87 minutes of System Shock remake released, SHODAN would be pleased

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jan 29, 2020 9:08 PM CST

System Shock and its sequel System Shock 2 are some of my favorite games of all time, so when Nightdive Studios announced it was making a remake of System Shock, my heart fluttered. It did it again, after watching this glorious 87-minute gameplay video of System Shock remake... check it out:

87 minutes of System Shock remake released, SHODAN would be pleased

Nightdive Studios runs us through virtually everything in this 87-minute gameplay video, from checking out the updated graphics (which look far better than the original 1994 graphics), combat system, inventory system, and more. I personally think it looks great, and is a beautiful remake of Looking Glass Technologies' original System Shock.

Back at GDC 2017, developer Nightdive Studios announced it would be shifting development of the System Shock remake from the Unity Engine to Unreal Engine 4. At the time, System Shock remake director Jason Fader explained: "Unity is not a great engine to use if you want to make an FPS on console". Although, hearing the words "System Shock" and "console" together make me throw up in my mouth a little. Still, I'd rather have a remake instead of not having one at all.

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Unity Engine now has support for real-time ray tracing tech

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jan 29, 2020 8:06 PM CST

Unity Technologies has just released its new Unity 2019.3 which includes real-time ray tracing goodness, and is now available to download from the Unity Store.

Unity Engine now has support for real-time ray tracing tech

Unity 2019.3 is a 'Tech Stream' release which is aimed at creators who want the latest engine tech from Unity, but there will also be a new 'Long-Term Support' version of Unity with Unity 2019.4 coming in the Spring that will be a more stable build. As for Unity 2019.3, Brett Bibby, Vice President of Engineering at Unity Technologies explains: "With the release of Unity 2019.3, we are continuing our focus of giving all creators the power they need to have a more optimized, stable, and pleasant, creative experience".

Bibby continues: "Unity 2019.3 includes more than 260 improvements and new features focused on giving you the confidence that what you're making right now will look and perform beautifully - whether you're targeting the technologies of today or the platforms of tomorrow".

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Apple limits employee travel to China because of coronavirus outbreak

You would have to be living under a rock right now to not be hearing about the coronavirus outbreak in China that is slowly spreading throughout the world, but it is now affecting Apple.

Apple limits employee travel to China because of coronavirus outbreak

Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that the on-going coronavirus outbreak in China is affecting Apple's operations in the country, so it has restricted employee travel and even closed an Apple Store in China over the outbreak. Tim Cook explained to CNBC: "We're restricting travel to business critical travel. For employees that are in the Wuhan area, we are providing care kits and supplying them across our employee population in China as well".

The company has "some suppliers" in the Wuhan area according to Cook, who told Apple investors on Tuesday that some of its manufacturing facilities in China will be closed until February 10. The Chinese government has put forward these recommendations, with Cook also adding that some of its channel partners have closed their retail stores which will have a (small) impact on sales. Cook added: "Retail traffic has also been impacted outside of the city over the last few days".

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Halo Reach progression changes planned, new armor unlock system coming

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 29, 2020 5:05 PM CST

343 Industries plans to overhaul Halo: Reach's lackluster and uninspiring progression system, complete with a nonlinear armor unlock track.

Halo Reach progression changes planned, new armor unlock system coming

The MCC version of Halo: Reach has a terrible progression system. It's as basic as it gets, a simple seasonal battle pass-style system that gates off the coolest armors behind insane EXP grinds. It's a linear ladder grind that's not creative, unique, or interesting in any way. Compared to the Xbox 360 version, which gives you free access to any armors provided you have the credits to buy them, 343i's armory is kind of embarrassing. That apparently will change, at least in some form.

In a recent blog update, 343 Industries says it's exploring new ways to let people cherry-pick what rewards and armor unlocks they want irregardless of previous unlocks. The team is also adding challenges back into Reach, which are basically little optional bounties that reward you for doing specific things in modes like campaign, firefight, or PVP. It was a way to earn extra credits to buy goods in the original game.

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Xbox earns $3.3 billion during Holiday 2019 quarter, consoles down 43%

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 29, 2020 4:30 PM CST

Today Microsoft announced its Q2'20 earnings for the three-month period ended December 31, 2019, showing dips in overall Xbox segment earnings.

Xbox earns $3.3 billion during Holiday 2019 quarter, consoles down 43%

Xbox gaming, services, content, and hardware sales generated $3.327 billion in Q2'20, down 21% year-over-year from Q2'19's massive $4.232 billion. This sizable $905 million drop is due to 2018's megaton launch of Red Dead Redemption 2, which generated millions of game sales both at retail and digitally and helped move Xbox console hardware.

Speaking of Xbox consoles, overall hardware sales of the Xbox One family of systems was down 43% YoY in the holiday quarter. Total content and services revenue is also down 11% YoY, or $295 million, due to the absence of a heavy-hitter like RDR2. Subscription growth is healthy though, and services like Xbox LIVE Gold and Xbox Game Pass are doing tremendously well for the company's overall engagement-driven efforts.

