Unfortunately, not all games are destined for greatness. That didn't always matter. A studio could often afford to make a couple of bad games as long as it also put out a hit or two, but ballooning development times and the need to increase value for shareholders means one unsuccessful game can shut down a legendary studio. This was the case with Redfall, Arkane Austin's live service vampire co-op shooter. Development was halted, DLC canceled, and the studio closed. Fans who'd bought the Bite Back edition or season passes were left wondering if they'd wasted their money, but now it's being reported that players are receiving refunds. Continue reading If you bought Redfall’s Bite Back version, you could get a refund MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Redfall review, Redfall best character, Redfall weapons

As someone better suited to the fast-paced fights of Call of Duty, XDefiant, and The Finals rather than the careful tactics of Counter-Strike 2 and Escape From Tarkov, new multiplayer FPS game Histera is one I’ve been very curious to try. With a constantly changing battlefield that alters between various eras and environments, and a wide range of weapons and equipment to match, this promising new challenger has just arrived as a free Steam game, so don’t miss out. Continue reading New FPS Histera is a free Steam game with an ever-shifting battlefield MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best FPS game, Best multiplayer games, Free Steam games

What are the Black Ops 6 maps? The multiplayer experience, especially in Call of Duty, hinges on a few key factors: the feel of the guns, the quality of the movement, and how good the maps are. The maps on offer with each CoD release can turn it from a dud to an instant classic, with several old-school maps finding their way into each release due to their popularity. We’ve been given a sneak peek at what’s to come with the Black Ops 6 Direct showcase, and even though the Black Ops 6 release date is still a ways away, we’ve got a picture of what we can expect. The development team went into some detail about how they want these maps to feel, and their mindset behind what they hope will be an FPS game classic. Continue reading Black Ops 6 maps - what we know so far MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Black Ops 6 release date, Best FPS games, New Warzone season

From the moment I saw her, I was in love with Aurora, the new League of Legends champion. Channeling those vaguely hipster autumnal vibes with her big glasses, red hair, and smattering of freckles, all topped off by a huge witch hat, she is, aesthetically, everything I could ever ask for. When I was first introduced to her during an exclusive preview event at Riot HQ in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, however, I was underwhelmed with her kit, questioning whether or not it brought anything new to the table. Going hands-on changed that entirely. Continue reading New League of Legends champion Aurora is cute, but absolutely deadly MORE FROM PCGAMESN: League of Legends ranks explained, League of Legends Mythic shop rotation, League of Legends tier list

GIMME GIMME! Dr. Strangetweet and Others GLORIOUSLY Take Cori Bush's Juneteenth Post APART Point-By-Point

In what seems like a never-ending cycle now, Paradox Tectonic was shut down this week by its parent company, Paradox Interactive. The studio, which was developing The Sims-like game, Life Is You, closed its doors for good only 24 hours after their game got canceled. Now 24 of its hardworking developers are out of work.

User-generated content has been popularized within leading titles such as Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite, but Riot Games isnt prepared to compete with these heavyweights in League of Legends. Instead, the devs want to focus on the qualities that make MOBA games a unique experience for players.

“Four matrix tweeters and four force-balanced woofers” on the Lenovo Tab Plus deliver 26W of sound. | Image: Lenovo Tablets aren’t known for their room-shaking bass, but Lenovo’s new 11.5-inch Tab Plus is going all in. It features 26W of sound produced by four tweeters and four woofers split across each side of the tablet (when used in landscape mode). To fully take advantage of the Tab Plus’ sound capabilities, Lenovo has included the option to wirelessly connect other devices to the tablet and use it as a Bluetooth speaker. Powered by a MediaTek Helio G99 octa-core processor paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage that’s expandable with a microSD card, the Tab Plus definitely isn’t a powerhouse productivity tool. Lenovo is positioning it as a media consumption device first and foremost, which is further reflected in a front and rear... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge We’ve got a special episode of Decoder today — I was traveling last week, so Verge deputy editor Alex Heath and our new senior AI reporter Kylie Robison are filling in for me, with a very different kind of episode about AI. We talk a lot about AI in a broad sense on Decoder — it comes up in basically every single interview I do these days — and then we also dive deep into very specific problems that AI is causing with things like copyright law, misinformation, and other various policy challenges. But we don’t spend a ton of time on the day-to-day happenings of the AI industry itself. And that’s for good reason: it’s been moving so rapidly and changing so often that it’s nearly impossible for the average person to keep up. Making sense... Continue reading…

Image: Instagram Instagram is introducing a way to livestream to a smaller, more private audience. Beginning today, Instagram users will be able to host Live broadcasts only available to their curated list of Close Friends. Up to three other accounts can join the Live broadcast and stream with the original user. The feature rolls out globally. Until this point, beginning a Live broadcast meant that anyone could tune in and watch it if your account was public, and all followers could watch the stream if you had a private account. Live videos are a popular feature for influencers and celebrities chatting with followers or fan accounts streaming live footage from concerts — in other words, content that’s more geared toward wide audiences and for public... Continue reading…