Thanks to high-speed internet and other cultural shifts, in-person LAN parties are largely a thing of the past beyond special occasions. However, there's a LAN Party app heading to Steam that's combining a virtual experience with modern streaming technology.

LAN Party Technologies, Inc. has announced that its LAN Party app will be coming soon to Steam Early Access. The app includes the ability to create personalized avatars and gaming spaces in a virtual 3D environment. In some ways, it seems like The Sims or the metaverse that Facebook--sorry, Meta--has been trying to create for years. One of the gaming-room options demonstrated on LAN Party's Steam page included Mortal Kombat arcade cabinets, not unlike the ones produced by Arcade1Up. But it's unclear if those are playable games or simply decorative.

It doesn't appear that LAN Party is meant to replace traditional gaming streams. Instead, it allows users to include streams from outside sources in the virtual room where they appear on their avatars' computer screens. Players aren't limited to a single game, and they can all pick their own titles to enjoy while sharing the experience through the app.

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In the recent video game Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the role of Indiana Jones was played by Troy Baker, not Harrison Ford. The esteemed and veteran actor has reflected on the game, saying Baker did a "brilliant" job bringing his character to life, and it didn't require AI.

"You don't need artificial intelligence to steal my soul. You can already do it for nickels and dimes with good ideas and talent," he told The Wall Street Journal. "[Baker] did a brilliant job, and it didn't take AI to do it."

AI was used, however, to de-age Ford in the movie Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny with striking results. The movie didn't score well with critics, and Ford reflected bluntly, "Shit happens," going on to say he believed the story was worth telling and he was happy he made the movie.

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A new listing on the PlayStation Network has revealed the apparent release date for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. According to the official page for the game, the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake will be out on August 28, 2025.

The Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater listing on the PlayStation Store.

It's worth noting that Konami and Sony have yet to confirm the validity of this store listing, as the game previously had a nebulous 2024 release window that came and went. At the end of October 2024, a Konami financial document had the release date listed as "TBD." A spokesperson for Konami told GameSpot, "Right now there's nothing new we can share at the moment."

Whether this is a placeholder date or the actual launch date remains to be seen, but with rumors of a February PlayStation State of Play livestream doing the rounds, it wouldn't be surprising to see updates on the game given its appearances in previous PlayStation broadcasts.

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Capcom has announced that it will shut down the servers for Resident Evil Re:Verse on June 29, and it will be removed from digital storefronts on March 3, along with its DLC.

"Resident Evil Re:Verse was developed in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Resident Evil series, and your overwhelming support for the game has far exceeded our expectations since the time of its release," Capcom said in a statement. "Now that we've reached a new turning point for the series, we feel that Resident Evil Re:Verse has served its original, celebratory purpose admirably."

The game came packaged with any purchase of Resident Evil Village, but can be bought separately for $40. Those who've already purchased RP Boosters or the Premium Pass will have access to the content until the service ends.

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World of Warcraft will finally receive player housing alongside its Midnight expansion, and Blizzard has now revealed the first real details on what players can expect from the highly anticipated feature more than 20 years in the making.

For starters, Blizzard made clear in a blog post diving into the feature that everyone who wants a house in Azeroth will be able to obtain one. There won't be hefty gold requirements, limited plots of land for which players compete via a lottery system, or taxes to pay. Players who let their subscription lapse or skip an expansion or two won't log on one day to find someone else living in their former home.

"As part of our focus on wide adoption, we wanted to ensure that housing is available to everyone," Blizzard said. "If you want a house, you can have a house."

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With the launch of Destiny 2's newest episode, Heresy, comes a brand-new way to earn loot. This time, players will be headed back to the Dreadnaught orbiting Saturn to hunt for secrets and special rewards in the Nether. Here's how it works and how players can earn rewards, including secret loot stashes.

Limited revives, ammo and health regen

Nether delves are different from other activities in that player groups will have limited revives and health regeneration is disabled, meaning that players do not have passive healing after being out of combat for several seconds. Instead, enemies will drop white orbs that give back health, and all other healing effects, such as Support Frame auto rifles, Warlock Healing Rifts, and the Void Devour buff can still take effect. Special and Heavy ammo drops are also significantly reduced in this activity and can only be affected by weapon perks, armor mods, and shooting destructible pots to find more ammo.

How to complete objectives in the NetherA Tormentor boss in Destiny 2 channels some unknown power.

When players first spawn into the Nether activity, they will notice objectives like "Destroy Weapon Systems" on the HUD. It's not immediately obvious what these are, but upon pulling out the Ghost, the HUD will show a diamond on-screen where the next objective is. Usually, these objectives will be guarded by a yellow-bar enemy with a name and a quick objective to complete around it.

