Gaming in Scotland. Reviews, Walkthroughs, News

We’re not far off having our eyeballs exposed to the first official GTA 6 trailer. Until then, let’s talk about the classic games in Rockstar’s iconic series. Hey, did you know there was a point when Vice City (easily the best entry – I will fight you all) nearly wasn’t its own game?

Game development engine GameMaker is now free for non-commercial use, with a one-time fee replacing the subscription model for commercial use.

Remember Rockstar’s Agent? Announced in 2007 for the PlayStation 3, it was touted as a stealth action title set during the Cold War. It would receive sporadic updates before the trademark was eventually abandoned and it was removed from the developer’s website. However, new details are available thanks to former Rockstar North technical director Obbe Vermeij, who worked from 1999 to 2009.

GTA 6 developer Rockstar Games were once working on a zombie survival game set on a Scottish island, which sounds like a mixture of GTA: Vice City and legendary Arma mod DayZ. That's according to former technical director Obbe Vermeij, who joined Rockstar North in 1995 back when it was called DMA Design, and left in 2009 following the release of GTA 4. In the run-up to the GTA 6 trailer reveal this month, he's started blogging about the development of several Rockstar games, from GTA through grotty snuff film simulator Manhunt to cancelled projects such as the zombie title and Cold War stealth fest Agent.

Greetings, Adventurers!

A Highland Song, the next game from 80 Days and Heaven's Vault studio Inkle, was announced last year as a side-scrolling platformer «with rhythm and survival elements.» At the time it was listed only as «coming soon,» but now we've got a proper release date, and it's close: Inkle will set its latest narrative-heavy tale free on Steam on December 5.

Nintendo’s latest Indie World showcase has been and gone, featuring a healthy selection of 11 games, from Shantae Advance, through A Highland Song and on to a Switch release on Outer Wilds. Let’s run through it.

A Highland Song, Inkle's Scottish rhythm mountain climbing game, now has a release date of December 5th. I'm Scottish, I spent my childhood walking up mountains, and I'm a long-time fan of Inkle, so it's kind of them to make this game specifically for me. Hop below for a new trailer, too.

Nintendo’s latest Indie World showcase has been and gone, featuring a healthy selection of 11 games, from Shantae Advance, through A Highland Song and on to a Switch release on Outer Wilds. Let’s run through it.

Nintendo shared its latest Indie World showcase this morning and has become typical with these showcases, we learned about a number of new exciting indie games coming to Switch and Switch first, as well as some hit already-released games that will be making their way to Nintendo's platform.

A Highland Song, the beautiful «open platforming» adventure from Heaven's Vault and 80 Days developer Inkle, is almost here and will be launching for Switch and PC on 5th December.

Today’s Nintendo Indie World event presented plenty of gorgeous titles for the Switch. One standout is Inkle’s A Highland Song which attempts to capture the feeling of exploring the wild and wide Scottish mountains.

Announced via a press release from publisher Secret Mode, every sale of the upcoming cozy indie adventure game Loddlenaut will result in a donation to Whale and Dolphin Conservation — a worldwide charity that, as the name would suggest, focuses on whale and dolphin conservation efforts.

After years of accelerating growth, Europe's electric car sales appear to be entering a go-slow zone as drivers wait for better, cheaper models that are two to three years down the road.

Fresh details about a previously leaked but unannounced Silent Hill game have emerged via the Australian Classification Board (ACB).

New World Season Four, “Eternal Frost” is coming on December 12th. The team dives into the next major update, features, and some roadmap updates and changes.

Embracer Group has made layoffs at Neverwinter developer Cryptic Studios. Several current and former Cryptic employees confirmed there has been a "reduction in force" at the studio, although it's unclear how many people have been let go.

The winners of the second Scottish Games Awards have been announced.

The Scottish Games Awards 2023 took place yesterday in Glasgow, with Alexander Tarvet's The Longest Walk winning Best Small-Budget Game, and Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot - The London Case (developed by Blazing Griffin) getting Best Large-Budget Game.

Multiple Silent Hill remakes are apparently in the works at Konami, alongside new previously announced entries for the series. 

Konami has potentially suggested that more than one Silent Hill remake is in development.

As long as there is Morrowind, there will be mods for it. However, Tamriel Rebuilt is something else; the combination of fan commitment, and now the project has just released another expansion.

It’s not an official theme or anything, but this week’s TV is all about fighting. There’s the two sides of superhero coming-of-age stories on Prime Video alone: the season finale of Gen V and the season premiere of Invincible. Over on Netflix there’s Blue Eye Samurai, a new show about one woman’s quest for revenge in Edo-era Japan, while on Paramount Plus the new Taylor Sheridan-produced show about Bass Reeves (David Oyelowo) is sure to bring on some Wild West violence. Throw in Love Island Games, and it seems like no matter which platform you turn to, you’re gonna get some clashes.

