Latest News - Page 2473

Crytek has been pushing into the world of VR for a while now, with the Crysis developer announcing it has signed up 6 more universities into its VR First program.

The developer has added The University of Canterbury (New Zealand), Kajaani University of Applied Sciences (Finland), University College London (UK), Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), Oklahoma University (USA), and Tallinn Technical University (Estonia). Crytek first announced VR First in January, offering up its CryEngine source code for schools and free access to the required VR hardware from various companies.

At the time, Crytek's Ferhan Özkan said: "Collaborating with the IEEE dramatically broadens the potential reach of VR First and emphasizes our commitment to ensuring the program makes a genuine impact on the landscape of VR research and development at the grassroots level".

Overwatch has been a success, with Blizzard reporting that over 9.7 million gamers participating in the recent open beta of Overwatch.

The Overwatch beta took place on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC for less than a week, with over 9.7 million gamers using the time to play 37 million matches. Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime described the huge interest in Overwatch as "incredible" and "overwhelming".

With over 9.7 million gamers playing the Overwatch beta, Blizzard should be over the moon. Comparing it to Star Wars Battlefront which had 'only' 9 million players, but EA has recently confirmed 14 million copies have been shipped. The Division's beta had 6.4 million gamers, but made $330 million in the first five days on sale.

Sony has announced that it will be hosting its E3 2016 press conference at 6pm PT on June 13, which will take place in the Shrine Auditorium in LA.

Sony is taking its usual Monday evening spot during E3, while Microsoft and Ubisoft will kick off their E3 2016 festivities in the morning and afternoon. Ubisoft will be a few hours earlier than usual, closer to the EA spot that they moved away from this year. EA is hosting its own EA Play event on Sunday, June 12 during the afternoon.

Rumor has it the new PS4K won't be unveiled during E3 2016, but I think that would be a gigantic mistake on Sony's part. The PlayStation VR push should be quite real, as this is the biggest event that Sony can use to push its VR headset.

Oculus continues its path towards VR enlightenment, announcing its new initiative 'VR for Good'. Oculus will use VR for Good to partner with 10 nonprofits with "rising filmmakers" to make 360-degree videos for VR.

Organizations will be provided with two days worth of training at the Facebook HQ, Nokia OZO camera, and even post-production help. The collection of videos will be displayed at Sundance next year, which will give filmmakers a huge stage to launch from. The VR startup will also help students who are interested in VR, with Oculus working with 9 high schools throughout the San Francisco area with professional filmmakers to make short 360-degree videos about their communities.

Better yet, the students will get to use a Samsung Gear VR, Galaxy S6 smartphone and Rocoh Theta S 360 camera, editing software and help from mentors in order to create their short films. At the end of it, the finished videos will be on Facebook and Oculus Video when the six-week program has ended.

With the broadcast of the first new 'X-Files' episodes in over a decade proving a huge hit for the Fox network earlier this year, talk immediately began to whether we might see more Mulder and Scully in the future. Now it looks like we will.

As reported by Bloody Disgusting, Fox TV Group chairmans Dana Walden and Gary Newman recently spoke at a conference call and confirmed that initial discussions had been had. Walden confirmed that "we have had conversations with Chris Carter and David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. I believe everyone is on board to do another installment of the show." Newman added "Conversations are ongoing. I can tell you that all of them would like to do more of these, and certainly the network and studio want to do more."

Despite the six episode event series being a ratings success, many long term fans and critics expressed disappointment by the majority of episodes, with all singling out the third episode 'Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster' as the clear standout.

Quantum Break has been Quantum Broken since its release, with the Windows 10 release being in shambles since its release - but, there are big changes on their way.

Remedy Entertainment's head of PR, Thomas Puha, says that a future update for Quantum Break will add G-Sync and FreeSync support, thanks to Microsoft recently adding support for NVIDIA and AMD's variable refresh technology into Windows 10.

The new update for Quantum Break is expected to drop in the next two weeks, where we should also expect some other tweaks and performance improvements. The last patch for Quantum Break included a fix for the frame pacing issues it was experiencing while the latest Xbox One patch had multiple general fixes and more.

Although the biggest selling point of the Assassin's Creed franchise is reliving past eras, the official feature-length movie adaptation will be mostly based in the present day.

As an AC fan, I never really cared for the present-day game segments. Sure they were important to set up the tone and storyline, but...they just felt like in the way and obtrusive. The real fun was wreaking havoc in Renaissance Italy, or 17th Century London. Sadly, it looks like the Assassin's Creed movie starring Michael Fassbender will have even more present-day scenes; the movie is "65% present and 35% past."

