Current-gen PS4 games are getting enhancement patches that significantly reduce loading times from HDDs.

Sony is stealthily rolling out enhancement patches for first-party PS4 games that cut loading times by more than 80%. Case in point: The Last of Us: Remastered just got a patch that reduces load times by 85% when starting a new game (90 seconds unpatched, 13.86 seconds patch) from the console's base 7200RPM hard disk drive. Loading a save has also been reduced by a whopping 89% (123 seconds unpatched, 13.86 seconds patched).

It's possible Naughty Dog is tapping similar optimizations as the kind Sucker Punch used for Ghost of Tsushima, which launches blindingly fast even on base PS4 hardware. Gamers speculate these patches are preparing current-gen games for the PS5's enhanced backwards compatibility functionality. If so, these games will run even faster thanks to the PS5's powerful custom 12-channel PCIe 4.0 SSD, which is capable of hitting 4.8GB/sec uncompressed data transfers.

Plan on playing Control on PS5, but have existing saves on PS4? You'll need to run the Ultimate Edition on the PS4 first.

Control is a good example on how to not handle next-gen upgrades. The base PS4 and Xbox One version of Control aren't getting free next-gen PS5 or Xbox Series X upgrades. Gamers who already own Control on current-gen systems have to re-buy the Control Ultimate Edition at full price to play the game on next-gen hardware with high-end optimizations like ray-traced visuals and boosted frame rates. Control is still fully backward compatible, though, and will take advantage of new features like improved loading times via SSD tech.

Things get more even more frustrating, though. Existing saves from the non-Ultimate port of the game aren't compatible with next-gen consoles by default. The base version of Control has a different save than the Ultimate Edition. Gamers have to first run the Ultimate Edition on a PS4 or Xbox One to convert their base Control saves to a format that's compatible with next-gen consoles. This is a process that's usually done seamlessly with free in-game updates.

The digital games market generated $10.7 billion in September 2020, up 14% year-over-year, SuperData reports.

September's double-digit percentage growth was driven by a huge spike in console game revenues. Big hits like NBA 2K21 (1.9 million sales), the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 re-release (2.8 million), Super Mario 3D All-Stars (1.8 million) and Marvel's Avengers (2.2 million) all helped skyrocket console earnings by 40%. No exact revenues were given, however.

PC gaming was up slightly by 8% thanks in no small part to Crusader Kings III, which moved 1.1 million sales. PC gaming was dominated by the usual suspects like League of Legends, Dungeon Fighter Online, and CrossFire. Another big metric was how Rocket League players jumped by 193% after the game went free-to-play on the Epic Store and consoles.

Nintendo officially reduces Switch JoyCon MSRP to $39.99 per controller, a $10 price drop...but it's not enough.

The Switch JoyCon controllers are neat little contraptions with gyroscoping tracking, unique split-design for dual-handed play, and can detach from the base Switch for on-the-go two-player action. There's just one big problem: The JoyCons are rather cheap. The JoyCons don't outright break easily, though--instead their malfunction is a more maddening slow burn where the analog sticks move all by themselves.

JoyCon drift is a well-documented issue in the gaming sphere and has afflicted many long-time Switch owners. It's so bad that consumers have actually sued Nintendo over it. Worse still, the JoyCons used to be $49.99 a piece, a premium cost associated with Nintendo products. It's part of the Switch tax, a concept that sees most games and peripherals costing more than other platforms.

Hideo Kojima confirms his next game is in full production. Kojima Productions is now ramping up its employee base for the ambitious new project.

After months of teasing, Kojima Productions is finally ready to start principal development on its next game. No exact details are known about the game just yet but we could see some sort of official teaser at this year's The Game Awards showcase in December. Remember that Death Stranding was announced in 2016 and didn't launch until 2019.

