Latest News - Page 124

The studio behind the flash-in-the-pan title, Highguard, is seemingly about to close its doors, as its LinkedIn page and official website have been taken down.

The removal of both the Wildlight Entertainment website and the studio's LinkedIn account comes after mass layoffs at the developer last month, following the tragic launch of Highguard. For those who don't know, Highguard was championed by Geoff Keighley at The Game Awards 2025, where the presenter left the unveiling until the very end of the show, specifically in the spot traditionally taken by big AAA titles teasing fans about an upcoming release. However, the response to The Game Awards trailer was lukewarm at best, and that was followed by a release just over a month later.

Initially, the developers of Highguard wanted to replicate Apex Legends' success, as the team behind the title consisted of many veteran game developers from Respawn Entertainment, the studio that created EA's hit battle royale. However, within weeks of Highguard launching, the studio was forced to let go of as many as 100 employees, leaving less than 20 staff to salvage the remainder of the title. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier penned a report outlining the factors that led to Highguard's failure.

In a recent interview, Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has discussed the rising concern of generative AI tools being used to develop games, and how that relates to the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI.

Zelnick sat down with The Game Business where he was asked about his thoughts on generative AI tools making their way into the video game industry. According to Zelnick, these GenAI tools are nothing but that, tools, and that developers should approach them as such. Zelnick further explained that while these tools are useful they aren't a one-click solution to creating a good game.

The CEO of the company that publishes the Grand Theft Auto franchise added that he was "stunned" by the market's reaction to these new GenAI tools being unveiled, presumably NVIDIA's recent unveiling of DLSS 5, which has caused a defiant reaction from many within the gaming community and industry.

A pre-release version of Death Stranding 2 on PC has appeared on torrent websites just days before the game is released on platforms such as Steam.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is set to release on PC on March 20, and the game is now available to preload on Steam. That has seemingly resulted in a pre-release version of the game ending up on torrenting websites, as a user has presumably decrypted the preload files.

However, according to a piracy-focused subreddit, the leak came via Steam, via an unencrypted version of the game files that was made available by accident. It's not known exactly how long the files were left unencrypted, but it was apparently long enough for a user to download the 113GB and reupload it as a single package.

Beats Electronics and Nike have announced a new collaboration, resulting in the Nike Powerbeats Pro 2 Special Edition earbuds, which feature built-in heartbeat tracking technology.

In a recent press release, Nike and Beats Electronics detail the Powerbeats 2, explaining that the new product is built on the Nike Powerbeats Pro 2 platform but has been reimagined by Nike, introducing a bold new visual identity and fitness-driven branding.

Most of the changes are in the visual design of the new earbuds, while under the hood, the hardware remains relatively identical to the standard Nike Powerbeats Pro 2. They still rock Apple's H2 chip for smooth connectivity and ecosystem integration, along with noise cancellation and a transparency mode.

Sometimes your videos and photos don't turn out as well as you hoped. For example, old family photos can be blurry, travel sunset shots may appear soft, vlog clips might be shaky or noisy, and gameplay recordings often look low-resolution when shared online. Thankfully, with VideoProc Converter AI, those flaws aren't something you have to live with. It enhances videos and images by upscaling resolution, sharpening details, smoothing motion, and applying additional AI enhancements, while also handling common media tasks so your content looks its best.

VideoProc Converter AI is an all-in-one media solution with a built-in AI video/image enhancer. It uses advanced AI models to upscale resolution, reduce noise, fix blur, stabilize footage, interpolate frames, and enhance other aspects of your videos and images, improving overall visual quality across a wide range of media. This easy and budget-friendly software also includes tools for format conversion, basic editing, screen recording, and additional media utilities, making it a fairly complete media processing toolkit. In testing, its level-3 hardware acceleration stood out, enabling faster processing on NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, and Apple M-series GPUs while keeping CPU usage relatively low.

For a limited time, you can get VideoProc Converter AI with 62% off. This is a one-time payment that includes lifetime updates and access to all future AI model iterations. On top of that, you'll receive 4 extra premium apps valued at $283 for free, including an AI-driven background remover and other professional media tools.

