If for some (most likely not very good) reason you haven’t played Rainbow Six Siege yet, then you really ought to. And that’ll be easy to do this weekend, because the game will be free – both on Steam and directly through Uplay. The period kicks off tomorrow and finishes up on August 27, and if you’re keen on what you play, the game will be available for half the usual price. It’s good timing, because early next month the game’s next free expansion, Operation Blood Orchid, will roll out (check o

Overwatch’s sixth competitive season will take place across two months rather than three, Jeff Kaplan has announced via a new dev update. The reason for the change is simple: player engagement tended to dwindle towards the end of the three month competitive season, as the earlier period was believed to be more consequential and fun. “We think that will give you that fun placement period back more frequently and also you will get your competitive rewards more frequently,” Kaplan reasons. Elsewher

Ubisoft has released a new trailer for the air/land/sea open-world racing game The Crew 2 that shows off the new “Fast Fav” feature and reveals that it will be released on March 16, 2018. It also dropped the details on the game’s preorder bonus and special editions, which offer access to extra vehicles, the season pass, and a three-day head-start on the action. A physical version of the Gold Edition is in the works, but will only be released for consoles. And last but definitely not least, a Cre

Right on schedule, Bethesda’s arena FPS Quake Champions is now available to anyone and everyone on Steam Early Access. The Early Access release brings with it the new Doom Slayer Champion, whose “extreme rage and increased strength” give him the power to pulverize enemies with his bare hands, and Lore Scrolls that can be used to unlock new Legendary Skins. Paying for access to a game that will eventually be free might initially feel a little off-putting, but the Champions Pack will remain availa

You might expect that the single-player campaign mode for the Witcher-based CCG Gwent would be all about Geralt, the titular Witcher, or at the very least one of his better-known buddies, like maybe Dandelion or Zoltan. A release date hasn’t been set, but CD Projekt said it will be out later this year. The studio also announced the coming kickoff of the new Gwent Masters esports series today, saying that it’s intended to “elevate competitive Gwent to a professional level and give gamers the oppo

Absolver’s complex and interesting fighting system (a great one, in my short experience) exists within a solemn, hushed world inhabited by masked opponents who can hardly even muster grunts when I sock them in their faces. Absolver’s ascetic world is clever in one way: rather than modeling players’ faces, it covers them with opaque masks which can be found throughout the world. The most interesting thing about Absolver, aside from its customizable fighting system, is how players interact. Fighte

Remember Brink? Don’t feel too badly if your answer is “no.” We scored it a very positive 76/100 in our review, but overall it tanked pretty badly and was quickly forgotten. All of this leads to today’s very short and sweet announcement that Brink is now free to play on Steam. In case you missed it in 2011, here’s the Brink launch trailer.

XCOM 2’s expansion pack, War of the Chosen, is almost here. Today, Firaxis revealed that War of the Chosen will have a challenge mode—a new feature where players can complete unique challenges, earning points and placements on global leaderboards. In challenge mode missions, you’ll control a pre-determined squad of what looks like either XCOM or Advent forces. And don’t worry if the aliens get the best of you—new challenge mode missions will be available on a regular basis. XCOM 2: War of the Ch

If you’re looking for a laptop to play games on the go, one of the better bargains right now is over at Newegg. The online retailer is offering up Gigabyte’s 17.3-inch P37Xv6-PC4K2 for $1,499, and if you use promo code EMCSRJCB4, the price drops another $100 to $1,399. This laptop is normally priced at $1,899, so you’re saving a chunk of change here. It doesn’t cut many corners, either—underneath the hood is a previous generation Core i7-6700HQ processor that is still fast, and it’s paired with

The only distinction HP wants you to make between a high-end desktop and its Omen X laptop is the form factor. But in this case, HP says its Omen X is more than up to the task. The Omen X is a rare exception. The Omen X is a large system with a 17.3-inch display available in 4K or 120Hz 1080p. All of this goodness will cost you, however—the Omen X will be available in November starting at $2,300.

