Gaming - Page 1029

It was only in December last year that Chinese giant Tencent purchased the majority stake in League of Legends, and now they're back with another acquisition - this time, it's Supercell - the developer of Clash of Clans.

Last year, Supercell was valued at $5.25 billion, so that's a nice $3 billion in value added over a year. This $8.6 billion acquisition is a big deal, and as The Wall Street Journal said, it makes Tencent the leading company in the personal computer games industry, which is - in the words of Ron Burgundy himself - 'is kind of a big deal'.

Tencent now owns the properties including League of Legends and Clash of Clans, now with Supercell, with the acquisition including Hay Day, Clash Royale and Boom Beach. League of Legends on its own has 27 million daily players, with all of them being on the PC - while Supercell's games seeing over 100 million gamers per day on mobile devices.

Unity has released a new real-time rendered short film known as their 'Adam' demo, teasing it during their Unity Europe conference. The company used a single NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 to render Adam at 2560x1440.

As you can see, it's quite the world that Unity created in a 5-minute video, with some emotive pushes during the short film. It starts off with a Matrix-style unplugging from the system, and into a very District 9, Half-Life 2, this-is-the-future-and-it-sucks feel - all within the Unity engine. What I want to see now are games built with this technology, and even better - VR games built like this.

As one of the comments from 'Jokus Art' on YouTube said: "As soon as these kinds of graphics come to VR games.. I don't think the real-world stands a chance". And yeah, I totally agree.

E3 2016 - Square Enix confirms that Final Fantasy 15 will be an absolutely massive game in terms of gameplay offerings and scope, and will mirror the same staggering content that completionists expect from a Final Fantasy game.

We've known for a while that Final Fantasy 15's campaign storyline lasts anywhere from 40 to 50 hours of gameplay, but Final Fantasy 15 game director Hajime Tabata has revealed that the huge open-world game can take up to 200 hours to completely master. As someone who's spent about 300 hours in a Final Fantasy game (and 120+ in Final Fantasy XIV: ARR), this number is a godsend, especially since I had concerns about FF15 being too "casualized" for its own good.

"In terms of clearing the main story, we're anticipating about 40 to 50 hours of gameplay, so there will be that at the very least. But there are a lot of side quests and extra stuff. With that alone, we're looking at about 100 hours of gameplay. So if you count all of that, we're looking at about 200 hours total if you clear everything. Fans have been waiting for quite a while, so we want to make sure there is a lot to enjoy when it's out," Tabata said during an E3 2016 showcase.

Sony will launch its new 4K-upscaling PlayStation 4 Neo console in Holiday 2016 to beat Microsoft's 6TFLOPs "monster" Project Scorpio to the market, according to recent sources.

Although Sony's new PS4K won't be as powerful as Microsoft's Xbox Scorpio, nor will it leverage AMD's new 14nm Polaris GPU and Zen CPU SoC combo, the Japanese console-maker will likely take advantage of an earlier console release to soak up a full year of sales. We've known for a while that Sony would likely launch its PS4K in 2016 (French retailer Innelec said its coming in October), "several sources" have told Eurogamer to expect a PS4K release this year.

Instead of revealing its PS4K at E3 2016 like Microsoft did with Project Scorpio, Sony took the more reserved route by officially confirming the console is indeed on the way. Sony Computer Interactive President Andrew House confirmed that the PlayStation 4K (aka Neo) will upscale 1080p games to 4K, and that it will be up to developers to optimize games for the "enhanced mode". House also confirmed that the PS4 Neo won't have exclusive games, and that all existing PS4 games will be compatible with the PS4K.

E3 2016 - Bethesda game director Todd Howard confirmed the studio is working on two absolutely massive projects that overlap, are "totally different" than anything Bethesda's done before, and require next-gen technology that "isn't quite here yet."

Remember when Bethesda's Todd Howard said this back in February? "We actually have three kind of longer term projects we're doing that are all - we'll talk about them at a future date - but they're different than anything we've done before, while also being a Bethesda-style game....Big and crazy, but in many ways different than things we've done before. It's an exciting time." At E3 2016 Todd Howard told Geoff Keighley even more details about these ambitious new games and what they hold for the future of the studio.