Sony has announced a new PlayStation Portal system software update that is headed out to the public on March 18, and the headlining feature of the update is a new 1080p High Quality mode for both Remote Play and Cloud Streaming.

PlayStation has announced the new system update in a blog post where it wrote that this mode will be running at a higher bitrate than the existing 1080p Standard mode, which means more data is being streamed to the device, translating to a sharper and cleaner image. That is if your internet connection can handle it (at least 5 Mbps download is required, but Sony recommends 15 Mbps). Players will be able to enable the new mode by heading to Quick Menu > Max Resolution > 1080p High Quality, and then restart the Remote Play or Cloud Streaming session.

In addition to the new streaming mode, the system update will come with a bunch of quality-of-life changes, designed to reduce friction as much as possible on the PlayStation Portal. For example, PlayStation says bundle pages will now let users choose a specific game when selecting "Stream," while game invites will appear as clearer on-screen notifications during supported cloud sessions. Furthermore, trophy pop-ups now show the trophy name and image more prominently, while Platinum trophies will be getting a dedicated animation.

Microsoft's announcement and confirmation that its upcoming Xbox Project Helix console will support both Xbox and PC games raises more questions than it answers. Like, whether Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S versions of games will shift to PC versions on Project Helix, and how exactly it will offer a closed, console-like experience like Valve's SteamOS while still allowing access to third-party apps and competing storefronts like Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG.

Based on a recent update to the Xbox app on PC, spotted by the team at Pure Xbox using a recent preview build, it looks like we'll see new features hit Windows 11 and devices like the ROG Xbox Ally as 'early versions' of what's in store with Project Helix. And with that context, even though it's a feature that's been part of Steam for years, the Xbox app now lets users add any third-party game or executable to their library for quick, easy access.

The process is simple: click on the '+' symbol in the 'My Library' section of the app, select the game or app, and then add it. From there, you can alter the name and even change the icon. Because it supports native Windows programs as well as games, this could be the first version of a Project Helix feature that integrates third-party software into the Xbox full-screen console experience.

In a new post on Sony's official PlayStation Blog, Kojima Productions' Jay Boor has outlined what to expect with the PC version of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, which is set to launch at the end of this week. In addition to a new "to the wilder" mode coming to the PS5 version of the game, we've also got details of the ray-tracing support for "high-end PC hardware."

This will be part of a new graphics mode that goes beyond the 'Very High' graphics settings and includes ray-traced reflections and ambient occlusion to enhance the game's presentation and image fidelity. Ray-traced ambient occlusion is one of those subtle but meaningful upgrades that enhances the detail between objects, which in turn makes everything in the world look more grounded and realistic.

That said, ray-tracing in Death Stranding 2 is entirely optional and not a part of the recommended specs or required to "enjoy the game as intended." With the Sony first-party studio Nixxes Software handling development of the PC version, it's set to launch with a wide range of PC-friendly features, including native support for NVIDIA's DLSS, AMD's FSR, and Intel's XeSS for super-resolution/upscaling and frame generation.

Corsair is expanding its keyboard lineup with the new low-profile VANGUARD AIR 99 WIRELESS Optical-Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. Low-profile keyboards, which feature smaller keycaps and switches with a shorter travel distance, have been a popular option for several years, including in the gaming space.

With its 99% form factor, the VANGUARD AIR 99 WIRELESS is essentially a full-sized keyboard that includes a NumPad, a dedicated vertical row of programmable keys on the left side, a control knob, and an LCD screen. Powering the mechanical keyboard is Corsair's pre-lubed OPX low-profile switches, which are rated for up to 80 million keystrokes and feature a 1.5mm actuation point with a total travel distance of 2.5mm.

With accurate infrared-light actuation and 8,000 Hz or 8K polling delivered via Corsair's AXON and SLIPSTREAM v2 technology over wireless, the VANGUARD AIR 99 WIRELESS is built for gaming performance. There's also support for competitive gaming features like FlashTap SOCD. However, it's also an all-rounder with dedicated Windows and Mac modes, Bluetooth support, and six customizable keys that integrate with Elgato's Virtual Stream Deck application to enhance creativity and productivity.

