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As games become more and more expensive to make and gamers' tastes become more demanding for high-resolution experiences, games publishers and developers are having a harder time with the traditional one-off sale economics of offline singleplayer games.

The video games industry has been shifting away from the traditional closed-off singleplayer game experience and towards the online-based games-as-a-service model for years. But with the rise of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and EA's recent closure of Visceral Games, players are getting worried that singleplayer games might die off. After all, publishers like EA, Activision, Blizzard, Take-Two and Ubisoft are making billions every year on digital-based long-term games like Destiny, Overwatch, Rainbow Six: Siege and GTA Online, all of which last years after their initial release and use microtransactions to fund recurring updates and new content. Only Japanese publishers like Square Enix and Nintendo alongside Bethesda Softworks have really pushed offline singleplayer games. In other words: lootboxes are here to stay, and singleplayer games are going on the back burner.

Microsoft is among the key publishers and games-makers chasing after the lucrative service-based games model--in fact, most if not all of Microsoft's recent games not only are poised for monetization via microtransactions and online engagement, but they embrace the core framework of the company's new "Xbox as a service" model. Xbox exec Shannon Loftis recently discussed how the monetary situation of singleplayer games has become "complicated" as the industry's major players shift towards GaaS and engagement-driven earnings.

In just a single month of availability, Destiny 2 is now the best-selling game of 2017 in the United States, and surpassed the original game across physical and digital launches.

The NPD Group's Mat Piscatella recently announced the firm's September 2017 video game earnings report, highlighting the key trends for the five-week period in September. While the report has a ton of interesting information about gaming's biggest hardware and software earners, Activision will be quite happy to hear that Bungie's Destiny 2 is a huge success in the United States.

"Destiny 2 was the top selling game of September, driving more launch month consumer spend than any other 2017 release to date," The NPD Group's video game analyst Mat Piscatella said. "With one month of sales, Destiny 2 also becomes the best selling game of 2017 year to date, and the third best-selling game of the 12 month rolling period ending September 2017, trailing only call of Duty: Infinite and Battlefield 1."

With its new Animal Crossing mobile game, Nintendo sends a clear signal about doubling down on traditional free-to-play monetization business models.

Nintendo has announced Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, the games-maker's latest mobile game to join its existing slate of smartphone games. On the heels of Fire Emblem Heroes' success, Nintendo has chosen to embrace the traditional (and lucrative) free-to-play "gacha" business model to supplement its successful console gaming segment. The Japanese games-maker originally wanted to implement a "free-to-start" business model used with Super Mario Run, but this strategy, which allowed users to try the game and forced a $10 purchase to keep playing, ultimately failed to catch on and fizzled out. The company said that it would continue testing out monetization strategies, but with this latest mobile release, Nintendo shows it has embraced the F2P sector.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is a direct result of Nintendo chasing the most popular--and most lucrative--mobile gaming trends. In its latest quarterly earnings, Nintendo earned $79 million from its smartphone gaming segment, largely bolstered by the success of Fire Emblem Heroes. The latest Animal Crossing game will follow a similar revenue model: while free to play, gamers can either spend time to build objects and decorate their personal interactive camp sites, or spend money for shortcut items like Leaf Tickets to unlock them right away. Tickets can be earned for free, but are capped on a day-to-day basis. Right now Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp's premium Leaf Tickets currency cost about $0.99 for 20 tickets.

EKWB have announced three new products, all heavily focused at performance with RGB integration. The EK-XRES Revo combo unit and two EK-RES X3 reservoirs, all three products will get any water cooling enthusiast excited with gorgeous RGB lighting and exceptional performance that you expect from EKWB products. All three products are equipped with 4-pin RGB LED strips and are compatible with mainstream motherboards and RGB controllers for seamless integration.

The EK-XRES 140 Revo D5 RGB PWM is a high-performance aftermarket pump top (volute) is integrated with the 140mm reservoir for Xylem D5 series water pumps. This top offers up to 15% increased hydraulic performance when compared to stock solutions.

EK-RES X3 series reservoirs manufactured from premium quality 60mm wide acrylic tube and POM Acetal end caps and features a total of six G1/4" ports. Quality EPDM rubber washers ensure airtight sealing for peace of mind performance and quality.

If you're like me, you can't resist a good Steam sale. Nothing is more satisfying than purchasing a heavily discounted game to add to your backlog of games that you never intend to play. Valve is usually exceptionally good at preventing leaked sale dates, until now.

