Atmosphere News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

Hello everyone! My name is Eric Chahi, and I’m the creative director at Pixel Reef. For the upcoming release of our game, Paper Beast Enhanced Edition on PS5 and PS VR2, I wanted to share with you the game’s evolution compared to the original version released on PS4 in 2020.

Payday 3 is bare-bones at launch, but I still can’t stop playing it. As I perfect my heisting strategies and flesh out my character build, I can’t shake the feeling that I’m playing a promising early-access build of a game that will be excellent in a few years’ time.

An asteroid, given the designation of Asteroid 2023 SZ, is on its way towards Earth and could make its closest approach to the planet today, September 25. It is just one of the 1298148 asteroids that have been discovered by space agencies so far. NASA, with the help of its advanced space and ground-based telescopes, tracked the asteroid and shed light on details such as its speed, distance of approach, and more.

A seven-year space voyage came to its climactic end Sunday when a NASA capsule landed in the desert in the US state of Utah, carrying to Earth the largest asteroid samples ever collected. Scientists have high hopes for the sample, saying it will provide a better understanding of the formation of our solar system and how Earth became habitable. "Touchdown of the Osiris-Rex sample return capsule!" a commentator said on NASA's live video webcast of the landing, as engineers and team members applauded at a nearby mission control center.

The climactic end of a seven-year voyage comes Sunday when a NASA capsule is due to land in the Utah desert, carrying to Earth the largest asteroid samples ever collected. Scientists have high hopes for the sample, saying it will provide a better understanding of the formation of our solar system and how Earth became habitable. The Osiris-Rex probe's final, fiery descent through Earth's atmosphere will be perilous, but the US space agency is hoping for a soft landing, around 9:00am local (15H00 GMT), in a military test range in northwestern Utah.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth aims to retain the original game’s zaniness with “a lot of gimmicks thrown inside like a giant toy box.”

Seamless travel between planets is one of the most desired – and sorely missing – features in Starfield. Though it’s technically possible, if you want to fly organically between planets in the same system without going into the menus, it takes hours upon hours of real time. Starfield is at its best when you lose yourself in its visuals, its atmosphere, and its serene, cosmic pace. As it stands, jumping in and out of the Starmap every time you want to travel breaks up the journey – that wonderful sense of traveling that you get in Skyrim, Fallout, and the rest of the Elder Scrolls series, is rarer in Starfield without seamless flying. But now, Starfield seamless travel is possible thanks to a new, pioneering mod.

It seems that Blizzard will be changing the Ember Court event to be available every day starting with Patch 10.2, instead of its current weekly format. This will allow players looking to progress through its rankings and obtain rewards much faster progression. Ember Court GuideEmber Court Strategy GuideEmber Court Events Guide

Out of all of the demos I played at Gamescom 2023, Sand Land was easily the most perplexing. Based on the one-shot manga series by Dragon Ball and Chrono Trigger legend Akira Toriyama, Sand Land is a visually exciting game, but a hands-on preview left me wanting more substance beneath the style.

While the Steampunk aesthetic doesn’t get the same level of love that many others demand, it’s because it’s so damn hard to get right! Well, there are at least 15 titles on the Xbox Series X|S that nail the look so join us as we go through the very best of them.

Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty expansion is attracting very positive reviews, and CD Projekt staff are naturally quite pleased about this. And also, very relieved. Released in 2020, the original Cyberpunk 2077 stands as an uncommonly thunderous example of overhype and project mismanagement, with technical issues at launch that extended from comical bugs such as disappearing penises to serious breaches such as graphical effects capable of triggering epileptic fits. CD Projekt have spent years attempting to address the underlying systemic and workplace issues and claw back some goodwill - hence, the general atmosphere on Xitter of developers needing to take five and stare at a flowerbed for a while. "It was a rough few years but there's finally celebration and closure (for me at least)," posted senior level designer Seb Mcbride.

The Callisto Protocol, intended to be a spiritual successor to Dead Space, didn't exactly have a smooth entry into the gaming atmosphere. While helmed by the creator of the sci-fi horror classic Glen Schofield, who joined Striking Distance Studios in 2019, things didn't exactly pan out as planned.

