Exclusive PS4 HITMAN contracts get an action-packed trailer

Jeff Williams | Gaming | Apr 25, 2016 12:07 PM CDT

The PlayStation 4 gets to have some exclusive content in HITMAN. Not just a unique skin or costume that you can unlock, but an entire sub-set of stories that are completely self-contained and should provide a few more hours of content within each new episode. A new trailer for these Sarajevo Six missions has just been released, and it's quite entertaining.

Exclusive PS4 HITMAN contracts get an action-packed trailer

The Sarajevo Six are a set of missions where you have the option of pursuing and finding members of a paramilitary unit known as CICADA. In Sapienza you'll have the pleasure of finding a Gary Lunn, who is apparently working at a bio lab developing any number of devious substances, or rather enforcing the wrath of his superiors instead. He's rumored to be in the Villa Caruso, and should prove to be quite the worthy opponent. And I'm sure there are some very hilarious way that you can set up his ultimate end. You're limited only by your imagination, after all.

Of course these particular missions are only available to those on the PS4 and will be ready to go once the second season is available to play.

Continue reading: Exclusive PS4 HITMAN contracts get an action-packed trailer (full post)

AMD looking to move to smaller HQ in Silicon Valley, sources say

Sean Ridgeley | Business, Financial & Legal | Apr 25, 2016 11:08 AM CDT

AMD's longstanding residence of the Sunnyvale campus will be no more before long, rumor has it; The Irvine Company is set to buy it from New York real estate investment trust W.P. Carey, according to real estate sources. Irvine Company is known to raze offices and R&D campuses, so it makes sense that we're hearing AMD is consequently seeking another headquarters in Silicon Valley.

While the company forecast for AMD has been looking increasingly better in recent times, it's still 2,000 employees shy of what it was in 2011, and so it's said to be looking at properties with a 35 to 40 percent footprint reduction, or about 175,000 - 225,000 square feet versus the 319,000 square feet of its current location.

AMD's has resided at the Sunnyvale campus since 1977; its lease ends December 2018.

Continue reading: AMD looking to move to smaller HQ in Silicon Valley, sources say (full post)

Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch released, fixes hundreds of bugs

Sean Ridgeley | Gaming | Apr 25, 2016 9:59 AM CDT

The team behind the very successful Unofficial Oblivion Patch and Unofficial Skyrim Patch is at it again with Fallout 4.

The Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch, as it's known, has the ambitious goal of fixing every bug in the game not fixed by Bethesda; it currently boasts hundreds of fixes, touching on gameplay, quests, items, perks, stats, settlements, and more. For the full details on what's been changed, head here.

The patch is said to be mod friendly. When installing, ensure your load order is as follows: Fallout4.esm, [Official DLCs], [Other ESM Files], Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch.esp, [The rest of your mods]. As well, use LOOT to set load order when using other mods.

Continue reading: Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch released, fixes hundreds of bugs (full post)

Operation Dust Line, the next Rainbow Six Siege DLC pack gets a date

Jeff Williams | Gaming | Apr 25, 2016 9:02 AM CDT

Rainbow Six Siege's next content drop, Operation Dust Line, is going to be available on May 9th for season pass holders and sometime shortly after that for those haven't elected to buy into the entire season of DLC in one go around.

Following the previous DLC that was released in February, Operation Dust Line will include two new operators to choose from as well as a new as-of-yet unannounced map. Both the new operators have Navy SEAL backgrounds, with Valkyrie being a more defensive addition with the ability to deploy sticky cameras to help observe the battlefield as you make preparations. Blackbeard is an offensive character, being equipped with a rifle and shield. More info about Valkyrie and Blackbeard will be coming on May 7th following the Rainbow Six Pro League Finals that'll be taking place.

This is the second of four planned content drops that are coming to the game. The first added one new map and two characters, and that trend is looking to continue for the last three. Rainbow Six Siege started off a bit rough after the beta test had issues with network connectivity and rampant cheating has been off-putting to the legitimate players of the new game. Ubisoft has since fixed a great deal of the latent bugs and is hoping their anti-cheating measures are enough to bring back in the audience it may have lost.

Continue reading: Operation Dust Line, the next Rainbow Six Siege DLC pack gets a date (full post)

Remedy is planning a big update for Quantum Break this week

Jeff Williams | Gaming | Apr 25, 2016 7:46 AM CDT

Quantum Break for the PC, and even the Xbox One for that matter, wasn't quite one of the smoothest of launches on a technical scale. On the PC side, there've been rampant performance issues and other visual oddities that make it a strange game to play. Remedy is working on a sizable patch that should be available sometime by the end of the week.

According to the head of PR at Remedy, Thomas Puha, both the Xbox One and the PC version of the patch are currently in the certification process with small bugs within the update being stamped out as quickly as possible. There's no word on what changes are actually inside due to the contents of it being subject to change. It's large and a sign that they're definitely committed to fixing any transgressions that happened as result of Remedy releasing perhaps a bit too early.

The PC version suffers from some fairly frequent framerate stuttering and generally poor performance on a variety of hardware, including a Titan X. Even being a fully DX12 title, it doesn't make use of the compute queue at all, for anything. The new patch should, hopefully, resolve some performance-based issues.

