Internet | NEWS | Websites

Spring Leaves No Flowers shows why games need more characters to come out

My earliest experience with trying to find out whether a character in a video game was homosexual was stalking the BioWare forums in 2008 or 2009. I was looking for information about which romance options in the upcoming, exciting new RPG Dragon Age: Origins were going to allow for a women-loving women option. Of course they weren’t really lesbians back then; characters in the BioWare games of that period weren’t really straight or gay or bi. They didn’t really have a sexual orientation. They were heterosexual in a “het is default” way, but sometimes could also enter a relationship with a player character of the same gender.

But even when that happened, it didn’t really reflect much about them as characters (other than some rather unfortunate replication of stereotypes, I suppose, where the wholesome Alistair couldn’t be romanced by a male player character, but the amoral, promiscuous elf Zevran could serve as “the gay option”). And the fact of any given character being said “gay” option was something that you knew going into the game. Both in and out of character, they were completely out of the closet. There was never any real need for them to have a coming out.

(more…)

from Rock, Paper, Shotgun https://ift.tt/2Vy5wh6
via ifttt

The 75Hz model of our favourite AOC gaming monitor is down to £144

The AOC 24G2U is one of the [cms-block]s you can buy right now, but the 144Hz model that Katharine reviewed has been out of stock for absolutely ages. The good news, though, is that you can get its cheaper 75Hz model for a new low of just £144 right now if you head on over to CCL’s Ebay Store. If you don’t think your graphics card is quite up to running games at 144Hz, this is a great bargain.

(more…)

from Rock, Paper, Shotgun https://ift.tt/2YN24AX
via ifttt

Fortnite: Save The World leaves early access, but isn't going free-to-play

You will be forgiven for thinking that Fortnite: Save The World had already left early access. This is what many see as a strange appendage to Fortnite Battle Royale, but is actually the original PvE game that arguably birthed an entire epoch – all, apparently, while remaining in early access. It’s a brazen assault on the fabric of meaning, but it’s also maybe not all that weird, because developers Epic Games say that yesterday marks the point where “development of new content will slow down”. “The main story is complete”, they say.

It doesn’t mark the point where it will go free-to-play, as was once planned. I suppose that may well make business sense when part of your videogame is big enough to worry Netflix.

(more…)

from Rock, Paper, Shotgun https://ift.tt/2VCovH9
via ifttt

Crysis Remastered is coming July 23rd, leaks say

Today is the day for Crytek for formally reveal Crysis Remastered, though the release date and trailer have apparently already leaked anyway. The prettied-up re-release of the supersuit shooter is coming on July 23rd, according to a Microsoft Store page that went live early before being pulled down. Here, check out the trailer.

(more…)

from Rock, Paper, Shotgun https://ift.tt/3dQGf7Q
via ifttt

SSD deals of the week – 1st July 2020

Samsung 860 Evo - Best gaming SSD

With the launch of Samsung’s 870 Qvo SSD yesterday, there are some great SSD deals to be had this week, particularly if you’re in the US and you don’t mind opting for Samsung’s slightly older 860 Qvo SSD. There are also some tasty UK SSD deals on Samsung’s 860 Evo SSD to be had as well, plus loads of big savings on WD SSDs as part of Amazon’s recent deals haul.

To help you get the very best SSD deal around, we’ve listed all of the lowest prices for our [cms-block] recommendations in all sorts of size capacities and form factors. Whether you’re looking for the best SATA SSD deals or the biggest savings on today’s super fast NVMe SSDs and portable SSDs, here are the cheapest SSD deals of the week.

(more…)

from Rock, Paper, Shotgun https://ift.tt/2BRhoDM
via ifttt

Amazon's Crucible retreating back into closed beta

Less than six weeks after launching Crucible, Amazon are taking their free-to-play multiplayer shooter back into closed beta. It was not well-received or well-played, and last weekend didn’t even break 200 players in-game at the same time. So they’re taking it back into beta to fix and improve, then presumably relaunch later. Those player numbers are honestly not uncommon for a new multiplayer shooter, because it’s a perilous genre and most stumble, but I imagine they’re a touch disappointing to a company worth $1 trillion.

(more…)

from Rock, Paper, Shotgun https://ift.tt/3dIqO1G
via ifttt