Battlefield 2042 is enjoying a small resurgence as it nears its two-year anniversary, thanks to a recent free weekend, a sale, and multiple updates from the developer. The game’s new season will hopefully maintain players’ renewed interest in DICE’s futuristic military shooter — particularly the new mode that lets you deploy and fight against hordes of 3D-printed synthetic soldiers who run around naked and smash enemies’ heads in with hammers.

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss this week's Xbox Partner Preview showcase, which featured around a dozen intriguing titles coming to Microsoft's console in the near-ish future.

What better way to follow up my interview with Just Stop Oil than by writing about a horror game set on a haunted oil rig? The game in question is, of course, Still Wakes The Deep from Dear Esther and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs developer The Chinese Room. Set off the coast of Scotland in the 1970s, it sees you navigating collapsing gantries and flooded rooms while avoiding an unearthly terror apparently extracted from the ocean floor. Mind you, the worst thing in the game could be the weather, which you can witness for yourself in the latest gameplay trailer below. Never mind the dreadful moaning on the other side of the pipes - how about that drizzle?

Ever wondered what it'd be like to be stranded on a North Sea oil rig with nothing for company but a otherworldly horror teetering the edge of all logic and reality? Well, would you believe it, there's a game just for you; it's called Still Wakes the Deep and first gameplay has just debuted.

The latest New World Community Q&A is up, and the team is answering questions about Artifacts, Heartrunes, mutation difficulty, and bee shooters? 

Secretfinders, rejoice! A major step in the search for Diablo 4's Cow Level has been completed: a player found out how to obtain the three relics that are needed to access the Forlorn Hovel. Most experts agree that this particular cellar could be the location to open a portal into Sanctuary's parallel cowmension! Diablo 4 Cow Level — What We Know So Far More Secret Cow Level Details Unveiled As it appears, players need to kill exactly 666 cows to get one of the three relics needed to craft a key that opens a secret cellar, which is assumed to be the summoning location for a portal into Diablo 4's Secret Cow Level.

Spend any time talking to Greg Weisman, creator of the 1990s animated series Gargoyles, and a few things are sure to come up: Yes, he’s interested in continuing Gargoyles, which was cut off mid-story, and which maintains a cult following to this day. And yes, he’s open to a live-action version. But Walt Disney Studios, which owns the rights to the show, has been playing around with that idea for decades, and every time it almost gets off the ground, something changes and it gets scuttled.

“I hold no truck with such superstition,” said David Tennant on stage during his spotlight panel at New York Comic Con, moderated by Popverse’s Tiffany Babb. He’s about to start rehearsals of The Scottish Play at the Donmar Warehouse in London and was happy to share his “Shakespeare geek point of view” with the crowd at NYCC. “I think we should say the word Macbeth,” he said. “Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth!”

At his spotlight panel at New York Comic Con 2023, actor Ewan McGregor couldn’t say much about Star Wars, or Moulin Rouge!, or Trainspotting, or even Velvet Goldmine. But he could deliver an impromptu class in tea-making for Americans.

Did you know AMC makes video games? The television network responsible for Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead has a full-blown publishing label for video games, and it’s shepherded four titles to market since 2020. Its first was a real-time flight simulator from the NYU Game Center Incubator called Airplane Mode, which trapped players in the window seat of a commercial airliner for six literal hours, complete with the small luxuries and major annoyances of actually flying coach. AMC’s IFC channel even produced the in-flight safety video for that game.

Battlefield 2042 Season 6, “Dark Creations,” launched earlier this week and you don’t have to drop a penny to try out the new content. EA and DICE have announced there will be a free-play weekend from today (October 12) until October 16, during which you’ll have access to the entire game, with the exception of the Season 6 premium battle pass. All progress made during the weekend will carry over should you decide to purchase the game (which is a whopping 84 percent off on Steam and other platforms).

Battlefield 2042 never really managed to recover from the tough start it endured where its player numbers are concerned, but DICE has continued to update the game with new content, more of which will be coming soon. Season 6: Dark Creations will go live for the multiplayer shooter on October 10, and DICE and EA have released new trailers to offer new details on what it will bring.

Good news for Trainspotting fans – there's a promising update on the upcoming spin-off show that will focus on Begbie. Last year actor Robert Carlyle confirmed that a TV series about his popular character was in the works, adapting author Irvine Welsh's 2016 novel The Blade Artist. Now the star has revealed that not only are scripts currently being written, but the show will consist of six episodes.

Electronic Arts announced yesterday that Battlefield 2042 Season 6: Dark Creations will debut on October 10 on the PC and consoles. And I managed to gets some hands-on gameplay with the game.

The list of great horror movies to watch can be daunting, and finding the best titles in the tangled mess of streaming services makes things ever harder. But this Halloween, you can simplify the entire spooky movie process by checking out a few horror classics streaming for free on services like Freevee and Tubi.