Reddit user DarkMio posted, and since deleted, dates for the upcoming sales for the remainder of the year. These dates have since been confirmed by EuroGamer so it appears as if DarkMio was correct, the sales are listed below.

Steam Halloween Sale- October 26 to November 1

EVGA's upcoming GeForce GTX 1070 Ti series of graphics cards have been spotted, with four different GTX 1070 Ti variants on offer from a blower-style fan through to higher-end dual-fan coolers.

The first card we have rocks EVGA's impressive iCX cooling technology with a black and silver cooler.

EVGA throws in some RGB LED action by the looks of it with this one.

ASUS has just announced their new dual Xeon workstation motherboard, with the introduction of the WS C621E SAGE motherboard. ASUS' new offering is for high-end workstation users, who want a mind blowing amount of CPU grunt.

The new ASUS WC 621E SAGE motherboard rocks two LGA 3647 sockets, which will work with Intel's new Scalable family of Xeon CPUs. The board can support 205W TDP processors, which let it drive 2 x Intel Xeon Platinum 8180 processors with 28C/56T for a total of 56C/112T. There's also 4-way GPU support for both NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFire.

We have 12 x DDR4 DIMMs that support up to 768GB of DDR4 RAM, 7 x PCIe 3.0 x16 ports, with the full x16 PCIe 3.0 bandwidth required. There are 10 x SATA III ports, 4 x U.2 connectors (32GB/sec) and a single M.2 Socket 3 connector, all backed up with out-of-the-box support for NVMe PCIe SSD RAID 0. ASUS also includes 2 x GbE ports, Realtek 7.1-channel audio, and a bunch of USB 3.1 Gen 2/Gen 1, and USB 2.0 ports.

After four years, Grand Theft Auto V still has a massive following thanks to its online component...but what about the story mode? Rockstar says that story DLC expansions currently aren't in the works, but the team could return and make them happen in the future.

GTA V's story mode is seen by Rockstar as a complete game, but in a perfect world the studio would come back and revisit Los Santos with unique adventures. Sadly, the games industry is far from perfect, and Rockstar is always suffering from the age old "bandwidth problem": too many projects, too few people, too little time. With GTA Online and the massively ambitious Red Dead Redemption II in the works, which required Rockstar build from scratch for current-gen consoles, to say Rockstar is busy is a severe understatement. But they're still not ready to give up on new GTA V singleplayer content.

The harsh reality most gamers believed was that Rockstar didn't really want to make new GTA V content because they didn't need to. After all, GTA Online has earned over $1 billion since 2013, and it's far more lucrative to just keep releasing free updates than invest tons of resources and manpower in singleplayer content that, in a Rockstar dev's own words, might "fracture the playerbase".

Remedy Entertainment is hiring a writer to help pen the story for P7, the developer's new action-based IP.

Remedy, the team that brought us Alan Wake, Max Payne, and Quantum Break, is working on a mysterious new multi-platform, third-person action game codenamed P7 that promises a new original story alongside a long-lasting experience, possibly hinting at a service-game hook. "Featuring an intriguing story and a game structure offering a long-lasting experience, P7 contains the deepest game mechanics yet in a Remedy game," Remedy wrote in an older press release.

To ensure P7 can tick all those boxes--especially the story department--Remedy is currently hiring a writer that will help manifest and lay the groundwork for the game's ambitious scope. This isn't a senior writing position, however, hinting the studio already has an idea of P7's story; instead this candidate will work alongside the team to do a number of tasks--in other words this listing isn't calling for someone to dream up the entirety of P7's storyline.

Microsoft delivers on its promise at E3 2017 to take backward compatibility one step farther.

As of today, Xbox One owners can now play a selection of 13 original Xbox games on their systems including Fusion Frenzy, Dead to Rights, Sid Meier's Pirates!, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and one of my favorite games ever made, Star Wars: Knights of The old Republic.

The games will be playable on the full family of Xbox One consoles including the original (now discontinued) launch 2013 Xbox One, the newer Xbox One S, and the high-end 4K-ready $499 Xbox One X when the console launches next month. But not only will the games be playable, but optional multiplayer modes like system link are compatible with Xbox Ones as well. While Microsoft appears to be going all-in on the backward compatibility feature, there's some games that just won't show up due to licensing rights (I'm very surprised Halo: Combat Evolved isn't on this list, along with The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind). The list isn't exactly full of gems, but this program has only just started.

