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Microsoft is gearing up towards its next-gen Xbox reveal at E3 2019 in just a few weeks time, with news breaking that its newest first-party game studio 'The Initiative' has landed an ex-Naughty Dog game developer.

Robert Ryan has joined The Initiative coming in EA's in-house Motive Studios working on an unannounced title, and before that from Naughty Dog as the game designer for Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, The Last of Us, Uncharged 4: A Thief's End and the new and yet unreleased The Last of Us: Part II. Ryan joins a team of talented and prolific game directors at The Initiative.

The Initiative is made up of a bunch of developers and staff that Microsoft aims to have the studio build games at the quality of God of War and Uncharted, but exclusive to the Xbox. The team is made up of talent coming in from Sony, Activision, Treyarch, Respawn Entertainment, and Riot Games. Remember that E3 2019 is right around the corner, so we should expect to see a tease of what The Initiative has been working on and hopefully we see it on the next-gen Xbox consoles.

EA and DICE introduced the battle royale mode 'Firestorm' into Battlefield V a little while back now and it hasn't really done much at all, especially against the likes of EA's other battle royale surprise Apex Legends.

But in the land Down Under including New Zealand and other nations in Oceania, have suffered from not just a lack of gamers wanting to play Firestorm, but the low ping range to DICE's own servers sucks pretty bad, too. A new Reddit post from Australian gamer Ciaran Doherty said Firestorm is "essentially impossible to play [Battlefield 5] at any time of day in any mode".

Doherty's comments continue: "For all intents and purposes, there is no such thing as Firestorm in this continent and to EA/DICE, your marketing material should reflect this. Please do not advertise Firestorm here, there are no players, no functional servers and no possibility for anyone buying the game for Firestorm to actually get what they paid for".

Rockstar is reportedly rolling out the red carpet for E3 2019 with a new rumor suggesting the developer will be surprising fans at E3 next month with an announcement or two.

The rumor is coming from Reddit user 'ThirdeyeReddit' who claims they're a Take-Two staffer and that the publisher is working on a "landing page" for an unannounced game that Rockstar will unveil at E3 2019. The anonymous poster said that the announcement will "blindside" gamers who were expecting to see Rockstar working on something else.

If we're going to play around in this scenario, what could Rockstar release that would "blindside" gamers? Well, the most obvious one would be Grand Theft Auto 6 which we've previously reported on other rumors that Sony paid "big money" to have it as a 1-month exclusive to its next-gen PlayStation 5 console. That would blindside gamers as most people aren't expecting it this soon, and more so in 2020-2021.

Amid dismal sales and disastrous profit losses, Starbreeze warns investors that it may have to close down and sell off its core assets to repay debts.

Starbreeze has been in trouble for some time now, but it's not out of the race yet. The company's financial woes have improved slightly in Q1, with profit losses reduced by a sizable 85% since last year ($11 million profit losses compared to $135 million). It's still in the red, but the shade has gotten a bit lighter. But make no mistake: things are still pretty dire for the Payday developer, and Starbreeze CEO Mikael Nermark isn't sure Starbreeze will last through the year.

"Starbreeze and some of its subsidiaries have been in reconstruction since 3 December 2018. The company currently lacks sufficient secured funds to guarantee continued operations for the next 12 months and is expected to have a liquidity shortfall before mid-year 2019 if no additional funds are provided," Nermark said in a recent earnings report. "These conditions indicate that there are significant uncertainties that can lead to significant doubts about the company's ability to continue its business."

With original PC shooters like Doom and Quake, id Software is known far and wide for their FPS mastery. But there's one scrappy up-and-comer who's garnered lots of attention with their Wolfenstein reboots...and the two giants could join forces to make a new Quake game.

My friends and I have wanted a new Quake game for a while. Quake 4 was bizarre and awesome all at the same time, but it's been quite a while since gamers got an explosive, singleplayer-driven gothic-medieval gorefest. When Bethesda took over id Software it delivered Quake Champions...a so-so multiplayer fragfest aimed at engagement and live services. But we need something more...and Quake deserves something meaty.

If MachineGames founder Jerk Gustafsson has his way, the Wolfenstein devs will work with id to make a brand new re-imagining of the Quake series. "Quake is the reason I got into gaming. Discovering WorldCraft and Level Design, making maps for Quake, was one of the best experiences of my life - I even still do it today. Developing a Quake game (a re-imagination of Quake 1) is and will always be on my bucket list, but working with Wolfenstein and getting to work closely with my heroes over at id Software is pretty awesome too," Gustafsson said in a recent Reddit AMA.

