Gaming - Page 1073

I wish I didn't have to write stories like this, but unfortunately, it just happens. Reality Pump Studios, the developer handling Vendetta: The Curse of Raven's Cry, says that anything above 30FPS doesn't add to the gaming experience.

On the Steam forums, a fan asked if the studio would be optimizing its game to add SLI support - to which they replied: "On the one hand it is quite understandable, that a customer who spent 600+ bugs on a high-end card (e.g 980Ti) expects that a game runs faster than on a 2 years old (e.g.780 GTX) - on the other hand ... if you put two or four engines in a car it will be probably not run faster than with one powerful engine. It will for sure be more heavy and bigger, consume more fuel and be very expensive. Please notice, that the developers of the well known Benchmarks receive any support, money and any hardware they want from the video card manufactors ... we received the last free video card 5 years ago, never ever any money and have to purchase video cards like an end-user without any discount in retail".

It makes sense, as small studios don't receive much help in the way of hardware - but the next bit is the nail in the coffin for me. Raidor continued, adding: "And I may add something: it was not our intention to create a graphic benchmark. VCR is a complex RPG with unique characters and story driven. Our focus is on interesting quest chains (which are very difficult to create) and not on frames per second. Beside this I thing that anything above 30 FPS does not matter for the gaming experience. And on my PC i7, GF 780GTX the game runs with 4K never below 30 FPS. No idea what it does on a GF980ti â€" I heard it is sometimes slower".

Someone out there has managed to beat Fallout 4 without killing a single person, even the key characters that seemingly must be taken out in the name of the story. This is the first example of pacifism in a post-apocalyptic world that's ended peacefully.

Kyle Hinkley didn't want to give into the usual temptations and violence inherent in video-games, or at least he wanted to show you that in some open-world games there are truly a great number of different ways to play. Fallout 4 was even touted by Todd Howard as being a game that's inherently violent and one where you're expected to kill. Especially in the hardest mode, Survival.

And to prove that it's possible, Hinkley documented the entire thing to show that he did indeed get zero kills. There were some tricky situations that needed to be played a few times, to figure out the best non-violent solution, but every plot decision can apparently be made without violence. You can watch the whole attempt at his YouTube channel.

The highly anticipated new Mass Effect game may be delayed following possible internal strife at BioWare.

EA's upcoming Mass Effect: Andromeda is a fresh start for the franchise, and aims to completely reinvent the renown sci-fi saga for the current age of gaming. Shepard's mythos has been told, and now BioWare is spinning up something new for a targeted release in 2016. Although gamers are generally enthusiastic about the new game, the lack of solid information or visuals has tingled our collective warning bells, and many have suspected the game won't be ready in late 2016.

The possibility of a delay was reinforced by the departure of key BioWare dev talent. Senior Development Director Chris Wynn recently announced that he'll be leaving the Mass Effect: Andromeda team for unspecified reasons. "It is with a heavy heart today to say that I am moving on from BioWare and Mass Effect: Andromeda, and returning to the USA," Wynn wrote on Twitter.

More than 20 years later and the original Doom is still putting hardware to the test, thanks to the Brutal Doom mod which adds "advanced and unique features such as extra hitboxes for heads and legs, and more gore, fire, and smoke particles than any modern AAA game".

The new elements have rendered the game a slideshow in many circumstances, until now: v20b boasts massive performance improvements thanks to some clever optimization. See for yourself in the video above.

Head here if you'd like to get started playing Brutal Doom. v20b will launch alongside Starter Pack maps and gameplay improvements December 31.

Over the holidays the makers of Rocket League, Psyonix, revealed that they have nearly 9 million registered players worldwide across the PS4 and the PC. That's quite the amazing feat for a game that was just released in July of this year.

And Psyonix isn't quite done yet, either. In the coming year they plan on bringing on a number of new and exciting things into the fray. We can expect support on as grand a scale as they've had with a ton of new content to keep those 9 million coming back. There'll be new modes, new DLC, new arenas and of course plenty of new themed vehicles as time goes by.

