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Games

This week in PC games: Tokyo Game Show, Silent Hill, babel city-building and an RPG about a fugitive king

by admin September 22, 2025

Hello reader who is also a player! Once again I have failed in my fervent efforts to meddle with the Earth’s rotation so as to suspend time exactly at 11.30am, Saturday morning. I fear that another week is upon us. Fortunately, it contains some new PC games, spanning full releases and early access launches. Some of those new PC games may even be worth a modest portion of your lifespan and personal capital. Here’s a list of the ones I find most appealing or notable.

Monday 22nd September

Tuesday 23rd September

Blippo+ is about surfing channels to discover the soaps, sitcoms, news, weather, and talk shows of mysterious Planet Blip
Baby Steps is about learning to walk, one helplessly sliding ragdoll animation at a time
The point-and-click artisans of Blue Brain Games are back with The House Of Telsa
Clone detection horror It Has My Face has my curiosity, perhaps even my attention, but only time will tell whether it has my face

Wednesday 24th September

Let’s all go be Japanese high schoolgirls from the 1960s and slice up yokai scarecrows in Silent Hill f, which Oisin says is decent
Let’s all go come-of-age in Consume Me (pictured), a life sim about feeling “stupid, fat, lazy, and ugly in high school”, with mostly bad endings
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds does not contain any schools or self-loathing, but it is thinking with portals

Thursday 25th September

Mala Petaka is a strikingly upbeat and colourful GZDoom shooter with hanging crystals and many robots
Dunno if any of you are into Aquaplus, but they’ve got this big cross-over anime 2D fighting game out today that seems jazzy, and we haven’t listed a fighting game for a while
Drown human scientists in the ichor of your mass-produced minions in Buggos 2, an RTS autobattler for the Zerg appreciators lurking amongst us
Please partake of another helping of uncanny ballfootsies in EA Sports FC 26

Friday 26th September

Stario Haven Tower is about building the tallest city you can, contending with changes of weather and the rigours of vertical logistics
Hotel Barcelona is a side-scrolling roguelike slasher about a US field marshal possessed by the soul of a serial killer, created by a team led by Swery and Suda51
Lost In the Open is a grubby fantasy tactics RPG about a recently overthrown king and entourage fleeing across a hex-based map

Aside from the above new PC games, this week will contain a non-zero quantity of games so new they aren’t even released yet. We’ll hear about a few of them at the latest Tokyo Game Show, which runs 25th-28th September. As I write this I am looking at a spreadsheet of embargoed announcements. The temptation to just paste the whole thing below and take the week off is fierce, but I am absurdly professional and will resist. Pretty sure none of you care about made you look! anyway.

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September 22, 2025 0 comments

A skeleton doing a trick on a skateboard

Product Reviews

Five new Steam games you probably missed (September 22, 2025)

by admin September 22, 2025

On an average day about a dozen new games are released on Steam. And while we think that’s a good thing, it can be understandably hard to keep up with. Potentially exciting gems are sure to be lost in the deluge of new things to play unless you sort through every single game that is released on Steam. So that’s exactly what we’ve done. If nothing catches your fancy this week, we’ve gathered the best PC games you can play right now and a running list of the 2025 games that are launching this year.

Megabonk

Megabonk Release Trailer – YouTube

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Steam ‌page‌ ‌
Release:‌ September 19
Developer:‌ vedinad

Vampire Survivors is brilliant but I’m not super interested in any of its pretenders. Megabonk is a big exception, though, not only because it looks completely stupid (in a good way), but also because it borrows a lot from Risk of Rain 2. The general rhythm of the game is overly familiar by now: you commandeer a character through sprawling slaughter maps, circle strafing around the mobs and collecting XP, all the better to upgrade your abilities with every level increase. The longer you survive the better. What Megabonk brings to the formula is a slapstick approach to failure, and a PS1-influenced art style that really suits the addictive simplicity of its gameplay. Also, the skeleton can ride a skateboard.

Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum

Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum: Release Date Trailer – YouTube

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Steam‌ ‌page‌
Release:‌ September 19
Developer:‌ nodayshalleraseyou

This cyberpunk roguelike shooter is the real deal: not only does it have a gorgeous ASCII-inspired art style perfectly in step with its surreal sci-fi setting, but its ability to generate increasingly bizarre stories positions it close to something like Caves of Qud. Due to severe debt you’re forced to live the life of a mercenary, which means breaking into corporate headquarters, stealing intel, and murdering anyone who gets in the way. That makes it sound like a fairly rote genre exercise but Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum has no interest in sticking within the confines of cyberpunk: there is some truly weird stuff here. Nor is it eager to just be a shooter: this is closer to an immersive sim, in the way it rewards thinking outside of the box.