Continue reading: Remedy is planning a big update for Quantum Break this week (full post)

ARK: Survival Evolved mods will be pushed into the main game

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Apr 25, 2016 4:37 AM CDT

ARK: Survival Evolved continues to grow, with developer Studio Wildcard announcing that it's kicking off an Official Mods Program that will see user-made mods become part of the main game.

The user-made mods being folded into the main game will take place not only on the PC but the Xbox One version of the game. It'll be starting off with The Center, a fantasy-themed map that will drop next month, while Primitive Plus, which makes you rely on wood and stone, will be released in the summer.

Studio Wildcard hasn't added whether mod creators will receive compensation ($$$) for their work, but it's great to see the developer moving in this direction - and including console gamers in on the modding fun.

Continue reading: ARK: Survival Evolved mods will be pushed into the main game (full post)

Outlast developer says 'they might do a VR' version of Outlast 2

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Apr 25, 2016 2:25 AM CDT

Outlast was one of the best horror games in recent times, with developer Red Barrel teasing Outlast 2 at PAX East 2016 last week. In my story about it, I said in the headline 'but where's the VR version?' and it looks like my question has been answered.

Red Barrel co-founder Phillippe Morin and writer JT Petty talked about Outlast 2 during their official Twitch livestream, saying that the main protagonist in the sequel will be a cameraman who is investigating the murder of a Jane Doe, and trying to work out where these people come from.

The cameraman takes a helicopter and goes to investigate the canyons of Arizona, but the chopper crashes and then when you wake up, you find yourself separated from your wife, and in a secluded village full of people who believe the end of time is coming. Morin reiterated that Outlast 2 is once again about immersion, with gameplay mechanics existing to create emotions.

Continue reading: Outlast developer says 'they might do a VR' version of Outlast 2 (full post)

Acer's new Predator Z1 gaming monitors all rock NVIDIA G-Sync tech

Anthony Garreffa | Displays & Projectors | Apr 25, 2016 12:44 AM CDT

Acer unveiled some new gaming desktops and laptops during the week, but there were also three new Predator Z1 gaming monitors unveiled, too.

The new Predator Z1 monitors unveiled at Acer's event in NYC are all curved gaming panels, coming in 31.5-, 30- and 27-inch sizes. All models include NVIDIA's G-Sync technology, with the 30-inch Predator Z1 featuring a 21:9 UltraWide aspect ratio.

The new Acer Predator Z1 monitors start at $600, and will be made available throughout the US and Europe in June. I'm still rocking the Acer Predator X34 monitor, which is the best gaming display on the market right now with its 3440x1440 native resolution, huge 100Hz refresh rate (at least for a 3440x1440 panel) and NVIDIA's G-Sync technology - check out our review on that, here.

Continue reading: Acer's new Predator Z1 gaming monitors all rock NVIDIA G-Sync tech (full post)

Gears of War 4 season pass includes 24 maps, two releasing per month

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 25, 2016 12:15 AM CDT

An accidental Xbox Store listing reveals what Coalition has planned for Gears of War 4's season pass DLC.

Gears of War 4 season pass includes 24 maps, two releasing per month

Gears of War 4's season pass will give players access to a total of 24 co-op and multiplayer map packs, which Coalition plans to release in waves of two maps per month for a year. That's according to a premature listing on the Xbox Australia storefront, initially spotted by eagle-eyed industry vet Wario64. The season pass also confirms Gears of War 4 will have dedicated servers, and pass owners will get to preview upcoming DLC maps, weapons, and modes before they're released.

"Join this VIP experience and score the following perks: Five exclusive digital items as part of the Vintage VIP Pack; permanent DLC map ownership of over 24 additional maps (two per month for a year) for private play on dedicated servers; an exclusive VIP "Early Access" Playlist that grants a preview to upcoming modes, maps and variants; and six Gear Packs."

Continue reading: Gears of War 4 season pass includes 24 maps, two releasing per month (full post)

Gears of War 4 launches four days early for collector's edition buyers

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Apr 24, 2016 11:15 PM CDT

Microsoft is offering early access to Gears of War 4 to gamers who buy the $100 Ultimate Edition.

Gears of War 4 launches four days early for collector's edition buyers

If you buy Gears of War 4's $100 Ultimate Edition, you'll be able to play the game four days ahead of everyone else. Renowned industry vet Wario64 caught a quick screenshot of the pre-sale incentive, which was previously live on the Xbox Store, but Microsoft yanked the page shortly after news broke out. The listing was posted on the Xbox Australia site with a $140 AUD price tag, which converts to roughly $108 USD.

"Gears of War 4 Ultimate Edition is your gateway to Early Access for Gears of War 4, allowing you to download the game and start playing Friday, October 7 - four days before the game's standard release date," reads the edition's main page. The Gears of War 4 Ultimate Edition includes a copy of the game and a season pass for all future DLC packs. The season pass includes access to 24 DLC maps, which will be released two per month by Coalition.

Continue reading: Gears of War 4 launches four days early for collector's edition buyers (full post)