These two new massive projects will be fully-fledged Skyrim- and Fallout 4-sized games that come before The Elder Scrolls VI--but all three games (which were described as 'big and crazy' before) will basically be under the same umbrella in terms of planning. "I could sit here and explain the game to you, and you would say, 'That sounds like you don't even have the technology. How long is that going to take?' So it is something that's going to take a lot of time, what he have in mind for that game, and we actually have two other large projects we're also doing that are bigger than everything we've done. People will probably hear about those even before Elder Scrolls 6. That'll make sense many years from now."

E3 2016 - Square Enix unloaded a staggering volume of Final Fantasy 15 content at E3, blowing the doors off of the new action-based RPG with tons of gameplay footage, screenshots, and details.

Thanks to Square Enix, E3 2016 wasn't lacking for RPGs (although we did expect Sony to showcase more JRPGs at their press conference!). Gamers were given a huge buffet of Final Fantasy 15 awesomeness to chew on--not just the small morsels and teasers we're used to. In fact, I'd say that there's so much footage and info out there right now that we can hardly digest it all-in-one sitting.

The first bit of gameplay footage has FF15 game director Hajime Tabata walking us through the first 24 minutes of gameplay, revealing key details and tidbits along the way--like Noctis' companions being living, breathing comrades with personalities rather than stale NPCs, level-up systems and side abilities like fishing, photography and survival, real-time combat mechanics, dynamic 24-hour day-and-night cycles, and pretty much everything under Eos' sun.

E3 2016 - Capcom's zombie game Dead Rising 4 will be exclusive to Xbox One for one full year and Windows Store for 90 days, Microsoft has confirmed. After the exclusivity periods end, it may end up on PlayStation 4 and/or Steam.

Dead Rising 3 was exclusive to Xbox One as well before releasing 10 months later on PC, while the game was permanently out of the question for PS4 owners. So in both cases, Microsoft is more lax on restrictions this time around, which should come as great news to all.

Dead Rising 4 will launch December 6 on Windows Store and Xbox One.

A Battlefield 1 closed alpha or something close to it is currently being played by members of the press, which Gamespot says will be available next week. Available to who isn't exactly clear, but based on past DICE closed alphas, it's likely a small selection of those who signed up for Battlefield Insider.

The news is affirmed by Game Informer's recent takedown of closed alpha footage, which we've heard from those who attended EA Play that it was supposed to be under NDA for two weeks.

Multiple maps are said to be featured in the alpha, including the one shown at EA Play.

CD Projekt RED is one of the many dev studios that's very familiar with Nintendo's new NX console hardware, and says that the system will be "spectacular" for gamers.

Not too long ago Nintendo America President Reggie Fils-Aime said something that worried Nintendo fans: "For us, it isn't about specs, it's about content," he said. But...the NX is supposed to be powered by a next-gen 16nm Pascal-based Tegra chip! It's supposed to be powerful! Does this mean the NX will be another hardware flop like the Wii U? CD Projekt RED's Fabian Döehlahe tells us not to worry: the NX is going to be "fantastic".

"The Nintendo NX will be fantastic," CD Projekt RED communications manager Fabian Mario Döehlahe told German games publication Rocketbeans TV. "As a developer you get access to the hardware and everybody [at CD Projekt] is looking forward to the NX. We know things."

Roberts Space Industries has been doing some amazing things with the CRYENGINE and its ambitious as hell space game, Star Citizen, which has just had its latest v2.4 patch released.

Star Citizen's new v2.4 patch allows access to the new Shopping experience, full Hangar interactivity from within the actual game client - which can be accessed through new options, and the Port Modification app. Cloud Imperium Games have been making countless changes to the Crusader and Port Olisar, which includes the addition of new missions, Alpha Currency and Defender reputation.

But marvel over these new screenshots, which look out of this world.

E3 2016 - Bethesda teased a new Wolfenstein game at their E3 2016 showcase.

Renowned Swedish FPS developer Machine Games, who's responsible for such amazing games as Wolfenstein: The New Order and The Old Blood expansion, is likely developing another Wolfenstein game. A mysterious title called "The New Colossus" was shown on a fake command prompt on Bethesda's E3 showcase, pretty much confirming that the sequel is in development.