Henry Halfhead

Henry Halfhead – Out Now! – Trailer – YouTube

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Steam page
Release:‌ September 16
Developers:‌ Lululu Entertainment

As the name implies, Henry Halfhead is about Henry, who has (or is?) half a head. You might think this puts him at a severe disadvantage when it comes to moving through the world (or doing anything, really) but Henry is blessed with the ability to inhabit objects. So if he wants to make himself some toast, all he needs to do is become the knife to slice the bread, and then become the bread to enter the toaster, and then enter the toaster to toast the bread… you see where this is going (though I do wonder how one eats toast with only half a head). I adore the idea: probably the funniest puzzle concept since Baba is You.

Town to City

Town to City | Launch Trailer – YouTube

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Steam page
Release:‌ September 17
Developer:‌ Galaxy Grove

The city builder revival continues apace with Town to City, which is about building voxel-based 19th century Mediterranean settlements. While it has the cosy veneer of something like Tiny Glade, Town to City also has some very light sim elements, such as attending to the needs of your town’s inhabitants and growing the economy. Nevertheless, the focus here is definitely on zen-like creation, and despite being an early access affair it already has nearly a thousand “Overwhelmingly Positive” reviews on Steam. It’ll launch into 1.0 in “around 6-8 months”.

Pigface

PIGFACE | Early Access Out Now! – YouTube

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Steam‌ ‌page‌ ‌
Release:‌ September 19
Developer:‌ titolovesyou

Here’s another early access launch, this time about “a terrible woman whose awful past has finally caught up to her”. Someone has planted a bomb in her head, and if she doesn’t do their bidding that bomb will explode. A tough break, but I guess there’s got to be a reason for all the killing that happens in Pigface, which despite its retro-stylings leans more towards a tactical shooter than the more popular, circle strafing and bunny-hopping boomer variant. It has an appealingly vicious atmosphere too, kinda reminiscent of Dusk.

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September 22, 2025 0 comments

Every game a platform? Pitfalls and opportunities in the gold rush for user-generated content

Esports

Epic Games to allow Fortnite developers to sell in-game items

by admin September 20, 2025

From December, Fortnite creators will be able to sell items directly from their Fortnite islands.

Epic Games announced the new in-game sales feature on September 18, 2025, revealing that creators will be able to create and sell “digital durable and consumable items they build for their games,” using Verse-based API and new UEFN tools. They can’t, however, sell physical items, such as t-shirts.

While developers will “ordinarily” earn 50% of the V-Bucks value from item sales, from December 2025 until December 2026, the rate will be 100%.

However, that doesn’t mean they’ll creators will earn 100% of sales revenue.

In the press release announcing this new sales feature, Epic Games explained how the share of in-game sales is distributed to creators.

“In recent years, Epic has been investing and operating the business at a loss”

Epic Games

To determine the V-Bucks value in US dollars in a given month, the company totals all customer real-money spending on V-Bucks (converted to US dollars) and then subtracts platform and store fees. These can range from 12% on the Epic Game Store to 30% on current consoles. Epic Games then divides this by the total V-Bucks spent by Fortnite players.

Fortnite’s average platform and store fees are currently 26%, Epic Games said, with “specific fees” ranging from 12% to 30% on consoles.

So, from December 2025 to December 2026, the 100% V-Bucks value creators will earn will translate to a roughly 74% cut of in-game sales.

From January 1, 2027, however, that amount will drop by half, a 50% V-Bucks value equating to a roughly 37% cut of in-game sales for creators.

Epic Games said the other 50% enables the company “to cover the costs of servicing the Fortnite ecosystem.”

“The funds that don’t go back to creators contribute to server hosting costs, safety, and moderation costs, R&D and other operating expenses,” Epic Games said. “In recent years, Epic has been investing and operating the business at a loss.”

The V-Bucks value from in-game item sales will be 100% until the end of 2026 | Image credit: Epic Games

In addition, Epic Games is updating its engagement payout formula, which issues payouts to creators based on engagement in their islands, to “better reward creators for bringing in new or reengaging lapsed players in Fortnite.”

