Gaming - Page 1030

Although Gears of War 4's release date was only just announced, the devs at The Coalition are already planning ahead with Gears of War 5. But there's a chance the franchise could be put on hold if the latest game tanks in sales.

Like any of gaming's Big Three, Microsoft wants its first-party IPs to be safe bets. Nintendo has Mario, Sony has Uncharted, and Microsoft has Gears of War (as well as Forza and Halo). It's pretty much a given that Microsoft will always pump out new iterations of these first-party blockbusters, but what happens when the sales falter? If Gears of War 4 is a huge flop, there's a chance the series could fall into that dreaded state of games limbo.

"​One of the things that's nice about Microsoft's investment is that we know, unless this does horribly, we're probably going to do another one," Coalition dev Rod Fergusson told DigitalSpy. "That's made it easier to design moving forward. In the past, when we were doing Gears 1, Gears 2 and Gears 3, there was a lot of doubt, we didn't know whether there would be another one, so we just had to get everything in right now. Here, we're able to look at it, recognise a great idea that doesn't quite fit right now, but it'll fit in the next one. It's made it a lot easier."

With E3 2016 right around the corner, it should come as no surprise that next-gen consoles could be a thing - a huge reveal of the next-gen Xbox and PlayStation - possibly, according to a GameSpot executive.

GameSpot COO Tony Bartel talked at the GameStop Investor/Analyst Day briefing in Texas, where he said that the launch of at least some of these next-gen consoles "seem[s] imminent". Bartel didn't say which consoles, but with the constant flow of rumors on Nintendo's next-gen console, and the PlayStation 4.5 all but confirmed, it looks like we should be excited for the next couple of months.

Bartel said: "Although we have not modeled extensive growth for new innovation in this presentation, we are very pleased to see the introduction of technology like virtual reality and rumored new console launches, some of which seem imminent".

The last chapter in From Software's epic Souls franchise is already a rousing success across the board, pulling in over half a million sales on Steam alone.

Dark Souls 3 has smashed sales records and is now the fastest-selling PC release in the history of the franchise. According to figures published by SteamSpy, as of April 13 Miyazaki's tortuous medieval epic has sold 528, 435 copies on Steam since its release. That's over half a million sales in just three days time. Doing some simple math and multiplying the game's cost with the copies sold, we see that Dark Souls 3 has earned a whopping $31.7 million dollars.

Despite reports of Dark Souls 3 being plagued by a game-breaking bug, the new RPG has also broken the record for the most concurrent Steam players after release, dethroning Dark Souls II. Since it's the last game in the triumphantly popular Souls series, tons of gamers want to get in on the action and experience From Software's send-off to the franchise.

The closed beta phase for Mirror's Edge Catalyst will start on April 22, running for five days, and ending on April 26.

The news comes directly from Electronic Arts and DICE, who both released a new developer diary for Mirror's Edge Catalyst, which focuses on the Social Play side of the game. In Mirror's Edge Catalyst, gamers will be capable of creating their own Time Trials, with the challenging Dashes designed by DICE.

You can place Beat Location Emitters around the city of Glass so that your friends can try out their free running skills and beat your times.

NVIDIA has just released a new hot fix GeForce driver that adds official support for the new open beta of DOOM.

Unfortunately, there's no support for NVIDIA's SLI technology - and no support for multi-GPU setups, period. This is what makes me so mad, guys. The id Tech engine doesn't seem to like multi-GPU setups, because - well, reasons.

The new hot fix driver can be downloaded from here, with the changelog found below:

Fallout 4's new Wasteland Workshop DLC doesn't play nicely with some of the game's must-have mods, but luckily there's an easy fix. We'll show you how to get everything back in tip-top shape so you can make epic arenas and paste neon signs all over your settlements.

When Fallout 4's $4.99 Wasteland Workshop DLC launched on Tuesday, it caused a lot of problems for PC players who loaded up their games with mods. The DLC causes severe incompatibility issues with mods built on the hugely popular Settlement Keywords framework. Amazingly useful mods like Homemaker, OCDecorator, NX Pro Farming and Snap n' Build override the Wasteland Workshop's added items, pretty much disabling the DLC.

