Gaming - Page 1008

Microsoft continues to entertain its customers with their Backwards Compatibility Program for Xbox One. Another three classic Xbox 360 games have been announced to join the already established program.

The latest games to become backwards compatible include PopCap's famous puzzle teaser Bejeweled 3, Ron Gilbert 's comedy adventure game Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue and Vanguard Entertainment's Gatling Gears.

For gamers who had already purchased the Xbox 360 classics, they will be automatically available to download from the Xbox One's My Games and Apps tab. Alternatively, for those who hadn't previously purchased the titles, Xbox One owners can buy the games by visiting the Xbox website, or directly from the Xbox One store.

It looks like Nintendo could reveal details on their next-gen NX system early next month, something that was kind of hidden in a new article from The Wall Street Journal that covered Nintendo's jump into mobile gaming with Super Mario Run on iOS revealed during Apple's recent iPhone event.

In the report, WSJ's Takashi Mochizuki said: "The challenge now for Nintendo is leveraging all the attention into sales of the next-generation NX console, which it has said will go on sale by March. The company hasn't given any details on the NX, but people familiar with the matter say it is likely to be designed for use both as a living-room console hooked up to a television and as a portable device to carry around town. Analysts said they expect Nintendo to release NX details by early October".

That last sentence is the golden nugget, with analysts expecting Nintendo to reveal details on NX early next month - which isn't long away now. With increased competition from Microsoft in the form of the Xbox One S and the upcoming 4K-capable Project Scorpio console in 2017, and Sony's newly refreshed PS4 Slim and powerful 4K-ready PS4 Pro consoles, can Nintendo stand away from the competitors with NX?

Sony may have had the headlines this week with the introduction of the PlayStation 4 Pro, but there's still the console war between the current Xbox One S and the PS4 - which Microsoft finally started to get some traction this week in the US.

The new 2TB model of the Xbox One S was released on August 2 for $400, and sales of the new console are included under the Xbox One banner. This means that the Xbox One/Xbox One S have outsold the PS4 for two months in a row, but things will change with the introduction of the PS4 Pro in the coming months, and especially over the holidays.

Xbox Marketing CVP Mike Nichols told Engadget: "Thanks to our fans and their excitement for new Xbox One games and the recently launched Xbox One S, which is the only console available this holiday with built-in UHD 4K Blu-ray, 4K video streaming and HDR for video and gaming, Xbox One was the best-selling console in the U.S. in August, according to NPD Group".

Pro streamer summit1g revealed Tuesday -- just prior to the launch of Halo 5: Forge on PC -- that developer 343 Industries is planning on bringing an FOV slider and unlocking the framerate in the game. Speaking with the studio at PAX recently, he says the game will improve over time, and the addition of these key options is part of the plan.

"They want to add an FOV slider into the game. As PC players, they want to give you a bigger FOV; it's not just going to be locked like it is on Xbox. Another thing they want to work on is not having the 60 FPS cap. Those are two priority things they want to do as soon as Halo 5 comes out. So don't complain too much at the beginning, because they are aware of changes they want to make for PC."

This approach is in line with other Windows Store releases like Gears of War: Ultimate Edition and Forza Motorsport 6: Apex, which launched with framerate caps and similar issues but were steadily brought up to par.

We've gathered all the confirmed PS4 games that will be upgraded with Sony's new $399 4K-ready PlayStation 4 Pro console, offering higher-end visuals thanks to its new hardware, including 4K resolution upscaling, smoother frame rates, impressive lighting and environmental effects, anti-aliasing, super-sampling for upscaled resolutions on 1080p screens, and a swath of other options.

Sony has confirmed a number of PS4 games that will see enhancements on PS4 Pro at the console's November 10 launch, including future titles like Battlefield 1, Watch Dogs 2, Resident Evil 7, Final Fantasy 15, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Skyrim: Special Edition, Persona 5, The Last Guardian, EA's new Star Wars games (including Visceral's new Star Wars Game, DICE's Battlefront 2, and Respawn's new third-person action adventure Star Wars game)--with many more titles getting support soon. Check below for a comprehensive list of PS4 Pro upgraded games, and we'll be updating this list as more games are announced.