Square Enix isn't giving up on new IP curation and investment, and plans to bolster big franchises like Final Fantasy with fresh new endeavors.

All too often big publishers shy away from new IPs to focus on big franchises. Activision-Blizzard is pretty much exclusively making sequels in core IPs, but Japanese games-makers are taking a different tact. Today Square Enix revealed its FY2018 financials, and they weren't too good: operating income was down 35%, and total profits dipped by 28%. But the company's earnings slips aren't inspiring Activision-Blizzard's tunnel vision. The publisher promises to put even more emphasis on new series and franchises to help generate more sales.

"We will aggressively invest in new IP on an ongoing basis to enrich our portfolio and enable sustained growth," Square Enix said in its latest earnings brief.

Square Enix's recent performance shows the publisher is ramping up for a big future...but it probably won't happen this year.

Square Enix today announced its earnings for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019, showing dips in operating income and profits while total expenditures rose by 20%. Key metrics show a sizable jump in game sales thanks to Kingdom Hearts III's massive acclaim, prompting total net sales revenues to rise 8.2% YoY to 271 billion yen ($2.44 billion). Earnings slips offset this favorable performance, however.

Other metrics failed to rise during the year. Operating income for the FY2018 period dropped a big 35% YoY to 24.5 billion yen ($220.91 million), and Square Enix notes this dip is caused by larger investment in the year's under-performing games. Total profits sit at 18.4 billion yen ($165.91 million), dropping almost 30% from last year's.

Although Square Enix plans to show off more Final Fantasy VII: Remake at E3 2019, the first chapter of the trilogy may not release in 2019.

Square Enix's latest earnings report gives visibility into the publisher's upcoming pipeline and may hint at release timings for some of its biggest games. There's usually telltale signs that accompany any big game's launch year, including earnings spikes and sales jumps. Those indicators aren't found in Square Enix's forecasts for this year, but next year.

The publisher expects earnings to moderate in the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2020. Square Enix predicts it'll make 270 billion yen ($2.43 billion) in net sales, with its gaming branch raking in 200 billion yen ($1.8 billion) across the year, slightly down from last year. Overall sales are also expected to drop this fiscal year, which doesn't really align with the launch of a huge game like Final Fantasy VII: Remake. It expects to sell 18.27 million copies this year, down 31% year-over-year. Last year Square Enix sold 26.55 million copies of games thanks to Kingdom Hearts III's strong performance, so admittedly there's a high threshold to break this year...but the FF7 Remake shouldn't have a problem doing so.

Backers of the crowdfunding project Outer Wilds have been shocked as the publisher has decided to convert the title into a timed Epic Games Store exclusive.

In a recent update to the official Fig listing for Outer Wilds, it is addressed to backers that the publishing team behind Outer Wilds have "welcomed helpful partnerships with Annapurna Interactive, Xbox, and Epic" to "keep our small studio running long enough to ship the game at the level of quality that it is today". It should be noted that Outer Wilds has been available to back since 2015 and that the title originally advertised to fans that it would be released onto Mac, Linux and Windows via Steam.

Many fans have turned on the title now, with dislike bombing occuring on the above Outer Wilds crowdfunding video and angry backers taking to Reddit to express their disgust. Reddit user Daear took to the /r/outerwilds sub reddit and said: "As of update #72 from the Outer Wilds team, the game will be a timed exclusive for Xbox One and PC via Epic Games store (source). Other platforms will be "coming later", and the team promises their goal is to "bring the game to your preferred platform as quickly as possible".

Some new sales data has recently been released by Sony on their PlayStation blog. The new sales chart indicate that Days Gone has taken the lead for best-selling game on the PlayStation Store for April.

On the PlayStation blog, it is showcased that for the month of April Bend Studios' Days Gone sits at 1st place, beating the likes of World War Z and Mortal Kombat 11. All three of these games released throughout the month of April and it seems they have all done quite well on Sony's online store front.

Alongside these newly released titles we have Rockstars Grant Theft Auto V going strongly at second place and for PS VR we have Beat Saber at first and Until Dawn: Rush of Blood at second. Moving onto DLC content, Fortnite's Laguna Pack, Lava Legends Pack, Save The World - Standard Founder's Pack and Inferno's Challenge Pack have taken first, second, third and fourth place. For more information visit the official PlayStation blog here.