So in order to get access to Wasteland Workshop content, users had to disable Settlement Keywords and all the mods associated with it, causing a pretty big blow to their saves. Now there's an easy fix--all you have to do is download this Wasteland Workshop Homemaker and Settlement Keywords Patch, install it with the Nexus Mod Manager, and you'll be in tip-top order.

The best horror games in the genre don't rely on any one element to keep you engaged and interested. Instead it's a combination of discrete factors that prove to keep your heart and mind racing, fearful of the shadows before you despite it being merely a video game. And the true outliers that really amaze will have stories and perhaps even dialogue written by professionals that are able to craft stories in ways that excite and scare on both the more obvious and the deeper, subtle levels. In fact, it's what's left to the imagination that can be even more terrifying.

Clive Barker's Undying is, and was, an outlier of a game, one that belied expectations but still only managed a cult following (how appropriate). Strangely, DreamWorks and EA had a winning combination here, with a plot that's better than most current horror movies and games with action that's sufficient, if a bit simple at times. But overall it's a game worth playing, and definitely worth playing again.

You're invited to go see an old friend, but find him sick in bed and surrounded by supernatural occurrences. You might have thought you were brought in to help ease him into the other side, but no, your job is to explore the strange incidents that have been plaguing his estate, incidents that are likely to be fairly eerie, despite the age of the graphics engine. The whole story unravels in a logical way, having you explore a chilly mansion filled to the brim with magical mayhem just waiting for you to trigger it. It plays like a book, that is, the story is at the forefront. And it's awesome.

Dambuster Studios is still going to be bringing Homefront: The Revolution to the rest of the gaming community, arguably the fringes, with native OS X and Linux compatibility at some point, though it'll be prioritized after it arrives on Window first. Which is after it arrives on consoles.

Homefront: The Revolution was originally going to be released on all platforms right from the start, but instead the developer has decided instead to concentrate on ensuring that the console versions, and the Windows version, are better optimized instead of diverting resources to the other versions. This, though disappointing for those that would like to give it a chance on their Steam Machine, it also means a more dedicated team to make it the best initial experience as possible. Depending on the low-level API they choose to use for these versions, porting could take some time to be truly workable.

Vulkan could be the obvious choice for that API, though initial results with the first release show only a marginal increase in performance compared to OpenGL. Regardless of small performance differences, having it open to more platforms is only a good thing. One would hope that the far-reaching multiplayer aspect can be played persistently across all platforms. That is, letting everyone from all platforms play together.

In preparation for the incoming DOOM open beta, Bethesda has just revealed a glimpse at all the awesome armor and item unlockables that DOOM's multiplayer has to offer, and they're pretty impressive.

According to the latest Bethesda.net post, DOOM's multiplayer is going to offer Halo-like player customization options with tons of different armor permutations to choose from.

Here's how DOOM's multiplayer progression works: you'll get EXP just from playing, and bonus EXP based on your performance--getting the most kills, saving teammates, being the game's MVP, etc. That EXP is spent on unlockables including armor sets, weapons, equipment, hack modules, and custom additions like paintjobs and the like. There's over 300 armor pieces in the game, with five base armor sets--UAC, Demonic, Bounty Hunter, Templar and Utilitarian--all of which have their own striking appearance.

Any Star Wars game that expands into Bespin just wouldn't be complete without Lando Calrissian himself, so he's been confirmed to be making an appearance as one of the new heroes in the next Bespin expansion to Battlefront that's being released this summer.

The lovable rogue will be making an appearance alongside Dengar, the scar-faced bounty hunter who was the rescuer of Boba Fett in the Legends extended universe material. In June, we're promised AT-ATs landing on Cloud City with a chance to save it from certain destruction. EA and DICE will be adding even more blasters to the game, Star Cards and another new game mode as well. We're thinking this one will center around the carbonite chamber. Maybe a variation of Hot Potato, but with blocks of carbonite with people in them.

That's all great news, surely, but come May the Fourth we'll see special activities in-game that they have yet to announce. Just as with The Old Republic, there'll be no shortage of special events here too. EA is committed to doubling down on those in-game events, with double score weekends, community missions and other ways to interact with the community that they haven't quite announced yet. I still can't get over how interesting it'll be to see AT-ATs walking around the iconic floating city on Bespin. Every other rendition has never had enough room for such monstrosities.

