Modern SSDs are an engineering wonder. They’re extremely fast and very reliable, despite being housed next to massive heat-belching graphics cards in gaming PCs. But like all silicon-based chips, they have limits to how hot they can run before losing data or failing completely. However, two teams of researchers have developed a type of flash memory that’s capable of retaining data at temperatures that make an afternoon on Venus look cold in comparison.

The details of the work were published in the Nature journal (via Interesting Engineering), though the University of Pennsylvania nicely summarised the findings for those without a background in doctorate-level material science. Two research teams in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, headed by Deep Jariwala and Roy Olsson, dedicated months of work to finding the perfect thickness of ferroelectric aluminum scandium nitride (AlScN), to use as a base material for a flash memory device.

Everyday flash memory, su…

Back in 2020, a team of StarCraft 2 veterans announced the launch of a new outfit, Frost Giant Studios, with the stated goal of creating “the next great PC real-time strategy game.” We got our hands on that effort, called Stormgate, earlier this year, and it certainly looked like Frost Giant was on track to deliver that promise, with a debut effort that’s “shaping up to be a brilliant blend of modern and classic RTS.”

Clearly we’re not the only ones excited for it: Frost Giant launched a $100,000 Kickstarter campaign on December 5 to support the development of Stormgate, and it was fully funded in just 15 minutes.

Stormgate is an RTS that pits far-future humanity against the invading forces of the demonic Infernal Host in a pitched battle for the fate of the Earth. “It’s built on familiar foundations,” online editor and PC Gamer strategy guy Fraser Brown said in his June preview, which is to be expected from a game coming from Blizzard veterans, but it’s not just a nosta…

The cyberpunk-fantasy world of 1989 tabletop RPG Shadowrun has been adapted into videogames multiple times, beginning with an RPG for the SNES all the way back in 2003. In 2007, FASA Studio and Microsoft released a multiplayer shooter in the vein of Counter-Strike based on the setting, and it sank like a stone. At the time, a full-price shooter that was multiplayer-only was an even bigger risk than it would be today, and fans of Shadowrun saw it as a genre mismatch. On release, it reviewed poorly and sold worse.

While designer Bill Fulton has previously said, “Shadowrun was originally envisioned as a game with a full campaign mode,” more information about what that campaign would be like and why it was cut was revealed during a recent video AMA with the developers. 

“It was a linear, progression-based System Shock-style RPG-type experience,” said community manager David Abzug. He also explained that, rather than using the same maps as the multiplayer mode, the campa…

He was out of town when I visited Firaxis to play Civilization 7 earlier this month, but I did walk past the office from which Civilization creator Sid Meier continues to guide the strategy developer. One example of that guidance, although it came 14 years ago now, was the quick addition of Ghengis Khan as a free Civilization 5 update.

“We ended up shipping Civ 5 without Genghis Khan,” said Civ 7 executive producer Dennis Shirk in a recent interview with GameRant. “Sid said, ‘What?’ We ended up releasing Genghis Khan the next month in a free update because he was right. We shouldn’t have shipped without Genghis Khan, so there’s always going to be that collection, that foundation.”

The topic obviously came up in connection to Civ 7’s leaders, which we haven’t yet seen the full list of, although we know that it won’t be limited to heads of state this time—Benjamin Franklin is a leader, for example. 

We know Mongolia is in Civilization 7, so it seems like a…

For fans of chill city builders like Townscaper, Gourdlets, Terra Nil, and the upcoming Tiny Glade, I’ve got another relaxing building game to add to your wishlist. 

Lands of Koastalia sets you up as mayor of a peaceful island community where you oversee a growing population, try to meet their needs, and create cozy buildings, farms, and fields—all by drawing shapes on ground. As you can see in the announcement trailer below, Koastalia is a picturesque world of fluffy trees and happy sheep, which you’ll oversee as you draw shapes and watch cozy-looking farmhouses, vibrant little wheat fields, and fenced-in livestock pens appear.

“You can literally create different buildings by just drawing shapes on the grid. Our special building algorithms will generate a unique building each time, bringing an element of visual charm to your village,” says developer Asaloda Games.

