Latest news with #Remedy
Perth Now
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Brandi Glanville makes heart-breaking confession about 'hiding out' amid medical mystery
Brandi Glanville has been on a break from social media, because she can't bear to deal with "cruel comments" about her appearance. The 52-year-old reality star - who has been dealing with an undisclosed medical condition that has caused facial disfiguration for nearly two years - admitted she has been "hiding out" because of nasty posts about her looks. However, Brandi has vowed to return to "sharing authentically" on social media "without all the filters and heavy edits". She wrote on X: "It's been a minute since I posted on Patreon, but I'm going back and will be interacting on there again. I haven't posted much on any social site lately because I'm hiding out and don't want to deal with the cruel comments on my appearance, but I'll be posting and sharing authentically without all the filters and heavy edits.. See you there and don't forget to turn on your notifications for the daily drops (sic)" Earlier this month, the former 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' star admitted getting back to work had a huge "positive" impact on her health, after she teamed up with RIP Youth and Beks on new single 'Remedy'. Brandi told BANG Showbiz: "Getting back to work has had such a positive effect on both my mental and even my physical health during these hard times. "I'm looking forward to traveling again to promote and perform 'Remedy' with people I adore. Everyone who was involved in this song is awesome. "It's such a nice feeling to bring joy to people with this music 'Remedy', like with my books. "It's a positive change in comparison to 'Real Housewives'." What's more, Brandi told how she enjoys having "control" of her own narrative through music, instead of being at the mercy of an editing team. She said: "Unlike reality TV that fell into my lap - although I did enjoy some of it - doing this song 'Remedy' was completely my choice and such a creative pleasure. "I can breathe when I'm doing music because I get to write and deliver my own narrative. I don't have to worry about being edited badly or what false story will be pitched. I love LOVE and control."
Metro
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Games Inbox: What is Rockstar Games' best game?
The Tuesday letters page asks whether video game execs need to be gamers or not, as one reader predicts Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe will be a while yet. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ Rockstar #1 Interesting to see people having the confidence to speak out against GTA, which I don't think we're going to see a lot of as the game gets closer. I won't pretend I don't enjoy the games, and still play GTA Online occasionally, but what I will say is that GTA 5 is not my favourite Rockstar game at all and I do feel it's a shame they don't make a wider range of games like they used to. Bully was great and so was The Warriors, but I especially liked the first Manhunt and I'm very upset that never became a regular franchise. I don't think Midnight Club or L.A. Noire were as good but at least they were something different, as was Max Payne 3 (although I prefer Remedy's two games). I would say that Red Dead Redemption 2 is easily their best game. It has all the scope and size of GTA but none of the flaws that people have been pointing out. It has a good, clear plot. The characters are all interesting and many of them are likeable. They act like people too, not just try hard characters. The gameplay still isn't great but it's no worse than GTA 5 and I definitely prefer riding a horse to driving a car, at least one designed by Rockstar. So while I am looking forward to GTA 6 there are quite a few other Rockstar games I'd rather see get a sequel first. Focus One for two Is it me or has Shuhei Yoshida been acting like a bit of chump in his recent round of interviews? He was very down on Switch 2 for no reason that I could really see, other than he's ex-Sony, and now he, who is presumably very rich, is trying to tell us all that £80 for a video is a bargain and we shouldn't complain? I'm sure it is good value for money but at the end of the day that's money that a lot of us don't have lying around spare. Only a few years ago I would've been able to get two triple-A games for £80, at least a couple of months after launch, and soon I'm only going to be able to get one. I don't see how that's good for gaming or publishers or anyone else. It's definitely not good for my wallet. Brian Summer secrets So, the Switch 2 is out on June 5 and the Summer Game Fest is June 6… does that mean there's going to be some kind of big annoucement? I know people are 50/50 on whether there's a secret Christmas game still to be revealed but if there was I would've though this would be a good time to do it. I can't see anyone getting all that excited when Nintendo try to make the reveal of the release dates for checks notes Hyrule Warriors 3 and Kirby Air Ride 2 seem like some epic reveal. I'm with everyone else that thinks they are very strange things to be out in the first year, especially when that could mean there's really only big