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The new Dead Space is a great remake of a survival horror classic. I have few complaints about my first 90 minutes of necromorph chopping on PC: It’s grand, gorgeous, gorey, and maybe a little too easy on default difficulty. But up until yesterday’s 1.03 patch, it also had one annoying graphical flaw—forced variable rate shading (VRS) that created fuzzy, flickering textures in the darker corners of the Ishimura.

Digital Foundry specifically called out Dead Space’s problems with VRS in an in-depth technical analysis video. Just a day later, EA has already issued a patch allowing PC players to turn off VRS entirely and disabled it on consoles. In fact, the option now appears to be off by default on PC.

Honestly, I can barely spot the difference on my setup. The game definitely looks better with VRS off, but whether or not it’s noticeably fuzzy at all on PC is mostly up to what other graphical tricks you have turned on. As pointed out by this helpful comparison video by YouTuber Sholva, the fuzzy VRS textures were at their most noticeable in combination with DLSS Performance mode.

That makes sense, considering you’re stacking two different performance-optimi…

As spotted by GamesRadar, the Steamworks Development channel posted a video earlier this month explaining the ins and outs of how games snowball into surprise hits like Dave the Diver—which we gave a smashing 91 back in July. 

The talk’s given by Erik Peterson of Steam’s business team, and it’s an enlightening little journey through Steam’s design philosophy. “We don’t think Steam should be pay-to-win. Not selling ads levels the playing field and makes [its] recommendations better for players.”

“We’re surprised all the time by the games that find big success on Steam,” continues Peterson. “Every week, Steam automatically picks up on games that we haven’t even heard of, or games that we would’ve never predicted would be popular.” Those surprises are, to him and his team, an indication that the platform’s “working properly.”

According to the presentation (which has a full PDF to read at your leisure) there are two ways games get the Steam spotlight: algorithmic visibility and curated featuring, both of which are driven by player interest.

Peterson then goes to the front page of Steam—recorded when, funnily enough, Dave the Diver had done wh…

The folk behind the GameDiscoverCo newsletter have gone on a deep dive into Steam, ranking 212 words based on the median gross lifetime revenue of games that have them in the title. The results they pull out of their data may not all be super surprising, but that doesn’t mean they’re not interesting.

Number one with a bullet is the word HD, with a median gross Steam revenue of $63,082. It’s not the only word commonly associated with rereleases near the top of the list, with Remastered at number three ($32,243) and Gold at number six ($11,239). Collection, Deluxe, and Ultimate all place solidly as well. Nothing shocking there, of course. We live in an age of remakes, which is fine as long as we can still get the originals.

Slightly more unexpected is how well management sims are represented. The word Manager clocks in at second place ($33,341), with Tycoon at number four ($18,903). Though there are other words associated with specific genres in the list, they’re ranked much lower: Tactics at number 12 ($5,391), Hidden at number 20 ($3,632), and Rogue at 22 ($3,228) for instance. Management sims really are a heartland PC gaming genre, even if they’re not always the mos…

Preserve your hard-won Wordle win streak with our vast range of Wordle help. Brush up on the basics with our tips, guides, and archive of past answers, find guidance with the March 11 (630) clue, or give yourself an easy victory by skipping straight to today’s answer.

I’m really not sure how I reached today’s Wordle answer with guesses to spare—I’d been doing OK up to that point, but I hadn’t found anything revelatory. I suppose sometimes you just have to make that brave leap into the dark and see where Wordle takes you. 

Wordle hint

A Wordle hint for Saturday, March 11

Today’s answer involves dishing out high praise for someone or something with great enthusiasm and sincerity, to _____ their virtues. There are two vowels today, and an uncommon consonant too.  

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Is there a double letter in today’s Wordle? 

No letters are used twice in today’s puzzle. 

Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day 

If there’s one thing better than playing Wordle, it’s playing Wordle well, which is why I’m going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to succ…

First reported by Ars Technica, ResetEra user delete12345 has made an interesting discovery about Steam libraries: we’re not allowed to bequeath them to our loved ones in the event of our untimely passing.

Delete12345 asked Steam Support about the hypothetical scenario, and got a clear, professional, but very disappointing response. “Unfortunately, Steam accounts and games are non-transferable,” the support rep explained. “Steam Support can’t provide someone else with access to the account or merge its access to another account.

“I regret to inform you that your Steam account cannot be transferred via a will.”

Now, I was going to suggest that you can just give your designated heir the Steam login and password without getting lawyers involved⁠—barring a sudden tragedy or Knives Out-style scenario where your grasping heirs are at each other’s throats trying to secure your estate, that should work perfectly fine. But it turns out that would be in flagrant violation of the Steam Subscriber Agreement. 

“You may not reveal, share, or otherwise allow others to use your password or Account except as otherwise specifically authorized by V…

It brings me great pleasure to report that Uber-Lilith has fallen: The first recorded Hardcore mode kill of the Diablo 4 pinnacle boss, the game’s toughest single fight, has been accomplished by Ben, a Twitch streamer and self-described “gamer just trying to game.”

The end of the Diablo 4 campaign is not the end of the game. Once Lilith has been properly dealt with, you can continue on the live-service grind to take your character all the way to the maximum level of 100, if that’s what you’re into. But there’s more than just a three-digit character level waiting at the end: There is also the Echo of Lilith.

Echo of Lilith—aka Uber-Lilith—is a very, very powerful version of the base boss, designed to give the game’s most accomplished and overpowered players something to worry about. To even meet Echo of Lilith, you need to have defeated the campaign and reached World Tier 4, Diablo 4’s highest difficulty level. In a pre-release interview with GamesRadar, associate game director Joe Piepiora said the fight is meant to be “extraordinarily, extraordinarily challenging.”

“Players that reach level 100 are going to have an extremely difficult time on this …

You’ll find all the hints, tips, and help you need to make every Wordle day a breeze on this very page. Spend some time improving your general game with our guides and advice, take a look at a helpful clue for today’s Wordle, or simply save your win streak with the answer to the March 12 (631) puzzle. 

I’ve definitely felt worse about fumbling the last guess: getting today’s yellows to make any sense at all was something of a minor miracle in itself. I may not have found the answer in time, but at least I was close enough to almost touch it.

Wordle hint

A Wordle hint for Sunday, March 12

This word’s most often used to describe a baby emerging from the body of its parent, but it can also refer to the beginning of any new idea, movement, or situation. There’s only one vowel to find today. 

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Is there a double letter in today’s Wordle? 

No, you won’t find any double letters 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 y…