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Over time in Civilization VII, you'll start to accumulate more and more settlements. You can get more settlements by using your own units, negotiating with other leaders, or taking settlements by force. However, the more settlements you acquire, the more at risk you are for exceeding your settlement limit.

At the top of your screen, you'll see a building icon next to the happiness icon. The building icon has a fraction next to it, and this tells you what your current settlement limit is (the right number) and how many settlements you currently own (the left number). While it's possible to go over your settlement limit, this has fairly substantial consequences. So, to avoid that, you can simply increase your overall settlement limit in Civilization 7.

How to increase settlement limit in Civilization 7The settlement limit warning

At the start of a playthrough in Civ 7, you'll have a settlement limit of four. This is more than enough to get you through the first third of the Antiquity Age, as you'll have your capital and at least a couple of additional settlements you founded through Settlers, Suzerainship, or war with other leaders.

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Saber Interactive founder Matthew Karch has shared some pointed words about the state of the AAA video game market. Speaking to reporter Stephen Totilo aboard a private jet that he paid $23 million for, Karch said incredibly expensive AAA games may become a thing of the past and are contributing to the string of job losses in the market today.

"I think that the age of the $200 million, $300 million, $400 million AAA game is on its way out. I don't think it's necessary. I don't think it's appropriate," Karch said.

The executive went on to say he believes the costs associated with making such big-budget games may help explain why the video game industry is seeing so many layoffs today.

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If you've got a VR headset, there's a good chance that you'd like to take it with you to events. Naturally, a solid carrying case is a must-have for protecting your headset, and the official carrying case for the Quest 3 and Quest 3S is on sale for just $52.44 (was $70) at Amazon.

Meta Quest Carrying Case $52.44 (was $70)

This reliable case features a sturdy, lightweight design with room to house your Meta Quest 3 or 3S headset, Elite Strap, and controllers. There are also inner pockets to keep all your cables organized.

See at Amazon

Several third-party cases are also on sale if you're shopping around for alternative options. For example, the Kiwi P4 case is discounted to $20 (was $40) and features a thick, durable build with soft flannel outer fabric, while the Apexinno bag is just $28 (was $48) and features a robust outer shell with plenty of interior storage compartments for cables. Both cases support the Quest 3 and 3S.

More Meta Quest 3 and 3S carrying case deals

• Kiwi P4 carrying case -- $20 with coupon ($40)
• Apexinno carrying case -- $28 ($48)

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World of Warcraft will look to reward players for positive social behavior in the future, according to Blizzard. It's just one of several new community-focused features the team is looking at implementing as part of a new initiative within the WoW development team.

In a blog post reflecting on WoW's last year and the year ahead, executive producer Holly Longdale revealed the team is "doubling down" on the social elements of the longrunning MMORPG by forming a new Social initiative that will work on new social features or come up with solutions to community-related problems.

"You are what brings Azeroth to life, and you make our game truly unique," Longdale said. "To properly commit to this fundamental aspect of World of Warcraft, we now have a dedicated Social initiative within our development team."

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Civilization 7 Physical Edition

$60-$70

Preorder at Amazon Preorder at Walmart Preorder at Best Buy

Civilization 7 Deluxe Edition

$90-$100 for consoles | $88 (was $100) for PC

Preorder at Amazon Preorder at Walmart Preorder at Best Buy

Civilization 7 Founders Edition

$114.39 (was $130) for PC and Mac

Save on PC preorders

If you haven't preordered a copy of Sid Meier's Civilization 7, there's still time to take advantage of preorder offers ahead of the game's official launch date of February 11. You can also start playing the new 4X strategy game as early as tomorrow, February 6, by purchasing the Deluxe or Founders Edition. For the first time in series history, Civilization 7 is launching simultaneously on PC, Mac, Xbox, PS5, and Nintendo Switch. On console, there are three physical editions to choose from: standard, Deluxe, and a Collector's Edition.

Civilization, and 4X strategy games in general, feel most at home on PC. If you're planning to play on PC or Mac, make sure to check out the Steam key deals at Fanatical (a GameSpot sister site). Civilization 7's standard edition is available to preorder for $61.59 at Fanatical. If you want to play five days early on February 6, you can grab the Deluxe or Founders Edition for a nice discount, too:

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Iron Galaxy Studios, the developer behind shuttered battle royale Rumbleverse and support studio on many other projects, has announced it is laying off 66 developers as part of an effort to save the company. This was confirmed in a post on the company's website, where the studio called the layoffs "a means of last resort" for the studio's survival.

"For several years now, we have watched our industry undergo significant change. So many of our friends and colleagues who work in game development have suffered a series of painful adjustments...All the while at Iron Galaxy, we’ve been making sacrifices to keep our teams intact," the post explains. "It has been our hope that we could emerge from this long winter alongside all the teammates who have come to work with us over the years. Today, we’re making the unfortunate announcement that we have run out of room to maneuver amidst this slow recovery."

