Wooo…….. While we’re all waiting for that sweet reveal ofDOOM Eternal, Bethesda and id Software took to the QuakeCon stage to announce thatQuake Championsis now officially free-to-play. This may be confusing to you as the gamehas had periodswhere itwas already free, but now everyone is welcome to hop online and frag each other without jumping through hoops. You’ll still need to buy more than the single champion the game gives you, but if you’re okay with dealing with the free-to-play grind,Quake Championsis fine....

Smaller, faster, less expensive By now you knowRazer’s game when it comes to laptops: custom builds of handsomely outfitted specialty gaming machines that cost a pretty penny. Their latest outing, the 14-inch Blade, hits all of those marks. But it adds a new mark with portability. As their marketing is keen on telling us, the machine is thinner than an on-end dime, coming in at 0.66 inches thick. And at about 4 lbs in its all black aluminum chassis, it really feels like you could take it anywhere....

Over 100 pages of unprinted work Close enough to taste it, the wait is almost over for theUDON releaseof theMM25: Mega Man & Mega Man X Official Complete Worksart book. To tide you over, here’s some sample pages of the upcoming book by way ofCapcom-Unity. There are over 100 pages of previously unseen work, bringing the total page count to over 430 pages. Among the new pages, you’re able to find art assets fromMega Man 9andMega Man 10....

Are a million to one, but still they come… Hope you’re ready for some psychotronic, intergalactic action. This week sees the launch of a brand new franchise, with the arrival of Bandai Namco’s hyper-kinetic action-RPGScarlet Nexus, which hits PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms on June 25. Scarlet Nexuswill tell the tale of a near-future, where humans have started to unlock the psychic powers of the mind and weaponize for both noble and nefarious use....

While it might not be making as many headlines as it did early on, Valve’s seminal PC gaming handheld, the Steam Deck, is still going strong. It’s just received a new operating system update, in fact, delivering a few key improvements while the infamous SteamOS 3.6 looms in the background. The June 13th update for the Steam Deck’s “Stable” update channel is now out, as perValve’s recent announcement, and it’s got some really interesting improvements....

No need to wait for a port It’s a pretty good time to be a fan of farm sims right now. We’re just days away from the launches of Square-Enix’sHarvestellaandDoraemonStory of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom, whileDisney Dreamlight Valleyis proving popular enough for people looking to get their farming fix with a heaping dose of Disney magic. Plenty of stuff to enjoy right now, but it’s a game that’s launching next year that has me more excited than anything else....

The beloved game inspires a slew of charity fundraisers As ifStraycouldn’t get any better, the game that has cat-lovers and gamers alike fawning over its adorable, fuzzy protagonist is also helping out cats in real life. Streamers and Annapurna Interactive, the game’s publisher, have facilitated a whole host of events and services to benefit animal shelters and other cat-related charities, as initially reported byAP. Annapurna reached out to the Nebraska Humane Society ahead of the game’s launch on July 19 to give them copies of the game to be raffled off as a fundraiser for the shelter....

‘Pricing has to reflect quality’ NBA 2K21will be priced at $70 on PS5 and Xbox Series X instead of the current $60 price tag that games have carried for 15 years. When that was revealed last month,it wasn’t necessarily welcomed with open arms. Many saw it as the first domino to fall before the industry eventually embraces the $10 price hike. In other words, the hobby just got more expensive....

It’s $10 too SoPokemon Let’s Gois a lot better than some people thought it would be, combining some new sensibilities with old school flair. One of the biggest nostalgia hits is the soundtrack, which combs through a decades-long history with songs like the Pallet Town theme. you’re able to relive the glory (and modern) days fairly easily too with the new soundtrack that just dropped on iTunes. It combines both games into one release, offering up 122 songs and sound effects (some of which are sub 30 seconds) for $10....

Buff orcs and raptors best the Witcher Well, thisisa surprise.The Elder Scrolls Onlineis currently at the top of UK retail charts, managing to sell over 100,000 copies in its first week. I really likeTESO, but itisa game that released over a year ago tomiddling reviews on PC. And then it was then plagued bylaunch issues on its recent console release too, so seeing it dothis wellis an absolute shock to me....

There is no bright side Naughty Doghas released a new story trailerfor its upcoming epicThe Last of Us Part II.The morbid two-minute preview sees protagonist Ellie attempting to adjust to life in a miserable new world, where death and danger stalk every waking minute of her days and nights. It goes without saying that fans wishing to “go dark” on the long-awaited sequel would do well to avoid the trailer entirely, as the internet is rife with spoilers following the plot leakthat occurred last week....

‘I think the age is part of its identity’ The first five years of the current generation of consoles have been littered with remasters of last-gen games. They’re popular, people haven’t played those games in a while, and they’re an easy way to make a buck. They make perfect sense as long as people keep buying them. Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard doesn’t really want to chase that dragon. In an interview withThe Guardian, Howard expressed his disinterest in remastering some of the studio’s older games by saying “I’m happy that you can play [The Elder Scrolls III]Morrowindnow on an Xbox One, as it’s backwards compatible....

I think Pierce would be jealous In what is simultaneously the best and creepiest marketing stunt I’ve seen in a while, Ubisoft has built its own public database on real world cities, in a similar vein toWatch Dogs‘ depiction of Chicago.WeaAreDatawon’t let you hack traffic lights mind you, but does offer a surprisingly comprehensive breakdown of census data for cities it does cover. Currently, that’s London, Paris, and Berlin. No word on whether or not there are plans to expand....