Gaming - Page 1017

Thanks to Project Helix, Xbox and Windows will soon be unified together as one cohesive structure, continuing Redmond's plans for a cross-platform ecosystem powered by UWP.

We've known for a while that Microsoft wants to meld Xbox and Windows together, with the Xbox brand powering Windows PC gaming. But we don't know how far Microsoft is willing to take this unification--until today, that is. Internal sources at Microsoft told Kotaku yesterday about Project Helix, an ambitious strategy where Xbox evolves into a cross-platform service.

Microsoft wants to push into the PC gaming front using the Xbox brand, and that's exactly what we see now with the Windows 10 Xbox app (which brings Xbox-exclusive functionality to the PC) and cross-platform game streaming. Windows and Xbox are now base pairs bound together on a DNA strand, with UWP as the helix that holds it all together. Remember that Microsoft doesn't see the Xbox as a console any more; to them, it's a "Windows 10 device". Under Project Helix, all future Xbox games will likely be released onto Windows 10 PCs as well, but the transition will likely be slow, as Microsoft can't further alienate console gamers.

Crytek has just announced that its CRYENGINE is now open source, releasing the software to GitHub so that anyone can grab it. There are still licensing terms, even though CRYENGINE is now a free software project, too. You can grab CRYENGINE right here.

In regards to licensing, Crytek explains: "The license is basically you can use the engine for free with no royalties. Our model is Pay What You Want: https://www.cryengine.com/get-cryengine. Basically you pay whatever you want, if you want, and have a choice of how much of that goes to the developers and how much goes to an Indie Fund that we use to fund indie projects that use the engine. We also offer "Insider Memberships" (https://www.cryengine.com/get-cryeng...rvice-packages) for studios that want some closer support from us, trainings, etc".

Crytek explained in detail:

Overwatch has had a pretty successful launch so far, with Blizzard announcing that ranked play is coming to their first-person shooter as early as next month.

During a recent Facebook Q&A session with Overwatch's Lead Game Designer, Jeff Kaplan, it was revealed that ranked play "would be part of a special content update in mid to late June", reports Engadget. Blizzard had planned on including ranked play in Overwatch at launch, but were experiencing issues with the competitive mode that "caused lower-skilled players to be matched up with higher-skilled players". This caused balancing issues, which forced Blizzard to yank it out of Overwatch before launch, and push it out in a post-launch update.

With the impending release of Mirror's Edge Catalyst on June 7, gamers are wondering if this is the end of Faith's adventures. Probably not, according to EA, who has said they will make another Mirror's Edge game if Catalyst sells well.

During a chat with Polygon, Executive VP of EA Studios at EA, Patrick Söderlund said: "There's a lot of learnings that, should we not build another Mirror's Edge for various reasons - a lot of the things that we've done will serve as great learnings for whatever else we build. As you know, EA is pushing quite hard as a company to move into the action space. A lot of stuff like going to an open-world structure, going to a nonlinear narrative, building out characters and stories - these are things that we need to learn and perfect as a company. Sometimes, you have to look at it long-term".

He added: "I hope that Mirror's Edge Catalyst does extremely well. But in a world where it may or may not do well, it's important for us to understand that everything that we do needs to be seen in the longer perspective. You can't just look at it in isolation. Whether or not there's another Mirror's Edge is going to be up to the people out there. If we can convince them that there's a market for this, that people want to buy it, and if they tell us they want another one, then we'll make another one. If the answer is that there wasn't a big enough audience, it's too difficult and too much work goes into making a game to build a game that we know people probably don't want".

Microsoft's new 4K-ready Xbox, codenamed Scorpio, will release in 2017 as a direct answer to Sony's new PS4K console.

Internal Microsoft sources told Kotaku that the new Xbox (aka Scorpio) will release in 2017 with 4K support thanks to an upgraded GPU. We've heard reports that Microsoft's next-gen Xbox will rock 10TFLOPs of performance, and the sources affirmed the new Xbox could "technically support the Oculus Rift". The Xbox4K may even leverage AMD's new GPU enclosure, especially since Phil Spencer teased upgradeable hardware for the new Xbox.

