Gaming - Page 1035

Square Enix hasn't ruled out a PC release for Final Fantasy 15, and the publisher promises that it'll seriously evaluate the platform in due time--but not before the console ports release. So we could be waiting well into 2017 before FF15 makes the jump to PC.

Square Enix game director Hajime Tabata says that the studio is "aware of the big call for a PC version." but the PS4 and Xbox One flavors take priority. The studio is committed to optimizing the console versions ahead of Final Fantasy 15's September 30 release date.

"Unfortunately we weren't able to do simultaneous development on a PC and console version for XV," Tabata told Endgadget. "We had to focus on the console version, and our goal was to maximize, optimize everything for the HD consoles. Once that's done, then we will definitely take a good, hard look at PC and what we need to do, and consider all our options. But right now we aren't decided, we're still considering a lot of things."

Epic Games has been at the forefront of VR since the Oculus went to Kickstarter to fund its Rift headset all those years ago, with Unreal Engine 4.11 being released - including bug fixes and updates for every major HMD on the market - including the Gear VR, PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets.

Unreal Engine v4.11 includes improvements to DX12 support as well as platform/SDK improvements for Oculus Mobile SDK 1.01 (Gear VR), PlayStation VR SDK 3 and SteamVR 0.9.12. Whilst a full version (1.3.0) of the Oculus Rift SDK is promised to take over from the current 0.8 Beta in an upcoming hotfix, reports VRFocus.

The team at Unreal Engine have said that the improvements have made the engine hit the "VR ship ready" state, which is perfect timing now that the Oculus Rift is shipping to consumers, and the HTC Vive is right around the corner.

After all of these years, Valve has finally announced Half-Life 3. The new first-person shooter will be exclusive to the PC and has support built-in for the soon-to-be-released HTC Vive headset.

Half-Life 3 will be powered by the Source 2.0 engine, with support for 4K monitors and DX12. Valve has boasted about its new skeletal animation system, as well as its motion-capture technology, ensuring that the in-game characters look insanely real - more real than any other game before it.

The full game will be unveiled at E3 2016 in June, where Gabe Newell will take the stage and play the Half-Life 3 trailer - after which he'll drop the mic to the ground and walk off the stage - whispering one last thing: Half-Life 3 is free, to all gamers everywhere.

After being completely disappointed with the news that Quantum Break won't be running at 1080p on the Xbox One, but instead 720p - and worse yet, with performance-related issues - the pre-launch reviews will be played by reviewers on the Xbox One. This isn't surprising at all.

All of the pre-launch reviews on Xbox One will be released in the coming days, as there are no Early Access codes to game reviewers for the Windows 10 version of Quantum Break. What does this mean? Well, either the Windows 10 version is not ready - and Remedy are still doing last minute work on it, or the Windows 10 version isn't ready. Yeah, that's going to be the issue - in that Remedy is putting all of its eggs in one basket, with that basket being the Xbox One.

We've seen PC releases like Gears of War: Ultimate Edition fall on its face, as well as other games released onto the Windows Store that don't support multi-GPUs or Eyefinity/Surround Vision at launch, and/or are plagued with bugs for months. Get your crap together, developers.

Endless Legend, a 4X strategy game developed by Amplitude Studios, is getting yet another content expansion coming up on April 7th.

The new faction, the Allayi, are a small civilization that seem to be bound to the changing seasons, with their allegiances shifting between the friendly faction you can easily trade with to the enraged thieves that seem to be a thorn in your side. They can also shift those allegiances at will, too.

Amplitude Studios is expanding the spirituality inherent in such a high fantasy setting, letting you spend pearls, a new resource found around the map during the winter months, at the new building they've added, the Altar of Auriga, in exchange for blessings which amount to defensive and offensive advantages in the form of city improvements or some pearl item sets. Part of those advantages is the ability to control winter in a way that brings whole new experience to the game. If you wanted, you can freeze lakes, or the sea, so you can walk your armies right over them, taking a more direct route to destroy your enemies.

The latest walkthrough from the folks at Creative Assembly take us on a tour of what the Vampire Count's campaign looks like inside Total War: Warhammer.

