Chinese megacorporation Tencent has formally offered to acquire Norwegian game developer Funcom. According to a press release, Funcom’s management supports the proposal. In addition to its back catalog, Funcom is also working on a new survival multiplayer game based on Frank Herbert’s Dune. In 2018 it launched Conan Exiles, an open-world survival game in the vein of Ark: Survival Evolved. “We are impressed by Funcom’s strengths as a developer of open-world multiplayer, action and survival games,

Presenting Deeeer Simulator: Your Average Everyday Deer Game, a game that uses Goat Simulator-style hijinks as a building block for even more ridiculous shenanigans. There is some physics-based silliness here, but what sets the game apart is that it gives you more tools and animals to unleash your chaos. But to really get a sense of what’s possible here, we should take a look at the main trailer for the game. The deer can somehow ride all the animals, which range from a raccoon to a huge, fire-b

Now Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions is bringing video games into the mix as well and its first trailer is exactly as ridiculous and amazing as you would hope. Captain Tsubasa is a long-running Japanese manga series following Tsubasa, a kid who was born only to play soccer. Since it was created by Yōichi Takahashi in the early-80s, Captain Tsubasa has had several manga runs, a few different anime adaptations, and well over a dozen video games. Rise of the New Champions is the first Captain

A tabletop role-playing game based on Arkane Studios and Bethesda Softworks’ Dishonored franchise is on its way. It’s being developed by London-based Modiphius, which has also created tabletop games based on The Elder Scrolls, Star Trek, and Conan. The Dishonored roleplaying game is a 300-page hardback book that comes with custom 20-sided dice. He said that the game has been designed for both tabletop RPG aficionados and for newcomers who love the original video games. The Dishonored roleplaying

Developer Ninja Theory is set to release its next project, competitive multiplayer game Bleeding Edge, and just announced a sequel to Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice for Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox. But the studio has at least one other project in the works, an “experimental” horror game called Project: Mara. “Project: Mara will be a real-world and grounded representation of true mental terror,” said Tameem Antoniades, co-founder of Ninja Theory, in a video announcing the project. A brief teaser for

Whatever time or money you put into the open beta will transfer to the finished product later this year. The ranked seasonWith open beta, Riot adds Legends of Runterra’s first ranked season. With the open beta, Riot brings a new, region-inspired board for each of Legends of Runeterra’s six regions. There will be no further account resets —anything you earn once the open beta starts is yours to keep! Beta Season (LoR’s first ranked season) begins with the open beta.

If you’re not quite sure what a Scav is or why you’d want to play as one, we’ve broken down everything you need to know about Scavs and Scav runs in Escape from Tarkov. Safe Containers are small bags that can help you keep items even if you die during a PMC raid. If you decide all you want is to fight, you can take on your fellow Scavs,but your best bet for Scav runs is to find and save loot rather than pick fights. The time between Scav runs can be reduced with upgrades to your Hideout’s intell

Every time you start a new raid in Escape from Tarkov you can lose everything you take with you from an untimely death. Decisions about what kind of gear is best for each mission should come down to what you hope to accomplish in a given raid. If you have armor you’re going to be a lot harder to kill than the folks running around in just a t-shirt. Choosing the right type of gear can be the difference between life and death in a Tarkov raid. Even though the idea of losing your hard-earned loot c

Amazon’s latest promotion is a buy-two-get-one-free sale, with over 300 books, movies, and games eligible for the deal. The included titles range from classic novels and Oscar-nominated movies on Blu-ray to beloved video game remakes Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and the Lion King and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. As for video games, many of the titles are family-friendly remakes. Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and the Lion King and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz are both eligible for the pro

Epic Games has outlined plans to crack down on competitive Fortnite players who collude with opposing team members. In an update to its “competitive integrity” guidance document, Epic clarified its standing Collusion Rule which already prohibits opposing players from working together on mutually beneficial strategies that contravene the spirit of team-based gameplay. In many online games, opposing players will often signal to one another in various situations. Epic is addressing a situation in w

