Gaming - Page 1076

It's a problem with all turn-based strategy games that have this much data being processed per turn. It's not related to the graphics (though we do wish they were slightly better here), but it's common and it's annoying. The delay that happens deep into a very tough and demanding mission when you relinquish your turn to the evil alien overlords. It's slow, incredibly so, but there's a way to speed things up with a new community made mod called "Stop Wasting my Time."

This mod can't quite speed up those calculations, but it can remove some unnecessary pauses that occur at some points throughout the game, which ends up shaving off a significant amount of time, time that could otherwise be spent looking at the overview with a sad look on your face as you're confronted with nearly impossible odds, a small tear escaping down your cheek.

There are some pauses that can't be removed by modding, but everything else that can be, has been. In the latest iteration even removes some voiceovers that pause the game, telling you things you likely already know anyway. They also speed up unit movement by 20%, which is enough to keep things immersive and just short of Sonic the Hedgehog speeds. The full changes and what the mod does are listed in pretty bullet form below.

Yesterday we reported that it was likely that Crash Bandicoot would finally be revived after a long hiatus from his preferred platform. He hasn't even called us to let us know he's okay. A comment was made at the New York Toy Faire by the president of NECA about making toys based on the mischievous bandicoot, but that comment was apparently not actually true, and was misunderstood.

NECA isn't making any toys on the famous character, at least they aren't anytime in the near future. A representative of the company reached out to GameSpot to tell them that otherwise. "It's not the case," the rep from NECA said. "Someone has misunderstood a comment he made. Randy saw a faked fan-made image right before he came to the show and said that if the game were coming back, we'd love to do figures."

So while the rumor isn't true, it doesn't mean it's completely out of the question. Even the PlayStation Mid East Twitter account is excited for the franchise and wants it back, and the tweet from them might be a sign that ideas are at least being thrown around at high-levels to make it a reality. It's unfortunate that a fan-made UE 4 game hasn't been released yet.

Any blossoming action RPG in development, such as Exoplanet: First Contact, is going to want to have a wide variety of different set pieces to keep you interested, and to help you suspend your believe that you're in some far off land. Wildlife, pets, livestock and creatures in general, especially in a far off star system, are just as important as the landscape to make it a unique and ultimately fun experience. Moving battle fortresses make it that much more fantastic, because who wouldn't want to train one to walk around like a sail barge in the desolate landscape.

Moving battle fortresses make it that much more fantastic, because who wouldn't want to train one to walk around like a sail barge in the desolate landscape. But the real reason why they're being added to the game is due to the desolate frontier that you'll be exploring. Fuel is an expensive commodity, one that costs far more than the grass upon which this delightful herbivore would nom upon. Meaning it's easier and cheaper, and better, to get around on the back of a massive creature than in the relative comfort of a small ship.

The idea is only in the planning stages, but the possibility of having a customization mount (akin to ARK perhaps, but better) could easily come to fruition here. Nurture your mount from a wee babe and then equip specially crafted armor, weapon mounts and even prison modules, or others, to customize it for your occupation of choice. What a way to get around, even if it's slightly slower than zipping along at high-speed in an covered, craft.

Hideo Kojima approached the Gears of War Creator, Cliff Bleszinski, regarding a partnership in a new type of Silent Hill, one that could potentially be something unique and a return to something fascinating for the series. But good ol' Cliff just didn't want to do it. But at least his reasons are sound, and surprisingly responsible.

I don't think that anyone can blame him for not enjoying LA, it's a place that you either love or harbor deep hate for. And of course he's working on his own new IP which is something that he most definitely won't want to just walk away from, or even delay. And because of the special nature of Silent Hill, he doesn't want to ruin it either.

That's a very responsible thing for anyone to say. Some directors or producers would be absolutely thrilled to be able to work on such an IP, adding their own vision to something that could harm fans perception of it and potentially desecrating a sacred franchise already marred with sub-par impressions.

I don't even... so, the last DLC for Battlefield Hardline is coming in March and it'll provide a sword. Yeah, we're not joking - a sword.

Both cops and robbers get to use the swords, with the new weapon being only one of seven new weapons being introduced with the new DLC. Battlefield Hardline: Betrayal will also include four new maps: Alcatraz, Cemetery, Chinatown and Thin Ice.

Two new vehicles and some customization options on primary weapons and uniforms will also make the cut, with Betrayal implementing an update to Hardline that adds 11 more weapons and new server presets. Betrayal concludes the DLC schedule for Battlefield Hardline, which launches in March 2015 and has been barely surviving since.

Yesterday, we reported that Quantum Break wouldn't be reaching Steam, and would instead be an exclusive to the Windows Store - but we can't really complain because we get to play it on PC and it's no longer an Xbox One exclusive.

Well, Xbox Marketing boss Aaron Greenberg said during the latest Major Nelson podcast: "We weren't sure how and when we could get the Windows 10 version done. They lined up [with the Xbox One version]; a lot of people's reaction on Twitter was like, I get it, you want to bring this to a lot more gamers to play, but why didn't you tell us about this before? We didn't know we could do this before".

He added: "We're trying to bring gamers together, we're trying to break down the walls if you will. To be able to bring a title like Quantum Break to the Windows 10 ecosystem is a great benefit. We know that there are a lot of PC gamers out there who would like to play the game, so that opens up a new audience".