first party game out all year. I'm not going to try and predict anything, because it's Nintendo and who knows, but does GC think the two dates are coincidence or are they going to end up being connected? Paulie GC: Our guess is that it's just a coincidence. Nintendo doesn't tend to use third party events to announce anything significant. They may try and squeeze something in at the last minute, just because the timing is so odd, but we wouldn't count on it. Email your comments to: gamecentral@ Strange ideas Like a lot of readers, I find Hideo Kojima a fascinating but flawed character. He's got so much obvious talent, but he's squandered so much of it on one franchise, that faded from public view surprisingly quickly. Dead Stranding was interesting but I'm not sure how a sequel is going to work if the core gameplay is still… walking very slowly and delivering parcels to holograms. I'm painting the game in its worst possible light there but even so, Death Stranding was just flawed as anything else Kojima has done and I would've liked to see him give it another roll of the dice with a different idea. Instead, he's working on a sequel, and what seem to be spiritual sequels to Silent Hills and Metal Gear. By which time he'll be well into his 60s… If all the ideas on the USB stick are as weird as the guy forgetting his abilities over time, I'd rather he do them now. It just feels he's permanently got one foot in the past and it's a real shame. Kurgen Come back later If Nintendo does do a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe edition for the Switch 2 do we have any idea who could be added to it? I would've said someone from a new Switch 2 IP but there really hasn't been one yet, which is a real shame. Maybe they could try and do one of the wheelchair basketball people, but I can't see many people queuing up for that. I also thought maybe a couple more Microsoft games, back when I expected them and Nintendo to be all chummy. Now it seems that was all just talk and Xbox doesn't have any plans at all, or at least none so urgent they've felt the need to talk about them so far. So if a Deluxe edition does happen, I don't think it's going to happen for a while, for the simple reason that there isn't anyone new to add, because they're all already been done. Roel Dungeons master I was going to compose a missive contemplating the likelihood of Dungeons 4 being ported to the Switch 2, only to find out that it's actually already out on Switch?! That would be an amazing feat if it worked but apparently it's a bug ridden, almost unplayable mess from the only review I can find (I literally had no idea and can't be the only one unaware of the port). So now, instead I'm wondering if they'll release a Switch 2 Edition or complete edition with all the DLC, or even just put some fixes through so the game runs better on the new hardware. I hope they do the same for Tropico 6 (both are by Kalypso, so if ones done the other will probably be too). As an aside, put me on the boat for people not really interested in GTA 6. Five or six years ago I'd been down for it but current, me who replayed GTA 5 before getting shot of my PlayStation 4, I found it pretty awful actually. The characters, the controls, the story, were all just urgh. I appreciate the characters aren't supposed to be likeable (except Franklin, maybe) but my god what were they thinking of with Trevor? Every time I had to play as him it felt like my soul was dying a little more, until I just gave up playing. I don't expect much from the single-player campaign of GTA 6, if there even is one… Solabound Glory days I don't think I'm the first person to say it on here but if Bungie lasts to the end of the year I will be shocked. I'll also be relatively surprised if Marathon isn't cancelled within the next few months. It's a game no one wants, in a genre no one will admit to liking, by a developer that seems to be in a downward spiral. It's sad to think how this sort of thing can happen. Halo 3 was 18 years ago now, and it's at least five years since Destiny 2 was relevant. It's unfortunate but Bungie were never the same after leaving Microsoft and I think the initial success of Destiny 1 just hid that for a while and now it's obvious. Tony T. Management sim I'm in two minds as to whether the head of a big games company needs to be a gamer or not. It feels like it should be a thing but at the end of the day what's most important is that they're a good business person, which the Take-Two guy seems to be. At least going by how long he's been in the job. Nintendo's Satoru Iwata was a great leader and actually used to make games, but his replacement is just a businessman with no developer background at all, and yet he seems to be doing a decent job. Then there's that other obvious example: Phil Spencer. He can't stop talking about what a keen gamer he is, and I think he genuinely is a fan, but I also think it's increasingly hard to pretend he's doing a good job at Xbox. Ultimately, I don't think it matters whether you're a gamer or not, whether you've ever been a developer or anything. The only thing that matters is being good at your job, which has nothing to do with making games but backing the right people that do, making sure they have the