Sources also said that Microsoft will follow an iterative roadmap for future consoles, meaning the traditional console cycle is no longer viable. Instead of major new console hardware releases every five years, consoles will gradually stack upon one another with releases every 2-3 years, with full forward and backward compatibility across consoles. This further hints that the new Xbox will have successively upgradeable hardware, possibly in the form of dedicated GPU enclosure.

Microsoft will reveal two new streaming devices at E3--a smaller Roku-like streaming-only stick, and a bigger set-top box that may stream games from Xbox or PC.

In the most recent episode of The Sams Report, Windows insider Brad Sams dropped major scoops on Microsoft's incoming Xbox plans, including the Xbox One Mini, a new 4K-ready Xbox, and two new streaming devices that will perfectly round out existing hardware.

"Microsoft is going to announce at least two streaming devices at E3. There's going to be a very small device--the size of a Chromecast--and something that's a little bit larger. It'll be lunchbox-sized, but it won't be an Xbox One crammed into a teeny-tiny box, but I believe it's going to be a streaming device with more advanced functionality. [It'll likely be] a media device that plays lightweight Windows Store games, possibly like Apple TV," Sams said in the podcast.

Microsoft is reportedly working on a new Xbox console that will support 4K video playback, but not 4K gaming, and could be a contender to Sony's new PS4K console.

In the latest episode of The Sams Report, Windows insider Brad Sams dropped some scoops on Microsoft's future Xbox plans, claiming that the Xbox Mini is real. But he also says Microsoft has its own mid-cycle refresh countermeasure to the PS4K that will support 4K video and likely have full backward compatibility with existing Xbox One games.

"Microsoft is also dabbling with 4K. We've heard a lot about the PS4K and people have said 'Microsoft's gotta have something that competes with this'. I don't believe it's going to be 4K gaming. I do believe it'll play the next-generation Xbox games, but it'll only allow 4K video playback, not gaming," Sams said in the podcast. "To make this happen there would have to be some sort of internal hardware upgrade. I'd imagine faster video memory...but I don't quite know. But I don't see the console changing too much because remember it has to have compatibility with all the games."

Microsoft will unveil a smaller Xbox Mini at E3 2016, along with a slew of other devices.

Thurrot.com insider Brad Sams claims that Microsoft will expand the Xbox lineup with a new Xbox One Mini console. Given Sams thinks Microsoft will unveil a pair of streaming stick media devices at E3, the Xbox One Mini likely won't be a digital-only set top box and will play discs. A few weeks ago Sams brazenly declared Microsoft will indeed reveal new Xbox hardware at E3.

"I've been sitting on this for a while now, but I feel its safe to talk about. I know it's coming. Since I predicted that Microsoft would unveil new hardware E3, I've heard from a lot of people that said 'yeah, you're right'. There's going to be more than just one hardware. There's going to be hardwares--plural. Xbox Mini is real. It's legit, and I'm not quite sure what form it's going to take."

If you play Fallout 4 on PS4 or Xbox One, you'll want to stop spamming modders with requests to bring certain mods to consoles. The creators are getting tired of it, and it's a good way to talk them out of porting content.

In the next two months, Fallout 4 mods will be available on PS4 and Xbox One. This is a pretty big deal, and naturally console owners are extremely excited. But console owners are completely dependent on PC modders to not only make the mods, but port them over to the Bethesda.net service for console compatibility. Naturally this means modders have been completely overrun with requests to "plz bring to Xbox" or "PS4 version coming when?!", and the creators are getting sick of it.

In a recent Reddit post, a Fallout 4 modder cautioned PS4/Xbox users to stop demanding and begging creators for mods. There's a certain etiquette within the modding community; gamers must respect the efforts of modders, and work with the creators to make better experiences and sometimes remunerate their efforts with donations. Console owners don't seem to understand this, says the post, resulting in an outstanding sense of entitlement.

New Titanfall 2 leaks pinpoint a release month, along with a number of new unique features including a grappling hook operator ability.

A Redditor has leaked a bunch of Titanfall 2 info including release dates, box art (the left half of the pic above), gameplay features and map content. Titanfall 2 will launch on October according to the leaks, which aligns perfectly with EA's Q3 2016 release window. The sequel will also feature a "ton" of new pilot abilities including a grappling hook that can be "extensively used" by Titan operators, and players will be able to string together tactical combos using the grappling hook such as "pulling enemies while they're in midair".