The current payout formula adds 40% of the net revenue from Fortnite’s Item Shop and related real-money purchases into the engagement pool, which is distributed among creators’ and Epic’s islands.

But, from November 1, 2025, Fortnite creators “that bring in new or lapsed players” will receive 75% of those players’ contributions to the engagement payout pool for their first six months.

To identify players and islands that fall under this banner, Epic Games will factor in “signals from direct links, in-game search usage, and first-day playtime patterns.”

Epic Games is also changing the retention component of these engagement payouts, now rewarding “island-specific retention, rather than ecosystem-wide retention” to “better align with creators’ own efforts in growing this metric.”

However, to combat fraudulent engagement, this engagement payout formula will only consider players who have made purchases on their accounts.

“Since UEFN launched, players have spent over 11.2 billion hours across 260,000 live creator-made islands”

Epic Games

Epic Games has said this will “not reduce the total engagement payout pool,” it instead “shifts the calculation” so that the playtime of non-payers isn’t considered.

As such, the engagement payout formula now covers minutes played, new user acquisition, lapsed user acquisition, playtime surrounding V-Bucks spend, and island retention.

Epic Games is also introducing a “prominent” Sponsored Row in Discover on November 24 2025, so that “creators can choose to spend money to receive increased visibility for their islands.”

“All creators will have transparent market data to bid for placement in the row and enter an auction to surface islands in the new Sponsored Row,” Epic Games said. “All other rows in Discover will remain unchanged, continuing to provide organic visibility to islands.”

In the “long-term,” 50% of revenue from sponsorship generated by this feature will go into the engagement payout pool, but from launch until the end of 2026, 100% will enter the pool.

Other creator-focused additions coming to Fortnite include the ability for creators to set up campaigns in the creator portal, starting November 17, 2025, and the launch of Fortnite Creator Communities “in the next few months,” allowing creators to connect and share updates with their players.

“Since UEFN launched, players have spent over 11.2 billion hours across 260,000 live creator-made islands, which has resulted in $722,000,000 paid out to date,” Epic Games said.

“We’ll continue investing in new tools that unlock more development possibilities for creators.”

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September 20, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Get Nine Remedy PC Games For Only $27, Including Alan Wake 2 And Control

by admin September 20, 2025

Remedy Entertainment has made some of the best games of the last several years, including Alan Wake 2 and Control, and thanks to a new Humble Bundle, has made it possible to snag the studio’s entire oeuvre for a ridiculously low price. The Remedy 30th Anniversary Bundle includes up to nine of the studio’s game for $27. A portion of the proceeds for each bundle go to charity. In this case, it’s Save the Children, which works to improve the lives of children around the world and to help protect them when disasters strike. You can also increase your donation by choosing to pay more than the bundle price. This is an awesome deal, but you’ll want to grab the bundle soon, as it’s only available through October 10.

Get 9 games for $27 until October 10.

Here’s the full list of what you get in the Remedy 30th Anniversary Bundle:

Pay $27 or more

Alan Wake 2 – Deluxe Edition (Epic Games Store)
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare (Steam)
Alan Wake Collector’s Edition (Steam)
Alan Wake Remastered (Steam)
Control Ultimate Edition (Steam)
Death Rally (Steam)
Max Payne (Steam)
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (Steam)
Quantum Break (Steam)
Coupon Code: 25% off FBC: Firebreak

In total, you’re looking at $238 worth of PC games for just $27.

Pay $5 or more

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare (Steam)
Death Rally (Steam)
Max Payne (Steam)
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (Steam)

Pay $12 or more

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare (Steam)
Alan Wake Collector’s Edition (Steam)
Alan Wake Remastered (Steam)
Control Ultimate Edition (Steam)
Death Rally (Steam)
Max Payne (Steam)
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (Steam)
Quantum Break (Steam)

While the full $27 bundle offers the best value since it’s the only tier that includes Alan Wake 2, there are two lower-priced tiers, too. The cheapest tier is just $5 and includes the arcade racer Death Rally, the gritty noir third-person shooters Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, and Alan Wake: American Nightmare, which is a standalone expansion to the first Alan Wake game. This tier is great if you want to check out the studio’s earliest works. Death Rally is an interesting one to look back on, since it differs so much from the action and survival horror games the studio is now known for. However, the real standout of this tier are Max Payne and Max Payne 2. Both helped define the third-person shooter genre of their time, and they offer a strange, surreal story that is absolutely worth a visit. The first will be quite clunky by modern standards, but Max Payne 2 holds up pretty well thanks to its more refined storytelling.