resources, and not interfering with them. I believe that's pretty much what the Take-Two guy himself said. Where you get a bit of a grey area is something like EA or Ubisoft, where you definitely feel like their leaders could stand to actually play some games once in a while, instead of just making decisions by spreadsheets. Remember that the team that made Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 used to work on Ubisoft, so they clearly weren't being creatively fulfilled there and that's a management problem. Lemmy Inbox also-ransI was thinking of getting Doom: The Dark Ages after the positive reviews but I was shocked to discover it was £70. This isn't Call Of Duty, this is a single-player only game that apparently is quite easy. I'll come back on Black Friday. Pancus If Red Dead Redemption 2 is out on Switch 2 this year I think that could be a really good selling point, because the obvious comparison, in terms of graphics, is Zelda and Rockstar's game is lightyears ahead of that. Bosley More Trending Email your comments to: gamecentral@ The small print New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers' letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content. You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader's Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot. You can also leave your comments below and don't forget to follow us on Twitter. MORE: Games Inbox: Should there be a GTA 6 spin-off on Nintendo Switch 2? MORE: Games Inbox: Who is the best third party video game publisher? MORE: Games Inbox: Is there going to be a PS5 State of Play this summer?
Forbes
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
As A Parent, I'm Excited To Play Remedy's FBC: Firebreak This Week
Father sits in home office with his six-month-old Photo by Jens Büttner/picture alliance via Getty ... More Images) This week, Remedy is hosting a closed technical test for FBC: Firebreak—their next release slated to come out on June 17th. Remedy has been upfront about the fact that Firebreak was made for parents, by parents, and is designed to respect your time. Firebreak is a three-player co-op, first-person-shooter set in the Control universe. In the game, you and two teammates work your way through sections of the Oldest House (essentially the headquarters for the paranormal branch of the federal government) and have to eliminate Hiss (essentially zombies) who have overrun the place. While there have been some early complaints about the way the game's guns handle, overall, the buzz has been extremely positive. Online multiplayer is not a genre I typically play. Part of this is just personal preference. I love the solitary quiet of walking through a beautiful RPG world. I also love playing local multiplayer with my partner. But part of my hesitation about online multiplayer is also practical: my friend group is rarely online at the same time, and I appreciate the ability to dip in and out of a game quickly. If my toddler wakes up unexpectedly, or something at work has to be dealt with right away, I need games that allow me to walk away, without ruining someone else's good time. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder However, my love for the Remedy extended universe—the quirky sense of humor, powerful storytelling, and clever world and level designs—have pulled me into the Firebreak hype. That said, it sounds like Remedy intentionally designed Firebreak to appeal to players who are wary of certain coop conventions, including never ending cycles of season passes, loot crates, and long play sessions. It also sounds like Remedy intentionally designed Firebreak for parents. In an interview with VGC's Jordan Middler, Firebreak's lead designer Anssi Hyytiäinen, emphasized that the game was made 'by middle-aged dads for middle-aged dads.' Hyytiäinen explains that this shaped the game's design, 'we wanted to make the game easy to pick up.' I'm not a middle-aged dad, I'm a middle-aged mom, but I am excited to see games that take seriously the ways that the real-world shapes play and are respectful of the different needs and lifestyles of players out there. This attention to multiple play styles and player experiences, is one of the reasons I fell in love with both Alan Wake 2 and Control. Remedy's focus on short, meaningful play sessions is in line with what many parents are looking for—including the 87% percent of moms who game and represent a growing slice of the gaming marketplace. The decision to allow short play sessions is also wise in light of shifting age demographics. The video game market has been diversifying rapidly over the last several years. In 2024, the biggest age demographic of gamers in the US were people aged 30 to 39 years. Remedy's decision to make a coop FPS game that respects your time is good news for everyone. The fact that you can play short missions is a bonus not just for moms, but for anyone who has commitments that might interrupt play sessions: e.g., being an on-call nurse, caregiving for an elderly parent, working multiple jobs, etc. I'm looking forward to seeing how Remedy's design focus translates into my play experience this week and I am excited to provide a deeper dive into Firebreak after it comes out on June 17th.