Keep in mind we don't know for sure that Wolfenstein: The New Colossus is a brand new sequel, but given how much time has passed since the original game and its expansion, I'm betting on it. We originally reported that Bethesda would reveal the new Wolfenstein game at E3 alongside Prey 2 and The Evil Within 2, but those plans ultimately fell apart. Prey 2 as we know it is dead, and the game is instead getting a reboot, and there was absolutely no mention of The Evil Within 2.

Hello Games, the developer behind the ambitious No Man's Sky, has just announced it has been involved in a large legal battle with British telecom company, Sky, over the name of its game. But, now the two parties have resolved their differences, and the issues are over.

Hello Games' founder Sean Murray took to Twitter with glee, saying: "Yay! We finally settled with Sky (they own the word 'Sky'). We can call our game No Man's Sky. 3 years of secret stupid legal nonsense over". Murray added that the legal situation "was pretty serious", adding: "On the plus side perhaps this is the real reason Skynet never happened".

With No Man's Sky being delayed recently, from its June release to an August release, Murray addressed the delay saying: "some key moments needed extra polish to bring them up to our standards".

In the latest Overwatch developer update, game director Jeff Kaplan details the rewards for the upcoming Competitive Play mode. Among what you can expect: golden weapons.

"Not only will there be some sprays and player icons that you can only get by playing each season, there is a very cool customized golden gun system," he says. "Once you see things like Reinhardt's golden hammer, you're going to be pretty blown away."

Kaplan goes on to explain such rewards are unlocked much faster if you're much more skilled. As well, if you're toward the top end of the competition, you can unlock some as of yet unspecified cosmetic items (we'll guess skins and maybe more).

E3 2016 - After dropping a metric ton of new Final Fantasy 15 gameplay footage and content, Square Enix delivers a closer look at the game's "airship"--the flying Regalia car.

What Final Fantasy game would be complete without an airship? Final Fantasy 15 is taking a more unconventional approach with its in-game airship--in fact, it's not really an airship, but a car that converts into a streamlined jetliner to soar the heavens. We got our first look at the Regalia's flying mode a few months ago, but Square Enix has blown the lid off of the svelte transforming speedster in a new clip.

The Regalia is the ancestral royal "ship" of the Lucian kings, and belonged to Noctis' father Cor Leonis--and his father before him. The car-airship is more than just a vehicle--it ties Noctis to his heritage, his bloodline, and serves as the main locomotion for the game's party members--Noctis, Prompto, Ignis and Gladiolus. The Regalia's flying mode only unlocks "pretty far into the game," and can be customized--the clip we saw is the Type F version. The ship will also transform depending on the altitude, and yes, you can control the ship freely just like in other games.

E3 2016 Hideo Kojima has opened up about his enigmatically grim new game Death Stranding, revealing key details about what we can expect with the PS4 exclusive. Technically an action game, Kojima promises that Death Stranding will be unlike anything we've ever seen before.

Quite some time ago, Hideo Kojima helped give birth to the "stealth action" genre with the immortal Metal Gear Solid series--but MGS wasn't just stealth action, it was so much more. Kojima is confident that his new PS4 game, Death Stranding, will do the same. Although it's technically an "action" game, Death Stranding will turn everything we know on its head--and it all starts with using "ropes" instead of "sticks". Kojima explains in a very thought-provoking manner:

"A strand in psychology is often used to refer to ties or chains. So how all the crabs [in the trailer] have this weird umbilical chord and how the baby is tied to Norman [Reedus' character] is a representation of this. There's a Japanese author I am a huge fan of called Kobo Abe. He has a short novel called 'Rope' in which he makes a definition, a statement: the first tool mankind made was a stick. It was made to keep away bad things. It's a weapon. The next tool created by mankind was rope. The rope is not to keep away bad things. On the contrary, it's a tool used to keep good things close to you, to tie good things close to you. Sticks and ropes are some of the tools most used by mankind even these days."

E3 2016 - Nintendo America President Reggie Fils-Aime may have confirmed the new Nintendo NX won't rock over-the-top specs in a recent interview with Bloomberg.

When asked how the NX will stack up against Microsoft's new powerful Xbox Scorpio and Sony's new PlayStation 4K, Reggie Fils-Aime said: "You know for us, it's not about specs, it's not about teraflops, it's not about the horsepower of a particular system; for us, it's about the content. Nintendo is a content-focused company. We create entertainment that makes people smile. So for us, we're focused on bringing our best entertainment to both the Wii U as well as the NX in the future," Nintendo exec Reggie Fils-Aime said in an interview with Bloomberg West.

