So the sliders in Starfield’s character creator screens are based on a technique called gel electrophoresis. It’s used by molecular biologists to separate differently-sized large complex molecules such as DNA and proteins, by putting them in a gel and running an electric current across it. Here’s an explainer that does a much better, in-depth job than I can. The results make a very distinctive pattern and Bethesda have made use of that in Starfield, to indicate changes to things like hair colour, head shapes, eyes and skin tone....

Valve say that the selection of demos features games that are planning a release on Steam within the next six months. There are all sorts of games on offer, but their trailer focuses on those with multiplayer and co-op. That physics-based duelling game Hellish Quart has a demo, as does silly physics game Party Animals, Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp, and two-headed dog co-op game Phogs. There are so, so many more to find on the autumn game festival page....

After Microsoft’s promises that Halo Infinite would be supported for 10 years, fans expected new story content alongside updates to Infinite’s live-service multiplayer. According to Bloomberg, single-player content was never actually planned for the game. Instead, developers had been prototyping and pitching ideas for new Halo games, although nothing was in active development. Since most of the layoffs at 343 affected their single-player team, no new story content is being worked on at the moment, sending Master Chief back into cryo-sleep....

Like all good games, it’s set in 2130, in space, and your DNA test tells you to be a ‘genius artist’. So you set-up an easel and get on with it. There are so many tools to play with. Pencils and paint, different brushes, sprays, knives, stencils, and, for some reason, flamethrowers. Paint is probably the most important part of the game. It gloops, it mixes, it sprays. You can be subtle with it, which is what was missing from all the other painting sims I dug out....

Following a closed beta earlier this month, the boffins at Bossa’s medical wing have open the hospital doors, trust their patients to any would-be doctors, surgeons, and medically-sanctioned murderers with today’s release. Where the first game gave you a single grubby hand and a stomach cavity to explore, Surgeon Simulator 2 opens the floor to four-player operations with fully-ambulated medical professionals. You’ll all have to awkwardly coordinate by stumbling around the theatre, haphazardly throwing around tools as you all try and stitch a bloke’s head back on with anything you can find....

According to Reuters, Codemasters announced that the proposed deal values the developer at £739.2 million / $973.01 million and would be paid part in cash and part in Take-Two shares. As the company courtship dance goes, Take-Two have published their own press release about the proposal, explaining what they see in a partnership between the two. The offer has not yet been finalised and is still, in legal-y terms, a “possible offer”, but Take-Two say that it is the current intention of the Board of Codemasters to recommend shareholders accept the deal....

One of the best bits about Squadrons’ fantastic Fleet Battles is that you don’t need to dive in against human opponents right away. Instead, you can learn the ropes by pitting yourself against AI opponents. They’re all given daft Star Wars names, of course - and it appears there may a lovely story behind Puyo Bock’s moniker. Brian Altano, a writer, musician and IGN contributor based in San Francisco, took to Twitter today to share the apparent roots of Bock’s name....

This guide will show you everything that you need to know to create the best Doc build in Back 4 Blood, so that you can keep your teammates at the top of their game. Best Doc build in Back 4 Blood The real heroes are the players who stay out of the fray and choose to heal teammates instead. Well, Doc can keep everyone in good condition whilst dealing a fair bit of damage to the undead, making her one of the best characters in Back 4 Blood....

In order to bring you, our valued readers, the best possible bang for your buck (but like, the eye bucks of spending time reading) we each bravely traversed the wilds of the Steam Game Fest to bring you our favourite demos broken down by genre. Alice Bee obviously baggsied doing RPGs, and has curated a list of varied options, from your standard Tolkein-esque fantasy RPG to a life-sim about making beer, from a witch who lives in the woods to a time-travelling orphan....

Tainted Grail: Conquest conveys the same sense of blight and doom in its dark fantasy universe — one that’s a reimagining of Arthurian legends — but also ups the ante with a huge wallop of Slay The Spire’s roguelike, deck-building elements. You’re an undead warrior who is trapped in a purgatory state of unrest and suffering, and pretty much the only way to be freed of this is to slay a lot of unholy demons and animated corpses....

