Xenonauts 2 and its rude scientist have instantly won me over

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when aliens threaten to exterminate your home, only the world’s most insufferable, unhinged scientists can help you save the day. XCOM knows it, and now Xenonauts 2 is following suit. Case in point, yer man up the top there. Look at that smug mullet and his unimpressed raised eyebrow. He doesn’t give two hoots you’re here to save the world from extinction, leading (probably several) teams of nine (unwitting) brave souls into the unknown (i.e.: repeated death by alien overwatch). He’s got research to do. Organs to pickle. Dead alien carcasses to splice. Yeah, the same ones you literally strapped into your troops’ tactical belts in the last mission so you could bring them home. We had stinking brain monsters wrapped round our torsos, guy! The least you can do is deign to make us a nice cuppa when we get back. Honestly. You can’t get the staff these days…

Read more

Race The Sun devs reveal stunning neon Star Fox-like, hits early access next month

The developers behind Race The Sun‘s minimalist gliding are now taking those high speeds to space in Whisker Squadron: Survivor, a neon-drenched homage to Star Fox. There are feline pilots, low-poly levels, and barrel-rolling in bullet hell heaven. Check, check, and check. Hopefully, the gorgeous animation from the trailer (below) shows up in Whisker Squadron: Survivor’s early access launch on August 21st.

Read more

The Walking Dead: Betrayal is a social deception survival sim from the Project Winter devs

Project Winter was a snowbound social deduction multiplayer game that had you questioning and/or betraying your friends to hilarious effect. Developers Other Ocean Interactive are now taking that hidden roles formula and chucking some zombies into the mix with the newly announced The Walking Dead: Betrayal. Its reveal trailer sums up the survival and betrayal tug-of-war quite nicely. Though the heartbroken screams of “NOO NOO” arguably steal the show. Take a first look at the backstabbing below.

Read more

Portal: Prelude’s fan-made prequel gets a fancy RTX remaster, and it costs nothing (except a powerful graphics card)

After zhuzhing up Portal with a shiny RTX version last year, Nvidia is at it again. This time, it’s ray-traced the cube-shaped edges of Portal: Prelude, the fan-made mod that serves as a full-length prequel to Valve’s beloved puzzler. You can go and download Portal: Prelude RTX for free now, as long as you’ve got the hardware to run it.

Read more

This Asus RX 7900 XTX OC graphics card is down to £869 in the UK

AMD’s top-flight graphics card, the RX 7900 XTX, is down to £869 when you buy it on Tech Next Day while using code TND-10. This is the lowest price we’ve spotted for AMD’s fastest GPU since it launched last year and a great deal for a card that originally retailed for north of £999.

This particular model is the Asus Tuf Gaming OC design, which has been well-rated for its thermal efficiency and performance. However, this is a big card, so it’s worth checking its dimensions (352.9 x 158.2 x 72.6mm) versus your case to ensure that it will fit, especially in smaller Micro ATX or Mini ATX enclosures.

Read more

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard agree three-month extension for their proposed merger

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have extended the deadline for their $69 billion merger by three months “to work through the final regulatory issues,” according to Microsoft president Brad Smith. The two companies had failed to meet their previous self-imposed deadline of yesterday, July 18th, and Microsoft have now avoided paying a $3 billion fine by renegotiating a new deadline: October 18th.

Read more

Neopets enters “new era” as new management detail big comeback

Neopets, the long-running website that featured virtual pets and Flash games, is under brand new management and they’re planning a nostalgic comeback. Yesterday, the newly established owners, World Of Neopia, published a blog post to unveil what’s next for the ‘00s petsite, after the previous owners saddled the franchise with dumb NFT rubbish and then shut down.

Read more