Psa News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

We've suffered some body blows recently, but perhaps none will ever be as winding as the news I now deliver to you: Alice0 is leaving RPS. She recently celebrated 10 years here, so that should tell you something about how much of an influence she's had over the tone of the site over it's lifespan. Truly, the site won't be the same without her - so let's take the opportunity to celebrate here work here.

We hired Katharine back in 2017 as our first full-time hardware writer, having been impressed by her rare talent for writing about tech in an approachable way. It quickly became obvious that Katharine's skills stretched beyond just hardware and in 2021 she became editor-in-chief, responsible for running the entire site.

Hello, dear RPS reader. Do you have a somewhat complicated relationship with online adverts and would like to see them banished into clean, white and uninterrupted space? Then why not sign up for a free month of our RPS Standard subscription? Starting from today, Tuesday April 2nd, until the end of Tuesday April 30th, you can use the following discount code below to get ad-free browsing across the whole of RPS, all for absolutely nothing. It's ad-free, and literally free, so why not give it a try to see if you like it?

It's Monday and I'm tired, so do I really have to write out hundreds of words telling you who Nic Reuben is? You already know Nic! He's been writing here as a freelancer loads. He threw a rock through the treehouse window and were preparing to sacrifice him to appease Horace's great coils, but the endless bear spake and instead commanded us to hire him, after a rigorous interview process. Say hello to Nic in his new and official capacity here on the site! My enthusiasm has woken me up again!

Seriously. I have had new emails today from PRs. What are you doing? Genuine question. But yes, Rock Paper Shotgun is closing up the treehouse for our Christmas break. It's far too cold to sit in a treehouse at this time of year! But owing to a miscalculaton, our bosses think it's plenty warm enough in January, so we'll be back on Tuesday the 2nd of Jan, 2024, at which time I will continually write the wrong year on things for at least three months. I hope that, whatever you're celebrating this season, you have a lovely few days off, as I imagine most of you will. In the meantime, we will not leave you completely bereft! Because we love you, we've got some hashtag content scheduled for you while we're gone.

It's hard to know where to begin with this, but let's just rip the plaster off and get it over with. Reedpop have today announced that they're "investigating the potential sale" of RPS owners Gamer Network. This also includes our friends at Eurogamer, VG247, Dicebreaker, and GamesIndustry.biz. Not included in the sale are UK events EGX or MCM, or the website Popverse. There's not a lot more I can say at this stage - we ourselves still have lots of questions that need answering first - but I'll endeavour to share more with you, our readers, as soon as I can. For now, here's the broad strokes of what's happening.

There is a Creature that resides in the farthest corners of the cosmos and the deepest fathoms of the human psyche. It is a dreadful god of gossip and reportage, a hideous, paradiscursive entity of boundless appetite, whose Number is Infinity+1 and whose Sign is the Serrated Spiral. It's one of many abyssal denizens of a dungeon dimension outside of Time, where nothing changes and there is accordingly an apocalyptic hunger for News. My ancestors, the Brigante Celts who once ruled the misty valleys of Yorkshire, called it keno-augā-brājat, or “the cave that will never be filled”. But nowadays, we call it the Maw.

Warcraft Rumble has a…lot going on that hampers the overall player experience, but one late-to-endgame design choice really takes the cake. Make sure you pick up one of each leader if you intend to progress in Warcraft Rumble in any meaningful way. Or, you can stop playing, that’s fine too.

The Super Mario RPG remake has seemingly leaked online ahead of launch later this week.

Part of what makes our friendly neighborhood Spidey so special is his care and compassion for community. In Spider-Man 2, side quests reinforce some of the series’ guiding ideals: heroism isn’t always about taking down larger-than-life villains, like The Sandman. Sometimes, your challenges require a more thoughtful touch.

Modern Warfare 3 campaign spoilers are already surfacing online. If you don’t want to get spoiled, then my advice is to stay out of any MW3 online circles and, just in case, avoid the internet entirely.

Inflation has come to Fortnite.

One of the additions I like least in Spider-Man 2 is the web wings. The Spider-Man games, in general, have often strived to provide the best facsimile of the protagonist’s preferred mode of transportation, web swinging, so adding something like gliding to the mix is a bit of an affront to me. It’s a personal preference, but thankfully, I can mostly ignore the skill and just get around the old-fashioned way. I often forget it even exists.

The official Polygon beanie is now available! So let’s take this moment to celebrate this special seasonal tradition.

A great soundtrack can elevate your gaming session, but sometimes you want to listen after you put down the controller. Spotify users are in luck on that front, as Sony just added a new batch of game soundtracks to the music-streaming service.

