Quote from whoever is left at the developer: "Today we’re sharing difficult news. We have made the decision to permanently shut down Highguard on March 12. Since launch, more than 2 million players stepped into Highguard’s world. You shared feedback, created content, and many believed in what we were building. For that, we are deeply grateful. Despite the passion and hard work of our team, we have not been able to build a sustainable player base to support the game long term. Servers will remain online until March 12th. We hope you’ll jump in with us one more time to show your support and get those final great matches in while we still can. The team is excited to release one final game update to enjoy in the remaining life of the game. We'll be adding a new Warden, a new weapon, account level progression, and skill trees! Full patch notes are coming, and we're targeting tonight or tomorrow morning for patch release. From all of us at Wildlight, thank you for playing, for supporting us, and for being part of Highguard’s story."

Are they able to make their own decisions or are they a slave to your conjuration magic?

Earlier this week, the district court of the Western District of Washington favoured Valve Corporation in its 2023 lawsuit against Leigh Rothschild and his associated companies, on all counts, including breach of contract and the violation of Washington's Patent Troll Prevention and Consumer Protection Acts. Rothschild is an inventor with a huge array of patents to his name, granted and pended, covering an extremely broad range of fields. He also owns or leads a host of companies that manage the business side of patents. In this particular legal case, Valve alleged that Rothschild himself, Rothschild Broadcast Distribution Systems LLC, Display Technologies LLC, Patent Asset Management LLC, Meyler Legal LLC, and Samuel Meyler were guilty of "bad-faith assertions of patent infringement", amongst other things. The patent in question is US8856221B2, a 'system and method for storing broadcast content in a cloud-based computing environment'. Rothschild Broadcast Distribution Systems (RBDS) owns the rights to that patent, and in 2016, Valve obtained a "perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully paid-up, worldwide license" for it and others in Rothschild's portfolio.

I had previously stopped playing this game as, simply put, my level of English wasn't high enough to understand the story and the language, but now that I've resumed playing this game and gotten past A Realm Reborn... I'm having so much fun ✨ So yeah, here you find my adventures as well as my analysis of Heavensward and why A Realm Reborn wasn't as amazing as it could have been. Also, please, no spoilers in comments, I'm still playing the lv 60 quests in Heavensward!

> FINAL FANTASY VII - 2013 Edition owners can redeem the new version at no extra cost. > The world has fallen under the dominion of the Shinra Electric Power Company, a sinister corporation that has monopolized the planet's very life force as Mako energy. In the urban megalopolis of Midgar, an anti-Shinra rebel group calling themselves Avalanche have stepped up their campaign of resistance. Cloud Strife, a former member of Shinra's elite SOLDIER unit now turned mercenary, lends his aid to the rebels, unaware that he will be drawn into an epic battle for the fate of the planet, while having to come to terms with his own lost past. This new release is an upgraded version of FINAL FANTASY VII – 2013 Edition with additional features (there are no changes or additions to the story). > > ...

A couple of years ago, the TF2 community came together with the #SaveTF2 movement, which managed to get a reaction from Valve but little more than that. The game has gotten some bug fixes, VScript support and 64-bit builds, but there's been **no** action taken against the true problem -- the bot crisis. This timeless masterpiece has been plagued by cheater bots in its casual matchmaking mode for over 5 years, making it frustratingly hard to play, without resorting to community servers. VAC is a complete joke and the lack of response from Valve is deplorable, for a game that is otherwise well known for making great games. For the past few weeks, lots of content creators have been posting calls to action, investigations (such as the great [two](https://youtu.be/2stmQfv93oQ) [parter](https://youtu.be/nnuxHZm73PU) from Zesty) and opinions, all culminating in a main effort: the save.tf petition. At the moment, it's approaching 200k signatures! If you appreciate the game, help us out by signing the petition :D

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/33388377 >does anyone have any insight on this?