If you step up to the $12 tier, you’ll also get Alan Wake Collector’s Edition, Alan Wake Remastered, Quantum Break, and Control Ultimate Edition. At the time, the original Alan Wake was another fascinating genre departure, as Remedy blended influences like Stephen King and Twin Peaks into a unique survival horror thriller. And this tier comes with both the original game and the great remaster. That said, Control is probably the standout of this tier. It stands as one of the best action games of the last several years, combining the studio’s penchant for supernatural sci-fi and third-person action-adventure with a giant metroidvania-style map to explore. It’s also where Remedy really turned up the dial on its universe-building and weird fiction aesthetics. Quantum Break is also worth a look, as its mix of live-action storytelling and gameplay levels is an early example of ideas the studio would later iterate on with Control and Alan Wake 2.

Humble Remedy 30th Anniversary Bundle

Even though it’s more than double the price of the middle tier, the full $27 bundle offers the best value. You’re effectively getting Alan Wake 2’s Deluxe Edition for $15. It’s worth emphasizing that Alan Wake 2 isn’t available on Steam, so this is the only game in the bundle that activates via the Epic Games Store. The Deluxe Edition includes the base game, the Night Springs and Lake House story expansions, and a additional DLC like costumes for Alan and Saga.

Alan Wake 2 is one of the rare games we’ve awarded a 10/10, with GameSpot reviewer Mark Delaney saying “The mere existence of an Alan Wake 2 would have, at different points over the years, felt like a minor miracle, but for it to be this one, that feels singular in its achievements, and coming from a studio that refuses to shy away from the paths less traveled, makes Alan Wake 2 a miracle.”

Console players who don’t yet own Alan Wake 2 can get the physical Deluxe Edition for PS5 or Xbox Series X for $50 (was $60) at Amazon. The console version includes all of the DLC plus a voucher to claim a digital copy of Alan Wake Remastered.

If you’re looking for even more Remedy goodness, you should check out the novelizations of both Alan Wake and Quantum Break, both available on Amazon. The book version of Alan Wake draws the story together in a way that flows a little more clearly and concretely than the game–you can’t miss picking up hidden manuscript pages when you’re reading a book. Meanwhile, Quantum Break: Zero State is more adaptation than novelization, since it doesn’t include that game’s player-driven choices, and provides a different angle on the game’s events and its smart approach to time travel. illuminated.”

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September 20, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Salix Games and Liquid Crimson to host spooky tabletop RPG stream for SpecialEffect

by admin September 20, 2025

UK studio Salix Games and creative agency Liquid Crimson are teaming up for Overdue Exorcism, a one-night-only, live table RPG performance to support charity SpecialEffect.

Taking place on October 3, 2025, the Overdue Exorcism charity stream will be guided by game master Natalie Walker, who voiced Nambi Ghimi in Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and Alice Blague in Astrologaster.

Winter will be joined by a host of acclaimed voice actors, including Billie Fulford-Brown (Sophie in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33), Dave Jones (Halsin in Baldur’s Gate 3), Kathyrn Vinclaire (who provided voice work for Conan Exiles and Warhammer Soul Arena), and Kit Harrison (Sawada in Genshin Impact). There will also be special guest cameos.

The strean has a £10,000 fundraising goal, and you can watch it on SpecialEffect’s Twitch channel from 6pm to 10pm BST on October 3, 2025.

Those who tune in will be able to unlock fundraising milestones that “force the cast into wild accents, musical interludes and full-blown possession swaps.”

There will also be viewer-triggered perks that let fans “inflict chilli-chocolate roulette, demand dance-offs or make their favourite actor read romantic or horror poetry in-character, straight to camera.”

“We’re not here to play it safe – we’re here to summon ghosts, break rules and blow the doors off tabletop streaming,” said Lauran Carter, comms director at Liquid Crimson.

“It’s theatre meets games meets rock show – and it’s all for SpecialEffect!”

The charity stream is part of SpecialEffect’s One Special Day initiative | Image credit: Liquid Crimson/Salix Games

The Overdue Exorcism stream is part of Special Effect’s One Special Day initiative, which aims to “level the playing field for physically disabled gamers.”

