Even the Xbox Series X's audio will be next-gen, complete with a special dedicated audio chip that empowers sound designers like never before.

We've known for a while the Xbox Series X would have 3D audio acceleration via a dedicated chip, but we didn't know the potential of the tech, and more importantly, what it means for developers. The Xbox SX's new hardware-accelerated audio chip means sound designers no longer have to tie up CPU resources for in-game sound effects and music. In tandem with ray traced audio, which uses bi-drectional sound paths to shift sound profiles in real-time, audio experiences will be incredibly immersive and realistic on the next-gen Xbox.

Ninja Theory in particular is enthusiastic about the chip. This is fitting given the Senua franchise's incredible sound effects and score. "It's extremely exciting. We're going to have a dedicated chip to work with audio, which means we finally won't have to fight with programmers and artists for memory and CPU power," senior sound designer Daniele Galante told Video Game Chronicle.

Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem developers will spend the next three months optimizing and fixing their rather glitch-filled ARPG.

Wolcen, the new isometric action-RPG that aims at stealing some of Diablo's thunder, is a tremendous success with over 1 million copies sold in its first month. But owners aren't really happy with the multitude of bugs and exploits that riddle the game. The sales milestone is marred with tons of negative reviews on the $40 indie.

Now the studio pledges to make things better. Wolcen's devs will spend a massive three months gearing up new updates that fix game-breaking bugs. Wolcen won't actually get its new Act IV expansion content until the game is patched up.

Capcom apparently plans to release four big AAA games this fiscal year, and two of them will be Resident Evil related, unnamed sources tell Twitter's DuskGolem.

With the arrival of next-gen consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, 2020 should be a big year for games publishers. Capcom is poised to take full advantage of Holiday 2020 with a lineup of new titles, but we don't exactly know what they're cooking up.

Now sources close to the matter tell DuskGolem, a popular YouTuber with an ear to Capcom's plans, that the publisher will launch four titles in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021. Two of these games will be Resident Evil titles, the sources say.

PlayStation tech whiz Tetsuya Iida shares what it was like getting PlayStation games to run on the PlayStation 2, and underlines how finicky the emulation was.

Backwards compatibility is huge for any new console, and it was a big deal for the PS2 back in the 2000s era. Sony knew it was tremendously important and went through great lengths to establish PS1 emulation on the PS2. The backward compatibility initiative started in 1998 when the PS2's hardware was being developed--like the PlayStation 5, the PS2 was being created with past console game emulation in mind. According to ex-Sony engineer Tetsuya Iida, who was responsible for emulating the PS1's GPU on the PS2, it was tough work.

Interestingly enough, Ridge Racer was the first PS1 game to ever get emulated and run on the PS2. It wasn't perfect, and there were many problems, but it actually ran. The doorway to PS1 backwards compatibility was wide open.

The titans of terror at Frictional Games are back with Amnesia: Rebirth, a new psychological horror experience that'll warp our minds in 2020.

Amnesia Rebirth is the next title in Frictional Games' landmark horror IP, and is set to unleash psyche-altering terror in Autumn 2020. The game takes place in the same dark and twisted world as Amnesia: Dark Descent, but this time we're playing as Tasi Trianon, a mysterious survivor amidst harrowing desolation in the Algerian desert. The game will be a personal story that delves into "personal terror and pain while exploring the limits of human resilience," Frictional says.

Expect feels, bone-chilling visuals, interactive horror oozing with otherworldly atmosphere, and bizarre psychological themes and environments. There's entities and monstrosities waiting to feast on your flesh, and to survive, you must discover and piece together Tasi's broken past.

The ultra-rare Nintendo PlayStation console has sold for $360,000 at auction, roughly 1/3 of what the seller could've gotten for the system.

The bidding war for the SNES-PlayStation prototype is over. The seller, Terry Diebold, will get a substantial $360,000 for the strange slice of gaming history. But he could've gotten a whole lot more for the system: Diebold was offered a massive $1.2 million by a Swedish buyer but decided against it because the payoff wasn't right. After taxes and other payments he wouldn't have actually made any profit.

Internet dotcom maven Greg McLemore bought the prototype and intends to showcase it in a video games museum. McLemore is the founder of Pets.com, a massive website sold to Amazon in the 2000s era, and has been using his millions to buy up all kinds of unique gaming memorabilia for his ambitious gaming museum.

Thanks to our friends at Universal Sony Home Entertainment, we have ten Blu-ray copies of the new release smash 'Knives Out' to give away to our awesome readers.

Acclaimed writer and director Rian Johnson ('Looper,' 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi') pays tribute to mystery mastermind Agatha Christie in 'Knives Out' a fun, modern-day murder mystery where everyone is a suspect.

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan's dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan's untimely death. With an all-star ensemble cast including Chris Evans, Ana De Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, and Jaeden Martell, 'Knives Out' is a witty and stylish whodunnit guaranteed to keep audiences guessing until the very end.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake only takes place in Midgar, but Square Enix has jam-packed tons of content into the city to keep us busy for a long, long time.

The upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Remake is technically only the first chapter of a multi-year remake slate. Even still, the game will be its own standalone RPG experience that offers tens of hours of play. Midgar, the game's sole location, is a big part of that. You won't be escaping Midgar in the first game, but that's okay: Square Enix has basically made Midgar into a world in itself.

We've heard Square Enix talk about how dense and opportunistic Midgar is, but until the game ships, we won't really know. The demo didn't really expose the city's massive scope. In a recent PlayStation Blog post, the devs discuss the painstaking work that went into Midgar and how it'll manifest as one of the most iconic rebirths of a nostalgic metropolis.

A former PlatinumGames dev chastises studio director Hideki Kamiya for joking about Scalebound, and admits the devs simply failed in their pursuit.

Ever since Microsoft cancelled Scalebound, the ambitious Devil May Cry-meets-dragons Xbox One exclusive, in 2017, there's been tension between PlatinumGames and Microsoft. Gamers thought Microsoft was to blame, but it turns out the project simply fell apart on a base level. The game's cancellation was a blessing for both Microsoft and PG, who was knee-deep in developing multiple projects. Now in a recent Wonderful 101 livestream celebration, Hideki Kamiya, Platinum's resident grumpy curmudgeon, made a joke about Scalebound's cancellation: "I want to make Scalebound! Email Microsoft," he said.

An ex-PlatinumGames dev doesn't find this funny. "We had our chance [to make Scalebound]. We failed. They know why we failed. Lots of great people left after we failed. Some because we failed. I'm sad that it is now a drunken meme," former PlatinumGames dev Jean Pierre Kellams said on Twitter.

Doom Eternal will hit a buttery smooth 60FPS on consoles, but id's demon-massacring shooter will rip and tear at up to 1000FPS on PC.

No matter what platform you play it on, Doom Eternal is scaled to harness every drop of hardware power. The high-octane carnage is fueled by smooth frame rates powered by the new id Tech 7 engine. Thanks to the new enhancements, id has targeted 60FPS minimum on both consoles and PCs.

id Software's lead engine programmer Billy Khan recently confirmed Doom Eternal will hit 60FPS on all consoles, including older 2013 launch PS4s and Xbox Ones. This is no small feat. These systems are quite outdated even compared to their upgraded PS4 Pro and Xbox One X siblings, the latter of which sports a big 6TFLOP GPU.