Below we’ll help you reach the heavenly euphoric heights of destruction that befit the Butcher of Blaviken himself. With our cherry-picked list of the best steel and silver swords on offer in The Witcher 3, you’ll know exactly where to go and what to do to get your hands on the best swords on the Continent. The Witcher 3 best swords These are the best Witcher 3 swords: Aerondight (Silver) Iris/Olgierd’s Sword (Steel) Viper swords (Steel and Silver) Feline swords (Steel and Silver) Manticore swords (Steel and Silver) Toussaint Sword (Steel) Belhaven Blade (Steel) Bloodsword (Silver) Gesheft (Silver)...

Yup, that sure is your player character getting sucked into an engine, there. I was watching this on stream with subtitles, and they read “[machine worrying noises]”. Me too, little engine, me too. Once you get over that, of course, you notice the similarities to Dead Space: the shooting monster limbs, the suit with a little health light meter on the back, the whole abandoned tunnels in space of it all, and so on....

Burgess explains that River was “the antidote” to one of his biggest worries with Dogmeat - that the pup would be treated as “a canine weapon, and nothing more”. He would bring her into the studio, partly to be recorded and studied, but mostly so the devs could spend time with her. Ultimately, she wasn’t just a dog actor, but a companion to everyone who worked with her. “The Dogmeat team was just a handful of us early on - as River stole hearts around the studio, however, more and more folks found ways to pitch in and help bring her personality into the game,” Burgess says....

It’ll work well enough for a demonstration, but 3DSen’s store page reckons the following trailer “doesn’t do it justice”. Have a little confidence, eh? Over the past five years, developers Geod have been bashing away at their somewhat unique emulator. Not content with simply getting games running on virtual NES hardware, 3DSen PC extrudes a whole third dimension from any given game - whether it’s a console classic from back in the day, or a more modern homebrew attempt....

Our first break from the inky blackness comes at Kilburn Park, the most northerly of the Bakerloo’s subterranean stops. If Dovetail had modelled the station in its entirety I’d suggest we all alight here and go topside to admire the handsome tiled facade. Unlike earlier tube station buildings (Kilburn Park opened in 1915 – part of the Bakerloo extension from Paddington to Queen’s Park) this one was built without a second storey because the go-ahead Underground Electric Railways Company of London had decided to abandon elevators in favour of a more modern technology – the escalator....

I struck up a conversation with John when I spotted the book he was collecting from the request desk. Task for Coastal Command by Hector Bolitho is a pretty obscure tome – not the sort of book your average aviation enthusiast would seek out. As it turned out my fellow borrower was no ordinary aviation enthusiast. A flier with a long and unusual career in the Royal Navy behind him, Captain J....

Douglas started out simple, recreating the office where health secretary Matt Hancock broke Covid restrictions while cheating on his wife. From there, he has recreated more and more aspects and events of English culture, scattering across them one big level now known as Duke Smoochem 3D. He has a great eye for the mundanities as well as the bits which feel surreal even if you witnessed at the time. He’s made a Greggs complete with a version of the controversial sauage roll nativity, for one....

But in 2016, here was Sombra, a brown woman highlighted on stage at one of the biggest conventions in the industry. After over a decade, I could finally play as someone who looked like me and wasn’t an amalgamation of stereotypes. But in 2020 this, too, feels like it has been taken from me. Sombra sadly didn’t kick off a wave of varied Latina characters. She ultimately served as the blueprint this industry refuses to discard....

But, what would we actually want from a Mass Effect remaster? I think it’s an important distinction to make that these games don’t need to be remade. But at the same time, there are plenty of things I would love BioWare to fix. The first game in a great series is kind of like the first pancake you make. It goes a bit wrong but it still tastes kinda good, then you try the next ones and they’re so tasty you didn’t realise how shit the first one was....

“The EA app is our fastest and lightest PC client to date,” EA claim. “With the new streamlined design you will easily find the games and content you’re looking for and discover your new favorite games. With automatic game downloads and background updates you can ensure that your games are ready to play when you are.” Maybe? I think it feels a bit faster? I’m not sure. I only ever open it when I need to for a game which requires it....