If you've ever become "stuck" in a game, the new Microsoft Edge Game Assist for Windows offers a pretty convenient way to help yourself out: Simply look up a hint while playing. Microsoft debuted this new system as a beta during the holidays last year. Now, it's part of Microsoft Edge itself, provided that you have the current version, Edge 132 or higher. For those of you who want a "pure" gaming experience, don't worry. Edge Game Assist doesn't just launch itself, and it actually seems rather helpful when you invoke it.

We've got a little bit longer to wait until Secret Level, the gaming-inspired animated anthology series from the Love, Death and Robots team, debuts on Prime Video. But Amazon is ramping up to the launch by offering some solid freebies for Prime members on many of the games that inspired episodes in Secret Level. Roguelike masterpiece Spelunky and story-laden space adventure The Outer Worlds are must-haves if they aren't already in your library. And if that wasn't enough free stuff, a code for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II in the Amazon Games App will also drop on December 12. Those Prime Gaming members using the Amazon Luna streaming service will also see the addition of Mega Man 11.

We present BALDUR, a novel Bayesian algorithm designed to deal with multi-modal datasets and small sample sizes in high-dimensional settings while providing explainable solutions. To do so, the proposed model combines within a common latent space the different data views to extract the relevant information to solve the classification task and prune out the irrelevant/redundant features/data views. Furthermore, to provide generalizable solutions in small sample size scenarios, BALDUR efficiently integrates dual kernels over the views with a small sample-to-feature ratio. Finally, its linear nature ensures the explainability of the model outcomes, allowing its use for biomarker identification. This model was tested over two different neurodegeneration datasets, outperforming the state-of-the-art models and detecting features aligned with markers already described in the scientific literature.

Rhiannon Bevan of game news site The Gamer has covered the steps last year's gaming blockbuster Baldur's Gate 3 took in dealing with explicit scenes as an example of a modern game "getting it right". She says games are increasingly taking explicit scenes seriously "and not just using them for titillation". But it came with the risk that performers may not be comfortable with the work. Baldur's Gate 3 addressed this by employing intimacy co-ordinators - dedicated members of staff tasked with ensuring the well-being of performers in explicit scenes. Its developer used one intimacy co-ordinator to look after performers voicing intimate scenes, while another looked after those who were also miming actions to be digitised into the game.

Baldur's Gate III is a role-playing game with some romance elements. Stardew Valley is a role-playing game with some romance elements, and a lot of root vegetables. Why not stick'em together in a peanut-butter-and-chocolate combination, for those who want to date a half-elf while they're watering cabbages? A team of three modders is putting a new map in Stardew Valley inspired by last year's D&D smash hit. And yes, getting all those eye-catching companions into the farming sim as romanceable characters is a priority.

In London last night, the 20th Bafta games awards celebrated a year that was stacked with critically acclaimed games. Taking place against the backdrop of an unprecedented year of layoffs and studio closures in the gaming industry, acknowledged by Bafta chair Sara Putt in her speech at the beginning of the evening, it was a much-needed night of recognition of the creative efforts of the video game development community. The sprawling Dungeons & Dragons-inspired role-playing game Baldur's Gate 3 won five awards, including the public voted EE players' choice award and best game, alongside music, narrative and best performer in a supporting role (won by Andrew Wincott for his role at the devilish Raphael). Nintendo picked up the family and multiplayer awards for the exuberant Super Mario Bros Wonder, and technical achievement for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Alan Wake 2, the arresting, idiosyncratic horror game from Finnish studio Remedy, won artistic achievement and audio achievement.

Lara Croft has been named the most iconic video game character of all time to mark the 20th Bafta Games Awards. It's been 28 years since Tomb Raider introduced gamers to Lara and she's changed quite a bit in that time. "She's gone from being very pointy and childlike in drawing to very filmic," says Shelley Blond, the actress who voiced the original Lara. The character beat the likes of Mario and Sonic for the title in a poll of gamers. Shelley tells BBC Newsbeat she's not surprised, even though she admits she's never played the game herself.

Bafta has announced the nominations for the 20th Bafta games awards, which will take place in London on April 11. Leading the pack this year are Larian Studios' Baldur's Gate 3 with 10 nominations; Spider-Man 2 with nine; Alan Wake 2 with eight; and six apiece for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Star Wars: Jedi Survivor. Hi-Fi Rush, a colourful music-based action game from Japan's Tango Gameworks, picked up five nominations, as did Mintrocket's breakout hit Dave the Diver. Bafta has been celebrating video games' creative achievements alongside those of the film and TV industries since 1998, formerly as the Bafta interactive entertainment awards, launching the Bafta games awards in 2004 as its own event. The awards are voted on by a combination of Bafta's professional membership and by selected specialist juries, with the EE's players' choice award decided by a public vote.

AMD was the first company to deliver x86 laptop chips with NPUs for AI acceleration last year -- now, at CES 2024 it's doing the same for desktops. The company's new Ryzen 8000G processors, which debuted today in Las Vegas (but have already been leaked by retailers), are once again NPU pioneers among x86 desktop chips. And on top of that, the company claims its built-in Radeon 700M graphics are the fastest ever seen on a desktop chip. While the Ryzen 8000G chips aren't AMD's most powerful desktop offerings -- the Ryzen 7700X and above all offer higher clock speeds, core counts and onboard cache -- AMD says the new processors could be compelling options for gamers trying to build capable systems on a budget. The fastest model, the Ryzen 7 329 8700G, is an eight-core chip running between 4.2GHz and 5.1GHz, sporting Radeon 780M graphics.

The Dungeons & Dragons video game Baldur's Gate 3 has become a cultural phenomenon, winning countless accolades including Game of the Year. One of the game's biggest fans is science fiction editor John Joseph Adams, who has played Baldur's Gate 3 for more than 1,000 hours. "It's absolutely an amazing game," Adams says in Episode 557 of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. "I think it's the best game I've ever played." Adams thinks that the story and writing compare favorably to some of the best books and movies he's ever experienced.