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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate digital unit sales -83% from Dec
Some new sales statistics have been released for Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and according to the data digital sales are dwindling compared to December.
While Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is undoubtedly a massive success, the title seems to be falling off sales wise since we have passed the holiday season. According to new digital sales data released from SuperData Arcade, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has dropped 83% in unit sales since December, 2018.
The website has reported that the sales of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate were closely tied to the Nintendo Switch hardware sales over the course of the holiday season. While digital unit sales for the game are mostly progressively going down, the in-game spending for the title has risen with more players grabbing the Fighters Pass for the coming DLC fighters Nintendo plan on releasing. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is currently and only available on the Nintendo Switch, for more information about the title visit the official Super Smash Bros. Ultimate website here.
Continue reading: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate digital unit sales -83% from Dec (full post)
NASA snap HD pictures of most distant object ever explored
NASA has showcased their success over the weekend as the space agency has managed to snap some HD images and video of the farthest object ever explored.
The object titled "Ultima Thule" was encountered by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft while it was journeying through the Kuiper Belt. The New Horizons spacecraft managed to snap the "most detailed images of Ultima Thule" as it passed the object at precisely 12:33 a.m. EST on Jan. 1. The images were captured with New Horizons Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), the images offer a resolution of about "110 feet (33 meters) per pixel".
New Horizons Principal Investigator, Alan Stern commented on the achievement saying "Getting these images required us to know precisely where both tiny Ultima and New Horizons were - moment by moment - as they passed one another at over 32,000 miles per hour in the dim light of the Kuiper Belt, a billion miles beyond Pluto. This was a much tougher observation than anything we had attempted in our 2015 Pluto flyby". Now that NASA have these images, the space agency team is currently debating what the crater looking patches are on Ultima and how they were formed.
Continue reading: NASA snap HD pictures of most distant object ever explored (full post)
Huawei Mate X: foldable 5G smartphone that costs $2600
Huawei has just unveiled its new foldable smartphone, with the Mate X being unveiled at MWC 2019 in Barcelona, Spain - taking some pot shots across the fold at Samsung and its just-unveiled Galaxy Fold.
There are some small but important differences between the Huawei Mate X and Samsung Galaxy Fold, with the Mate X featuring a single display on one side of the device. Huawei has the Mate X folding in a different way to the Galaxy Fold, with one side of the phone larger than the other when it's folded, and massive when its unfolded.
Better yet, Huawei has used a grip-like side that I really dig.
Continue reading: Huawei Mate X: foldable 5G smartphone that costs $2600 (full post)
Fortnite revenues drop 48% in January alone
Fortnite was unstoppable at one point but everything that goes up must come down, and the up was leading right up into December and now that down is in January and it all revolves around Fortnite's revenues being down by gigantic numbers.
According to the latest report from SuperData on the top grossing titles across the world, Fortnite lost the top spot on consoles to FIFA 19 and had Super Smash Bros. Ultimate nipping on its heels. SuperData reports that Fortnite revenue on all platforms combined declined by a huge 48% month-over-month, while noting that "sales are still up significantly year-over-year".
SuperData adds: "This comes after a peak month in December and points to an increasingly lumpy revenue profile heading into 2019". Looking at the numbers a little more, we see that Fortnite is #5 on the PC, losing out to Dungeon Fighter Online, League of Legends, Fantasy Westward Journey Online II, and CrossFire. Fortnite comes in at #5 while PUBG kicks off at #6, and then continues with World of Warcraft West, World of Tanks, Sims 4, and then DOTA 2.
Continue reading: Fortnite revenues drop 48% in January alone (full post)
Apex Legends could soon have another 11 characters
Respawn launched Apex Legends with 8 characters (6 were free, 2 can be unlocked) but the developer was never going to stop there, with some datamining goodness teasing 11 new characters that should be launched across the next few months.
The 11 new characters sound interesting individually, with the leaks definitely referring to new characters and not new weapons. There are a few interesting names in the list, with some references to another EA property: Crysis. The new Apex Legends characters include Nomad and Prophet, both names familiar with Crysis fans from the trilogy of games. Hell, there's even some cryptocurrency lovin' in there with Apex Legends to soon receive a new character called Crypto.
