26 years later, this excellent 4X space strategy game still has plenty of firepower, and it's also now free

Another one for the "not news, but news to me" pile: you can download a free updated version of classic 4X space strategy sim Starships Unlimited from creator Andrew "APEzone" Paul Ewanchyna's website. Originally released in 1999 - an era of relative mental calm, before the Broadband Blight - it's a turn-based affair with four ages of technology to discover, a range of alien factions who (in the original version, anyway) all look like gurning hoover attachments, and the prospect of zesty tactical combat involving ships of your own design.

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The best microSD card for Steam Deck is close to its lowest price ever, and I'd snap this up ASAP

We’re always on the lookout for great microSD cards for Steam Deck, and now James’ pick of the bunch has seen another discount worth mentioning.

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Fan-made The Crew revival gets a release date, a year and a bit on from the Ubisoft racer's controversial shutdown

The developers behind The Crew Unlimited, a community project that aims to make Ubisoft racer The Crew playable again following its unceremonious shutdown last year, have announced a release date.

If you need a bit of a refresher, Ubisoft's decision to take The Crew's servers offline in March 2024 rendered it totally unplayable even for those who own a physical copy, due to its online-only nature. That's since served as the spark for the Stop Killing Games campaign we've reported on as its organisers have petitioned lawmakers across the world to ensure companies are required by law to put concrete end-of-life plans in place, when they decide to switch a game's servers off. It also set a group of Crewers off on a quest to make the game playable again.

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Left 4 Dead's lead designer is making another four-player co-op shooter that "expands" the formula

The lead designer of Left 4 Dead has announced that he's making something like Left 4 Dead again - a four-player co-op shooter that "expands on the co-op-formula in ways I've wanted to explore for a long time".

Whatever they end up calling it, the game is in development at Bad Robot Games, a studio founded by the film and TV outfit behind Lost, Cloverfield and Westworld. So the project has both expertise and funding to spare, in theory. There is little else to tell, right now, but you can sign up for a playtest if all this has you combing the rooftops for Smokers and scrabbling around for your shotgun.

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Cyberpunk 2077 devs CD Projekt might have invented presidential time travel just to tease something

It's been a little while since we got another Cyberpunk 2077 tease that makes folks wonder whether CD Projekt are about to u-turn on adding more stuff to it yet again. Here one is, though, and it invites us 2025 dwellers to help out a president who isn't elected in-universe until 2065.

Is it evidence that the NUSA have invented time travel tech that also allows Cyberpunk characters to migrate into our own reality? Is it just a way to spice up some promo for something like a livestream or minor reveal? I mean, almost definitely the latter, but the former's a lot more fun to consider.

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Skyblivion's 2025 release goal is "pointless and unachievable" claims longtime dev, accuses two leads of rushing the mod out

A long-standing member of unofficial Oblivion remake Skyblivion's development team has claimed the project is being "rushed out the door", and that its previously stated 2025 release goal is "pointless and unachievable".

These claims were made by modder Dee Keyes in a Twitter post put up over the same weekend that the Skyrim mod showed off its opening fifteen minutes as part of Elder Scrolls modding showcase Creation Mod Con. Keyes is currently listed as a world designer on the team page of Skyblivion's website, having previously served as level design department lead, and has appeared in the likes of this dev diary posted to project lead Kyle 'Rebelzize' Rebel's YouTube channel in 2021.

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This week in PC games: not just Silksong, we also have catgirl tearooms, Returnal-esque shooters and vintage toon horror

And I looked, and behold a pale hornet: and the game that came with her was Silksong, and release delays followed after. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of Steam, to kill with needle, and with thread, and with parrying, and with the bugs of the earth.

This week, the Maw has the great pleasure of dining upon the frenziedly awaited sequel to Team Cherry's metroidvania Hollow Knight. James saw it at Gamescom and deemed it "faster, prettier, and harder" but also, "safe". FOOL. There can be no safety in the time of Silken singing. The past month has been a steady avalanche of new PC games noping the heck out of early September to avoid being stung to death by this deceptively tiny predator. Here are the projects that are standing their ground.

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