Tag:

making

Man in wheelchair quit school after making five figures a month through Fortnite

by admin June 23, 2025

A man who is wheelchair bound due to a rare form of muscular dystrophy has revealed how he’s able to make £10,000 a month by working with Fortnite players.

To some people, Fortnite has been a life-changing experience, kickstarting their journey to becoming well-known faces in the community, whether that’s as a content creator, streamer, map designer, or even professional player.

Like many other fans, 22-year-old Ross McLaren, who’s wheelchair-bound due to a rare form of muscular dystrophy, becoming a professional Fortnite player was also his initial dream.

Article continues after ad

But even after he realized he wasn’t “good enough” to do so, thanks to the game, he now earns £10,000 a month from his bedroom after quitting school, managing some of the most popular creators in the community.

Ross reveals how his disability enabled him to hone his craft in the gaming world

Ross started his business at just 17 years old when he was still living with his parents, Lesley and Craig. Speaking to the Daily Record, he said, “I really wanted to be a pro Fortnite player, but I realized I wasn’t good enough.”

Article continues after ad

SuppliedRoss McLaren seen with professional player Clix.

He then got into video editing for professional players. In the beginning, he worked with small gaming streamers for free while he was still in school. As time passed, things took a different, positive turn.

“By summer 2021, I was making £10,000 per month, and I told my parents I didn’t want to sit my Advanced Highers,” he said. Despite his situation, however, his parents still had doubts and asked him to go back to school, though he quit after just one day.

Article continues after ad

Ross didn’t let his disability stop him from pursuing his craft. He explained, “Having muscular dystrophy was somewhat of an advantage for me as it meant I spent a lot more time on a computer when I was younger, as I couldn’t go out and play sports like other kids.”

At some point, he started offering his video editing services to small streamers “for fun.” Just when he was about to give up, he was hit with a golden opportunity. He mentioned that he was able to work with Bugha, who only had about 20,000 subscribers back then.

Article continues after ad

Then, one day, Bugha participated in the Fortnite World Cup in 2018 and won $3 million, and his subscriber count reached one million overnight.

Afterward, Ross and his business just kept getting even more similar opportunities, like working with another well-known face in the community, Clix. Top Fortnite streamers certainly earn a pretty penny, and Ross makes money off producing content from lucrative commissions.

Due to his parents’ pressure, Ross returned to George Heriot’s School for one day before calling it quits and getting another massive opportunity, as he was asked to run YouTube star KSI‘s gaming channel, which has over 22 million subscribers.

Article continues after ad

Ross is now a freelancer responsible for managing big icons such as Clix and esports org Sentinels. He’s hoping to move to Dallas to be closer to his clients in the future.

Source link

June 23, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Chinese company Netease is making an AAA action-adventure game called ‘Blood Message’

by admin June 21, 2025

NetEase, the Chinese video game company that published Marvel Rivals and Bungie’s Destiny: Rising, has announced its first single-player AAA game. It’s a story-driven third-person action-adventure game called Blood Message, and as Polygon notes, it’s in the vein of Uncharted and Assassin’s Creed. The story is set in the final years of the Tang Dynasty, which ruled imperial China from 618 to 907. In Blood Message, players take control of a nameless messenger and his son “to deliver a message that holds the fate of their war-torn homeland.”

Players will have to journey through desolate deserts and the vast wilderness of East and Central Asia. The trailer shows the messenger and his son fighting enemies in the desert, surviving avalanches, working with mysterious characters and discovering ancient artifacts. It also shows the game’s cinematic cutscenes, stealth and survival mechanics, as well as the landscapes players can expect to see.

“We are ushering players into a new generation of high adventure with Blood Message,” said Zhipeng Hu, the Lead Producer and NetEase Executive Vice President. “As our first completely single-player focused experience from NetEase Games, after two decades of deep dedication to the gaming industry, we are prepared to deliver a truly epic and cinematic experience for players around the world.”

NetEase has yet to announce a release date, but Blood Message will be available for consoles and the PC. The game’s announcement shows that Chinese developers are increasingly making more inroads into the AAA space. Black Myth: Wukong, which is widely considered as the first AAA game from China, was originally released last year and will be available on the Xbox in August.

