Hello Games teases big No Man's Sky update for 2020

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 25, 2020 6:10 PM CDT

Hello Games teases more sizable No Man's Sky expansions for 2020, and might be working on another game set in the signature IP.

Hello Games teases big No Man's Sky update for 2020

No Man's Sky has evolved tremendously since 2016. It now has VR support, active online multiplayer, freighters, an actual campaign with objectives, base building, and even exosuits. So what's next? No one knows for sure, but Hello Games is far from done with its sci-fi universe. Big things are coming in 2020, possibly even a brand new major expansion like Beyond or NEXT.

"In addition to these content updates, we are working up some more ambitious additions to the universe, and have so much more planned for 2020 for us to feel excited about," Hello Games' Sean Murray said in a recent blog post.

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Be a Bad Boy to enter our Blu-ray giveaway

Ben Gourlay | Contests & Giveaways | Apr 25, 2020 5:10 PM CDT

Thanks to our friends at Universal Sony Home Entertainment, we have ten Blu-ray copies of the new release action blockbuster 'Bad Boys for Life' to give away to our readers.

Be a Bad Boy to enter our Blu-ray giveaway

The original Bad Boys, Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence), are back. After a string of assassinations and an attempt on Mike's life, he convinces a hesitant Marcus to hold off retirement and partner one last time. Together, they team up with AMMO the new hotshot division of the Miami PD, to take down the merciless head of the Aretas Cartel.

To go into the running to win a prize, post this article to your social media profiles, send your postal address to ben at TweakTown dot com and correctly answer the following question before the competition closes on 1 May.

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Mass Effect dev working Zenimax's new AAA IP

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 25, 2020 4:15 PM CDT

Zenimax recruits seasoned game dev Colin Cambpell (Mass Effect, Jedi: Fallen Order) to help with its big new AAA game.

Mass Effect dev working Zenimax's new AAA IP

The Elder Scrolls Online developers at Zenimax Online are making a brand new AAA IP, and based on an old job listing from October 2018, it's likely an MMORPG. Official details are scarce and Zenimax has mostly been tight-lipped on its new game plans, but we can glean the scope of the project based around the talent involved.

Case in point: the games-maker just recruited Colin Campbell as a level designer for its new AAA team. Campbell has quite the CV, and has a ton of projects under his belt. He worked as producer on Jedi: Fallen Order at Respawn, was the lead narrative designer of Battlefront II's singleplayer campaign, and served four years at BioWare designing levels for the Mass Effect series. Now he's working on Zenimax's unannounced game.

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160,000 Nintendo accounts possibly hacked, NNID sign-ins disabled

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 25, 2020 3:17 PM CDT

The huge Nintendo account hacking spree is much worse than we thought: Nintendo now confirms up to 160,000 users accounts may have been compromised.

160,000 Nintendo accounts possibly hacked, NNID sign-ins disabled

Earlier this month, Nintendo confirmed user accounts were getting hacked left and right, leading to credit card fraud and access to sensitive data. Now the games-maker says as many as 160,000 users could've been hijacked across the globe. Hackers were able to glean sensitive data from users like name, date of birth, gender, country / region, and email address.

Nintendo has turned off legacy Nintendo Network ID sign-ins to help curb the infiltrations, and also manually reset passwords. The company advises consumers to use two-factor authentication to protect their data.

Continue reading: 160,000 Nintendo accounts possibly hacked, NNID sign-ins disabled (full post)

Ocarina of Time Unreal Engine 4 remake is breath-taking and beautiful

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 25, 2020 2:11 PM CDT

What would Ocarina of Time look like completely remade in a modern games engine? Skilled developer CryZENx and his team delivers an answer with their eye-opening project.

Ocarina of Time Unreal Engine 4 remake is breath-taking and beautiful

Ocarina of Time has been reborn in Unreal Engine 4 as an enchanting high-FPS experience. There's higher-end PC effects that mesh perfectly with the old-school polygonal style; Link is rendered in perfect detail, grass sways in the wind, real-time weather effects illuminate the world, light catches in the fog, mist rises from crashing waterfalls, etc. But some of the inside environments have that old-school look and feel. The result is a perfect blend of nostalgia and modern gaming that makes you hope Nintendo is paying attention and remaking OoT.

The fan project was made by CryZENx in tandem with a 10-person team of devs, programmers, and 3D artists of incredible talent. The footage above is from the sixth major update to the project, and the remake is still in development and isn't 100% finished...but it looks damn good for something that might have a ways to go. There's even a little nod to Etika at the 49 minute mark.

