuring Doom, Wolfenstein New Order, Old Blood, and more (starting at $6.99), the Bethesda VR Collection ($24.99), and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete ($7.59), are just some of the offers available. Instead of the usual double drop from Epic, the two freebies on offer this week are split between Epic Games Store and Steam. Both are post-apocalyptic adventures. Both are returning freebies. Epic is hosting Kojima Productions' Death Stranding standard edition, offering the traversal-focused action game to keep for free. The store's next freebie is being kept under wraps for now. Meanwhile on Steam, Metro: Last Light Complete Edition arrives offering the underground survival action of Artyom as the second game in the popular shooter trilogy. Both promotions run until Thursday, May 25, giving you plenty of time to spread the word. Free Events Several high-profile titles are hosting free events this weekend, and that includes a highly anticipated beta. With a sequel on the horizon, Paradox has kicked off a free weekend for Cities Skylines, the now eight-year-old city builder. The Division 2 is also having a free weekend, with Ubisoft opening up the cooperative looter shooter to show off the new content that's incoming. In-development title Star Citizen is also hosting a free event, and that one lasts for over a week. As for the beta, Street Fighter 6 is yours to try out on Steam right now. However, there is a sign-up process you need to go through to get a Capcom ID before jumping in. Big Deals This weekend's big deals arrive from massive EA publisher promotions, a Sports Fest from Steam, and Epic's latest Mega Sale. Epic is also offering another coupon with its newest promotion, which cuts an extra 25% off the basket at checkout if it's above $14.99. With it, a $14.99 title becomes $11.24 while $19.99 becomes $14.99, and so on. The prices below are without the coupon applied. Highlights from those, here are our handpicked big deals: The Callisto Protocol – $35.99 on Epic Store Temtem – $30.14 on Steam Rust – $26.79 on Steam Need for Speed Unbound – $20.99 on Epic Store It Takes Two – $19.99 on Epic Store LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – $19.99 on Epic Store Gotham Knights – $19.79 on Epic Store Prodeus – $17.49 on Steam Isonzo – $16.49 on Steam SIGNALIS – $15.99 on Steam Sherlock Holmes Chapter One – $15.74 on Epic Store A Hat in Time – $14.99 on Steam Mass Effect Legendary Edition – $14.99 on Steam Battlefield 2042 – $14.99 on Steam Ghost Song – $13.99 on Steam Midnight Fight Express – $13.99 on Steam Crysis Remastered – $13.49 on Steam The Wild at Heart – $12.49 on Steam Project Wingman – $12.49 on Steam Unpacking – $11.99 on Steam Days Gone – $11.49 on Indiegala UNSIGHTED – $9.99 on Steam Battlefield 1 – $9.99 on Steam Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate + Injustice 2 Legendary – $9.99 on Steam Void Bastards – $8.99 on Steam Archvale – $8.99 on Steam CODE VEIN – $8.99 on Steam Carto – $7.99 on Steam One Step From Eden – $7.99 on Steam ACE COMBAT 7: SKIES UNKNOWN – $7.74 on GreenManGaming Crying Suns – $7.49 on Steam Elite Dangerous – $7.49 on Steam Forager – $6.99 on Steam Metro Exodus – $6.89 on Steam Wildfire – $5.99 on Steam Ring of Pain – $5.99 on Steam theHunter: Call of the Wild – $5.99 on Steam Sid Meier’s Civilization VI – $5.99 on Steam Staxel – $4.99 on Steam Crysis Warhead – $4.99 on Steam Alice: Madness Returns – $4.99 on Steam Wizard of Legend – $4.79 on Steam Dragon Age Inquisition – $4.79 on Steam Golf It! – $4.49 on Steam Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine – $2.99 on Steam Command & Conquer Remastered Collection – $2.99 on Steam Titanfall 2 – $2.99 on Steam Mirror's Edge Catalyst – $1.99 on Steam SPORE – $1.99 on Steam SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition – $1.99 on Steam Metro: Last Light Complete Edition – $0 on Steam Death Stranding – $0 on Epic Store DRM-free Specials On the GOG store this week are specials from Bethesda, 505 Games, a boomer shooter collection, and more. A freebie offer is running on the front page too, which has a copy of 1989's Fiendish Freddy's Big Top o' Fun to claim. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition - $19.99 on GOG Dishonored: Complete Collection - $15.99 on GOG Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - $13.99 on GOG Arcade Paradise - $12.99 on GOG Ghostrunner - $10.49 on GOG System Shock 2 - $9.99 on GOG Control Ultimate Edition - $9.99 on GOG BATTLETECH - $9.99 on GOG Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising - $8.99 on GOG Journey to the Savage Planet - $8.99 on GOG Deliver Us The Moon - $8.74 on GOG DUSK - $7.99 on GOG Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force - $7.49 on GOG Prey - $7.49 on GOG Wolfenstein: The Two Pack - $7.49 on GOG The Falconeer - $6.99 on GOG Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition - $6.59 on GOG Soldier of Fortune: Platinum Edition - $6.49 on GOG The Evil Within Bundle - $6.24 on GOG AMID EVIL - $5.99 on GOG Quake III Arena - $5.99 on GOG Close To The Sun - $4.99 on GOG SWAT 4: Gold Edition - $4.99 on GOG Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition - $4.99 on GOG GRIP - $3.74 on GOG Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - $3.74 on GOG The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind GOTY Edition - $3.74 on GOG Shadow Warrior (2013) - $2.99 on GOG Fallout 2 - $2.49 on GOG Return to Castle Wolfenstein - $1.99 on GOG Serious Sam: The Second Encounter - $1.79 on GOG Fiendish Freddy's Big Top o' Fun - $0 on GOG Keep in mind that availability and pricing for some deals could vary depending on the region. That's it for our pick of this weekend's PC game deals, and hopefully, some of you have enough self-restraint not to keep adding to your ever-growing backlogs. As always, there are an enormous amount of other deals ready and waiting all over the interwebs as well as on services you may already subscribe to if you comb through them, so keep your eyes open for those, and have a great weekend. Neowin may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.