Apex Legends' first season kicks off next month, so we should see developer Respawn Entertainment unveil the new characters very, very soon. Also remember that the Game Developers Conference is in a few weeks, where I'm sure Apex Legends will be a big part of the show at GDC 2019 this year - a surprising entry considering the game didn't even exist on gamers' radars until a few weeks ago.
Continue reading: Apex Legends could soon have another 11 characters (full post)
Apex Legends fan spends $500 on loot boxes, is disappointed
Apex Legends is one of the hottest games on the market right now and it is seeing some pretty crazy fans plonking down serious money on loot boxes to get the ultra rare cosmetic items that have a less than 1% chance of dropping.
The biggest case of this would have to be Cole, a 24-year-old gamer who spent $500 in order to unlock 500 loot boxes on the pursuit of getting said ultra rare items. Cole spoke with Kotaku about the deal, saying that before playing Apex Legends he was playing Fortnite, so he's no stranger to wanting cosmetic items in his games, and is willing to pay for it.
Cole said: "These games didn't tempt me into ludicrous spending. In my many hours in both games I probably spent less than $30. I've never had much luck when it comes to loot boxes and despite wanting the items inside, I knew the maths behind it and wasn't going to throw my money around chasing the carrot on a stick".
Continue reading: Apex Legends fan spends $500 on loot boxes, is disappointed (full post)
Sony registers new patent for PS5 backwards compatibility
At the start of the month I reported on a newly-surfaced patent that suggested Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 would be backwards compatible with PS1/PS2/PS3/PS4 games, and here we are again with a new patent that was filed yesterday and is registered to Sony Interactive Entertainment.
PlayStation hardware architect Mark Cerny has his name attached to the patent as an inventor, and should be leading the PS5 charge. The new patent is titled "Simulation of legacy bus operation for backward compatibility" and was registered alongside the "CPUID impersonating method" that we reported on earlier this month.
With these patents, we can only guess that Sony will have backwards compatibility as a huge feature on the PlayStation 5. If the PS5 can 'emulate' previous-gen PlayStation consoles, it would open up playing thousands of PlayStation games from all generations. Not only that but the previous post I wrote on the PS5 backwards compatibility patents teased the SRGAN process that would see "remastering by emulation" that would upscale SH/HD games to 4K using AI technology.
Continue reading: Sony registers new patent for PS5 backwards compatibility (full post)
Halo Infinite: more RPG elements, arrives on next-gen Xbox
Microsoft is set to have one of, if not its biggest E3 ever this year where we should be introduced to a couple of next-gen Xbox consoles that will be released in 2020. We won't just find ourselves drooling over next-gen Xbox consoles, but also next-gen games that will launch alongside the beefed up consoles.
One of these games should be the new Halo Infinite, which will roll out with a brand new engine and according to Brad Sams, will have "more RPG elements than prior versions of the series". The last news we heard about Halo Infinite was that it would be a launch title for the next generation Xbox, and this is something we should expect to be unveiled and announced during E3 2019 in June.
Sams added: "Plans around the event are still coming together but the company is starting to lock-down the announcements for the keynote. Seeing as the event is still about four months away, the company could change plans and alter their keynote but for now, expect to hear more about the plans for Scarlett family of devices at E3 2019".
Continue reading: Halo Infinite: more RPG elements, arrives on next-gen Xbox (full post)
Fallout 3 remaster teased by Amazon listing?
Bethesda could be planning a Fallout 3 remaster for current-gen consoles similar to Skyrim: Special Edition, complete with mod support and Creation Club integration.
Bethesda just listed a new mystery game on Amazon. Of course the listing has no actual information other than Bethesda's name (the ASIN didn't reveal much either), but there's a teaser trailer that looks very familiar. The footage is just like the classic film countdown reels from the Fallout franchise--all that's missing is those booming violins.
