What this proof of concept port shows is real-time global illumination of Mario’s world. It’s very thoughtfully done. All the lighting sources had to be placed manually by the creator of the build, Daríosamo, because the original game only looks like it has light sources. It’s so old that God hadn’t said “let there be light” yet. All the castle torches now cast their own lights, with lovely, ever softening shadows forming as you wander through the corridors....

SteamWorld Headhunter SteamWorld leaps to another new genre, and this time it’s a third-person co-op action platformer. There’s very little known about it at this stage, but it takes place right after the events SteamWorld Dig 2 and it seems to involve being able to detach your head. Interesting! Every SteamWorld game so far has been great, and it’s great they’re making another. The Gunk The Gunk is a third-person action adventure from the creators of SteamWorld....

To find out a little more about this trend, I wrangled the developers from both Rebellion and Realmforge Studios into a big voice call to ask them, and find out what it’s like to revive a popular sim from the noughties. For starters, it’s worth noting that these aren’t the devs of the original games. Startopia was created by Mucky Foot Productions, while Spacebase Startopia is made by Realmforge Studios (the folks who made the Dungeons series)....

First check out this trailer: The checkerboard floor, the polygonal enemies, the aliased edges and flashing weak spots. Ex-Zodiac even has Star Fox’s hibber-jibber voices when folks talk to you over the radio. You can customise how it looks - making those jagged edges smooth, for example - but if it’s Super FX nostalgia you want, then Ex-Zodiac is a trip. It also feels great to play. The demo features two worlds to fly and shoot through, and the second world jumps straight to spectacle as enormous machines burst from the floor and ceiling to block your path....

Fallout 76 armor guide Equipment works slightly differently in Fallout 76 compared to other Fallout games, as the mostly cosmetic outfits are equipped over the top of armour, which increases your defences and resistances. This Fallout 76 armor guide will go over the best armour you can find in the game, details about which outfits have some useful perks, and which armour pieces you should be crafting. Those looking for a beginner’s guide to get started with Fallout 76 should have a look at our Fallout 76 guide....

“Like others around the world, we’re dealing with the critical situation that’s currently affecting some many of us and our communities. For the safety of everyone, we have transitioned to remote work, and are limiting our in-person interactions,” they tweeted. “However, this has affected our ability to do the final testing we need for Wastelanders and we must move the release date a week, from April 7 to April 14....

Fastest cars in GTA Online by top speed: Of course, almost all of these cars cost more than a million dollars, so unless you’ve been building up your bank account you won’t be able to snag them all immediately. So, let’s break things down in a bit more detail. Ocelot Pariah - fastest car in GTA Online Class: Sports Price: $1,420,000 Top speed: 136 mph Don’t let that Sportscar classification or price tag fool you; the Ocelot Pariah is the fastest car in GTA Online....

This patch, poetically named Reflections In Crystal, will “streamline” A Realm Reborn, the main questline from the original game (which leads into Heavensward). Like the free trial players, anyone who owns A Realm Reborn will also have full access to the Heavensward expansion and all the bits and pieces it comes with. Oh, and the free trial will have a higher level-cap of 60, and will allow players to choose from an additional race, and three new jobs....

“Taking into account the world-wide spread of the COVID-19 (also known as “novel coronavirus”) and the economical effects of various cities going into lock-down, we have decided to temporarily suspend automatic housing demolition,” Square Enix say in their announcement. It seems a silly thing to worry about, on its face. It is just a game, is it not? Player housing lots are actually quite competitive in FFXIV and represent a pretty substantial investment by their owners....

In the lead up to Endwalker, patch 5.5 has introduced a handful of new Main Scenario Quests. A press release tells me that Fandaniel and Telophoroi are scheming to recreate the Final Days, so ominous towers are rising across the realm. Sounds spooky. If you’re not too worried about what they’re up to though, you could finish off the YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse raid instead, which got its third and final part today, The Tower at Paradigm’s Breach....

Here’s the release date trailer from last month: “New game from Fire Emblem creator” is an accurate description of Vestaria Saga, but there are a number of extra clauses that should follow in order to set expectations. The Vestaria Saga games were developed as hobby projects using free software called SRPG Studio and a team of volunteers, and were originally released for free in Japan. Publisher Dangen Entertainment have then taken that free game, translated it into English, and are selling it on Steam for £15....