Geralt and his monster-hunting exploits have already made The Witcher one of Netflix’s biggest shows ever. According to Netflix’s shareholder letter for Q4 2019, in its first four weeks of The Witcher’s availability, 76 million “member households chose to watch.” In the old metric, Netflix used to count viewers as anyone who watched at least 70% of one episode or of an entire film. Under this new metric, Netflix also reported the ratings for several other shows and movies that have premiered ove

A new set of missions for post-apocalyptic city-building strategy game Frostpunk is out today on Windows PC. What sets that new DLC apart is its setting — it takes place before the game’s catastrophic frost. The main game is set in a quasi-Victorian world in which the planet suffers a massive global temperature drop. In The Last Autumn, workers have yet to experience the coming environmental catastrophe, and are sometimes unwilling to make sacrifices for an uncertain future. The Last Autumn is a

Apple TV Plus’ forthcoming comedy Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet is set to skewer the pretensions of big-budget game development. But according to executive producer Rob McElhenney, it will also tackle serious issues like crunch. Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet is a half-hour comedy from the creators of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It focuses on a video game developer behind fictional game Mythic Quest. Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet is out on Apple TV Plus on Feb. 7.

Pokémon Go players will get an opportunity to catch all-new Pokémon as part of a new event celebrating the Lunar New Year, with an emphasis on rodent-like Pokémon to usher in the Year of the Rat. That includes the addition of Minccino, the Chinchilla Pokémon, and its evolution, Cinccino, to Pokémon Go. Darumaka, the Zen Charm Pokémon, will also come to Pokémon Go during the Lunar New Year event and can be hatched from 7 km eggs. Pokémon Go’s Lunar New Year event will also bestow Rare Candies on

The new CGI remake of Pokémon: The First Movie, called Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back— Evolution, debuted in Japan in July of 2019, but it’s finally coming to the United States, thanks to Netflix. The Japanese version of Evolution updated the story of the original movie with brand new entirely computer generated artwork. The movie follows Ash, Pikachu, and their friends as they attempt to thwart a plot by Team Rocket to create the first entirely synthetic Pokémon, Mewtwo. Pokémon: The First Movie

A video allegedly showing early gameplay for Godfall, the upcoming third-person melee title from Counterplay and Gearbox Publishing, has leaked online. Announced during The Game Awards in December, Godfall is described as a “looter-slasher” which features armored warriors with animalistic abilities. The leaked video (seen below) shows flashy third-person melee action, but is free of any user-interface elements. The game is expected to be available over the holidays, coinciding with the launch of

The company behind EverQuest, PlanetSide, DC Universe Online, and H1Z1, Daybreak Games, is making a big change. Rather than a single overarching studio, Daybreak will reorganize into three studios: Dimensional Ink Games, Darkpaw Games, and Rogue Planet Games. The changes will push three different “franchise studios” to the fore. These studios’ efforts will focus on DC Universe Online and legacy franchises EverQuest and Planetside. The studio will focus on DC Universe Online and an unannounced ne

Rory Steel’s daughter suffers from a rare condition that makes it difficult for her to play video games. So, over the long weekend, he ginned up a custom controller so that she could push Link around in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Steel’s daughter Eva suffers from a condition which, her father tells Channel 103, makes it difficult for her to play games with a traditional controller. By Sunday morning he’d rigged Microsoft’s Adaptive Controller (XAC) to send inputs to Nintendo’s tiny

Valve’s classic narrative shooter series Half-Life is now free on Steam, and will stay free for the next two months. With the launch of virtual reality shooter Half-Life: Alyx set for March, Valve is opening up the 2004 digital remaster of 1998’s Half-Life for free, as well as DLC missions Opposing Force and Blue Shift. Half-Life 2 is also part of the package, as well as follow-ups Half-Life 2: Episode One and Episode Two. The Half-Life games center on scientist Gordon Freeman who must escape lo

Today, monster-collecting MMO Temtem is out in early access, and to celebrate, the developers have released footage of the anime intro that greets players at the start of the game. Often, one of the biggest pitfalls endured by games that try to one-up Pokémon are lackluster character designs. Critters and humans are so vibrant and lively in this pastel-colored game that I immediately want to get lost in this world. Unfortunately, if you’re trying to jump into Temtem on day one, you might find yo