So the awesome-looking trailer we were shown isn't actually indicative of the final product. Most of the epic scenes were based in the past, showing rather amazing fighting scenes, parkour and other AC staples. Sure the movie still looks great, but knowing it'll have so much present-day content tampers my excitement.

Fallout 4's new Far Harbor DLC will be very much like a chilling horror movie, with a dark foggy atmosphere filled with lurking terrors.

Now that Far Harbor is in beta testing, some testers have revealed key features of the new DLC, revealing something quite surprising: Far Harbor is pretty haunting, with creepy atmospherics right out of John Carpenter's The Fog. Set on the cost of in post-apocalyptic Bar Harbor, Maine, the DLC features dangerously irradiated landscapes and skirling fog. A whole new breed of mutated monstrosities and slithering nasties are waiting in that fog, and players will fall prey to jump scares and an overwhelming sense of being hunted.

"It's kind of like a mix between Point Lookout and Dead Money," wrote on beta tester on Reddit. "It's incredibly unnerving to explore," says coldwave44. "Far Harbor is incredibly dark and foggy all the time, and you legitimately run the risk of being ambushed and murdered at any second. The enemies are really deadly too," writes another.

New job listings at id Software's Texas and Frankfurt offices might hint at a Quake reboot.

id Software's Doom reboot is a huge success, and the developer might be keen on resurrecting another classic FPS franchise: Quake. It's been some 9 years since the last Quake game--Quake Wars--released on PC, but it looks like id may be preparing a fresh Quake reboot akin to the new Doom game. The studio has no less than twelve open positions at is Texas office, including some pretty major roles like Lead Gameplay Programmer, Backend Server Programmer, and a Senior Lightning Artist. id Software Germany is also hiring for five positions, including a Senior Engine Programmer and a Senior Physics Programmer.

What makes these listings so eye-catching is that they outright mention Quake. "id Software is looking for a Senior Physics & Simulation Programmer to work as part of a development team on legendary id game properties like DOOM and QUAKE," reads one of the listings. Sure, this could be meaningless, but when we combine the small hint with the amount of open positions, it could indicate id is working on a brand new game.

Streaming set-top boxes will replace traditional games consoles, but only after another major hardware cycle, says Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot.

Ubisoft's CEO envisions a future where digital-only games are beamed directly to a "new type of hardware" akin to a set-top box, or an all-in-one console-inside-a-TV solution. "We expect there will be new consoles that are going to make this market continue to grow. We'll still have another generation of consoles before we have new types of hardware coming to the market," Guillemot said.

Bandwidth is a huge roadblock for digital game-streaming, and Guillemot admits that it'll take quite a bit of time before the new sans-console age hits its stride, especially with the slow internet ISPs are peddling. "We believe in streaming--it demands lots of bandwidth. We think it's going to grow. But today, with the types of games we have, it will still take a bit of time to be more popular."

Google is set to soon integrate shopping advertisements into its image searches on mobile.

"The most common feedback people have left with Google Images is, 'I like these products - how much do they cost and where can I buy them?'" says Google's VP of shopping Jon Alferness.

When you search for an image on your phone like say, couches, sponsored links with couch prices will show up. If you want more specific links, you can sort by colour, type, location, and store.

EA has confirmed a Battlefront sequel is happening, and that it'll tie into the new Star Wars films, but don't expect to see any Episode VIII references.

Battlefront 2 is slated to launch by March 31, 2017, and EA's CFO Blake Jorgensen affirmed the sequel will use content "from the new movies." But what movies? Everyone made the assumption Battlefront 2 would use Episode VIII as source material, possibly with a campaign focus, but there's a a big problem: Episode VIII doesn't release until December 2018, way after Battlefront 2's Q1 2017 launch deadline.

So where does this leave us? Battlefront 2 could use Rogue One as the source, since the movie is releasing this year, and of course Episode VII: The Force Awakens. But it couldn't be both, especially since Rogue One is based before Episode VII, so EA will have to make a major decision there. Whichever move is tied into Battlefront 2 could serve as the game's major campaign, too. From Jorgensen's words we can assume that DICE wants to focus on the new era of Star Wars for the sequel, just as the first Battlefront was tied into the original trilogy.

Multiple users have reported the recent WhatsApp Android beta included an option to initiate a video call. Although it's said most users couldn't actually activate it and it was later removed in an update, its very presence indicates a release is likely not far off.

Signs have been pointing to video calling coming to the popular chat app since at least December thanks to leaks and translation requests for "Video Call."

Audio calling came to WhatsApp last year. As with that feature launch, it's probable that video calling will be available only to a small number of users at first. To increase your chances, sign up for the beta program.

Peripheral maker Razer last year opened retail stores in the Phillipines and Thailand, and now it's about to open its first in the US.