That 9 million isn't a concurrent player number though, as that might just break the multiplayer infrastructure they have in place. But even having 9 million interested and playing throughout a month is no laughing matter. For perspective, on PC alone you can find 25K people playing at the moment with an average of 19.5K per day. That means you won't be waiting around for competition.

It's Christmas morning, and you see a box under the tree wrapped immaculately. You grab it, and feel the weight - you guesstimate that this could be what you've asked Santa for: a PS4. You open the box, and yes! It's a PS4! You tear the box that the PS4 comes in apart, and to your utter disappointment, inside there is just a block of wood - but with an upside, there's a dick drawn on the box.

Yeah, that was 9-year-old Scott Lundy's XMAS morning in a nutshell. Boston's Fox 25 reports that Lundy shouted "YES THIS IS THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER DAD CAN WE SET THIS UP NOW?" But after opening the box for the PS4, the 9-year-old discovered that there was just a block of wood shaped like a PS4 inside, and his parents Kristin and Brian saw that there was a dick drawn on the box, with the message "From cock and balls with love".

Scott's step-mother, Kristin, said: "He's crying and he's upset and he's in the playroom by himself and he just wants to be alone so at that point. I was crushed". The Lundy's returned the package back to Saugus Target, where they had purchased it from, with the company giving them a $100 gift card and a free copy of The Uncharted Collection. Kristin posted on Facebook not long after, saying "This has ruined his belief in Santa".

There were some huge game releases this year, with the likes of Fallout 4, Halo 5: Guardians, Grand Theft Auto V (on the PC at least), Rocket League, and so many more. But which one sold the most on Steam? CS:GO.

Yeah, Valve's competitive first-person shooter CounterStrike: Global Offensive racked up 5.6 million sales between April and December, with the runner up being Grand Theft Auto V with just under 3.6 million copies. Coming in third place was Fallout 4 with 2.4 million, and ARK: Survival Evolved taking out fourth place with 2.1 million.

Rocket League did surprisingly well, taking out fifth place with 1.9 million sales while Garry's Mod continues to sell well with 1.7 million copies sold.

Devil May Cry is getting a massive bundle for the Xbox One, and it'll be gracing Microsoft's console on December 29th, 2015 in a bundle with more DLC than you can shake a proverbial stick at.

When this bundle makes its debut on the Xbox One, Devil May Cry will run at 1080P and 60FPS with appreciably upgraded visuals that should continue to capture the unique visual style of the franchise.

The whole bundle includes Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition, Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition, DMC4SE - Lady & Trish Costume Pack, Super Nero/Super Dante/Super Vergil for DMC4 SE and a download that unlocks all modes for Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition.

A new job posting at Frontier Developments hints that we might eventually see Elite: Dangerous on Linux, which means it'll end up being one of only a handful of space-sims on SteamOS.

This information isn't based on much, though the job description is specifically for a systems programmer for helping to create cross-platform libraries for online services, and it does mention having the ability to "...write platform-independent code for deployment on Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, and current generation consoles."

At the very least it speaks towards further having a cross-platform back-end and galaxy that's persistent for everyone throughout on PC, Mac and Xbox One (and the PS4 in the future). Already the underlying economy and Power Play political atmosphere is similar, though you're unable to play with, or against, those on differing platforms.

A well-renowned data miner that's skilled in the art of dismantling and exploring the inner depths of game-files has uncovered ample evidence that story-based DLC is actually a real possibility in GTA V.

LondonTown2004 found some evidence of a DLC management system that could be making it's way to the game in the near future. Among the positive pointers are a modified pause screen with a bright blue "DLC" label, and a new alert screen (seen above) that mentions Story Mode DLC not being installed. He was able to find this by accessing a QAB server used by Rockstar, which may not have been the most legal action to take.

There was also evidence found that there could be more than one DLC, both free and premium, due to the sly data miner running into a separate screen telling him that his non-existent DLC wasn't authorized and had to be purchased.

