Latest News - Page 1709

Blizzard is currently hiring 16 people to work on a new unannounced project that may tap its new shared games engine.

Under Activision's new consolidated engagement-driven business model that incorporates things like cross-play, Blizzard is likewise changing and trying to streamline its game launches and development cycles. Now we have a clue in how some of these changes will manifest.

The company is currently hiring over a dozen developers to work on a new unannounced project, which may or may not be part of the huge IP pipeline that ex-Blizzard president Mike Morhaime teased in 2017. Back in October, it was also reported that Activision was working on 10 new games, one of which may be a Destiny-killer IP.

Microsoft no longer sees Sony or Nintendo as competitors. That means they could become allies to fight the true threat: Google and Amazon.

Image: DigitalTrends

Microsoft is open to signing a kind of truce with Sony and Nintendo in a bid to fend off the incoming specter of Google's and Amazon's respective streaming might. It's kind of like when enemies join together temporarily to take out a bigger foe that threatens to upend everything--in this case, Google and Amazon could upend entire games industry and take over with more accessible game streaming solutions.

Both the PS5 and Xbox Series X could be delayed as key hardware supply chain facilities are impacted by China's coronavirus health risk.

Big chip-makers like Foxconn are closing shop due to the coronavirus outbreak, interrupting tech hardware production in games consoles, iPhones, DRAM, and more. Today Nintendo confirmed the temporary closures at Foxconn will impact Switch production and stall shipments to Japan. This could only be the beginning of the disruption; Sony and Microsoft also rely on Foxconn's fab facilities for chips in their respective PlayStation and Xbox systems.

If the situation doesn't improve, both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X next-gen systems could be summarily impacted. This could eventually lead to a delay past Holiday 2020, which would tremendously shake-up the games industry.

A bit ago Nintendo confirmed China's coronavirus outbreak would interrupt production of Switch console hardware, and now the company reiterates that hardware supplies in Japan will be delayed.

The tech sector is getting hit in a big way as China weathers the coronvirus health hazard by shutting down chip-making factories and plants. Console-makers like Nintendo are planning for delays of hardware supplies in the coming weeks as Foxconn, the leading manufacturer of Switch hardware, has temporarily closed due to the virus.

Today Nintendo announced that Switch supplies will remain constrained in Japan due to the coronavirus. JoyCon production, main Switch hardware--including the base, Switch Lite, and new Animal Crossing bundles--, and the massively outsold Ring Fit Adventure will all be delayed.

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A new bit of concept art for WB Montreal's upcoming Batman game has leaked out, showing the batcycle...but it might not be in the final game.

Warner Bros. Montreal has been working on a new Batman game since 2014, but the project has shifted quite a bit. Originally called Project Sabbath and starring Damien Wayne, the game was reportedly rebooted into the now-famous Arkham Legacy focus with multiple main protagonists (presumably Bruce Wayne, Damien Wayne, Dick Grayson, and Barbara Gordon). Based on teasers from the studio we can surmise that some of Sabbath's rumored features, like the new-and-improved nemesis system, are returning.

Fast-forwarding to current day and we have new reports the Batman game is a soft reboot of the Arkham series without actually being part of the Arkham series. Sadly the recent info batch doesn't tell us much we don't already know. But today we get a new glimpse at what could've been (or what could be) a big part of the game's vehicle system: The Batcycle.

Today Valve revealed some stats about Steam's performance in 2019, and the numbers are pretty stellar.

PC gamers are spending an astronomical amount of time on Steam games. According to Valve, gamers spent 20 billion hours playing Steam titles, representing absolutely huge engagement levels for the platform. Throughout the year Steam evolved quite a bit with new social features, a great new games library UI, and new ways to play.

Remote Play Together, which lets Steam users play couch co-op games online, is also extremely popular with over 2.3 million gamers trying out the feature. Steam Remote Play is likewise appealing; over 3.7 million gamers are beaming their Steam libraries to mobiles on-the-go.

With an imminent Steam launch and the game-changing Wastelanders expansion on the way, April might be the most important month of Fallout 76's life.

Fallout 76 is coming to Steam on April 7, 2020, the same day the free Wastelanders update rolls out. This will be a big proving point for Bethesda's hotly-contested live game. The intent is clear: Bethesda wants to grow playerbase with a Steam release while simultaneously reinvigorating the game with an update. The idea is to pull lapsed users back to the game while also giving current players more content, and appealing to Steam's massive 90 million userbase.

Wastelanders itself is a big deal for Fallout 76. The expansion will dramatically change the game by adding actual human NPCs to the world and bringing some much-needed agency to irradiated Appalachia. There's also new questlines, items and gear, creatures, and a choice-driven system that actually reflects Fallout's roots.