The shop is just across the way from its global headquarters in San Francisco's Moscone Center. Boasting nearly 1,300 square feet and two stories, it features 20 demo stations for its peripherals, audio, and broadcast products, as well as a 16x9 foot video wall that streams gaming content that even onlookers from outside can see.

Razer will host weekly gaming events at the outlet and says customers are welcome to stay all day if they feel like it. By the sounds of it, they're going for an arcade vibe, which sounds great by us.

Overwatch's new CGI short delivers backstory on two of the game's warring characters--Genji and Hanzo.

Although Overwatch doesn't have a campaign mode per se, Blizzard is delivering important storylines through CGI trailers, and the first two have already made waves in the gaming community. The third CGI trailer, Dragons, delves into the brutal rivalry between the cyber-ninja Genji and the arrow-slinging Hanzo, tying neatly into a unique myth about twin dragons.

The video is quite touching and reveals quite a bit about Genji and Hanzo, and explains Hanzo's ultimate Dragonstrike ability. Overwatch is slated to drop on May 24 across PC, PS4 and Xbox One, and seeing as 9.7 million gamers played the beta, the shooter will become a huge AAA blockbuster.

Nintendo's new NX console won't be built around the x86 architecture and won't "blow away current consoles", according to an industry insider.

Inside sources have told industry soothesayer Emily Rogers that Nintendo's next-gen NX console won't be based on an x86 architecture like the PS4 and Xbox One. This folds neatly with our projections that the NX will be powered by a next-gen Pascal-based NVIDIA Tegra chip, especially since Tegra is ARM-based and not x86. Rogers also says that the NX won't be powered an AMD Polaris GPU derivative, calling the claims "wacky"

"After speaking to seven different people this week, I can say with confidence that this is false. NX is not using x86 architecture like PlayStation 4 and Xbox One," Rogers said in a recent blog post. "The NX has special, custom-made chips and the overall design of the hardware is very modern. The chips are industry leading because they are very modern chips, but having modern chips doesn't necessarily mean Nintendo is aiming to create the most powerful hardware on the market. Furthermore, any NX rumors on "Polaris chips" and "Polaris architecture" are all wacky. There's a good reason why those rumors are wacky."

Modder Naxshe is hard at work on making all of Final Fantasy X HD Remaster's cutscenes 60FPS with hex editing and "various other tricks", and you can enjoy the first fruits of his labour below. There is some skipping in the video, but Naxshe says this is due to his recording software, not the mod.

By comparison, here is the same scene in 30FPS.

It's going to be awhile before all of the scenes are 60FPS ready as Naxshe has to work on each individual scene, and of course there are a lot. But hey, that will be a good excuse to replay it for the millionth time.

With Sony beating Microsoft at the current-gen console race, Resident Evil developer Capcom has predicted that there will be over 100 million consoles sold by 2020.

Capcom CEO Kenzo Tsjimoto said during the company's recent earnings Q&A session: "Our perception of the home video game market is that it will continue to be active at the global level, as we believe the install base of major home video game consoles will break the 100 million unit mark in 2020".

Right now the "major home video game consoles" would be the Xbox One and PS4, with the Nintendo NX console - which is said to be powered by an NVIDIA Tegra processor, said to be revealed this year and released in 2017. Sony is months away from a new PlayStation device, and we all know Microsoft is cooking something up behind the scenes. There are alternate reports that claim there'll be over 109 million PS4s and Xbox One consoles sold by 2019, with the PS4 and new PlayStation beating out whatever Microsoft is throwing at them.

Depe Silver is mostly known for its big franchises like Saints Row and the Metro series, with the developer teasing it has a major announcement in store for E3 2016.

The next game should be a AAA sandbox-style experience, with Deep Silver's CTO Oles Shishkovstov saying during an interview before the release of Metro Redux: "less linear but still hugely story-driven". He added: "I will not go into details, but it requires some work from programmers as well. Also, we are improving graphics in very different aspects, like recently we did a physically-based global ambient occlusion (instead of local, like SSAO). But yes, we are fully PBR now for the next project. No more tuning knobs - at least for now".

How good would an open-world Metro game be?

Nintendo has some of the most iconic and appealing characters in pop culture, so it's understandable that they'd want to exploit those on the big screen. However, since the spectacular failure of 'Super Mario Bros.' in 1993, the Kyoto games maker has been understandably reticent to license them out. But this looks like it might soon change.

According to the Associated Press, the game studio are in talks with studios to explore potential partnerships in the very near future. Although it's not currently certain which characters could potentially be used, it's not a stretch to imagine that these could include heavy hitters such as the 'Super Mario' and 'Zelda' franchises.

Company spokesman Makoto Wakae said an announcement will be made in the future, but could "be a theater release or a DVD [release]."