First reported by GamesRadar (opens in new tab), an Old School RuneScape player with the handle NC State (presumably not an official representative of the Raleigh-based university) finally sought his reward for grinding an infamous minigame, the Brimhaven obstacle course, for eight years. As outlined by a friend, user h0dgep0dge (opens in new tab) on Reddit, NC State finally brought his journey home, turning in all of his banked rewards at once and gaining 178 million XP in RuneScape’s suboptimal Agility skill in less than a minute. This was such a rapid influx that the game’s built-in experience per hour tracker couldn’t keep up: it tapped out at 2.147 billion even though NC State was progressing at a rate of 10.8 billion per hour.

Agility in RuneScape is not exactly the long-running MMO’s sexiest skill: It’s associated with cool rogue stuff like the Graceful Outfit (opens in new tab) in-game, but mechanically it just gives you more stamina and lets you access assorted shortcuts throughout the map. One of the primary ways you can level it up is the Brimhaven Agility Arena, a kind of skill vendor minigame.

Life is Strange studio Don’t Nod recently teased a new game in development at its Montreal studio, and it looks like this one will be taking us on a trip back into the distant past of the early 1990s.

“Here’s a little glimpse of what Don’t Nod Montreal is brewing!” the studio tweeted. “Does it bring back childhood memories?”

The image in question is not exactly subtle. In the foreground is an old-timey game console that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Super Nintendo, which was released in Japan in 1990 and North America in 1991; the console is connected via colorful composite cables to a CRT television, which sits above a relatively modern-looking (I said relatively) VCR. There’s also a rack filled with videotapes, and a few game cartridges, to the left of the television. 

On paper, Forspoken is a game that should have resonated with me. It’s a Luminous Productions/Square Enix venture, a developer I remain deathly loyal to despite its poor track record in recent years. It features some of my absolute favourite things in life: nail art, cats, parkour, and badass matriarchal rulers. 

Yet, Forspoken is let down by its sheer unwillingness to break the mould. In many ways, it’s the exact type of game you’ve seen countless times across the last 15 years. An open world RPG with superpowers, mystical creatures, and a terrifying world-ending threat. It does play into some isekai tropes, with protagonist Frey Holland whisked away from her New York home and plonked into a fantastical world. Along with her talking bracelet companion Cuff, she navigates the world of Athia and the Break which threatens to consume the land and everyone in it.

A-Frey’d to evolve 

The publisher has announced that it’ll be switching to PC setups for its week-long tournament in February, as reported by The Verge (opens in new tab). It’s being done in an effort to combat input lag, something which has been a longstanding issue for the PlayStation version of Street Fighter 5. Despite the game being locked to 60fps, it still has a lower input lag on PC which is further aided by running it on a 144Hz monitor.

The move has been welcomed by the FGC, many of whom have been calling for the transition from console to computer at major events. One of the biggest pushers for change has been Arturo ‘Sabin’ Sanchez, who told The Verge that the decision was “100% the right move for several documented reasons,” including “better controller response.” On Twitter, Sabin added that Capcom had “made the right call” and “they should be applauded.”

It’ll likely be a while before we see any major platform transitions happening across the board, though. Consoles are generally a lot easier to set up, cheaper to get a hold of and simpler to keep consistent across setups. I’ve been to my share of locals that have been cobbled together through pals bringing their kit to boost numbers, and myself was able to run a very casual Tekken 7 tournament thanks to rounding up my friends and their PlayStation 4 consoles.

It’s still hard to deny the benefits of switching these tournaments to PC—it works to players’ favour with more accurate response times and less input lag. But when it comes down to an offline event, consistency is key. Every installed driver must be the same across every identical rig, giving everyone the same fair chance. 

Cost has long been a barrier or a justification for not making the switch, too. But with PS5s becoming harder to get a hold of, and the price between a PS5 and suitable gaming laptop becoming ever closer, now’s a better time than ever for majors to start moving over.