More precisely, it’s an “action RPG with survival elements,” according to Wilson, and settling on the concept apparently wasn’t a trivial task.

“Each of our concepts had to pass the test of showing that it would not only be a good experience to build, but a great game to play,” Wilson said in the announcement (opens in new tab). “We all agreed we had found the game we had to make: an action RPG with survival elements that we think players of both genres will love.

“A development team’s time is a precious thing and there’s no justification for spending their time on anything other than games they want to make. And man, do we want to make this game.”

The survival RPG is in development for PC and consoles, “with mobile platforms to be evaluated.”

Wilson and company are headed to GDC in San Francisco next week to show the game to potential investors and publishers, but say they’re not ready to give the public a look yet. The most Wilson will offer for now is to say that the game “will deliver insane, visceral combat, engaging progression systems, and a unique survival experience—all wrapped into a new and original world that we’re sure you’ll love to explore.”

“Visceral combat” might be the most overused game descriptor of all time—it’s at least in the top five—but I am curious about the game. Diablo 3’s reputation is, let’s say, mixed among series fans, but when I finally played through it in its post-Error 37 and post-Auction House era, I had a lot of fun. Wilson is also well-known among RTS fans, with credits on Homeworld 2, Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War, Company of Heroes, and StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty. He was also lead designer on World of Warcraft: Legion.

Gas Giant Games also boasts talent from Overwatch, Dragon Age 2, Space Marine, Cyberpunk 2077, and other games, though every other studio announcement seems to include a similar declaration of big game heritage, so it’s hard to know what to take from it.

Back in Blizzard-land, this month’s Diablo 4 beta weekends are approaching, and the game is scheduled to release in June. We don’t know a whole lot about it, but Blizzard has its own survival game in development, too.

As of today, March 15, you should have the ability to begin downloading the beta in your Battlenet app on PC. So if you’ve already got your ticket to hell it’s time to hurry up and wait on that download.

In the sidebar of your launcher, make sure to change your game version to “Diablo IV – beta” so you have the option to install. It’s a slightly chunky installation. The main download is about 80GB, though you can cut that in half to just 40GB if you choose not to install the high resolution texture pack.

For this weekend, you’ll start off with either a Barbarian, Rogue, or Sorcerer in the first few hours of Diablo 4’s campaign to explore the Fractured Peaks and fight its first world boss Ashava.

If you haven’t pre-ordered, don’t worry. Next weekend’s beta is entirely open to all and preloading will begin next Wednesday, just like today, and you’ll have all five Diablo 4 classes available to play. We’ve broken down both the Diablo 4 beta dates separately to let you know the exact when and how of the two different beta weekends this month.

Take, for example, the silent protagonist. Wouldn’t it be better if we could hear the Dragonborn inflect and emote? Wouldn’t it be better if classic lines like “On second thought, never mind” were delivered with the full range of the human larynx? Wouldn’t it be better if the game were literally voiced by Master Chief from Halo?

Well, dreams do come true, because thanks to the questionable power of AI voice generation, modders have been hard at work asking if they ‘can’ and not if they ‘should’. The Master Chief Voicepack for Skyrim (opens in new tab) is just one of many, many AI-synthesised voice mods that a modder called FearTCB has cooked up in recent months. You can also play using Geralt’s voice (opens in new tab), Kratos’ (opens in new tab), Ciri’s (opens in new tab), or the echoey, booming tones of Morrowind’s Dagoth Ur (opens in new tab), plus others.

It works unnervingly well, in no small part because the neutral tone that Skyrim’s writers adopted for the Dragonborn’s dialogue doesn’t require much emotional range from the AI, and I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t equal parts amused and impressed by the effect. Hearing John 117 The Master Chief interrogate a lizard barmaid about the rumours she’s heard lately feels both correct and beautiful.

This isn’t the first time modders have summoned AI spectres to voice Bethesda games. As we speak, dedicated Morrowind fans are working on voicing that game’s reams of dialogue (opens in new tab) using models trained on its original voice actors. And as genuinely amusing as it is to hear gruff, iconic voices slotted into Skyrim, this project raises a lot of the same ethical and legal questions.

Like I said in Morrowind’s case, I think the fact that it’s a free mod made by a passionate fan makes it a lot more palatable than someone selling AI art that’s been trained on the work of  actual human beings. But Steve Downes and Doug Cockle (Master Chief and Geralt’s voice actors) are still out there putting in work, and I can’t help but think they might be less than thrilled to see their talents replicated like this. 

Mods like these are entertaining, and honestly kind of cool, but I can’t shake the feeling we’re in a bit of a goldrush moment for the technology: a free-for-all that precedes and initiates an actual, society-wide effort to get to grips with what we’re ethically and legally allowed to do with this tech.

