Seagate is doubling down on its promise to launch a 20-terabyte hard drive by 2020, which will be based on heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology. In a blog post outlining a technology roadmap that will carry Seagate to 2025 and beyond, the company explained that it’s been using HAMR technology in some form or another since the late 1990s. In the shorter term, Seagate plans to launch capacities around 16TB using HAMR technology in the current 3.5-inch form factor, likely next year or

Ubisoft has released details of the upcoming Rainbow Six Siege “mid-season reinforcements” update, which will make changes to Kapkan, Blitz, and Ela, incorporate improvements to the netcode, and make a number of balance changes and bug fixes. “We found it difficult to close the gap between some Defenders and Blitz, who needs proximity to use his shield flash. To remedy this downside, he will now be able to sprint with his shield still protecting him.” The specifics of those improvements, and why

But in a recent update, developer Stunlock Studios has taken the game in a different direction. Battlerite’s new game mode, battlegrounds, is an “objective-based 3v3 mode” that smacks more of traditional MOBA systems. While arguably an exciting new direction for Battlerite, the game’s community is less than pleased. Battlerite commands a 91 percent positive rating on Steam, but in the two days since battlegrounds was added, review positivity has dropped to 31 percent. I’ve reached out to Stunloc

Magic: The Gathering Arena, the digital version of MtG that was announced in September, will begin closed beta testing “as early as November 30,” Wizards of the Coast’s Digital Games Studio announced today. Ahead of the beta, stress tests and “play days” will be held to ensure that the systems are up to handling the demand. The first stress test will take place on November 3, with invitations to take part being sent out to “closed beta priority access holders.” The closed beta will also have an

In the Indie GIF Showcase, we dig up the best-looking new and upcoming indie games and explore what makes them special. There are 128 levels split across 16 worlds, and each one is filled with pickups that totally rework the level. They seem to be color-coded, with different pickups triggering different axes. With six special attacks and 128 collectible upgrades, Exception’s protagonist has a diverse arsenal of melee and ranged attacks. When it releases in early 2018, Exception will feature hund

Natsume announced today that Harvest Moon: Light of Hope , the first Harvest Moon game for PC, will be released on November 14 on Steam. As a massive Harvest Moon fan, there’s plenty of reasons to be skeptical about this latest entry in the series. Meanwhile, Natsume’s version of Harvest Moon games have been not all that well received . “And in addition to these new features will be some familiar faces from previous Harvest Moon titles.” We’ll find out for sure on November 14 when Harvest Moon:

Destiny 2 finally came to the PC yesterday, and of course dataminers immediately dug into it to see what they could foretell of its future. One, a redditor named TheEcumene, found quite a bit, including voice lines referring to new worlds, Destiny 1 patrol zones, the Prison of Elders, and a number of other things that—fair warning—may well be minor (or major) spoilers. References to Osiris, for instance, are presumably connected to the Curse of Osiris expansion that appeared on the Microsoft sto

Dark Train is a point-and-click game with handcrafted visuals made from paper and a “dark, oppressive atmosphere,” according to developer Paperash Studios. It released one year ago today, and in celebration of its anniversary, Dark Train is currently free on Itch.io. To get your free copy, simply log into your Itch.io account, claim Dark Train to add it to your library, then download the game itself. To play it, just extract the file, click through to the Dark Train application, and run it. Dark

Update: Earlier today (see the original story below), we reported that Destiny 2 players are claiming they have been automatically banned due to running unsupported software such as MSI Afterburner, while Bungie denies that performance tools or overlays can cause bans. Bungie has now posted a brief statement further clarifying how Destiny 2’s anti-cheat systems work, and what can cause a ban. For starters, Bungie says that reports of auto-bans are false, as “Destiny 2 cannot automatically ban yo

Adding to them is the new S300 series from Nitro Concepts. Available in a variety of color options, Nitro Concepts says the S300 is the “best chair we’ve ever built.” From Nitro Concepts’ description (we haven’t saddled up in one of these ourselves), the S300 uses high-quality cloth on top of breathable cold foam. Unlike some of the company’s previous gaming chairs, the S300 has head and lumbar support pillows for ergonomic comfort. Summed up, Nitro Concepts says “the S300 contains all the compo

