Stardew Valley 1.6 update to bring new festivals, 8-player multiplayer, and more

Fans of farming simulator Stardew Valley will be pleased to know extra details for update 1.6 have been shared by developer Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone.

According to Barone, update 1.6 will feature a major new festival, two mini-festivals, and new late-game content expanding on each skill area.

There will be new items and crafting recipes, over 100 new lines of content, winter outfits for the villagers, a new type of reward for completing billboard requests, a new farm type, new secrets, PC support for up to 8-players in multiplayer, and more.

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New info on Diablo 4's Season of Blood to drop next week

It took a couple of weeks, but Blizzard finally announced when we can expect to hear more about Season of Blood, the second season of Diablo 4. There is a lot of anticipation building up for Season 2 right now, and Blizzard has been playing into the hype, promising two long livestreams.

Apparently, the developer will need a lot of time to explore Season of Blood features, and go over all the highly-requested, quality of life changes coming with the pre-season patch.

The next Diablo 4 developer update is scheduled for Wednesday, October 4. It'll kick off at 11am PT / 2pm ET / 7pm BST. The show will feature members of the development team, lead by community director Adam Fletcher, and focus on detailing the new vampire-related mechanics.

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Starfield Spaceship Looks Like Giant Flying Chess Board

A Starfield player has unveiled an impressive spaceship that bears a striking resemblance to a massive flying chessboard. This new creation highlights the incredible potential for player-driven innovation that Starfield offers.


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Activision Blizzard suddenly lays off several Hearthstone staff in "organizational changes"

Activision Blizzard has quietly laid off several staff from its Hearthstone team, in what the company has called "organizational changes". This has left former staff - one of which was close to 20 years at the company - looking for work.

The first signs of this news came from LinkedIn, where colleagues and onlookings discovered Hearthstone staff - including software engineer Hunter C and senior producer Joe Belousek - announcing their sudden departures from the company.

Activision Blizzard has responded officially in a statement to Kotaku senior reporter Ethan Gach. The company states: "Organizational changes were made to the Hearthstone team; as a result a small number of roles have become redundant. We want to thank these employees for their many contributions." Gach also claims that sources have told him that a total of 10 employees have been affected.

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Minecraft Player Shows Off Collection of 12-Year-Old Animals

Perfectly illustrating just how long Mojang Studios’ Minecraft has been entertaining players, one gamer has shared a screenshot of their collection of in-game animals that date back to the game’s first full release. The unique menagerie makes for an interesting digital time capsule, showing how some things have stayed the same in the game even as it has continued to evolve through the many different versions of Minecraft released over the years.


http://dlvr.it/Swfbgx

PlatinumGames co-founder Hideki Kamiya is leaving the studio next month

PlatinumGames has announced that Hideki Kamiya, director of games like Bayonetta, is leaving the developer next month.



Earlier today, PlatinumGames shared a statement on Twitter that Hideki Kamiya will be leaving the studio in October. "We regret to announce that Hideki Kamiya will be leaving PlatinumGames on October 12, 2023," reads the statement. "We are truly grateful for his creative ideas, leadership, and contribution to the growth of PlatinumGames from our start-up to this very day. We believe that he will continue to succeed in his future endeavours as a game creator. We are looking forward to seeing the game industry grow into a better place with him in it. We wish him all the best for the future!"



Outside of being a key lead on numerous PlatinumGame titles, where he directed games like Bayonetta and The Wonderful 101, he was also one of the four founders of the studio, as well as the current vice president. Kamiya shared a brief statement on Twitter himself, where he wrote "This came after a lot of consideration based on my own beliefs. and was by no means an easy decision to make. However, I feel this outcome is for the best. I will continue to create in my Hideki Kamiya way. I hope you'll keep your eyes peeled."