Following the sexual harassment claims by two women against Tyler "EviLore" Malka, the owner of popular gaming forum NeoGAF, users started leaving en masse and the site went down. Now the site is back up, and Malka has delivered a statement. His response: "it's not true."

NeoGAF is a widely-used gaming forum site where gamers, industry insiders, and key influencers come together to discuss gaming--among other things. Following the Harvey Weinstein incident, thousands of women and men have come forward to reveal sexual harassment claims, and even NeoGAF's site owner EviLore was accused by an ex-girlfriend. This caused a huge exodus from the site's moderator team as well as users, who made dozens of posts mocking and calling the owner out, and the event pretty much fractured the community and the website.

Now NeoGAF is back up for good, and EviLore states that the site will be run by the remaining moderators--and any existing and future moderators will remain anonymous. In an official post the site owner claims the allegations "aren't credible" and he's confident that "there's plenty of evidence and witnesses to corroborate".

Gears of War 4 is being enhanced specifically for the Xbox One X, with an update being pushed out on November 7 that will provide 4K and HDR support, as well as many other Xbox One X specific features and enhancements to the game. Check out the trailer below for more details.

The updated Gears of War 4 for the Xbox One X launches on November 7, the same day the Xbox One X goes on sale. If you own Gears of War 4, it'll be a free upgrade for you - you'll just need to buy Xbox One X.

True 4K Experience

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is about to launch, and it should be quite the stunner on the PC with some Vulkan-based optimizations ready to stretch out those hard-to-find Radeon RX Vega graphics cards.

Developer MachineGames has put in some serious work into the PC version of Wolfenstein II, with an uncapped framerate that all id Software games feature as id Software has a "very strong PC DNA". We have 4:3, 16:9, 16:10 and 21:9 UltraWide aspect ratio support, right through to 4K - and I'm sure 8K, something I'll be testing next week on my fleet of GPUs.

Wolfenstein II will have support for the Vulkan API, with DOOM already putting the API to good use on high-end graphics cards. But now Wolfenstein II will have Vulkan in a new way, with the developer wanting to "take it to the next level". MachineGames explain: "Using Vulkan when developing has allowed us to utilize the power of AMD's VEGA graphics chips in ways that were not possible before, giving us fine grained control over the performance and feature set of the GPU without having to sacrifice artistic intent. Combined with the flexibility of AMD's hardware, Vulkan gives us the artistic freedom to deliver Wolfenstein without compromise".

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is one of the biggest games of all time now, but we now know there will not be a sequel. PUBG creator Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene was recently interviewed by IGN, where he talked about a physical copy of Battlegrounds for the Xbox One. During this interview, we found out some more about the game, and news that there will indeed be no "Battlegrounds 2".

Greene said that the 5-year plan for Battlegrounds is to push it onto consoles, as he's always asked about when Battlegrounds will come to consoles. Greene seems to be happy with the release on Xbox, and so would I with the untold millions of dollars Microsoft would've paid him.

He also said that there will be no sequel to Battlegrounds, as Bluehole is "building the game as a service".

Samsung will be ramping up to the Galaxy S9 early next year, but that doesn't stop the 24/7 rumor mill from pumping away with Galaxy S9 rumors - with the 3.5mm headphone jack looking like it's around to stay, thankfully. We now have a look at the new logos Samsung could use for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ smartphones.

The latest rumor about the Galaxy S9 is that it will feature the fingerprint sensor on a small notch, on the front of the phone, versus the absolutely stupid position it is on the Galaxy S8, S8+, and Galaxy Note 8. Samsung will reportedly make the bezel even smaller on the next-gen Galaxy S9 and S9+ by putting higher-end hardware inside, which will leave more room for the battery, and just enough room to throw in a fingerprint sensor on the front.

The way that Samsung can pull this off is by having a small notch that can be 'pressed-in' on the Super AMOLED display on the Galaxy S9, something you'd feel by running your thumb over the screen and 'into' the small 'fingerprint sensor button'. The in-display fingerprint sensor would be a big selling point of the Galaxy S9, something Apple couldn't pull off even with their new iPhone X (which has Face ID instead), and the tech wasn't ready to throw into the Galaxy S8 or Note 8 smartphones.

NVIDIA has released their new GeForce 388.00 drivers, which rock Game Ready optimizations for Destiny 2 and Assassin's Creed: Origins. Destiny 2, is available tomorrow on the PC while AC: Origins will be available on October 27. Download the new GeForce 388.00 drivers here.