Cooler Master launched a couple of new air coolers today, the MasterAir MA610P and MA410P, both of which feature “aggressive RGB lighting.” The company is referring to how RGB lighting is implemented on these coolers. Specifically, both coolers are compatible with the top RGB motherboards to sync lighting with other hardware. They also come with their own wired RGB controllers with a mode switch button to cycle through six lighting modes, a color switch button, and a brightness button to select

Back in August, Bandai Namco teased something called #Projekt1514, which was later revealed to be a new Sword Art Online game set to come to the PC in 2018. And that, I’m assuming, is what the publisher announced today as Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet, “an original story supervised by series creator Reki Kawahara” scheduled to come to Steam on February 23, 2018. Players will create their own unique avatars and interact with characters from the Sword Art Online novels, anime, and games, in “a wo

A new gifting service called Steam Digital Gift Cards is now available on Steam. As the name suggests, it’s basically a hybrid of physical Steam gift cards and the existing gifting system that enables users to put funds directly into the Steam Wallets of people on their friends list. Digital gift cards “expands on Steam’s single-game digital gift service and the tangible Steam Gift Cards” which can be purchased at various retail outlets. To send them, log into your Steam account and head to the

Launched just over two weeks ago, Warframe’s Plains of Eidolon is one of the free-to-play shooter’s most ambitious updates to date. Its debut foray into open world play has at times split opinion—see here and here—however its peak concurrent players record has now almost doubled. As detailed by developer Digital Extremes in a press release, Warframe’s peak Steam concurrent player record prior to the Plains of Eidolon expansion was 69,526—following the launch of it Octavia’s Anthem solo quest in

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is now two weeks old, within which time Tim rather dramatically fell out and settled the score with the late Mozû the Blight. Now, Warner Bros. has detailed the Tolkien-flavoured action role-player’s Expansion Pass, and the four slices of DLC heading its way in the coming months. As of December 2017, the Outlaw Tribe Nemesis DLC does the same for the “most rebellious warriors in Orc society”. Here’s a trailer:All the above is packed into the Middle-earth: Shadow of Wa

Recently, Warframe launched its Plains of Eidolon update, which added open world mechanics to the shooter for the first time. Naturally, comparisons with Destiny followed—but Warframe developer Digital Extremes feels the two sci-fi juggernauts can happily coexist within the PC sci-fi landscape. And that means that they [Warframe and Destiny 2] continue to be games going in different directions. Without putting words in her mouth, I suggest to Ford that her stance suggests Warframe and Destiny 2

Image credit: Getty ImagesRobert Guillaume, the American actor who voiced Half-Life 2’s Eli Vance, has died of cancer, aged 89-years-old. In 1985, the same role saw him become the first black actor to win an outstanding lead actor award. Actors, celebrities and personalities have taken to social media to pay tribute to the esteemed actor, such as this from Soap co-star Billy Crystal:Sad to hear of the passing of Robert Guillaume. Rest in Peace.October 24, 2017And this from Valve writer Marc Laid

Think of the Children is a local co-op game that has you taking on the numerous challenges of being a parent. It’s tempting to turn away from the children to rack up those points, which is a very bad idea. Children aren’t very good at knowing what is unsafe and in Think of the Children that’s everything. This has to be done immediately, since there are no extra lives in Think of the Children. Luckily, Think of the Children lets you to play with up to three friends.

Metal Gear Survive, the zombie-laden, post-Kojima MGSV spin-off, will release on February 20 in the US and February 22 in the EU. Or at least, it will for both Xbox One and PS4: a newly released image toting the game’s preorder bonuses doesn’t feature any reference to a PC version. The game was confirmed for PC when it was announced in late 2016, and Tim even had a hands-on session with it back at E3 2017. During that session Tim was told by a rep that the PC version will be out on the same day

In addition to its popular X-Wing spin-off, board game company Fantasy Flight Games has produced a number of tabletop products based on videogames, including Doom, Fallout, Civilization, and XCOM. Now it’s moving in the other direction with the launch of a new videogame studio called Fantasy Flight Interactive, which will be headed up Tim Gerritsen, formerly the director of business development at original Prey studio Human Head. Fantasy Flight Interactive will bring existing board games to digi