NVIDIA has updated its data center roadmap for its GPU and CPU lineup at GTC 2026, with the company focused on updating its AI-focused GPU architecture every year. With NVIDIA set to roll out its Vera Rubin architecture and platform this year, which includes the Vera CPU and Rubin GPU, we also got details on its next major GPU architecture, called Feynman, set to arrive in 2028.

The successor to Rubin and 2027's Rubin Ultra, Feynman, will represent a major step for NVIDIA by introducing advanced 3D stacking technology to increase density and improve communication among the various hardware components that power the next generation of AI. In addition, Feynman will be paired with the new Rosa CPU for integrated systems, building on the foundation of Grace in the current Blackwell era.

NVIDIA's roadmap, with Feynman coming in 2028, also lists "custom HBM," which would most likely refer to the next memory evolution beyond HBM4 and HBM4e. We'll have to wait for more details on this new high-bandwidth memory solution. Still, it's safe to assume that its bandwidth and performance will be tailored for increasingly more complex AI models and systems where memory bandwidth and capacity are key.

At NVIDIA GTC 2026, the company has expanded its server lineup with the new efficient single-slot RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Server Edition GPU. NVIDIA describes it as an "energy-efficient multi-workload accelerator designed to deliver breakthrough performance across a broad range of enterprise workloads," which, of course, includes AI inference as well as other high-end computing tasks, such as video processing.

With 10,496 CUDA Cores, which is slightly lower than the number featured in the gaming-class GeForce RTX 5080 GPU featuring the same GB203 chip, it's also packed with 32GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit interface to deliver memory bandwidth of 800 GB/s. Power consumption-wise, it lives up to its efficient label with the single-slot passively cooled GPU drawing up to 165W.

Naturally, the single-slot form factor is designed for servers and data center racks with multi-GPU setups, where a dozen GPUs could be installed in a single system. The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Server Edition GPU is similar, spec-wise, to the dual-slot actively cooled RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell, albeit with a lower power rating and slightly reduced memory bandwidth.

Since the debut of NVIDIA's "25-year graphics breakthrough," the response has been resoundingly negative. Gamers are complaining that the technology is adding an AI beauty filter to their favorite characters, ruining the game's original art style and calling it "AI Slop."

Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, has come forward to address these remarks, immediately stating, "They're completely wrong."

Bethesda's new Creation Engine is helping speed up development for Elder Scrolls 6 thanks to upgraded pipeline efficiencies and other major technical tweaks.

Bethesda is back in the news again, and Todd Howard is on a fresh press junket to discuss Starfield's new PS5 release. As these things typically go, Howard was asked about Elder Scrolls 6, and while he doesn't really confirm much regarding the game, he does say that the next-gen Creation Engine 3 is making a big difference in how the game is being made.

In a recent interview with IGN, Howard says that Creation Engine 3 allows the team to make more stable builds that can be consistently tested--which is a critical part of any game's development. A sizable portion of how games are made comes from the back-and-forth between creators and testers.

Bethesda knows that its game updates will break your mods, so it does its due diligence and tries to give modders ample time to prepare.

When Bethesda re-releases a game, it's usually great for the company but not so great for PC gamers--the new versions often break the customized versions of the game that have been tailor-made with mods. Interestingly enough, Bethesda's Todd Howard says that the studio is thoughtful about new game updates like Fallout 4 Anniversary--the studio knows the updates will break existing mods that rely on script extenders, so the devs try to mitigate that friction by giving script extender creators early access to new Fallout and Elder Scrolls builds.

In a recent interview with Mortismal Gaming about Bethesda and the future of Starfield, company mastermind Todd Howard briefly discussed the topic of new releases breaking old mods, especially script extenders like FOSE and SKSE that have to also be updated with the latest build. If you've ever wondered how these programs update so fast in tandem with releases, it appears that Bethesda "tries to" give the creators early access to specific game builds so the extenders can be as readily updated.

Capcom CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto believes PC will eventually become the largest games platform, which is good news, because the company is now selling more PC games than ever.