It’s been decided: Web Grabber is the best gadget in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. In Spiderman 2, there are four new gadgets that are all cool and useful, but myself and the community agree that Web Grabber is the best.

If you haven’t downloaded Diablo 4 on Steam yet, here’s a reminder that the latest title in Blizzard’s popular action RPG series is now verified on Steam Deck.

Well, I didn’t have this one on my Season of Blood bingo card. Season 2 of Diablo 4 was supposed to launch, well, 10 minutes or so ago. Instead, Blizzard released a post on their forums announcing that some technical issues have popped up with the current build. According to the post, they anticipate the delay of Season 2 to be “by a few hours” while they remedy the issues.

If you’ve been hesitant to start a new class in Destiny 2 because the grind to get all their Exotics is too daunting, the Destiny 2: Festival of the Lost event is the perfect time to start. In Destiny 2: Festival of the Lost, there is a new mechanic called Eerie Engrams and Hocus Focusing, both of which make the hunt for Exotics much easier.

Spider-Man 2 is only 11 days away, but if you spend a lot of time online, it's time to close Reddit and mute some keywords. Spoilers are running rampant, whether it's text breakdowns of major plot points or screenshots revealing key moments in the game. I won't divulge any of the details here, but fair warning, they're all over the internet right now.

Baldur's Gate 3 is a messy business. You're constantly wading through filth and getting into drawn-out fights that leave you bruised and bloody. Typically, you just sleep it off, but before you know it, you're back to looking like Absolute shit.

As you may recall, earlier this year Blizzard confirmed that Diablo 4 requires players to create new characters each season. And, with season two just around the corner, we thought it would be a good idea to let you know how to ensure you don't lose your stash as well as your character.

For many, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is one of the most anticipated games to release this year, and those who want to enjoy the game fresh and expereince its story may want to take care over the next few weeks while on social media, as the game has begun to leak online, giving away potential spoilers for the upcoming superhero title.

Spider-Man 2's full trophy list has leaked, revealing that there are 42 in total, consisting of 22 bronze, 17 silver, two gold, and, as always, one platinum. However, before you rush off to check what the trophies include ahead of its October 20 launch, be warned, they contain story spoilers.

The newest Prime Gaming rewards include some new nifty cosmetic items for Diablo 4. Those with a Prime Gaming subscription can now claim their Vermillion Dark Tome and Vermillion Bolt Throw Bundle to receive the cosmetic in-game content immediately.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is a preem spy thriller adventure. However, if your V really isn't that interested in working with government types, you can choose not to sign on to a life of martinis shaken, not stirred.

If you purchased Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty together on PS5, you unfortunately won't be able to pre-load the bundle.

A cell phone is a pretty constant companion for kids at school. It’s a distraction from pesky lectures, a way to talk to friends — and these days, an unstoppable vessel of playing online chess. This year, teens have been so fixated on chess that high school teachers have noticed, and even lamented, the obsession. To that end, Chess.com, a popular site where millions of people play online chess, has released a PSA on YouTube titled “Chess Is Taking Over Schools,” meant to discourage teens from illicitly playing chess during classtime.

There’s a game-breaking bug very early in the Lies of P. As identified by the developers, the game-breaking bug can occur in Chapter 2. This bug, if triggered, will completely halt all progress. The developers have already released a statement and promised a fix in the future. Until that patch is out, you’ll want to avoid this bug. Thankfully, it is pretty simple if you know how it works — but you’ll want to read this before reaching Chapter 2.

For the price of a cup of coffee, you get a great single-player Avengers campaign and plenty of DLC.

This isn’t really a secret, but a Pokémon could kill a human at any point if it wanted to. These beloved creatures harness elemental powers well beyond the strength of any human, and even a lowly Weedle could easily maim or kill a person. If you really think about it, every Pokémon trainer is only one Razor Leaf or Flamethrower away from death.

The release of DLC for almost any given game usually coincides with a patch that implements bug fixes and other improvements big and small. Naturally, today’s release of The Teal Mask DLC expansion for Pokemon Scarlet & Violet serves as no exception. Specifically, it came alongside the Version 2.0.1 patch that aims to improve the experience just that little bit more. And arguably the most significant fix that the patch introduces to Pokemon Scarlet & Violet comes in the form of loading time optimizations when scrolling through the PC boxes where you can store your Pokemon.

It’s time to jump back into the world of Pokemon with The Teal Mask, the first of two expansions for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. But, one thing to keep in mind when purchasing this expansion pack is that it’s not cross-compatible. This means if you own Pokemon Scarlet and purchase the DLC pack designed for Pokemon Violet, you’ll be out around $34.99 plus applicable taxes.

