Latest News - Page 2180

Back in April we reported that Blizzard is working on mobile games (because of course they are), and now it appears one of these projects will be a Massively Multiplayer Online RTS experience.

Mobile gaming is currently most lucrative segment of the games industry. Analyst firm NewZoo predicts mobile will pull in 42% or $46.1 billion of 2017's gaming revenues, with the bulk of that number earned from free-to-play titles. Suffice it to say everyone wants to get their slice of the billion-dollar industry, even Blizzard, who already has a number of billion dollar franchises in its lineup.

According to new job listing that's been scrubbed from Blizzard's site, the company is working on a new MMO RTS mobile game. "Blizzard Entertainment is seeking an experienced Unity mobile client engineer to work on an unannounced MMO RTS project," the now-deleted listing said. Blizzard's Warcraft series fits the bill perfectly.

Batman developer Rocksteady Studios has been quietly working on something big enough to make gamers 'lose their minds'.

It's been a long, long time since we've heard about any new games from Rocksteady. The devs, who are best known for their popular Batman Arkham games, released their last big project in 2015 with Arkham Knight. Next year the team put out a PlayStation VR game that put gamers into the body of the caped crusader. But what have they been working on in the last two years? Apparently it's something huge.

"Be patient, fans. I know we're not talking right now... but when we do, people are going to lose their minds. Can't wait," Rocksteady's community manager Gaz Deaves said on Twitter. So what is it? According to Kotaku, WB Montreal is making a new Batman game, possibly focused on Damien Wayne. However given the shake-ups that happened at the studio, it's possible Rocksteady has taken on the project.

Anthem is the most ambitious game BioWare has ever made, and it's only prudent that the online shooter will have a beta test to provide feedback and gain invaluable data.

Any major online-based game needs a beta test. Online games like World of Warcraft or Destiny have infinitely complex systems that must all properly align at all times to ensure hundreds of behind-the-scenes infrastructures work at all times, and devs are constantly gathering and analyzing data to ensure their online gaming experiences are in tip-top shape. BioWare's new game Anthem, which sounds and looks like the developer's unique answer to Destiny, is no different--it needs a beta test (many of them in fact). While it shouldn't be a surprise to most gamers, Anthem game director Jonathan Warner confirmed the shooter will have a beta. Just don't expect it any time soon.

As far as official details, we have a nice idea of what Anthem is. We know that BioWare has been working on it for years and years now, and that it represents a massive turning point for the company as a brand new IP. We know that Anthem is a direct result of Electronic Arts' new focus on action-based games.

Nintendo plans to shut down the Wii Shop Channel in 2019 and effectively cut off all access to marketplace games, Gematsu reports.

Shortly after announcing MiiVerse's closure, Nintendo is killing off another facet of its legacy systems: the Wii's digital games shop. The Wii Shop Channel will be closed on January 31, 2019, according to reports, and users will no longer be able to add currency to their accounts to buy games after March 31, 2018 (which, coincidentally, is the end of Nintendo's fiscal year). Games can only be purchased on the shop via points, so if you've had your eye on classic VirtualConsole games to play on the Wii U or Wii, now's the time to load up your digital wallet.

Users will still be able to re-download games they own after the shop closes, Nintendo says, but eventually this too will be shut off, effectively turning your games library into copies of P.T. -- if you delete it, or something happens to your HDD, your games are gone forever.

Yesterday we reported that Toshiba had sold its memory division for $18 billion to the Bain Capital consortium, Seagate have today confirmed their participation in the Bain Capital consortium to acquire Toshiba Memory Corporation. Seagate have committed $1.25 billion in funding to the group by March 2018, in return Seagate expect that this will enable a long-term NAND supply agreement with Toshiba Memory that will provide NAND flash chips for Seagate's expanding SSD portfolio.

"Over the course of many years, Seagate has developed an excellent long-term relationship with Toshiba Memory, and we have always been impressed with their consistent leadership in advancing NAND technology," said Steve Luczo, Seagate's chairman and chief executive officer. "We are pleased and honored to be part of the Bain Capital consortium and to help facilitate maintaining Toshiba Memory as a world leading independent NAND technology company. We know that Bain Capital is dedicated to the long-term success of Toshiba Memory and believe this acquisition is in the long-term best interests of our industry and of storage customers worldwide."