After enjoying a few months as a timed exclusive on the Xbox One, Crystal Dynamics is ready to unleash Rise of the Tomb Raider on the PC. After rumors of it arriving on January 29, it has been spotted on Steam.

The Steam listing for Rise of the Tomb Raider says that it'll be available in "January 2016", with no specific date just yet. The listing does tease "Featuring epic, high-octane action moments set in the most beautiful hostile environments on earth, Rise of the Tomb Raider delivers a cinematic survival action adventure where you will join Lara Croft on her first tomb raiding expedition as she seeks to discover the secret of immortality".

It was only yesterday that we reported on rumors that NVIDIA would bundle Rise of the Tomb Raider with future GeForce cards, even though AMD has worked closely with Crystal Dynamics on the game, providing its TressFX technology for Lara Croft. We should expect a PS4 version to follow the PC release, sometime in 2016.

Roberts Space Industries has pushed out a new patch for Star Citizen, which is now available in the public test universe as Alpha Patch 2.1.0.

Developer Cloud Imperium Games said in a statement: "It is strongly recommended that players delete their USER folder for the Public client after patching, particularly if you start encountering any odd character graphical issues or crash on loading. The USER folder can be found (in default installations) at C:Program FilesCloud Imperium GamesStarCitizenText".

The developer also said that it is working "feverishly" to get Alpha 2.1.0 out the door, but there were a "couple of issues" which stopped them. First, huge frame rate drops, meaning that the developer has only pushed the update into the public test universe for now. CIG added: "The last thing we want is to jeopardize all of the fun everyone's been having with 2.0.0, and certainly not over the entire holiday period. With that in mind, we'll be keeping 2.0.0 on the Live service and opening up 2.1.0 on PTU for all players!"

While Valve deals with some serious issues with Steam, Sony is experiencing issues with its own PlayStation Network, with gamers not able to create new accounts over Christmas.

Sony took to Twitter to say "We're aware that PSN account notification emails are delayed. Thanks for your patience!" The verification emails that PSN users are waiting for are required before access to the PSN is granted, and without it, you can't access the PlayStation Store, nor can you join PlayStation Plus - which means, no online gaming.

Hopefully this is just a temporary issue with Sony being flooded with new users that received PS4s under their Christmas tree, and that by the time you read this, the issues are fixed.

It looks like Star Wars Battlefront won't be getting any DLC that touches on Episode VII. At least currently they're concentrating on bringing original trilogy content into the game first, according to a Twitter post.

So if you thought that they would include some great new maps or even characters based off of the new movie that has recently been breaking so many records, then you can think again. This response isn't the final answer, though, and it would make sense to include some sort of official filler content before Episode VIII hits. And fans would probably even be excited to see content from the prequels too. The Clone Wars were always a fun timeline to do battle in, even if Jar Jar Binks was obnoxious.

The current state of Battlefront is somewhat less than exciting, being a great game visually, but lacking the sort of content that might keep people interested long-term. It's a great game, but that excitement doesn't last as long as they likely intend.

Just in time for the holidays and almost right on schedule, EA's servers are down for the moment for unknown reasons. Earlier this month we heard that from a hacking group that threatened to take down Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network. Perhaps Origin was part of their plan as well.

And as usual EA is looking into the issues to see if they can quickly fix it. But don't hold your breath, because it's been down since at least 6AM EST. It seems that servers going down over the holidays is becoming somewhat of a tradition. Last year we saw outages of both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live just as people were unwrapping and enjoying new games.

The DDoS is an effective tool against web servers because it's difficult to defend against the massive amount of traffic that can be used against a given server. Infrastructure can only handle so many requests and so much bandwidth before becoming overwhelmed. Hopefully this is a true technical difficulty and not a DDoS and we don't see a repeat of last years attacks.

The original Super Mario Galaxy, which debuted on the original Wii in 2007, is now available on the Virtual Console for the Wii U. It's available now for $20, just in time for Christmas.

Super Mario Galaxy was perhaps the most popular game in the Mario franchise, with over 12.59 million copies sold as of September of 2015. It had some unique and engaging gameplay, intuitive and rewarding puzzles and one of the best soundtracks to come from a Mario game.