"You may have noticed that several of these titles including Paragon, Infamous: Last Light, and Shadow of Mordor are already released. That's another aspect of the PS4 Pro experience. A number of games you already own may have been patched to play better on the console. We're referring to this upgrading of your library as Forward Compatibility. Patches for over a half dozen of our first-party titles are in the works, as well as quite a few from our third-party partners," Sony's Mark Cerny said during the event.

Sony has decided that its 40 million strong community of PS4 gamers won't get access to Skyrim: Special Edition or Fallout 4 mods.

In an extremely frustrating and disappointing move, Sony has officially decreed that PlayStation 4 won't have mod support for Fallout 4 or the new remastered Skyrim: Special Edition. Bethesda issued the following statement in a blog post:

Nintendo's stock rose by 30% following the reveal of Super Mario Run at Apple's iPhone 7 conference, showing that the company's push to mobile is paying off.

Yesterday's Apple event was a big moment for Nintendo's legacy. The Japanese console-maker revealed Super Mario Run, its first real smartphone game based on the iconic plumber's platforming adventures that will debut first on Apple's iPad and iPhone devices in December. For the first time ever, an official Mario game is coming to non-Nintendo hardware, underlining a bit shift in content strategy at Nintendo.

Shareholders obviously see the potential in Nintendo's new mainstream-accessible smartphone endeavor: Mario's new game caused the company's stock to skyrocket by 30% in a single day, topping out at 29,195 yen ($283 USD) shortly after Apple's conference.

UPDATE: A Sony rep told Polygon that it "will not charge consumers for patches." Sony hasn't exactly clarified what this means exactly, and whether or not other developers will be able to charge for these updates or not. All Sony has made clear is that it won't be charging consumers for Forward Compatibility updates required to play older PS4 games at higher resolutions on PS4 Pro.

Devs may charge money to update old PS4 games in 4K and 1080p 60FPS on Sony's new PlayStation 4 Pro console.

Sony has just pretty much confirmed my predictions: developers have the freedom to monetize performance upgrades for old PS4 games and sell these patches as extra downloadable content on the PS4 Pro. It's true that all PS4 games will be playable on Sony's new PS4 Pro console, but not all them will actually play better. In order to enjoy enhancements like improved frame rates, 4K upscaling and HDR support, older PS4 games need to be updated with Forward Compatibility patches to leverage the PS4 Pro's new Polaris GPU. Sony says that some developers and publishers could charge money for these Forward Compatibility updates.

Sony has started detailing the various console bundles for its PS4 Slim console, with the PS4 Slim bundles including the newer, fresher console as well as the controller and usual accessories.

There will be various bundles available starting on September 15, where you can pick up the new PS4 Slim and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End for $300. A limited time Canada exclusive PS4 Slim bundle will see NHL 17 bundled, for the same $300 cost, while Europeans will have various options to choose from.

Sony will also have a Watch Dogs 2 bundle on November 15, which will include the 1TB PS4 Slim, the original Watch Dogs, and Watch Dogs 2.

An official Super Mario app has landed for smartphones, but there's a catch. The game was revealed during Apple's iPhone unveiling, where Nintendo introduced 'Super Mario Run', exclusive to iOS.

Much like the traditional, retro side-scroller Mario fans grew up playing, the Super Mario Run is considered to be a 'runner' style of game. Mario will automatically run to the right and players will jump over gaps and enemies by tapping on the screen.

In regards to Android device users not knowing if or when Super Mario Run would be released on Android, a statement to Kotaku from Nintendo was provided: "We intend to release the game on Android devices at some point in the future." Giving hope that it will eventually reach the Google Play store, though we are unsure as to how long this will take.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided had its DX12 patch launch today in beta form, with AMD releasing their new Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.9.1 hotfix drivers ready for DX12 dominance on Radeon graphics cards.