Luczo continued, "In the coming years, the storage industry will see significant data creation and increased storage needs, and we must be able to support those demands. Our NAND supply agreement with Toshiba Memory will enable Seagate to continue innovating and providing customers with storage solutions that fit their needs, be they HDDs, SSDs, or hybrid solutions."

I will admit that I'm a closet wrestling fan, I have signed Hulk Hogan merchandise and more WWE DVD's than any 31-year-old man should own. I also purchase the yearly installments of the WWE 2K series on PC, mainly for the updated rosters and regret nothing.

As all WWE 2K PC gamers are aware, the PC port has always been released much later than the console versions, usually six months post release. Sure, we get most the DLC included but the roster is always outdated and never made sense why 2K couldn't simultaneously release on all platforms.

Finally, WWE 2K18 on PC will finally launch same day as consoles, October 17. Steam is the chosen platform as expected, joining Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. 2K are offering some enticing pre-order DLC that allows four day early access (only on consoles) and playable Kurt Angle.

Synology have released their latest 4-bay NAS that is perfect for serving as an ultra-high definition multimedia center, introducing the DiskStation DS418play. Powered by a new 2.0GHz (2.5Ghz boost) Intel Celeron dual-core processor, the DS418play supports real-time transcoding for up two channels of H.264/H.265 4K video simultaneously. This NAS also features 2GB DDR3L memory, which can be expanded up to 6GB and Dual 1GbE LAN ports.

"Mobile devices supporting 4K video recording are becoming increasingly popular. However, since 4K video clips are capacity-consuming and not all TVs at home support 4K video playback, users tend to record videos with lower resolution as an alternative," said Michael Wang, product manager at Synology Inc. "With DS418play supporting up to 40TB of raw capacity, users can store their favorite videos in ultra-high definition, organize and share videos with families and friends effortlessly, and transcode videos on-the-fly to allow video playback on devices that do not support 4K."

With Link Aggregation enabled, DS418play delivers excellent encrypted data throughput at over 226 MB/s reading and 185 MB/s writing. User's digital assets are protected by AES-256 encryption that allows them to enjoy high-performance data transmission.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is now so big it has its own dedicated company, showing that Bluehole is keen on not being squeezed out of the battle royale market by its competitors.

Today games publisher Bluehole announced the PUBG Corporation, a new subsidiary made up of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds developers and helmed by game producer Chang-han Kim, who will serve as CEO for the company. The PUBG Corporation is making big plans for expansion across the globe to ensure the service-based shooter grows to new staggering heights; the company says it's established a branch in the United States, and will do the same in Europe and Japan.

The PUBG Corporation is just the beginning of Bluehole's plans for world domination. The company says it will launch a "variety of new businesses including esports and prepare for PUBG to become a global IP franchise."

SteelSeries have announced the affordable APEX 150 gaming keyboard. Built upon SteelSeries' reputation of quality and innovation, the APEX 150 gaming keyboard introduces new membrane switches that provide an ultra-fast and quiet key feel with guaranteed 20-million click and splash resistance. Five-zone RGB lighting allows the user to customize their setup to suit their preference.

The APEX 150 features fully-programmable keys with advanced anti-ghosting and 24-key rollover to deliver impressive results that extreme online gaming requires. First introduced with the APEX M750, Discord integration allows for real-time chat notifications to be synced with all compatible SteelSeries illuminated products.

In addition to Discord integration, SteelSeries Engine also includes other apps such as the Audio Visualizer, GameSense and PrismSync. The Audio Visualizer allows your SteelSeries product's illumination to sync with any music or playlist of the user's choice. GameSense lighting reacts to your in-game events like low ammo, health, kills, money and cooldowns by altering the illumination effect of your SteelSeries products. PrismSync allows for syncing of all your SteelSeries Prism-enabled gear to display multi-color lighting effects.

Can't wait for the Call of Duty PC multiplayer beta to begin? Neither can developer Sledgehammer Games, who took to Twitter to announce that the PC beta is now live!

Originally set for a September 29 release, it appears that Sledgehammer Games were in a generous mood and released the PC beta a day early on Steam. There's been no official confirmation, but expect the beta to continue through to October 2 as originally planned.