The leaks also revealed Titanfall 2's multiplayer maps are much more expansive than the first game, suggesting that the player count will be boosted as well. There was no mention of the new Titan swords or the game's "grounded and dirty" singleplayer campaign, so we'll have to wait for the official E3 2016 reveal in June. The Reddit leaks have since been deleted, but you can still find them via a Google web cache.

Sony has made some pretty big PS4 sales estimates for its latest fiscal year--could the new 4K-ready PlayStation 4 Neo (aka PS4K, PS4.5) have anything to do with those figures?

Sony wants to sell 20 million PlayStation 4 consoles from now until April 2017, bringing the total number of PS4s sold to 60 million globally. That's quite a feat. Although the PS4 is still a hot-selling console in its own right, what if Sony is counting on the new rumored PS4K to bolster those sales? Technically speaking the PS4K is a PS4, so those sales would definitely boost overall figures. Sony could unveil the PS4K at E3 2016, open up pre-orders after a month or so, and possibly ship it by October 2016 to coincide with the launch of the PlayStation VR.

Keep in mind that it's taken three years for the PS4 to hit its current 40 million sales figure, and Sony wants to sell half of this amount in one year. A new console would definitely bolster sales and drive growth. Remember that Sony's Fiscal Year 2016 ends on April 2017, so we could see the PS4K release in early 2017 or so, with Sony collecting the cash on pre-orders, but a 2016 launch is more likely in this scenario. On the other hand, if Sony does reveal the PS4K at E3, it's highly likely consumers will hold off on buying a PS4 and wait for the new console. If Sony lumps the PS4K with the original PS4 sales, the 20 million estimate makes a bit of sense. During Sony's IR call, Shuhei Yoshida affirmed that the company is now hitting the peak of console profits: "About two and half years have passed since the PlayStation 4 went on sale, and we believe we are beginning to enter the part of the console cycle where we harvest profits." What better time to release the PS4K?

Modders plan to push Fallout 4's Creation Kit to its limits with a massive new Fallout 3-sized mod set in Seattle.

Introducing Fallout Cascadia, an ambitious new modding project that will bring the Fallout universe to the Pacific Northwest for PC players--and eventually console users--to enjoy. Cascadia is being built by a team of 18 volunteers using Fallout 4's official Creation Kit, and will be completely separate from Fallout 4. The Seattle-based mod is expected to be almost as big as Fallout 3 and much bigger than Far Harbor, with all new quests, storylines, and authentic locations based in the region.

Cascadia takes place several decades after Fallout 3/New Vegas/Fallout 4, and Seattle will be the main hub on the game--the same way Boston is Fallout 4's main hub. "Many locations of the game focus around the city proper, including certain fair grounds, public markets, and other famous locations. The game will also include other locations to the west and south including Mercer Island, Redmond, Bellevue, forested areas and airports. The project make an effort to make the world a believable and alive one."

Valve's DOTA 2 is now the second game to support the Vulkan API, an evolution of AMD's Mantle that allows developers to squeeze a ton more performance out of a game. The first: 2014's The Talos Principle, which received support earlier this year.

Support is in the beta stage, so you'll need to grab it as DLC. And if you use the Steam Overlay, you'll want to opt in to the Steam Client Beta to have the newest Steam Vulkan Overlay to prevent issues. Also, Valve notes the first time you play with Vulkan, you might notice stuttering, but that should go away after a full match.

Minimum system requirements are as follows:

Nintendo's post-3DS next generation handheld might be codenamed the "MH", and it could co-exist alongside the Nintendo NX games console.

According to Yahoo Japan, who cited a report from Japanese financial site Traders Web, Nintendo may be planning on releasing an upgraded portable handheld to accompany the Nintendo NX console. "The driving force up until now has been new business from "health services, theme parks and mobile games etc", but will switch over to the next generation game system (NX) and next-gen handheld game device (MH (temporary name))," reads a translation provided by IGN.