With every new game release many PC gamers are asking whether or not titles will be heading over to the Epic Games Store as a timed exclusive or not. Wolfenstein: Youngblood will not be one those titles.

In a recent Reddit AMA with Wolfenstein: Youngblood developer MachineGames', many fans posed numerous types of questions to the developer regarding the coming title. Some fans asked questions such as the possibility of crossplay support, how long the title will be in comparison to New Order, the developers relationship with co-developer Arkane Studios and whether or not the title will be an Epic Games Store timed exclusive.

All of the above questions were answered by MachineGames, and even some extra detail was given about Youngblood. Here is what Jerk Gustafsson said about Youngblood; "Youngblood is different than our previous titles in many ways. Player progression is level-based and the game structure is non-linear, which means the experience is player directed in a way that we've never done before where players will be able to perform missions in any order they please. And while the storyline/campaign may be a bit lighter than New Order/New Colossus, the total gameplay time of Youngblood will exceed those titles.?"

Pokemon Detective Pikachu has finally released and has been met with some criticism by fans, but regardless of everyones thoughts of the movie the title has claimed a spot as the highest grossing video game movie in an opening weekend.

According to Box Office Mojo and the above Box Office Report, the Ryan Reynolds starred movie Pokemon Detective Pikachu has reached an estimated "$103.0M internationally since Wednesday". The source of the movies International revenue through Sunday includes; China - $40.8M, Japan - $12.9M, U.K. - $6.6M, Germany - $5.0M, Mexico - $5.0M, France - $4.8M, Australia - $3.5M, S. Korea - $3.2M, Italy - $2.8M and Spain - $2.2M.

Since Pokemon Detective Pikachu is now sitting at the top for biggest opening weekend ever for a video game based movie, who has the movie de-throned? According to MyNintendoNews, the second biggest opening weekend for a video game franchise movie was Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider only manged to pull in $47 million in its opening weekend. In total global standards, Pokemon Detective Pikachu has grossed $170.4M and only seems like its climbing higher.

Ryan Reynolds' Detective Pikachu has arrived in theatres and has kicked off what is to be believed as the new era of video game movies. What is next though? A connected Avengers like universe but in video games instead of comic books?

After Avengers: Endgame, a crossover like universe but for video games characters seems like a valuable possibility, but where would writers start and how would they start? According to Detective PIkachu writers Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, there would be no better spot to start than with Nintendo's universe of characters and their crossover title Super Smash Bros. Hernandez revealed to Screenrant that the key to a successful crossover movie such as Avengers: Endgame is establishing a solid foundation in all of the individual standalone movies first.

Hernandez says "I think that the key to doing anything like that is to make sure that the other introductory movies are sensational. It'd be a dream to write something like Legend of Zelda, but before you can get to that Smash Bros stage you have to write the best damn version of The Legend of Zelda that you possibly can. And the same with Mario, the same with Kirby, the same with Star Fox." Samit also agreed with this statement, saying "Avengers: Endgame is only as good as it is because we loved all of those characters individually."

AMD is not far from the release of its next-gen Zen 2 CPU architecture and new Ryzen 3000 series CPUs with news that current-gen AM4 motherboards will be able to run. The news is coming directly from ASUS and ASRock confirming Zen 2 CPUs will work in current-gen 300- and 400-series motherboards.

ASUS and ASRock are both hard at work on BIOS updates for their current range of motherboards, with most of ASRock's range of 300- and 400-series boards to soon get an update that will make them compatible with the next-gen Ryzen 3000 series processors. This includes everything from the lower-end A320 series through to the flagship X470 boards.

So what is the use of the new X570 chipset if the new Zen 2-based CPUs will work in current-gen 300/400-series boards? New tech, that's why.

If you've got a Google Pixel 3 or 3 XL and have been wondering why it stutters and feels laggy some (most of the time for some people) then you need to disable Digital Wellbeing right now.

I took the weekend off from work (for once) and then came back to my PC ready to write this story when I noticed other tech media talking about it, so I thought it was an even more perfect time to share my story. While the current stories are sharing a post from Reddit about disabling Digital Wellbeing, that post was made 24 hours ago. The one that I read and took the advice to disable Digital Wellbeing on the Pixel 3 XL was from 9 days ago, and I've been without Digital Wellbeing since and it has absolutely changed my phone.