NVIDIA recommends their enthusiast-level GeForce GTX 1080 Ti for 4K gaming in Destiny 2, while the GTX 1070 is recommended for 1440p gamers on the Highest visual settings, while the GTX 1060 is all good for 1080p.

As for Assassin's Creed: Origins, it will begin pre-loading at 16:00 UTC on both Steam and Uplay on the PC, PS4 owners have to wait until October 25, while Xbox One owners can already pre-load the game. Of course, there will be a day one update of 1.2GB for the PC, 1.3GB on the PS4, and 1.4GB on the Xbox One. This day one update will concentrate on balancing the game, performance improvements, stability (shocking, this is an Assassin's Creed game... they're all rock solid), and some tuning to the Photo Mode controls.

The Xbox One version of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds will be one of the biggest console releases of the year, after its record breaking success with $450 million in sales from 15 million copies, and a record breaking 2 million concurrent gamers on Steam - beating out heavily established eSports champions like CS:GO and Dota 2.

Battlegrounds is headed to the Xbox One family of consoles as a timed exclusive before the rumored launch of PUBG on the PS4. Recently, Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene said that there will indeed be a physical version for the Xbox, but not the PC at this stage.

Greene continued, saying that the Xbox One version of PUBG will see its fate on consoles in the hands of gamers. Greene said that he thinks the Xbox community will drive the "competitive edge" of the game. He added: "If a competitive scene wants to develop it, it will if the community wants it".

In the spirit of Halloween, Gears of War 4 is the latest to get in the holiday spirit and announce that its October Update will include the final two maps for Gears of War 4, along with Xbox One X enhancements. The Halloween event is also set to include new themed characters, weapon skins and special events.

The two new maps are Fuel Depot and Lift Apex. Fuel Depot is a cult-classic from the original Gears of War and Gears of War 2 and is a snipers dream with vasly-open design. "The small windows of visibility offered by the warehouse shutters are still great for harassing your opponents with a Lancer - provided the enemy Sniper doesn't take your head off first!"

Lift Apex will also be somewhat similar to veteran players as Lift Apex is a re-work of a previous map that features timed shutters instead of the previous moving lift. "Set in an Imulsion Extraction Facility right in the middle of the Serano ocean, this ocean-bound elevator introduces a faster and more tactical experience than its original inspiration."

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is going to be huge, that's a given. But how big? Box Office Pro recently released its first-weekend projections for the upcoming Star Wars movie with an estimated $215 million grossed in the US over its first three days. In comparison, The Force Awakens first weekend grossed $247million.

Box Office Pro notes that Twitter activity is comparable with The Force Awakens, with expectations that The Last Jedi will end its run with $760 million grossed. This is obviously less than The Force Awakens, which holds the record for highest-grossing movie in US history with $936 million. Box Office Pro states that this is due to the fact that The Force Awakens is the middle chapter of the trilogy, this has been the case for the previous Star War sagas.

"Presumably, this will provide the fewest "standalone movie" characteristics of the new episodes - ala The Empire Strikes Back and Attack of the Clones, middle chapters that became the "lowest" box office performers of the previous trilogies. As such, any suggestion that this film would have under-performed in the event that it falls well short of TFA's records and/or lifetime gross should be wholly ignored."

GIGABYTE have introduced the world's thinnest 17.3" laptop, the AORUS X9. The X9 features a 7th generation Intel i7-7820HK overclockable processor, two GTX 1070s in SLI, up to 64GB DDR4-2400 memory and even a mechanical keyboard... oh, and RGB lighting of course!

The AORUS X9 doesn't stop there with innovation, also providing a world first for 17.3" laptop with quad cooling fans and multi-functional RGB lightbar & chassis RGB lighting. Other options include a choice of 17.3" 4K UHD IPS monitor or QHD (2560 x 1440) 120 Hz WVA panel. Audio wise, the X9 is able to offer ESS Sabre HiFi audio DAC and 'quad' audio setup that features two speakers and two woofers.

The X9 is definitely a thing of beauty, GIGABYTE even stating that "the X9 design philosophy screams with exotic properties, taking cues from modern supercars and stealth fighter jets". Two configurations are available later this month, one with 512GB SSD and 1TB costs $3,649 while the slightly more expensive 2x512GB SSDs will costs $3,799 and is available from Newegg only.