Bethesda Really Killed Off All the Labradors in Starfield

Microsoft hosted its Surface Event 2023 in New York today where products such as Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Surface Laptop Go 3 have just been unveiled. It was Microsoft's first in-person event since the pandemic, but for some reason it is not being live-streamed, which is unusual for a tech company trying to generate hype for its services as well as hardware. In the last few years, one of Microsoft's primary focuses has been on artificial intelligence (AI). Building upon the Microsoft Build Event 2023, Microsoft has announced several new AI features today.

It's no secret that Starfield — out now on PC and Xbox Series S/X — is hands down one of the most monumental game launches of the year. For Bethesda, it's a gamble in uncharted territory as they undertake their first new universe in 25 years, set across the stars in a futuristic civilised corner of the Milky Way galaxy. For publisher Xbox, it's an opportunity to bounce back from a lacklustre 2022 slate and dominate the gaming conversation for a long time — probably years, given the staying power director Todd Howard's RPGs are notorious for. With over a thousand planets to explore, dashing factions to align with, and cosmic mysteries bubbling with political intrigue, Starfield aims to be the most complex spacefaring adventure of our generation. As such, it soars gracefully, but not without some turbulence.

Characters from various movies, TV shows, and video games have been immortalized as toys in a number of ways. Action figures, Funko Pops, even plushes. However, none of those collectibles are quite as adorable as Fisher Price's Little People Collector sets. Shrinking famous characters from various series down to pocket size along with the famous locations you'd usually find them in, Mattel has shown off two official Disney sets perfect for the spookiest season of the year.

Back on September 1, I was able to get my hands on Lenovo’s Legion Go, another entry in the emerging PC handheld market, and tested out its chops with several of the best PC games. 

When many high-profile video games are released within a given year, there will almost always be comparisons between them so long as they fit a general mold. For example, certain kinds of sports games will be compared to one another, or if there are a ton of first-person shooters coming out at once, they’ll be compared to one another, and so on. In 2023, multiple RPGs came out, two of which were Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield. While fundamentally different on many levels, some have taken the time to go and compare the two and insult one of the dev teams.

A Larian Studios head has come to Bethesda's defence following an unfavourable comparison between Baldur's Gate 3 and Starfield. In response to the criticism, Larian's director of publishing Michael Douse says it's "not true or right" to say that Bethesda devs lacked passion for Starfield, as others highlight that the game's review scores fall below Baldur's Gate 3's.

Bethesda has issued a hotfix for Starfield and is taking the opportunity to respond to feedback from the community on features in the works, including wider mod support.

It’s a somewhat slow week in streaming TV; sure, as ever you’ve got a million shows that you could catch up on, current or otherwise. But as far as actual new premieres go, it’s a relatively quiet week.

Starfield is getting official mod support in 2024 according to Bethesda development chief Todd Howard.

Starfield players have already made some incredibly useful mods, like a fix for the frustrating inventory system or the addition of DLSS support, but they've also added some very silly things like hairy chests, colourful juice boxes, and the lasagne loving cat Garfield.

Starfield players are a creative bunch, and when they're not filling spaceships full of potatoes or building New Atlantis in Lego, they're using the robust character creator to recreate a bunch of famous faces.

Starfield mods can do anything from improve its systems to break the game, but installing one also turns off achievements — so someone modded that out.