It could be something else though. Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax Media recently filed a trademark for a game called Deathloop, which we guessed was either a horror game or maybe a kind of weird roguelike where players get as far as they can before dying. ZeniMax is also making a brand new MMORPG set in an original IP, and maybe the new listing has something to do with it.
Continue reading: Fallout 3 remaster teased by Amazon listing? (full post)
Fallout 76 gets three free expansions in 2019
Fallout 76 may not be the game it should (or could) be just yet, but it's come a long way since launch. The game's journey is far from over and Bethesda plans to roll out a ton of new content throughout this year.
The online-only disaster that was Fallout 76 at launch has morphed into something that more resembles a competent service game (which it totally wasn't at launch). There's still a lot of hiccups, and Bethesda has a lot more work to do, but things are moving along. The studio isn't giving up on their multiplayer Fallout game.
Today Bethesda announced a big roadmap for their experimental online game that sees considerable expansions planned for 2019. Fallout 76 is set to get three major content updates called Wild Appalachia, Nuclear Winter, and Wastelanders, each of which brings new things like modes, quests, loot and features. These expansions will be totally free, and will release across Spring, Summer, and Fall.
Continue reading: Fallout 76 gets three free expansions in 2019 (full post)
EA CEO pay is 371 times higher than average worker's salary
EA CEO Andrew Wilson makes a lot of money. We're talking tens of millions of dollars every year, or hundreds of times more than its 9,300 employees make. As developers toil over projects and pay a very real human cost, publisher CEOs are raking in tons of cash.
According to a new report from financial firm As You Sow that outlines the Top Most Overpaid CEOs of 2019, video game CEOs like Bobby Kotick (Activision) and Andrew Wilson (EA) are making a killing as their respective companies slay jobs and restructure business models.
Electronic Arts' Andrew Wilson is among the highest-paid CEOs on the list, let alone in the games industry. In the same year EA talked about carefully weighing their investments, restructuring their business, and cancelled Star Wars games, Wilson earned $35.7 million or about 371 times more than the average Electronic Arts employee. About 97% of EA's shareholders agreed with this payout, which is calculated as an excess of over $19 million.
Continue reading: EA CEO pay is 371 times higher than average worker's salary (full post)
NVIDIA GeForce 419.17 drivers out, support for GTX 1660 Ti
NVIDIA unleashed its new price/performance monster today with the new GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (our review here) and now we have some drivers that will support it with the new GeForce Game Ready 419.71 drivers released.
The new drivers include the best support for Anthem, support for the newly released GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, a bunch of the usual fixes but a surprise that I didn't expect - SLI support for Apex Legends and Far Cry New Dawn. There are some fixes built into the new drivers, even for games that aren't released yet funnily enough with DOOM Eternal seeing decals rendered as black fixed.
If you've got GeForce Experience installed you'll be able to grab the new drivers if you didn't have them automatically downloaded, but if not you can find them here.
Continue reading: NVIDIA GeForce 419.17 drivers out, support for GTX 1660 Ti (full post)
Scooby-Doo's 'Shaggy' added to JUMP FORCE roster by modder
A modder has brought to life the one and only 'Shaggy' in Bandai Namco's JUMP FORCE through a brand new mod. The hungry mystery solving icon goes head-to-head against the amine universes strongest.
The release of Bandai Namco's JUMP FORCE has hit the fighting game community with some questionable poise. Some players claiming the title is barely finished and needs considerable work, others just enjoy the simplicity of having anime characters from different series' beating each-other up. I suppose it really comes down to the saying of 'different strokes for different folks'. I think what most members of the fighting game community can agree upon is the inclusion of Scooby-Doo's 'Shaggy' in any fighting game. We simply just don't care, we want a playable Shaggy and we want to be able to kick butt with him as well, now that is possible.
Above you will find a video from BeatzYT3 who has modded Shaggy into JUMP FORCE, taking the moveset of Vegeta and even keeping his gloves. BeatzYT3 has done an absolutely fantastic job with the character animation for Shaggy and even adding some voice lines for players to enjoy. What can be pointed out is that Shaggy's has zero facial expressions while beating up his opponent, this is due to BeatzYT3 not knowing this part of the modding process but I'm sure will be updated as more of the process if figured out. It should be noted that PC owners of JUMP FORCE will be the only owners able to play this mod since it has be downloaded and installed into the games file directory.