Bigben Interactive just released a new gameplay video of their upcoming adventurous romp into the Sherlock Holmes universe with Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter. We're being promised the chance to live the life of the master detective himself, in full. They've also announced that it'll be releasing on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on June 10th.

So it's more of a cinematic trailer that shows a glimpse of what the gameplay itself will be like, which is full of baritsu-fueled barfights and lots of deductive reasoning in a very frigid looking British backdrop. In this adaptation of the good detective, you'll be going on a singular unique adventure to save your own daughter. And, of course, there's bound to be countless interactive mysteries to uncover along the way. And bar fights.

For this they wanted to make the experience very much immersive and interactive, letting you pay the role and really get a chance to do what Sherlock Holmes would have done if detecting in the real-world, with clues that aren't always just going to be in the easiest of places. You'll have to work for them, and you'll probably end up being satisfied as a result. It's one to watch, though, and might surprise in its unique ability to make you a Sherlock Holmes, digitally of course.

The director of Final Fantasy XV, Hajime Tabata, has done wonders to increase awareness of and get people interested in the new game, despite it having an incredibly long development time. When he took over as the director of the game in 2012, however, that excitement wasn't quite there like it is today. In fact, he saw that it was a dying IP, one that needed a bit of rescuing.

In an interview with Game Informer, Tabata talked about how the brand identity was a challenge for him when he took over. The influence that Final Fantasy had was wavering, even in Japan, as Tabata conducted a few surveys to attempt to understand where they stood. "The gravest situation of all was that, at the time we were starting Final Fantasy XV, we didn't see an increase in new fans of the franchise," Tabata continued expressing his concern, "The reality is not that the situation is okay or in favor of us. Rather, it is more grave and serious than we had initially thought." He also added something quite interesting, "The way we understood Final Fantasy after our analysis is that it was a dying IP that had already peaked."

It was difficult for them to continue the development of Final Fantasy XV in the wake of that information they've uncovered. It makes the decision to invest further capital and resources a rather futile given the possibility for a much lower return on investment.

With the inclusion of Final Fantasy IX on Steam we can now play nearly every game in that series on PC, a feat that wasn't likely even five years ago. This, one of the greatest in series, fantasy RPG saga is even being offered with a 20% discount to celebrate the transition from the, arguably great looking, 2001 original to the masterpiece it is today.

The original is mostly intact aside from the obvious upgrades to cinematics and character models. The originals were fantastic for their time, and a testament not only to the artistic skills of the individuals who created them, but lack in resolution and poly count compared to games today. That could have been a turn-off for many gamers, even self-professed retro gamers as well.

They've integrated Steam achievements, 85 of them, and a new autosave feature, which seems to be the ever increasing standard way to progress through RPGs. Seven different game boosters are being included so you can play it at high speed, or with no encounters and in other ways. If you'd like to re-experience the magic of Gaia, then head on over to the Steam page to check it out. This is one of the greatest Final Fantasy games created.

The new v1.3 patch for Far Cry Primal is now available, which adds a few nice additions to Ubisoft's open-world first-person shooter, adventure, and everything else game.

The new patch is available for download in all regions, adding Survival Mode, 4K textures on the PC, and more. Survival Mode has gamers testing out their skills with the Stamina Bar, Permadeath, and more. Survivor Mode also sees fast travel consuming your precious stamina, and manual healing also uses stamina, too.

The full list of things changed and added into the v1.3 patch of Far Cry Primal:

2016 could be a year when Nintendo comes out with a console that beats the half-assed 'next-gen' console offerings by Microsoft and Sony, which quickly became 'oh so they made them 10% faster than last-gen' units with its next-gen NX console.

According to the latest rumors, the Nintendo NX console is faster than the PS4 "by a noticeable amount" - and it's not just in graphical power - this is in the NX's GPU, CPU, and RAM. The new rumors have a 'tier 4' ranking assigned to them, which means they've got multiple sources backing up the rumor.

The new T4 rumor says that NX is faster than the PS4 "by a noticeable amount" but the sources don't know the clock speeds, or what type of memory the NX console will use. The CPU is said to be 15-30% faster than the PS4, and that a next-gen Zelda is "100% confirmed".

