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You know how Steam is famously strict about certifying new updates? No? I’ve just been handed a note, apparently Steam doesn’t give a hoot and the only explanation for Square Enix being so tardy with updates for the PC version of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters (and the mobile versions too) is that they forgot the rest of us exist.

Well, not any more. A light lit up on a board somewhere in Square Enix headquarters that said “maybe it’s time to fix the fonts on PC” and here we are in 2024, finally seeing the first six Final Fantasy games update to version 1.10.

The option to select the original “classic” font rather than the “modern” font is an important upgrade, but so are the assistance features added to the config menu. As the patch notes put it, “They offer options such as applying a x0 to x4 modifier to the amount of EXP, gil or Magic AP obtained or turning enemy encounters off.” Movement speed can also be adjusted on the same menu, which “allows you to switch the default movement speed from walking to running.”

Other menu options let you choose monsters from the bestiary to fight against, and listen to the original background music rather than the modern…

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For most prebuilt gaming PCs it’s expected to have to lose out on RAM or storage capacity in order to stretch to a bigger, better graphics card. Yet every so often we’ll find a deal that appears to offer it all and still come in at a competitive price. That’s what this Skytech PC is: one of the cheaper RTX 4070 Ti PCs we’ve seen with capacious RAM, storage, and PSU capacity.

Let’s breakdown this PC’s spec real quick. It comes with an RTX 4070 Ti, AMD Ryzen 5 7600X, 1TB NVMe SSD, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and 850W 80 Plus Gold PSU. All stuffed inside a neat-looking tempered glass case. For all that, you can expect to pay $1,650 over at Newegg.

Even by the standards of some of the Prime Day gaming PC deals floating around right now, that’s pretty good. That’s not only because it’s actually one of the cheapest RTX 4070 Ti machines we’ve spotted (there is this last-gen Ryzen 5 machine for $1,600), but it’s also not skimping on key components.

The RAM is obviously a stand out here. That 32GB of DDR5 is plenty enough for creative pursuits, like rendering massive files in the Adobe suite, but also more than enough for gaming. DDR5 is the latest memory standard, and it’s a nic…

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Developers at GDC gathered today to express their feelings about the state of the game industry, in what under the circumstances is really the only reasonable way to react: with a scream.

“The game industry is falling apart around us, and we’re all flocking to San Francisco for a week to pretend like this is fine,” the GDScream event announcement states. “Let’s take a minute where we all stop pretending, and express just how it feels to be a game developer in 2024.

“Join us for a collective moment of catharsis, camaraderie, and caterwauling. Let’s descend upon Yerba Buena and when the clock strikes noon, have ourselves a nice big GDScream.”

The public scream, organized by former Epic Games producer Caryl Shaw and Fortnite Festival designer Scott Jon Siegel, took place at 12 pm PT/3 pm ET and was exactly what it sounds like: A raw expression of outrage over an industry that has laid off thousands of developers over the past year, throwing countless lives into turmoil in pursuit of shareholder value.

Speaking to PC Gamer at the event, Siegel said he was prompted to organize the event by the frustration he’s felt over widespread layoffs and the recent “Gamer…

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2024 continues to be an awful year for employees of the game industry, as another three studios have reportedly laid off employees this week. People Can Fly, the developer of games including Painkiller, Bulletstorm, and Outriders, has confirmed that “layoffs have happened,” while a Kotaku report says Destroy All Humans! studio Black Forest Games and Ruiner developer Reikon Games have also made significant cuts to staffing.

People Can Fly development director Adam Alker said in an internal email that more than 30 people working on the studio’s current project, code named Project Gemini, were being let go. Project Gemini was described as “a triple-A game that is being developed in partnership with the publisher Square Enix Limited” in a 2022 financial report, and was meant to be on a scale similar to that of Outriders, People Can Fly’s 2021 co-op shooter. However, one source told Kotaku that Project Gemini’s singleplayer campaign is going to be reduced in size as a result of the cuts.

In a statement provided to PC Gamer, People Can Fly confirmed that “layoffs have happened,” but did not reveal how many employees were let go. “At this time we have nothing to add,” a rep…

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There’s a certain kind of scam, old as time, that revolves around selling people something that tells them to sell the same thing. That’s not how it’s presented, of course. The pitch is that if only you knew X (my secret knowledge) you would easily have Y (money, young lovers, cars). Perhaps the most egregious contemporary example of this kind of grift is Andrew Tate and his “Hustlers University”, but there are a million of them out there, and the internet has just turned up an example of what the future for this particular hustle looks like.

Take a bow Jake Ward, not only the latest guy who wants to make money by selling you a pipe dream but a pioneering example of an AI scammer. Mr. Ward’s modus operandi is simple. Creating content is hard. So why not just use AI to steal it?

This isn’t even me putting words in his mouth: Ward is flagrantly open about what he’s proposing, calling it a “heist” in some vain effort to make it seem daring and sexy rather than theft.

“We pulled off an SEO heist that stole 3.6M total traffic from a competitor,” said Ward on X. “We got 489,509 traffic in October alone.”

Half a million clicks isn’t anywhere near wha…

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Improve your daily Wordle game with our guides and tips, give your guesses some welcome guidance with today’s clue, or turn your luck around completely and skip straight to the February 12 (603) answer. However much or little help you want with today’s Wordle, you’re sure to find it here.

Today was just one of those days where the greens seemed to appear out of nowhere, and that meant I was able to reveal the answer by my third go. A bit of luck mixed with a dash of an educated guess has got to be the perfect Wordle combo.

Wordle hint

A Wordle hint for Sunday, February 12

“Large”, “huge”, and simply “very big” are all good alternatives to today’s answer. In fairy tales and myths this word’s sometimes used to describe extremely tall humanoid beings. You’ll need to unearth two different vowels today. 

ViewViewViewView

Is there a double letter in today’s Wordle? 

There is no double letter in today’s puzzle. 

Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day 

Anyone can pick up and play Wordle, but if you want to do it well and make all of your guesses count, these quick tips will help get you sta…

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Ubisoft has been making noise about a Watch Dogs movie since—I am not exaggerating—before the first game even came out in 2014. Now, over ten years later and with three games in the series, there might actually be a Watch Dogs movie.

It looks like Talk To Me star Sophie Wilde is now attached to the project as a lead,  while French director Mathieu Turi will direct a screenplay by Christie LeBlanc. Director Turi previously did horror movie Hostile. Screenwriter LeBlanc’s  major credit was the Netflix sci-fi horror-drama-thing Oxygen. It’s coming via New Regency, the same folks who helped thet Assassin’s Creed movie make it across the finish line.

That info comes via a report on Deadline, which details the choice of director and star alongside some studio and producer details.

Does this mean we’ll see an actual movie based on Watch Dogs? There’s really no way to know. More than a few gaming movie projects get to this stage and never see the light of day—and even then can take years more. I wouldn’t hold your breath before 2026 if you’re super excited for this one.

I suppose the real problem here is that Watch Dogs could be compel…

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