When it comes to terrifying solar storms, the last 24-hour period has been one of the worst since March 2023. The solar storm was triggered by a coronal mass ejection (CME) that was hurled towards the Earth's strike zone on September 18. There were speculations on whether it would hit the planet or not, but not only did it hit the Earth, it also arrived a day earlier than expected. Also, Earth was hit by multiple solar flare eruptions that caused severe radio blackouts. Know the full impact of this solar storm.

SpaceX is providing a new look at the company’s second-generation Starlink satellites — this time from Earth’s orbit. 

A brave Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice modder has ported Elden Ring's Malenia straight into the former game, and it works beautifully.

Ghostrunner 2 is unquestionably one of the coolest games this year. A high-speed, high-stakes romp through rain-slicked, neon-soaked city streets, this ‘first-person slasher’ is not-so-quietly the most exciting cyberpunk game on the horizon. Ghostrunner 2 makes you feel as cool as you thought you’d be in Cyberpunk 2077; and as deadly as you wish you were in Mirror’s Edge. Don’t just take my word for it, though – you can try it right now on Steam courtesy of a free demo over a month ahead of the Ghostrunner 2 release date.

NASA's independent study team released its highly anticipated report on UFOs on September 14, 2023.

Six million players have «explored Ghostwire: Tokyo's spooky streets».

As I veer off-road towards a long-abandoned gas station, my heart skips a beat. Was that… a person? No, I tell myself, it couldn’t be. I kill the engine. Shutting the car door and walking sheepishly down the once unassuming dirt road, I clutch my crowbar tightly as my mind begins to race. While I’ve spent the last half an hour happily scouring abandoned cabins along the forest, this quiet summer night didn’t seem eerie, just still. Now as I sneak through the trees just a few feet further down from where I was moments ago, that sense of calm evaporates, overtaken by a creeping unease.

The Teal Mask Expansion doesn’t just bring back 100+ previous generation Pokemon, you’ll also find totally new forms and evolutions to unlock. That includes a trio of Legendary Pokemon. We’re focusing on something a lot smaller this time — the new Pokemon evolution Dipplin is both incredibly cute and easy-to-miss. To unlock this new Pokedex Entry, you’ll need to find an Evolution Item that can only be purchased in one location.

One Halo pro player has transferred their lightspeed reflexes over to Starfield, using the game’s powers, physics, and loveable jank to create a wildly cool headshot montage. The end result undoubtably proves that Starfield's gunplay is Bethesda's best yet.

Ridge Racer is the one that sticks in my mind. Fast, fluid, and leaping off the screen with primary colors and raw energy, back in 1995 (I played the late-arriving PlayStation port) it felt unlike anything I’d seen before. Burnout came later. In the wake of Gran Turismo, which brought an incredible and more serious depth to the racing game, Burnout felt like the revival of Outrun – you just put the pedal down, take in the music and the atmosphere, and try not to crash. I miss the simplicity, the vibrancy, and the high-speed joy of ‘90s racing sims. So it’s a good job Horizon Chase 2, one of the best racers of the past five years and homage to the genre’s greatest age, is finally on PC via Epic Games.

Tales of Arise, the latest entry in the JRPG series developed by Bandai Namco, is getting expanded in a little over a month with the Beyond the Dawn expansion.

It's just over a month away, but Ghostrunner 2 just dropped a surprise demo.

Located in the Kul Tiras subcontinent and nestled between the sea and great mountain ranges to the north and south, the ancestral home of the Proudmoores is a bustling land of opportunity—if you know where to look. Join us as we take you on a brief tour of Tiragarde Sound and the capital city of Boralus.

How much money Starlink makes has long been a mystery. But a new report suggests the satellite internet service is struggling to reach SpaceX’s financial targets. 

Skif is lying in the moss, a mutated dog gnawing at his shin. He pulls a pistol to fend it off, but — gasp — the clip is empty. Just before it can chew on his neck, he musters a deft kick, booting the pooch into a gravitational anomaly. The dog floats delicately in its gentle embrace before being compressed into a shower of meaty chunks. This constitutes my warm welcome into the unforgiving world of STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl.

Earth is an inhospitable wasteland in Starfield. Sounds familiar, aye? Nuclear war ravaged our little floating rock in the Fallout series, leaving much of the planet a smoking radioactive desert. However, the two games aren't connected, but Bethesda did consider setting Starfield in the Fallout universe at one point during development.

