When Google shut down underperforming game-streaming service Stadia, the company announced a plan to keep the tech underlying it alive in the form of “Immersive Stream for Games”, which it licenced out so other companies could let their customers play games online. One high-profile result was Resident Evil Village’s demo you could play in a browser, but the same tech was behind AT&T letting subscribers play Batman: Arkham Knight and fitness-bike maker Peloton launching a game called Lanebreak (turns out, virtual cycling games are big business).

In the midst of promoting a bundle of tools Google Cloud offers game publishers to support their live service games, reporter Stephen Totilo mentioned that the Stadia tech is no longer available to license.

“We are not offering th…

The Steam Deck is on sale over at Valve for the next two weeks. It’s not a paltry amount off, either. There’s 10% off the cheapest model, 15% off the middle-tier model, and 20% off the top tier model. 

The top model, the one with a full 512GB NVMe SSD, is down to less than the regular price of the 256GB model with that 20% discount. So, that’s already a pretty convincing discount if you’ve been waiting to make a decision on whether to buy the handheld or not. 

Though more alluring is the budget model, even with a slimmer 10% discount. One reason why is that, no matter what, the ROG Ally can’t compete with the price tag on the 64GB Steam Deck—it’s just a much cheaper device. 

But, importantly, you don’t have to put up with that small storag…

Is there a point at which a gaming monitor gets too big, too unweildy? Maybe, but who cares, just look at this thing, corner-to-corner made of Samsung’s snazzy QD-OLD panel tech, all 49 inches of it. We first clapped our eyes on it in July. Then it was $1,599, now it’s already plummeted to just $999 on Amazon in the run up to Black Friday.

Yep, that’s still a whole lotta money. But it’s remarkable to see a premium mega sized OLED gaming monitor hit this price level so soon after launch. Lest you have forgotten, the Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 G93SC is a 49-inch 32:9 aspect monster sporting QD-OLED tech and a native resolution of 5,120 by 1,440.

It’s an interesting alternative to another massive Samsung beast, the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 G95NC Dual UHD is even bigger at 57 inches …

So farewell then, Google Stadia: We barely knew ye. Around ten hours ago Google’s streaming service finally closed after three years. There were props for the way the company handled the shutdown (with all customers receiving refunds and the controller getting a firmware update to enable bluetooth functionality), some unseemly celebrations, but mostly sadness about what developers and players alike would miss.

You never know what you got till it’s gone, I suppose. Stadia’s last week brought one small gaming surprise in the form of the service’s very final released game being its first: a multiplayer version of Snake called Worm Game. That dude who put 6,000 hours into Red Dead Online on Stadia streamed his final journey into the wild west on the service, with Rockstar’s save trans…

Earlier this week, Wudijo, who found Diablo 4 fame during the beta by soloing the world boss, became the first player to reach level 100 in the game’s Hardcore mode entirely on his own. But glory is short-lived, and so too was Wudijo, who has been killed in a throwdown with the game’s toughest boss.

Wudijo wasn’t the first person to reach Hardcore 100—that honor went to cArn_, who claimed the crown on June 5. But cArn_ did so with a supporting team—Zizaran, Steelmage, and Nugiyen—who helped him push past Wudijo and other players in the final stretch of the race. Wudijo, on the other hand, did the whole thing on his own, so even though he’s not first to reach the top, it is by some measures an even more impressive accomplishment.

Alas, the epic tale has come…

You might think that Hewlett-Packard’s most important profit generator might be AI servers or cheap laptops, but you’d be wrong. Over half of HP’s annual profits last year were entirely down to its print division, with no small thanks to its Dynamic Security printer firmware upgrade that completely blocked all third-party ink cartridges. Cue yet another round of litigation, in the form of a lawsuit aiming for class action status, claiming HP has created a monopoly on printer ink.

As reported by Ars Technica, the filing is requesting that HP is given an injunction that ultimately requires it to disable Dynamic Security, thus allowing owners to use non-HP replacement ink cartridges. Oh, and the small matter of more than $5 million in damages, and a trial by jury to boot.

This …

Intel is putting the finishing touches on its upcoming 14th Gen CPU range. As we draw closer to a launch, it’s not uncommon to get a few leaks including performance estimates, a release date or a new feature. Some leaks are more credible than others, but these come directly from ASRock. So until we come to the launch day and an announcement from Intel, this is about as official as it gets.

