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In a recent interview, Todd Howard explains how planet exploration in Starfield would have been a lot more punishing before the team decided to nerf "the hell out of it".

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"So the way the environmental damage works in the game, on planets, and your suit, you have resistances to certain types of atmosphere effects, whether that's radiation or thermal, etc., and that was a pretty complex system - actually, it was very punitive," Howard said on the podcast. "... And what we did at the end of the day, and it was a complicated system for players to understand, is we just nerfed the hell out of it. It matters only a little bit. It matters more in flavor. The affliction you get is more annoying knowing you have it."

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Howard's comment that Bethesda may address it "going forward" implies Starfield may receive a Hardcore or Survival mode-type difficulty level in the game. It would not be the first time Bethesda added a difficulty mode to one of its games post-release, as Fallout 4 received a Survival Mode a few months after launch. This added a set of features not found in the other difficulty levels, such as eliminating the option to autosave or save manually from the pause menu or stronger enemies spawning more frequently. Should such a mode be added to Starfield, the team could bring back the more punitive system for planet exploration.

Growing Light was first teased during the Letter from the Producer Live event at Fan Fest Las Vegas in July, confirming that Growing Light will be split across two major updates. The first will land in FF14’s patch 6.5 on October 3rd, ahead of the second part in patch 6.55 next January.

As detailed during producer Naoki ‘Yoshi-P’ Yoshida’s latest stream, patch 6.5 will add a host of new content to XIV, the headline additions being the next set of Main Scenario quests - referred to as Part 1 - that will lead up to Dawntrail and continue to advance the MMO in its post-Hydaelyn-Zodiark story arc following the finale of 2021 expansion Endwalker.

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CD Projekt have formally commented on the presence of references to the Russia-Ukraine war in Cyberpunk 2077's recently added Ukrainian localisation, apologising for dialogue lines "that can be considered offensive by Russian gamers", while reiterating their support for Ukraine.

In case you missed it, the Ukrainian script and menu localisation currently includes a number of antagonistic references to Russians and to the on-going Russian invasion of Ukraine. One dialogue line refers to a particular bandit group as "rusnia", and there's photo mode menu text for a squatting character that translates as "like a Russian". There's also lore text that apparently riffs on Ukrainian government rhetoric during the war, and a piece of in-game wallart that alludes to the dispute between Ukraine and Russia over Crimea.

Those buying an Xbox Series X can get a free Starfield copy at select retailers, including Verizon and Target.

Starfield is a popular game, with the title reaching over 10 million players since its global launch this month. Of course, aside from being available digitally and at retailers, Bethesda's sci-fi RPG is also available on Game Pass. Those who haven't bought the game just yet or aren't subscribed to Microsoft's game subscription service can now get a free copy of the game when purchasing an Xbox Series X. Both Target and Verizon are bundling the game for free with Microsoft's Series X console for 'only' $499.99. Interestingly enough, Target's offer isn't limited to Starfield, but it also works with various Xbox Series X titles, including Madden NFL 24, the new Mortal Kombat 1, Hogwarts Legacy, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, and more.

As said, Verizon is currently offering a special limited-time Xbox Series X bundle with a free copy of Starfield for $499.99 (normally $569.98). This item is only available online, and those purchasing the bundle need to be at least 17 years old.

Members of the major SAG-AFTRA acting union have overwhelmingly voted in favour of authorising a potential video game strike.

Ballots were cast by 34,687 members, with 98.32 percent in favour of strike authorisation on the Interactive Media Agreement that covers union members' work on video games.

While this does not guarantee the union will call a strike, the next bargaining session is this week, and this ratchets up the pressure. The leverage of this authorisation could compel movement on either side.

According to the voice of Astarion himself, there's a whole two hour section of Baldur's Gate 3 no one has played yet.

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"There's even something I know about that you can't get to unless you do something that I don't think anyone's going to work out," Newborn said in the livestream, which you can see him talk about in a clip above. "I was told this in confidence and I think I'm one of the few people who knows about it as well." In the stream Newborn was even asked if he could tell the person he was talking to what it is, but noted "it's one of those few things I cannot friend-DA." Just to clarify, Newborn will have signed an NDA to work on this project, unsurprisingly, but people are people and they do tell their friends things, but this seems like something so secretive he can't even do that.

Update: See below, it has been found.

EVE Online has featured several of the biggest PvP battles in gaming history, but it only lets you fly one ship at a time. Set in the same universe but from a very different perspective, EVE Galaxy Conquest is a multiplayer 4X strategy game that puts you in command of your own outpost and an entire fleet.

