We cowl quite a lot of information right here at PC Gamer, operating the gamut from new sport bulletins and trailers to stories on layoffs, crime, NFTs, office misconduct, and the newest and biggest in {hardware} improvement. It is rather a lot, and we’ve lots of people studying, in order 2023 attracts to a detailed we thought it will be enjoyable to look again on our greatest—that’s, most-read—information tales of the 12 months.
It is fairly a mixture, and notably plenty of our greatest tales are about gaming reasonably 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 reasonably 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 advantage of nobody specifically, however the people at Microsoft did when Invoice Gates acquired hooked on Minecraft. In order that they did what all good workers do when their boss must be pulled out of a self-inflicted spiral: They faked him out.
19. The creator of Fallout 4’s greatest settlement mod says Starfield’s outpost system ‘principally makes the individuals meaningless’
Identical to settlements in Fallout 4, Starfield gamers can create their very own outposts, and the programs for doing so are dramatically improved over the latest Fallout sport. However the outposts themselves? Not a lot, in accordance with King Gath, the creator of the Sim Settlements mods for Fallout 4.
“You possibly can automate the whole 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 People and impatient younger individuals for the Netflix present’s simplified plot
“When a sequence is made for an enormous mass of viewers, with completely different experiences, from completely different elements of the world, and a big a part of them are People, these simplifications not solely make sense, they’re vital. It’s painful for us, and for me too, however the increased degree of nuance and complexity could have a smaller vary, it will not attain individuals.”
17. Bethesda says most of Starfield’s 1000+ planets are uninteresting on objective as a result of ‘when the astronauts went to the moon, there was nothing there’ however ‘they definitely weren’t bored’
Bethesda needed to strike a steadiness in Starfield’s recreation of the vastness of house between conserving issues attention-grabbing and making certain gamers “really feel small,” as managing director Ashley Cheng put it. Whether or not Bethesda completed that aim continues to be a matter of debate, however some say the sport went too far within the flawed route, 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 legislation is tremendous efficient
“What’d I let you know? Do not buy something,” Robert DeNiro yelled at one in all 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 unexpectedly triggered rapid curiosity at The Pokémon Firm, adopted shortly by related legislation 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 per week, for 62 weeks, devoted Elden Ring participant JPNB went toe-to-toe with Malenia utilizing a special 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 solely joyous: “I felt an enormous sigh of reduction over my physique, but in addition a bittersweet feeling as a result of I had been doing it so lengthy.”
14. Skullgirls bombarded by destructive Steam evaluations after devs alter outdated art work they felt was in ‘poor style’
You would possibly assume that eradicating Nazi-style imagery and minor changes to handle content material the developer “believed to be in poor style” could be met with plaudits and encouragement. Within the case of the decade-old combating sport Skullgirls, not solely.
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 in reality a ZedBoard Zynq-7000 improvement SoC (system on a chip) and you’ll have one in all your very personal for rather less than $600 plus transport.
12. Participant with 6,000 hours in Purple Useless On-line on Stadia will get a goodbye package deal from Rockstar
Google Stadia did not final lengthy, but it surely lasted lengthy sufficient for YouTuber and TikTok creator Color to pour 6,000 hours into Purple Useless On-line on the platform. When it was lastly time to say goodbye, Rockstar gave him a particular sendoff for his farewell stream: A package deal crammed with Purple Useless 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 favored his sport and guarantees a free remaster to make up for it: ‘I hope it is going to go some technique to rectify errors we’ve made’
You do not see this type of dedication fairly often: After a pair years of ignoring Gray Skies: A Struggle of the Worlds Story attributable to “crippling private points” as its Steam consumer score sank to “principally destructive,” lead developer Nathan Seedhouse returned, realized no person favored 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’ll suck up all of your information to coach its AI
In July, Google up to date its privateness coverage to permit it to “gather 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 going through lawsuits over the way in which it harvests information to make use of for its ChatGPT LLM, and we puzzled if this new coverage may open Google as much as the identical form of bother—but it surely additionally looks as if Google is glad to embrace the outdated axiom that it is simpler to get forgiveness than permission.
9. US gov fires a warning shot at Nvidia: ‘We can’t let China get these chips… In case you redesign a chip that permits them to do AI, I will management it the very subsequent day’
The US authorities is outwardly out of persistence with Nvidia’s behavior of circumventing export sanctions on international locations 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’t let China get these chips, interval,” after which extra ominously, “In case you redesign a chip round a specific minimize line that permits them to do AI, I will management it the very subsequent day.”
8. Seems your abyssal tattoos in Baldur’s Gate 3 are the D&D equal of unintentionally 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 foul concept until you are totally fluent within the related language—in any other case you could possibly 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 value 4.8 billion in gold
Streamer Darth Microtransaction had a foul day in October when he found his maxed-out Outdated Faculty Runescape account had been hacked, and every part he earned—which was just about every part within the sport—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 may be overcommitted to OSRS as a result of the ending was glad: Jagex restored his account.
6. Streamer units sail for the floor of Pluto in Starfield—and spends 7 hours to achieve a cursed orb she will simply fly via
Eschewing the trendy 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. Ultimately she flew straight into it, after which out the opposite aspect. It wasn’t terribly shocking—”house” in Starfield is absolutely only a huge skybox—and it was cool to verify these distant objects are in reality reachable, besides I feel we had been all hoping for a extra spectacular finish to her lengthy journey into the void.
5. I performed that $2,000 Steam sport, and its ridiculous value might be for the most effective
Would you pay $2,000 to play a sport on Steam? Properly we did play it, and admittedly 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 attributable to testosterone depletion, adopted by a principally non-interactive visible novel a few child named Brian. Happily, the sport can also be designed to take lower than two hours to finish, so you may get your two massive again if you’re completed. 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 […] it’s possible you’ll must improve your PC’
Do not ask Todd Howard a query should you’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: ‘Truly, 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 need to discuss what they had been doing within the sport as a result of it simply wasn’t manly sufficient. “I keep 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 all people within the city’,” Humble mentioned. “However really, what you probably did is you redecorated that rest room.”
2. Warner Bros. exec says Hogwarts Legacy’s bought 15 million, remodeled a billion {dollars}, and now they need to do the identical with Superman
Pre-release unhappiness with the conduct 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 Could, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav mentioned the sport had bought greater than 15 million copies worldwide, incomes over $1 billion in gross sales. Zaslav held up the success of Hogwarts Legacy for instance 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.