Perhaps the most interesting thing from ASRock’s blog post (via IT Home) is a summary of performance estimates. It says it expects single-core performance to improve by 4% to 8% and multi-core performance by 8% to 15%. These estimates are mostly in-line with what we can expect without an architectural change. These increases are going to be due to clock speed and power budget increases, and E co…

Earlier this week, the CEO of Helldivers 2 studio Arrowhead Games flatly denied the existence of heavy machine guns—Johan Pilestedt has track record of being tongue-in-cheek, though it’s not clear whether he accidentally blurted out some Super Earth secrets or fired a knowing wink our direction, here.

Turns out, we are getting not one, but two heavy weapons to help us in our march against the bots: the LAS-99 Quasar Cannon and the MG-101 Heavy Machine Gun (HMG), which are both available in-game right now. 

Both of these heavy-duty weapons should help thin the herd of Super Earth’s foes by offering even more anti-armour options—though the LAS-99 Quasar Cannon appears to be geared most towards taking out tanky enemies, as it’s shown obliterating Autom…

We learned last year about The Store is Closed, a survival game that trapped players inside an “infinite furniture store” that was quite clearly an Ikea in all but name—creator Jacob Shaw even referred to it as “an infinite Ikea game” on Reddit. The similarity was overt enough that Ikea threatened legal action, and so when we ran across Retail Royale on Steam—”a chaotic Battle Royale inside a furniture store where everything is a weapon”—our first thought was that The Store is Closed had rebranded, retooled, and come back as a battle royale game. But no: Somehow, there are now two distinct, large-scale pretend-Ikea games on the market.

Retail Royale has been in early access for a year, and actually got some attention from streamers including xQc and JFJ not long …

Looking for some weekend Wordle help? There’s a hint for today’s puzzle waiting just below, ready to offer a clear path through the grey letter fog. Need something a little more direct on the weekend? You’ve got it. The answer to the December 23 (917) Wordle is only a quick click away.

A win in three quick guesses on a Saturday morning? I love it. Just a nice case of almost being right, almost being right in a slightly more accurate way, and then sitting back as today’s Wordle answer revealed itself. What more could I ask for? Other than for tomorrow’s puzzle to turn up a little earlier than usual so I can play again, that is.

Today’s Wordle hint

Wordle today: A hint for Saturday, December 23

Today’s answer refers to a sort of slant, angle, or gr…

Whether you’re a little stumped and looking for a clue to point you in the right direction, a guide to show you how to make every day a Wordle winner, or simply want to see today’s answer with the minimum amount of fuss, you’ll find all the help you need for the January 24 (584) Wordle right here.

The trio of yellows I’d unearthed in my opener made me feel confident I’d have this by the third go: vowels here, consonants there, done. It didn’t work out that way, and for a guess or two, I found myself with the dreaded gap—one missing letter with more valid ways to fill it than I had attempts remaining. Luckily I found the right one before I reached the bottom, but only just. 

Wordle hint

A Wordle hint for Tuesday, January 24

To …

Rift Wizard 2 hit Steam this week, calling itself a “tough as nails traditional roguelike wizard simulator” and sporting the colorful graphics and complex pile of character builds to back that claim up.

In it, you’re a powerful and immortal wizard who jumps from battle to battle across the multiverse while building up a repertoire of spells, skills, and magical artifacts that hopefully synergize into something that’ll both keep you alive and defeat your nemesis at the end of the journey.

It sports a pretty dang massive pile of spells to play with as you build up your spellbook, giving you all kinds of ways to defeat a truly dizzying array of weird creatures you’ll have to fight, each with their own strange rules and abilities. Rift Wizard 2 brings a big-time upgrade: Items t…

Humble Bundle’s dropped another great TTRPG deal—this time for Lovecraft lovers with its Call of Cthulhu book bundle. At the time of writing, the bundle has raised over $22,000 for the World Wildlife Fund. It’s also a pretty damn good deal from a buyer’s standpoint, too.

The bundle includes the game’s Starter Set as well as a host of other supplements: including tips for the Keeper (the game’s equivalent of a DM/GM), a PDF full of horrible monster cards to break your players with, campaigns like Alone Against the Tide, and supplements to help you run stories from occult pulp mysteries to modern horror.

My experience with the system’s limited to a couple of one-shots, though I do recognise “Down Darker Trails”—a booklet that lets you transfer Call of Cthulhu to th…