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Battlefield V retires into maintenance mode this summer

Derek Strickland | Deals | Apr 25, 2020 12:56 PM CDT

DICE is just about finished with Battlefield V, which suits fans just fine--a lot of them have moved on too.

Battlefield V retires into maintenance mode this summer

Right now the Battlefield V community isn't too happy with DICE. There's progression issues, cheating, and an overall lack of care to the live service game, and honestly, that's to be expected. These games are designed to rotate out of EA's big picture a year or so after release to make room for the Next Big Service Game (with the exception of Battlefront II, which has been elongated out of necessity to fill the huge gap in Star Wars games).

Now DICE confirms what everyone's long suspected: The studio will soon be done with Battlefield V. In June 2020, Battlefield V will get its last update. After that it'll be retired into maintenance mode--the servers will still be live, but the overall content will remain static.

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Here's how bad coronavirus spread through cruise ships worldwide

We all know that cruise ships are petri dishes at the best of time, and as someone who has been on two lengthy cruises in the last few years -- I can only imagine how fast COVID-19 spreads on a ship.

Here's how bad coronavirus spread through cruise ships worldwide

Well, according to Florida-based newspaper the Miami Herald, it seems it is really bad. At the moment, there is no global organization that keeps tabs on COVID-19 cases on cruise ships, so the Miami Herald took it upon itself to find out just how bad coronavirus has been on cruise liners across the world.

The Miami Herald found that at least 3582 people tested positive for COVID-19 either during, or right after their cruise. The death toll is "at least 65 people" because of it, while COVID-19 cases were discovered on a huge 54 cruises around the world. 54 might not sound like much, but that represents 1/5 of the global cruise ships in the oceans. Yeah 1 out of 5 had COVID-19 on-board. Yikes.

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Facebook announces Messenger Rooms, the next big upgrade in video chat

Anthony Garreffa | Internet & Websites | Apr 24, 2020 8:28 PM CDT

We all are stuck at home right now practicing social distancing and being quarantined over COVID-19 coronavirus, and now Facebook has finally (seriously, why haven't they done it until now) announced Messenger Rooms.

Facebook announces Messenger Rooms, the next big upgrade in video chat

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new Messenger Rooms feature in a livestream today, and in an interview with The Verge, Zuckerberg explained that Facebook's new video features were planned as a larger part of creating more private messaging tools.

Zuckerberg explained: "Video presence isn't a new area for us. But it's an area that we want to go deeper in, and it fits the overall theme, which is that we're shifting more resources in the company to focus on private communication and private social platforms, rather than just the traditional broader ones. So this is a good mix: we're building tools into Facebook and Instagram that are helping people find smaller groups of people to then go have more intimate connections with, and be able to have private sessions with".

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NVIDIA wants you to 'GET AMPED' for Ampere GPU reveal on May 14

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Apr 24, 2020 7:34 PM CDT

So I laid my head down last night after a huge day, to read an email from NVIDIA that opens with "Get Amped for Latest Platform Breakthroughs in AI, Deep Learning, Autonomous Vehicles, Robotics and Professional Graphics".

NVIDIA wants you to 'GET AMPED' for Ampere GPU reveal on May 14

Yes everyone -- GET AMPED for the Ampere GPU architecture unveil at the now-heavily-delayed GPU Technology Conference with NVIDIA boss and CEO Jensen Huang. The company will be hosting its GTC 2020 keynote with Huang and his legendary opening keynote on May 14, at 6AM PST -- all on YouTube thanks to coronavirus.

Huang will "highlight the company's latest innovations in AI, high performance computing, data science, autonomous machines, healthcare and graphics during the recorded keynote".

Continue reading: NVIDIA wants you to 'GET AMPED' for Ampere GPU reveal on May 14 (full post)

Fallout 76 glitches caused by outdated NPC scripts from older games

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 24, 2020 5:10 PM CDT

Fallout 76 has a bunch of new nefarious glitches are deleting and stealing players' gear, ammo, and power armor pieces.

Fallout 76 glitches caused by outdated NPC scripts from older games

Fallout 76 is a mess right now. The new update, Wastelanders, was supposed to fix Fallout 76 by adding new human NPCs. But the massive expansion seems to have made things worse by sabotaging players' hard-earned gear.

Reddit user RosalynJeffries put together a comprehensive list of Fallout 76 bugs that include:

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