Gaming - Page 1022

No Man's Sky creator and Hello Games lead developer Sean Murray has officially responded to Genicap's patent infringement claims, affirming that the near-infinite space sim doesn't use the patented Gielis Superformula and even calls the issue a "non-story."

"No Man's Sky doesn't actually use this 'superformula' thing or infringe a patent. This is a non-story... everybody chill," Murray said in a recent Tweet. Murray goes on to say that he will personally meet with Johan Gielis, the Superformula's creator, and discuss "maths" once the game is out. So it sounds like Hello Games won't have to delay No Man's Sky nor settle yet another costly court case after all.

As per our original report, Dutch company Genicap has accused Hello Games of patent infringement. Genicap claims that the studio uses its patented Gielis Superformula to create No Man's Sky's massive procedurally-generated universe without authorization. Genicap typically issues out licenses for clients to use its Superformula technology, and Hello Games isn't officially licensed. Now Sean Murray says that the game doesn't actually use the Gielis Superformula, but his recent words seem to clash with a New Yorker interview.

SEGA has released a teaser for Project Sonic at San Diego Comic-Con 2016, during SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Party - and before we go any further, can you believe Sonic is 25 years old? Sheesh.

Project Sonic was announced during the anniversary event in Tokyo last month, and for now, it's called Project Sonic. The teaser trailer doesn't provide much in the way of what to expect, except for some destruction and Sonic meeting a familiar face that looks to help him out.

I'm hoping that there's some cooperative play in Project Sonic, which would be a nice change and a throwback to the days of having other characters in the game that were useful to you - Tails, and Knuckles, anyone?

There are plenty of gamers who wished Microsoft made a portable Xbox, but now we have a reason why there was never a portable Xbox created: because Microsoft couldn't focus enough on something that could've been "Xboy".

During an interview with IGN, former Xbox boss Robbie Bach said that Microsoft had plans for a portable Xbox, but couldn't provide enough resources or the attention required to make the project a reality. Instead, the team dedicated all of their efforts into the Xbox 360.

Bach said: "There were definitely drawings", adding that it wasn't always referred to as "Xboy". Bach added that resources were limited, and Microsoft wanted to "play in [the handheld] part of the ecosystem, [but] we just couldn't focus. We just did not have the bandwidth".

Back in March we told you about a rad Witcher 3 first person mod that might never see the light of day. Well, it has as of recently, and some new footage has come out as well that shows it's in pretty great shape.

The downside is it doesn't work in all situations (the game goes into the normal third person once you draw your sword, ride a horse, or talk to someone), so for now at least, you can't get the full-on first person RPG experience.

If you still want to try it, download it here. Once that's set, use the hookfp command in the console to initialize it, and press P to go in and out of first person. You can also use the setfpfov(value) command to change your field of view (extreme values may cause crashes), and the fpzcorrect(true/false or 1/0) command to enable or disable head bobbing.

Pokemon GO has been racking up some serious numbers on both Android and iOS, but now Apple has confirmed with Polygon that Pokemon GO broke iTunes records.

Niantic's massively popular game had more downloads in its first week than any other app in history according to Apple, with the company not providing any specifics on the amount of downloads. Considering Pokemon GO only launched earlier this month in the US and only hits Japan today, this is a huge deal.

As for revenue, estimates have Pokemon GO pulling in between $1 and $2.3 million per day - not bad for something that only launched in the last month. An analyst with App Annie told Inverse that the company could see $1 billion per year once the server issues are ironed out, and the game launches in more countries.

For the first time ever, TweakTown is attending NerdHQ - which is a geek-a-thon that runs alongside Comic-Con and is powered by AMD and a bunch of other partners like Alienware and... Kelloggs, which were handing out... cereal, to gamers. Yeah, I'm not joking - and it was kind of cool.

Anyway, today I got some hands-on time with Battlefield 1 on the PC, which is something I've been itching for since DICE announced it not so long ago. I was playing on an Alienware Area 51 gaming PC that was powered by the AMD Radeon R9 Fury X, with a 2560x1440 monitor running at 144Hz. I was super critical on the resolution and detail settings of Battlefield 1, but DICE hid the graphics menu away from the public - so I don't know what setting it was running at.

From what I gathered, it was running at High settings because it looked gorgeous - and it ran buttery smooth on the Radeon R9 Fury X. Some of you might think "why wouldn't AMD run Battlefield 1 on the new Radeon RX 480", but the RX 480 is a mid-range graphics card, while the HBM1-based Radeon R9 Fury X is still a high-end/enthusiast level graphics card capable of handling 1440p at 144FPS in most games.

Nintendo has reconfirmed its March 2017 release for the next-gen NX console in its latest annual report, detailing the R&D activities for the future.

Nintendo talked about quite a lot, but it detailed its hardware development, where the Japanese gaming giant said that it's devoted to the development of Nintendo NX. Nintendo teases that NX will feature a "brand new concept" and will be released in March 2017.