Macri didn’t elaborate on exactly when we might see ray tracing APUs start to hit the market, but his best guess was that they’d arrive in the “medium future”, as opposed to the “distant future”. Your guess is as good as mine as to what that mean in actual years, but it’s clearly something AMD are thinking about and trying to incorporate into their future APU line-up. Here’s the quote in full: At the moment, AMD’s most recent set of APUs is their Ryzen 4000 G series with Radeon Graphics....

I’m absolutely sick of them. So here’s me hoping that 2022 is the year of the “time skip”, instead. Or at least, one of these coming years an excessive number of games built around skipping time. Yes, they aren’t without their flaws, but I’d argue they’re less repetitive and capable of greater surprise. Alright, at least hear me out.

Now Epic have announced that they will no longer support Fortnite: Save The World on Mac computers. “Apple is preventing Epic from signing games and patches for distribution on Mac, which ends our ability to develop and offer Fortnite: Save the World for the platform,” Epic say in the recent announcement. “Specifically, our upcoming v14.20 release will cause bugs for players on v13.40, resulting in a very poor experience.” Save The World will no longer be playable on Macs starting on Wednesday, September 23rd....

As spotted by RPS fanzine PC Gamer, Epic devs unveiled the new features in Unreal Engine’s annual round-up stream, crafting a shrine to Fortnite’s hellish timecube Kevin in the new tools. The demonstration shows a good range of model and material editing options, plus a brief demonstration of Unreal’s built-in particle editor Niagra. Alongside editing Fortnite’s own assets, you’ll also be able to import your own models and materials - though I’m curious to see what, if any, kind of curation will apply to these bespoke props....

The lack of machine learning also has the upside of keeping FSR 2.0, like FSR 1.0, compatible with any reasonably recent gaming GPU. Nvidia may make most of this generation’s best graphics cards, but you won’t need something brand new and super powerful to let FSR 2.0 boost your frame rates. To find out how well it works, compared to both DLSS and FSR 1.0, I reinstalled Deathloop and gave all three upscalers a whirl....

Get the MSI Artymis MAG242C for £120 (was £150) The MAG242C is a popular entry-level monitor, having debuted in 2020 and initially cost over £250. Now it’s less than half that, where it’s competing against 60Hz monitors that are significantly worse for gaming thanks to their higher input lag and worse motion handling. You don’t have to be a competitive gamer to benefit from a high refresh rate screen, either - even moving around files on the desktop or playing slower-paced games will still feel more fluid and responsive....

Get the Asus RTX 3060 + 750W PSU for $460 ($100 off) The RTX 3060 is a great mid-range graphics card, offering good performance for 1080p and 1440p gaming at high settings. For context, it’s normally about twice as fast as a GTX 1070, making it a compelling upgrade for anyone on an entry-level or mid-range graphics card from 4+ years ago. It’s a little under-powered compared to the RTX 3060 Ti, which can be up to 30% faster and costs only 20% more, but that depends on cards being available at their MSRP - something that hasn’t really happened much over the past couple of years!...

Running until 11am PT on February 4th, the Europa Univeralis IV Humble Bundle is by far the cheapest way to immerse yourself in Paradox Interactive’s 2013 empire builder. If you were to buy the game on Steam at the moment, for instance, the base Europa Universalis IV game will set you back £35 / $40, which is more than double the price of this 17-DLC-pack-including Humble Bundle. Plus, you don’t get that warm fuzzy feeling of raising money for charity, either....

So what is this specification? Well, the S2721DGFA exists right at the sweet spot for gaming monitors too, with a 27-inch screen size, 2560x1440 resolution and 165Hz refresh rate. This spec is good because it’s not too hard to drive, even with a mid-range gaming PC, but you still get a noticeable increase in clarity and fluidity compared to your standard 1080p 60Hz monitors. And with the Fast IPS screen that I was talking about earlier, you have a monitor that’s equally well-suited to fast-paced, competitive shooters as it is slower-paced and more atmospheric games from a wide range of genres....