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There are other games hogging the spotlight at the moment, but Remnant 2 looks like something of a dark horse that, among its devotees at least, is one of 2023’s unique and most polished experiences. The game is a (deep breath) third person roguelike Soulslike shooter with a heavy focus on procedural generation, which can be played solo or co-op, and is one of those designed for multiple playthroughs, all of which in theory are wildly different. It is also a brutally difficult game and, on the highest difficulty (Apocalypse), has some players whining a little too much as they lick their wounds. 

How tough is Apocalypse? Bosses and tougher enemies will one-shot your character, while even weaker enemies will take you down in a couple of hits. It probably needs emphasising that this is not the default experience, but the game’s toughest challenge for those who reckon they’re the bees’ knees and want the shiniest rewards the game can offer. The near-certainty with Apocalypse …

Japan is looking to become a player in the semiconductor industry again after 20 years. Rapidus Corp., a newly-formed Japanese chip maker, plans to compete with Samsung and TSMC by producing 2-nanometer chips in just four years.

Bloomberg reports that Rapidus is spending billions of dollars on building a domestic chip plant by 2027 with state backing. The newly formed chip maker has also gotten huge investments from Japanese equipment manufacturers like Sony and Toyota. The Japanese government already has plans to earmark over $2.4 billion (¥330 billion) yearly for the future semiconductor manufacturer. 

Rapidus chairman Tetsuro Higashi tells Bloomberg, “Huge opportunities are ahead of us if we can become first in the market and if we focus on making chips for specific areas, such as AI.”

Rapidus likely won’t be the first to 2-nanometer production, but it won’t be far behind. TSMC plans to fire 2nm chips by late 2025, as is Samsung. So it’ll be interestin…

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The tough thing about making a Transformers game is that you can’t just make an action game about giant robots. You’ve also got to be able to handle the vehicle side of things, and there aren’t a lot of studios out there who are equally adept at making racing games or flight sims as they are at making big robot action games. 

Transformers: Galactic Trials, in development from 3DClouds, seems to be leaning more heavily on the racing side of things. The singleplayer mode has you traversing “battle-race circuits” that consist of both combat and driving challenges you have to face in the relevant forms, while collecting Prime Relics that can be spent to improve skills as well as unlocking more characters and skills. The press release says it has a “rogue-lite combat elements”, which presumably means permadeath but with persistent level-ups.

You can play as a bunch of different Autobots and Decepticons, including Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Arcee, Wheeljack, Elita…

“Our game is like if Dark Souls had a baby with God of War,” The marketing guy insists to you. “It is as though The Sims had sex with Neverwinter Nights,” He raves, fingers digging into your arm. His eyes dilate, “Our game is reminiscent of a theoretical scenario where Twisted Metal was the illicit court paramour of Barbie Horse Adventures, and they produced a royal bastard capable of upending this kingdom’s fragile politics.” 

I’ve heard this shtick before, is what I’m saying, but it’s definitely way more believable when the guy saying it actually helped make both of the copulating games in question. “With deep world building, compelling narrative, crunchy RPG systems, engaging gameplay, and massive reactivity,” Wrote Chad Moore, project director on inXile’s Clockwork Revolution, “I’ve always described [Clockwork Revolution] as the love child of [Arcanum] and [Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines]”

In another life, Moore was a developer at Troika Gam…

Short-form video content creators have an interesting challenge to overcome: In a never-ending feed of videos, how do you grab someone’s attention long enough to keep them watching yours? Increasingly, the answer appears to be to simply make something up, and the more salacious, conspiratorial, or outrageous, the better. Add in some AI-generated imagery, subtitles, and an AI voice-over, and thanks to some creator incentive programs, big bucks may follow.

Media Matters has released a YouTube video featuring its senior video producer Abbie Richards performing a deep-dive on exactly why conspiracy theory videos are popping up all over platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts, and just how easy they are to create thanks to, you guessed it, the power of AI. 

Endeavouring to create its very own short-form conspiracy content, based on the idea that a scientist eating Play-Doh in a lab recorded themselves growing in height, losing 60 lbs in weight, and curing cancer, the ch…

Sink into a comfy chair, take a good sip of your favourite morning brew, and spend exactly as much or as little of your week-worn brain on today’s Wordle as you wish, because we’re here to help. Mull over a hint for today’s puzzle if you like, offering a little nudge without instantly giving the answer away. Or click through to the March 30 (1015) solution if you’d prefer.

I got caught up in a strangely helpful tangle of yellow letters after a few guesses today, not really knowing what the answer was, but at least able to see what it definitely wasn’t. That strange situation turned out to be just what I needed, today’s winning word was the only possible option left… after several failed attempts at rearranging what I had.

Today’s Wordle hint

Wordle today: A hint for Saturday, March 30

Making something happen whether the person or object on the receiving end wants it to or not is the defining act behind today’s Wordle. To use your stren…

The Black Ops 6 deep dive that aired just after the Xbox Games Showcase yesterday showed off loads of new information about the upcoming Call of Duty. Not only will it be time-warping back to the ’90s, but it’s also adding a new “Omnimovement” feature that could either sink or swim—we’re not sure yet. But the best news, in my opinion, had to be that Zombies will be returning to the traditional round-based format. 

We’ll be able to enjoy two new round-based Zombies maps, Terminus and Liberty Falls, as well as a “continuation of the intriguing and terrifying Dark Aether narrative that was started in Black Ops Cold War,” according to a Call of Duty blog post. I always enjoyed the cosmic horror take on Zombies that an alternate dimension supplies, so it’ll be cool to see it make a return after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s open-world Zombies. 

In addition to the two new maps, Treyarch also says that there will be “new and returning power-ups, a pantheon of…

Take heed, Counter-Strike 2 players: Valve has issued a warning that not only will cheaters be dealt with harshly through permanent bans, those who merely “associate” with them will be punished for their bad behaviour too. What does that mean, exactly? We’re still waiting to find out from Valve, who may be keeping details about this aspect of its anti-cheat program deliberately unclear to avoid circumvention.

The caution came as a single line in the Counter-Strike 2 release notes that were posted on Steam yesterday. The very first line in the “Matchmaking” section states, “When one or more party members get convicted of cheating and permanently banned, all their associates will be penalized with loss of Profile Rank and CS Rating.”

Cheating in Counter-Strike has been an issue for almost as long as Counter-Strike has been around, among both casual players and on the pro scene. Valve has done almost everything imaginable to punish and deter cheaters over the years, and it …

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The latest Vampire Survivors update has dropped a decent stack of new stuff to do, focusing on five new Arcana cards to activate that’ll give you strange new ways to play the game. Most of the update focuses around a new challenge stage and the aforementioned new arcanas—the Darkanas.

The Darkasso update includes nine new achievements, a  new challenge stage, a new relic, two new character skins, and five new arcanas. Poncle notes that the five new arcanas are “considered experimental and subject to change.”

The new character skins are a new kind of “special skins” that in addition to changing appearances also alter their base character’s stats and weapons. They’re rewards for completing the two base game Adventure modes once—if you’ve already done that just open the menu.

The Darkanas sound kind of hysterical: One makes you spit out exploding projectiles every time you take damage, and the amount of health you’ve recovered over the run in…