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One of the best Kirby games is coming to Nintendo Switch Online next week

Originally released on the Game Boy Advance, Kirby and The Amazing Mirror is making its way to Nintendo Switch Online next week. If you're a Nintendo Switch Online and Expansion Pack subscriber, you'll be happy to hear that from September 29 you'll be able to play what is arguably one of the best Kirby games. Kirby and The Amazing Mirror first launched on the Game Boy Advance almost 20 years ago in 2004, and like previous entries in the series it featured four-player co-op. The good news about its addition to Nintendo Switch Online is that like other games on the service, online multiplayer is being added meaning you can still play through the game with friends without having to worry about using any link cables. That's right, younger readers, you had to physically connect your consoles to play together in 2004. You'll also be able to play the game in local co-op too, but obviously you'll have to fight over who gets pink Kirby. On top of that, there are a selection of mini games - sorry, "subgames," - that you can compete in against your friends. My personal favourite from my childhood was Crackity Hack, which literally just involved smashing a rock to cause a shockwave that tears the ground open slightly. Some real good game feel in that one. Read more
http://dlvr.it/SwYrBj

A gorgeous, must-play indie puzzler is free on Epic Game Store game this week

Want some free games? Well, the Epic Games Store has got them. This week – until September 28 – you are able to download both Out of Line and The Forest Quartet, both games with fairly good review scores and delicious art styles. But there’s one in particular that I want to draw attention to. First up, there’s Out of Line: a unique adventure game filled with beautiful puzzles, all hand-drawn in a unique 2D style. It’s got 103 reviews averaging 9/10 on Steam, and you know what that’s like when it comes to user reviews on that storefront! Some professional critics have allied it ‘enjoyable but bland’ or ‘beautifully simple, if not a little unremarkable’. For the sake of giving it a go and saving $8, though, it’s worth a shot, right? Next up is The Forest Quartet, a 3D narrative puzzler that’s genuinely something special. It’s a game about three musicians that need to figuratively and literally get the band back together after their lead singer dies. Between pulling at the heartstrings and making you scratch your head with some obtuse puzzles, the game is a gorgeous little indie that has a lot to say (and says it very well). Read more
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Xbox’s cloud gaming workaround worked: Activision Blizzard acquisition gets closer to UK CMA approval

Today, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that the new deal, offered by Microsoft, addresses its concerns regarding monopoly in cloud gaming in the UK. Last month, the CMA blocked Microsoft's proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard because it believed it would give the company an unfair advantage in the cloud gaming space. The CMA's main focus was Activision Blizzard's major titles - such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch - which would be available exclusively on Microsoft's cloud gaming services. In response to those concerns, Microsoft submitted an alteration to the deal that would give Ubisoft control of the streaming rights for 15 years. In a press release, the CMA said that while the new deal is satisfactory, the regulatory body remains concerned about a few remaining issues. In particular, the CMA has requested stronger commitments that certain provisions of the new deal would not be "circumvented, terminated, or not enforced." Read more
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Is today's Wordle a relief after yesterday’s harder puzzle, or a rock solid trick?

What do one of the creators of South Park, the actress that most recently played Cruella Deville, the controversial director of JFK, and Patsy from AbFab all have in common? Well, if you’ve played Wordle 824 on September 21, you’ll know. There will be spoilers for today’s Wordle answer below the video, so be aware of that before you scroll down – I don’t want to spoil this for you, in case you’ve yet to solve the challenge. The answer to the Wordle challenge on September 21, is STONE. That’s the surname that all those folks up above share, of course: Matt Stone, Emma Stone, Oliver Stone, and Patsy Stone. It was a relatively easy one for people today, but a quick look on various social media channels will tell you that people still struggled a bit with the latter half of the word. Read more
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Starfield Player Builds Incredible Space Truck

Carry capacity is the name of the game for a lot of Starfield players, but one creative fan ensures that they'll never have to worry about cargo capacity ever again by designing a literal "space truck" weighing in at over 96,000 units of mass. Managing carry weight has always been something to worry about across Bethesda's previous titles, but the sheer amount of loot to find in Starfield's vast galaxy means that players will find their bags fully packed almost constantly.
http://dlvr.it/SwQCQY

Disney Dreamlight Valley Fixes Haunted Mansion Issue

The Haunted Mansion issue that prevented some Disney Dreamlight Valley players from logging into the game has now been resolved, Gameloft has confirmed. While the underlying cause of the bug has yet to be addressed, the developer rolled out an interim solution that allows all Disney Dreamlight Valley players to continue enjoying the popular life sim while the work on a more exhaustive fix continues.
http://dlvr.it/SwQC9L

