We've all done it. One moment, you're playing The Elder Scrolls 3. Then, boom, you pass the thrust and everything implodes. Thankfully, the latest update to OpenMW - the open source engine reimplementation that's one of the the best ways to play Morrowind on modern hardware - includes measures to stop this thrusting from accidentally breaking the game.

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A couple of months on from pushing to make some vital veteran additions to their team in order to get their massive Oblivion remake mod over the line, Skyblivion's developers are once again appealing for volunteers to aid in overcoming some "final roadblocks" standing the way of its release. Meanwhile, it sounds like the chances of another statistical breakdown from the modders running down exactly what's left to be done are low, with Skyblivion's implementation lead asserting that the mod's so close to the finish line such data's no longer "a super relevant way of displaying our remaining work".

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Mostly decent open-world ninja sim Assassin’s Creed Shadows is getting its last big update today, as Ubisoft begin the process of shooing players away from the year-old RPG and towards the gleaming, nipple-adding newness of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced. The Shadows patch even includes an unlockable outfit based on Edward Kenway’s pirate garb, displaced only 150 or so years out of its appropriate time period for your synergistic brand awareness pleasure.

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Ubisoft are reportedly continuing the ruthless cuts they've been insitituting in various stages since that start of this year, with the latest round seeing the publisher's Winnipeg and Belgrade studios closed down. At the same time, Ubisoft Barcelona is being restructured to focus solely on Rainbow Six games. As a result of all of that, up to 380 staff are reportedly at risk of losing their jobs.

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In my memory, Rayman Legends is a timeless classic. Released in 2013, it arrived at a moment when Ubisoft were becoming best known for po-faced games like Assassin's Creed and innumerable Tom Clancy spinoffs, yet Rayman Legends was a gorgeous 2D platformer brimming over with silliness and slapstick that showed off the publisher's creative talents and uniquely French humour.

So the news that Ubisoft is remaking it as Rayman Legends Retold, dropping its 2D art for 3D animation was not well received in the Benson household, I can tell you.

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One of the bits of Oblivion remake mod Skyblivion I'm most keen to explore is all sorted and ready to go. The modders have announced that they've finished making and QA testing their revamped versions of The Elder Scrolls 4's Ayleid ruins, marking another key step forward in their journey, even if the mod's still without a final release date following its delay last year.

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Remakes are very much in vogue these days, providing developers the opportunity to return to an old favourite and enhance, expand, and correct the wrongs of the past. Some of the best, such as Mafia: Definitive Edition, redraw the edges of an old story, elevating and embellishing what was there in ways that seem so natural you can forget where the original began and the remake ends. With Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, Ubisoft are attempting the same for their much beloved open world pirate 'em up.

Case in point, swashbuckling protagonist Edward Kenway now has nipples.

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