On the same day as the stream, SpecialEffect is hosting its One Special Walk fundraising event, which will see those who sign up walking 25km across Greater London, from the London Stadium all the way to Wembley.

The charity is also hosting a Steam sale, which runs from September 11, 2025, to September 18, 2025.

This is the ninth consecutive year SpecialEffect’s One Special Day has taken place, with last year’s initiative raising over £600,000.

“We couldn’t be more thankful for everyone who has put their time into this incredible stream, and we can’t wait to see what shenanigans take place on October 3 as part of One Special Day in support of our work!,” said Paige Harvey, gaming community manager at SpecialEffect.

“In our eyes, this event is already a natural 20!”

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September 20, 2025 0 comments

A composite image shows a colorful dinosaur-like creature, the protagonist of Dying Light: the Beast with his back to the camera, and the protagonist of Little Witch in the Woods standing outside of a cabin.

Game Reviews

The Beast And 3 Other Cool Games We’re Into

by admin September 20, 2025

We are days away from autumn, with the fall equinox arriving on Monday, September 22.That means this is officially the last week you can get your summer gaming done! And with the friggin’ 80-degree weather we’ve got hitting us on the east coast right now, summer sure as hell is fighting to stay. Sadly, among other miseries, unseasonable weather is likely to remain part of our reality.

Anyway, if you’re looking to escape from said reality, we’re here with suggestions for some lovely games you should check out. Let’s get to it!

Ratatan

Play it on: Windows PCs (Steam Early Access, Steam Deck: “Unknown”)
Current goal: Help all my little buds flourish

Patapon was a simple but effective rhythm-based strategy RPG for the PlayStation Portable that you kind of had to be there for. Little glyph-shaped eyeballs who throw spears at monsters and recover resources from each fight get more powerful and continue their journey. What made it special was not only the neat art and clever genre mashup, but the cute, Yoshi’s World-like music you played to enact your survival tactics.

The original team behind the series was ultimately scattered to the winds and that era of handheld gaming is effectively dead. It seemed unlikely that we would ever gaze upon the likes of Patapon again. But against all odds, Hiroyuki Kotani and other veteran designers from that team returned with a Kickstarted spiritual successor called Ratatan that’s every bit as beautiful and charming. Out in Early Access on Steam this week, the roguelike rhythm brawler arrives with more ambition and deeper gameplay systems than its predecessor.

I’ve only gotten a couple hours with it so far but it feels like a fresh start rather than a warmed-over retread. The future for Ratatan feels bright. There’s already a roadmap promising three major updates throughout the rest of the year. I can’t wait for it to come to Switch. I also can’t wait to play more Ratatan this weekend. – Ethan Gach

The Last Friend

Play it on: Switch, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Playable”)
Current goal: Save the dogs

I know we usually try to talk about games we’re playing this weekend, but I’m playing Sonic Racing: Crossworlds, and that’s not out yet for most people. So instead of writing about what I’m playing right now, I opened up Steam, scrolled through my library, and picked a game from my past that I don’t think I’ve written about for a Kotaku Weekend Guide before. The Last Friend was a pretty special game to me when it launched in 2021. I covered it a fair bit at my last job, including doing an interview with the developers about their recreations of fans’ dogs in the game’s art style, and that article has sadly been lost to the impermanent state of the Internet. But what hasn’t been lost is Stonebot’s excellent tower defense game about a post-apocalyptic world in which the last surviving dogs help you defend your mobile home base as you save the rest of the world’s remaining doggos. If that doesn’t sound dope to you, then I don’t think we would be friends. – Kenneth Shepard

Little Witch in the Woods

Play it on: Xbox Series X/S, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Playable”)
Current goal: Explore!

I’ve been playing some intense games lately. Whether it’s getting my ass kicked in Silksong or facing down terrifying nightmares in a game I can’t quite talk about just yet, my nervous system is often strained.

Much as I love that kinda thing, I do enjoy taking a break from all the adrenaline. And so this weekend, I’m hoping to spend some time with a “cozy” pixel-art game adorably titled Little Witch in the Woods. It left early access a few days ago and while I’ve not had too much time with it yet, it’s definitely piqued my interest.