During the annual report, Nintendo said: "With respect to hardware, Nintendo continuously investigates and undertakes research on fundamental technologies spanning data storage technology such as semiconductor memories, display technology such as liquid crystal displays, and electronic components, while it also carries out research and development activities to examine the applicability of various technologies including interfaces such as touch panels and sensors, wireless communication, networks and security to the field of home entertainment".

Following hot controversy behind CS:GO gambling, Valve has promised to shut these sites down. Now the company has issued several cease and desist letters to operators of known CS:GO and even Dota 2 skin gambling sites.

Here's Valve's cease and desist order in full: "We are aware that you are operating one of the gambling sites listed below. You are using Steam accounts to doncut this business. Your use of Steam is subject to the terms of the Steam Subscriber Agreement (SSA). Under the SSA Steam and Steam services are licensed for personal and non-commercial use only.

"Your commercial use of Steam accounts is unlicensed and is in violation of the SSA. You should immediately cease and desist further use of your Steam accounts for any commercial purpose. If you fail to do this within ten (10) days, Valve will pursue all available remedies, including without limitation, terminating your accounts."

The anticipated System Shock remake will be making the jump to consoles and PC, Nightdive Studios has just announced.

After successfully Kickstarting its System Shock remake, Nightdive has decided to bring the game to PS4 and Xbox One too. "After a few weeks and lotttts of emails, we are officially on track for bringing System Shock to the PS4 (and Xbox One)! No stretch goal for it. We're adding it in as a thank you to our backers that put their faith in us," said System Shock Project Director Jason Fader.

The studio announced the news in a new PlayStation Blog post, and the Kickstarter page was updated to list the Xbox One platform as well. Nightdive's Jason Fader further revealed the studio is bringing in tons of AAA talent, affirming that the System Shock remake would have the signature elements of the beloved PC original as well as new touches from Fallout New: Vegas and Planetside devs.

Mere weeks away from No Man's Sky launch, Hello Games finds itself embroiled in yet another hurdle; the studio has faced data-destroying floods, a legal battle with SkyTV's trademarking of the world "Sky", and now a potential patent infringement case that could delay the game even further.

Dutch company Genicap claims that No Man's Sky unlawfully uses the company's patented Gielis Superformula technology to build its near-infinite, procedurally-generated universe. Genicap goes on to say that Hello Games hasn't properly licensed the use of their Superformula, and will need to do so before the game launches. "We haven't provided a license to Hello Games," said Genicap's Jeroen Sparrow from the company. "We don't want to stop the launch, but if the formula is used we'll need to have a talk."

Although Genicap hasn't seen No Man's Sky's code and doesn't know how explicit the so-called "infringement" really is, Sean Murray admitted to building the initial foundations of No Man's Sky using the Gielis Superformula. The Superformula is integral to No Man's Sky's procedurally-generated world and serves as the core for the game itself, and Genicap is alleging the studio isn't licensed to use their mathematical code. According to the New Yorker, the Gielis Superformula was created in 2003 by Belgian plant geneticist Johan Gielis. After developing the formula, Professor Johan Gielis took his findings to Genicap, and is still a member of the company.

EA is continuing its free Battlefield 4 DLC spree with Naval Strike, now available for the low price of zero dollars on Origin (for a limited time).

Naval Strike launched in 2014 and features four sea-based maps with a focus on -- you guessed it -- naval gameplay. Although there is still plenty of infantry and air vehicle action, there's also a lot of time to be spent in sea vehicles, many equipped with powerful guns and rockets, and one that can be driven on land or sea.

The DLC also features a cool Carrier Assault mode, which serves as an homage to Battlefield 2142's Titan Mode. Although generally regarded to be less well-received than its inspiration, it still offers a fun twist on the usual formulas. Last I checked, it hadn't really caught on, but it's plausible the 'free' thing will change that.

With the release of Watch Dogs 2 right around the corner, Ubisoft is going into overdrive with its marketing campaign, or is it?

During Ubisoft's recent Q1 2016 earnings result, company CEO Yves Guillemot said that Watch Dogs was Ubisoft's best-selling IP launch of 2014, selling over 10 million copies in total. According to Ubisoft's own surveys, 85% of Watch Dogs players are interested in Watch Dogs 2.

The Watch Dogs 2 trailer has accumulated over 30 million views, which has Ubisoft leading to believe that it will be one of the best-selling games the company has ever made. When pressed about the number of sales that Ubisoft expects from Watch Dogs 2, they said they expect it to sell as many as the first one did.

Bandai Namco has revealed it will be unveiling a new IP for the western audience at Gamescom this year.

Not only that, but the company will be presenting Dragon Ball Xeonverse 2 and Tekken 7, with both games being available to play by the public. In regards to the new IP the company will be showing off, they said: "A new IP published by BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe for a western audience will be revealed at GAMESCOM 2016".

Bandai Namco didn't say which platforms its new IP would be launching on, but we should be expecting it to hit consoles and PC. As for Gamescom 2016, Bandai Namo's President of IP Strategy, Marketing and PC, Herve Hoerdy teases: "This year, again the world's largest gaming fair will be home to hundreds of thousands gaming fans who gather in Cologne".

Nintendo is still quite secretive when it comes to its next-gen NX console, but that doesn't stop other companies from talking about it.