Although nothing's been announced, Kojima has delivered a few clues. The auteur has said he wants to make a new horror game that transcends the normal conventions. Kojima's also said he wants to make short films. We've predicted the next game could combine the two in a hybrid similar to Netflix's Bandersnatch. Then again, Kojima also has new sketches for Death Stranding and Norman Reedus recently confirmed he's in talks to work with Kojima on a new game.

Apex Legends will drop on Steam next month, complete with full cross-play support with consoles and Origin.

In a bid to maximize exposure and in-game revenues, EA is bringing a lot of its breadwinners over to Steam. The latest is Respawn's popular battle royale game Apex Legends, which will release on Steam on November 4 as a free-to-play release and massively expand the game's reach. The Steam launch will coincide with Season 7, which brings a ton of new features and unlockables. Steam is still the dominant PC user ecosystem and remains the platform's most important storefront.

Respawn also confirms the Switch port of Apex Legends has been delayed into 2021. No exact timeline or release window was highlighted, but the devs say the Switch version will retain all the content, features, and cross-play capabilities as the console and PC versions.

First Microsoft embraced the Halo: Infinite Craig meme. Now they're having some fun with the Xbox Series X's fridge meme.

Microsoft actually created an Xbox Series X fridge, and like the shoe-boxed shape console, it's absolutely gigantic. The hilarious fridge is an exact scale replica of the new next-gen Xbox Series X, complete with front and back ports and an Xbox logo that actually lights up when it's plugged in. The fridge even makes the signature Xbox Series X boot-up sound as you open the door.

The fridge came in a box resembling the Series X's retail case--and it was so big that YouTuber iJustine couldn't shut her garage door. Microsoft made three Series X fridge replicas just for the lulz, and it's definitely a nice touch to help the console's marketing push for the November launch.

Do you remember the opening scene of Ready Player One with the crazy omnidirectional treadmill that you could run on? That may not be science fiction for much longer. Infinadeck, the company that developed the technology for enterprise use, is currently working on a consumer version that anyone can afford.

Infinadeck, if you're not aware, is an actual product. The company developed its omnidirectional treadmill technology several years ago, but it never came to consumer markets. It is costly in its current form and is only accessible to enterprise, medical, and government agencies. Infinadeck has not publicly revealed the price, but we have heard that the cost is five to six figures.

Infinadeck's technology is so expensive that we never expected it to come to consumers. However, in a recent interview with Antony Vitillo at Skarredghost.com, Infinadeck's CEO, Ken Bossung, revealed that his company plans to make Infinadeck a mass-market product eventually.

Megadodo Games, a Singapore-based development studio, is gearing up to move into the VR headset market. In the last few weeks, the company quietly started releasing info about its headset, and the details are hard to believe. If it's real, it will make a significant impact on the industry next year.

Megadodo created a side brand called Deca, which is developing an advanced PCVR headset for the consumer market. The DecaGear 1 VR headset will come equipped with inside-out tracking, Index-like controllers with finger and pressure sensors, and two global-shutter infrared cameras that track your facial expression.

Deca's face-tracking technology, called FaceFlow, supports all 52 blendshapes based on the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). The DecaGear 1 headset includes an upper face camera on the inside of the visor, which tracks your pupils, eyelids, brows, upper nose and forehead movements. A lower face camera on the outside of the visor tracks your mouth, lips, lower nose, cheeks, and even your tongue.

uPlay is dead, but Ubisoft is replacing it with something better.

Ubisoft recently announced Ubisoft Connect, an ambitious new multi-platform ecosystem that unifies mobile, PC, and consoles in one seamless infrastructure. Ubisoft Connect is basically uPlay with added features. The new system is designed specifically for upcoming Ubisoft games and next-gen releases, and tethers platforms together with cross-play and cross-save transitions in select games.

Titles like Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Immortals Fenix Rising, and Riders Republic will support cross-save at launch via Ubisoft Connect. No longer are your saves exclusive to PlayStation, Xbox, or PC--now they're backed up in the cloud.