In the video, they explore some of the unique gameplay mechanics that the undead get to enjoy compared to their more colorful, living opponents. In particular, they show off how to raise the piles of dead bodies and reanimate them for your own nefarious purposes. It's an ability that can really turn the tide of your overall campaign, though you can only raise your dead army after the fact. A massive undead army to enact revenge sounds rather tantalizing.

They also introduce us to one of the hero characters, the Master Necromancer known as Heinrich Kemmler. He's has a massive roster of magic with which to pull from, being the one that can raise the dead, though after battles are waged. As with all hero units, he's capable of leveling up and learning gaining more abilities to become an invaluable member of your military campaign.

The second installment for the episodic Hitman is almost here. We'll be able to travel to beautiful Sapienza to complete our next official mission on April 26th. From the look of the short video on Twitter and the promo photo below, there might be some delightful ways to get to your target.

In this new mission, you'll have to infiltrate the fictional Italian town of Sapienza, which should prove to be a dense yet vast and open location with plenty of obstacles and opportunities to play in the sandbox environment. Within the coastal town, there are many different locations to explore, such as a medieval church a sprawling mansion and even a busy borough complete with dark alleyways and busy storefronts.

This location was originally going to be released at the launch of Hitman, but the decision was made to change the release schedule to be an episodic one just before it was released. This allows both us to fully explore and challenge ourselves in the new, larger locations and gives the developers more time to perfect each mission based on player feedback from each previous mission. So long as each release isn't too terribly far apart, it could prove very fruitful. After Sapienza, we'll be heading to Morocco sometime in May.

Perhaps one of the most underrated yet most remarkable genres that I've ever had the pleasure of playing is that of the intensely story-based RTS ship combat simulator. The epic story arc that follows the harrowing events that could very well shape the future of humankind.. Nexus: The Jupiter Incident is probably more entertaining than you might believe, even after 11 years.

The journey begins with a great tutorial that tries its very hardest to help you with an exorbitant learning curve. You're working for one of many corporations that have taken over control of space beyond the Moon. The first mission is quite simple, helping you along where necessary and willing you to pause it with the spacebar often to read the helpful messages and issue the appropriate commands. After you inadvertently run into a mine that didn't properly get disarmed, you'll then be thrown softly into some incredibly gorgeous combat scenes.

The action isn't fast by any stretch of the word. It's positively slow and deliberate. In fact it sometimes even feels a bit cumbersome with your big cruiser lobbying for position in the most aggravatingly slow way. But once in position and your fighters have been launched to ward off any enemy fighters, then you can commence the broadside. And it's all about control You've got options to take out these ships that are threatening you. Want to disable weapons first and then board them for

Hitman is a game that just came out and wasn't entirely broken at launch. Subsequent updates have been able to fix latent bugs that seem to have been sticking around well past their welcome, however. Patch 1.03 is out now on the Xbox One and PS4 with faster loading times, makes it more stable and adds in a Vampire Magician challenge pack because you can't just be only one of those archetypes.

The greatest new addition is that of the new challenge missions. They've made the new Vampire Magician missions in response to how they've noticed that people have been playing the game. Hilariously, you'll have to wear a Vampire Magician disguise while you complete the various tasks and take your specified targets using a variety of methods laid out in the mission briefing. If this isn't already in-game, they said it'll be rolling out shortly after the update goes live.

Other improvements include an increase in responsiveness for in-game menus through a better image caching system, a much improved and fixed scoring system and those better loading times. They're working hard on ensuring that load times improve with each update. The new scoring system will necessitate a leaderboard reset due to how you could inadvertently get a score of 210,000 with a 0-second time bonus. The game should be more stable with more bugs that lead to crashes having been hunted down and destroyed.

Tribes: Ascend is getting yet another patch that adds more maps, makes a few gameplay adjustments, and removes the Blueshift map from the standard rotation.

The new Hellfire map

The first patch in what seems like a very long hiatus came just this past January and was a bringer of big changes to help bring back the traditional fan base. Hi-Rez Studios has gained back it's momentum and wants to show the world what it can do, and this latest patch is a testament to how attentive they're being to fans.