Google is making an absolute killing from YouTube ads, which represents nearly 10% of its total yearly revenues.

Google makes a lot of money. I mean a lot of money. The company raked in an astronomical $161.85 billion in total earnings in 2019 alone, and 83% of that, or $134.81 billion, was from advertising.

YouTube in particular generated $15.1 billion in ad revenue last year, representing roughly 9.3% of Google's 2019 earnings. In the holiday quarter alone, YouTube made $4.7 billion in revenues, more than Microsoft's total Xbox gaming segment figures.

If you are a Lord of the Rings fan and enjoy real-time strategy games, then keep your eyes on this fan project as it's glorious.

The team at BFME REFORGED (Battle For Middle-Earth Reforged) has posted a new video showcasing their work on re-making the classic real-time strategy title in Unreal Engine 4. The above video reveals Isengard in all its glory, and as the commentator explains, "The fortress is initially made of stone and iron. However, and as Isengard grows in might, it can improve the fortress using its resources to make the it even more resilient to damage with the Obsidian Defence upgrade."

If you have never heard of Battle for Middle Earth it's an old real-time strategy title that was released back in 2004. Since then, EA has lost the rights to Lord of the Rings content and discontinued the BFME, and the sequel. At the moment, it's almost impossible to buy, unless you get second hand or pay a jacked-up price. BFME REFORGED doesn't have a release date yet, but the team is hard at work bringing the multiplayer over to Unreal Engine 4. For any more updates on BFME REFORGED, check back here.

There are countless galaxies out there in the infinite vastness of space, and astronomers are constantly looking for new ones to study. Sometimes the ones they find aren't alive anymore and have perished long ago, being deemed 'inactive'.

Unfortunately, this was the case for astronomers out of the University of California who described in a new paper published in The Astrophysical Journal, a galaxy called XMM-2599. XMM-2599 is shockingly old and has unfortunately fallen into the "inactive" category, but during its time alive, the galaxy pumped out an astonishing amount of suns. Lead author on the paper, Benjamin Forrest said, "Even before the universe was 2 billion years old, XMM-2599 had already formed a mass of more than 300 billion suns, making it an ultramassive galaxy."

What is even more interesting about XMM-2599 is that most of the suns it made happened in a relatively short amount of time. "More remarkably, we show that XMM-2599 formed most of its stars in a huge frenzy when the universe was less than 1 billion years old, and then became inactive by the time the universe was only 1.8 billion years old" said Forrest. The team of astronomers calculated that during XMM-2599's most active sun producing time, it was pumping out around 1,000 solar masses worth of stars per year.

Flying cars have been talked about since Back To The Future, but what about flying taxis? Don't worry, they are on the way, and they are arriving sooner than you would think.

The aircraft manufacturer called Kitty Hawk was formed back in 2016, and luckily the company enjoyed the backing of Google co-founder Larry Page for its design ideas. In 2019, Kitty Hawk split off into a joint venture with Boeing, called Wisk. The goal of Wisk was to develop a flying taxi service that would have the ability to be summoned via an app on consumers' smartphones.

Now, Wisk has announced on its website that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been formed between Wisk and The New Zealand Government. The MOU is basically a green light towards Wisk establishing an autonomous flying taxi service trial in Canterbury, New Zealand. The flying taxi that was birthed out of Google's money, Boeing's manufacturing and Kitty Hawk's designs are called Cora. At the moment, we don't know when trials will begin, but nonetheless, this is a true sign of confidence in Cora from the New Zealand government's perspective.

Flying can be quite stressful for even the best of people, as there is quite a bit to worry about - plane arrival times, luggage, being late, etc.

Luckily, a new analysis has been published detailing which airlines are most likely to make your experience miserable. The team at Upgraded Points decided to gather consumer complaints across multiple commercial airlines to see if a consensus could be made for which airlines give the worst customer experiences.

According to the analysis, the highest average monthly complaints per 10,000 passengers comes from Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines. The airline which is most likely to mishandle your baggage is Envoy Air, with an average of 8.7 bags mishandled every month per 1,000 bags. The airline, which has the highest percentage of canceled flights is by far ExpressJet Airlines. If you are interested in reading further into this analysis, check out it out here.

Elon Musk has taken to his personal Twitter account to ask the public their thoughts on whether or not he should build a new gigafactory in Texas.

Musk posted a poll to his Twitter account with the simple, yet effective caption "Giga Texas?". At the time of writing this, 80.1% of people voted "Hell yeah," and only 19.9% of people voted "no." If this plan goes ahead, this will mark Musk's fourth gigafactory, the first being near Reno, Nevada, the second in Buffalo, New York, third in China, Shanghai, and fourth near Berlin, Germany.

