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AppWizard

July 18, 2026

Claim two more free PC games on the Epic Games Store before they’re gone

The Epic Games Store is offering two free games for the week: Echo Generation: Midnight Edition and Luto, available until July 23. Echo Generation: Midnight Edition is a turn-based adventure set in the 1990s, featuring a group of children exploring supernatural mysteries in the town of Maple. The Midnight Edition includes visual enhancements and quality-of-life improvements like a quest tracker and fast travel. Luto is a first-person psychological horror game that focuses on atmospheric storytelling and environmental puzzles, exploring themes of anxiety, grief, and depression. Both games can be claimed permanently once redeemed. The next free game after this promotion will be Foretales.

AppWizard

July 18, 2026

75% of PS3 Games Reportedly Playable on PC

The RPCS3 initiative has successfully enabled the emulation of over 75% of PlayStation 3 titles on PC since its inception in 2011. Sony announced the closure of the PS3 Store in 2027 and will cease new physical disc production for the PlayStation platform starting January 2028.

AppWizard

July 18, 2026

Blizzard finally caved on Diablo 4’s disastrous new season with a patch that reverts almost everything players hated: ‘Not every idea lands exactly as intended’

Blizzard Entertainment has released an emergency patch (3.1.1a) for Diablo 4 in response to player criticism about the game's Season of Death Awakening. The patch improves Mythic drop rates and removes the crafted Mythic limit, addressing player frustrations regarding the grind to acquire Mythic items. Players have reported an increase in Mythic Uniques from the new seasonal boss and the ability to craft and use multiple Mythics. Blizzard plans to release another patch to further enhance drop rates and is considering reinstating the crafted limit for Mythics created in the Horadric Cube in the next season.

AppWizard

July 18, 2026

5 Classic PC Games That Are Unplayable Today

"Dune II," released in 1992, is credited with laying the foundation for real-time strategy games, featuring base-building and military maneuvers on the planet Arrakis. It has not been re-released due to licensing issues after Westwood Studios closed in 2003. Interplay Entertainment released two video games based on "The Lord of the Rings" in the early '90s, allowing players to guide Frodo Baggins through Middle-earth. Low sales led to the cancellation of a planned trilogy, and both titles have since faded into obscurity. "Star Trek: The Next Generation — A Final Unity," a point-and-click adventure from 1995, features Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew on a mission to recover an ancient scroll. It has not received a modern re-release. Sid Meier's "Civilization II," released in 1996, has not been officially re-released, despite the series' significant evolution and availability of later entries. The absence of these formative titles leaves a gap in strategy gaming history. "Black & White," released in 2001, is a god simulator that allows players to influence tribes on islands. It has not been optimized for modern platforms following the acquisition of Lionhead Studios by Microsoft, limiting access to those with original discs.

AppWizard

July 18, 2026

Does anyone know how to drive this thing?

Sony Interactive Entertainment plans to cease physical disc production by 2028, transitioning to a model reliant solely on digital distribution for new PlayStation games. The company has canceled eight out of twelve planned live-service projects by 2025, while CEO Hideaki Nishino remains committed to pursuing live-service opportunities. Microsoft has experienced significant financial losses and layoffs under CEO Phil Spencer, leading to a restructuring under new CEO Asha Sharma. Layoffs have affected studios like Bethesda and ZeniMax, raising concerns about ongoing project viability. The gaming industry is facing a trend of layoffs and employment uncertainty, impacting production times and budgets. Companies like Capcom and Larian, which prioritize employee retention, are experiencing success, while major publishers focus on short-term gains over long-term studio health. Successful game launches indicate a demand for quality standalone games, but there is reluctance to invest in new ideas due to a fixation on perpetual revenue streams.

AppWizard

July 17, 2026

Minecraft 26.3 Snapshot 4

The window management, input, and platform integration library has been transitioned from GLFW to SDL3. New features include custom furnace fuels and enhancements to signs, world generation, and loot tables. Players in spectator mode can interact with portals for teleportation. Exclusive fullscreen mode on Windows may cause crashes with multiple monitors, and it crashes on Wayland. Minor tweaks have been made to blocks, items, and entities, including armadillos no longer rolling up in liquids. The Raw Input mouse setting has been removed, and mouse input will now use relative mode. Key bindings will use physical keys, and borderless fullscreen is now the default mode. Exclusive fullscreen mode is no longer supported on macOS, and the minimum window size has been set to 320 by 240 pixels. Linux systems will prefer Wayland if available. The debug overlay now supports a separate GUI scale and displays the player's speed and refresh rate. The Data Pack version is 111.0, and the Resource Pack version is 92.0. New components for cooking and brewing fuels have been added, and various bugs have been fixed to improve gameplay stability.

AppWizard

July 17, 2026

Loot, Battle, Repeat: Minecraft Dungeons II Launches Soon

Minecraft Dungeons II is set to be released on September 29, 2026, by Mojang Studios and Double Eleven. The game will expand gameplay across two unique realms, introducing new biomes and aggressive mob variants. It retains the fast-paced, isometric, top-down action of the original while enhancing RPG mechanics and exploration opportunities. The game will feature full cross-platform support for online multiplayer and local couch co-op play.

AppWizard

July 17, 2026

Explore a snapshot of a massive million-by-million block Minecraft server

The 1,024,000² 2b2t World Download Project is a significant Minecraft archiving achievement, preserving approximately 13.7 TiB of compressed world data from the 2b2t server, including a million-by-million-block section of the Overworld, and smaller captures of the Nether and End dimensions. It is the largest available Minecraft world download, released via torrent. The project took over a year to develop, involving a team that utilized 28 bot accounts to collect data, resulting in four distinct captures of varying sizes. The project was led by a developer named crayne, with key contributors including Fuch, mahan, and Steve3. The code and documentation are available on GitHub, and the project incurred over ,000 in server rental costs. 2b2t, established in December 2010, is one of the oldest Minecraft servers, known for its unyielding map and challenging environment, having hosted over 1,000,000 players. The creators assert that no AI was used in the project and have licensed their work under CC0 for community accessibility.

AppWizard

July 17, 2026

The Best Dodo Studios Add-Ons for Minecraft Bedrock on PS5 Worth Your…

The Dodo Studios Minecraft Bedrock marketplace offers over 400 add-ons, worlds, and skin packs for the Bedrock Edition, accessible through the official Minecraft Marketplace without third-party downloads. The content supports cross-platform play on mobile, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation, allowing diverse gaming experiences. Each product page includes a rating, features, and pricing typically under a few hundred Minecoins. Notable offerings include Bed Wars for competitive matches, One Block for a unique survival challenge, and Craftable Houses and Mansions for creative building. Secret Doors and the WEAPONS++ pack enhance gameplay with innovative features. The marketplace has an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 from nearly half a million reviews, with most items priced affordably, encouraging players to purchase multiple add-ons. Players can easily choose their first purchase based on their preferred gameplay style, and Dodo Studios regularly adds new content to the marketplace.

AppWizard

July 17, 2026

EA believes that planning for in-game advertising placement should be done during the development stage

Alexander Dao, Vice President of Advertising and Sponsorship at Electronic Arts (EA), discussed the strategic advantages of integrating advertising into console and PC games from the outset, enhancing monetization and user experience. He emphasized the importance of designing games with advertising in mind for a more organic inclusion, which varies by game genre. Dao cited the collaboration between The Sims 4 and Coach as a successful example of unobtrusive brand integration. He also mentioned EA's launch of EA Advertising, a platform to facilitate brand advertising within its games, reflecting EA's commitment to innovative advertising strategies.