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You won't have any standing armies in Total War: Medieval 3 at first, so better get chummy with the commoners
PC

You won't have any standing armies in Total War: Medieval 3 at first, so better get chummy with the commoners

Yesterday, Julian wrote about the possibility of changing inheritance laws in Total War: Medieval 3, and thereby revealed to me that Creative Assembly have been sneakily talking in depth about the forthcoming strategy game on their forums. The audacity of those people! In other posts, we learn about their plans for standing armies, which I think are probably what interests me most about TwarMed3, in that each campaign will be an exercise in getting to the point where standing armies are a thin

Marathon's credits include the artist whose work Bungie used without permission
PC

Marathon's credits include the artist whose work Bungie used without permission

Marathon sprinted out of the blocks yesterday, so naturally some folks have already seen its credits. One of people listed in those credits is an especially noteworthy inclusion, with Antireal (or 4nt1r34l) - an artist whose work Bungie were caught using in the shooter without permission - having been credited as a consultant on the game. Read more

Bungie ask Marathon critics to delay "full reviews" till the release of an endgame zone, and I am wistfully reminded of Vault of Glass
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Bungie ask Marathon critics to delay "full reviews" till the release of an endgame zone, and I am wistfully reminded of Vault of Glass

Bungie's Marathon reboot released yesterday, but you might not get that impression from the developer's coverage embargo guidelines, which request that critics delay their "full review and impressions" until the launch of a "pinnacle endgame zone and experience" later in March. It's a "request/suggestion", not a demand, but it rubs me up the wrong way regardless. The Marathon reboot is not an early access launch that is marketed to buyers as unfinished. Read more

Microsoft's next console will play PC games too, and it's currently codenamed Project Helix
PC

Microsoft's next console will play PC games too, and it's currently codenamed Project Helix

Microsoft have moved quickly to shut down the speculation that Asha Sharma's recent appointment as Xbox boss might be a harbinger of the company moving out of the console hardware for good. Sharma has announced that Xbox's next-gen console is codenamed Project Helix and, much more intriguingly, will play PC games as well as Xbox ones. Read more

Rally Point: Whiskerwood suggests that, even without the violence, colonialism is a scam
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Rally Point: Whiskerwood suggests that, even without the violence, colonialism is a scam

Whiskerwood has made it undeniable: I have the opposite of a speedrunning problem. Give me a stretch of land, a supply of loyal builders, and a free hand to go nuts building some impressive metropolis, and I will, within mere dozens of hours, produce a small, haphazard hamlet reluctantly beginning to flirt with ironmaking. Rome was not built in a day. If I'd had my way, it still wouldn't be. Whiskerwood, to my pleasant surprise, does not hold this against me. It's most obviously reminiscent of

US governor boosts US-Iran 'combat footage' that is actually from War Thunder, featuring WW2-era weapons
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US governor boosts US-Iran 'combat footage' that is actually from War Thunder, featuring WW2-era weapons

The entanglement of war with simulation continues with the discovery that a video of a US battleship shooting down an Iranian fighter jet is very likely a clip from videogame War Thunder, depicting ordnance from the World War 2 era. The clip in question has circulated on social media to the tune of millions of views. It has also been shared around by at least one sitting US Republican statesman, Texas governor Greg Abbott, who reposted it with the caption "Bye bye". The tweet in question has si