This doesn't seem quite right, especially considering the NX will likely have a Wii U-like gamepad controller that sports 3DS-like portability. It's also too soon for Nintendo to release a handheld. The New 3DS was released in 2014 in Japan, and February 2015 in North America, and the N3DS has yet to adopt its own exclusive games library.

Uncharted 4 is a smashing success for Sony and Naughty Dog, selling an incredible 2.7 million global units in its first week. The game now holds the mantle as the fastest-selling first-party Sony game in North America.

Sony broke the amazing sale figures on the PlayStation Blog, and the company is understandably peacocking the feat to the rest of the gaming world. Uncharted 4's 2.7 million sales are actual "sell-through" sales, meaning 2.7 million people across the globe actually bought the game digitally or on disc. After a bit of quick math we see Uncharted 4 (just the game, mind you) generated an insane $172.8 million in its first week.

But wait, there's more: Uncharted 4's sale figures reportedly smash the first-week sales figures of Halo 5, despite Microsoft's claims that Halo 5 sold $400 million worth of global software and hardware sales during its launch week.

Homefront: The Revolution has been suffering from performance issues on both console and PC. On PC at least, it turns out a major factor in this is uneven CPU core utilization; according to DSOGaming's testing, the game puts a lot of stress on one core while others are left to lag behind, dragging framerate down considerably.

To get around it, do the following after booting the game: Alt-Tab > Task Manager > Details tab > right-click Homefront > Set affinity > disable all threads > re-enable all threads. Once complete, you should notice an approximately 25 FPS boost.

Unfortunately, you'll likely have to do this every time you play the game, so you may just want to wait for patches, which are on the way.

The game just keeps getting better: first there was the Japanese voices, English subtitles mod for Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster, and now there's a texture improvement mod.

Created by modder Fraggoso with the use of Kalaiden's also sweet Untitled Project X mod, this one reworks all the game's low-resolution textures to bring them up to par with the rest of a given scene. To compare the work, head here and here (likely the best example) and mouse over and under the different shots. While Square Enix's remastering is fine work, the mod shows there was still significant room for improvement.

Hit the source for downloads and installation instructions.

Fallout 4's new Far Harbor DLC is causing major frame rate drops on PS4 thanks to dense environment lighting effects, and PS4 owners aren't happy.

Fallout 4's new $25 DLC Far Harbor is putting a lot of console owners through hell. The DLC's intense volumetric fog and atmospheric lighting effects are the main source of the FPS drops, and PS4 owners have taken to Reddit to share their woes. Bethesda promised that Fallout 4 would hit 30 FPS on consoles, but PS4 owners are swearing that the fog triggers massive frame rate drops that "feel like 10-15 FPS", pretty much making the game feel quite torturous.

Far Harbor's fog isn't a cakewalk for PC, either. The fog can drop my frame rates down from smooth 60 FPS to ~41 FPS at 1080p Ultra with a Radeon R9 390. At 1440p, I hit about ~30FPS while in the fog.

Fallout 4's new Far Harbor DLC pretty much requires the use of Nick Valentine, the game's synth companion. But what happens if you can't find Nick? Before you start scouring the Wasteland looking for the gumshoe schweetheart, try these easy steps. NOTE: these steps are for PC players, as console players will still have to manually look around.

I was one of the many players who lost Nick Valentine. I did all the steps I'm about to show you, but they didn't work. Then I tried something different, and lo and behold, the synth was back in my digital life. It turns out at some point I had accidentally deleted Nick using the console commands, putting me in a pretty hairy situation. Thankfully it's an easy fix!

The first thing you want to do is pop up the console by pressing tilde (~) and then enter the following commands:

Homefront: The Revolution launched this week to reports of performance issues on all platforms (although PC is said to suffer the least). Developer Dambuster Studios has acknowledged as such on its forums and noted patches to address the situation are forthcoming.

"Performance - particularly frame rate - is not currently where we want it to be, and we are working on additional patches to help address these issues and more," they write. "Patch notes per platform will be available on the community forums and on Steam when they go live."

Easing the sting some is the release of some free DLC today (new outfits and boosters), with some Resistance Mode mission DLC coming down the pipe next month, and even more over the next year or so.