Gaming - Page 1064

EA is reportedly doubling down on PC gamers, with the company saying it's on a mission to regain the trust of PC gamers across the world.

The new PC-focused commitment from EA stems from the PC-focused initiative thanks to the clear refund policy on Origin, and the EA Access-like service, Origin Access. This is just a tease of what EA has planned, with Origin's Senior Marketing Director Peter O'Reilly saying: "We are on a journey to regain the trust of the PC gamer".

He continued: "Over the last couple of years we have focused on ensuring a great play experience from launch and bringing players a better experience on Origin with programs like the Great Game Guarantee, On the House, and now Origin Access. We're excited about the progress we've made, but are always pushing ourselves to innovate on behalf of players".

We have some exciting news from Bohemia Interactive, the developers behind huge hits like the Arma series and DayZ - they are working on a VR game.

The news comes out of nowhere, with the developer looking for someone to fill a position in the company. Bohemia were asking for a "Gameplay Programmer to join our development team in the studio's Prague office on an unannounced, original IP, Virtual Reality (VR) title". But now, Ota Vrťátko, a marketing representative for the company confirmed a VR game is in development at Bohemia Interactive.

But what VR game should we expect from BI? I'm hoping that we see something experimental from the developer, following in the lines of the first wave of VR titles - similar to the thoughts of UploadVR writer Joe Durbin. Bring it on, I say.

Now that we're in the first month of 2016, we're hearing more about the launch of Nintendo's next-gen console, currently known as Nintendo NX.

According to Serkan Toto, a games industry consultant, NX launch titles are being worked on by Bandai Namco. One of these includes Super Smash Bros, but Toto tweeted: "Bandai Namco is currently developing several NX titles. Smash Bros is planned to be a launch title. I am not sure about the date - yet". Someone asked about his source, with Toto replying: "Can't say (sorry), but the source situation is very solid. Otherwise I wouldn't have tweeted".

Toto was asked if Super Smash Bros on the Nintendo NX console would be a totally new title, but he couldn't confirm this news. As for the other titles Bandai Namco is developing for the NX console, we could expect Dragonball Z, One Piece, Pac-Man and Project Treasure - among others.

Now you can fight to the death as you freefall towards the Earth in Drop Zone, part of the latest update to GTA Online.

This new mode pits you and your team of paratroopers against another team vying for a very small patch of land far below. You get to attack the other team to make sure that you land, safely, first. You're allowed up to four teams and 16 players total all frantically trying to land on a tiny spot you can barely see below you. Whoever secures the location for two non-consecutive minutes wins. There should be five different maps to start off with.

Rockstar is also releasing two new sports cars, the Karin Sultan RS and the Bravado Banshee 900R. Both of those are available right now. And to help you actually afford those two new super cars, they're hosting a weekend event with double cash and RP.

Every Fallout player has thought the same thing at one time or another: what would co-op be like in Fallout 3, or New Vegas? Now thanks to the magic of mods, co-op multiplayer is possible in the Mojave Wasteland.

A modder by the name of nvm_corporal has helped create NV: Multiplayer, the first-ever co-op mod for Fallout: New Vegas that lets gamers team up with friends to explore and quest together. The way FV: Multiplayer works is that one player hosts an online session that others join, and the host's game--inventory, quests, etc--is constantly synchronized with everyone else's. The project is by no means finished or complete, but you can find more info at this Reddit thread, or this FAQ page.

"The way it works currently is that quests are clientside, they still take place in the world but one player in a location will synchronise entities/NPCs to other players around them. This means that if you entered an area where a quest NPC should be, and someone has previously killed them in the cell (whilst someone is currently in it with you), then you will fail the quest on entry."

GOG is making their own foray into the not-quite-so-finished games market. Following in the successful, if slightly controversial, Early Access from Steam, they're launching their own more particular service called Games in Development.

GOG, though, is taking a bit different approach by taking the time to curate each game that they're letting into their Games in Development program. This is the opposite of Steam, which essentially lets any game that applies for the right, enter into Early Access.

To help encourage people to try these new games, they have a great refund policy to go along with their new program, letting you get a full refund within 14 days, no questions asked. Before the implementation of the more lenient Steam refund policy, it was nigh impossible to even refund an incomplete game, even if you sort-of enjoyed it. And for GoG, there is no limit on how long you've played the game before you can get a refund.

Bungie recently announced a change in leadership, with Harold Ryan stepping down as the CEO and Pete Parsons taking on the newly vacant role. Parson's is determined not to sit idly by while their new franchise slowly dissipates. He's determined to make a change.

He's definitely dedicated to Destiny and bringing the actual game in-line with the vision they originally had for it. Initially Destiny seemed to be a little more disappointing than they liked when the newness wore off. It has been an uphill battle to retain players and to interest new gamers.

