The Stadia refund process has begun, and the good news is that most of you won’t have to do anything: Google said it will attempt to “automatically process refunds for all purchases of games, add-on content and subscriptions fees other than Stadia Pro made through the Stadia Store.” You will likely have to wait a bit, though, as Google warned that it’ll take until mid-January to get through most of the process.

“We ask for your patience as we work through each transaction and ask that you refrain from contacting Customer Support as they will not be able to expedite your refund during this time,” Google said in the Stadia Refund FAQ (opens in new tab). “We still expect the majority of refunds to be processed by January 18th, 2023.”

It’s not unusual for game sequels to disappoint fans of the original by leaving out beloved features. Dying Light 2 was no exception: While the open world zombie sandbox got plenty of good reviews (including mine) and a mostly positive response from fans, there were complaints about the lack of zombie ragdolling and weapon repair systems sported in the original.

Also: there was no X-ray. In the original Dying Light, if you stunned a zombie with an attack there’d be a moment of time-slowdown and you’d see the zed’s skeleton through their bodies. Y’know, like an X-ray. If you followed up with another attack you could see the zombie’s bone’s shatter and break inside their infected bodies. It’s a bit reminiscent of Sniper Elite’s brutally gory kills where you can see bones (and other NSFW stuff) being splintered in slow motion as a bullet passes through them.

In 1979, 39-year-old Margot Comstock, a freelance writer and editor, won $15,000 (around $62,000 today) on a game show called Password Plus. It was a key day for computer history, though no one, including Margot, knew that at the time.

Password Plus had nothing to do with computers, but that victory was the gateway to a series of incredible contributions to early home computer culture. With her prize money Comstock bought an Apple II and began exploring the creative potential of the PC in the form of Softalk magazine, which launched its first issue in September, 1980.

In October, the news broke that key creatives behind Disco Elysium had left Studio ZA/UM last year. A few days later, founding member of ZA/UM Martin Luiga alleged they had been “fired on false premises“. Studio ZA/UM issued a statement about the “collective effort” of game development without substantially commenting on the news, and we were left uncertain as to what transpired at the studio and what to expect from it going forward. Today, the story exploded with surprising allegations from both sides.

Robert Kurvitz and Aleksander Rostov, the fired Disco Elysium game director and art director, have published an open letter (opens in new tab) which alleges that ZA/UM’s current owners took over the company illegitimately before kicking them out. The letter appears to have been prompted by a report in an Estonian newspaper which alleges that the pair of creatives were toxic leaders who were fired for ignoring responsibilities and mistreating colleagues. That news report, which quotes Studio ZA/UM’s current CEO, was followed by an official statement from the studio which reiterates its claims.

Overwatch 2’s (opens in new tab) new ranks, skill tier divisions, and competitive mode rewards can be a lot to take in. The original Overwatch skill ratings are gone. Now, you have to play tons of games before you rank yourself among one of the many skill tier divisions. This new system puts the focus on improving and playing many matches over trying to perform your best in just one. Overwatch 2’s new rank system hides more information than the skill rating system, but it tries to me less discouraging in the long run.

Overwatch 2 has two ranked modes: Role Queue and Open Queue—both require winning 50 games or having owned the original game to unlock. Role queue locks your team composition to one tank hero, two damage heroes, and two support heroes. You select the roles you want to queue for, play matches, and get an individual rank for each role. Open Queue is a free-for-all like Overwatch at launch back in 2016. You can choose any hero in any role and receive one universal rank.