Like many of these “cozy games,” Little Witch in the Woods sees you wander about peaceful settings to make friends, gather resources, and craft. There are a lot of these games out there, and sometimes they can be kind of dry. But from the beginning, the playful spirit of the game’s protagonist, a young witch named Ellie, immediately got a few chuckles out of me and I just knew I had to spend some more time tagging along on her adventure. She’s a bit of a troublemaker, with a curious spirit that sees her quick to disobey orders if it means she’s treated to finding something spectacular. She’s a bit eccentric, if not obsessive, which I think pairs well with the game’s premise of gathering and documenting all sorts of wonders in this magical setting.

Also you get to play with cats! – Claire Jackson

Dying Light: The Beast

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Verified”)
Current goal: Level up my Beast Mode!

I’ve been playing a lot of Dying Light: The Beast this week and enjoying basically every minute of it. I don’t think Techland gets enough credit as a developer, and the studio is perhaps one of the best at making big open-world games that are both fun to explore and also mechanically deep. And The Beast is no exception. In fact, this might be the studio’s best one yet.

Read More: Dying Light: The Beast Is One Of The Best Open-World Games Of 2025

Sure, going BEAST MODE is silly, but it also feels amazing to rip apart 20 zombies in a matter of seconds. I’m going to try and focus on improving my Beast Mode skills so I can become a truly unstoppable zombie-killing parkour machine.

And that wraps our picks! What are you playing this weekend?

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September 20, 2025 0 comments

Wario grinning and dancing with a pair of JoyCons.

Gaming Gear

Nintendo reportedly gets even more obnoxious about patent law by taking a ‘mods aren’t real games’ stance against a Dark Souls 3 mod that could invalidate its Palworld lawsuit

by admin September 19, 2025

Last year, Nintendo initiated a patent lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair, and in the months since the Pokemon publisher has seemingly decided to double down on moustache-twirling IP law villainy at every opportunity. The latest development in the Pocketpair proceedings might be Nintendo’s worst look yet, because the company has reportedly decided that modders’ ideas don’t count. Cool!

Thanks to the efforts of a Tokyo contributor who was able to review the case file for the ongoing Pocketpair lawsuit, videogame patent law site Games Fray (which broke last week’s Nintendo patent story) reports that part of Pocketpair’s defense against Nintendo’s lawsuit aims to invalidate Nintendo’s patent claims based on the existence of prior art in mods.

(Image credit: Pocketpair / Toasted Shoes / The Pokemon Company)

As IP attorney Kirk Sigmon told PC Gamer last September, demonstrable prior art—meaning preexisting work resembling the invention described in a patent’s claims—is bad news for patent holders, because it means they shouldn’t have been granted the patent in the first place. Sigmon said that courts in Japan have a strong history of siding with patent lawsuit defendants who could present examples of prior art.

By presenting mods like Pocket Souls for Dark Souls 3, which allowed the player to capture enemies in a method resembling Nintendo’s JP 2023-092953 patent claims, Pocketpair is hoping to demonstrate that Nintendo was granted a patent on ideas that had already been deployed in game design. If it’s successful, it could render Nintendo’s patent invalid.

According to Games Fray, however, Nintendo has argued in two separate pleadings that mods simply don’t qualify as prior art, because they aren’t real games.

(Image credit: Nintendo)

To evaluate this, let’s consider the conditions for patentability in Japanese patent law, as translated by Japan’s Ministry of Justice:

Article 29

(1) A person that invents an invention with industrial applicability may obtain a patent for that invention, unless the invention is as follows:
- (i) an invention that is public knowledge within Japan or in a foreign country prior to the filing of the patent application;
- (ii) an invention that is publicly known to be worked within Japan or in a foreign country prior to the filing of the patent application; or
- (iii) an invention that is described in a distributed publication or made available for public use over telecommunications lines within Japan or in a foreign country prior to the filing of the patent application.
(2) A person may not obtain a patent if prior to the filing of the patent application, a person of ordinary skill in the art of the invention would have easily been able to make that invention based on an invention prescribed in one of the items of the preceding paragraph, notwithstanding the preceding paragraph.

Now, I’m not an expert, but I don’t see anything in there that says “Nintendo gets a pass if it doesn’t think creators of prior art deserve to have ideas.”

It’s an argument that doesn’t just insult the creativity of modders—it imperils them. If Nintendo’s rationale was accepted by the Tokyo District Court, it could create a world in which a developer of a “real” game might patent gameplay mechanics inspired by a mod and then hit that mod’s creator with a cease and desist for infringing on their own ideas.