Phil Spencer has previously made clear that a significant amount of future games that will most certainly be making it to both of Microsoft's gaming platforms, but some will be still be reserved for one or the other. Halo 5 might be one of the few games that won't be making an appearance on both platforms, says Phil Spencer himself.

The reasons are quite clear, though, given that the game, while a successful one on consoles, is the perfect recipe for a PC game. Phil said that "Halo 5 was shipped as a console game, If we're going to [bring Halo to PC] moving forward then we're going to plan on both platforms." He doesn't think it prudent to port the game or any game but wants to instead look to bringing development together for future games. That means we'll most likely see Halo 6 (or whatever is in store for the franchise) on the PC, but it won't be something necessarily looked at for past games. It's a natural fit for an FPS game with a competitive multiplayer element.

He does, and it makes sense from a certain point of view, think that some games are naturally suited for a particular platform. That something could be enjoyed better in front of a TV as opposed to sitting at a desk in front of your PC. It's entirely possible to have your PC be in your living-room, however, and Microsoft has acknowledged is important with previous Media Center functionality. Games are best played on the platform that we choose, and it would be best if that choice also included the PC and Windows (or Linux even). When the underlying hardware and even software is so similar, especially with the advent of the UWP, it shouldn't be a problem going forward, which it won't be according to Spencer. It just means that past games may not make the jump, but going forward we'll have a massive cross-playable library.

Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 has said that all of their future games will be coming to both the PC through Windows 10, and Xbox.

This means that all future Forza games will be on Windows 10 and Xbox, which will have Forza fans more than pleased. In a video, Turn 10 said: "Moving forward, all of our games are going to be shipping on Windows 10 (PC) and Xbox".

The developer is knee deep in the development of Forza Motorsport 6: Apex for the PC, which will be a free game that will include new race modes that are designed to show off the excitement of Forza Motorsport 6, with 4K resolution support. Forza Motorsport 6: Apex is coming to Windows 10 later this year.

Well, 2K Games has just revealed the PC requirements for its upcoming game Battleborn - where 4K is an afterthought and won't be supported at launch. Neither will off-sized displays.

In a blog post, 2K explained the features on Battleborn, and that it'll include a repeatable story mode, that can be enjoyed on your own or with friends in cooperative mode. Hardcore mode will be available for those who don't like it easy, and there'll also be multiple competitive multiplayer modes. As for the PC requirements:

Minimum System Requirements:

Every Final Fantasy game has to have an airship--it's a significant staple of the series that allows players to navigate the map. But Square Enix has something special in store for Final Fantasy 15 fans.

As it turns out, the airship in Final Fantasy 15 isn't really an airship--it's actually Noctis' car. That's right, Noctis' svelte black speedster transforms into a fully-functioning sky-flier right before our eyes. Although I'm a huge fan of those majestic floating skyships that Square Enix cooks up, I think this is absolutely awesome.

Game director Hajime Tabata said that once we saw the airship, we'd think "this is the kind of airship that should be in Final Fantasy 15". I have to agree with him on this one. Let's just hope Noctis' jet-car isn't just limited to low flying zones, and we can soar in the heavens above the clouds. Also, I hope that we can actually drive the car once it's airborne, as the in-game footage seemed to show driving as an on-rails experience.

UPDATE: Pricing info for the two collector's editions has been revealed. The Final Fantasy 15 Deluxe Edition will cost $89.99, whereas the Ultimate Collector's Edition will cost a whopping $269.99. Original story as follows.

Square Enix has officially revealed two collector's edition sets for Final Fantasy 15, showing off some awesome extras.

At the Final Fantasy Uncovered event, Square Enix showed off some snazzy special editions for Final Fantasy 15. First up we have the FF15 Deluxe Edition, which comes with:

Ubisoft has just detailed its new update for Far Cry Primal, which is a free update that adds the awesome Survival Mode and 4K textures to the PC version of the game - which will be released on April 12. The company has confirmed the upcoming free update will also include 4K textures for the PC, which is exciting. We'll report back when the update has been pushed back to see what differences we've noticed.