Hello! Or, as I’d say when I’m out and about in my island home, hi-aye. I’m Harry Josephine Giles, one of the writers for Saltsea Chronicles, coming out on October 12 on PS5. It is a story-driven adventure game where you guide a crew as they explore a flooded world of strange and surprising islands and meet the many people who call that island world home. 

Electronic Arts announced that Battlefield 2042 Season 6: Dark Creations will debut on October 10 on the PC and consoles.

Silent Hill: Ascension looks set to launch on October 31, 2023.

Square Enix has clarified the correct pronunciation of Final Fantasy 7 character Cait Sith.

If you've played any of the Final Fantasy 7 games, you'll more than likely be aware of the Cait Sith debate. Due to the way the name is spelt and how the original Final Fantasy 7 featured no voice acting, arguments have raged for quite a while over how Cait Sith's name is pronounced. Most of us have it in our heads that the name is pronounced "Kate Sith", but there has always been a section of fans convinced it should be pronounced "Ket Shee" due to the character's background.

Square Enix has finally put an end to a 26-year-old debate ahead of the launch of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: Cait Sith is pronounced just how it looks.

New World is poised to have a fantastic fall if everything the team is planning comes together. From the launch of its upcoming expansion next month, Rise of the Angry Earth, to completing its task of fully revamping the leveling process by years' end, New World is building towards its future.

In the past three days, we've seen several geomagnetic storms hit Earth. On September 24, a G2-class storm hit the planet and sparked rare, red auroras over Scotland. Yesterday, a G-1 geomagnetic storm was predicted to hit Earth due to a CME approaching the planet. The effects of the Sun have been felt in the form of solar storms, geomagnetic storms, and solar flares over the last few months. In turn, these phenomena have sparked further events such as auroras, blackouts, and disruption of radio communications. This solar activity is expected to increase even more as we approach the solar maximum, the period in the Sun's 11-year solar cycle where its activity is the highest.

If you're a fan of the hit 2001 film Shrek and have a strong desire (like me) to stay the night at the character's swamp, you're about to have your chance soon enough. Airbnb has successfully recreated Shrek's Swamp, with bookings opening next month - but you'll have to be quick and lucky.

Attention, this is not a drill, Shrek’s swamp has been listed on Airbnb. Yes, you read that right, for the first time ever, Shrek himself is opening up his own residence and inviting three lucky fans to swamp-sit. For one time only this Halloween weekend, you and two friends can stay at Shrek’s swamp house for FREE, courtesy of Airbnb. 

Solar activity has been on an upward trend in the last few months and it is expected to increase as the Sun approaches the solar maximum. Earth is set to be in the firing line of CMEs, solar storms, geomagnetic storms, and more as the peak of the Sun's 11-year solar cycle nears. Therefore, it is imperative that we keep a check on the volatile nature of the Sun for any activity that threatens Earth. Astonishingly, the present cycle has exceeded the expectations of scientists as the number of sunspots till now has already passed the total number predicted in this cycle.

John Giannandrea, a former top Google executive who decamped to Apple Inc. to head its artificial intelligence business, pointed out a quiet change in the latest iPhone software update that allows users to select a search engine other than Google's when browsing the internet in private mode.

The second Scottish Games Awards will be opened by Scotland’s First Minister, Humza Yousaf.

I bought a Steam Deck thinking I would delight in being able to play the breadth and depth of PC gaming away from my desk. Then I downloaded arcade racer Horizon Chase Turbo and basically played nothing else. It was fast, accessible, a throwback to the Amiga racers of my youth, and perfect for sneaking in between work meetings and emails.

Nathan Evans is a singer from the fine town of Airdrie in Scotland and, during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, became TikTok famous for a very old reason: sea shanties. This young man is a master at belting out the salty old songs of our forebears, and his renditions of classic sailor songs found a wide audience: over 2020 his versions of standards like Leave Her Johnny, The Scotsman and The Wellerman were all over TikTok with millions of views.

Starfield guide: Our hub of adviceStarfield console commands: Every cheat you needStarfield mods: Space is your sandboxStarfield traits: The full list, with our top picksStarfield companions: All your recruitable crewStarfield romance options: Space dating

Focus Home has built up a clear commitment to the supernatural. One of the highlights from their release schedule last year was their vampire-hunting title Evil West, and they’re looking to pull the same trick in 2023 with the eerie narrative-action of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden coming from the award-winning Don’t Nod studio.

I never watched the original Gargoyles animated series, but I've been on the internet for long enough to know that it's a cult favourite for being a Disney show with surprisingly dark themes. I also know that its video game adaptation, released in 1995 for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, was a 16-bit platformer with a similar appeal to other Disney games of the period like Aladdin and The Lion King.

