We cowl quite a lot of information right here at PC Gamer, operating the gamut from new recreation bulletins and trailers to reviews on layoffs, crime, NFTs, office misconduct, and the newest and biggest in {hardware} growth. It is quite a bit, and we’ve got lots of people studying, in order 2023 attracts to a detailed we thought it could be enjoyable to look again on our greatest—that’s, most-read—information tales of the 12 months.
It is fairly a combination, and notably numerous our greatest tales are about gaming fairly than video games: Males mendacity about what they did in The Sims (presumably to protect a veneer of machismo), or the dangers of getting tattoos in Baldur’s Gate 3 with out being fluent in Barazhad. Our greatest information story of the 12 months is not actually about video games in any respect, however fairly the looming finish of humanity, in order that’s enjoyable.
So with 2023 shortly winding down, let’s take a second to solid our eyes again on the 12 months that was:
20. That point Invoice Gates acquired so obsessive about Minesweeper excessive scores that Microsoft workers needed to conjure up one he could not beat
What do you do when the boss has essential issues to be doing however he is screwing all his time in on a videogame? It is definitely not one thing I’ve ever skilled, I say with pointed emphasis for the good thing about nobody particularly, however the of us at Microsoft did when Invoice Gates acquired hooked on Minecraft. So that they did what all good staff do when their boss must be pulled out of a self-inflicted spiral: They faked him out.
19. The creator of Fallout 4’s finest settlement mod says Starfield’s outpost system ‘principally makes the individuals meaningless’
Similar to settlements in Fallout 4, Starfield gamers can create their very own outposts, and the techniques for doing so are dramatically improved over the latest Fallout recreation. However the outposts themselves? Not a lot, in response to King Gath, the creator of the Sim Settlements mods for Fallout 4.
“You possibly can automate your entire system and the Crew’s solely operate seems to be rising manufacturing,” mentioned King Gath. “Their wants are irrelevant, they don’t seem to be required for the equipment to function, so in that approach it feels disconnected from what makes Bethesda video games nice.”
18. The Witcher producer blames Individuals and impatient younger individuals for the Netflix present’s simplified plot
“When a collection is made for an enormous mass of viewers, with totally different experiences, from totally different components of the world, and a big a part of them are Individuals, these simplifications not solely make sense, they’re mandatory. It’s painful for us, and for me too, however the greater degree of nuance and complexity can have a smaller vary, it will not attain individuals.”
17. Bethesda says most of Starfield’s 1000+ planets are uninteresting on function as a result of ‘when the astronauts went to the moon, there was nothing there’ however ‘they definitely weren’t bored’
Bethesda wished to strike a steadiness in Starfield’s recreation of the vastness of area between maintaining issues attention-grabbing and making certain gamers “really feel small,” as managing director Ashley Cheng put it. Whether or not Bethesda completed that purpose remains to be a matter of debate, however some say the sport went too far within the mistaken path, and that Starfield itself is what ended up feeling small.
16. Man steals Pokémon playing cards on the job in ‘largest’ theft the sport has ever seen, tries to promote his haul, however the regulation is tremendous efficient
“What’d I let you know? Do not buy something,” Robert DeNiro yelled at certainly one of his high-living companions in a tense scene in Goodfellas. The hapless thief behind one of many greatest thefts in Pokémon historical past has apparently by no means seen the movie, although, as a result of his clumsy try and unload his haul abruptly triggered rapid curiosity at The Pokémon Firm, adopted shortly by related regulation enforcement businesses.
15. The Elden Ring participant who fought its hardest boss again and again till an enlargement announcement is hanging up his sword: ‘I had been doing it so lengthy’
As soon as every week, for 62 weeks, devoted Elden Ring participant JPNB went toe-to-toe with Malenia utilizing a distinct character construct each time. When the Shadow of the Erdtree enlargement was lastly introduced earlier this 12 months, their ordeal was over. However whereas the burden was ended, the second was not completely joyous: “I felt a large sigh of aid over my physique, but in addition a bittersweet feeling as a result of I had been doing it so lengthy.”
14. Skullgirls bombarded by unfavorable Steam evaluations after devs alter previous art work they felt was in ‘poor style’
You would possibly suppose that eradicating Nazi-style imagery and minor changes to deal with content material the developer “believed to be in poor style” could be met with plaudits and encouragement. Within the case of the decade-old preventing recreation Skullgirls, not completely.
13. Iran’s ‘quantum processor’ turned out to be a $600 dev board
The Imam Khomeini College of Marine Sciences and Applied sciences’ “first product of the quantum processing algorithm” turned out to be considerably much less spectacular than billed: It was actually a ZedBoard Zynq-7000 growth SoC (system on a chip) and you’ll have certainly one of your very personal for rather less than $600 plus delivery.
12. Participant with 6,000 hours in Crimson Lifeless On-line on Stadia will get a goodbye bundle from Rockstar
Google Stadia did not final lengthy, however it lasted lengthy sufficient for YouTuber and TikTok creator Color to pour 6,000 hours into Crimson Lifeless On-line on the platform. When it was lastly time to say goodbye, Rockstar gave him a particular sendoff for his farewell stream: A bundle stuffed with Crimson Lifeless loot. (Rockstar additionally saved the day for everybody by implementing an account switch system, enabling gamers to maneuver their RDO forex and expertise to different platforms.)
11. After 2 years away, dev realises nobody preferred his recreation and guarantees a free remaster to make up for it: ‘I hope it can go some method to rectify errors we’ve got made’
You do not see this sort of dedication fairly often: After a pair years of ignoring Gray Skies: A Conflict of the Worlds Story as a consequence of “crippling private points” as its Steam consumer ranking sank to “largely unfavorable,” lead developer Nathan Seedhouse returned, realized no one preferred the sport, and resolved to repair it. As of November 15, he was nonetheless engaged on it.
