As time goes by, it really does seem like there’s a Soulslike for every occasion: Lies Of P for those who prefer their fairy tales more on the messed up side, Steelrising for those who like France and robots, Lords Of The Fallen for those who like spectral moths and lanterns. Well, another joins the fray in Enotria: The Last Song, an Italian-inspired Soulslike with the loveliest setting I’ve seen in a while.
Helldivers 2 saw a huge weekend during which it broke its own concurrent players record multiple times and even passed GTA 5’s Steam peak, but it was also a frustrating weekend for many who struggled to log in and play with the servers at capacity.
Now, the Helldivers 2 community is calling for developer Arrowhead to add an away from keyboard (AFK) auto kick feature to the game after players admitted leaving it on all day and theoretically at least blocking others from getting in.
Helldivers 2 players on the game’s Discord are saying they are not logging out on purpose so they can ensure they can play when they want to. One user said they left themselves logged in to Helldivers 2 before they went to work to make sure they could play when they got home. Another said they hadn’t logged off for three days.
It’s fair to say that some Helldivers 2 players who have struggled to play the game have reacted angrily to these reports, which suggest there are a significant number of people simply idle but taking up server space. “This needs to be implemented asap because so many players are not logging out on purpose,” one X/Twitter user said. “They’re ruining it for others and they’re making this issue worse. They don’t want to log out because they don’t want their server spot taken and then forced to wait in queue again.”
Anoteher X/Twitter user brought this problem to the attention of Arrowhead boss Johan Pilestedt, who replied to suggest the development team is working on a fix. “Agreed, I have already mentioned this to the team,” Pilestedt said.
Meanwhile, Pilestedt revealed that anything beyond the “hard cap” of 500,000 concurrent players “brings the system down”. Arrowhead is working to address Helldivers 2’s significant server issues as word of mouth sparks even more to the cause.
In our Helldivers 2 review, we said its “combat feels fantastic, its missions stay fresh and interesting, and its smart progression system doesn’t nickel and dime you.”
As you wait for the server stability issues to be resolved, we encourage you to check out our extensive and ever-growing Helldivers 2 wiki.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Cheery RPS fanzine PC Gamer have highlighed a heartwarming story of lost media becoming found again. A mod for Matthew Perry career high and/or nuclear apocalypse RPG sidequest Fallout: New Vegas, which was thought lost since some time around 2016, has been found by chance on someone’s hard drive. The content of this mod, you ask? It adds a companion who looks like redoubtable nu-metal pioneer Fred Durst. I was trying to come up with a pun to do with “nookie” or that modders will “keep rollin'”, but I respect you too much for that (also it’s Monday and I’m very tired – give me something to break, am I right?).
Game celebrates 30th anniversary this year.
The cult hit EarthBound (Mother 2) is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, so naturally, that means that Japan is getting another collaboration between Mother and watch manufacturer Casio.
Due for launch on 14 March, 2024 via a lottery purchase system, the ‘Mother Red’s GW-6900‘ follows a previous collaboration back in 2021. This time, however, the watch is red… Like, really red. You’ve got the Mother logo at the top of the display, while the word ‘Potential’ is nestled in at the bottom.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Sega has called its Crazy Taxi reboot a triple-A game.
In December, during The Game Awards 2023, Sega announced new games in the Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, and Crazy Taxi franchises were in development alongside the teaser trailer, below. The video shows brief gameplay clips of each of the games set to return.
We haven’t heard much about the initiative since, but in an article published by the Japan Times, one Sega executive referenced the Crazy Taxi reboot specifically and called it a triple-A game.
Takaya Segawa, who runs Sega’s support studio in Sapporo, said: “We’re responsible for titles such as Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis and Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage! in cooperation with the bases in Tokyo and overseas. We are also participating in the development of triple-A titles, including Crazy Taxi.
“At present, we don’t have any titles developed independently by the studio, but we intend to do so in the future.”