Have you ever fancied playing your favourite PS5 games on an enormous, cinematic screen? Well now you can thanks to the XGIMI Horizon Ultra, a high-end 4K long-throw projector that we’ve been testing out for the past couple of weeks.

Gargoyles Remastered, the modern revival of the 1995 Sega Genesis game Gargoyles, is going to be released next month on Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC. Specifically, it’ll launch on October 19.

A number of Scottish developers and publishers have joined forces to launch a charity sale on Steam.

The original Werewolf by Night, Jack Russell, returns for a new adventure in an oversized one-shot written by Derek Landy and drawn by Fran Galán.

The Heirloom is a visually stunning paranormal game, brimming with mystery and puzzles for you to navigate and solve. Inspired by the Hebrides archipelago and Scottish Folklore, you can drive your own story with decision-based progression, which has a drastic impact on your overall playthrough.

Fans have long argued that wrestling games peaked in the N64 era with titles like WWF No Mercy, but no modern developer has managed to properly capitalize on that nostalgia. An upcoming indie game called Ultra Pro Wrestling might be set to change that.

New World: Rise of the Angry Earth has officially been unveiled, with the expansion coming on October 3rd, 2023. The expansion was announced back in February, and the MMO has been laying the groundwork in recent updates, with Amazon Games cutting off one of the first regions of Aeternum, First Light. Picking up the narrative, Adiana has effectively erected a Bramble Wall, barring entry into the region. Rise of the Angry Earth finally showcases what has been happening behind that wall all this time: Artemis has transformed First Light into a new region called Elysian Wilds.

Employment in the UK games development industry rose 15.2% between December 2021 and April 2023, a new report from trade body TIGA revealed.

Poirot is back. And no, we’re not talking about the upcoming Kenneth Branagh movie.

Yesterday, Blizzard Entertainment announced that Diablo IV players would be able to enjoy a 25% increased XP and gold rate across all realms (Eternal and Seasonal) and World Tiers this weekend, thanks to Lilith's 'Mother's Blessing'.

The Chinese Room has dropped a fascinating short documentary about how it is constructing the worldbuilding in its upcoming 70s horror, Still Wakes the Deep.

Warframe has been on the go for ten years, and Tennocon 2023 is most certainly a celebration of that legacy. As the RPG game enters a new era with the Whispers in the Dark update, we’re also set to go back in time with Warframe 1999, an upcoming story that sees us return to the very beginning of Tenno’s ongoing saga. As the curtain falls on what looks like a radical new step for Warframe, I caught up with creative director Rebecca Ford and Soulframe’s chief creative officer Steve Sinclair to chat about the update, and where it draws its inspiration from.

An indie wrestling game designed to be the spiritual successor of WWF No Mercy has shown off its latest gameplay footage.

Viewers of might be wondering are in the series and when each new episode comes out. Annika is a Scottish crime drama series that tells the story of Annika Strandhead, a detective inspector (DI) who heads the Glasgow-based Marine Homicide Unite (MHU). Annika constantly breaks the fourth wall in the series to explain to viewers things related to both her personal and professional lives.

Hello everybody! This is Edwin, your resident news-wrangler. I've been in this glorious job for a whole two weeks now, and alas it is time to say goodbye... because I'm off on holiday. Genius-level journostrategist that I am, I managed to book a week away walking in Scotland during Gamescom before landing the gig, and I can't rebook without incurring the everlasting hatred of Caledonian Sleeper. I do have a few under-embargo stories and a review going live next week, but beyond that I'll be up a mountain somewhere until 29th August. Apologies - if you're up that neck of the woods and we happen to sight each other on opposing hillsides, I'll try to bellow something about Starfield.

This year's Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the musical and military performance taking place in Scotland, featured Final Fantasy 7's anti-military opening mission theme.

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Summit Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak  here  and learn more about sponsorship opportunities  here . 

[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 10, “Hegemony.”]

You're either a subtitles person or you're not. But increasingly, people are. Preply followed up(Opens in a new window) on its subtitle-use survey of Americans from 2022(Opens in a new window) and found a 5% rise, to 58%, in how many people use captioning more than they used to.

Baldur's Gate 3 has launched to much fanfare, and the early signs are that we eatin' good: real good, if Fraser's work-in-progress review is anything to go by. Another indicator might be the PC Gamer Slack, which is currently crammed with discussions of characters, quests, secrets, bard idolatry, and modding it so you can have a backstory as a goat.

The big tournament with high stakes is a critical trope in fantasy books, movies, and games. Grim, realistic medieval worlds and high-concept fantasy worlds with magic and dragons both tend to have tournaments with banners, jousting, and giant turkey legs. It’s a comforting staple of the fantasy genre, and it’s one that World of Warcraft players recreated in June to fundraise for those affected by the Turkey-Syria earthquake in February.