It seems a bit odd that I would want to spend any time in Starfield visiting Earth. Humanity is wide-eyed with dreams of discovering new planets, colonizing homesteads among the stars. Our science fiction texts are overflowing with the lofty possibilities of leaving our home world behind to seek a future elsewhere.

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat 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. At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers. Apply or nominate today!

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has spotted evidence of potential life on a hydrogen-rich ocean planet based 120 light-years away. 

Bethesda’s leviathan space adventure Starfield is out in the wild, and players are busy exploring the countless planets and stars that populate the sprawling RPG. To mark its release, IGN is taking you on an orbital tour of Starfield's digital solar system, featuring every major planet around Earth's star, with a few of the choicest moons thrown in along the way.

Starfield players have discovered that the game doesn't render the sun if you have a Radeon AMD graphics card. 

Deliciously pulpy horror storytelling was at the heart of the original Alan Wake. It returns for the sequel, too, but the Stephen King-isms look to be confined to The Dark Place; the New York-styled nightmare cage the titular writer is trapped in. Out in the real world (or at least what seems like the real world) – the domain of our second protagonist, FBI agent Saga Anderson – developer Remedy Entertainment has crafted a new collage from pieces of its favourite detective stories. The eerie shadows of True Detective, Seven, and The Silence of the Lambs creep through Alan Wake 2’s gorgeous digital depiction of the Pacific Northwest.

If you're playing Starfield on an AMD graphics card, there's a good chance you've missed one of the most glaring bugs in the game, because you just won't have seen anything. The AMD-sponsored Bethesda game simply doesn't render a local star from any planet without an atmosphere on an AMD card.

Morrowind has flying enemies called cliff racers that hunt in packs and strike down at you like drones. There are so many of them that Bethesda wrote a meta-joke into the lore for Oblivion that Jiub had been sainted for driving them to extinction. Well, Nirn is only one planet. Starfield has 1,000... and they're back.

No good can come from going in the sea. Even just dipping your toes runs the risk of crabs and other weird creatures rubbing up against your feet, but the further you get in the worse it gets. Sharks, jellyfish, the Kraken — it's bleak in there.

Every time we see Alan Wake 2 we’re blown away, and this 11 minute demo published by IGN is no exception. Unlike the Gamescom footage, this sequence focuses on second playable protagonist Saga Anderson, and showcases some of her FBI detective skills, as well as general exploration and combat. The atmosphere and overall sense of style is seriously impressive.

The AI revolution has taken hold in different ways around the world, with some surprising differences in how each country is experimenting with it.

NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office is the organization responsible for monitoring the skies and keeping a watch on various Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). The organization has issued a warning against an asteroid designated as Asteroid 2023 QC5 which is set to make its closest approach to Earth in years. This Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) is expected to make its closest approach to Earth today, September 8. Although this asteroid will come very close to the planet, it is not expected to impact the surface and cause damage.

There's been much secrecy regarding Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2, the sequel to the 2004 cult favorite vampire RPG. First announced in 2019—with the original creatives returning for the sequel—work on that game hit a roadblock, and a creative and developer shakeup was announced in 2021.

Alan Wake has been trapped in the Dark Place for 13 years. He’s ditched his slouchy hoodie for a button-down, but kept the funny jacket with the old-fashioned elbow patches. Inky hair frames his face as he wanders through a hostile dream world, clutching a puzzle-solving lamp and a revolver. This is the other side of Alan Wake 2’s story, running parallel to FBI agent Saga Anderson’s Pacific Northwest trek to investigate a series of ritualistic murders.

At Develop Brighton earlier this year, Code Coven's co-CEO Cinzia Musio advocated for improved support of marginalised people in the gaming industry.

A recently discovered Starfield bug makes the argument that a spaceship can be anything, even a cockpit with nothing else attached to it.

Pacific Drive is what you might get if Nicolas Winding Refn stepped in to direct an episode of Stranger Things. The atmospheric run-based survival adventure hinges on the bond between players and their car, except instead of outrunning their past, they'll be dodging supernatural anomalies as they launch expeditions into the Olympic Exclusion Zone in a bid to understand and escape the surreal calamity reshaping the world.