The folk tale that inspired Dreams on a Pillow tells of a mother who rushes into her home to retrieve her baby before fleeing, only to realise that she has escaped with a pillow instead. In the game, she spends her days trying to make her way to Lebanon after the massacre at Tantura, and the nights dreaming of the Palestine she knew as a child. Putting the pillow down lets her move through the game’s scenarios more freely, but invites nightmares and hallucinations. Abueideh estimates that it will take two years to complete; heartbreakingly, the crowdfunding page contains an assurance that “a clear plan for the completion of the game has been put in place to ensure continuity in the case of Rasheed’s disappearance, injury or demise at the hand of the continuously expanding Israeli aggression in the West Bank”. In the city of Nablus in the West Bank, Rasheed Abueideh owns a nut roastery, where he works to provide for his family. He is also an award-winning game developer. A decade ago, as the 2014 Gaza war raged, he created a harrowing video game called Lilya and the Shadows of War, about a man trying to find safety for his daughter and himself – but as missiles fall around them, it quickly becomes clear that there is no safety. When the game was released in 2016, it was initially rejected by Apple on the grounds of inappropriate content, a decision reversed after a week of outcry. Despite the acclaim and attention that Lilya received, however, Abueideh has not been able to raise funding for his next game through conventional means. The game he envisions, Dreams on a Pillow, is about the 1948 Nakba, told through a folk tale about a mother in the Arab-Israeli war, in which more than half the Palestinian population was displaced. He tells me that his game has been rejected almost 300 times, by publishers and providers of cultural grants, for being too controversial, too much of a risk. “Talking about the Palestinian story was always forbidden,” he says. “Crowdfunding was our only option, but even that would not work for me because all the major crowdfunding platforms do not recognise Palestine,” says Abueideh. The team turned to LaunchGood, a Muslim-focused platform, where it met its funding goal on 7 January.

Anyone running a 13x or 14x should test their PC using Intel’s stress test utility, especially if you have had crashes. It’s permanent damage and they will replace your processor. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005567/processors.html Also update your BIOS if you have those chips. There is a software fix for if you haven’t been affected yet

* 2017 - **LawBreakers** by Boss Key Productions, Nexon * 2018 - **Metal Gear Survive** by Konami Digital Entertainment, Konami * 2018 - **Artifact** by Valve * 2019 - **Crackdown 3** by Sumo Digital, Microsoft Studios * 2020 - **Cruicible** by Relentless Studios, Amazon Game Studios * 2020 - **Hyper Scape** by Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft * 2020 - **Marvel's Avengers** by Crystal Dynamics, Square Enix * 2021 - **Grand Theft Auto The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition** by Grove Street Games, Rockstar Games * 2022 - **Babylon's Fall** by PlatinumGames, Square Enix * 2023 - **Redfall** by Arkane Austin, Bethesda Softworks * 2023 - **The Day Before** by Fntastic, Mytona * 2024 - **Skull and Bones** by Ubisoft Singapore, Ubisoft * 2024 - **Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League** by Rocksteady Studios, Warner Bros. Games * 2024 - **Concord** by Firewalk Studios, Sony Interactive Entertainment * 2025 - **MindsEye** by Build a Rocket Boy, IO Interactive Partners * 2026 - **Highguard** by Wildlight Entertainment What constitutes to a game to be a big failure? There is no strict answer to this, as we can look it from mulitple perspectives. There is this overhyped expectation vs reality failure, promises not being fullfilled. But are these games really a failure? I mean Anthem sold more than 5 million units. Fallout 76 and No Mans' Sky was a failure on launch, but they redeamed and are successfull now. Similarly Battlefield 2042 and Call of Duty Black Ops 7 are failure compared to the previous entries in the series, but are still one of the top selling and played games of the year. For some Halo Infinite would be a failure, but I don't think it's that bad to be on this list. It's just disappointing like the newest Call of Duty entry. Also there are failures, which I personally do not see it as such, but they are failures from development cost. Shenmue on the original Dreamcast is cited often as such.