The factions and warships should be familiar to EVE fans, but you'll be able to command large numbers of them without having to yell at a bunch of mercenaries over discord to stick to the freaking plan.

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EVE Galaxy Conquest will be soft launching on Android and iOS later this year. CCP Shanghai has not announced any plans for a PC version so far, but they didn't rule it out as a possibility. Likewise, we didn't learn anything for sure about the monetization other than it will be similar to other free-to-play mobile strategy games.

Rockstar Games has announced that players subscribed to its $5.99 GTA+ membership on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles will now get access to a “rotating assortment” of classic titles, beginning with Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition.

The reworked trilogy is comprised of GTA 3, GTA: Vice City, and GTA: San Andreas, all of which were billed to have benefitted from a slew of graphical and gameplay improvements. The collection released in November 2021 in a pretty rough condition, but Rockstar has since pushed out a series of patches that have alleviated some of the many bugs and graphical issues faced by players at launch.

In IGN’s 5/10 review we noted that the new features “are slight and only partially implemented”, while “visuals are mixed, performance is inconsistent at best, content is missing and bugs and glitches abound”. These technical issues did little to dull consumer enthusiasm, with the collection significantly exceeding Rockstar’s expectations by selling up to 10 million in the months following its release.

Paying out for the subscription service also grants you a monthly bonus of $500,000 of in-game currency, along with discounts and freebies of cosmetic items, properties, cars, and more. Rockstar hasn’t given any indication as to which other ‘classic titles’ will replace the definitive editions of GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas when they are rotated out.

Baldur's Gate 3's Patch 3, which was so massive Larian held it back a day to test it properly, will release today, and it'll add an RPG feature many of us have been requesting since we stepped clear of the Nautiloid - the ability to change a character's appearance. Alas, it comes too late for the Wood Elf Druid I rolled during my first try at the 1.0 version. I wanted her to look like a sort of Kung Fu Galadriel, with cool tattoos and aerodynamic scars, but she emerged from the character creator looking like she'd been mugged by a packet of demon crayons. I've left my active character, a High Elf Sorceress, safely tattoo-less.

Just around 24 hours after Musk made his comments, more than 42,000 new users joined Bluesky, making it the biggest signup day yet for the currently invite-only platform that launched earlier this year.

Bluesky saw a total of 53,585 new signups by the end of Tuesday, September 19. The new users gained in that single day make up 5 percent of the platform's entire user base of 1,125,499 total accounts.

The new user signups are tracked via the third-party website "Bluesky Stats." Looking over Bluesky signup numbers on the tracker for the past month, it appears that the platform usually sees from 10,000 to 20,000 new signups per day. Bluesky has doubled its usual daily new user numbers already, with many more hours left in the day still to go.

It's impossible to know whether Musk's comments about charging users to post on X really played a role in this, but it almost certainly had some effect.

Amazon has created a new rule limiting the number of books that authors can self-publish on its site to three a day, after an influx of suspected AI-generated material was listed for sale in recent months.

The company announced the new limitations in a post on its Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) forum on Monday. “While we have not seen a spike in our publishing numbers, in order to help protect against abuse, we are lowering the volume limits we have in place on new title creations,” read the statement. KDP allows authors to self-publish their books and list them for sale on Amazon’s site.

Amazon told the Guardian that the limit is set at three titles, though this number may be adjusted “if needed”. The company confirmed that there was previously no limit to the number of books authors could list a day.

Cyberpunk 2077 is getting a mammoth-sized update, titled Update 2.0, tomorrow, September 21, and it promises to be a bit of a game changer. A police revamp, a progression overhaul, a new cybernetics system, vehicular combat, DLSS 3.5—it's vast, and thankfully separate from the Phantom Liberty expansion due next week, so you'll get all of this for free. With so many changes, the developer is naturally recommending that you experience it all on a fresh save, starting a new game rather than continuing an existing one.

It's entirely possible to just carry on with an old save, but making a new character will ease you into all of the big changes, most notably the skill system, which might be a bit jarring if you have to rebuild an existing character. "Due to the number of changes, starting fresh will enhance your overall gameplay experience," reads the tweet from CD Projekt Red.

Hey, chooms! While you'll be able to continue the game with your current character on an existing save, we recommend starting a new game after @CyberpunkGame
Update 2.0. Due to the number of changes, starting fresh will enhance your overall gameplay experience!