Ubisoft explains the new Survival Mode as: "The biggest such option is the addition of permadeath. If you felt the stakes weren't high enough before, you can now turn on full permadeath, which means your game is over the first time you die (except in vision missions, which aren't "real"). If that seems too abrupt, there's also a second-chance option that gives you one backup life, which is then replenished at certain completion points".

"Permadeath is only the beginning. Survivor mode adds a stamina gauge, making protagonist Takkar slower and weaker when it runs out, and forcing him to sleep in order to replenish it", continues Ubisoft. Finishing off Survival Mode, the developer adds: "The minimap is now turned off by default, pushing you to pay more attention to your surroundings, and the fog of war has been strengthened, lessening the amount of the map you reveal as you explore. You'll encounter humans and animals less often as you explore, which means hunting takes a little more patience. Even fast travel is a little tougher, as it now consumes stamina and food".

Square Enix just announced that Final Fantasy 15 is getting its own full-length CGI movie and anime series.

During its official FInal Fantasy Uncovered event, Square Enix revealed that Final Fantasy 15 is getting extra content outside of the game--including an anime series and a full CGI movie. The movie will be called Kingsglaive, and gives important backstory on King Regis and the events that led up to the game. Kingsglaive features major actors like Aaron Paul and Sean Bean and has been in production for the past three years.

The anime series is called Brotherhood, and consists of five 10-minute episodes. Brotherhood sheds important light on the friendship between Noctis, Gladio, Prompto and Ignis. The first episode of Brotherhood will be available soon on the official FF15 YouTube channel, and Kingsglaive will be out before Final Fantasy 15's official release.

After nearly a decade of waiting, Final Fantasy 15 is finally ready for its big event. Check out the official Final Fantasy Uncovered event with the stream below.

The Final Fantasy Uncovered event is already underway in Los Angeles, but there's just a bit of filler going on right now and the main event isn't yet live. Expect Square Enix to unveil lots of new tidbits on Noctis and co.'s new adventure, including fresh footage, announcements, and all kinds of awesome surprises.

Although the Final Fantasy 15 release date has already been leaked ahead of schedule, you should still check the show out. Square Enix still deserves your views, and there's always a chance the GameSpot footage could be wrong!

Microsoft promises that it'll fix the Windows 10 gaming platform to enable basic features like AMD's FreeSync, NVIDIA's G-Sync, UI overlays and mods.

At this year's Build 2016, Microsoft made some pretty serious promises and reveals. Not only did it unveil the Xbox One's new Dev Mode, which allows devs to program games and apps on Xbox, the company made a firm commitment to fixing the awful Windows Store. In its current state, games on the Windows Store lack support for basic features like adaptive sync, multi-GPUs, and even mods, but Microsoft affirms that fixes are coming.

Xbox head Phil Spencer revealed that Windows 10 games will support FreeSync and G-Sync, as well as adding an option to disable V-sync starting in May. No roadmap on mod support or UI overlays was given, but we might see these features rolled out alongside one another at the same time.

Today Microsoft made good on a promise that's been three years in the making: all Xbox Ones will soon transform into fully-fledged Windows 10 UWP devkits.

At Build 2016, Xbox boss Phil Spencer announced Dev Mode, a new free Xbox One function that allows devs to smoothly switch between coding on console and PC. The idea behind Dev Mode is to allow developers to make a single game that's compatible with Windows 10 PC's and Xbox Ones, thereby freeing up devs to focus on quality. Forza Motorsport: Apex is the first game to be build in the Xbox One UWP Dev Mode, and a single version can run on both PC and Xbox. "Windows 10 provides the most productive and efficient development platform for developers of all sizes," said Phil Spencer.

Dev Mode is currently available for members of the Xbox Preview Program to test out, but it won't be launched to the public until summer. Although it's free to download the Windows 10 Anniversary update to your Xbox One and enable Dev Mode, users will need to pay $19 to unlock the full suite of features. So essentially you're getting a "lite" version of Dev Mode for free.