Leonard Boyarsky, Diablo 3's senior world designer, has left Blizzard Entertainment to world on epic RPGs at Obsidian.

Obisdian Entertainment, the studio behind such classic cRPGs as Pillars of Eternity, has snapped up another talented developer to work on their latest game Tyranny (and possibly a secret Fallout-related project). Leonard Boyarsky recently departed from Blizzard after a full decade of Diablo 3 mastery to join longtime friend Timothy Cain at Obsidian.

Interestingly enough, both Cain and Boyarsky were heavily involved in Interplay's original Fallout games, handling art direction and designing specific in-game scenarios and story elements. Remember that Obsidian is just itching to do another Fallout game, so it's not impossible that Boyarsky could actually be working on Fallout: New Vegas 2.

Microsoft has finally started to ship out the free Quantum Break PC codes to those who pre-ordered the Xbox version.

One of the major benefits of pre-ordering Quantum Break on Xbox One--besides the free Alan Wake copy--was that you got a free copy of the game to play on Windows 10 PCs. Pretty snazzy, right? But Microsoft is a week late in delivering these promo codes, triggering a wave of disappointment from early adopters. After all, these gamers gambled their money on a product they believed was worthwhile, and I guarantee the cross-buy promo had something to do with that.

Now Remedy has assured Xbox owners that the codes are being sent out, so all is right in the world. Except it's really not, because Quantum Break is a hot mess on PC, plagued with technical faults and poor optimization. Remedy has since delivered an official update on the upcoming fixes, but the devs have also admitted they can't fully fix the PC port. Major PC benefits like multi-GPU support via SLI and Crossfire won't ever be support in Quantum Break, nor will there be any fixes for ugly texture pop-ins.

A Polish website may have accidentally leaked the release date for The Witcher 3's hugely anticipated Blood and Wine expansion.

According to ShackNews, notable Polish gaming site GRYOnline broke an NDA and listed Blood and Wine for a release on June 7 across all platforms. As news broke out about the apparent slip up, the website has since updated the listing to TBA 2016.

CD Projekt RED has yet to officially unveil the release date for The Witcher 3's final expansion, affirming that it's still coming "sometime in 2016". Gamers have huge expectations for Blood and Wine, and rightly so: CD Projekt RED says that the expansion will be "even better than the main game", featuring a wealth of content along with a "charismatic new enemy".

If you've read our Quantum Break review, you know that Remedy's latest time drama is quite a mess on PC. Now the developers have officially acknowledged the PC port's many problems, and promise that a fix is on its way.

Remedy has heard PC gamers loud and clear. The devs know Quantum Break is having a rough time on PC, with issues like frame-rate drops, screen tearing, and lack of GPU support just to name a few. Now the studio has delivered an official Quantum Break PC status update that gives a step-by-step explanation on which issues can be fixed, and by when.

The devs promise that a good portion of the game's technical issues will be fixed with an upcoming title update, and assure players that they're working alongside the graphics gurus at AMD and NVIDIA to help improve performance. Sadly, PC gamers will never be able to play Quantum Break in SLI or Crossfire configurations. "Quantum Break on Windows 10 unfortunately doesn't support DirectX12 multi-GPU rendering. Due to the engine architecture, the work needed to support multiple GPUs would have been significant and out of scope for Remedy for Quantum Break."

Microsoft's new filings with the Federal Communications Commission confirm that a new Xbox console is in the works, possibly an Xbox One slim variant.

A recent batch of FCC filings made by Microsoft indicates that Redmond will announce a new Xbox One variant at E3 2016. Microsoft has placed two FCC filings for the new Xbox One's wireless connectivity tech--one for a dual-band wireless accessory radio and another for an 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2T2R dual-band wireless LAN radio. Microsoft has locked schematics, diagrams, and pictures of the new wireless chip under an NDA which expires on June 25, indicating that Microsoft could announce the new Xbox Slim at E3 2016.

As per the findings from a NeoGAF sleuth, we're able to confirm that the new wireless system is for the Xbox One. The filing for the wireless LAN radio lists "User Manual 1525", which is actually the code tied to the Xbox One's users manual from Microsoft's original Xbox One filing from 2013.