Gaming - Page 1067

Rocket League hasn't quite release on the Xbox One just yet, which means it might not be the success that developer Psyonix wants it to be. In order to attract as many new players as possible, they're bringing some exclusive Sunset Overdrive themed stuff into the game.

It might not be much, but they've added in an Overcharge boost which is surprisingly delightful sounding, and the Fizzie car topper, shown above. "In short, Rocket League would naturally fit with the world of Sunset Overdrive," says Marcus Smith, the creative director for Sunset Overdrive. One might be about a hipster zombie apocalypse and the other about vehicle-borne soccer (everyone not in NA), they're both whimsical and quite entertaining with their particular styles.

The Sunset Overdrive flair is the latest exclusive content to appear for the Xbox One, following on the footsteps of Halo and Gears of War themed exclusive in-game items.

The sheer, calculated terror of being hunted by a sleek and cunning Xenomorph in Alien Isolation proved that Creative Assembly is at the top of the survival genre. But what if the devs applied that macabre mastery over to a new IP like, say, Jurassic Park?

In a recent NeoGAF post, forum user lowhighkang_LHK pitched a deliciously devious premise: Creative Assembly should make a Jurassic Park survival game. The user goes on to justify just how brilliant the game could be, weaving in other games like the brutality of Dino Crisis on the original PlayStation to illustrate certain points. Just about everyone on the site agrees, and if enough people talk about it, maybe Creative Assembly will catch wind of the hype.

Just think about the already-existing parallels between the Xenomorph and Jurassic Park's velociraptors: both are extremely intelligent, and will adapt to their environments while learning from mistakes. Both are ruthless and animalistic, inspiring a kind of innate fear that only true predators can.

A new trailer from Bethesda shows us an inside look into some of the features that'll be in the upcoming Thieves Guild DLC pack for Elder Scrolls Online.

And it's definitely good to be bad. Larceny never looked so lucrative, and who knew that you could get away with so much. But then again, pick-pocketing even has it's challenges in the Elder Scrolls universe too. And in this expansion you'll have a new zone, new story-based content and a 12-player mode, presumably to test your pick-pocketing and robbery skills against others.

The news release makes it sound like such a glorious occupation, "As their newest recruit, you'll sneak along rooftops, steal from the shadows, and recover lost treasures to help to restore the guild's reputation." As if you'll quickly become the anti-hero. But of course, let's have you decide how great it is. The new features of the upcoming DLC are listed below.

The PC specification requirements for Tom Clancy's The Division seemed to have leaked to the Internet thanks to Ubisoft Russia. And the kicker is that they don't seen ti require much, even at the recommended specs.

So essentially you need a PC that has a discreet GPU in order to play it, and it should likely perform somewhat well. And we've seen that there are a fantastic array of options to change, meaning it could scale up and down the range of available hardware. Once we get our hands-on it and start testing, we'll take a look at just how good this beta can look. Specs needed are below.

Minimum Specifications

IO Interactive's lead render programmer Jonas Meyer will be hosting a talk at this year's GDC in March focusing on Hitman's DirectX 12-powered renderer. Though there've been whispers here and there about the upcoming stealth game supporting Microsoft's new API, this is the only positive proof we know of.

The talk -- named "Advanced Graphics Techniques Tutorial Day: Rendering Hitman with DirectX 12" -- is said to offer a deep look into how the renderer works and how it's used with Hitman specifically. The goal: teaching the audience "how to write a fast and efficient DirectX 12 / Vulkan engine, and how to use the new [hardware] features to implement new graphics techniques", indicating Vulkan support could be in the mix, too.

Cloud Imperium Games has released a unique behind the scenes look at Gillian Anderson in her role as Captain McLaren in Star Citizen.

It's kind of exciting to see her in a role that's different than what we might usually see her in. And even in the mostly sterile and bland production environment she brings her character alive in some pretty fascinating ways. And really, it's great to watch her covered in dots acting very serious.

Chris Roberts has recruited some of the very best actors in the business, reaching out to the A-list to hopefully make the single-player campaign of Star Citizen into more than just the typical AAA experience. There's already plenty of criticism concerning whether or not it'll ever be completed, though Alpha 2.1 has at least provided a great glimpse into what to expect in the future.

Finally Nintendo has released a video showing us how the cool Wolf Link amiibo is going to work with the new Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess coming out on the Wii U.

We already knew that the figure would unlock exclusive content, thanks to the listing on Amazon, but now we know how it works and we get to take a quick glimpse at the exclusive "Cave of Shadow" area.

That dungeon gives players access to a series of challenges that require you to use Wolf Link and Midna's abilities to defeat an increasingly larger wave of enemies. Once the challenge is completed, your results are recorded in the amiibo and you can go back to try to beat your previous record.

New details concerning upcoming free content for Star Wars Battlefront seem to have emerged via a video from EA Brazil. According to the video, we can expect a lot of new content.