In a statement, Parsons said "To the players of Destiny, I want you to know that my number one priority, and Bungie's, is and always has been to deliver great games that we can all share together. I believe that Destiny is a one-of-a-kind experience. I also believe you have yet to see our studio's best work. My new role here at the studio will be entirely focused on fulfilling that promise." This confirms his commitment to the game that has so much potential.

Trucking actually can be an interesting and fun time in real-life, but American Truck Simulator (along with it's Euro counterpart) takes it to a whole 'nother level, something you wouldn't even expect. And it's a true simulation of what to expect.

The trailer shows off some of the long-distance hauling that you can do in-game, going through some of the impeccably detailed locations. The level of detail is actually pretty astonishing, considering the wide swathes of the country that have been rendered. But really, you're just cruising along, getting your cargo from point a to point b.

I'm curious how they're going to handle the loading and unloading of cargo. Or if you're able to work for real trucking companies and haul their respective industries stuff. Train Simulator and Farm Simulator definitely go to great lengths to give you the entire experience, boring and tedious bits and all. There's definitely a niche for this, and it could be a surprise game for nearly anyone.

Some great new screenshots of Dark Souls III have been released by Bandai Namco, showing off some of the finery you can adorn yourself, the characters and even some of the abyssal locations that you'll be able to visit in the game.

The new iteration of the PhyreEngine used in Dark Souls III makes good use of higher resolution textures, physically based lighting and more to make the environments look top notch, especially in these new in-game screenshots. It's turning out to be a beautiful looking game with the artistic direction they're taking. One thing they're showing off in these new screenshots is a new boss, whose named Ludex Gundyr. He's terrifyingly large, and you can see him to scale in the screenshot below.

Some of the areas shown are actually new, the Firelink Shrine, where something known as a Fire Keeper lives and can serve players in some capacity on your journey. This is apparently the starting position when you first begin the game. A lot of work is being done to incorporate physics, the Havok engine in this case, into more than just the character model and their clothing. You can't quite see it in these shots, but at least you can get a glimpse of the world you'll be able to explore. And it'll be quite the journey, they say.

Capcom's financial results for this past April to December were pretty strong, with a 19.3% increase over the same period in 2014. A substantial showing for a company who concentrated a significant amount of resources on mobile development last year.

But even then, there seemed to be an overall increase in interest across the board, probably due to a wider and diverse set of games and franchises they have available. Another factor that played into such a large increase was the way in which Capcom streamlined the development process, reducing overall costs and even the time it takes to release a game. Not the most encouraging reasons, but their products have been mostly solid so far with those new changes.

Monster Hunter in general was the big surprise of the year, selling far more than anticipated in North America and doing very strongly in Japan. The newest mobile game, Monster Hunter Explore surpassed a total of 3 billion downloads on Android and iOS.

During a recent technology research trip with Sony's Mark Cerny, the mind behind the Metal Gear Solid franchise, Hideo Kojima, visited Guerrilla Games.

Guerrilla Games being the developer of PlayStation exclusive franchise Killzone, based in Amsterdam. While he was there, we're sure he would've checked out Guerrilla Games' upcoming PS4 exclusive Horizon: Zero Dawn. Since it was a technology research trip, and Hideo has signed a deal with Sony for a new exclusive, we should see the fruits of this labor in the years to come.

The Witness is a truly beautiful game that's riddled with mystery, secrets, and mind-bendingly hard puzzles. While the game has received critical acclaim, there are some gamers who are facing a basic roadblock that prevents them from enjoying the game: motion sickness.

Games with first-person FOVs like The Talos Principle and Skyrim have been known to trigger pretty rough nausea and motion sickness in specific players, the same way certain light-flashes can send some gamers into epileptic seizures. More than a few players have reported that Jonathan Blow's latest puzzler The Witness is making them feel sick and disorientated. Some suggest taping a crosshair on the screen to alleviate the nausea and help focus the eyes.

Luckily, Blow is already working on a fix to address the issue. "I will at least hack something in pretty soon and we will see how it helps," Blow said in a response to a motion-sick player on Twitter. The dev has spent the better part of eight years developing The Witness, so its fair to say that his commitment to the game--and all of his games, for that matter--is pretty intense.

Just in time for the beginning of the beta test for The Division, Ubisoft has released a list of all the known issues and bugs that plague the version of the game we'll be playing in the beta test. And quite frankly, it isn't so terrible, considering.

The known issues are relatively few and far between, though the slow loading textures and severe FPS drops if you use VSync seem to be the most relevant issues at the moment. Also keep in mind that NVIDIA users might experiene some visual graphics, even with the latest Game Ready driver specifically released for the beta.

But if you do run into any other issues, don't hesitate to submit a bug report so they can take an extensive look and make sure that this is fully fixed before its released. Unlike previous Ubisoft releases, this beta test is a step in a new direction towards releasing games with as few issues as possible. Full bug list is below.