After Deathloop and Redfall, Arkane is finally going back to Dishonored 3

In a pretty big leak of documents that have come from the FTC's court case with Microsoft, it's been revealed that Dishonored 3 is in the works. Back in 2018, developer Arkane said that Dishonored was "resting for now," meaning it was moving on to develop other projects. That resting period appears to be over now, though, as over on Resetera it's been spotted that a series of documents revealing all sorts of confidential information from Microsoft has been leaked. This includes a lineup of games currently in the works at various Microsoft owned developers, and notably it mentions Dishonored 3 could be released in 2024. Now, that should come with a big asterisk as it feels pretty unlikely that Arkane would announce and release a game all within such a short timeframe. Not only that, the document notes that Starfield and Redfall were planned to release in 2021, but both were initially announced as releasing in 2022, later being delayed to 2023. On top of that, the untitled Indiana Jones game was also slated for 2022 in the document, so it's probable that this document is a bit outdated. Read more
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Marvel's Avengers is dirt cheap ahead of its delisting this month

In case you forgot, Marvel's Avengers is being delisted at the end of the month, so it's a good thing you can pick it up for the price of a coffee. At the start of the year, Crystal Dynamics announced that support for Marvel's Avengers would be coming to an end September 30. Not only that, it also noted that you will no longer be able to purchase the game on digital storefronts. It will still be available physically, but only as long as there are still copies in stores, so whenever they run out, that's the lot. If you're someone that hasn't gotten round to playing it just yet despite saying, "yeah, I'll get to it eventually," there is a spot of good news. Over on Steam, the Definitive Edition of the game is 90% off, putting it at the very cheap price of £3. Yes, admittedly the game is being delisted and support is ending because it was so poorly received across the board, but when it's that cheap you can't exactly go wrong. Understandably, you might not have a PC that can run it, so it's a good thing there's a sale on the PlayStation Store currently too. You'll also find a 90% off deal there, but the game's base price is more expensive, leaving it at a slightly more expensive price of £4.50. Oddly, though, the game isn't on sale on Xbox, so if that's your platform of choice you're out of luck. Read more
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World of Warcraft: Patch 10.2 Might Be Huge for Druids

World of Warcraft may be adding tons of new Druid shapeshifting form customizations in Patch 10.2, Guardians of the Dream. Players already knew this patch was going to be huge for Druid players in World of Warcraft, but it might be even bigger than they thought.
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One of the Most Popular Minecraft Servers is Back

The Minecraft server Mineplex has announced its return, after the shutdown earlier this year. While many may love playing Minecraft solo, those who want to spice things up can join a Minecraft server and meet other players.
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Ahsoka: Ariana Greenblatt Appearance Sets New First For Star Wars

Ariana Greenblatt's appearance in Star Wars: Ahsoka set a new first for the franchise and gave fans of the animated projects an eye-opening look at one of the most impactful moments in the Star Wars continuity.
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GameCube classic Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is getting a shiny new coat of paint

Nintendo announced today its 2004 GameCube RPG Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door will return in 2024 with updated graphics. In the game, you will join Mario and friends to discover the legendary treasure behind the ancient Thousand-Year Door. The second game in the Paper Mario series finds Mario and Princess Peach involved in the search for a mystic treasure. During this time, Peach is kidnapped by an alien group called the X-Nauts, and it is up to Mario to find the treasure and save the princess. Read more
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Here's the games you can expect on day one with Xbox Game Pass Core

Microsoft has announced additional games will be available when Xbox Game Pass Core launches tomorrow, September 14. As announced in July, Xbox Live Gold is becoming Xbox Game Pass Core, and it will continue to provide players access to the Xbox multiplayer network for $10 per month or $60 per year, which is the same price Gold is currently. With the evolution of Xbox Live Gold to Core, Games with Gold is being replaced with select titles in the Xbox Game Pass catalog. Read more
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Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a course correction, not a reset