It’s more than just an exercise in relaxation, however: you’ll also need to handle a bit o…

It’s always a bummer when an MMO, or any multiplayer game, gets shut down and goes forever dark. That was the fate of medieval survival sandbox Life is Feudal: MMO, which entered early access in 2018 but closed its doors barely three years later, apparently due to financial issues and disagreements between developer Bitbox and its publisher, Xsolla.

So you’d expect hardcore fans of the realistic medieval MMO to react with joy and excitement upon hearing Life is Feudal has a new publisher that’s bringing the game back. Right?

Not quite. In the official Discord, the May 30 announcement of Life of Feudal’s rebirth was met with 95 cry-laugh emojis, 74 poops, 62 clowns, and a group effort to spell out the word S-C-A-M in emoji letters. To be fair, there were also 35 thumbs-ups, which I attribute to people being genuinely happy (but also maybe a few of them not reading the announcement all that closely).

So, what’s the problem? Why aren’t fans happy the MMO is being give…

Baldur’s Gate 3 has certainly changed the conversation on sex in games, from the breakout viral moment around its bear sex scene to the way it turns intimacy, rather than sex, into the end goal of many of its relationships. Our RPG roundtable from this year’s Game Developers Conference, now available on the PC Gamer Chat Log podcast feed, touches on the topic of sex in games—but it also spawned an incredible anecdote from Obsidian game director Carrie Patel from her time as a narrative designer on The Outer Worlds.

Here is, as far as I know, the never-before-told story of what would have been a wild hidden ending in The Outer Worlds, if it hadn’t been cut before release: 

Carrie Patel: “I worked on a secret ending to The Outer Worlds with Dan McPhee who was another narrative designer on the project. Fairly late in development I was writing the flavor terminal stuff for Chairman Rockwell’s office, which you can encounter midway, maybe ⅔ o…

Whether you need a little or a lot of help with today’s Wordle, everything you’re looking for is waiting below. Enjoy puzzling it out—with a bit of guidance—using today’s hint, or rescue an unlucky game with the answer to the March 27 (1012) Wordle. Whatever you’re looking for, it’s right here.

My Wednesday Wordle actually went pretty well, even though it didn’t feel like it at the time. I started with a great green letter, and soon found some more to go with it. It’s just a shame those gaps around them took a little longer to fill than I’d like, I suppose. Maybe I’ll solve tomorrow’s puzzle in a flash to make up for it.

Today’s Wordle hint

Wordle today: A hint for Wednesday, March 27

“Ow, I’ve been _____!” is the sort of thing you might say after being attacked by a bee, wasp, or similar angry insect. Think of unpleasant needle-like pricks to the skin, and you’ll soon find today’s answer. 

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Is there a d…

Overwatch 2 will release on Steam on August 10, and Blizzard isn’t going to stop there, promising that “a selection” of its other games will come to Steam in the future.

What chaos! Can immutable PC gaming laws really turn out to be mutable just like that? Are there no divisions, no borders, no distinctions remaining at all?

Blizzard and Valve never had a Sega and Nintendo-style rivalry, but Overwatch 2’s Steam page is still weird in the way Sonic’s first Nintendo console appearance was. Battle.net was introduced in 1996, well before Steam existed, and Blizzard was probably the last remaining company that could disregard Steam without everyone moaning about it. Its legacy put it in a category of its own.

You’ll still need a Battle.net account to play Overwatch 2 on Steam, and Steam and Battle.net players will be able to play together. The Steam version of Overwatch 2 isn’t just a glorified shortcut, though: It will include Steam Achievements and allow you to invite…

The Last of Us Part 1 was in rough shape when it finally made its long-awaited debut on PC earlier this year. It gave us the blessings of Eyebrows Joel, which was pretty great, but not quite great enough to make up for the fact that performance was brutal and crashes were far too common: Nearly 9,700 user reviews on Steam currently have it sitting at a “mostly negative” overall rating, a very unexpected response to such a highly anticipated game.

A hotfix went live on March 29, the day after The Last of Us Part 1 appeared on Steam, which focused primarily on “stability and performance improvements and other smaller improvements.” and Sony and Naughty Dog also said they were “closely watching player reports and actively working on a patch with more bugfixes, to be released soon.”

The patch notes for that hotfix were effectively useless, stating only that it “fixed several performance & hitch related issues impacting some users.” It also added “extra crash diagnostic i…