There are a ton of things for you to do in Starfield, most of which don’t have much to do with the story. In the spirit of creating your adventure, Bethesda Softworks has made the game as immersive as possible, and this by letting you do most things you can think of…well most things. Much like Skyrim or even the older Morrowind, you can do some whacky and downright funny things such as putting a bucket on an NPC. However, the following is a little more intense and more brutal. The best part is that you might not get in trouble for it. The following PSA is that there is a way to knock out and kill NPCs in Starfield with a box — legally speaking. If you want to know how to do such a thing, follow along.

We've had a bunch of Mortal Kombat 1 leaks lately, but this might be the worst one yet. Somehow, a content creator managed to get hold of a copy of the game early, and proceeded to stream himself playing the story mode. Spoilers are being shared online, so watch out for story details if you want to go in blind.

While playing through Starfield's 19 Main Missions you'll unlock some cool things, but one set of very cool things is a game changer. We will spoil it below for those who are OK with that sort of thing, but suffice it to say: We highly recommend playing through a specific amount of the Main Missions to unlock a very cool thing that you'll want to use in the remaining Main Missions, Side Missions, faction quests, and basically every opportunity — and it's something that, if you get it early, it gets even better the more you play.

When exploring the seemingly countless planets in Starfield, you have the ability to scan whatever flora, fauna, and minerals you happen to come across. Normally, in games that let you do this such as the Metroid Prime trilogy, you need to perform the scan before you defeat the enemy or collect the object you’re scanning. Oftentimes, it can become a challenge in and of itself to remember to do this, particularly in the case of enemies that can often attack and interrupt you while you attempt to scan them. Naturally, many have assumed that scanning in Starfield works the same way, especially since the game allows you to scan manually with the press of a button.

If you’re hoping to go into Mortal Kombat 1 fresh when it launches on September 14 you might want to tread carefully across the internet after physical copies appeared to make their way into the hands of eager players.

Experience points can make all the difference in an RPG like Starfield. But what's the best way to level up quickly? We have a few suggestions as fans gear up for Starfield's big release on Game Pass later this week.

Starfield drops you into an impossibly huge galaxy to explore at your own pace — but most of us are going to blaze through the main story first. Not only do you get powerful new abilities for completing the first few hours of the story, but you’ll also unlock companions, romance options and visit most of the major settlements in the Settled Systems. It only makes sense to play through the main story right away! Most articles even recommend you play through the main story first.

FromSoftware is investigating an issue that may affect saves in Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon's PC version. FromSoftware is for now recommending that you be sure to shut down your game before you put your PC to sleep. I'll guess that also means you should just shut down the game when you're not playing it, period.

Unfortunately, there's not a lot to pick from right now.

If you already have Starfield pre-loaded on Steam or plan to prep it ahead of its early access launch tonight, August 31, here's a useful PSA: it might take some time for Steam to actually unpack the game files depending on the speed of your PC's drive. That said, it's important to avoid the mistake of assuming your file is being overwritten, canceling the process, and then re-downloading everything from scratch.

Bethesda games typically open with a big bang, so it’s ironic — and potentially off-putting — that the studio’s first game in literal space does not. Know that Starfield does eventually get its explosive narrative moment. You’ll just need to get through a few campaign missions first.

When I first saw the “dog” mechanic in Pikmin 4, I was skeptical that it would even work. After playing Pikmin 4, I want the dog modded into every game before it. Yes, that dog, adorably named “Oatchi,” is arguably the start of the game. Not only does it look cute: it also heavily factors into the storyline of the fourth main iteration, and it’s one of the most useful game mechanics I’ve experienced in a long while.

Starfield is now available to preload on Steam, and it's a hefty 116GB download. If you've preordered ahead of the RPG's semi-official September 1 release, and the option to preload isn't showing, just reboot the Steam app.

As Armored Core 6 players finally make their way past the tutorial boss and finish getting filtered by Balteus, a disturbing trend has surfaced in the community. A lot of y'all aren't doing your training missions, and you really should.

With a tantalisingly small amount of time left until Starfield is in our grubby little mitts, it’s a good idea to take a look at an extremely helpful but often overlooked Xbox feature.

While the PS5 version of Armored Core 6 runs very well and mostly at 60 FPS in performance mode, the PS4 Pro version run on a PS5 appears to give you a locked frame rate of 60 FPS, much like it did for Elden Ring.