If we didn’t already know that Assassin’s Creed Mirage started life as a DLC add-on for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the HUD would have given it away: it’s virtually unchanged from the aforementioned previous entry in the series. The map icons have been replaced with ones more appropriate for the new protagonist and setting, but everything else during our extensive hands-on preview was exactly the same, right down to the font. And though this was a pre-release build, with less than a month to go before release it seems unlikely to change. This isn’t a complaint, to be clear. Obviously there are more important things to discuss here than the typeface being used in the conversation system. But it betrays the fact that Mirage isn’t really the back-to-basics reset for the series that many die-hards are hoping for. Sure, it pays homage to the first game by being set in the Middle East and sporting a rekindled emphasis on investigation mechanics, and you are actually playing an Assassin this time, but make no mistake: Mirage is essentially ‘More Valhalla’. And considering how much Valhalla we already have (too much, frankly, hence Mirage’s back-to-basics marketing) that’s going to be a tricky proposition for a lot of people. It’s not customary to be too critical during a preview, given that we are evaluating a small slice of an unreleased product, but it seems appropriate to put Mirage’s marketing as a sort of spiritual re-imagining of the 2007 original into some kind of context. That said, Mirage is so much better than any of Valhalla’s DLC expansions that it’s hard to disagree with it being spun-off into a standalone title. The DLCs were an endless slog of diminishing returns, padding out an enormous game that already had far too much padding. Read more
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Ubisoft’s XDefiant Gets Hit With a Delay After Failing Xbox and PlayStation Certification

Ubisoft's free-to-play first-person shooter XDefiant gets hit with a delay after failing certification for PlayStation and Xbox platforms. XDefiant was originally planned for a summer 2023 launch, but PlayStation and Xbox require Ubisoft to iron out more bugs and issues before the title can be shipped.
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Minecraft Player Builds Impressive Beach House in the Game

One Minecraft player has designed a detailed beach house, and the results are impressive, catching the attention of many fans on the subreddit. Minecraft features a diverse range of environments for players to explore and inhabit, and this beach house looks at home next to the game’s procedurally generated oceans.
http://dlvr.it/SvwNky

What are you playing this weekend?

It's that time of the week again: time to relax and have some fun. Hopefully, you've got plans to do something other than adult things you were unable to during the week and will be able to put your feet up, kick back, and play some games. There are quite a few news ones out there, and two big ones you may or may not have heard of along with some nice indies. We're going to spend our fun time playing some games. This weekend, we're going hardcore, hunting monsters, learning the ins and outs of being an up-and-coming yakuza, deciphering ancient tongues, exploring the stars, getting involved in teenage drama, and contemplating a trip to the Lone Star State. Read more
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This Mortal Kombat 1 trailer shows off Jean-Claude Van Damme as Johnny Cage

Netherealm Studios has finally given us a look at how Jean-Claude Van Damme will appear as the fighter Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat 1. This version of Johnny Cage even pulls off Van Damme's famous splits move as seen in his films Time Cop, Black Eagle, Kickboxer, Bloodsport, Double Impact, and others. It's fitting to see Van Damme in the game, considering the original Mortal Kombat was developed as a fighting game based on the Muscles from Brussels and his film Bloodsport. Creators Ed Boon and John Tobias wanted the actor to star in the game, but Van Damme was under contract to appear in a different game for the SEGA Genesis, plus the deal to use the film license fell through. Since the duo couldn't get either the actor or the license, they instead modeled the character Johnny Cage after how Van Damme appeared in Bloodsport. Read more
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Xbox to reveal new Game Pass titles during Tokyo Game Show broadcast

Xbox has announced it's hosting a Digital Broadcast during the Tokyo Game Show later this month, promising to reveal more titles that are coming to Game Pass. Kicking things off on the show's opening day, the Xbox Digital Broadcast is making its way back to the Tokyo Game Show on September 21 at 10am BST/ 6pm JST/ 2am PDT. According to a blog post about the broadcast, "Players can expect to hear progress updates from Xbox and Bethesda Softworks and see a creatively diverse collection of games from creators predominantly located in Japan and across Asia." The post also noted that there will be news about "new games coming to Xbox Game Pass, which continues to grow with great content from teams all around Asia." If you want to check out the broadcast, you'll be able to do so on the official Tokyo Game Show YouTube channel. The broadcast will apparently also be available on "select Xbox social channels," in Japanese, English, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, French, German, Castilian Spanish, Japanese Sign Language, Australian Sign Language, and audio descriptions in Japanese and English. For some reason those channels weren't specified in the post, though a full list will apparently be available the week of the show. Read more
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Has Starfield tanked? It has with this mod