Iron Galaxy Studios was founded in 2008 and has studios in Chicago, Orlando, Nashville, and Austin. According to LinkedIn, the company had over 200 employees at the time of layoffs. Iron Galaxy has long been a co-developer and support studio on projects like Killer Instinct, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, and Fallout 76. The studio is best known for its original projects, which included the beloved-yet-shuttered battle royale game Rumbleverse and games like Divekick and Extinction.

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2K Games has revealed a major change at Project Ethos developer 31st Union, confirming that studio head Michael Condrey--known best for the Dead Space and Call of Duty franchises--is transitioning to an advisory role before an expected exit. Sources told Kotaku that Condrey was fired, though 2K Games didn't use that terminology and maintains it is "very committed" to the game and the studio.

A 2K spokesperson told Kotaku that it is "grateful to Michael Condrey for the dedication, passion, and work ethic it took to build an incredible team and shape the vision of 31st Union." The statement went on to say that Condrey will be "transitioning his role in the short term" to become an advisor on Project Ethos.

"We remain very committed to the forward path for Project Ethos and the people and culture of the 31st Union studio," 2K said.

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Between the giant creatures, multiple on-screen characters, and a large map to explore, there's no question that Capcom's Monster Hunter Wilds is going to demand a lot of power from PCs. Now, less than a month away from the game's release, Capcom has shared a PC benchmark tool to show players how their computer measures up to the system specs.

The Monster Hunter Wilds benchmark is on Steam's site, and it requires players to have Steam installed and room to download the benchmark itself. The benchmark can rate the performance of your machine and give it a score up to 20,000. Any computer that hits 10,250 and up on the benchmark will be able to play the game. Everything that comes in underneath may take some changes in order to properly enjoy the experience.

The game's minimum system requirements have also been released and can be seen below:

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Sims franchise just celebrated its 25th anniversary, and the festivities included legacy editions of The Sims and The Sims 2, along with the announcement of several new DLCs for The Sims 4. Acknowledging the series' past while looking toward its future certainly sounds like the right way to honor a franchise that has been around for a quarter of a century, but EA has hit a few snags along the way. The Sims 1 and 2 re-releases launched with some pretty serious bugs, and with over 70 expansions, not everyone agrees that more DLC is what The Sims 4 really needs.

The Sims 4 has been around for nearly half the franchise's lifetime, celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2024. But as EA continues to provide glimpses of what the future holds for The Sims 4 and the franchise overall--including the mysterious, still-in-development Project Rene--long-time Sims fans are beginning to feel a hint of deja vu. For those who witnessed The Sims 4's extremely rocky launch, Project Rene feels like Groundhog Day.

The Sims 4 wasn't quite dead on arrival, but its launch was definitely a rocky one.

When The Sims 4 launched in September 2014, it was in pretty rough condition. GameSpot gave it a middling 6/10, noting the game's lack of depth and, perhaps most glaringly, its lack of features. Sims themselves arguably looked better than ever, but some players were surprised that EA had taken the art style in a more cartoonish direction than previous iterations of the game. But what really had long-time Simmers simmering with anger was the fact that gameplay itself had seemingly been gutted. Prior to The Sims 4, each iteration of the game had included whatever new features were introduced in the last game. Removing a feature--especially one as popular as the ability to choose custom colors and textures--was unheard of.

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Capcom has revealed that its second open beta test for Monster Hunter Wilds will feature its flagship monster, the Arkveld.

The second open beta test will be split into two sessions. The first one will run from February 6 at 7 PM PT / 10 PM ET to February 9 at 6:59 PM PT / 9:59 PM ET. The second will be from February 13 at 7 PM PT / 10 PM ET to February 16 at 6:59PM PT / 9:59 PM ET. Players can start preloading for the second open beta test starting today, February 5, at 7PM PT.

Both sessions will have identical content, including the character creation, story trial, and Doshagma hunt from the first open beta test back in November. There are a few new features in this upcoming open beta test, though.

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Best VR headset

Meta Quest 3

See 128GB model at Amazon See 512GB model at Amazon

Best high-end PC VR headset

Valve Index

See at Steam

Best standalone high-end VR headset

Meta Quest Pro

See at Amazon

Best display

HTC Vive Pro 2

See at Amazon

Best VR headset for PS5

PSVR 2

See at Amazon

Best VR headset for PS4

PlayStation VR

See at Amazon See refurbished options at GameStop

Best affordable headset

Meta Quest 3S

See at Amazon

Best XR Device

Viture Pro XR Glasses

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Despite still occupying a niche corner of the gaming market, VR tech continues to develop, bringing with it new headsets that are more powerful, more comfortable, and--more importantly--more affordable. While our overall favorite VR headset in 2025 remains the Meta Quest 3, there's now a healthy range of VR headsets to pick from that may fit your preferences better. Some headsets harness the power of gaming PCs or consoles for enhanced performance and visual quality, while others are more affordable standalone devices. No matter what your preferences are, there's a VR headset that suits your needs. To assist you in finding the perfect match, we've compiled a list of the best VR headsets available in 2025.

