Gaming - Page 1020

"Summer Games" loot boxes have launched for Overwatch on the PlayStation Store. Clearly Olympics-inspired, the boxes include at least one Summer Games-themed skin, spray, highlight intro, emote, victory pose, or voice line.

Each of the skins is based on a different Olympic event. For example, there's Track & Field Tracer, Football Lucio, Weightlighting Zarya, and more.

Over 90 items are available to collect. Apart from loot boxes, you can purchase them with in-game credits. Whichever way you choose, the items won't be available to collect anymore after August 22 (after the Olympics are over), so hopefully you've saved up a lot of credits (or have a ton of cash to blow).

Remember when Microsoft said the Xbox One S doesn't have a GPU and CPU boost and that it plays games identically the same as the normal Xbox One? Yeah, they totally lied. The Xbox One S is not only faster, but it can boost in-game frame rates by 11% and beyond.

Microsoft's new $299 Xbox One S has some hidden powers. Not only does it upscale 1080p games to 4K resolution, play 4K UHD Blu-rays and supports High Dynamic Range, the new console is equipped with tweaked hardware that delivers a consistent and noticeable frame rate bump.

According to Digital Foundry's testing, the Xbox One S offers overall improved frame rate and power efficiency performance over the original Xbox One. The S model's performance jump comes from its new internal hardware, which is comprised of a new shrunken 16nm FinFET semi-custom AMD SoC which houses an overclocked GPU (boosted to 914MHz from the vanilla Xbox's 853MHz), improved ESRAM bandwidth (219GB/s versus the vanilla's 204GB/s), and a smidgen of 0.9 extra teraflops performance. Remember that the original Xbox One featured a 28nm AMD APU, so the Xbox One S enjoys a 33% die shrink that translates into some serious power efficiency. The CPU, however, hasn't been boosted and remains at 1.75 GHz.

Even after a full month of toiling bugfixes and testing, Bethesda still hasn't made much progress on bringing Fallout 4 mods to PS4.

At the end of June, Bethesda announced that the beta test for Fallout 4 mod support on PS4 would be delayed indefinitely. Fast-forward to the present, the publisher has more dire news for PS4 owners: "We're working w/ Sony on Fallout 4 Mod support for PS4. The process is still under evaluation. As soon as we learn more, we will share news," Bethesda said on Twitter.

Bear in mind that the beta test for Fallout 4 PS4 mods isn't even working yet, so even when Bethsoft fixes all the "serious technical issues," PS4 owners are going to have to wait an extra period as the platform's mods to through what will likely be an extensive beta test. Bethesda not only has to get the closed beta test up and running, but actually conduct the beta test over several weeks, and only after these conditions are met will mods become available to the general PlayStation public.

Eidos Montreal's upcoming Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will feature a staggering amount of content, but console gamers won't need to worry about colossal file sizes.

Since every PS4 and Xbox One game needs to be installed now, storage space is something console gamers are extremely conscious of. As a result we have to constantly juggle our games, deleting old titles we don't play any more and even upgrade our HDDs to bigger sizes. Luckily, one of the biggest games of the year won't have an insane install size to match: the new Deus Ex game takes up just ~39GB on Xbox One, according to an Xbox Store listing.

We still don't know how big Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will be on PC or PS4 just yet (the specs haven't been released on Steam) but we can assume both platforms will be similar to the Xbox One's 38GB size. Frankly I'm surprised at the size; I was expected a good 50GB especially with the huge amount of sidequests and optional content within the cyberthriller alone, not to mention the main quests, lighting effects and high-res textures.

DOOM's new update has been released, with id Software's new Update #2 for DOOM including a slew of fixes and optimizations for the single-player side of the game, while it adds two new multiplayer modes, improves matchmaking and multiple SnapMap improvements.

As for the list, here's the DOOM - Update #2 Changelog:

Single Player

Pokemon GO continues to hit new milestones, with the app now downloaded over 100 million times, and Niantic pulling in a huge $10 million per day in revenue.

According to a report from App Annie, Pokemon GO has been installed over 100 million times - quite the increase over the 25 million from late July (which was... just last month). The actual download numbers could be a little lower, but I doubt they're far off the mark. TechCrunch has recently reported that Pokemon GO has been downloaded around 50 million times on Android, something that was achieved in just 19 days.

App Annie reports that Niantic is making around $10 million per day from the iOS and Android versions of Pokemon GO, with the report mentioning that other games saw their daily revenue drop for a few days after the launch of Pokemon GO, but they quickly bounced back to normal.

Inside, the highly acclaimed new atmospheric platformer indie from Playdead (Limbo), is jumping to PlayStation 4 in August.

After spending just a week on Xbox One before moving to Steam, Inside is now going full circle with a release on PS4. A trophy list for the game was spotted earlier this morning, and now sources have confirmed to VG247 that Inside will release at the end of August.