At the moment, Musk is on a roll with his electric vehicle and clean energy company Tesla, as the company's stock price recently hit an all-time high. This all-time high pushed the company's total market value over Bitcoin's market value, quite an achievement if you ask me. In other news about Musk's ventures, SpaceX recently launched 60 more Starlink satellites into the atmosphere in an effort to bring a global internet connection to everyone.

While fans of the Saints Row series wait patiently for news about the game's fifth title, Nintendo Switch owners will be able to enjoy the fourth game in portable mode.

If you haven't played a Saints Row title, and own a Nintendo Switch, now your chance to jump into some of the over-the-top action ever created. A new announcement trailer has been posted to the official Saints Row website that reveals Saints Row: Re-Elected will be arriving on the Nintendo Switch with a tonne of downloadable content.

If you haven't played Saints Row IV: Re-Elected, here's a quick summary of what you are in store for. You play as the President of the United States who is facing an alien invasion, and you must do whatever means necessary to stop these aliens from invading your home. Players have an incredibly diverse range of weapons to use, and ways of disposing of the alien invaders -- and the best bit about it is that it's all ridiculous action. Saints Row IV: Re-Elected will be arriving on the Nintendo Switch on March 27th for $40.

Birds of Prey have just released, and what better way to promote the movie than add Harley Quinn into one of the most popular games ever made?

Fortnite players will soon have mayhem on their hands as it has been discovered that Harley Quinn will be arriving as a playable character. The news comes from a known Fortnite news leaker, Lucas7Yoshi, who posted the above tweet showcasing what the character is going to look like.

According to the post, Quinn will be available in the Item Shop as a purchasable skin that will also have flag upgrade quests. Rumors are pointing towards Quinn being added on February 6th to go alongside the launch of Birds of Prey. It's most likely that the purchasable skin will cost around 1,500 V-Bucks. In the entirety of this article, you can find a list of challenges for Harley Quinn.

Rod Fergusson is leaving The Coalition after 15 years, where he started working on the original Gears of War and has stayed with the iconic franchise since. Fergusson is leaving The Coalition for Blizzard, to run the Diablo franchise.

In a tweet on his personal Twitter account, Fergusson said: "I began working on Gears of War over 15 years ago and since then, it has been the joy of my life. But now it's time for a new adventure. I leave Gears in the great hands of The Coalition and can't wait for everyone to play Gears Tactics on April 28".

Xbox boss Phil Spencer replied pretty quickly, thanking him for his passion and effort he put into the Gears of War franchise and the Xbox family of consoles. Spencer wished him the best of luck on his next journey, which is going to be over at Blizzard taking control of the Diablo franchise.

Las Vegas Sex Dolls Experience is now open for business, offering customers special time alone "interacting" with sex dolls in a private room, at an undisclosed hourly rate.

The new sex doll brothel is licensed in Clark County and operates out of The Studios, which is a "fluid gender social lifestyle club" but residents are not happy. The Studios is under investigation by Clark County code enforcement right now, with the suspicion of operating a business without a license.

The Studios was licensed back in 2016 to operate as an educational institution, but a sex doll brothel is well, quite the opposite of that I'd say. They run under the name Fluid Lifestyles Learning Center, but inside The Studios has beds, couches, TVs, a stripper pole and even bondage equipment -- very educational.

In the Holiday 2019 quarter, EA earned $1.593 billion in total revenues, and $1.444 billion from digital PC, console, and mobile games. Consoles raked in the lion's share of earnings with over $1 billion in revenues, or 72% of total gaming earnings. Both PC and console earnings were up by over 20% year-over-year.

Digital reigned supreme as always. EA made over 90% of its quarterly revenues from digital, including live services like Apex Legends' microtransactions and battle passes, as well as full game sales across all platforms. Jedi: Fallen Order in particular outperformed EA's expectations; it did so well EA is now re-thinking its approach to Star Wars games.

The publisher made $993 million from live services (roughly 68% of all quarterly earnings), representing a huge 27% year-over-year revenue spike.

You'd probably think that Samsung would be the one to confirm the existence of their new Galaxy Buds+, but Apple has beaten them to the announcement.

It appears that Apple may have 'accidentally' revealed the new Galaxy Buds+ via their App Store Preview section as it depicts a new App called "Samsung Galaxy Buds+". The preview shows a bunch of screenshots from inside the app, as well as 'what's new' and compatibility requirements. The app doesn't describe the physical earbuds very much, but according to CNET, they are expected to have extended battery life on a single charge -- 12 hours.

It's expected that Samsung will officially showcase the new earbuds during their Unpacked event scheduled for February 11th. During this event, it's also expected that Samsung will showcase its new flagship device and a bunch of other cool devices (Galaxy Home Mini etc). CNET also reports that the Galaxy Buds+ could arrive with no noise cancellation, which would be a considerable downside to Apple's AirPods Pro.