Finding the best VR headset for you

The first thing that's important to know before buying a VR headset is that some VR games are exclusive to specific headsets. Meta and both PlayStation headsets have their own storefronts that offer unique games unavailable to HTC, Valve, and other companies' headsets. Of course, you can still get an impressive experience with the Valve Index or HTC Vive line of headsets, especially considering the great library of VR games on Steam. Each VR headset has its advantages and unique qualities, such as high resolutions, AMOLED displays, and built-in speakers.

The Meta Quest 3 is a powerful mobile VR headset that gives you great experiences without connecting to a PC--no sensors required (though you can, if you so choose), while its younger sibling, the Meta Quest 3S, offers similar functionality in a more affordable package. The Valve Index requires you to connect to a PC and use sensors, but it also provides the most high-end VR experience available today. And, of course, there's the PSVR 2, which has the benefit of being compatible with Sony's first-party lineup of VR games. Keep in mind the original PSVR has its own library of games separate from the PSVR 2. You cannot play original PSVR games on PSVR 2 unless the developer releases an upgraded version.

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Rooster Teeth, the online media brand famous for shows like Red vs. Blue, RWBY, and various podcasts, is back--with original co-founder Burnie Burns at the helm.

In a press release, Burns announced his independent production company Box Canyon Productions has acquired the Rooster Teeth brand and "much of its remaining assets." Burns left Rooster Teeth in 2020 and moved to Scotland with his family, but founded Box Canyon in 2023. The company is most well-known for its "Morning Somewhere" podcast. Burns directed those interested in learning more about Rooster Teeth's revival to check out the February 5 episode of the "Morning Somewhere" podcast.

"I am excited at the challenge of bringing Rooster Teeth back to its roots," Burns said in a press release. "The heart of this brand has always been its fans, and I look forward to writing a new chapter together."

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WWE 2K20 was, in no uncertain terms, an abject disaster. For a series so often insulated in its wrestling fandom bubble, it was trending on social media for a period in late 2019 after it launched because of how severe and sometimes hilarious the bugs were. The game was so poorly received that the series actually took a year off. This is practically unheard of in the world of annualized sports (and sports entertainment) games. Since then, WWE 2K has rebounded incredibly over the course of several games.

You could argue the WWE 2K series, like Cody Rhodes, finished its story last year, with a great game that does most of what it wants to do very well. Now, like WWE's poster boy is learning week in and week out, heavy lies the crown. Where does the series go from here? To a great extent, the goal has already been achieved. The belt is around the game's waist. At the same time, "the story" continues unabated when the next game is perpetually coming down the pipeline, so there's no opportunity to pause and enjoy the fruits of your labor. After several hours with WWE 2K25, this next chapter seems like another step up, even as what might ultimately conclude the next chapter hasn't yet been revealed in full.

In an annualized video game, like in pro wrestling, the story is never truly over.

WWE 2K22 was a "comeback year," lead combat designer Derek Donahue told me. "We had extra time. There was no 2K21. We also rebuilt the game. We redid so many core systems, but we still hadn't been able to redo everything we wanted. I think you could look at [2K22], and it's almost unrecognizable from the engine and the tools that we were working with back on 2K20, especially. But it's taken many, many years to get to a point where now this feels like our game and the way that we've always envisioned being able to work on it and build it."

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Fans of Wicked certainly felt a stirring when the film finally got to the musical's best-known song, Defying Gravity, but they probably didn't notice the subtle Fortnite sound effect during its final sequence. That's right: Some of the sounds of Elphaba flying in the final sequence are straight from your nephew's favorite battle royale game.

Per Eurogamer, you can see this unlikely detail in a video from the Rough Cut that features Wicked editor Myron Kerstein breaking down the complex final scene of the film, which features a wild mix of visual effects along with the music. At around the 7:20 mark in the video, you can see "All Skydiving Fly Sounds (Fortnite) - Sound effects for editing" right in the middle of the editing timeline.

This is the sound effect that plays when you jump out of the Battle Bus and shoot towards the ground. Fortnite developer Epic Games released the sound as a royalty-free library sample, and it seems that Kerstein used it to full effect. The Rough Cut video is quite an interesting watch if you're interested in film production or just curious about the amount of work that goes into even a relatively short scene in a big film like Wicked.

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