Gaming News - Page 8

AMD recently announced a big FSR 3.1 update was 'coming soon,' which would improve upscaling and Frame Generation visual fidelity, decouple the two technologies and introduce console support.

With NVIDIA's DLSS 3 and AMD's FSR 3, frame generation has been among the most talked about and exciting PC technologies of the past couple of years. And now, it's finally headed to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

As part of a developer update on Immortals of Aveum, Ascendant Studios announced that, in addition to a new HDR patch dropping for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S today, the team was working on bringing "AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 3 (FSR 3), including its frame generation capability" to the game on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Sony amps up the competition as it signs multiple indie games as day one releases on PS Plus.

Sony doesn't want to bring its own games to PlayStation Plus on day one, but other projects are fair game. Unlike Microsoft, who took a radical subscription-first approach and promised to launch all first-party Xbox games day-and-date on Game Pass. This strategy has affected first-party game sales on Xbox as consumers opt for Game Pass subscriptions instead of buying some games--an effect referred to as cannibalization.

Game Pass has another part of its billion-dollar equation: Third-party games. For years now, Microsoft has been spending tens of millions of dollars to convince indie devs and publishers to launch their games on Game Pass day one. In other words, Microsoft trying to offset any game sales cannibalization with upfront payments. These deals can sometimes go far enough to fund an actual game.

Rockstar's GTA+ subscription has become the cheapest way to play the publisher's games.

Two years ago, Rockstar Games announced GTA+, a new $5.99 subscription service aimed at its billion-dollar GTA Online mode. The idea was to give GTA Online players a bunch of extras if they subscribed, kind of like Runescape's Members subscription.

The service has grown tremendously in scope and value since then. In September 2023, Rockstar turned GTA+ into its own mini Game Pass subscription by offering a rotating lineup of full games. The catch is you can only play the games as long as your subscription is active (Rockstar went old-school PS Plus here), and the games will rotate in and out like Xbox Game Pass.

Dragon's Dogma 2 has now sold more than 2.5 million copies on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, Capcom today announced.

Capcom's latest fantasy game is an innovative, if not sometimes maddeningly complex RPG that's taken the world by storm. The latest figures show that Dragon's Dogma 2 has now broken 2.5 million sales on all platforms in just 18 days' time.

While this is historically below Capcom's previous fastest-selling game records (see below), it's an important milestone for the house of Mega Man that punctuates the company's new modern approach. Capcom has emphasized selling as many games as possible, and this plan has led to multiple years of cumulative record-breaking profits.

Helldivers 2's latest update makes the tense squad-based shooter even more replayable.

Arrowhead just released patch 01.000.200 for Helldivers 2, bringing some welcomed changes. The most radical update is the level cap tripling from 50 to 150. We don't often see these kinds of dramatic level cap increases in live games, but Helldivers 2 is all about exaggeration. Plus there's some extra environmental hazards to keep you on your toes, including blinding sandstorms and frozen blizzards.

Other changes include a full-auto mode for the Liberator Penetrator, a 100 point damage boost to the Dominator, boosted damage to the Breaker Incendiary, bonuses to the Anti-Materiel Rifle, and the Guard Dog now refills full ammo when you pick up an ammo box (very welcomed change).

Sony publicly says PlayStation 2 has shipped 155 million units, but the actual numbers are quite higher.

Sony's PlayStation 2 is the best-selling video games hardware of all time. The system defined the early 2000s era thanks to its ability to play games and DVDs--the latter of which sparked widespread consumer adoption. So we have to wonder...just how many PS2s did Sony ship?

Shortly before leaving Sony, ex-PlayStation boss Jim Ryan recently said the PlayStation 2 sold 160 million units in its lifespan. Sony, on the other hand, officially puts the PS2 at 155 million. So what gives? Who's right?

The full scope of Tekken 8's monetization has been revealed, showing that Bandai Namco is trying to cast a wide net to capture more earnings.

Shortly after launch, Tekken 8 has become the most controversial game in the series. The fighter is packing a lot of extra microtransaction muscle this time around, offering three forms of monetization: Multiple full game versions, in-game premium currency, and the new battle pass. It's that last one that brings us here today.

Tekken 8's battle pass, aka the Fight Pass, has both a paid and free track. The paid Premium Pass track costs 600 Tekken Coins, or about $6, but you can't buy that many Tekken Coins in one go. Due to currency denominations, the Premium Pass requires at least a $10 purchase in order to get (this is by design). The pass will essentially "pay for itself" because it doles out a total of 600 Tekken Coins by the time you reach level 60.

Top gamers and athletes may have an advantage in terms of being able to see more images per second than us mere mortals, according to a new study.

This means they can more easily track fast moving objects, like a ball, or opponents in a shooter, with obvious advantages therein in terms of positioning or aiming.

The Guardian picked up on the research from Trinity College Dublin, published in Plos One, which tested some 80 people (aged 18 to 35) to find out whether they could tell if a light was flickering or not as the rate of flicker was increased.

Microsoft is currently working on a new AI-powered chatbot for Xbox, which will be designed to be a virtual support agent for users.

In a new report from The Verge, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the new AI-powered chatbot will called the "Xbox Support Virtual Agent" and it's currently in its prototype phase right now. Notably, this new chatbot will be animated and will be designed to answer Xbox-related questions with either voice or text. The Microsoft spokesperson said the prototype will make it "easier and quicker for players to get help with support topics" and will use "natural language, taking information from existing Xbox Support pages."

Furthermore, the publication reports that this Xbox AI chatbot is part of Microsoft's "larger effort" of implementing AI into the Xbox platform and services, which aligns perfectly with the company's overall push to add AI into whatever it can. Additionally, the new Xbox AI chatbot will be capable of processing game refunds and will be prepared to answer any support-related questions regarding Xbox issues, subscriptions, and general support queries.

In the world of video game consoles the PlayStation 2 has long held the title for the most sold console of all time, but was the official number right?

In the most recent episode of the PlayStation Podcast, which featured former PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan, the number of PS2 unit sales was revealed to be underreported. Previously, unit sales for the PS2 placed the iconic console at approximately 155 million units, which was reported back in 2012, but now the official number has been revealed, and according to the former official, it's at 160 million units, a difference of about 5 million.

While that number may seem like a negligible difference, it makes all the difference when the Nintendo Switch is closing in on the crown with 139 million units sold. It's good to finally know a definitive number for the unit sales of the world's best-selling console, as previously it was rough estimations. It remains to be seen if Nintendo's handheld will break through the 150 or even 160 million unit sale barrier before Nintendo releases the successor to the popular handheld.