Well, I just spent around 4 hours doing multiple FB Live streams where I thought I'd do live benchmarking between NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1060 and the AMD Radeon RX 480, to see what the performance would be like at 1080p in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, with the new DX12 abilities enabled.

The result? NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1060 would crash before the game would load, so I decided to try another GTX 1060 and had the same thing happened. I was using the 372.70 drivers, and even removed them and installed the older 372.54 drivers with the same issue. Every time I tried the RX 480 it was flawless, so I was able to test out DX12 with some pretty great results.

Sony is going to make it very easy to know which games are enhanced for the new PlayStation 4 Pro, with the company using a "PS4 Pro Enhanced" sticker or icon on the PS4 packaging.

Sony says: "You can check PlayStation Store for games that take advantage of PS4 Pro specific features, or look for the PS4 Pro Enhanced icon on software packaging. PS4 Pro Enhanced features vary by game. Select titles may have enhanced visuals, frame rate, HDR 10 support, or increases in resolution".

Some of the new games that are enhanced for the new PS4 Pro include Battlefield 1, Horizon Zero Dawn, Elder Scrolls Online, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Watch Dogs 2, Mass Effect Andromeda, and more.

There will be a few games launching for the PlayStation 4 Pro that will be running in their native 4K resolution, while some other games like Horizon Zero Dawn that will get close to, but not quite 4K.

Elder Scrolls Online will be running on the PS4 Pro at its native 4K resolution, with Bethesda teasing there will be "increased graphical fidelity" on the PS4 Pro for ESO.

Bethesda added: "When the PlayStation 4 Pro launches on 10th November 2016, The Elder Scrolls Online will be immediately playable in native 4K resolution, whether purchased new, or with existing game discs. Since the game was originally designed for a wide range of PC specifications, ZeniMax Online Studios was able to scale up the presentation alongside the scaled up power of the PlayStation 4 Pro. For players, this means that if you play The Elder Scrolls Online on the PlayStation 4 Pro with a 1080p HD television, you will experience increased graphical fidelity; if a player uses a 4K monitor, the game will automatically run in 4K".

Sony's PS4 Pro is all about 4K...except when it comes to 4K Blu-rays. That's right, the PS4 Pro doesn't play 4K UHD Blu-rays. Why would Sony make such an obvious omission especially when its competitor's $299 console supports it? So it could push gamers to sign up for its digital 4K movie streaming service called ULTRA.

In its own words, here's why Sony cut out the 4K UHD Blu-ray player from the PS4 Pro: "Our feeling is that while physical media continues to be a big part of the games business, we see a trend on video towards streaming. Certainly with our user base, it's the second biggest use case for people's time on the system so we place more emphasis on that area," Sony Interactive Entertainment President Andrew House told The Guardian.

In actuality, there's a few reasons Sony shaved of 4K UHD Blu-ray support from its new PlayStation 4 Pro. The most obvious reason you'd think is because of the cost of the Blu-ray player itself, but the reality is that the PS4 Pro already has the requisite hardware for 4K UHD video playback, which is the most expensive part.

There's been lots of confusion surrounding Sony's new 4K-ready PS4 Pro console, and in an attempt to clear things up, the Japanese console-maker has issued a massive console FAQ which you can find in its entirety below.

The new $399 PlayStation 4 Pro is definitely a huge improvement over the original PS4, offering an AMD Polaris-based GPU with double the power at 4.20 TFLOPs, an overclocked CPU, higher RAM bandwidth, and all kinds of embedded scaling tech. While the PS4 Pro won't have exclusive games and play all old PS4 games, the selling point is that the console will render games in up to 4K 30FPS on 4K TVs and up to native 1080p 60FPS on HDTVs, while delivering considerable performance upgrades.

On PS4 Pro, games will look and play better than they ever did on original PS4 consoles, and you won't need a 4K TV to benefit from the console.

As promised yesterday, DirectX 12 support has arrived for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Sadly, it's in beta form only, so results are likely to not be as good as you'd hope off the bat.

