Gaming News - Page 99

Bethesda confirms they are far from finished with Starfield and have plans to update the game over time.

Starfield just come out a week ago, but Bethesda is already listening to fans and making some big changes to the game. The studio today announced that it would be adding much-requested features into their space sim including a much-needed FOV slider on PC (maybe consoles too) as well as other major compatibility upgrades like ultra-wide support for 32:9 monitors.

A big part of Bethesda's updates is also quality-of-life improvements. Starfield will be tweaked so that it's more player-friendly, and this includes listening to the community for feedback. One of the smaller but impactful requests was the ability to eat food outside of an inventory menu, especially since food is almost useless in Starfield unless its gourmet or used under specific conditions.

More game developers are rallying against Unity's new highly controversial fee structure.

Yesterday, Unity made one of the most unpopular decisions in gaming history. The company plans to enact what it calls new Unity Runtime Fees that will charge game distributors money every time a game is newly installed past a certain threshold (a game that has been installed 200,000 times and made $200,000 in revenue will be charged $0.20 per install). These fees are also retroactive.

Now developers are pushing back. We've seen a handful of indie developers speak out against the Runtime Fees, including prominent developer Rami Ismail and multiple studios like:

Microsoft's new replacement for Xbox LIVE Gold is actually pretty impressive.

A bit ago, Microsoft announced plans to retire Gold and remove the Xbox LIVE branding from its subscription plans. The plan is to scrap Gold, keep the same price, and remove the free monthly games while instead offering access to a slowly-rotating pool of titles. Starting tomorrow, Xbox LIVE Gold will transform into Xbox Game Pass Core, further illustrating that Xbox is now synonymous with services.

Game Pass Core is actually a pretty good value in terms of what is offered. Subscribers will get the original Gold benefits--online multiplayer, promos etc--alongside the ability to download and play three dozen first-party and third-party titles.

It's official: A new State of Play is on the horizon, but it's not the big one we've been waiting for.

Sony announces a new surprise impromptu State of Play stream for tomorrow, Thursday September 14 at 5PM EST. The stream won't be a big first-party blowout or teasers about Sony's upcoming live games--instead, this State of Play will focus more on games from partners. Viewers should expect to see third-party titles, PSVR2 games, and indies.

"Tomorrow's broadcast will focus on updates to previously announced games coming to PlayStation consoles. From indie and PS VR2 highlights, to major upcoming titles from our third-party partners, our latest show has something for everyone!" reads the PlayStation Blog post.

In a quest for profits following a heavy share price drop, Unity aggravates practically the entire video games industry with its new updated fee policy.

Unity has made the significantly controversial decision to start charging game developers a fee based on how many times their games have been installed. It's called a Unity Runtime Fee, and it has proven to be one of the most disruptive and universally-despised updates in the history of game dev. Unity has faced waves of push back over the decision as game devs everywhere criticise the decision.

Under the new Unity Runtime Fee, which goes into effect January 2024, developers will have to pay a "small flat fee" depending how many times a game has been installed. The fee only kicks in if a game has met both revenue and install threshold requirements How much a developer pays depends on what Unity subscription tier they have and how many new installs the game has had for that month.

The future is here: Apple's latest iPhone 15 Pro will be able to natively play console versions of video games.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick made an interesting comment in the recent FTC v Microsoft trial, saying that pretty soon mobile phones will be able to play games at console quality: "Well get to the point where that content is playable on mobile phones," Kotick had said.

Apple's latest iPhone 15 Pro proves that Kotick was right all along.

Embracer Group could sell Gearbox Entertainment, one of its largest operating divisions, in an effort to save money and reduce costs.

The games industry is currently at a crossroads. Record years of pandemic spending has also catalyzed investment costs as boards and investors try to sustain continued growth. But nothing is certain in the games industry--games are expensive, take millions of dollars, and many long years to make. Salaries are also rising to offset inflation, throwing another bit of volatility to an already-hazardous medium.

Now publishers are trying to get control over spending budgets, costs, and debts as much as possible. This has led to the layoffs of thousands of game workers across some of the biggest names in gaming. Others, like the once-mighty Embracer Group, are now open to selling off parts of their video games

Microsoft is releasing its own Xbox Credit Card that will come with a number of perks that will certainly entice gamers into picking one up.

Officially called the Xbox Mastercard, Microsoft has announced via its website that the Xbox Mastercard will come with no annual fee and has been created in partnership with Barclays US Consumer Bank. So, what will players be able to get with the new card? According to the press release, players will be able to earn card points with everyday purchases that can then be used to redeem games and add-ons.

Notably, for every $1 spent on purchases, players will earn points, with players earning 5x card points on eligible products at the Microsoft Store, 3x card points on eligible streaming platforms such as Netflix and Disney+, 3x card points on eligible dining delivery services such as Grubhub and DoorDash, and 1x card points on everyday purchases.

Starfield players are sinking their teeth into what the game has to offer, and with it being a little over a week since the game launched, a player has already discovered what seems to be the best ship build.

For those that don't know, Starfield lets players design their own ships to take out to the void of space and engage with enemies and even friendlies. However, ship combat can be tricky, and players can be blown up pretty quickly if they aren't adept at maneuvering. But what if I told you that you didn't need to dodge and maneuverer, just shoot?

Well, it seems you can, as a Starfield player noticed that all enemy ships fire their shots directly at the center of the the ship they are attacking. So, the player decided to make the center of his ship empty space, meaning that all enemy shots go straight through the ship, thus making the player immune to all enemy fire. The above video showcases the ship in action, while the below video is a guide on how to build it yourself.

A new Starfield mod that was uploaded to NexusMods on Sunday brings Star Wars over to Bethesda's newest title, which has been out just over a week.

It's no surprise that mods are already starting to pop up for Starfield, as Bethesda's titles are notorious for having some of the largest support from the modding community. Despite the official Bethesda modding tools not even being released yet, a new mod was uploaded to the NexusMods page on Sunday called "GALACTIC CIVIL WAR CONVERSION," which replaces the United Colonies' police force with stormtroopers from the Star Wars universe.

At the time of writing, the mod has gained more than 3,000 unique downloads despite the mod being entirely visually centered. It seems that not only do the United Colonies' police force get the visual switch to stormtroopers but also players, as the below image showcases a player wearing the iconic stormtrooper armor. It seems that the mod simply switches out the visual aspects of the United Colonies' police force gear, which, by that standard, means the above player is wearing that gear.