Ubisoft recently held its financial conference call for Q1 of its fiscal 2016/2017, where company CEO Yves Guillemot talked about Nintendo NX. He said that from what he's seen, the console is really great and that it's going to help the industry grow, as well as bring casual gamers back into the gaming industry.

We don't know much about the Nintendo NX console, but from what we do know, it'll be powered by an unannounced NVIDIA Tegra processor based on the Pascal architecture. We should expect Nintendo to release it in March 2017, which means we should see the company unveil it in the coming months leading up to the holiday season.

The first major patch for Overwatch since its launch has gone live, and it's a doozy. Apart from adding support-sniper Ana Amari (our impressions here), it includes a ton of balance and feature changes that are sure to shake things up.

First up: Overtime stalling is now going to be pretty much non-existent. If a given Overtime exceeds 20 seconds, the fuse will burn more quickly, preventing those sometimes several minute long late games.

Second: one hero limit is enforced for Competitive Play (you'll still be able to do double Pharah or whatever in Quick Play as much as you want), which will drastically affect the meta. Among the popular strategies that will no longer be available: double Reaper to deal with tanks, double Lucio to take advantage of constant AOE speed and AOE healing, and double Winston, double Tracer, and double Lucio in overtime to cheese objectives.

Blizzard has its new expansion for World of Warcraft due soon, which will see the introduction of new gameplay mechanics, and many changes to the MMO.

Legion will introduce a new transmogrification system that "unlocks the look of an item account-wide once it's bound to you", reports GameSpot. There's also a bunch of class-specific changes, with changes to specializations - where Blizzard adds that it will be making it easier to change between specs, as well as not needing to worry about swapping gear so much.

World of Warcraft's graphics will be receiving a new dab of paint, with the maximum draw distance "extended greatly for all world content". Not only that, but the new Legion patch for WoW will also include three higher settings past the Ultra preset in the game. Fog will look much better, with Blizzard using "modern techniques for rendering colors and other post-effects".

Square Enix have unveiled five new screenshots of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, which is only a few weeks away now. Check out the new screenshots, below.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will have support for both NVIDIA and AMD technologies, with AMD's PureHair technology included, as well as NVIDIA's PhysX and APEX technologies. The game will support Asynchronous Compute for the DX12 side of things, so we should expect AMD to have a good advantage in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The game will also feature a built-in benchmark, so expect us to roll Mankind Divided into our GPU benchmarks as soon as it's released.

CD Projekt RED has enjoyed massive success with The Witcher 3, with nearly 10 million copies sold, but what studios does CDPR look to with respect?

During an interview with CD Projekt RED boss Marcin Iwinski, he said that the world's top three game developers are Blizzard, Rockstar and Bethesda. Iwinski said: "Yeah, I actually think I said the best. The goal for the last five years was to be among the best three roleplaying game developers and I think we got there, The Witcher 3 is the proof".

He continued: "For the top three, this is our perception, I'd definitely put there Blizzard, I'd definitely put there Rockstar and I think I would put them at number 1 and probably Bethesda as well. We want to get there, so one will have to go".

It looks like a game adaptation of Dmitry Glukhovsky's newest Metro 2035 book may be underway.

4A Games, the development team behind the excellent Metro: 2033 and Metro: Last Light games, are working on "two exciting new projects." Admittedly we know next to nothing about the new projects--they could be brand new IPs, or we could see 4A Games continuing their long tradition on focusing on Glukhovsky's landmark post-apocalyptic universe.

"The burning question that you are all going to be asking (and have been asking) is: What are you doing or working on? Well today I have the honour, nay the privilege to tell you: nothing at all about either of the 2 exciting projects that we have underway .... Sorry for the troll :D"

Microsoft is acting upon yet another coercive and pushy strategy in order to sell its new 40% smaller Xbox One S. These weird tactics include most of Microsoft's usual suspects: conflicting statements, misinformation, a stuttered release schedule that ensures you buy the most expensive variant first, and going back on its promises.

When the Xbox One S was revealed at E3 2016, Microsoft pushed the console's $299 starting price really hard. 4K UHD video playback, 4K gaming, 40% smaller, more power efficiency--you name it, the Xbox One S looked like a big improvement over the Xbox One, and it only cost $299! Fast-forward to the present and Microsoft is singing a different tune. By only releasing the 2TB Xbox One S models on August 2 before any others, and further promising the 2TB versions will have limited availability, Microsoft is really pushing gamers to buy its most expensive variant. And it'll work, too. That's the disappointing part. After all that press and bluster, they haven't even told us when the highly touted $299 model is releasing, promising that it'll release in August and they'll have "more to share later on."

What astounds me the most is the misinformation around the Xbox One S. It seems Microsoft is keeping some of the console's most attractive capabilities extremely vague and not telling us the whole picture, especially when it comes to 4K game upscaling and hardware upgrades. Xbox exec Mike Ybarra said that the mini Xbox would upscale 1080p games to 4K resolution for the benefit of UHDTV owners, but Major Nelson said absolutely nothing about 4K upscaling in the console's recent release date announcement.