Head over to the CoD:WWII Steam page to download the beta now. If you can wait, November 3 will see the full release of Call of Duty: WWII on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Google is hosting a media event on October 4 where it is expected to unveil its next generation Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 smartphones, with a new leak teasing a bunch of information on the new handsets.

Android Authority has the story that Google will be unveiling a new Pixel XL 2 smartphone with a curved display, with a screen-to-body ratio of between 80% and 85%. We should expect dual stereo speakers on the front, with no headphone jack - why Google... why?! Google will reportedly be offering certain markets with USB-C headphones in the box, with no more details on this part of the rumor.

Inside, we should expect the QHD display to rock Gorilla Glass 5 protection, while Qualcomm powers it with its Snapdragon 835 processor. Digging deeper, we will have 64/128GB of storage, front/rear Pixel-branded cameras with OIS and a Google Imaging Chip (interesting...), backed up by a 3520mAh battery.

So... in all my 16,500+ articles here at TweakTown, never did I think I'd be writing about limited edition submarines. Well, here I am... writing that Aston Martin has just unveiled their new limited edition submarine.

The flagship project comes from Aston Martin Consulting, with the submarine still in the concept stages right now under codename Project Neptune. Project Neptune is a futuristic submarine that Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer at Aston Martin, Marek Reichman, explains: "Project Neptune is defined by its sleek, elegant exterior. We have used forms and proportions that express the same devotion to design, engineering and beauty that shape our cars".

Aston Martin hasn't been open with specifications or details on Project Neptune, so we don't know how deep it'll go, how fast it'll cut through the depths of the oceans, or whether Lex Luthor has pledged towards the project. Time will tell.

With months and months of behind-closed-doors meetings and whispers, Toshiba has reportedly inked an $18 billion deal to sell of its chip business.

Western Digital was reportedly in the running for Toshiba's memory division, but a consortium led by Bain Capital LP took the lead and secured Toshiba's memory business. Something of note: SK Hynix is part of this consortium, which isn't in the best interests of WD.

Japanese companies will still maintain 50% of the business, keeping the local government with smiles on their dials, while Toshiba retains a 40.2% stake in Toshiba Memory Corp. Bain Capital LP will sail ahead with 49.9% of Toshiba Memory Corporation, while Japanese medical company, Hoya Corp, takes 9.9%.

A new Diablo game is in the works, but you better get used to waiting.

We've already reported that Blizzard is hiring for a new Diablo project (whether that's a mainline Diablo IV sequel and/or a Diablo II remaster a la StarCraft Remastered remains unclear), and we know the series will continue. After Josh Mosquiera left in July 2016, Blizzard opened a game director position up for "a new unannounced Diablo project". This director would be the "vision holder for the franchise, setting the creative goals for the team" and lead the Diablo series into the future. Blizzard might be planning the future of Diablo past the turbulent Diablo III, but that'll take time. Lots and lots of time.

Diablo III took ten years to develop, and according to Jason Schreier's new book Blood, Sweat and Pixels, the shadow of Diablo II loomed heavy on the team. The devs wanted to ensure Diablo II's legacy lived on, and filling the shoes of one of the best games ever made was very hard to do. This time around Blizzard will likely follow the same trajectory and focus on topping Diablo III in its current state, which, I admit, will be tough. Right now the series is fantastic to play on consoles and PC.

Rockstar Games made good on its promise by showcasing a new Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer, revealing new story details and absolutely incredible open-world environments full of polish. Another announcement sees a slight name change from "Red Dead Redemption 2" change to "Red Dead Redemption II".

According to Rockstar, the Western sequel (actually a prequel) revolves around outlaw Arthur Morgan and follows the bloody exploits of the infamous Van der Linde gang as they "rob, fight and steal their way across the vast and rugged heart of America in order to survive." Ran by Dutch Van der Linde, the trailer shows the band of outlaws ransacking their path across the Wild West. John Marston, the protagonist in the original game, ran with the gang before the events of Red Dead Redemption.

On another note, Sony confirmed that the new trailer was captured on a PlayStation 4. Rockstar is spinning some serious magic here and it's clear the delay made for some serious polish, but no release date was made--the game is still listed for "Spring 2018" on PS4 and Xbox One. A PC version of the game has yet to be announced.