Nintendo has already demonstrated it’s perfectly happy to hammer modders with legal action, having previously issued DMCA notices that drove Garry’s Mod to remove Nintendo-related items from Steam Workshop and forced Breath of Wild multiplayer modders to shut down development.

In a just world—which, considering Nintendo’s legal oeuvre, we probably shouldn’t take as a given—it’s a ploy that wouldn’t stand. We’ll have to wait and see.

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September 19, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Stop Killing Games to be debated by UK government in big boost to petition

by admin September 19, 2025

The Stop Killing Games movement has received a big boost as the British government has finally set a date to debate the long-standing petition.

Stop Killing Games, otherwise known as SKG, has been around since April 2024, when a petition was set up by YouTuber Accursed Farms, real name Ross Scott. As the movement’s name suggests, SKG wants to stop publishers from effectively ‘killing’ live-service games once official developer support has stopped.

The petition has been targeted at the European Union, and surpassed it’s goal of achieving 1 million signatures to back it.

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And while it has yet to be debated by Members of European Parliament, it has made it’s mark with one big government – the United Kingdom.

UK politicians debating Stop Killing Games in November

That’s right, on September 19, the UK Government confirmed that they had organised a debate on the petition for November 3.

All 190,000 backers of the petition received an email revealing that they’ll be able to watch the debate on the UK Parliament YouTube channel.

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“Parliament is going to debate the petition you signed – Prohibit publishers irrevocably disabling video games they have already sold. The debate is scheduled for 3 November 2025. Once the debate has happened, we’ll email you a video and transcript,” the message reads.

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DexertoAll backers of SKG recieved an email about the debate.

This is not the first time that the government has addressed the petition. Back in February 2025, they stated: “There are no plans to amend UK consumer law on disabling video games. Those selling games must comply with existing requirements in consumer law, and we will continue to monitor this issue.”

Obviously, since then, the petition has gone on to break its goal of 1 million signatures, showing there is plenty of support behind it, and it’s not just a flash-in-the-pan type of movement.

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This debate will likely beat the European Union too, as they are still collecting supporting documents and comments on SKG’s petition until October 24. It will then take some time before it is brought to the parliament’s floor.

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September 19, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Steam is now blocking NSFW updates for published adult-only games, according to a raunchy RPG developer

by admin September 19, 2025

The great ‘dematuring’ of videogames continues with reports that Valve are now forbidding “post-launch NSFW content” for games on Steam, even those that are already “adult-only”. That’s according to Crimson Delight Games, the developers of fantasy RPG Tales of Legendary Lust: Aphrodisia. They launched it on September 15th with adult content warnings, after submitting it to Valve’s review process in August, and had planned to add sexy scenes through updates while working on a big DLC expansion for 2026.

These updates are not going to happen anymore, apparently because everybody’s favourite PG-rated cartoon villains, global payment networks, are putting pressure on Valve. Instead, the updates will need to be submitted as proper official DLC so that Valve can give them a formal review.

This will likely mean more work for the devs and potentially, release delays, compared to the relative ease of publishing an update or patch – as Valve explain in their FAQ, “Steam makes it easy to patch your game or add content at any time that you need to in order to best serve your audience on your schedule”.

“We were told all new adult content for our game has to go through DLC, presumably so it can be reviewed and approved,” the developers wrote in response to a Reddit post about the situation this week. We don’t know the inner workings of Valve / Steam, but we’re in a couple of NSFW dev communities and these new rules weren’t in place before the Collective Shout uproar and subsequent payment processors’ censorship.”

If you’re new to Collective Shout, they’re an Australian activist group who campaign against “the objectification of women and sexualisation of girls in media, advertising and popular culture”, and are also affiliated with conservative groups who campaign against sex work and pornography at large.

Back in July, Collective Shout claimed credit for stampeding Mastercard, Visa and other payment processing companies and networks into forbidding the transaction of a vast number of sexually themed or otherwise “NSFW” adult games on Steam and Itch, including a lot of games from queer developers. Collective Shout have yet to properly explain which individual games they consider unfit for sale and why.

Steam and Itch have now changed their policies to give the payment networks some control over what counts as acceptable “adult” material. They have also delisted or removed a lot of games, with Itch electing to seek out new payment partners while revising their catalogue. Valve are reportedly denying the release of “mature” games under Steam early access, possibly because (to echo Crimson Delight’s point above) the platform holder needs to be able to review the finished work before approving it for sale. I say ‘reportedly’ and ‘possibly’ because Valve still haven’t made a formal comment on these recent events. I’ll ask them again now.