10. In case there was any doubt, Google’s privateness coverage now explicitly states that it may suck up all of your knowledge to coach its AI
In July, Google up to date its privateness coverage to permit it to “accumulate info that’s publicly obtainable on-line or from different public sources to assist practice Google’s AI fashions and construct merchandise and options like Google Translate, Bard, and Cloud AI capabilities.” OpenAI is already dealing with lawsuits over the way in which it harvests knowledge to make use of for its ChatGPT LLM, and we puzzled if this new coverage might open Google as much as the identical kind of bother—however it additionally looks as if Google is blissful to embrace the previous axiom that it is simpler to get forgiveness than permission.
9. US gov fires a warning shot at Nvidia: ‘We can not let China get these chips… When you redesign a chip that allows them to do AI, I’ll management it the very subsequent day’
The US authorities is seemingly out of endurance with Nvidia’s behavior of circumventing export sanctions on nations like China by barely redesigning {hardware} completely for these markets: Talking on the Reagan Nationwide Protection Discussion board in December, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo mentioned, “We can not let China get these chips, interval,” after which extra ominously, “When you redesign a chip round a selected reduce line that allows them to do AI, I’ll management it the very subsequent day.”
8. Seems your abyssal tattoos in Baldur’s Gate 3 are the D&D equal of by chance getting ‘egg drop soup’ inscribed in Chinese language characters
How is Baldur’s Gate 3 just like the menu out of your favourite Chinese language restaurant? Getting tattoos based mostly on both might be a nasty concept except you are totally fluent within the related language—in any other case you possibly can find yourself with phrases like “brow,” “chin,” or “Larian Studios” scrawled throughout your mug. That is not an excellent look, right here or within the Forgotten Realms.
7. Outdated Faculty Runescape participant goes on an emotional curler coaster after hackers strip his account of things price 4.8 billion in gold
Streamer Darth Microtransaction had a nasty day in October when he found his maxed-out Outdated Faculty Runescape account had been hacked, and all the things he earned—which was just about all the things within the recreation—had been taken. He dealt with it in addition to might be anticipated, with out screaming or smashing issues on stream, and I did not really feel unhealthy about discovering amusement in his hang-dog admission that he could be overcommitted to OSRS as a result of the ending was blissful: Jagex restored his account.
6. Streamer units sail for the floor of Pluto in Starfield—and spends 7 hours to succeed in a cursed orb she will be able to simply fly by way of
Eschewing the fashionable miracle of quick journey, video games author and streamer Alanah Pearce spent seven hours flying to Pluto in real-time, and when she arrived she found it wasn’t actually there in any respect: The nearer she grew to the distant not-a-planet, the extra distorted and warped it appeared. Finally she flew straight into it, after which out the opposite facet. It wasn’t terribly stunning—”area” in Starfield is admittedly only a large skybox—and it was cool to verify these distant objects are actually reachable, besides I feel we have been all hoping for a extra spectacular finish to her lengthy journey into the void.
5. I performed that $2,000 Steam recreation, and its ridiculous worth might be for the perfect
Would you pay $2,000 to play a recreation on Steam? Properly we did play it, and albeit it wasn’t that nice: The Hidden and Unknown begins with a Star Wars-style scroll describing an imbalance between masculine and female vitality that is turning Western males infertile as a consequence of testosterone depletion, adopted by a largely non-interactive visible novel a couple of child named Brian. Luckily, the sport can also be designed to take lower than two hours to finish, so you will get your two massive again once you’re finished. Though that is now not related: Shortly after The Hidden and Unknown was launched, the developer declared the “experiment” was over and eliminated it from sale.
4. Todd Howard requested on-air why Bethesda did not optimise Starfield for PC: ‘We did […] you could must improve your PC’
Do not ask Todd Howard a query if you happen to’re not ready for the reply. Particularly if you have not upgraded your gaming rig since 2016.
3. Former Sims lead says males would lie about how they performed throughout focus teams: ‘Really, what you probably did is you redecorated that rest room’
Former Sims lead Rod Humble revealed in March that builders bumped into an attention-grabbing downside whereas doing focus-group testing of The Sims 3: Some guys did not wish to speak about what they have been doing within the recreation as a result of it simply wasn’t manly sufficient. “I bear in mind a bunch of younger guys, they usually get into the room, it is a blended room, and we’re like, ‘Hey, what did you do?’ they usually’re like, ‘Murdered individuals. Went in and starved individuals, had intercourse with everyone within the city’,” Humble mentioned. “However truly, what you probably did is you redecorated that rest room.”
2. Warner Bros. exec says Hogwarts Legacy’s offered 15 million, revamped a billion {dollars}, and now they wish to do the identical with Superman
Pre-release unhappiness with the habits of Harry Potter creator and infamous transphobe JK Rowling threatened to solid a pall over the launch of Hogwarts Legacy, however ultimately the attract of the Wizard World received out: In Might, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav mentioned the sport had offered greater than 15 million copies worldwide, incomes over $1 billion in gross sales. Zaslav held up the success of Hogwarts Legacy for example for different Warner-owned franchises sooner or later: “It might be within the subsequent couple of years that we launch a Superman film and… individuals spend extra time and there is extra economics of individuals simply hanging out within the Superman world and universe.”
1. Bizarroland UN press stunt sees AI robots lined as much as promise they will not kill people, earlier than one says ‘let’s get wild and make this world our playground’
Yeah, proper.
What a 12 months, eh? We’ll be again for extra in ’24.