Source link

June 21, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Oblivion’s dungeons suck, Skyblivion is making them better: ‘That’s where the power of a proper remake comes from’

by admin June 20, 2025

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt in my hours with Oblivion Remastered, it’s that Oblivion’s dungeons kind of suck. They’re labyrinthine, exist as one of three types, and when you get to the end of them your grand prize often turns out to be, like, 5 gold and a journeyman retort. And then you have to retrace your steps to get back out.

Bethesda didn’t really crack its dungeon formula until Skyrim, where you could at least be relatively sure you had some kind of prize awaiting you at the end of a long session of hackin’ and slashin’: an enchanted weapon, a new word for a shout, that kind of thing.

When I sat down with Skyblivion lead dev Rebelzize for a chat about the upcoming Oblivion-in-Skyrim remake, it sounded like back-porting that dungeon philosophy to Cyrodiil was gonna be a key goal of the mod project.

“I think for a lot of people that play Oblivion now, it will be frustrating at times,” said Rebel, “there’s just old game design that doesn’t really translate anymore, and some of that is still present in the remaster from Bethesda themselves, because they’ve not remade it, which is a key difference [from Skyblivion], which is good for us.”

It’s a neat point of divergence between Skyblivion’s fan-made remake of Oblivion and Bethesda’s remaster, which went out of its way to retain all the strange foibles that made the OG game what it is. “We still have something to offer in that we have more or less redesigned every aspect of the game,” says Rebel.

(Image credit: Bethesda, TESRenewal)

“The easiest example is something that was introduced in Skyrim… once you’re at the boss chamber, the final area, you get a loop back to where you started.” In original Oblivion and the remaster, by contrast, “most of the time there’s nothing at the end. There’s no boss or loot or anything to make that delve rewarding. Then once you’ve done that very unrewarding delve, you have to backtrack all the way.”

Not so in Skyblivion. “That’s something I’ve been trying to really hammer on with everyone in the teams, that we make the dungeons fun. And if a dungeon serves no other purpose than to just distract someone from what they’re doing, then it can’t just be a bear den—you know, with a really big black bear—at the end.”

This is pretty exciting to hear, at least for me. While Oblivion Remastered is very much the Oblivion you remember from 2006 in a lush new wrapper, it sounds like the Skyblivion team is deliberately, consciously pushing things into ‘remake’ territory, and they’re not scared to slaughter some of the OG’s sacred cows if they think it’ll make for a better game. “Oblivion is one of those games that look really good from a distance, because it has those really lush forests, but once you’re in a forest there’s usually nothing between city A and city B.”

The possibility of scattering in new details, new design philosophies, new stuff is, says Rebel, “Where the power of a proper remake comes from, and where I hope we will have some relevance and staying power within internet culture and the Elder Scrolls fandom.”

Source link

June 20, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

FromSoftware makes the Libra fight easier, with Elden Ring Nightreign’s latest patch making Madness weapons more common

by admin June 18, 2025

FromSoftware has brought Elden Ring Nightreign servers back online following three hours of maintenance that kicked off earlier today. The downtime was necessary to deploy the game’s latest patch, version 1.01.3, which is now available across all platforms.

Update 1.01.3 is a fairly small one, and it arrives a little over one week after 1.01.2 was released. Given the version numbers, it’s safe to expect not-so-major changes, even if a few of the patch notes are definitely worth highlighting.

Manage cookie settings

The latest Nightreign patch is made up almost entirely of bug fixes, but it does come with a balance tweak that increases the chance of finding weapons with the Madness status ailment in the loot pool.

Madness is among the lesser-used weapon elements in the game, and the status effect is among the least useful against Nightlord bosses – except against Equilibrious Beast Libra. It’s very likely that FromSoftware wants players to run into more Madness weapons more often in order to make that fight a little easier.

In terms of bug fixes, one of the more amusing addresses an issue that caused the damage dealt to some enemies when destroying their weak points – as a result of Ironeye’s Marking skill – to be higher or lower than intended, depending on the situation.

One cheeky bug that worked in players’ advantage caused the Lightning damage received to be nullified when the Passive Effect Power of the Great Ancient Dragon was active, which you get from the Bolt of Gransax weapon.