IGN First for September is Remedy’s long-awaited Alan Wake 2. To kick things off we’ve got 11 minutes of brand new gameplay from an early mission played from the perspective of FBI Agent Saga Anderson.

China will soon put into operation a wide-field survey telescope, set to be the most powerful sky survey telescope in the Northern Hemisphere, that will help scientists monitor dynamic astronomical events and carry out the time domain astronomical observation research, the official media reported on Tuesday.

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture team The Chinese Room has been confirmed as the new studio behind the troubled Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2, with an updated release window set for late 2024. It's unclear how much of the work original developer Hardsuit Labs put into the project will carry over into the final version, but you can catch a new trailer above.

Somerville is an atmospheric, 2.5D, narrative adventure game from indie developer Jumpship. Created partly by co-founder of Playdead, Dino Patti, it’s clear this title’s inspiration came from the likes of Limbo, Inside, and Little Nightmares. Somerville takes on silent storytelling through gorgeous environments and touching family scenes as you take on the role of a father to a little boy. When an alien invasion separates you from your family, you head out in the hopes of reuniting with them and finding shelter to survive the onslaught.

Vampire: the Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has awoken from its long slumber, with a new studio and release window in tow. Over the weekend, Paradox Interactive confirmed that Bloodlines 2 development is in the hands of The Chinese Room, with a release window of fall 2024.

Space Marine 2 does an impressive job representing the ‘stompiness’ of the Astartes in video game form. It turns out the developers used Warhammer 40,000’s greatest fan-film as a reference point.

A new Starfield comparison video was shared online, putting the 2022 demo build side by side with the retail version to highlight the differences between the two versions of the game.

A freshly-released Metro Exodus mod for PC adds a new open-world level to the game which can be fully explored.

Starfield allows players to fly to any planet they want, only it'll take hours upon hours, and you can't manually land on them.

Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2, sequel to the cult classic 2004 vampire role-playing game, has resurfaced in a new version made by a new studio after its development imploded in 2021.

One of the bigger Discourse torpedoes aimed at Starfield's glittering hull over the past month has been its strict division between planetary surfaces and outer space. Space sim fanatics were dismayed to learn that you can't actually fly down to the surface of the planets you're orbiting - instead, you hit a button to initiate a loading break and a landing cutscene, which makes outer space feel more like a glorified airlock chamber than, well, outer space. This segmented approach has prompted many unflattering comparisons with No Man's Sky, in which you can manually pilot through the atmosphere.

Supermassive Games has confirmed that Little Nightmares 3 will not feature couch co-op in order for players to be able to experience the game's true horror. 

Horror master Supermassive Games has revealed that the reason Little Nightmares 3 only features online co-op is to ensure playing with a friend doesn't detract from the horror game's signature «atmosphere and immersion».

After the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 lander on the Moon's surface, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched its next mission, Aditya-L1 today, September 2, 2023, at 11.50 AM from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC-SHAR), Sriharikota. The mission will be carried out from Lagrange point 1 of the Sun-Earth system. The spacecraft's position will give a direct view of the Sun to conduct the successful study. Know what are the objectives of the Aditya-L1 mission.

How timely it is that, just days after the last Super Blue Moon, a second sneak peak at the Project: Blue Moon TTRPG should arise. This upcoming tabletop game by R. Talsorian games—makers of the Cyperpunk RED TTRPG—comes from Cody Pondsmith, whose mind birthed The Witcher TTRPG. 

Going from 'here is an RPG set in Boston and Massachusetts' to 'here is an RPG set in space' is a mind boggling task. Todd Howard, captain of the SS Starfield, definitely felt the weight of his mission during development, as revealed in a letter he sent to reviewers before the game's launch.

Did you know that an asteroid struck Earth this year? While it wasn't a planet killer that wiped out entire species like another space rock did about 65 million years ago, this one did hit the surface. As per NASA, a meteorite turned into an atmospheric fireball on February 15 and crashed near McAllen, Texas. Law enforcement agencies in the McAllen region received several calls from residents who reported hearing a loud explosion. It was a 1000-pound rock that was 2 feet in diameter as it broke into pieces about 21 miles above Earth's surface.