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Warcraft 3 Reforged betrays its legacy fans

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 29, 2020 3:35 PM CST

Warcraft 3 Reforged seems to ultimately betray everything about its legacy playerbase by carving out some of the best parts of the classic RTS.

Warcraft 3 Reforged betrays its legacy fans

Classic Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne apparently doesn't exist any more. Anyone who fires up Warcraft 3 will be forced to upgrade to Warcraft 3 Reforged, the new remaster form of the beloved real-time strategy game. With this forced update comes the elimination of many core fan-favorite features including custom campaigns (yes, really, Blizzard killed this feature), which are user-created RPG campaigns shared across the community for over a decade, as well as a frustrating mess of bugs and aggravating UI changes.

Warcraft 3 Reforged also forces users to the Battle.net 2.0 framework, which eliminates features like profiles, so you can't check anyone's stats (including your own). The chat pane gets in the way of the game searching panes. For some reason clans have been nixed (a big, big mistake), and there's no way to play custom versus against players from other regions.

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Halo 1 PC beta tests, Halo Reach PC fixes delayed to undetermined time

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 29, 2020 2:30 PM CST

343 Industries originally wanted Halo 1 PC beta testing to start this month, but that's not going to happen. Neither Halo: Combat Evolved PC testing nor Halo: Reach's major bug fixes have a release date, and 343i warns gamers that it could be some time before the updates are out.

Halo 1 PC beta tests, Halo Reach PC fixes delayed to undetermined time

343i confirms it has made "great progress" on patching some of Halo: Reach's most notorious issues--crouch behaviors with M&K, lag, latency drops, audio issues, etc.--but the patches might not roll out for a while. This also goes for Halo 1's incoming PC beta testing. They've been delayed as the studio works on fixes for other games.

The team will actually beta test the updates before they're released, a process 343i calls "flighting". The tests will go through multiple phases before they're released to the public. Reach's update tests haven't actually begun yet, and won't start until it fixes up the current issues with Halo Wars 2. So Halo: Combat Evolved on PC and the Halo: Reach updates are pretty much waiting for testing, but the flights won't open until the team is done shoring up other issues.

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February's free PS Plus games are great, includes BioShock collection

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 29, 2020 12:35 PM CST

Today Sony announced February 2020's free PlayStation Plus games, and they're pretty damn good.

February's free PS Plus games are great, includes BioShock collection

Irrational Games' landmark BioShock trilogy headlines this month's free PS Plus offering. The full BioShock Collection is free starting February 4, complete with all three classics--BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite--with all singleplayer and multiplayer content also included. This is a great opportunity to experience the series before BioShock 4 drops for next-gen consoles.

The other main PS4 game is The Sims 4, EA's mega-popular hit that's generated hundreds of millions of revenue for the publisher. PlayStation VR owners are also getting a nice little bonus. 4v4 FPS multiplayer game Firewall Zero Hour is included to inject some enthralling gameplay for PSVR gamers.

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Xbox Series X CPU is the key to next-gen frame rates, Spencer teases

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 29, 2020 10:20 AM CST

Xbox boss Phil Spencer envisions a world where games feel and look amazing, and the Xbox Series X's new CPU is the key to making it happen.

Xbox Series X CPU is the key to next-gen frame rates, Spencer teases

The new 8-core, 16-thread Zen 2 CPUs found in next-gen consoles might be the biggest leap over current-gen. The new CPUs will enable tighter frame rates when paired with custom Navi GPUs and SSDs that feed textures and assets at a quicker rate. The Xbox Series X has been tooled from the ground up as a highly synergized system whose parts work together to fuel a new era of gaming spec, whether it be 4K 60FPS, 1080p 120FPS, or even 8K.

According to Phil Spencer, this gen is all about making games more streamlined and fluid. Xbox One X was about 4K, but it was missing the CPU headroom needed for near-universal FPS gains. Thanks to its new CPU, the Xbox Series X will do both, and marry high-end visuals with similar high-end frame rates.

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Five Tips and Tricks for ArcheAge: Unchained

Sponsored Content | Gaming | Jan 29, 2020 9:35 AM CST

The original game ArcheAge was released back in 2014 and quickly rose to success, garnering many loyal fans. However, many players were turned away from the Pay-to-Win aspects of the game, so the developers decided to offer something new and refreshing. With ArcheAge: Unchained there is no longer a subscription model, players simply need to purchase the game and they can play as much as they want!

Five Tips and Tricks for ArcheAge: Unchained

Players get to experience the fantasy world they know and love but this time on equal ground. If you're looking forward to jumping into the game but you're not sure where to start, then we have you covered.

If you find yourself running low on storage you can buy the Otherworld Storage Chest from the credit shop. This chest is considered furniture and you can put it in your house. The chest comes with 100 slots where you can store all sorts of items that you don't want to carry around. The chest is also only accessible to you so you don't need to worry about another player sneaking into your house behind you, stealing all your gear, and selling it for ArcheAge Unchained gold.

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