The full line-up for Xbox Live's Games With Gold program has been announced, and though there isn't much, it's a strong inventory for both the Xbox One and the Xbox 360.

This month they're digging deep into their inventory with Gears of War 2 and Hand of Fate. Thankfully the games available for the Xbox 360 are also completely playable through backwards compatibility on the Xbox One, so if you've already upgraded, you can enjoy all the titles listed below. The first batch of games, Hand of Fate and Sacred Citadel, will be available on February 1st while Styx and Gears of War 2 will become available on February 16th. Happy hunting.

Electronic Arts won't be attending E3 in the usual fashion this year. Instead of the normal booth inside the expo hall in Los Angeles, they're hosting an off-site event that's more accessible to their fans, EA Play 2016.

EA Play is a departure from their usual expose at E3, where they generally have a large area reserved inside the Los Angeles Convention Center that's filled with their latest games. This year they'll have EA Play, which is a three-day event that'll be hosted off-site at Club Nokia which is near the Los Angeles Convention Center. Their fan-oriented event will run from June 12th through June 14th. At the same time, a similar event will occur in London on the 12th of June.

Another big change EA is making is moving their normal Monday press conference to the Sunday before E3, presumably to kick off their new event with their new game annoucements. This year we expect to see more information about Mass Effect: Andromeda, despite possible delays.

Fallout 4 battles never cease to amaze me, and this newest clip from Cosmic Contrarian is no exception: it's a 14-minute rendition of The Lord of the Rings' epic Helms Deep battle sequence set in Fallout 4.

At the behest of his fans, YouTuber has reenacted the Battle of Helms Deep in Fallout 4...and it's pretty epic.To ensure the battle maintained its authenticity, Cosmic Contrarian built his own version of Helms Deep with the game's settlement system, then proceeded to unleash a torrent of havoc and earth-quaking war on upon its walls.

The massive-scale battle sees tens of thousands of bloodthirsty Super Mutants up against a desperate division of Minutemen and Power-Armor-clad Brotherhood of Steel patriots. The horde of greenbacked Super Mutants eventually break into Helms Deep and bring head-smashing death to the humans, but the BoS paladins stand fast with their laser turrets at the ready. The carnage is so absolutely entertaining that it has a way of just mesmerizing viewers, just encapsulating you with fiery death-laden lasers.

Apparently an error in Walmart's website has led to the Shovel Knight Wii U and 3DS amiibo being categorized under gardening for some reason. At least it was temporarily.

Pixel Dynamo reported that the amiibo was supposedly categorized under Gardening & Tools in the Walmart directory, where it held the honor of being one of the best selling items in that category. Looking through the various categories, however, reveals that there is no "Gardening & Tools" category, and that the Shovel Knight amiibo is actually put under the correct category, Video Games.

Maybe this is a case of mistaken identity. And the search engine employed by Walmart might match the "shovel" in the name of the amiibo to any search for tools, so searching for "tools" could make it appear, though doesn't appear to be actually associated to any category other than video games. Curiouser and curiouser.

Flying Wild Hog, the studio that brought us the Shadow Warrior reboot, is working their same magic for Hard Reset, creating a remake of the over the top FPS.

They plan on using a completely new and upgraded graphics engine to better show off the gore and destruction that are the hallmark of the game. In addition, there'll be a re-balancing of the gameplay and plenty of new weapons to go forth and destroy the hive mind machines of The Sanctuary. There's talk of a cyber-katana for some close-in action too.

If you've never had a chance to play it, the original from 2011 is available on Steam and is still one of the most hilariously fantastic FPS games you can play. It's a little on the short side, but it's action packed with a very well done sci-fi story. You're a CLN soldier that's trudging through a vast, hostile wasteland decending the last human city, Bezoar, from gigantic robotic enemies.

Ever curious what Tyria looked like from above? Well now you can gently enjoy the landscape as you glide down towards the world in the latest Winder Update of 2016 for Guild Wars 2, which is live right now.

The major addition in this update is the addition of Gliding to the whole Tyria, something that was already available only in select parts of the world when Hearts of Thorns came out. So if you dare, you can enjoy a gorgeous view of Tyria and risk death as you speed towards the ground.

But that's not all in this substantial Winter update. The Lunar New Years is back and you can celebrate the year of the Monkey in Divinity's Reach, with all kinds of festivities and fireworks. Another great new addition is the Eldvin Monastery Brew of the Month Club, where you can collect 12 limited edition brews by visiting major cities. The reward for that is a unique title, a backpack skin and a guild decoration.

UPDATE: Sony has just announced the full PlayStation Plus lineup for PS3, PS4 and PS Vita, which can be found below.

Original story is as follows.

Sony has yet to reveal next month's free PlayStation Plus games, but the cat's out of the bag thanks to a leaked advertisement on Sony's PlayStation Store.