Crazy Taxi is a driving game series that first appeared in arcades in 1999 before ports on consoles such as the Dreamcast saw it enjoy popularity in the home. You play a taxi driver who speeds through the city to deliver passengers to their destinations, performing stunts to earn points along the way.
The Crazy Taxi reboot is one of the first games coming out as part of Sega’s bid to revive its legacy franchises, although the company has yet to announce a release window or in which form the games will launch. But with Segawa calling Crazy Taxi a triple-A game, perhaps fans can expect something more significant than a modest return for one of its most-beloved arcade games.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Another week of PC game releases is upon us and oh heck, slow down. There are an alarming number of games out this week that I want to play, from large-scale 3D productions to itty-bitty time-killers, each sinisterly appropriate to my Steam stats and wider research interests. Are videogame publishers and The Maw in cahoots to overwhelm me with impulse-buys and sabotage my attempts to Report the News? It’s possible. It’s possible. The Maw can be pretty cunning for an indiscriminate force of cosmic famine. The creature has been known to forge alliances with misguided mortals, seeking to flank and overwhelm harried news writers. How else to explain Phil Spencer’s T-shirts?
Riot Forge’s last stab at publishing smaller spin-offs from indie teams has resulted in Bandle Tale: A League Of Legends Story, which at first glance has all the things I love in self-proclaimed cosy games: gorgeous pixel art, laidback objectives and characters cute enough to trigger primal cheek-squishing instincts. But despite looking like an SNES classic and playing like a mix between Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, Bandle Tale unfortunately ties itself in knots with overly grindy crafting that had me rubbing my temples in an effort not to combust.
The Intel Core i5 12600K remains a powerful CPU for gaming and content creation even in 2024, and offers better value than successors that use the same socket, like the 13600K and 14600K, due to similar performance at a lower price.
Today you can find the 12600K for £167 at Amazon UK as a US import, versus £221 for the same CPU via Amazon UK itself. That £167 price includes an import fee deposit and shipping too!
Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios has temporarily capped concurrent players to 450,000 to help with server stability as it works to “get the ceiling raised” and fix other issues related to its immensely successful launch.
Arrowhead took to Helldivers 2’s Discord to share the news, saying it is “working around the clock” to solve the problems players are running into.
“Hello divers! Earlier tonight we had server related issues with a concurrent player spike,” Arrowhead wrote. “This lead to some mission payouts failing, some players being kicked to their ships, or being logged out.
“Our team is working around the clock to solve these issues. While we’ve been able to mitigte some of the causes, we are still struggling to keep up with the scaling that is needed to accommodate all our Helldivers.
“Therefore, we’ve had to cap our concurrent players to around 450,000 to further improve server stability. We will continue to work with our partners to get the ceiling raised.
“If you have progression-related issues, please restart the game in order for things to sync back up. Thank you for your continued patience!”
As we reported yesterday, the team is doing all it can to help players dive back in “for Freedom” in Helldivers 2. The problem is there are so many who want to take on the evil bug and bot forces. While we wrote that Helldivers 2’s Steam concurrent player record had passed that of Starfield, PUBG: Test Server, Counter-Strike, and Destiny, it has since reached 405,514 and knocked down Monster Hunter: World, Kathy Rain, Hitman 2, and Grand Theft Auto V. Yes, Helldivers 2 has taken down GTA.
While we don’t know the numbers on PlayStation 5, it has become the top game in the U.S. ahead of the likes of juggernauts Fortnite and Call of Duty.
In our Helldivers 2 review, we said its “combat feels fantastic, its missions stay fresh and interesting, and its smart progression system doesn’t nickel and dime you.”
As you wait for the server stability issues to be resolved, we encourage you to check out our extensive and ever-growing Helldivers 2 wiki, how the devs will alleviate rewards issues with weekend bonuses, and our look at why Helldivers 2 is just so awesome.
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Multiple legacy franchises are making a return.
At The Game Awards last year, Sega revealed it would be reviving a handful of classic franchises for modern platforms.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
