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Five years ago, a small team of three people released a really rather special game out into the world, all about anonymously writing and receiving letters, which had also been written by other real people, and offering some words of encouragement to those who need it. This was Kind Words, a fitting name for a game that did so much to lift spirits and create a safe space for anyone going through a hard time.
In the time since Kind Words released five years ago, developer Popcannibal has been working on a sequel. It is called Kind Words 2, and unlike the original game where you were confined to a bedroom, in the sequel, there’s a world outside to explore. Those wonderful letters still remain, though.
As for when you can explore that wholesome outside world for yours…

If you’ve been feeling a little trucked out with American Truck Simulator’s existing 15 states, and have been dreaming of more beatiful tarmac to traverse soon, there’s good news: developer SCS Software has announced its Arkansas expansion will arrive next Monday, 16th September. And ahead of that, there’s a major new patch adding improved controller support and more.

“Located in the south-central region of the United States,” explains SCS in its blurb for American Truck Simulator’s Arkansas expansion, “the state is a nature wonderland with three national forests, many State Parks, nearly 9,000 miles of pristine streams and rivers like the Arkansas and Mississippi, as well as the ever-stretching Ozark and Ouachita mountain ranges.”

As such, truckers hitting t…

With Starfield’s Shattered Space expansion just weeks away from release, Bethesda has been teasing some of the things players can expect to find when House Va’ruun’s homeward of Va’ruun’kai opens for business on 30th September.

“Thank you to the millions of players who have made the Settled Systems their home and helped make this an incredible first year for Starfield”, Bethesda wrote in a post on social media, before turning its attention to those pre-launch teases.

First up is the reveal Shattered Space’s new planet of Va’ruun’kai will be something for explorers to get stuck into, featuring “over 50 locations to discover” – one of which, as we learned during Gamescom, will be House Va’ruun’s capital city of Dazra.

Starfield Official REV-8 Trailer

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Destiny 2’s average 30-day player count on Steam has dropped to its lowest level in the series’ history.
Whilst participation in live-service games inevitably waxes and wanes – and these figures do not account for players on console – it’s nonetheless an unwelcomed milestone for Bungie’s beleaguered sci-fi shooter.

Destiny 2 | The Journey Ahead [UK]

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We all know The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was (and still is) called The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but once upon a time Nintendo was thinking of a slightly different name for its Breath of the Wild follow-up.
Please be aware of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom spoilers below.

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A month after Bungie acknowledged player “uncertainty surrounding the future of Destiny” following mass layoffs at the studio, the developer has announced “major changes for the future” of its live-service shooter, which will now receive multiple paid expansions a year.

More specifically, Destiny 2’s overhauled release model, announced to coincide with the series’ tenth anniversary, will see two “medium-sized” paid expansions release annually, alongside four “major” free content updates. All this will form a “new multi-year saga” (the first since Destiny 2’s Light and Darkness saga concluded with its The Final Shape expansion earlier this year) promising new characters, factions, twists, and more.

Things kick off next summer with Destiny 2’s first new expansi…

UK spending on video games plummeted by 29.4 percent during the first half of this year, while music and video sales grew.

Physical game sales fell by 40 percent to £111.7m compared to the first six months of 2023, while digital download sales fell 23 percent to £236.9m.

The numbers, reported by the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA), reflect a “soft new release schedule”, according to its latest report.

Newscast: Does the loss of day one launches make Xbox Game Pass pointless?

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Xbox has revealed a new “Cheeky Controller” in a Deadpool design to celebrate the new Deadpool & Wolverine Marvel film, with a rather prominent behind.

A peachy pair of these controllers will be part of the grand prize in a global sweepstakes, alongside other custom Xbox hardware – details of how to enter have been shared on social media site X.

It’s in Deadpool’s fetching red colour and seemingly offers a firm grip. Just mind where you put your fingers.

Newscast: Does the loss of day one launches make Xbox Game Pass pointless?

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If you’ve been hoping for another No Mans’s Sky universe refresh, today’s your day. The exploratory space sim’s latest update is all about bringing more variety to planets – and it’s chucking in angry Starship Troopers-esque bug hunts and a flamethrower mech too.

No Man’s Sky’s new Worlds Part 1 update owes at least some of its existence to developer Hello Games’ upcoming fantasy planet sim Light No Fire. “Over the last five years making the game, ” it explains, “we’ve learnt new things, and we’re feeding that back into No Man’s Sky”.

Some of No Man’s Sky’s freshly expanded variety comes from the way its new simulated systems combine. There’s new cloud tech that creates skies based on weather conditions, with planets now featuring their own wind patterns. Wat…