I still haven't played the 2D indie puzzle-platformer, but I've seen tons of people talk about it on my Twitter feed and all of the talk has been extremely positive. From what I've seen, the game is incredibly atmospheric and keeps the same dark overtones as Limbo, but this time around the devs at Playdead have adapted a distinct themes of an Orwellian dystopia.

Spoiler Warning: If you want to keep No Man's Sky a surprise, steer clear of this post! Like almost every game that releases these days, No Man's Sky apparently needs a day one patch update to run properly.

Daymeeuhn, the gamer who spent $1,250 on an early copy of No Man's Sky, continues to share key info about his experiences with the game...and his words are eye-opening to say the least. Apparently the unpatched version of No Man's Sky has quite a few bugs and can lead to tons of crashing on PS4. While these errors and bugs could be squashed with patches and a day one update, Daymeeuhn says that No Man's Sky generally feels unfinished in certain areas and Hello Games should've beta tested it before release.

"There are bugs. Quite a few in fact. In some moments I really start to feel as if this game would have benefited from a beta test. PRAY for a Day 1 patch, not only to nerf the sale cost of Atlas Stones but also to address some of this too."

Hello Games' procedurally-generated indie No Man's Sky is touted as a "near-infinite" universe with 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 planets to explore. With so many planets to uncover, the game has one central goal: to reach the center of the universe. After spending less than a week in the game, someone has already reached the center of No Man's Sky.

Remember the guy who bought an early copy of No Man's Sky for $1,250? His name is daymeeuhn, and he's been sharing tons of info about the game on Reddit. But now he's revealed something quite unsettling about No Man's Sky: he's already technically "beaten" the game by reaching the center of the universe in just 40 hours time.

How did he achieve this so fast? Hello Games has put in a distinct "design flaw" that lets gamers rack up an insane amount of cash, which is then converted to warp fuel. So instead of spending "hundreds of hours" grinding materials on planets, you can just grab these mats, sell them, and keep scouring the stars.

Spoiler Warning: If you want to keep No Man's Sky a surprise, steer clear from this post! A fresh batch of No Man's Sky gameplay has leaked, this time with over an hour of consistent in-game footage.

YouTuber Kengi01 has acquired an early copy of No Man's Sky and published a huge hour plus video of his first experiences of Hello Games' huge space sim. Gamers have thoroughly picked apart Kengi's gameplay and compared it with the notorious leaks from daymeeuhn, the gamer who spent $1,250 on his copy of the game.

We've also reported extensively on daymeeuhn's experiences with the game, especially his claim that No Man's Sky players can reach the center of the universe in less than two days time. This is certainly a far cry from Sean Murray's insistence that reaching the center takes players "hundreds of hours of grinding".

During a gathering of people in a Polish meadow, Pope Francis challenged hundreds of thousands of young people should not be a "couch potato" who plays video games and uses an electronic device like a PC, tablet or console - and instead, "social activism and politics to create a more just world", reports Mashable.

The 79-year-old pope who has obviously never enjoyed a few games of Battlefield, CS:GO, Pokemon GO or League of Legends said: "Dear young people, we didn't come into this world to 'vegetate,' to take it easy, to make our lives a comfortable sofa to fall asleep on. No, we came for another reason: To leave a mark" to a crowd that Polish media said was over 1 million people.

Pope Francis came out bashing the escapism and consumerism that technology isolates people, with Francis saying Jesus is the "Lord of risk ... not the Lord of comfort, security and ease. Following Jesus demands a good dose of courage, a readiness to trade in the sofa for a pair of walking shoes and to set out on new and uncharted paths". Francis doesn't want you to play games, he wants you to sit on blankets and make their mark in the world by becoming engaged "politicians, thinkers, social activists" and to not help the world economy that is "inspired by solidarity".

Valve is still in the process of pulling the CS:GO skin gambling websites into line, threatening another 20 websites with legal action if they don't end their "skin gambling" operations.

Around two weeks ago, Valve finally starting taking CS:GO skin betting and gambling sites seriously, with some rather large sites closing immediately - without being issued a formal notice by Valve's lawyers. On July 20, Valve's general counsel threatened some 23 websites with legal action if they didn't close operations within 10 days.

The deadline for the first wave of sites that were sent cease-and-desist notes by Valve expires on Wednesday, with some of them still in operation. We should see them close soon, or feel the wrath of Lord GabeN.

If there's one thing Pokemon GO players have wanted since its release and rise to super stardom is for a more stable, better equipped Pokemon GO experience with more features and improved gameplay.

Well, the new Pokemon GO update has been greatly improved, with an impressive list of fixes and improvements. If your game hasn't already updated, be sure to hit the iTunes store or Play Store to grab the latest version of Pokemon GO.

Samsung has been pushing the marketing for its Gear VR headset much more in the last 6-12 months, and selling them alongside - and even bundled sometimes for free, Samsung has been getting Gear VR headsets into more houses than ever.

There are now over 1 million monthly active users on the Gear VR, according to Mark Zuckerberg during Facebook's recent earnings call. During the earnings call, Zuckerberg said: "1 million people a month are now using Oculus on mobile phones through our Gear VR partnership with Samsung".