AMD is bundling the game with all of its Radeon RX 6000 and 7000 series graphics cards. The Last of US Part I is currently available to pre order on Steam for $60 in the US and £50 in the UK, so that’s the effective savings on offer.

What it means, specifically, is that you can have an RX 6700 XT 12GB for $290 from Newegg (opens in new tab), assuming you were going to buy The Last of US, anyway. That GPU is currently available for $350 on Newegg, which is one of the retailers participating with the promotion.

If that’s a little rich, how about an RX 6600 XT 8GB for an effective $215 (opens in new tab)? These are the kinds of GPU prices we’ve been waiting years for. You can, of course, go higher up the AMD stack. An RX 6800 XT clocks in at an effective $505 (opens in new tab), for instance.

Inevitably, 60 bucks off is less meaningful as you scale the heights of the graphics hierarchy. That said, if you’re willing to go with a card on back order, an RX 7900 XT weighs in at $740 (opens in new tab) with the bundle, a solid $160 lower than its original MSRP just a few months ago.

Back in the UK, there’s been a bit of a run on 6700 XTs at one of the participating outlets, Overclockers, with the boards selling out, perhaps because of this bundle. There’s only one option available for pre-order at an effective £310 (opens in new tab). For a 6650 XT you’d be looking at £240 (opens in new tab), while at the other end of the scale, a 6800 XT is £540 (opens in new tab) and a 7900 XT works out at £750 (opens in new tab).

So, not quite as good as the US offerings, but still the best pricing we’ve seen for years in the UK. The deal is worldwide and you can find a full rundown of participating retailers on AMD’s website (opens in new tab), listed by region and then nation.

Anyway, the value proposition here hinges on whether you were planning on picking up The Last of Us Part I at launch for full price. If you were, these “effective” prices very much are what you’ll be paying for the GPU. For cards at the lower end of the stack, we’d say jump on this one. It’s the best graphics deal we’ve seen for an awfully, awfully long time.

The one loss that has me questioning humanity is the wireless mouse charging pad. Mouse pads have been around ever since we needed balls to roll around on them and have survived thanks to delivering smooth and certain surfaces we can rely on. Not that long ago, genius gaming peripheral innovators realised we could stick RGB lights in these things, and some even went the extra mile to add charging facilities.

The risky nature of the gimmick makes it all the more pleasing when one of these little touches stands out, and actually feels like an improvement over the standard form. Charging pads for wireless mice are a prime example of this, a great way to keep mouse weight down and battery levels up. So why is it that RGB-lit mouse mats are still rampant but none of them can charge my goddamned mouse?

As soon as the tech in wireless mice managed to make functional latency a thing of the past, I’ve been all in on these cableless cursor controllers. I love not having cable drag, or worrying about where it’ll fit on my desk and what I might knock over. The only thing I don’t love about wireless mice is having to charge them, because I tend to forget. But companies seem unwilling to come out with a new wireless mouse and charging mat solution. 

That’s why I’m still using a Razer Mamba and Firefly Hyperflux (opens in new tab) combo from what feels like an eternity ago. The Firefly is the wired RGB-lit mousepad that powers the wireless Mamba mouse while it’s in use. It means you always have to use the mouse on the pad, and can’t lift it off for too long, but in ways that still feel very natural to me, and I have a mouse that I never have to charge. 

At the time this was one of the lightest wireless mice you could get thanks to this design, at around 90 grams. In 2023, Razer has just announced a new 49g Viper Mini (opens in new tab), which will be the company’s lightest to date. Full-sized wireless kings (opens in new tab) at the moment are closer to the 60g mark, and though I’ve enjoyed the levity of some of them I still haven’t switched my daily cursor-pusher thanks to the convenience of an always ready-to-go mouse. 

Razer wasn’t the only company dipping its toes into the charging pad game once upon a time. I remember drooling over Logitech’s PowerPlay (opens in new tab) mat that came out around the same time for its G series gaming mice. You can still get them, but they’re $AUD230 and that’s without a compatible mouse. At the time I believe the future would be full of excellent mousepad and wireless mice combos, but in recent years all I’ve heard was crickets.

HyperX at least met me halfway for a little while there, with some of the brand’s peripherals like the Pulsefire Dart (opens in new tab) featuring QI wireless charging (opens in new tab). It’s not quite the same but at least I can just leave them in the right spot when I walk away and know they’re likely to have charge when I come back later. It also stops me needing cables to charge devices that are wireless for a reason.

What’s worse is it feels like every brand lately is willing to put out its own mouse mat, often in sizes bigger than my desk (opens in new tab), complete with full RGB lighting. These desk coverings are usually made of the same rubberish material across the board, offering little in distinction or even usefulness. If you’re going to make the damned things, and go to the effort of wiring them to light up, then why not make them act as a powersource for my myriad wireless things that could all sit on top?