Image credit: RedditIn a bid to better represent women and underrepresented minority groups under its employ, Blizzard plans to launch a so-called “global diversity and inclusion initiative” that will establish internal councils and help “enhance inclusiveness”. That’s according to an email received by Kotaku that also details just 21 percent of Blizzard’s employees identify as women, and that only 14 percent are categorised as “under-represented minority groups”. According to Kotaku, Blizzard p

What’s perhaps less inspiring is the fact the forthcoming pirate action adventure ’em up includes loot boxes. Speaking to Gamespot, the developer’s creative director Justin Farren confirmed Skull and Bones will include paid-for personalised cosmetic items, but that enforcing a pay-to-win-like system is something it’s keen to avoid. “Our economy emulates the real economy of the Indian Ocean, so things that are important to the people who are shipping goods, the merchants… the empires, those thi

Jamal Rashid’s ambitious and impressive Grand Theft Auto 5 NaturalVision Remastered visual overhaul mod is stunning. We spoke to the modder otherwise known as Razed about his tireless creation last week—which now looks even better following an extensive update. As detailed on the mod’s GTA5 Mods page, a new optional add-on that targets brighter evenings has been introduced, alongside a non-compulsory No Third Person Lens Flare setting. As the images featured below outline, a number of shadow and

Sweat, Doritos, and Mountain Dew—Three things that make for a dirty great mouse pad. But sometimes a mouse pad can get a little on the far side of soaking in the grime, especially when you play with tempting munchables near by. When it comes time to give your mouse pad a bath, the solution is going to depend on the material. Yes, you can use a washing machine without completely destroying the mouse pad. With minimal effort, regardless of material, you can be rid of even the most engrained memori

Rockman is back: Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 is out now, packing games 7, 8, 9 and 10 under its bright blue armour. Mega Man 7 and 8 were originally released in the ’90s on the Super Nintendo and PS1 respectively, while 9 and 10 arrived more than a decade later on consoles as retro-style throwbacks. And if you like your retro served with an extra slice of nostalgia, you can use a cheat code to unlock additional modes for Mega Man 9 and 10 that were originally released as DLC. Want to unlock the

And you delivered with some great stories, from classic point-and-click adventures, fearsome puzzle games, and multiplayer shooters. Commenter: Matthew GoddardThe first time I made it down that mountain in King’s Quest 3 I felt like a god. It had 3 single player levels and a multiplayer VS split screen. While whooping my baby sister’s ass in Multiplayer, I decided to load a single player save. Both players were teleported into the single player game!

The highlight of my Battlegrounds career was the time my squad held out in the underground military bunker against multiple enemies with only crossbows. It wasn’t some zany challenge we had set for ourselves—just an incredibly shitty string of loot luck. But Battlegrounds is so damn good at churning out an endless stream of small anecdotes just like these, and so many of them are hilarious. That’s why we want to hear your best Battlegrounds stories. Share your stories in the comments below and w

Why I love In Why I Love, PC Gamer writers pick an aspect of PC gaming that they love and write about why it’s brilliant. Today, Samuel talks about watching TV and playing games at the same time. I’ve been getting into GTA Online’s Overtime Shootout, which launched this week. Right now, a lot of people are playing Overtime Shootout for the reason I am: it’s paying out double experience and money. I’m usually switched off by grinding in games, but the commitment-to-payout ratio here is decent, pl

The latest of the excellent Around the Verse videos chronicling the development of Star Citizen is out, and it shows off the mobiGlas—essentially a futuristic smartwatch that acts as the main UI for the player. In fact, a lot of the UI in Star Citizen will work that way including in-game kiosks, the video explains, with 3D holograms and projections that any players nearby can see. The actual mobiGlas model on your wrist will be customisable too: players will eventually be able to snap modules on

The prevalence of YouTube and Twitch ensure that more gaming silliness is being captured and shared than ever. People are still doing amazing work with Source’s film making tools and The International 7 produced its share of amusing moments. Here are some of the videos and gifs that tickled us this week. Rule breakerAn0nymoose, the creator of demented videos like We Like To Party continues to do fine work. Monster hunter pro skaterOur favourite Witcher 3 mod of the week.

