YouTube is now the exclusive home of Call of Duty, Overwatch esports

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 24, 2020 5:30 PM CST

Activision-Blizzard's upcoming esports events won't be streamed on Twitch, and are now exclusive to YouTube.

YouTube is now the exclusive home of Call of Duty, Overwatch esports

Today Activision-Blizzard signed a huge multi-year deal with Google to make all Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Call of Duty esports events available exclusively on YouTube. This is an obvious slam to streaming competitor Twitch and could represent a massive win for YouTube's advertisement and engagement revenues. Esports is a thriving billion-dollar business that millions of people watch every year, and helps massively boost in-game spending, full game purchases, and overall play time.

The move is all part of Activision-Blizzard's new engagement-first strategy. Choosing YouTube is actually a multi-layered decision that will allow the publisher to do more than they could on Twitch, including using Google's cloud infrastructure to specially target users with advertisements, offers, and more (ie discounts to gamers who haven't played Call of Duty Modern Warfare yet, etc).

Continue reading: YouTube is now the exclusive home of Call of Duty, Overwatch esports (full post)

No, Rocksteady isn't making a Superman game for Xbox Series X

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 24, 2020 4:30 PM CST

There's a rumor going around that Rocksteady is developing a new Superman game, and it'll be exclusive to the Xbox Series X. This isn't happening.

No, Rocksteady isn't making a Superman game for Xbox Series X

Rocksteady's new project has yet to be announced, but we know one thing: It's not a Superman game. Way back in 2018, studio co-founder and creative director Sefton Hill officially confirmed Rocksteady isn't making a Superman game.

Reports indicate Rocksteady's game will instead be a live-service based Justice League with monetized online play, in which of course Superman could still show up. But the game won't be centered around the Son of Krypton.

Continue reading: No, Rocksteady isn't making a Superman game for Xbox Series X (full post)

New Alien MMO shooter might be doomed, devs are getting sold twice

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 24, 2020 3:28 PM CST

UPDATE: As of February 12, Cold Iron Studios is still working on the Alien game.

New Alien MMO shooter might be doomed, devs are getting sold twice

A new Alien multiplayer online shooter has been in development for years now, but the studio that's making it is about to get sold. Twice.

Back in September 2019, we reported that Cold Iron Studios, the devs behind the new unannounced Alien MMOFPS, could get sold. I predicted this could lead to significant disruptions for the game's development, namely with delays or even an outright cancellation. Now those reports have come true: Disney is selling FoxNEXT, the label that includes Cold Iron Studios.

Continue reading: New Alien MMO shooter might be doomed, devs are getting sold twice (full post)

Hardly any devs are making next-gen PS5, Xbox Series X games

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 24, 2020 2:25 PM CST

A new GDC 2020 survey shows devs are interested in making next-gen games, but not very many of them actually are currently working on projects for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. PC remains the platform of choice for most projects.

Hardly any devs are making next-gen PS5, Xbox Series X games

According to the new GDC 2020 State of the Industry report, roughly 11% of respondents (or 440 developers) are making games for Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5, and only 9% of surveyors are developing for Xbox Series X (or about 360 developers). That means all of these creators currently have PS5 and Xbox SX devkits and are becoming more familiar with the next-gen Navi GPU and Zen 2 CPU-powered hardware setups.

The last bit of data is particularly interesting considering Microsoft won't release any Xbox Series X exclusives for at least two years. This means the next-gen Xbox projects won't release for quite some time--or possibly hints at a forked SKU with dual releases on both Xbox One and Xbox Series X systems.

Continue reading: Hardly any devs are making next-gen PS5, Xbox Series X games (full post)

Report: KOTOR spiritual successor RPG back in development at EA

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 24, 2020 10:32 AM CST

A new Knights of the Old Republic game is back in development at EA, sources tell Cinelinx.

Report: KOTOR spiritual successor RPG back in development at EA

Back in 2017, there were rumblings of a KOTOR remaster being made at BioWare Austin, the team behind The Old Republic MMO. In actuality the team--along with every other BioWare branch--was working hard on the studio's new IP Anthem. KOTOR had been put on hold, if it had even been in development at all.

Now sources say the KOTOR project has been resurrected. The game will apparently be a sequel with strong spiritual successor elements, borrowing from the original duo's canon and may feature distinct RPG mechanics to boot. EA's shift away from live Star Wars games may have a lot to do with this decision, especially with Jedi: Fallen Order's landmark success as a singleplayer-only action game.

Continue reading: Report: KOTOR spiritual successor RPG back in development at EA (full post)

Steam's Lunar New Year sale brings major discounts of up to 75% off

Jak Connor | Gaming | Jan 24, 2020 4:04 AM CST

It was only a week ago that we heard about another massive Steam sale being in the pipeline. Now, that sale has arrived, and it has slashed prices on a variety of different games.

