Gaming News - Page 266

One of my favorite games of all time would have to be Flashback, a game that is -- 30 years later -- getting a sequel. Flashback 2 now has a release window, where it will hit the PC and consoles later this year.

Details are scant on Flashback 2, but we do know that publisher Microids has announced Flashback 2 is currently in production and the release is later this year on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One. The portable Nintendo Switch will enjoy some on-the-go Flashback 2 sometime in 2023.

What we do know about the game is that it will feature puzzles and action, just as the original did -- with familiar locations including Neo Washington, through to a jungle -- with new locations for players like a mysterious space station, and Neo Toyko. Flashback 2 enjoyed a slick gameplay teaser during the recent Summer Games Fest, where we get to see platforming, climbing, and more.

Blizzard has announced that Overwatch 2 will be launching in early access form on October 4, for the PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch.

Overwatch 2 will be purely free-to-play with both cross-platform play, and cross-platform progression... with Blizzard to add new heroes, reworks to heroes, maps, modes, and premium cosmetics over time. Blizzard will be launching Overwatch 2 with a new tank character -- Junker Queen -- another Australian character (as an Aussie, woohoo) that joins Junkrat.

The cinematic trailer made me feel like a kid again, super exciting stuff, even though I was disappointed in the Overwatch 2 PvP beta... and have been playing OW1 ever since. We should expect more details during the June 16 Reveal Event, which isn't too far away at all... barely 48 hours now.

Hideo Kojima officially confirms that he's making a cloud game for Xbox.

The reports were right: Kojima is indeed making a new cloud game for Xbox. The project wasn't formally announced, but Kojima did say it will be a unique one-of-a-kind type of experience. It is likely this particular game is the recently leaked Overdose project starring Death Stranding's Margaret Qualley.

"Yes, there is a game I have always wanted to make. It's a completely new game and one that no one has ever experienced or seen before. I've waited a very long time for the day when I could finally start to create it,"Kojima said at the event.

The Necromancer returns as Diablo IV's fifth and final class, bringing a bunch of old classic spells and abilities and a few new tricks.

Diablo IV's Necro looks like a big evolution over Diablo II and III with four total skill trees: Bone, darkness, blood, and summons. A recent quarterly update confirms some of the new skills and abilities coming to D4's Necro.

Bone skills are relatively physical in nature, and thus benefit more heavily from effects such as Critical Strike. These skills also benefit from having and spending large amounts of Essence, as they have various effects that can cause each of their individual attacks to be even more powerful.

Diablo IV will let players trade in spells, summons and abilities they don't want to use in exchange for character buffs and upgrades.

Blizzard is giving Diablo IV players more power to focus on specialized min-max builds. In a recent quarterly update post, the developers confirmed that Diablo IV's new necromancer class will be able to "sacrifice" certain summon spells in exchange for bonuses. It's unclear if this feature is exclusive to the Necromancer or not, but it could possibly be available to other classes.

"In addition to all this customization, we have also added the ability for players to sacrifice different components of their army for personal benefits. Next to each unit type in the Book of the Dead is an extra option to sacrifice the ability to summon that unit in exchange for a personal, permanent buff,"Diablo IV lead class designer Adam Jackson said.

Ubisoft will hold a special Assassin's Creed live stream event tomorrow, Tuesday, June 14 at 12PM EST / 9AM PST, the company today announced.

Ubisoft skipped its annual games showcase but it looks like they could make up for it with a new Assassin's Creed livestream. The developer is holding a showcase that should look at the past, present, and future of the Assassin's Creed franchise.

Speculation insists that Ubisoft could give teases on upcoming Assassin's Creed titles. Ubisoft is currently working on two new games in the franchise: One game, codenamed Rift, would focus on Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Basim as a standalone game that could launch in 2022 or 2023. The other game, Assassin's Creed Infinity, is a massive new game that could merge live and singleplayer gaming together.

Our predictions were right: Diablo IV will indeed launch next year to coincide with a significant revenue forecast jump at Activision-Blizzard.

Yesterday during the big Xbox showcase, Blizzard announced that Diablo IV, its most ambitious Diablo game yet, will launch in 2023 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The developers outlined some major features coming to Diablo IV including cross-play and cross-progression, couch co-op, social events, and tons of endgame content that will keep players busy for many years.

In this article we'll outline a few of the things announced during the showcase and highlight what Blizzard developers said about Diablo IV. One thing remains clear: This is going to be a massively replayable game.

Blizzard has opened beta pre-registrations for Diablo IV ahead of tomorrow's big Xbox showcase.

It looks like a Diablo IV beta may be announced tomorrow during Microsoft's gaming event. Blizzard updated the game's site to include a pre-registration link alongside what appears to be confirmation of Diablo IV skipping PS4 and Xbox One consoles. If this banner is accurate, Diablo IV would only be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Battle.net.

The site doesn't confirm of mention anything other than pre-registration sign-ups and there's no guarantee that you'll get in even if you sign up. Our speculation indicates Diablo 4 could release in 2023 to coincide with Activision-Blizzard's massive growth forecast for that year and beyond.

What if Bethesda released a remake on The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind on Xbox Series X/S? Here's what it might look like.

Morrowind is one of those timeless RPGs that owes a lot of its allure to a unique visual style. The game looks so bizarre and otherworldly, and the old-school early 2000's graphics seem to only get better with age. But what if Morrowind was remade in approximation to its original engine? We've seen projects like Skywind that upgrade Morrowind in Skyrim's engine...but what if the remake stuck closer to the original?

YouTuber GamoXIS gives us an idea of what a Morrowind remake could look like. With the help of 200+ mods, GamoXis delves into Morrowind's exotic wilderness and showcases impressive high-res textures, beautiful, reflective water, and an ENB filter that wraps everything together. There's incredibly detailed grass and Vivec is a gleaming alabaster city that's just as resplendent as something out of ancient Thebes.

Diablo Immortal enjoyed the largest launch in the franchise's history...but that's to be expected considering it's free-to-play.

Remember when Microsoft made much ado about Halo Infinite being the largest Halo launch ever? Of course it was. Halo has never been released as a worldwide free-to-play game before. Now Blizzard is making a similar announcement with Diablo.

Diablo Immortal is officially the largest Diablo game launch in the aRPG's 26-year history. Blizzard says that Diablo Immortal had 10 million installs on PC and mobile in one week, which is no small feat. For context, Diablo III sold 6.3 million copies at retail in its first week and went on to sell many million more with Reaper of Souls on PC, the Diablo III base game on Xbox 360/PS3, and the Reaper of Souls re-release on PS4 and Xbox One.