Among that content should be a new map set on Tatooine, a few new outfits for Luke Skywalker and his sister Leia and even some new game modes that have been heavily requested by fans; private matches. There'll also be daily challenges and even community events hosted by EA themselves.

Star Wars Battlefront was a little light on content when it originally released, which was off-putting to fans who wanted, and expected, a wider variety of maps, weapons and game modes to keep things interesting in the long run. Even a few months after it was released, there was hardly anyone playing, which speaks to the lack of interesting content. It just got old really quickly, despite being the first Star Wars game in some time.

With EA's Star Wars: Battlefront reboot being soulless and hollow, gamers have often thought about how different things would be if Free Radical's Battlefront III sequel hadn't been cancelled. Now we can sate some of our curiosity as a prototype for the scrapped shooter has been leaked online, showing off some key features of a game that never was.

New info on the Battlefront III prototype was originally shared on a Reddit thread, and users have successfully booted up the leaked files to reveal what looks to be authentic gameplay.

The build can only be played on special modded and developer Xbox 360 hardware, however, so you'll need some specific gear to try it out.

The Division's beta test is scheduled for next week and you can make sure you're in on the action as soon as possible by pre-loading it 48 hours in advance.

The information regarding pre-loading actually came from the official French page for The Division, explaining that the 48-hour pre-loading can commence on all platforms. That means that you can prepare yourself on January 26th for the Xbox One, and January 27th on the PS4 and the PC. You'll need at least 26.25GB of space on the PC.

The relatively closed beta test is available only to those that have pre-ordered The Division or those that have been explicitly invited, so not everyone will be able to join in on the fun. But remember that this is a beta test, and Ubisoft is intent on testing infrastructure of the underlying online aspect and to have people see what kind of other issues are in the game. They want to use the feedback we'll provide.

The Xbox One's straightforward backward compatibility is a huge win for Microsoft, and Redmond isn't about to give up on one of the only edges it has over Sony's PlayStation 4. Now Team Lime Green has shown off the new batch of Xbox 360 games that are playable on the Xbox One, including some nice yesteryear hits.

Major Nelson announced the fresh releases in a new blog post, along with a bit of extra info. Like every wave of new backward compatible games, this new list is made up of retail games as well as digital Xbox LIVE Arcade titles. Truth be told, the new offering isn't that exciting, with The Witcher 2 and CS: GO being the most popular hits. Skullgirls has stirred up acclaim, and you can't go wrong with Soul Caliber (even if it's only the first game), but the rest just seem to be the result of Microsoft practicing the new feature.

Check below for a complete list of the new Xbox One backward compatible games:

Halo 5 is getting a lot of great post-launch servicing. 343 Industries has been very responsive with timely updates that have fixed performance and added in some value.

The newest patch coming soon, called Infinity's Armory, is all about new weapons and armor making an appearance. You'll find three new sets of armor with one of them based on one of the legendary pieces worn by the Master Chief in Halo: Combat Evolved, the Mark V Alpha. And for those that don't want a classic set, they're introducing an Achilles and Atlas sets of armor, designed to intimidate your enemies. Well, they both have a very cool and distinct visual style.

And why would they include some classic armor if they didn't also want to bring back one of the more iconic weapons in the series as well. So the battle rifle from Halo 2, though it's more of a modern interpretation of it. It does differ significantly from the current one, however.

Microsoft is pushing into its education initiative, with the company announcing it has acquired MinecraftEdu, the education-focused version of Minecraft.

MinecraftEdu was specifically designed to be used in the classroom, created by Teacher Gaming, a startup co-founded by former computer teacher Joel Levin. His company licensed Minecraft from Mojang, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2014 for $2.5 billion. Microsoft hasn't provided any numbers on its acquisition for MinecraftEdu, but it's known to be popular in schools, with over 7000 classrooms in 40+ countries using it for teaching purposes.

Thanks to its latest acquisition, Microsoft is now investing in a new and expanded version of the popular game for the classroom, called Minecraft Education Edition. The Redmond-based software giant has plans to charge $5 per user, per year, but will be offering a free trial later this summer. Teacher Gaming on the other hand, charged a server license fee, and a one-time fee based on the maximum number of students using MinecraftEdu at once.

Ubisoft has just released a new trailer to Far Cry Primal, with the 'Jakkar' trailer showcasing some of the new gameplay mechanics found in Primal. Check it out:

One of the new gameplay mechanics used in Far Cry Primal is Takkar's giant owl, which can be used to spy on enemies, and more. Ubisoft recently confirmed that Primal won't feature any cooperative mode, which has disappointed gamers - the developer reiterated that it wanted the team to create an awesome gameplay experience set in the Stone Age, without moving away from what made Far Cry 4 a huge success.

