Gaming News - Page 421

Arena of Valor developer Netmarble buys one of the most lucrative mobile devs in the business.

Netmarble today announced it has acquired SpinX, a mobile developer behind social casino hits like Lotsa Slots, Cash Frenzy and Jackpot World. Netmarble paid $2.19 billion for the share buyout, which is almost as much as the company made in the entire FY2020 yearly period; Netmarble made 2.84 trillion KRW in 2020, which is roughly $2.287 billion.

SpinX on the other hand generated $432 million from its casino games throughout last year.

Grand Theft Auto V is a sales juggernaut that has not only amassed 150 million shipments to date, accounting for 1/3rd of total GTA franchise sales, but the game has helped generate over $6.4 billion since its release.

In preparation for Take-Two's Q1'22 earnings call tomorrow, I decided to chart GTA franchise revenues on a quarter-by-quarter and year-by-year basis. The results were just as eye-opening as the huge GTA V game sales graphs I put together.

According to numbers provided by Take-Two Interactive, the Grand Theft Auto franchise has made $6.468 billion in revenues as of Fiscal Year 2021 (bear in mind this is total GTA revenues, not just GTA V, but most of if is from GTA V).

Halo Infinite's technical preview is frenetic, chaotic, and exhilarating, but it can also overload your senses at times. Here's some tips to help you along the way.

Halo Infinite's first beta test is just that: the multiplayer puts you up against AI bots to test out your skills. The bots are no slouches, though, and will take you out unless you learn some basic skills--namely headshotting with the pistol. This isn't always easy, especially with all the on-screen effects 343i has thrown in. Luckily you can switch them off.

Tip 1: Turn off rumble. The single biggest tip I have for Halo Infinite's technical preview is to turn off rumble. There's nothing more jarring and disrupting than having the controller shake every time you're hit. The bots are really good with the AR, so expect this to happen often. To get clean, proper headshots you need a steady hand and a steady reticle. That's not going to happen if your controller is vibrating every two seconds.

Sony has fried a unique Dualsense controller giveaway from Down Under.

To celebrate 50 years of burgers and fries, Macca's--what Australians call McDonald's--planned to give away 50 McDualsense controllers in a Stream Week event. These were custom PlayStation 5 controllers stylized with a Big Mac on one side and crispy French fries on the other. In other words it was a product placement advertisement that constantly reminded you of the not-so-healthy fast food chain.

There's just one problem: Macca's didn't get Sony's permission for this promotion. A billion-dollar food chain using a separate product to essentially advertise itself without authorization is grounds for repercussions, so Macca's has cancelled the Dualsense giveaway.

Mark Cerny says he plans to use a WD_Black SN850 SSD in his PlayStation 5 to expand storage.

The PS5's SSD expansion bay will soon be unlocked to finally let gamers add more high-end storage to their consoles. After a new firmware update drops, PS5 owners can slot in a PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD into their console that's up to 4TB big. But what drives do you buy? Sony has yet to put together an official list of compatible SSDs just yet, but they have given some guidelines: It needs to be at least 5GB/sec, it has to be a PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 drive, and it needs to have a heat sink. These don't come cheap.

Case in point: Mark Cerny is inadvertently recommending the WD_Black SN850 2TB SSD, which comes with a heat sink and can hit incredible speeds of up to 7GB/sec. It's also pretty expensive at $500, which is literally the same price as a disc-based PlayStation 5.

Halo Infinite's technical preview has racked up hundreds of thousands of players and gamers are avidly slaughtering as many bots as possible.

Halo Infinite testers have killed over 7.2 million bots in the last 48 hours, 343i recently confirmed. Killing as many bots as possible across a myriad of maps and with different weapons gives the devs tons of data. The technical test has evolved over time, too. The AI bots started off at Marine difficulty, which is basically medium, and now they've moved on to ODST, which is equivalent to hard mode. Soon they'll be on Spartan mode which is basically Legendary difficulty for AI.

This is the first mainline Halo game to feature bots and the game is all the better for it. Playing against bots is enthralling, chaotic, and plain fun. The AI isn't a slouch and they're not completely inept. Even on ODST they'll give you a run for your money and test your mettle. I personally can't wait to see how many Spartan bots get annihilated...or maybe the reverse?

PSA: Dataminers are posting up Halo Infinite story spoilers on public forums like 4Chan and even Reddit.

Halo Infinite's technical preview is an absolutely fantastic slice of FPS chaos. The developers at 343i are stoked with the responses, and gamers are having a blast all around the world. There's just one issue with the preview: The source files actually contain story spoilers and campaign info we weren't meant to discover.

Data miners have unearthed a treasure trove of spoiler content that outlines many key events of the campaign, so be sure to keep an eye out. 343i warns anyone who posts up this content to YouTube or other social media channels will likely be hit with a DMCA--especially if the content includes assets like voice snippets.

Netflix may be producing a TV show based on BioWare's hit fantasy Dragon Age series, and it's possible it will tie into the new sequel game.

Sources tell website Giant Freakin' Robot that a new Dragon Age series is in development at Netflix. There's no details on setting, scope, production, or whether or not it'll be live action, CGI, or animated. Netflix has built quite the video game adaptation repertoire with shows like The Witcher and Castlevania, and more shows are on the way including Captain Laserhawk, a series based on Far Cry Blood Dragon, a new Splinter Cell series, and a new Castlevania spin-off starring Richter Belmont.

As for Dragon Age 4, EA has officially said not to expect it before its FY23 timeline, which ends on March 31, 2023. Sources tell Venture Beat that Dragon Age 4 may release in 2023, possibly later than the March cutoff date. This would put DA4 in EA's FY24 period. It's possible this new Netflix series could lead up to Dragon Age 4 and help fill in the story gaps between Inquisition and the new game.

343i just posted up full schematics for Halo Infinite's preview maps to show players where specific weapons are located.

Halo PVP is all about controlling power weapons. If your team has a full fleet of BRs you probably won't lose. Halo Infinite's weapon spawns aren't as straightforward as other games, though, because the primary guns A) spawn on walls and B) rotate in and out. For example, the Commando and Battle Rifle typically rotate back and forth. The power weapons spawn in a specific marked location and are usually on cooldowns.

This can make Infinite a confusing and jarring experience. Not knowing where power weapons are is always a disadvantage in Halo, but it's especially true here now that the spawns are staggered. Luckily 343i has you covered.

Here's a closer look at Grand Theft Auto franchise sales ahead of Take-Two Interactive's upcoming Q1 FY22 earnings call.

Grand Theft Auto is the fifth best-selling franchise in the games industry with 345 million total sales. Grand Theft Auto V makes up 42% of total franchise sales with an astronomical 145 million units shipped worldwide.

I've compiled data from Take-Two earnings call transcripts since Grand Theft Auto V's launch in 2013 (which coincides with the company's FY2014 period). The data isn't perfect and contains some estimates based on previous sales trends.