It may have taken a week, but good old Thomas the Tank Engine has finally been modded into Starfield. When you think of Bethesda games and mods, there's probably one particular mod you think of: the Skyrim Thomas the Tank Engine mod. It's a classic mod that simply replaced all of the dragons in Skyrim with the body of Thomas, which unsurprisingly quickly grew in popularity. That mod followed on to many other games, including Fallout 4, Resident Evil 3, and even Elden Ring. So it was only a matter of time before some version of Thomas would make its way into Starfield. A week after its early access release, that time has come, thanks to the Thomas the Tank Engine Vasco Retexture mod from BulwarkHD. The unique thing about this particular take on a Thomas mod is that rather than outright replacing Vasco with the train, it had its robot body receive a new lick of paint, alongside Thomas' face being slapped on its body. Honestly, Vasco is looking pretty fresh with its new paint job, but I'd be lying if I said the dead-eyed Thomas face isn't just a little bit creepy. Read more
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Starfield Concept Would Be Huge Improvement to Looting

A Starfield player has created a UI concept that would offer a huge improvement to looting. While the Starfield looting system shares some similarities with other Bethesda games, this one alteration from a fan could make a big difference.
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Remnant 2's next patch will make it run on potatoes

Though it may have been overshadowed somewhat by major releases like Baldur's Gate 3 , and more recently Starfield, there's no doubt Remnant 2 remains one of the year's best games. Developer Gunfire Games has been quietly updating the game since its release, changing co-op scaling, making it easier to unlock Archtypes, improving performance, and continuing to add quality of life tweaks to the loot shooter. The next update, which is expected to release this week, will continue the trend. Remnant 2 principal designer, Ben Cureton, shared on Twitter a big list of changes arriving with the upcoming patch. While the full set of patch notes has not been revealed, this is already looking like one of the game's biggest. Read more
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Baldur's Gate 3 Gets New Hotfix Update

Baldur’s Gate 3 receives its fifth hotfix that’s currently live on PS5 and PC, fixing several bugs, glitches, and issues that may occur when playing multiplayer. Not only that, but this hotfix also resolves issues that players have faced revolving around Minthara, giving access to more lines of her dialogue in Baldur’s Gate 3.
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New Call of Duty: Warzone Camo Has Special Feature

A new camo in Call of Duty: Warzone has a special feature that adds a cool glow-in-the-dark touch to the game's many weapons. When it comes to in-game features, new camos and skins in Warzone are some of the main perks many players look forward to throughout the year, and this particular camo is a fun addition to the appearance of the game's weapons.
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Final Fantasy 16 is getting a couple of rounds of DLC, and a PC port is in the works

Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida shared a message today announcing that the game will in fact be getting some DLC, and there's a new update out now too. Prior to the release of Final Fantasy 16, DLC wasn't outright promised, but Square Enix had said it would consider it depending on the reception to the game. Clearly the game was received well enough (even if it didn't meet some goals), because over on its official Twitter account, Yoshida confirmed in a video message that there are two pieces of DLC in the works, though he didn't go into too much detail about them. "We’ve seen so many opinions and reactions from our community of Final Fantasy 16 players," Yoshida said in his message. "But one thing that came through particularly strongly was how people wanted to see more of Valisthea’s story and spend more time with her inhabitants. To accommodate, the development team has started work on two instalments of paid downloadable content." Read more
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Baldur's Gate 3 Player Finds Shield With Hilarious Name

Larian Studios has made plenty of amazing items in Baldur's Gate 3, and among them, one player couldn't help but showcase a strangely strong shield with a surprisingly silly name. The homebrew content in Baldur's Gate 3 boasts plenty of formidable gear, such as the Potent Robe or the Helldusk Armor, and fans have enjoyed decking out their Baldur's Gate 3 companions (as well as the player character) in the best possible equipment they could come across.
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Lenovo Legion Go goes all Switch as it challenges the Steam Deck

PC and peripheral manufacturer Lenovo has officially announced the Legion Go, a Steam Deck-like handheld device that has a few interesting things going for it - besides its specs. The Legion Go, much like the Asus ROG Ally, runs Windows 11. Lenovo is working on its own software launcher to manage all the separate PC stores, but right now, you can expect AMD Ryzen Z1 Series CPUs, and an 8.8-inch display. The screen is QHD+ with a 16:10 aspect ratio. It has a range of supported resolutions, from 800p up to 1600p, and from 60Hz up to a whopping 144Hz.The IPS screen further differentiates itself with 500nits of peak brightness, and a 97% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. As expected, it also supports multi-touch. Read more
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Aquaman 2 Trailer Sets Negative Record For Warner Bros And DC

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has seemingly gotten off on the wrong foot by setting a negative record within the franchise that could spell trouble for its theatrical release.
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