Engadget
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
'FBC: Firebreak' preview: Controlled chaos
A successful co-op shooter feels like a bottomless tub of popcorn, hot and smothered in golden butter, built for bite-sized consumption and impossible to resist. Smooth mechanics and a satisfying, repeatable loop should draw you in for one more bite, one more round, over and over again. FBC: Firebreak , Remedy Entertainment's co-op shooter set in the universe of Control , almost hits these marks. It just needs a little more salt. Remedy is a AA studio best known for crafting single-player games like Alan Wake and Control , which feature Lynchian mysteries and hellish twists, and Firebreak is the studio's first attempt at crafting an online, cooperative, first-person shooter. Firebreak supports up to three players at a time, and it pits your team against hordes of otherworldly Hiss monsters in the bowels of The Oldest House, the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control. The building was locked up with a bunch of Hiss inside at the end of Control , and Firebreak takes place six years later. You're a government employee who's volunteered to eradicate the Hiss in The Oldest House — or try to, at least — and you're sent inside with some improvised weapons, no extra training and a hearty pat on the back. We broke down the specifics of Firebreak 's gameplay loop and upgrade cycles after the developer walkthrough in March, but here are the basics: Before the match begins, each player gets to select one of three Crisis Kits, loadouts designed with specific playstyles in mind. Crisis Kits come with a tool and an item each. The Jump Kit is based around electricity and it has the Electro-Kinectic Charge Impactor, a portable jackhammer kind of device with a conductive metal plate on the end, capable of slamming into enemies or propelling yourself into the air. It also has the BOOMbox, which plays music to attract enemies before exploding. The Fix Kit gives you a big wrench that's able to repair machinery and stagger Hiss, and it also includes a turret that you have to smack with the wrench to assemble. The Splash Kit is for all the water signs out there — it features the Crank-Operated Fluidic Injector, an industrial water cannon that can extinguish fires and soak enemies so they're primed for extra damage, plus a Humidifier, which sprays healing water in a wide area. The game is broken down by Jobs, which are essentially custom-built missions in specific regions of The Oldest House. All Jobs have three zones, but otherwise each one has a unique objective, crisis, and environment. After selecting a Job, you get to customize your run by setting the Threat Level and Clearance Level — Threat Level determines combat difficulty and the number of rewards up for grabs, while Clearance Level sets the number of zones you have to clear and the type of rewards. I spent roughly two and a half hours playing Firebreak with two strangers who quickly became the best Hiss-fighting friends I've ever had, and we messed around with three different Jobs, and various combinations of Threat and Clearance levels. I stuck with one loadout, the Fix Kit with the big wrench, and was able to purchase upgrades to add the turret, grenades, upgraded guns and an exploding piggy bank accessory to my loadout. The piggy bank slots into the wrench and creates a thunderous AOE tornado when you hit Hiss with it. While I don't fully understand the science at play with the pig, I immensely enjoy slamming it into monsters. We ran through three Jobs — Hot Fix, Ground Control and Paper Chase. Hot fix is an industrial level where you have to repair giant fans and eventually fill up barrels with fuel before sending them down a zipline. In Ground Control, you shoot these nasty, wriggling pustules that look like giant botfly larvae to retrieve radioactive leech pearls and throw them in a mining cart. Paper Chase features an office filled with sentient sticky notes, and you have to shoot them off the walls and floors before they consume you or turn into big yellow monsters. Throughout all of these tasks, waves