I've also been running the very latest versions of the Android Q beta since they began with beta 1, beta 2 and now beta 3 running on my Pixel 3 XL 128GB. Android Q is slick as hell, but the phone does feel slow so much of the time -- that is, until I stumbled across this post on Reddit recommending disabling Digital Wellbeing in Android to speed up the phone, and holy crap did it work.

HTC has unveiled its new Exodus 1s smartphone which will be capable of running a full bitcoin node according to HTC, with the new Exodus 1s launching in Q4 2019 for just $250-300.

The new Exodus 1s will also have improved support for decentralized browsing, messaging, and social media apps. With the full bitcoin node sitting on the Exodus 1s you'll be able to have the entire bitcoin blockchain chilling on your phone, verifying transactions at the snap of its digital fingers. The original Exodus debuted at $699 and didn't make a dent in the market, but with a new $250-$300 price tag the Exodus 1s will get much more attention.

HTC has been making inroads into the blockchain-on-your-phone market for a while now, with a renewed focus since the original Exodus smartphone. But now the company is doubling down with the new Exodus 1s with Phil Chen, HTC's Chief Decentralized Officer explaining: "We think that's foundational to the whole decentralized internet and just the whole fundamental premise. If you don't own your keys, you don't own your bitcoin, you don't own your crypto".

I still remember late nights every weekend at LANs at my house when I was a teenager in the 90s playing games like Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Shadow Warrior, C&C: Red Alert and who can forget; Blood.

Blood is a classic 2D first-person shooter from the 90s that has been remastered by the talented hands of Nightdive Studios that has just announced and released Blood: Fresh Supply. The new game has a bunch of new technological features and support like 4K resolution support, Vulkan/DX11/OpenGL APIs, unlocked frame rates, and so much more.

Here's what you can expect from Blood: Fresh Supply:

If there was a game that would benefit from AI upscaled textures it would have to be Diablo 2, with its now low-res graphics being upgraded through AI. Yeah, AI is helping make old classics like Diablo 2 come back to life looking better than ever before.

According to Redditor 'Indoflaven' who has been "playing around with ESRGAN and decided to see how it would handle Diablo 2. This is done using the Manga109 model with a 1024x768 source image". The AI upscaling method 'ESRGAN' stands for Enhanced Super Resolution Generative Adversarial Networks which adds more detail to low-resolution images, making it perfect for low-res games from the 90s.

The team behind ESRGAN explains its tech: "By doing it over several passes with the goal of fooling its adverserial [sic] part, it will usually produce an image with more fidelity and realism than past methods. I have upscaled the textures in Morrowind to four times the vanilla resolution using ESRGAN. Below you can compare various models' results to the original (HR)".

Wolfenstein: Youngblood is the type of game that pulls in steady revenue while MachineGames crafts the next mainline sequel, and as such it's prioritizing long-term online play over strong story-driven singleplayer action.

We've known for a while that the latest Wolfenstein game, a co-op based shooter called Youngblood, is a service game based around two things: monetization and engagement. Youngblood not only has optional skin-based microtransactions, but it features online co-op play with a friend and sports the kind of level design found in Dishonored games. This is apt because Arkane worked heavily on the project. These environments will foster more long-winded play time with emphasis on exploration alongside chaotic, Nazi-blasting combat.

Now MachineGames talks more about Youngblood's design, what it's meant to do, and how it'll expand over time with steady updates, challenges, and content drops, service-game style.

Roadmaps are a big thing right now in gaming, but they're usually reserved for online games that divvy out digestible chunks over time to keep gamers playing. Very seldom do we see them for singleplayer-only games like RAGE 2.

Having failed to capture the live service market with Fallout 76, Bethesda is eager to change things up a bit. The publisher is using RAGE 2 as a means of combining both singleplayer gaming with online content similar to Ubisoft's strategy with recent Assassin's Creed games. As we've said before, RAGE 2 is a live game without multiplayer and keeps gamers static in their own controlled sessions while id evolves the game with updates. This could be a huge drawback as co-op play would spark engagement, which could then be monetized accordingly.

In a recent roadmap update--because every game needs a roadmap these days--id and Bethesda outlined how RAGE 2 will evolve over time. The cadence of free updates is quite slow compared to most service games that must rapidly expand weekly or even monthly, and shouldn't lead to an ever-shifting world.