This is a list of text-based IF’s (Interactive Fiction) that I and another user from itch.io, **[xSai](https://itch.io/profile/xsaikoticx)** or **Bladed-Barbwire** on Discord, made on itch.i*o*, and I thought I’d share this here with you guys in case anyone is interested. **All the credit goes to xSai for coming up with the idea. Also, note that, neither I nor xSai own the rights to any of these IF's; we are just recommending them to people as we believe they deserve more recognition and people might actually end up enjoying them**. The list was made on itch.i*o* and so, unfortunately, will have to be accessed from there for anyone wanting to access them from here. The list also had to be split into separate parts as we ran out of characters to use. All the IF’s are completely text-based, a few using some visuals and/or images, but none of them are full Visual Novels. Almost all of the IF's are made in Twine, with a few being made in ChoiceScript, Ren'py, or some other engine. Most of the IF's are free-to-play, some are pay-to-play, and some are free until they're completed and/or a price is decided. Some of the IF's have extra DLC's or bonus side content on their itch.i*o* page or on the author's patreon, which are either free-to-play or pay-to-play. Most of the IF's can be played in a browser (works best in the itch.i*o* app, Chrome, Firefox and some other browsers. Not guaranteed to work in every browser) with some also having a download option, but there are some IF's that only have a download option and no browser one. Most of the IF's can be played on PC and mobile, but some are not compatible for mobile. A lot of the IF's are also unfinished WIP's (Work In Progress); some of them are already completed, close to completion, just started, or may have been discontinued. Some of the links of the IF's also don't work, stop working for a while before working again, or ask for a password to access; perhaps due to being discontinued, shut down for maintenance, or for some other reason. We will continue to keep updating the list as we find more IF’s. We also have a discord server, a lemmy community, a subreddit, a tumblr blog, and a cohost page dedicated just for this. If you, or anyone else have any IF’s you want to recommend, feel free to share them on here, the three itch.i*o* topics, the discord server, the subreddit, the tumblr blog, or the cohost page **(They have to be text-based IF’s from itch.i*o* and need to have at least some kind of interactivity. IF’s from other sites, Visual Novels, or some other type of game will not be accepted)**. Or if you just want to talk, or ask me for some suggestions on which IF's to try, then feel free to do that as well. Anyway, thank you for your time, and I hope you have a good day, folks. Cheers! >**[Twine games with character customization - Part 1](https://itch.io/t/1763600/twine-games-with-character-customization-part-1)** >**[Twine games with character customization - Part 2](https://itch.io/t/1910939/twine-games-with-character-customization-part-2)** >**[Twine games with character customization - Part 3](https://itch.io/t/2424612/twine-games-with-character-customization-part-3)**

Ubisoft would be preparing complementary cosmetic content for their new game, Assassin’s Creed Mirage

Original (pay-walled): https://www.wsj.com/tech/google-loses-antitrust-case-brought-by-epic-games-651f5987

I'm tired boss. *Boss kills me*

I would really like to ditch Steam in favour of a native GTK application which integrates better with my system and which is also libre software. Does anyone know how well it works? Can I truly replace the Steam client with this or does it still have a lot of lacking features?

I don't really buy games much these days. I was trying to see what games would work on Mac and was pleased to see a new Assassin's Creed game is coming out on Mac natively. I was pretty stoked with this news, I've never played any of the AC games but they've always looked good. I thought I'd check the Apple App Store to see if there were any other AC games that might already be out and there was only one option (actually on some 'App Store Preview' thing not the actual app store), called Assassin's Creed Mirage. It was listed as free to play with in-app-purchases. I'm really just not participating in that, can't stand that shit. I don't think I've actually bought any Ubisoft games since the Nintendo 64, are they all like this or is that just some unfortunate anomaly? I noticed also that it'd listed them collecting data about me, which, WTF? Keen to wait till November for AC Shadows but not if it's going to be any of that nonsense.