of Hiss appear, demanding your attention and gunfire. There are ammo refill stations and healing showers positioned around the maps, though their positions change with each tweak to the Threat and Clearance levels. You'll also have to repair some of the environmental features in order to fully take advantage of them — for instance, the shower initially spews out cold water, which can freeze players while they're trying to heal, but you can send in someone with the Fix Kit (me!) to quickly mend the hot water. This, and fixing the ammo station, were generally the first two things my teammates and I did in each run. And then, chaos. While each Job has its own goal, there's a shared cadence to the missions, with moments of calm preparation and exploration violently interrupted by hordes of Hiss. Out of the pistol, shotgun and submachine gun, the SMG was my weapon of choice, and it tore through groups of enemies, spurred along by my teammates' fire and, every now and then, a grenade. Ammo and health were constant considerations, but it was easy enough to note the locations of refill stations and showers, and or to ask my Splash Kit teammate to throw some healing water my way. Firebreak does a great job of rewarding teams that stick together — you get an extra shield when you're near your friends, and a bright visual cue accompanies this bonus, consistently reminding you to stay as a group. Of course, friendly fire is also a thing in this game, and errant explosions and bullets brought down everyone on my team a few times. We laughed and revived our way through it, but this highlighted my main issue with the game: It's often difficult to discern where any attack is coming from, making it tricky to reposition or avoid damage. Overall, I craved a bit more feedback. Firing the SMG was effective, but it also felt imprecise, and this vibe extended to the rest of the gameplay. Gathering ammo, collecting currency, healing, repairing things, using special abilities, taking damage and identifying objectives — all of these actions could be clarified and made more tactile. Remedy isn't exactly known for its gunplay , but some small tweaks could make the core experience in Firebreak far more coherent. While we played the most rounds of Paper Chase, Ground Control was my favorite level, featuring wide-open spaces for fighting Hiss and a clear objective in shooting all those gross pustules. The clarity in Ground Control was refreshing, especially when compared with the slight but constant confusion hovering over the rest of the experience. Once we all unlocked our special abilities, Firebreak really started to flow. Even when we weren't exactly sure where to go or what to do, my teammates and I grouped up and stood against the Hiss, healing each other, laying down crowd control and, in my case, smashing piggy banks in enemies' faces. We laughed, we strategized, we accidentally shot each other and we screamed, 'Where the hell is the safe room?' into our headsets. We had a fabulous time. And this is the highest praise I can lay at Firebreak 's feet: I spent nearly three hours playing Firebreak with two strangers and it felt like the most natural thing in the world. When our session ended, I wanted to keep playing. Though there's room to clarify some mechanics and add feedback to some functions, Firebreak lays a solid foundation for the modern Left 4 Dead of our collective dreams. I know that's an outdated reference, but I'm also confident I'm not the only one who's still chasing the high of the Left 4 Dead series — it was a running point of comparison among my Firebreak crew. All of the issues I have with Firebreak can be fine-tuned before the game launches this summer, and I have faith in Remedy to do so. Firebreak is poised to be a thoughtful and focused entry in the co-op shooter genre, and it's already an inviting extension of Remedy's darkest and silliest sensibilities. FBC: Firebreak is due to hit the Epic Games Store, Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on June 17 for $50. It's coming to the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and Xbox Game Pass day-one.