Continue reading: Scooby-Doo's 'Shaggy' added to JUMP FORCE roster by modder (full post)
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 'Joker' stage title 'Mementos'
We know that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's first fighter that is apart of the 'Fighter Pass' will be arriving with a unique stage to complement the fighter, but what would the stage be called for Joker? Mementos?
All Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players are keen to see Persona 5's 'Joker', the first fighter in Nintendo's 'Fighter Pass' coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. While we are still a few months out from the release of 'Joker', data miners have not wasted time in diving into Smash's updated system files to try and find a piece of information regarding the coming fighter. Dr.HyperCake is one of these data miners, and he claims to have come across Joker's stage name that is planned to be arriving with the fighter.
According to Dr.HyperCake, "Digging through LVD files in Ultimate, and I found "Jack_Menentoes_" lying around amongst the strings. The format of this string matches stage name strings in ui_stage_db ("[Series]_[Stage]"), and Joker's internal name is "jack". Mementos stage confirmed?" Dr.HyperCake is claiming that the file "Jack Mememtos" is the title of the DLC stage coming. This would make sense considering that there is a stage within Joker's Persona 5 called 'mementos'. Nintendo confirmed that 'Joker' would be arriving to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate owners who picked up the 'Fighters Pass' "before the end of April".
Continue reading: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 'Joker' stage title 'Mementos' (full post)
Guild Wars 2 developers prep for lay-offs and restructuring
Putting it lightly would be saying that ArenaNet and more specifically the player-base around Guild Wars 2 was struggling. Now the company is preparing for job layoffs and company restructuring.
I'll first start off by saying that Guild Wars 2 was an absolutely incredible game when I was playing, being an avid MMO fan and having a considerable amount of experience in different types of MMO's, I can honestly say that game hit almost every single category of 'fun' and 'rewarding' for me. Except one. End game content. The topic of Guild War 2's end-game content being allegedly 'lackluster' is purely a subjective interpretation of the game. For me personally I didn't feel as there was enough reward for me to keep playing, it felt repetitive and resulted in me being bored with the experience despite its amazing qualities.
I have seen this very same point argued for the soul reason of Guild War 2's downfall player-base wise, and ultimately the slow downfall of ArenaNet which we are seeing now. According to Kotaku, Songyee Yoon, the CEO publisher NCSoft who owns ArenaNet sent out an email to employee's of ArenaNet. It read; "Our live game business revenue is declining as our franchises age, delays in development on PC and mobile have created further drains against our revenue projects, while our operating costs in the west have increased. Where we are is not sustainable, and is not going to set us up for future success."
Continue reading: Guild Wars 2 developers prep for lay-offs and restructuring (full post)
Nintendo Switch could feature Xbox Games Pass by end of 2019
We are starting to see quite a potentially valuable relationship form between two leading gaming companies in their respective fields, Nintendo and Microsoft. But what if Microsoft brought their games to the world of portability?
Rumors have been flying around suggesting that Nintendo are Microsoft are currently planning on bringing the quite popular Xbox Games Pass to the Nintendo Switch. While there isn't any solidifying evidence to go off of, we do have many "inside sources" saying that there is strong on-going discussion about the matter currently being conducted. With titles such as Microsoft's Minecraft and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice coming to, or already arrived on the Nintendo Switch, many people have said that Microsoft are gearing up to bring their Xbox Games Pass to the portable console in the form of cloud service.
Some of these people making these claims are Direct-Feed Games, the above video mentions the fact that Microsoft have been very vocal about their ambition to bring the Xbox Games Pass to as many platforms. There is no doubt that the Nintendo Switch would be a perfect candidate for this, but how would they do it? Direct-Feed Games says that Microsoft will bring Games Pass to the Switch via a downloadable app that will allow support for Project Xcloud. The app would act as a conduit to both the Xbox Games Pass and the future Project Xcloud. Project Xcloud will allow for games to be streamed from the Xbox cloud to the Switch seamlessly. This type of game streaming has already been done for Switch titles such as; Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Assassin's Creed Odyssey.