Chroma Squad is a fantastic turn-based RPG that is both a loving homage to the Power Rangers, but also an ingenious look at the production of a TV series. Rather than fighting evil as the Crayon Box of Justice, you instead play a manager of a new Super Sentai show hoping to become the greatest show on television. It's a formula that works fantastically.

cross-posted from: https://ttrpg.network/post/27970929 > Recently the server staff received an e-mail telling them to moderate the Discord server and the server chat on what they deem to be "appropriate." > > Below is a message from owner of the server. > > > Free Speech Under Attack > > > > Dear friends, I don't often post announcements of this sort, but I feel it's very important for you all to know what's currently going on. > > > > From the very start, over 15 years ago, one of the key founding principles of MinecraftOnline has been [free speech](https://minecraftonline.com/wiki/Free_Speech). What started out as an uncontroversal, common sense policy, has proved to be a cornerstone of this increasingly unique community. As time has passed and Western society has wavered back and forth in its political leanings, free speech has repeatedly come under attack for political reasons. It has now become common to see arrests for posts on social media in countries such as Britain and Germany, in the name of political control, which have overtaken the numbers even of traditionally totalitarian countries such as China and Russia - a truly dystopian nightmare for freedom of expression and personal liberty. > > > > Throughout this decade and a half of change, MinecraftOnline has held steadfast to its libertarian principles, and remained an oasis of freedom and openness in an increasingly closed and controlled internet. That is, until now. > > > > Microsoft, through their subsidiary Mojang, have issued an ultimatum to MinecraftOnline. We have been told to do away with our free speech policy (which long pre-dates Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang), within 7 days, or face a a permanent block. If that happens, nobody will be able to play on MinecraftOnline again, and the 15-year history of this beloved server will come to a sudden and bitter end. The full email we have received today, signed facelessly only as "Mojang Enforcement", is included below. > > > > The email makes extremely vague claims about "harmful interactions" and "harmful comments", and we are asking Microsoft to clarify what specific interactions and comments they consider harmful. In the meantime, please spread the word, share this info on social media. Defend free speech. > > > > -SlowRiot

I have always thought that graphics don't do as much at making a game beautiful as it's art style. The visual medium that video games employ allow them to show us anything literally so why stick with a realistic render of everyday people when it's so easily forgettable? Games that have a more realized, distinctive look to them always have more staying power in our hearts, particularly older games. The game Gris is one such example, it rendered me speechless when I started playing it, made me laugh with amazement at how it's world moved, looked and breathe as though something like a different reality. There is so much construction in Gris, so many meticulous careful design choices that it's amazing it even plays as smoothly as it does. This is a video game about the exploration of grief, every level and scenario and cutscene is speaking in a intriguing metaphor of death, life and utterness of destruction and loss. However, Gris never forgets it's video game roots and this is what impresses me the most about it. From the first button you press to the last walk-off moment, every level and puzzle is designed with an expert knowledge of how metroidvania games execute exploration. What I mean by that is that the developers very clearly have thought of how the camera angle affects what path we take, the sound cues to inform you of an action without telling you outright, the visual cues and then the level design itself that is so nonlinear in it layout but still ends up to the exact point from where you continue forward. It never feels like you're going along a straight line, it feels like you're discovering your own path forward, as if the game world is opening itself up to you and maintaining that illusion showcases the thought and effort put into each of Gris's amazing looking levels. I don't want to talk about the story a whole lot because of how abstract it is, there are no dialogues, not even screen texts beyond explaining the button prompts and new powers. There is a lot to think about and a lot of visuals and music that you experience as you play through it that talking about it feels like diminishing the effects of it. What I can talk about is that, it is short and of course I really liked the gameplay specially the later stages because of the amount of control you get as you unlock more powers in the game. The puzzles become really alive and though they are never difficult to figure out they still have that satisfying "a-ha!" feeling to them when you figure out what to do. Exploration is always rewarded with collectables and there is an in-game achievements section as well to encourage replayability and a chapter select after the game ends. Overall, 8.5/10 Gris is a short but memorable experience about death, loss and ultimately acceptance and while it never gets to be dark and harrowing in terms of visuals, it still makes you feel plenty of sadness. Highly highly recommended and it's on Game Pass.