The exact sales numbers on the Gear VR isn't clear, but Samsung did say back in June that it had sold 300,000 units in Europe alone. If we take into consideration the push in Europe and the massive push in the US and many other markets giving the Gear VR for free with Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge smartphones, which have been so successful for Samsung that they reported profits that have hit a two-year high.

The Metal Gear Solid franchise is one of the most iconic game series, with creator Hideo Kojima becoming a household name thanks to the series - but according to Konami's financial report, the MGS franchise has sold over 49 million copies to date.

In Konami's recent financial report, we now know that the Metal Gear Solid franchise has sold 49.2 million copies as of March 31, 2016. During the first quarter of this year, Konami reported $481 million in revenue - a 3.5% decline year-over-year. Konami's profits were $89 million, a decent 40% increase in the same amount of time.

Digital sales have become the cornerstone of most publishers, with $246 million in revenue for the quarter - up 5.6% year-over-year. Profits made from digital sales generated $85 million in profits for Konami over Q1 2016, up 34% year-over-year.

The first gameplay trailer for Farming Simulator 2017 is here, with Focus Home Entertainment ready to let you learn the basics of farming new crops, sunflowers and using the latest farming vehicles.

The game is detailed as: "Farming Simulator's unique and all-encompassing farming experience is loved by players around the world. While the game is an accurate simulator at heart with deep management options, it is also a very accessible sandbox, with two huge maps and countless vehicles & equipment to use and play with. All the big farming manufacturers are here, and Farming Simulator 17 boasts the franchise's largest roster yet with over 200 unique vehicles and equipment spanning 70 different brands".

Farming Simulator 2017 will be released on October 25, do you think you'll be picking it up? Will there be Twitch streamers playing Farming Simulator 2017? Maybe it could become a thing.

We knew that EA was working on a new user interface for Battlefield 1, but now the company has detailed its new Battlefield UI that will "improve the experience for past Battlefield games".

There are big changes coming to Battlefield in the way that Battlefield 4, Battlefield Hardline and Battlefield 1 gamers are united through a new Battlefield user interface. This new UI is "designed to improve the experience of playing with friends and to bring relevant content to your attention", so it sounds like Battlelog - but hopefully greatly improved.

EA continues explaining its new Battlefield UI: "Now, you're able to create a Squad before you actually enter into a game. Being able to join up with your friends and join into a game together makes it a much smoother experience, and helps make sure you're able to spawn on your buddies as soon as you're in the game".

Spoiler Warning: If you don't want to potentially ruin your first run of No Man's Sky and keep everything fresh, steer clear of this post! Remember that guy who spent $1,250 on an early copy of No Man's Sky? Well he's just posted up a proof video, and now he's uploading freshly leaked gameplay footage to show us exactly what Hello Games' massively anticipate space sim has to offer.

No Man's Sky leaker Daymeeuhn is simultaneously loved and hated in the gaming world right now: he's loved for sharing an unbiased and unfiltered look at Hello Games' infinite procedural space sim, but he's also hated for spoiling things. To be fair, though, Daymeeuhn is just showing us an approximate look at the first 26 minutes of the game, and honestly the footage is a lot of stuff we've already seen.

The footage shows us that No Man's Sky will be a very grindy type of game. Gamers apparently start off on foot and have to explore, grind, and survive in harsh environments. The clip really shows a new dimension of No Man's Sky that isn't necessarily depicted in the other play sessions--the raw, grind-oriented face of the game that blends survival, crafting, ingenuity and exploration.

Arkane Studios' new Prey game isn't a sequel, a reboot or a remake. So what is it exactly? The devs have some answers.

Ever since the new Prey game was announced at Bethesda's E3 2016 showcase, fans of the original Prey game had a lot of questions. Everyone thought that Arkane's Prey was the long-cancelled Prey 2 sequel, whereas others thought it was a reboot. As it turns out, the new Prey is more like a loose adaptation set in the IP's universe.

"Prey is not a sequel, it's not a remake, it has no tie with the original. You have to look at it as a re-imagining of the IP," says Raphael Colantonio, president of Arkane Studios and creative director of Prey.

SPOILER WARNING: If you want to keep No Man's Sky a total surprise you may want to look away from this post. A gamer who apparently purchased an early copy of No Man's Sky has allegedly sold the game to an impatient space explorer for the insane sum of $1,250.

Interestingly enough, the tale is spun on a sports forum called Operation Sports, where user CampBlackMamba24 claims he's acquired pre-release copy of No Man's Sky and decided to share some info. The gamer claims he bought the copy of No Man's Sky for $150 off of Craigslist, likely a pre-release review copy, and proceeded to sell it on eBay for $1,250. This is actually the same user that made the $2,000 No Man's Sky eBay listing, but he accepted the $1,250 counter offer instead.

If you do manage to somehow get an early copy, No Man's Sky's servers are already live (presumably for press copies). Here's a quick list of the gamer's general impressions and a bunch of screenshots from the forum posts for your perusal.