Capcom's latest annual report highlights where the Japanese games-maker currently is and where it will go next. Most of the report is the typical fare for investors--charts, mission statements, and forecasts--but one section was particularly interesting. Capcom's CEO thinks that PC gaming is on the up-and-up, and could eventually overtake consoles in popularity.

"I believe that the PC will further establish itself as the world's leading gaming platform, which will serve to increase the value of the PC market," Tsujimoto said in the report.

Saudi Arabia now has over $1 billion of Capcom stock, adding to its expanding pool of billion-dollar gaming investments.

With all of its myriad gaming investments, Saudi Arabia might be considered the next Tencent. Through various companies like the Savvy Games Group, the country has made several multi-billion dollar stakes in some of the biggest games companies on the planet, including Nintendo, Grand Theft Auto parent Take-Two Interactive, and even Capcom.

These investments are steadily growing. It's now been revealed that Saudi investment firm EGDC has bought 5% more of Capcom stock, worth around $600 million. The Electronic Gaming Development Company (EGDC) is owned by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

IO Interactive, the developers behind the iconic Hitman franchise and recent publishers of Build a Rocket Boy's MindsEye, have announced they are no longer engaging in a partnership with Build a Rocket Boy.

In a new blog post, it was announced that IOI Partners and Build a Rocket Boy have now concluded their publishing collaboration for MindsEye, which ended on March 16, 2026. The blog post states that Build a Rocket Boy will now take on sole publishing responsibilities for the title moving forward. Additionally, the publisher explains that, due to the partnership ending, the Hitman mission announced in June 2025, planned as a crossover event, will no longer be released.

IO Interactive goes on to write that Build a Rocket Boy will continue working with partners in the future, and that both IOI Partners and Build a Rocket Boy recognize the anticipation the announced collaboration generated among the community. The severing of IO Interactive from Build a Rocket Boy comes only weeks after the CEO claimed to have overwhelming evidence of corporate sabotage and espionage that influenced the release of MindsEye. Meanwhile, the developers of the title attributed its failure to leadership issues, mismanagement, and rushed development.

UPDATE:Krafton has issued the following response to the court's ruling:

The Krafton-Subnautica 2 lawsuit has reached a conclusion, and the courts are ruling in favor of the developers, reinstating fired CEO Ted Gill to lead Unknown Worlds.

Crimson Desert is a new, hotly anticipated open-world action RPG from Pearl Abyss, the studio behind Black Desert Online, and it's currently shaping up to be one of the biggest fantasy releases of 2026.

Pearl Abyss originally intended Crimson Desert as a prequel to Black Desert Online, but it eventually evolved into a fully standalone, single-player experience with a far stronger focus on narrative and cinematic storytelling. While there are many aspects of Crimson Desert to get excited about, many players are excited about the graphical experience the game will deliver in an open-world action RPG, especially since the tech experts over at Digital Foundry said the title running on a PS5 Pro delivered a "phenomenal experience".

Now, PlayStation Japan has released a 20-minute gameplay video of Crimson Desert running on a base PlayStation 5. However, the video has a maximum resolution of 1080p at 30FPS, making it extremely difficult to get a good sense of the graphical fidelity that PS5 players will experience. Crimson Desert is set for release on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC on March 19, 2026. If you are interested in checking out the PC specifications for the title, visit its Steam listing here.

Nintendo has released a new update for both the original Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Switch 2, and while Switch 1 owners aren't getting many new features, Nintendo has silently rolled out "Handheld Boost Mode" for Switch 2 gamers.

According to the patch notes, which detail Version 22.0.0, released on March 16, 2026, Switch 2 owners will be able to enjoy a bunch of new quality of life changes, along with "Handheld Boost Mode," which enables Switch 1 games to run as if they are in TV mode on the Switch 2 while in handheld mode.

The original Switch 1 has a 720p display, while the Switch 2 has a 1080p display, meaning Switch 2 owners should get a noticeable graphical upgrade in backward-compatible Switch 1 titles when Handheld Boost Mode is enabled. Moreover, this graphical improvement should also be noticed in titles that haven't received a dedicated Switch 2 upgrade, as it's simply a raw resolution increase. Then, once or if those titles receive a dedicated Switch 2 upgrade, they will look even better again.