Star Citizen free-to-play event offers access to a wide range of premium ships by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Cloud Imperium Games' yearly Invictus Launch Week Free Fly event has returned, and that means Star Citizen has gone free-to-play for the duration. Lasting until May 30, the in-game festival offers the currently available chunk of the sci-fi universe to explore, as well as a multitude of space ships, vehicles, and more to try out without having to spend anything, The ships showcase is happening at the Bevic Convention Center, which can be found in the city of Area18 on planet ArcCorp. New players spawning straight into ArcCorp can watch this short video to find out how to get to the showcase floor from their apartment via a transport shuttle. Players flying in can land at the Riker Memorial Spaceport before following the signs to take the correct shuttle over to the convention hall. Every 48 hours, the in-universe manufacturer that's showcasing their wares on the show floor rotates out for another company, letting players keep returning for new hardware. With the event just now having kicked off, available to rent and try out for free at the time of publishing are ships from MISC, Mirai, and Crusader Industries. Aegis Dynamics is slated to hit the stage on May 21, followed by Anvil Aerospace on May 23, and so on. The schedule for each manufacturer and ship availability during the entire event can be found here. Also available as part of the event are tours of the 'UEES War Hammer' Javelin destroyer plus a fleet of other navy ships. These AI-handled ships will dock at various harbors across the Stanton system as the event progresses, letting players take tours of the rare and gigantic military vessels. The fleet's current location can be seen on info panels at landing zones. Lasting until May 30, the Star Citizen Invictus Launch Week Free Fly event can be accessed by making a free account on the developer's web portal and downloading the game. An FAQ regarding the event can be seen here. The in-development title is nearing $600 million in crowd funding, and its most recent update, Alpha 3.19, landed earlier this week with a major city upgrade, salvager missions, a handy tractor beam upgrade, and more.