You'll find plenty of tips for your daily Wordle just below, sitting alongside a helpful clue for today's game as well as the answer to the September 1 (804) puzzle. If you need help with today's Wordle, you're in the right place.

While Starfield aims for a grounded, "NASA-punk" aesthetic, it has its share of fantastical sci-fi contrivances. But it does have one extremely believable prediction about the future: in 307 years, the Earth will be a barren husk.

Right at the start of Starfield, you’ll have to create your character — and some of these choices can cause permanent buffs and debuffs. There are two traits in particular that can weaken your character depending on the environment. If you unlock the Spaced Trait, you’ll be weaker in the atmosphere of a planet, while the Terra Firma Trait is the exact opposite. These traits are available at the start of the game, before you even know what you’re doing. If you’re not happy with the Spaced or Terra Firma trait and want to get rid of it, that’s absolutely possible. These traits don’t have to permanently scar your character. You can remove them at a hefty credit cost.

Warcraft. Warcraft never changes. The words «hunter weapon» or «hunter loot» became its own meme back in the day, due to the fact that hunters could use—and technically benefit from—a bunch of loot otherwise relegated to specific classes. Rogue dagger? That's a hunter weapon. Warrior axe? That's a hunter weapon.

A Star Citizen player is pointing out to disappointed Starfield fans that planet exploration isn't all its made out to be.

Philips Hue, a brand known for lighting products, is breaking into a new category with the launch of its first home security cameras.

Astronomy enthusiasts are in for a treat Wednesday night: a rare "super blue Moon" that won't be seen again for more than a decade.

The best menu screens in games can be articulated in many ways, just like the sheer amount of options you can get from the feature itself. In my mind, they’re determined by the music, the visuals, and how unique they can be. You don’t want to see a bland introduction to a magnificent game. Here are the top 10 best main menu screens in games, ranked.

If you are eco-conscious, finding out your carbon footprint is very important in today's world. As an individual living in urban settings following a set daily routine can often distance you from the harsh reality of the world, such as global warming and its impact on vulnerable populations. With rising temperatures, ice caps melting, and increasingly erratic climate patterns, many are struggling to find livable habitats. And we are all contributing to the problem with our carbon footprints, even if we are simply working from home and are just on laptops all week long. To know the truth, you should check your Google Workspace carbon footprint data.

After the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon, ISRO on Monday announced that India's first solar mission Aditya-L1 to study the Sun will be launched on September 2 at 11.50 am from Sriharikota spaceport.

«Boundary reached,» reads an in-game Starfield text box that circulated online over the weekend. «Open the map to explore another region, or return to your ship.»

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has made it possible for India to safely land on the moon and that too on a budget. With the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission, ISRO has shown its capabilities all over the world and everyone is talking about its magnificent success. It was a proud moment for India and already ISRO is ready to launch another major space mission called Aditya L1 that will thoroughly study the Sun. Let's get to know more about ISRO's upcoming mission.

Delta Force is a series of military FPS shooters which began all the way back in 1998 and came to PlayStation with PS1's Urban Warfare (the fifth game in the franchise). Creator NovaLogic shuttered back in 2016, and its assets were acquired by THQ Nordic, which in turn, was swallowed by a bigger fish, the Embracer Group. Now, a pre-Gamescom teaser has revealed the series will live again and is set to be fully revealed at Gamescom's Opening Night Live.

The 7th Guest VR is such an unexpected project it virtually demands attention. Based on the original, ground-breaking 90s FMV adventure game, this updated version transposes the plot and puzzles of the original to virtual reality headsets, like PSVR2. Announced earlier in the year, developer Vertigo Games confirmed today that the title will launch on 19th October.

Thirteen years is a long time to spend in a Hell of your own mind’s making, so it’s a blessing in disguise that Alan Wake has a case of the video game amnesia about much of that time. There’s a glimmer of hope for him though, as Alan Wake 2 gives him a fresh chance to find a way out and get back to the real world.

A new demo invites you to glide through fluffy clouds and slide down rolling fields in indie adventure Europa. The game’s deceptively dour setup channels Journey and Fumito Ueda’s work, asking you to explore outsized ruins as the last child left alive, but just like those gems, everything in Europa is wrapped up in a gentle atmosphere.