To try DX12, right click on the game in Steam, navigate to Properties > Beta, then select dx12_preview and close the window. Be sure to grab the new AMD drivers and the latest NVIDIA drivers for best results.

Reports so far indicate moderate improvement or no improvement in FPS and frametimes for AMD users and worse performance for NVIDIA users. In the latter case, one hopes for an upcoming driver to better the situation.

Sony has confirmed that it's new $399 PlayStation 4 Pro console leverages AMD's new Polaris GPU architecture--and even reaches beyond Polaris--to enable 4K gaming, higher FPS, and more.

While we still don't know exact specifics on the PlayStation 4 Pro's GPU hardware, we do know it's based on AMD's Polaris tech and rocks 4.20 TeraFLOPs of compute power, sitting just below the Radeon RX 470. This puts the PS4 Pro's GPU at more than double the PS4's original 1.84 TFLOPs GPU that equated closely to a Radeon HD 7850 in specs. We also have reason to believe that the PS4 Pro's APU is based on the efficient 16nm FinFET node.

"Our goal with the PS4 Pro is to deliver high-fidelity graphical experiences. With that in mind, we've more than doubled the power of the GPU and adopted many new features from the AMD Polaris architecture as well as several even beyond it," PS4 Pro designer Mark Cerny said at the PlayStation Meeting event.

UPDATE: In addition to the 14 games listed here, the following games will also feature upgraded performance on Sony's PS4 Pro: Titanfall 2, The Last of Us Remastered, Paragon, Shadow of Mordor, Infamous Last Light, Uncharted 4 and Elder Scrolls Online. More games will be added as well.

There is a list of games that will have built-in support for the upgraded PlayStation 4 Pro console, with some of the biggest new games of the year making the list. These games include Battlefield 1, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Watch Dogs 2, and more.

The games that have PS4 Pro support will use the additional horsepower and 4K output for better looking games that will also run better on the PS4 Pro, so we should expect most of these games to [hopefully] run at 60FPS on 1080p HDTVs. Sadly, it's up to devs how these upgrades are applied, so not every game will run at native 1080p 60FPS on PS4 Pro. Older games will need to be updated with Forward Compatibility updates to leverage the PS4 Pro's new hardware, and Mark Cerny affirms that more older PS4 games will be supported in the future:

Sony announced its new $399 PS4 Pro (codenamed "Neo") console yesterday, but the lack of a clear upgrade path has left many gamers scratching their heads. Will the PS4 Pro play all old PS4 games better than original PS4s or not? The answer is: maybe, if the devs allow it.

Yesterday we reported that developers hold the ultimately say in how their PS4 games are upgraded on the new PS4 Pro. Old PS4 games must be patched with "Forward Compatibility" upgrades in order to play better on Sony's new PlayStation Pro hardware, but devs get to choose what performance enhancements to apply to their games. This means that all older PS4 games (and possibly newer ones) that are updated with Forward Compatibility won't hit native 1080p 60FPS by default: devs can choose frame rates, upscaling visuals, and a number of different upgrades for their titles.

"Depending on how the developer chooses to use the increased processing power, games with PS4 Pro support are able to render higher or more consistent framerates, increased environmental and character model detail, improved overall visual quality, and other related visual enhancements," Sony said in a recent PS4 Pro FAQ.

Even with the beefier hardware inside of the new and improved PlayStation 4 Pro, Mass Effect: Andromeda will still only be running at 30FPS, the same framerate the current PS4 will be capable of.

Fabrice Condominas is a producer on Mass Effect: Andromeda, and during an interview with GameSpot where he shared the news. The PS4 Pro might be faster than the PS4, but limiting it to 30FPS means that Mass Effect: Andromeda will look much better on the PS4 Pro compared to the PS4 thanks to being upscaled to 4K.

GameSpot did note that the version of Mass Effect: Andromeda they saw was a pre-alpha build, and that optimization made on the game between now and its release could "lead to better performance".