With only two months until the official release of Star Wars Battlefront II, EA have revealed 11 maps and 5 game modes will be released at launch.

The 11 maps span across all three cinematic-eras, with 3 from the prequel-era (Kamino, Kashyyyk and Theed), 5 original trilogy-era (Death Star II, Endor, Mos Eisley, Yavin 4 and Hoth) and 3 from the Force Awakens-era (Starkiller Base, Jakku and Takodana).

5 game modes have been announced for launch, these include Strike where two teams of eight players compete in objective-based scenarios. Starfighter Assault pits two teams of pilots take control of fighters, bombers, interceptors, and hero ships and engage in multi-stage, objective based space battles. Heroes vs Villains is 4 vs 4 dream-dual where Star Wars' greatest characters are pitted against one another. Arcade is a single player focused (or on consoles, split-screen multiplayer) mode allowing you to take on AI enemies in multiple scenarios. And finally Galactic Assault, the grand attraction of Battlefront II, where players battle on large team-oriented, multi-stage objective-based maps for victory.

I reported earlier in the month that Killer Instinct will feature cross-play support between Xbox One, Windows 10 and Steam platforms, well the time has come... Killer Instinct is now available on Steam!

It's not all great news however for Steam users however, there appears to be no free-to-play version. Meaning you will have to pay $39.99 to be able to access the game, this includes all three seasons of characters, costumes, stages, dojo training and story mode, essentially the same as the purchasable Killer Instinct: Definitive Edition that's available on the other platforms. Currently Steam is offering 25% off, which is nice, but Windows 10 and Xbox Live offer the free-to-play base edition that entices new comers to the series.

Another interesting titbit is that your purchases on other platforms don't transfer to Steam, so if you've made any purchases on either Xbox One or Windows 10 versions, you'll still have to spend the $40 to play on Steam. This will discourage most people who have already invested in transactions or the Definitive Edition to switch to Steam.

ASRock have shown that when it comes to overclocking, their X299 OC Formula motherboard is an absolute BEAST! With the NDA lifted for the final few Intel Core X series processors, ASRock with the help of overclocker Splave, were able to display some incredible results for overclocking website HWBOT. Breaking not 1, not 2, but 3 benchmark World Records and an impressive 23 out of 27 global first place finishes, proving that this board is the ultimate choice for extreme overclockers.

Designed by professional-overclocker Nick Shih, the X299 OC Formula features 13 phase Dr.MOS CPU power and 2 phase memory power design, one DIMM per channel memory layout, Hyper BCLK Engine III and XXL aluminum alloy heat sinks. The results speak for themselves, this combination is UNREAL. Throw is support for quad-chanel DDR4-4600Mhz, 5 PCIe 3.0 x16 and 4-way SLI/CrossFireX, the ASRock X299 OC Formula is the perfect overclockers board, and now these results proves it!

Blizzard have officially released the Blizzard Battle.Net mobile app. This app is perfect for... well, not much at present. Currently the app only allows users to add friends, chat and see which games your friends are currently playing.

"If you've ever wanted to see what games your friends are playing while you're headed home on the bus, or quickly add a new friend you've met out on the town, now you can with the Blizzard Battle.net mobile app. Available for iOS and Android, the Blizzard Battle.net mobile app brings social features from the Blizzard Battle.net desktop app to your phone" said Blizzard.

Currently, the Blizzard Battle.net app is separate from the Blizzard Mobile Authenticator, I would expect these app's to merge and mirror Steam's mobile app over time. The app is available now via the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.

Lian Li have announced their latest small form factor PC-Q38 Mini-ITX chassis, featuring high-quality aluminium materials, windowed side panel and a simple, yet beautiful design, the PC-Q38 is the perfect choice if you find the PC-Q37 is too big for your needs.

The PC-Q38 is built for versatility, rubber-padded aluminium feet alllow for the PC-Q38 to be converted from a tower orientation, to a desktop. An optional bracket allows a choice between SFX and ATX power supplies, again displaying the versatility on offer.

Despite the PC-Q38's light, yet spacious appearance, there is ample room for water cooling. A 240 mm radiator, graphics card up to 315mm long and CPU cooler up to 145 mm all have no trouble housing inside for your high-end building requirements.