If you loved Bungie’s Myth games from the ’90s and early 2000s—think combat-focused strategy with no base building—then you’re probably going to enjoy Deadhold, a tactical RTS that charges into Early Access later this month. Inspired by the Myth titles, the units you start a match with are the only ones you can use. The emphasis is on manoeuvring small groups, or even individual units, into the right position and then micromanaging them to avoid oncoming attacks. The Early Access version release

None other could do so with such persuasiveness and prowess as Team Liquid, the winner of this year’s Championship. Team Liquid has sponsored champions in games such as Starcraft, League of Legends and more, but none of the organization’s Dota 2 iterations have come this far in official Valve events. The next day, the scraps of LFY were left to Team Liquid for the taking in the lower bracket finals. The dominating snowball style of Team Liquid shone in each game of the Grand Finals. In the final

Point the wheels of your Renault Magnum in the direction of the Amalfi Coast: Euro Truck Simulator 2 is heading for the curves of Italy in its next DLC, which is due before the end of the year. You can already truck through parts of northern Italy in the game but the map expansion, called Italia, will open up the rest of the country. There’s no price yet but the previous map expansion (in France) cost £13.50/$19. Judging by SCS’s blog post announcing the DLC we can expect a map that’s heavy on b

While this mod does let you craft a Vertibird player-home hybrid, you can’t literally fly your sweet chopper-house around the game and land wherever you want. This Vertibird has a small (or perhaps I should call it cozy) interior space you can use as a player home. The ‘bird also has working turrets on top, which you can use to keep pesky raiders and other interlopers away. There’s even an intercom you can use to contact your followers in case they’ve fallen behind or vanished (it happens). You

Just in time for the weekend, AMD’s RX Vega graphics cards arrived yesterday morning. Initially, it seemed like AMD might only send out the Vega 64 for review, but at the last minute we received word that Vega 56 would be coming as well. Don’t worry, though—we’ve already tested the RX Vega 64, and RX Vega 56 benchmarking is in progress. RX Vega is also larger than the RX 480, by about an inch, and it uses a vapor chamber for heat dissipation. And finally, video outputs on both cards are the same

Valve surprised fans at The International 7 yesterday by revealing two new Dota 2 heroes: one acrobatic, armadillo-inspired swordsman and a pink fairy. The fairy—who holds a lantern with a menacing, flying creature inside—seems to match the description of an upcoming hero uncovered in game files from an update from May, called Sylph. Valve hasn’t confirmed the names or skills of the new heroes, but the fairy’s appearance in the video fits with those ability names (and a sylph is an air spirit, w

This one comes from My Name’s Nobody in Discord, who asks: what was the first PC game you played? Maybe someone in the comments can help me out here, but I don’t remember the name of my first PC game. We played both on his old 8086 PC we had set up in the storage shed in the backyard. But my strongest memory is of a game we played on our newer 386 PC, which had a more prestigious position in the home office. Samuel Roberts: X-WingMy first PC game was technically Mario Is Missing, which I’ve writ

I’m super mega excited for Super Mega Baseball 2—the first was an excellent sim that had the right level of mechanical realism alongside cartoonish players with giant heads. “And where we’re sitting now, to release it by September would mean having to cut a lot of corners. And we do not want to give you a game that you won’t be happy with.” I guess in baseball terms, it’s reached third base but won’t try for home just yet. And the extra months mean that Metalhead can add some new features in the

Apparently, it’s stressful enough to send a League of Legends pro player to the bench for an entire week. Team Newbee’s Li “Vasilii” Wei Jun would know, because it’s the reason he gave for missing out on taking part in week six of the LPL season. The nature of anyone’s personal sex life is far, far beyond anyone’s business, but the bizarre excuse certainly lights up the imagination. This led to me playing poorly in solo queue, but last week we lost, so I started to adjust myself to a more abstin

Before the arrival of Knights of the Frozen Throne, Gul’dan was in the worst shape he’s ever been. The big reason to play this deck is of course the new Hero Card, which casts a double Evolve effect when played. Thrall, Deathseer is the cheapest of the Hero Cards at 5 Mana, so it was always likely to see substantial play. Frost Lich Jaina was the Hero Card I was most excited to try, even if our expert analysis placed her in the power ranking dumpster. And if you’d prefer to move off the Alex pla