Continue reading: Nintendo Switch could feature Xbox Games Pass by end of 2019 (full post)
Did Blizzard just tease the 30th hero for Overwatch?
Blizzard has just teased what could turn out to be the 30th hero in Overwatch, with a post on the official blog of the game teasing some in-game lore, referencing a strike team that was sent after an unknown threat.
In the teaser embedded above, an in-universe declassified report written by Captain Cuerva says there was an encounter with 'Baptiste'. The log says that a strike team was sent down to retrieve or kill Jean-Baptiste Augustin adding that "no one leaves Talon". Cuerva writes in the report: "I know better than to underestimate Baptiste. I helped train him myself, and he was one of our best. I've never known a medic to be such a good shot, and his adaptability to new situations is a rare talent. All of us have seen our fair share of conflict, but Baptiste was built to survive. I swear he has the Devil's own luck".
I'm hoping that the 30th hero is another healer, as there is a big hole in the amount of powerful healers in Overwatch right now. In the full report from Cuerva, he teases: "I know better than to underestimate Baptiste. I helped train him myself, and he was one of our best. I've never known a medic to be such a good shot, and his adaptability to new situations is a rare talent. All of us have seen our fair share of conflict, but Baptiste was built to survive. I swear he has the Devil's own luck".
Continue reading: Did Blizzard just tease the 30th hero for Overwatch? (full post)
Overclockers UK unveils $43,000 gaming PC: 8Pack Orion X2
Overclocker '8PACK' is making headlines today with Overclockers UK unveiling his new 8Pack Orion X2 rig that costs an insane $43,000. What do you get for close to $50K? Well, not one but two damn powerful rigs with some absolutely beautiful custom watercooling and craftsmanship.
The new 8Pack Orion X2 is a dual-system with a fully custom watercooling system inside of the Phanteks Elite Full Tower PC, packing an Intel Core i9-7980XE processor (18C/36T) overclocked to a minimum of 4.6GHz. 8Pack has designed what Overclockers UK explain, and I would have to agree with, one of the "most complex and efficient custom watercooling systems ever installed in a PC".
TBoth of the systems are powered by a power splitter from the 8Pack Edition Super Flower Leadex power supply which provides 2000W of power to the systems, alongside 80Plus Platinum Certification.
Continue reading: Overclockers UK unveils $43,000 gaming PC: 8Pack Orion X2 (full post)
NZXT releases Overwatch-themed H500 PC gaming chassis
NZXT has teamed with Blizzard on a new Overwatch-themed version of its H500 chassis, with NZXT announcing the new special edition H500 Overwatch Edition mid-tower chassis.
The company touts an all-steel construction and cable management system that will keep your gaming rig looking slick andclean, with the H Series design rocking the exclusive Overwatch black, white, and orange color combination.
NZXT provides a tempered glass panel that will let you take a peep inside of your gaming rig.
Continue reading: NZXT releases Overwatch-themed H500 PC gaming chassis (full post)
NVIDIA reportedly launching GeForce GTX 1650 next month
NVIDIA is reportedly preparing to launch a new Turing graphics card next month, with VideoCardz reporting that their sources have confirmed NVIDIA will be launching the GeForce GTX 1650 in March.
The site says that "so far there is no confirmation on GTX 1660 non-Ti, but according to 3rd party recent leaks, that card is surely happening at some point". We should expect that the lower-end GTX 1650 will roll out with the TU117 GPU, on the same 12nm node but with less VRAM, and most likely cheaper GDDR5 versus GDDR6.
NVIDIA should launch the GeForce GTX 1650 with 4GB of GDDR5 on a smaller 128-bit memory bus and purported price of $179, meaning it will be great competition for AMD's mid-range Radeon RX 570 graphcis card.
Continue reading: NVIDIA reportedly launching GeForce GTX 1650 next month (full post)






