Epic Games Store's 2023 Mega Sale brings a 25% off coupon that doesn't run out by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe For the fifth year in a row, the Epic Games Store has kicked off its Epic Mega Sale, discounting most of the wares on the PC games store. That's not all though, as yet another coupon offer has landed to make the games even cheaper. While not as enticing as the $10 coupon from a couple of years ago, this coupon variant takes a 25% chunk off the cart at checkout if it's above $14.99. The setup does favor more expensive games though, with $59.99 titles becoming $44.99 while brand-new $69.99 releases drop to $52.49. Meanwhile, using it on a $14.99 cart will have the price updated to $11.24. The coupon is applied automatically for eligible carts and games when checking out, and there isn't a limit to how many can be used during the sale, with both full-priced and already discounted games included in the offer. The only items the coupon cannot be used on are pre-orders, DLC, and in-game purchases. The Epic Games Store's Mega Sale closes its doors on June 15 at 11am ET alongside the Epic Coupon. The newly announced Epic Rewards program is staying as a regular feature though. Don't forget that Death Stranding is currently free to claim on the store too.

Epic Games Store launches Epic Rewards program with 5 percent back on purchases by John Callaham The Epic Games Store just fired a big shot against competing PC digital game stores like Valve's Steam and GoG.com Today, it revealed the new Epic Rewards program, which will give its customers 5 percent back on purchases from the store. The new program is free to sign up and use. In fact, it will be included for all Epic Games Store users once they agree to the newly updated End User License Agreement. Not only are games on the store eligible for Epic Rewards, but you can also get Rewards from purchasing add-ons, in-game items from Epic Games titles like Fortnite, or even virtual currency like V-Bucks. Epic states: You’ll automatically earn 5% back in Epic Rewards, which will be added to your Rewards Balance two weeks (14 days) after completing the associated purchase. Once you receive your Epic Rewards, you can apply them at checkout to get a discount off future eligible purchases, or save them for later. Epic Rewards can also be combined with other discounts and coupons for even better deals. Just keep in mind that Epic Rewards do expire eventually (25 months from the date they were granted to your Rewards Balance, to be exact). The new Rewards program is being revealed the same day that the Epic Games Store Mega Sale begins, with discounts up to 75 percent off games and add-ons. Eligible games will also get an additional 25 percent discount with an Epic Coupon that's automatically applied at checkout.

Star Citizen Alpha 3.19 is live carrying city upgrades, salvager missions, and more by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Cloud Imperium Games is getting back into the groove releasing major Star Cititzen updates consistently. Only a couple of months after shipping the crowd-funded title's biggest update ever, the studio has now pushed out Alpha 3.19 to live servers, which carries a Lorville city visuals overhaul, new player onboarding improvements, and an impressive new tractor beam interaction. Players heading to the city of Lorville on planet Hurston will now see an overhauled skyline that better reflects the scale of the city. Being one of the first cities that was added to the title, the upgrade gives it a new layout, updated buildings, and more. "The goal is to create the visual identity for the high-end, low-end, and generic branding of the city skyline and add navigational signage around the landing zone," the developer explains. Salvaging wrecks for profit is also a career option for players now. Various mission types, ranging from lawful, lawless, to unlawful, are now available with objectives that have them salvaging and scrapping derelict ships. Speaking of salvaging, the hand-held tractor beam has had a major upgrade. It can now detach intact parts from ships like engines, weapons systems, and missiles, and easily reattach them onto other ships . As for gameplay uses, this can be used by players to restock their depleted ammo stocks using defeated enemy ships, trade with friends without using menus, carry additional ship equipment in cargo holds, and more. New players are also a focus in this update, with a New Player Experience Mission Chain now being offered when logging into the title. This provides an interactive tutorial of sorts that gets players familiar with basic FPS and ship flying systems, UI, and other elements of this sci-fi universe. The update also carries backend improvements to make the new persistent objects system more reliable, FPS AI and mining balances, a new event for PVP fans, and other changes. Find the complete patch notes here. Star Citizen Alpha 3.19 - Call to Adventure is now available for all backers to jump into in live servers. For anyone wanting to try the game out, Cloud Imperium Games has also confirmed that Invictus Launch Week free event is coming back on May 19, offering free access to the game and a variety of ships during its run.