The Verge
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
With FBC: Firebreak, Remedy wants to tell a different kind of story
Finnish studio Remedy is best known for its single-player action games, like the survival horror of Alan Wake and the supernatural thriller Control. With FBC: Firebreak, the developer is going in a different direction. It's the studio's first multiplayer release: a three-player co-op shooter set in the universe of Control. But while it won't have the more traditional cinematic storytelling the studio has become known for, that doesn't mean Remedy is abandoning its narrative roots. Instead, it is trying to explore them in a new genre. 'This game actually has quite a bit of narrative design thinking in it, especially because there is not a lot of room for direct storytelling,' says game director Mike Kayatta. Firebreak is set a few years after the events of Control, after which a building known as the Oldest House — the NYC headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control, a government organization that investigates the supernatural — was sealed off to prevent a deadly force called the Hiss from getting out. But there were still people inside. While many of them were FBC bureaucrats and office workers, Firebreak follows members of the titular emergency unit, who serve as the first responders keeping everyone else (relatively) safe. That means venturing out into the Oldest House to fix machinery, eradicate the Hiss, and investigate other paranormal situations. Also, there are a lot of sticky notes, and you have to shower quite a bit. I was able to play through a few missions of Firebreak at Remedy's offices, and the game feels very different from the studio's previous work. It's a first-person shooter that relies heavily on cooperation. In each mission, you and two other players are let loose in the Oldest House to complete specific goals; in one of them, we had to repair the machinery that controlled the building's ventilation, and in another we had to clear away a growing wave of sticky notes that covered every surface. In some cases, the missions had multiple layers to them. After clearing out the sticky notes, for instance, we eventually fought our way to a gigantic boss monster made of even more stickies. In some ways, Firebreak seems like a traditional multiplayer shooter. You can equip different types of guns, toss grenades, and you're often up against hordes of the Hiss, which behave a lot like swarming zombies. As you progress, you earn currency to put toward upgrading your gear, and you can purchase new skins and sprays like in Fortnite. Each player also has to select a 'crisis kit,' which includes both special abilities — like letting you jump high in the air — as well as specific tools. One has a wrench for repairing machines, while another has a hose for putting out fires. In my brief experience, the game's structure necessitated coordination. You can't just run into the Oldest House, guns blazing, and expect to survive. Over voice chat, my team was constantly yelling directions and warnings at each other, giving a heads up that a fresh wave of Hiss was coming or sending the person with the right tool to repair something. Often, these repairs were life-or-death necessities. Scattered around each level were facilities to refill your ammo or shower (which removes status ailments and also replenishes your health), but they often lacked power, meaning you couldn't get bullets or health until you got them up and running. It was a chaotic mess (in a good way), but as with Control, what struck me most about Firebreak was the world itself. It's just so delightfully weird, infusing a bland office space with a sinister tone. Office cubicles become cover in shootouts, while those sticky notes are like an invasive species, smothering everything — including you, if you can't make it to a shower in time. Unlike Control, however, Firebreak is reliant almost entirely on its world to tell the story. There are no cutscenes to watch or audio logs to uncover. Instead, you sort out what's happening by being in this place, and both listening to the little bits of chatter between characters and observing the state of the Oldest House. Or you can try to suss it out anyways, but I'm still not sure why a giant rubber duck started following me in one level. Kayatta likens this storytelling technique to hearing stories from firefighters in the field. 'We're not telling a beginning to end story,' he explains. 'A lot of that is because the people inside the game are talking to themselves, and they're filling that narrative space for us.' The decision was made in part so as not to interrupt a bunch of friends playing together, letting you and your co-op partners fill in the space with your own chatter. But the structure is also designed to help Firebreak work for two audiences simultaneously: Control fans and newcomers. 'The important thing for us is that if you played Control, you signed up for a single-player, exploration, character- and story-focused experience,' Kayatta says. 'It was super important that we didn't say, 'Ha ha, curve ball, now you need to go find two friends and play a cooperative game that is a totally different genre from a different perspective.' That feels terrible. Those people need to be protected so that they can go from Control 1 to Control 2 and experience the journey that we promised them. And we are absolutely going to make that happen. On the other hand, we also want this to be rewarding and fulfilling for them [if they do play Firebreak ].' Meanwhile, he says that 'then you have what we hope is a large audience who actually has never played Control … we wanted to make sure that they could understand the world and didn't feel the constant pressure to go back and play Control.' That means a balancing act between having enough narrative to be interesting to new players and feel distinctly Remedy, but without so much direct storytelling that Firebreak becomes required reading for anyone waiting to jump into Control 's sequel. And if you do want to dig further into things like the Hiss or what an Altered Item is, you can always play the original Control or dig into a Wiki (or maybe one day watch a movie or show). When it comes to how much you want to dig into Firebreak 's narrative, Kayatta says that they 'want it to be up to you.' No matter which way you look at it, Firebreak is a big departure for Remedy. It's a new genre, an expansion into multiplayer, and the studio's first self-published game as it attempts to take more ownership of its own franchises. It's an opportunity to expand in a new direction while still attempting to stay true to what a Remedy game is. 'Forever we have had these very controlled single-player experiences, and we will continue to do that,' Kayatta says. 'But we ask the question with Firebreak: what is it like to share one of those spaces with your friends?'