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord studio TaleWorlds Entertainment has released a new video showcasing the chaotic combat of the game’s multiplayer “Captain Mode.” The new mode will enable “large-scale, epic battles” for up to five players per side, each one controlling a unit of infantry, cavalry, or archers. The video isn’t narrated, but the basics seem clear enough, especially in the second battle. As in RTS gameplay, soldiers aren’t controlled individually, but instead operate as best they can unde

In the past couple sessions I’ve found a second artificial ‘hex’ planet and two planets covered with weird supposedly sentient metal orbs. Big bubbles, bigger bubbles, tiny bubbles, medium bubbles, bubbles that were bigger than the big bubbles but not as big as the bigger bubbles, and even some solid iron bubbles sitting on the planet’s surface. I named the planet ‘Bubble Planet’ because I am a creative writer. The bubbles themselves don’t seem particularly intelligent, but even if they are, the

Western Digital doesn’t want you to run out of backup storage, at least for a long time. And most people won’t with the company’s new massive capacity 20TB My Book Duo storage system. Not to be confused with a true network-attached storage (NAS) device, the My Book Duo is a compact box designed to plug directly into your PC. For simple backups, however, the My Book Duo is a serviceable solution. It also has two additional USB Type-A hub ports for connecting other accessories, such as drones, act

According to HyperX, this allows the headset to deliver clean, smoother sound that is less distorted and more distinct than it would otherwise be. “The new HyperX Cloud Alpha is the first gaming headset to include our dual chamber technology to deliver unrivaled sound quality,” said Tyler Needles, global audio business manager, HyperX. Beyond the chambered design, the Cloud Alpha features custom 50nm neodymium drivers wedged into circumaural, closed-back earcups. An aluminum frame with a padded

Now Blizzard is bringing that kind of co-op action to the collectible card game Hearthstone in a new Tavern Brawl that kicked off today at Gamescom. The object isn’t to defeat him—not individually, at least—but to do as much damage as possible before he pounds you out. Thijs isn’t super-clear on how exactly the system works, but the raid seems to currently be exclusive to Blizzard’s Gamescom Fireside Gathering. One million hit points is an awful lot to overcome, after all. Mechanically, the raid

At a glance, you might not be able to tell the difference between Corsair’s Void Pro headsets announced today and the original Void line. There are four new models in all, including the Void Pro Surround, Void Pro RGB USB, Void Pro RGB Wireless, and Void Pro RGB Wireless SE. The biggest difference between the Void and new Void Pro headsets is the microphone. The Void Pro Surround and Void Pro RGB USB are both priced at $80. Corsair’s Void Pro RGB Wireless runs $100, and the Void Pro RGB Wireless

Pollution, of course, is an ongoing issue in any Skylines city, but some solutions are on the way. The next Cities: Skylines expansion will address pollution problems by letting you go green. Green Cities “adds 350 new assets to the core game, adding a massive selection of new visual options, complete with eco-friendly buildings, organic shops, electric vehicles, and new services designed to make pollution a quaint notion of the past.” We don’t have a release date—the expansion only promises to

Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro’s new game The Good Life is a mystery-RPG set in a small town in England called Rainy Woods—the “happiest town in the world,” so its residents claim. That may have something to do with the fact that they all turn into cats at night. It’s not hereditary: Naomi, the game’s lead character, is a photographer from New York, and she experiences the change too. The townsfolk can’t explain it, because they can’t remember any of their nighttime adventures. “The town becomes a ver

Game Informer has posted the first trailer, above, that fully explores Call of Duty: WWII’s Headquarters mode, the series-first social space for soldiers with a little downtime. We already knew, via Eurogamer’s E3 interview, that Headquarters is a 48-player space modeled after the Allies’ Normandy beach encampment a few days after D-day. There’ll be a firing range, a 1v1 arena, quests, and more to do as players compete and socialize. While I recoil at my expectations for the voice chat, a ‘comme

Going from the bloodthirsty Doomguy to a scientist in Doom VFR might sound a bit like a downgrade, but as the developers point out in the new Q&A video above, you’ll get to possess heavily-armed robots and teleport, so if anything it might be an upgrade. That aforementioned scientist is Doctor Peters, one of the team tasked with creating the iconic BFG. As Peters, you’ll still largely be spending your time murdering demons, but there’s hacking and lockpicking and fixing up machines too. I’m not