Ubisoft explains: "We are focusing entirely on creating the best possible Far Cry experience for our fans. Bringing the Stone Age to life and providing players with a strong gameplay experienced based off of the Far Cry legacy meant that we had to reinvent our core gameplay loop. This was definitely not a small undertaking. Our focus was on delivering this fantasy which required clear priorities for the team. Therefore, in the early stages of the project, we made the difficult choice of focusing our efforts on the single player experience. Looking forward to your thoughts once you get your hands-on the game!"

While Nintendo has kept the NX's hardware capabilities a carefully guarded secret, a new survey indicates that the console could match the Xbox One's performance with a bonus: 4K video.

The news comes from a leaked document from GFK, a company that handles surveys for Nintendo, which states that the Nintendo NX will run games at 900p resolution at 60FPS, with support for 4K ultra-HD video streaming. Interestingly enough, this survey corroborates and lends credence to past Nintendo NX reports, including the ability to share achievements and replays as well as track friends' high scores.

The survey also mentions that the NX's gameplay "flows between the console and the handheld gaming device", which fits into the recently filed patents that hint at a combination Wii U gamepad and mobile 3DS controller.

The Mayor of London has decided that the city doesn't celebrate gaming enough. So he's commissioned a gaming festival that's been backed by a £1.2 million investment from the London Enterprise Panel. Games London will include a two-week games festival taking place in venues all around the city.

Coming up on April 1st through the 10th, the inaugural London Games Festival will kick off with a consumer games exhibition at the Somerest House, where a series of talks will take place at the British Film Institute and of course there'll be a host of other smaller events taking place around the city. EGX Rezzed, an indie games conclave will also be hosted during the same period, running from the 7th through the 9th of April, with over 150 playable games available to the public.

The entire festival will be absolutely massive with over 15 different events and 10 different venues full to the brim with games and gaming technology. And you can be that VR will also be a focus. The Mayor of London wants this to be equal in excitement as Paris Games Week and Gamescom.

PlayStation 4 architect Mark Cerny is taking beloved Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima on a tour of PlayStation's best tech, and we can only imagine what the dynamic duo will cook up next.

Now that Hideo Kojima has signed up with Sony to make a new PlayStation 4 exclusive, it's time for the Kojima-san to get the lay of the land. After all, the dev has been pretty much locked in Konami's figurative (but not really) dungeon for the past few decades, and Sony has a lot of new goodies to show off. And who better to show off these new advancements than PlayStation 4 architect Mark Cerny?

Cerny has shared a few snippets on his brand new Twitter account that chronicle the duo's 10-day excursion into the heart of what makes PlayStation tick. So far, Kojima has been on set to see the capture hardware used for The Last of Us and

Despite The Division's ongoing graphics downgrade controversy, Ubisoft is extremely confident in the open-world online shooter. The devs claim that the game is leveraging the full extent of consoles and PC, saying that no platform's hardware performance will go to waste.

"With the SnowDrop Engine, we are able to get the max out of any platform," Ubisoft creative director Magnus Jansen said in a recent interview. "And for us, it's a matter of pride, to be able to support everyone who invests money and they buy the game and allow them to make most out of their hardware. We are utilizing every tiny little cycles of all the platforms to its maximum. That's the sense of pride about not wasting people's hardware."

Although Jansen's claims sound great on paper, is it really a good move to push the Xbox One and PS4 to their limits? Ubisoft did this in the past with Assassin's Creed: Unity, and both consoles simply buckled under the game's weight, leading to disastrous bugs and glitches. Will we see another reprise of this horrific launch, or has Ubisoft learned their lesson?

The PlayStation 4 was released with outdated hardware, and if Sony wants to keep up with today's new innovative gaming tech, then a refreshed PlayStation 5 is a no-brainer. We've heard past rumors on the PS5's possible release date and capabilities, but a new batch of speculation suggests that the future gen PlayStation will go purely digital and cut disc-based games.

According to new rumors circulating the web, Sony's PlayStation 5 may transform into a console/streaming set-top box hybrid. These claims spell out the death of game discs, ruminating that the PS5's games will be completely digital, with the possibility of games being stored online via the cloud.

The rumors also suggest more robust cross-platform streaming, but there appears to be no need for this feature. Sony isn't about to make another Vita, and gamers can already play PS Now games on Sony Bravia TVs, and I highly doubt the PS5 will support streaming to and from PCs.

Square Enix is letting everyone who owns any version of Life is Strange have the director's commentary as free DLC, included in the newest patch.

That commentary was originally going to be exclusive to the boxed, limited edition of Life is Strange, but instead they've decided that everyone should be able to enjoy the commentary about the development of the game. This is something that Square Enix is actually quite excited about, because it lets them share their artistic process with the world.

The commentary itself is in the form of a documetary that can be launched from within the game itself. It's about an hour long and isn't interactive, though it's full of quite a bit of informative knowledge.