In the Reddit thread about the rejected NSFW updates, Crimson Delight have only good things to say about Valve’s handling of the situation. “I have to say the reviewer was kind and forthcoming, we didn’t feel threatened or bullied in any way, and we got the feeling they were trying to do their best to help devs navigate the process,” developer Frenzin writes. “But the fact of the matter is that Valve has payment processors breathing down their neck, and the rules keep getting stricter as time goes on.”

“Valve isn’t the problem here,” Frenzin continues. “The big credit card companies are. If anything, Valve has stood up to them and pushed back. They could’ve simply nuked the 18+ section of Steam, but they didn’t, they stuck up for developers. Obviously adult games make Valve money, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of Steam’s catalogue. Silksong itself probably earned Valve more than most NSFW titles put together.

“Given that we’re erogame devs, we’re against any sort of censorship (as long as the content isn’t sexualizing minors or nonconsensual in any way),” the developer comments. “But it’s important to understand where the real problem lies, and it’s not with Valve.”

My very Lukewarm Take regarding the on-going NSFW/mature game crackdown is that people should be allowed to get their rocks off to whatever responsibly created fictitious media they choose in the absence of evidence that they are doing harm, and large finance corporations with no actual mandate to serve the public interest shouldn’t play the part of moral sentinel.

I’d flesh that argument out with reference to Tales of Legendary Lust, but my efforts are hindered by the UK’s new Online Safety Act, which requires me to verify my age to visit the game’s Steam page and visit the developer’s subreddit (thanks to Automaton for being the messenger). I don’t have a credit card for Steam verification, and Reddit’s camera age verification widget seems to think that my age defies categorisation. Which, you know, fair dos. You can find a SFW version of the game on Itch, though.

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September 19, 2025 0 comments

Leon from Resident Evil 4 doing the smoulder among a run-down village.

Gaming Gear

Weapons director says his Resident Evil movie will leave everything ‘intact’ from the games: ‘I’m not gonna steal Leon and put him in an original story’

by admin September 19, 2025

Zach Cregger is on a roll. The writer and director of 2022’s Barbarian and this year’s Weapons now has two solid horror hits under his belt, and is in pre-production on his next one: a Resident Evil movie planned for 2026.

That’s good news for Resident Evil fans who might otherwise be a bit wary about yet another new Resi movie—the film franchise was already rebooted once, just four years ago, with the thoroughly mid Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. Cregger’s track record, though based on a small sample size (at least when it comes to feature films) is a good reason to be optimistic.

And for those wondering which game and characters this new Resi movie will be based on, it looks like the answer is: none of them.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Cregger confirmed that while the 2026 film will take place in the Resident Evil universe, “It’s an entirely original story,” instead of being based on any one specific game. Cregger is also steering away from major Resident Evil characters like Leon S. Kennedy.

“I’m not gonna steal Leon and put him in an original story. I think that would be presumptuous,” Cregger told EW. “But I respect the games enough where I’m gonna tell a Resident Evil story in the Resident Evil canon that still leaves everything they love intact from the games, you know what I mean?”

I think I know what he means. When using a character people are already familiar with, like say Master Chief in the recent Halo TV series, you run the risk of disappointing people who have expectations of that character, like when you show his naked butt, or when he has sex. A safer and more creative approach is to handle it like the Fallout series, which creates mostly original characters and sets them loose in a familiar world.

Both Barbarian and Weapons are effective not just because they’re scary, but because they’re intriguing. By presenting the story of both films from the perspective of different characters and jumping around in time, we don’t get all the information in a linear fashion, which gives both movies a fun sense of mystery. At other times we get information before certain characters do, too, and then we’re left dreading the horrible things we know are coming their way.

I’m curious if and how Cregger will use similar methods in his Resident Evil movie.

“I think that when you see it, you’ll understand how I can be obsessed with original ideas and still make a movie that is an IP-based thing,” Cregger said. “I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense now, but I hope that it will later.”

Cregger’s Resident Evil movie is scheduled to be released, wow, exactly one year from today, on September 18, 2026. Confirmed in the cast is Austin Abrams, who played the role of James, the drug-addict, in Weapons, and Paul Walter Hauser, who played Ed in this year’s The Naked Gun and Mole Man in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

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September 19, 2025 0 comments