If you enjoy a good 3D platformer and have never tried this particular part of the franchise, then the OG Super Mario Galaxy might be a good place to start. It's relatively beginner friendly, but challenging enough to feel great. It's certainly a great refinement over Super Mario 64, which it will be joining on the Virtual Console.

We've just found out what to expect in the different editions and packs of The Division, and now some more details are coming to light about the open-world game from Ubisoft.

Thanks to an interview between Forbes and Massive Entertainment's Lead Environmental Artist, Sebastian Lindoff, and Technical Art Director Chad Chatterton, we've found out that you'll be able to choose both the time and weather for each mission in The Division.

As for the weather, they explained: "Totally. You can choose when to play any of the missions, night or day, with clear weather or during a snow blizzard. We only restrict some of the heaviest fog settings in some missions because it could adversely affect too much the combat balancing, but all the other weather settings can have an impact on how you approach an encounter, varying the levels of visibility for you and your enemies".

One of the first DirectX 12 titles to be released next year will be Fable Legends, with a new leak on Lionhead Studios' game pointing to just how much microtransactions will cost, and what you'll get for your money.

Fable Legends is a free-to-play title, with Lionhead recently delaying the game. The studio didn't realize how big the game was getting, and needed more time to get everything right. The studio explained that the team "working exceptionally hard and we're proud of how far the game has come. We're operating our closed beta 24/7 and have added lots more features, quests, creatures, and heroes to play. Hundreds of thousands of fans have participated in the beta so far, and we can't wait to open it up for all of you to play. To achieve our aspirations for Fable Legends, we've moved our open beta release to spring of 2016".

As for the microtransactions, Fable Legends will offer a 'ton of gold' for $59.99, where you'll receive 12,800 gold. There's also a hundredweight of gold, stone of gold, mark of gold, and finally, a pound of gold - all with varying prices. Lionhead splashes away gamers' issues with a pay-to-win formula for Fable Legends, with the studio explaining "You'll be able to play Fable Legends from beginning to end for free. That means the whole story as it stands, plus any additional quests/storylines we release after launch will all be free".

We know that EA DICE is working on the new Battlefield, but we don't know what Battlefield title we'll get. Will it be Battlefield 5, or will it be something different like Battlefield: Bad Company 3?

Well, it was only earlier this month that DICE's development director Dan Vaderlind took to Twitter saying: "Now that we've shipped Battlefront and a part of the team continues to work on it, I am moving on to another project, the next Battlefield". This was exciting news on its own, with EA CEO Andrew Wilson adding "I have no doubt that DICE LA will be building their game at some point, because it's a really, really passionate group of people".

DICE LA is actually hiring right now, looking for both a singleplayer and multiplayer level designer. The LA-based studio is also on the look out for a senior technical animator, a senior lighter, and a senior concept artist. DICE LA is looking for candidates to "push quality to the next level for an unannounced AAA title". While it doesn't specifically state that it's a new Battlefield game, we have confidence that it is.

Amazon's new sale ensures you'll have some awesome stocking stuffers for the gamier in your life.

Although Christmas is only two days away and Amazon won't be able to ship any goods out in time for the big holiday, that hasn't stopped the online retailer from kicking off a great sale on video games. Amazon's new holiday sale is primarily focused on digital PC games that will make excellent stocking stuffers for the gamer in your life, with up to 70% off on great PC hits. Notable deals include XCOM: Enemy Unknown for just $7.50, Machine Game's epic shooter Wolfenstein: The New Order for just $9, the ultra-creepy Alien: Isolation for $12.50 and $BioWare's stalwart Dragon Age: Inquisition Game of the Year Edition for $30

There's also mark downs on physical PS4 and Xbox One games, but these are less pronounced, seeing anywhere from $10-15 in savings. Also be advised that Steam has just kicked off its annual Winter Sale, which has thousands of PC games discounted for the holidays. So between Amazon and Steam, PC gamers have a nice selection of sales to choose from. Never buy retail, folks!