Xbox Game Pass gains FIFA 23, Railway Empire 2, Planet of Lana, and more in latest wave by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe As we cross over to the second half of May, Microsoft is delivering a another fresh batch of games to Xbox Game Pass subscribers. As the announcement from yesterday confirmed, this second Game Pass wave of the month also includes FIFA 23. The new announcement carried these games: FIFA 23 (Console and PC) EA Play – Available today Eastern Exorcist (Console and PC) – May 18 Ghostlore (Console) – May 18 Planet of Lana (Console and PC) – May 23 Cassette Beasts (Console) – May 25 Massive Chalice (Cloud and Console) – May 25 Railway Empire 2 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 25 Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Console and PC) – May 30 Like in most months, there are day-one arrivals this time too. It's Railway Empire 2 and Planet of Lana that are having day-one launches onto Game Pass platforms for no extra cost. As new games arrive, several older entries are going away from the service. Here are the titles leaving on May 31: Europa Universalis (PC) Evil Genius 2: World Domination (Cloud, Console, and PC) FIFA 21 (Console and PC) EA Play Floppy Knights (Cloud, Console, and PC) Lawn Mowing Simulator (Cloud, Console, and PC) With May's second wave out of the way, expect the next Xbox Game Pass reveal to arrive in early June. Microsoft is also hyping up its upcoming Xbox Games Showcase as a prime location for brand-new Game Pass announcements. Don't forget that a new friend referral program is now available for subscribers too, offering 14 days of PC Game Pass access.

Steam debuts Game Trials, offers 90 minutes of Dead Space to try out by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Steam users may be receiving a new method to try out PC games before purchasing. EA and Motive today revealed a new trial feature for the recently released Dead Space remake, letting Steam users try out 90 minutes of the game without having to put down any cash. Time-limited trials such as these are normally attached to EA Play offers, where the publisher gives a specific time allotment (usually 10 hours) for subscribers to play the game before having to purchase it. Meanwhile, free weekends and demo festivals run on specific days and do not limit the amount of play time via the launcher like this. This new Free Trial feature is not attached to any promotion like that however, with only a free Steam account needed to jump in. Once logged in, the store page lists how much time is left on the Free Trial and a handy Play Now button, which installs the full version of the game as if the user owns it already. Valve hasn't made any announcements regarding a full rollout of Game Trials to Steam, but this may be an option that's being made available to publishers and developers to attract more players. Nowadays, most PC digital stores and launchers offer quick refunds if the play time is below two hours, but having an old-school demo style trial to easily check out a new game may become a much more attractive option.

FIFA 23 hits EA Play, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and PC Game Pass tomorrow by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe EA Sports' latest entry in the long-running series of FIFA football/soccer games is about to hit multiple subscription services. Following multiple teasers over last week, confirmation has arrived of FIFA 23 hitting the EA Play subscription's available games list tomorrow, May 16. With this, subscribers across PC (EA App and Steam), Xbox, and PlayStation are all gaining access. This is not only good news for EA Play members though. Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members are also gaining access to the massively popular sports title at no extra cost thanks to EA Play being included as an added benefit to being subscribed. Released in September of last year, the 2023 FIFA entry touts a vast animation library titled HyperMotion2 that has been captured from real-life matches for realistic in-game movement. There are also dribbling improvements to offer more responsiveness, women’s club teams for the first time in the series, as well as cross-play support between platforms across a variety of modes. This is the final instalment that will ship with the EA Sports FIFA name as well. Starting with the upcoming entry, the series is officially being rebranded to EA Sports FC (Football Club). Expect the full reveal of EA Sports FC to arrive in July. While the FIFA 23 announcement has arrived already, Microsoft should also have a fresh Xbox Game Pass lineup announcement regarding the second wave of May ready for tomorrow as well.