Read on below for the full change log:

The door to… patch notes? | Image credit: VG247

General balance adjustments

Bug fixes

Adjusted the Whirlwind skill effect visibility when the Relic Effect “[Guardian] Increased duration for Character Skill” is active.
Fixed a bug where the Demon Merchant would spawn near the Night’s Tide when the Demon Merchant curse event was encountered.
Fixed a bug where damage dealt to some enemies when destroying weak points created by Ironeye’s “Marking” skill was higher or lower than expected.
Fixed a bug where the Lightning Damage received from enemies would be nullified when affected by the Passive Effect “Power of the Great Ancient Dragon” of the “Bolt of Gransax” weapon.
Fixed a bug where the Ultimate Art gauge was filled more than expected when attacking some enemies.
Fixed a bug where the Relic Effect “Switching Weapons Adds an Affinity Attack” did not properly reflect the attribute when applied to Bows and Crossbows.
Fixed a bug where the amount of Runes needed to purchase Uncommon weapons from merchants incorrectly calculated.
Fixed a bug where players would lose a battle after being revived from near death against a Nightlord or other Night bosses.
Fixed a bug in some Multiplayer battles against a Nightlord where the camera would not display at the correct angle when not targeting an enemy.
Fixed a bug where lingering character phantoms did not appear in Limveld.
Added staff information in the game’s credit.

Steam-only adjustments

In other Nightreign news, dataminer Zullie the Witch recently explored how the game’s controversial revive mechanic actually works, revealing some fascinating insights into the numbers behind it all. If you’re looking for functional advice instead, there’s no better than our Elden Ring Nightreign guide. Hit up the link, and check for new updates every week.

Source link

June 18, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Love and Deepspace’s latest update introduces a new story for Rafayel, making him the first character to get a third Myth lore drop

by admin June 17, 2025

Today marks the start of a major new Memory Pair event in Love and Deepspace, the mobile dating sim people can’t stop talking about. The new event is called Submerged Eclipse, kicks off today, and will be available until July 1.

That’s a pretty lengthy runtime for a limited-time event, but there’s plenty of new content to unlock in this one, especially for fans of Rafayel.

Manage cookie settings

Submerged Eclipse tells a story about the Sea God and his bride, and marks the debut of Rafayel’s Lemurian Sea God Companion form. In case you haven’t already caught on, this one is all about Rafayel.

This is the third Myth pair for Rafayel, who is now the first character in Love and Deepspace to get a third Myth dedicated to them. Until now, each character got a Myth pair as part of the standard banner, and another one in a limited-time event.

Since all existing characters already have two Myths, Love and Deepspace fans were expecting the sixth love interest character to be added soon, but it looks like the plan now includes expanding on the lore of existing characters.

Manage cookie settings

Submerged Eclipse introduces two limited 5-Star Solar-slot Memories. You have Rafayel: Mistsea Descent and Rafayel: Mistsea Lament. You can get them through a special event Wish Pool, and you’re guaranteed both at 150 gacha pulls.

Rafayel’s new Companion, Lemurian Sea God, is unlocked after obtaining both. You’ll also be able to claim a new 3-Star Memory titled, Distant Prayer, as well as a 4-Star Memory Pair titled Tidefall Waves, and Tidefall Allure for free via the Merling Oath.

There’s a new combat outfit for Rafayel, too, which gives him the Lemurian Sea God look – complete with new dialogue and animations. As for the new myth, Tears of Romirro, it’s available to read in game today. It tells an original story of the Sea God and his imprisoned bride.

Beyond that, the new update also doubles the rewards for Core Hunt missions, and adds the next round of Hunter Contest (v9.1). Fans of Zayne will also find a new daily check-in campaign for the fella.

Once again, you have until Tuesday, July 1 to take part. For an idea of what you can expect, watch the video embedded above. If you’re new to his hot dating sim, we have a few resources that break down concepts like Memory Pairs for new players, and explain what banner events are and how they work. You should also definitely check out all these Love and Deepspace codes for free stuff.

Source link

June 17, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Ubisoft Reminds Us It’s Still Making Prince Of Persia Remake

by admin June 17, 2025

Image: Ubisoft

Remember that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake Ubisoft announced back in 2020? The one that was supposed to launch four years ago? Well, it’s still in development according to a new update from the publisher after the game was a no-show during Summer Game Fest.

The Week In Games: Pokémon With Guns And More New Releases

Back in September 2020, Ubisoft announced a remake of 2003’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. It was set to launch in 2021 and was being developed by Ubisoft Pune and Ubisoft Mumbai. But then in December 2020, the game was delayed until March 2021. In February 2021, it was delayed again with no new release date given. Over a year later, in May 2022, Ubisoft announced that Ubisoft Montréal—the studio behind the original Sands of Time—was taking over the project. And it was then revealed that development on the remake was essentially starting over. At Summer Game Fest 2024, Ubisoft re-announced the Sands of Time remake with a tiny teaser and a new 2026 release date. That brings us to today, when Ubisoft really wants you all to know that things are going great. Promise!