Well, friends, we are just over a week away from the early access launch of Starfield and spoilers have begun leaking, including the opening 40 minutes of the game from someone who got a copy early.

If you're looking forward to Starfield's launch in under a month, it might be time to stay off Twitter and other social media sites, as potential ending spoilers are being shared by a user calling themselves a "PlayStation ambassador".

If you’re planning to preload Starfield on PC, be warned: the game weighs in at just under 140 GB.

It doesn't take a lot for your party in Baldur's Gate 3 to get down and dirty. No, I don't mean it in that way, but I suppose that's true as well. Putting that aside for now - hygiene. The Baldur's Gate 3 gang certainly struggles to maintain it. Thankfully, players have found a solution that doesn't require resting every five minutes.

Here's a thing about Baldur's Gate 3 you might not know if you haven't played previous Larian games. On the left-hand side of the dialogue screen there's a row of icons, shortcuts that let you read back over the conversation, attack whoever you're talking to, or switch to another character who isn't in the conversation so they can get into position to attack whoever you're talking to. (Or pinch all the stuff behind them while they're distracted by whoever's doing the talking.) Sometimes, one of those icons is «trade».

You just finished an arduous and long fight with a huge group of enemies and your entire party is reeling. In Baldur's Gate 3, you have a few options--each person takes a swig of a health potion, a healer gets to work, or you rest. But if you want to save your potions instead of having everyone stockpile and waste their own, you can just throw them at the ground and heal everybody.

Baldur's Gate 3 is a flexible game: with low settings it's possible to run on the Steam Deck, while cranked up to ultra it looks quite nice on a powerful desktop without gobbling up every last megabyte of VRAM your graphics card can spare. On my RTX 3070-equipped PC I'm running it on ultra settings with a 120 fps framerate cap, and using DLSS to ensure my game runs smoothly above 60 fps even when spells start popping off in battle. But this is one of those games I'm so excited about that I find myself wanting to tinker to get the absolute best experience. If you're the same, I've got a really easy tip to follow: updating the version of DLSS Baldur's Gate 3 is using to the latest and greatest.

Picture this: Faerûn, 1492 DR. You're walking down the road with your pals when you suddenly smell smoke. Around the bend, you come across an inn engulfed in flames. Inside, you can hear multiple voices screaming for help. You know you should rush in and save them, but your party is a bit battered from the last battle with the local goblins. So you sit down, make camp, and take a long rest to make sure you're fit to save everyone. Hours later, your health replenished, you stand up, only to discover the inn has burned to ash and everyone died.

Recently while playing Baldur's Gate 3, I've noticed that sometimes after multiple very good or bad rolls in a row, my luck on the dice would suddenly seem to swing the other way. Was this randomness? Probably? But then a friend told me to turn off something called "Karmic Dice" in the game's menu, and everything suddenly made sense.

Although the feature was present during early access, it's worth us pointing out now - Baldur's Gate 3 has a non-lethal option you can turn on and off.

Three years of Early Access later, we are but hours away from the full release of Baldur’s Gate 3 on PC. Larian Studios recommends players kill a few minutes of their nigh-endless wait to perform a few file management tasks to ensure the best-possible Baldur’s Gate 3 experience upon release.

Starfield will let you play on both Xbox and PC without having to buy both versions, thanks to Xbox's Play Anywhere feature.

A public service announcement here for anyone taking this Thursday off work to play Baldur's Gate 3 on its PC launch — beware that the game is a hefty download, and there's no pre-loading available.

Some players are accidentally skipping Remnant 2's post-credits scene. Beating the game's final boss will trigger a short cutscene before causing credits to roll just like they would in any other game. However, skipping the credits will skip the post-credits scene as well.

I miss Club Nintendo, but My Nintendo is the new reality. Gone are the days of elaborate statues for physical rewards, and annual loyalty bonuses (which, most of the time, ruled!). That said, My Nintendo does surprise us from time to time, and lately, they’ve been cooking up a ton of rewards to coincide with the summer release calendar. With all of the Zelda, Kirby, and Pikmin rewards on the My Nintendo marketplace at the moment, I figured it was worth reminding people that yes: your points do expire. Here’s how to do a quick scan and see when everything will fall off.

Do you have a lot of games sitting in your Ubisoft account? You should keep an eye on your email, then – miss the chance to «cancel your account closure», and you may see your account deleted, and all your games with it.

PlayStation Plus giveth, and taketh away. Like any other running “subscription” service, every game cannot stay up indefinitely. While Sega won’t be taking tax-writeoffs and erasing Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, and Yakuza Kiwami 2 from existence; that trio is leaving PlayStation Plus on August 15.