Steam's Lunar New Year sale brings major discounts of up to 75% off

Introducing, Steam's Lunar New Year sale that will give Steam users the opportunity to open free gifts for every day of the sale. Steam sales usually run for a couple of weeks, but this time around the Lunar New Year sale will only be running for four days. Each day that a Steam user visits the Steam Store, they will be able to open a free gift that contains some rat coins and a part of a story.

The coins can be used to purchase event-exclusive items such as "profile backgrounds, mini-profile backgrounds, chat room effects, chat stickers, and more." Now, let's move onto what PC gamers have come here for -- cheap games. At the moment, there are some fantastic titles heavily discounted; examples include; Hitman 2, Hunt: Showdown, Dark Souls III, Human Fall Flat, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition and more. I have provided screenshots of the sales and a link to the store in the entirety of this post.

Continue reading: Steam's Lunar New Year sale brings major discounts of up to 75% off (full post)

Psyonix will kill online Rocket League games this March on macOS/Linux

Jak Connor | Gaming | Jan 24, 2020 3:17 AM CST

Rocket League is known for his cross-platform combatability, but now that seems to be coming to a close as the developer has announced its ending support for two platforms.

Psyonix will kill online Rocket League games this March on macOS/Linux

In a recent blog post on the Rocket League website, Psyonix has announced that it will "no longer viable for us to maintain support for the macOS and Linux (SteamOS) platforms". This March, Psyonix will be rolling out the last patch for the game that will ultimately kill online support for Rocket League with these platforms.

The post says that the game will still be able to be loaded into and offline Local Matches and Splitscreen will still be accessible, but anything to do with online won't. In the entirety of this article I have listed out in dot point form what aspects of Rocket League will still be usable after the update, and what features won't.

Continue reading: Psyonix will kill online Rocket League games this March on macOS/Linux (full post)

Orlando's Super Nintendo World theme park won't be ready until 2023

Jak Connor | Gaming | Jan 24, 2020 2:43 AM CST

During an earnings call with NBCUniversal's parent company Comcast, it was revealed that Super Nintendo World wouldn't open until at least 2023.

Orlando's Super Nintendo World theme park won't be ready until 2023

Super Nintendo World is arriving at Universal Studios' theme park in Japan closer to the end of this year. While that might sound disappointing for western fans, don't worry, the Mario-themed world is also coming to the United States in Universal's upcoming theme park Epic Universe. The theme park is planned to be built in Orlando, Florida, and doesn't expect to be ready until 2023.

Thomas Williams, NBCUniversal CEO of Universal Parks & Resorts, said back in September that the Nintendo-theme park will come to both Hollywood and Orlando, but he never specified on when that time would be. Fun fact - The Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios in Japan is rumored to cost up to $544 million to build. The world is also set to have a real-life Super Mario Kart ride as well as Yoshi's Adventure ride.

Continue reading: Orlando's Super Nintendo World theme park won't be ready until 2023 (full post)

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover 'forgot' its location and now won't move

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Jan 24, 2020 2:15 AM CST

NASA has encountered a slight problem with their Mars rover called Curiosity. The problem isn't a very good one either because Curiosity is refusing to move.

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover 'forgot' its location and now won't move

NASA has released a new report that reveals that Curiosity has temporarily stopped moving. So why did this happen? Curiosity is equipped with a series of safety regulations that have been implemented into the rover to ensure its safety when traversing the dangerous landscape of Mars. Curiosity measures the surroundings relative to its body before making a move, and some of these measurements are the current altitude, surrounding rock formation, slope steepness, etc.

Before any movement is made by Curiosity, all of these measurements have to be evaluated and deemed 'safe'. If one of these safety checks are calculated to be 'not safe' then Curiosity won't turn on its motor and remain still, which is exactly what the rover has just done. In the report, NASA says that "Curiosity lost its orientation" because "Some knowledge of its attitude was not quite right, so it couldn't make the essential safety evaluation". Curiosity relayed this information back to NASA, and NASA began forming a plan to inform Curiosity of its surroundings correctly.

Continue reading: NASA's Mars Curiosity rover 'forgot' its location and now won't move (full post)

Music streaming services have 'The Witcher' soundtrack available now

Jak Connor | Audio, Sound & Speakers | Jan 24, 2020 1:44 AM CST

The first season of The Witcher was Netflix's best first season of television ever, and within that first season is a song that took the internet by storm.

Music streaming services have 'The Witcher' soundtrack available now

Instead of replaying that part of the show to hear the song, fans will now be able to stream it on digital music streaming platforms alongside the rest of The Witcher's soundtrack. Netflix will be releasing the soundtrack behind season one onto streaming services starting January 24th. 'Toss A Coin to Your Witcher' is already available on Spotify and Apple Music.

At the time of writing this I have already listened to most of The Witcher soundtrack. In total there are 55 individual tracks and so far each of them are fantastic. Netflix truly did a fantastic job with The Witcher soundtrack, and after season 2 is released I hope to see that soundtrack distributed on digital music streaming services as well. After more Witcher news? Check out this link here to find out more about the show.

Continue reading: Music streaming services have 'The Witcher' soundtrack available now (full post)