Fils-Aime's responses are particularly interesting because we have it on good authority that the Nintendo NX will be powered by NVIDIA's new powerful Pascal-based Tegra chip rather than an AMD APU. This would open up the doors for some impressive performance boosts across the board. But on the other hand, we've also heard the NX's power is comparable to an Xbox One and won't "blow away current consoles."

E3 2016 - Bethesda has confirmed that old Skyrim mods will "basically" work in the new remastered 64-bit special edition version, opening up a new door for new and old mods alike. Pete Hines also confirms Skyrim is being remastered on PC, too, and chimes in to give us some clues about older mods being playable on consoles.

Not everything will be compatible right from the start, though. Renowned Skywind modder MicahGhost also says that any mod using the Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE) won't work until the tool is updated to support the new 64-bit framework. "I do not believe it will take long at all," the modder said, "because the same team has already done a script extender for fallout 4(FOSE) which uses a 64 bit engine most likely almost identical to the new engine Skyrim Special edition most likely uses."

But what about console mods? One of the biggest selling points for the new remaster is allowing console gamers to experience the massive galaxy of Skyrim mods. Given all of the details Pete Hines has revealed so far, we can speculate that console owners will get to experience older Skyrim mods, too. As long as they can be converted using the new Skyrim: SE Creation Kit, they can be uploaded to Bethesda.net for console players to enjoy.

E3 2016 - Up until now we thought all old Xbox One games will run at 1080p 60FPS on Microsoft's new Project Scorpio powerhouse console. Xbox division Phil Spencer confirms not all original Xbox One games will benefit from Project Scorpio--only newer Xbox games and older games with dynamic resolution like Halo 5 will tap the console's new hardware.

"Scorpio's 6TFLOPs will impact the games and the way they play. ['Upcoming games,' Giant Bomb's Jeff Gertsmann broke in, 'you're not necessarily going to get better performance out of any disc you put in the system.'] You know, that's a great question. If you look at a game like Halo 5 that implements dynamic scaling--as scenes get more complex, in order to maintain 60FPS, it will actually change the resolution. So if you run [Halo 5] on Scorpio, you're actually going to be at that max frame-rate more often," Spencer said during Giant Bomb's E3 2016 broadcast.

Microsoft has affirmed that its Polaris-and-Zen powered Xbox Scorpio won't have exclusive games, but only newer, specially-made games specific older Xbox One games will harness the console's beefy 6TFLOPs GPU processing power. "Some of the existing games will actually run a little better, if they're using dynamic scaling. But I wouldn't buy Scorpio to run your existing library of Xbox One games."

E3 2016 - Anyone who purchases Ensemble's upcoming Halo Wars 2: Ultimate Edition ($79.99) on Xbox One or PC will be treated to a remastered version of the original Halo Wars.

Halo Wars: Definitive Edition will feature improved visuals over its original incarnation, as well as new achievements, and all previously released DLC.

And of course, this means the debut of the game on PC. Halo Wars did pretty well as far as RTS on console goes, but there was that nagging feeling it would've played better on PC, so we're curious to see how the controls have been optimized for the old keyboard and mouse.

E3 2016 - Microsoft promises that it will ship some of its games on Steam's mighty PC gaming storefront, but also retain its focus on its own first-party Windows Store.

"We will ship games on Steam again," Phil Spencer said on Giant Bomb's E3 2016 livestream. "I look at Steam today, it's on an incredible growth trajectory. It's a massive force in gaming; a positive force. I look at Valve as an important [independent software vendor] for us on Windows. They are a critical part of gaming's success on Windows. I don't think Valve's hurt by not having our first-party games in their store right now. There's going to be areas where we cooperate and there's going to be areas where we compete. The end result is better for gamers."

But which games is Phil Spencer talking about? Almost every game shown off at Microsoft's E3 2016 press conference was proudly labeled as a "Windows 10 and Xbox One exclusive", and the company isn't about to give up on its Universal Windows Platform-powered Windows Store anytime soon. That being said, Microsoft knows it absolutely cannot take on Steam--if it wants to sell PC games, it has to work with the PC gaming giant. Locking high-profile AAA PC games into the Windows Store effectively cuts off a huge portion of your audience.