On June 16, over a week after Summer Game Fest 2025 wrapped up, Ubisoft shared a small update about the Sands of Time remake. Some fans were nervous that the game might have been delayed again or canceled after it went unmentioned during any SGF-related event or showcase. Ubisoft has now said that’s not the case, claiming the game is still “deep” in development.

“Yep, we’re still deep in the game — exploring, building, and ensuring the sands move with purpose,” said Ubisoft on Monday. “This game is being crafted by a team that truly cares, and they’re pouring their hearts (and a lot of coffee) into every step. Thank you for sticking with us.”

In a follow-up message on Twitter, Ubisoft told people to go check out a different, already released entry in the series, The Rogue Prince of Persia, while “development continues behind the scenes.”

So…there you go. Ubisoft is still remaking Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. If it lands its 2026 release date, it will be out just in time to celebrate the original game’s 23-year anniversary.

Source link

June 17, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Switch 2 sells almost 1m units in Japan, making it country’s biggest console launch

by admin June 13, 2025

Hardware sales for the Nintendo Switch 2 have reached almost one million units in Japan, making it the country’s biggest console launch to date.

As reported by VGC, data from Famitsu showed 947,931 consoles have been sold within the first week of the Switch 2’s release.

In comparison, the original Switch sold 330,637 units according to the Game Data Archive.

Looking at other console launches in Japan, PlayStation 2 previously held the record having sold over 630,000 units followed by the Game Boy Advance at 611,000 and the Nintendo DS at 468,000.

Earlier this week, Nintendo announced that the Switch 2 sold 3.5 million units worldwide, its highest selling hardware within the first four days of release.

The original Switch sold 2.7 million within the same timeframe.

The Japanese publisher forecasts Switch 2 sales of 15 million by March 2026, while Ampere Analysis predicts that over 13 million people will buy the console in 2025.

Source link

June 13, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

‘I don’t actually play horror games’: Phasmophobia’s lead developer had no intention of making a horror game but still kicked off a whole new genre

by admin June 12, 2025

I’ll never forget the first time my friends and I played Phasmophobia. It was like nothing I’d ever played before, absolutely hilarious, and surprisingly terrifying—it still is. So it’s rather funny to me that not only does Phasmo’s creator not really play horror games but he didn’t intend to make one either.

“I failed to make a co-op puzzle game,” director and lead developer Daniel Knight told my colleague Andrea Shearon during an interview at Summer Game Fest. “Or a co-op puzzle horror game. I didn’t really settle to make a ghost-hunting game. It just ended up being the kind of perfect fit.

“But the main goal was to make a social co-op puzzle game where you actually had to stand next to your friends and figure the puzzle out together. And then the horror is kind of like the secondary part—it just happened to be the perfect fit.”

Now Knight mentions it, I can totally see where he’s coming from with the puzzle idea. Trying to figure out what kind of ghost it is by working together as a team, using various tools, and having a checklist is just like solving a puzzle. It’s just a scary one which also involves you getting chased around a house by a red-eyed demon child.

Having a horror game that isn’t necessarily focused on being scary but instead works at being tricky to solve and an immersive experience for you and your friends may be what makes Phasmophobia so memorable. The best moments in Phasmo always come from someone messing up a test or a ghost surprising the team by doing something that we hadn’t accounted for.

Phasmophobia devs on mod support, 2025 updates, and more | Kinetic Games interview – YouTube

Watch On

I still remember playing on the Brownstone High School map with some mates where all the signs pointed us towards the ghost being in one of the rooms on the ground floor next to the stairs. We ended up having a massive argument as half of us didn’t think it was actually in this room after finding no physical evidence. It wasn’t until the ghoul appeared behind us that we realised the EMF Reader and Sound Sensor were actually pointing us towards the room directly above where we’d set up shop.

It may seem kind of weird at first, but maybe a horror game from someone who doesn’t massively love horror games isn’t such a bad idea. “I don’t actually play horror games,” Knight says. Although when pressed, he did admit that he’s dabbled in a bit of Content Warning.

I love Content Warning, and don’t get me wrong it can be absolutely terrifying when you’re being chased by the Snail Man or flipped upside down by the Ceiling Star, but it’s also probably the most tame co-op game to come out recently. But hey, a horror game’s still a horror game, and I don’t think Knight has to prove anything, not after making Phasmophobia.

Source link

June 12, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Robert Eggers Is Making a ‘Christmas Carol’ Movie, and Willem Dafoe May Be Scrooge

by admin June 11, 2025

Over the decades, few stories have been as malleable as Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Story. It’s been a Bill Murray comedy, it’s been a Robert Zemeckis CGI fest, and it’s even been a Muppet movie, just to name a few. Next up for the iconic tale, though, is what we can only assume is a much darker, scarier twist from none other than Robert Eggers.

Deadline reports that the man behind The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman, and last year’s surprise hit Nosferatu, is in talks to write and direct an adaptation of the story for Warner Bros. And, though no cast is attached yet, Eggers is reportedly eyeing frequent collaborator Willem Dafoe to play the lead character of Ebenezer Scrooge.

If you’re like us, your mind is currently trying to figure out what an Eggers version of this story looks like, and it’s not a pretty picture, in the best possible way. Eggers has largely avoided adaptations, instead preferring deep, personal research to inform his own original stories, though that slightly changed with Nosferatu. Next up, he’s co-written and will direct Werwulf, another period horror piece which will focus on—you guessed—werewolves.

When you think about A Christmas Story, though, it’s just so in Eggers’ wheelhouse. There’s the original, period setting, of course. The mix of pathos with fantasy and horror. Lots of opportunities for evocative and beautiful sets, creatures, and costumes. Plus, for Hollywood, it’s a name brand. It’s kind of the perfect bullseye in every single way. And that’s before you even put Dafoe in the role of Scrooge. It’s basically the role he was born to play.

Eggers is also attached to a reboot of Labyrinth, so there’s no word about which film would go after Werwulf, which is currently looking at a Christmas 2026 release. But, if Christmas Carol is next, there seems to be a very good chance that Christmas 2028 might just scare the Dickens out of us.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Source link

June 11, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

AI Chatbots Are Making LA Protest Disinformation Worse

by admin June 10, 2025

In another instance of Grok boosting disinformation about the protests, Mike Crispi, chair of America First Republicans of New Jersey and a 2024 Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention, posted a picture of a pile of bricks on the side of the road with the comment: ”The international sign that a very real, organic, totally not pre-planned, left wing protest will shortly emerge.”

The picture was later amplified to a much bigger audience by actor James Woods, who wrote: “It’s not like these ‘protests’ are organized though … “ His post has been viewed almost 4 million times.

The image was fact-checked by LeadStories and found to have been taken in a New Jersey suburb, but when Grok was asked to clarify where the image came from, it wrote: “The image is likely a real photo from Paramount, Los Angeles, taken on June 7, 2025, near the Home Depot on Alondra Boulevard during protests against ICE raids.”

When another X user pointed out that the image has been shown to have been taken in New Jersey and asked Grok to retract its statement, the chatbot wrote: “I cannot retract the statement, as evidence strongly supports the image being from Paramount, CA, near a Home Depot during protests on June 7, 2025. News reports from ABC7, Los Angeles Times, and others confirm bricks were used in clashes with federal agents.”

WIRED could not identify reports from any of the mentioned outlets suggesting bricks were used in the recent protests.

X and OpenAI, the operator of ChatGPT, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The unreliability of chatbots is adding to the already saturated disinformation landscape on social media now so typical of major breaking news events.

On Sunday night, US senator Ted Cruz of Texas quoted a post from Woods, writing: “This … is … not … peaceful.” Woods’ post shared a video, which has now been deleted by the original poster, that was taken during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Despite this, Cruz and Woods have not removed their posts, racking up millions of views.

On Monday evening, another tired trope popular with right-wing conspiracy theorists surfaced, with many pro-Trump accounts claiming that protesters were paid shills and that shadowy though largely unspecified figures were bankrolling the entire thing.

This narrative was sparked by news footage showing people handing out “bionic shield” face masks from the back of a black truck.

“Bionic face shields are now being delivered in large numbers to the rioters in Los Angeles, right-wing YouTuber Benny Johnson wrote on X, adding “Paid insurrection.”

However, a review of the footage shared by Johnson shows no more than a dozen of the masks—which are respirators offering protection against the sort of chemical agents being used by law enforcement—being dispersed.

Source link

June 10, 2025 0 comments