After breaking its own promises about Quantum Break's exclusivity to Xbox One, many console gamers felt cheated. Everyone was asking themselves "why buy an Xbox One when I can get most of the games on PC, too?" By "innovating and growing its console ecosystem", Redmond delivered a significant blow to the Xbox community's morale, further weakening its own image.

According to Microsoft marketing exec Aaron Greenberg, Team Lime Green isn't giving up on Xbox. On the contrary; Xbox is a "big priority and a huge commitment" for Redmond. Greenberg promises that the company will continue to invest and co-ordinate new Xbox One console exclusives down the line, attempting to dispel the jaded malaise that's spread across the community.

"Xbox is a big priority and a huge commitment, and we're committed to innovate," Greenberg said during Major Nelson's latest podcast. "Please do not let the fact that we're also launching a game on the same day on Windows 10 change your perspective on the importance of the console business, our commitment to innovating on consoles, and continue to invest and bring more console exclusives, in addition to kinda growing the gaming ecosystem."

Microsoft's decision to bring Quantum Break to PC was met with disdain from the Xbox community--after all, the game was supposed to be exclusive to Xbox One. So why did Microsoft risk alienating its core audience with the move? Bringing Quantum Break to PC wasn't about sales or numbers--it's about bringing gamers together.

According to Xbox marketing exec Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft's cross-platform PC-and-console strategy is specifically built around unifying platforms and making games widely accessible. "We're really trying to bring gamers together, and trying to break down the walls. We are at Microsoft, and we're all about gaming. This is about putting gamers at the center of everything we're doing," he said in a recent podcast.

This statement goes against the very ethos of console gaming, however. The main reason consumers buy a console is because of the games, which include exclusive IPs--or exclusive content. As Microsoft can't compete against Sony's PS4 in the traditional game, it wants to disrupt the traditional ethos with a newly evolved structure that bridges two platforms.

Although Microsoft wants everyone gaming on Windows 10 and using the Windows Store, it'd be foolish to go up against Steam. A new subdomain hints that Redmond may be taking the old adage "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" quite seriously, and we may see some sort of Steam/Xbox crossover.

What if Microsoft and Valve allied together to push a new PC-to-Xbox game streaming initiative? NeoGAF users spotted a curious subdomain called Xbox.steampowered.com that's kicked off a wave of speculation through the community, and many of their ideas are pretty interesting.

Starting with the controversial move to make Quantum Break Windows 10 exclusive instead of Xbox exclusive, Microsoft is breaking down the barriers between PC and console gaming. The company's new strategy is all about Windows exclusivity, and it wants to push Windows 10 as far as it can. But Valve's massive Steam platform is a huge roadblock, and past attempts (Games for Windows Live) to conquer Steam have failed. But what about a joint venture?

If you were one of those that pre-ordered Street Fighter V on the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 4 or from Steam for the PC, then you can now start preloading the game in anticipation of finally going live on February 16th.

Street Fighter V weighs a middling 7.32GB on the PS4 and a slightly lighter 7.15GB for the PC with the unpackaged and installed game taking up 12.34GB and 13.45GB on the PS4 and PC respectively. Unfortunately we learned that it won't be coming to the Xbox One at all due to a console exclusivity deal with Sony.

And if you wanted to explore the inner personalities of the various flashy characters from the series, Street Fighter V will have a tremendous amount of story content both in the main game and in future DLC packages. So now those origin stories and the relationships will be revealed with some rather fantastic looking animations and in-game fights.

Ubisoft is taking a less traditional approach to Far Cry: Primal's storytelling. Instead of linear-based progression, players can travel down different paths--all of which branch out from the central Wenja village.

In a new interview, Ubisoft Associate Producer Paola Joyaux reveals that Far Cry: Primal's story arc will be tightly woven with the protagonist's ancestral Wenja homeland. The Wenja village will grow and flourish depending on what paths players take, offering a dynamic and emergent experience that's resplendent with prehistoric culture.

"The village is really the backbone of your progression and your story. By going into the wild and exploring the world, you'll find specialists. Each of them will be your mentor in a specialty that you'll need to master to push back the danger of the world," Joyeaux explained. "So when you bring them back to the village, they'll build huts there. And by working with them - sometimes they'll need new components you can only find farther away, or you'll help them develop new technology - you'll not only improve your village, but also gain new knowledge that will help you improve yourself."

After nearly a decade, Sony is apparently bringing back PlayStation icon Crash Bandicoot for a new game on the PlayStation 4.

According to National Entertainment Collectibles Association exec Randy Falk, Sony is resurrecting the cult platformer Crash Bandicoot for a new game.

"On the modern gaming front, we're going strong. We've got a lot of cool stuff going on with Sony. So we have Ultimate Kratos from God of War III that's about to hit retail. We have Uncharted 4 Nathan Drake, which comes out in May. And then LittleBigPlanet is doing really well. And looking at some of their other titles, I see they're bringing Crash Bandicoot back, which is really cool. There's some great stuff there."

Now that we know Quantum Break won't be an Xbox One exclusive with the announcement of a release on the PC - with it being an exclusive to Windows 10 as it requires DX12 - we're finding out that it will not be on Steam, either.

Quantum Break will be a Windows Store exclusive according to Aaron Greenberg during the MajorNelson podcast. Greenberg said: "So, Quantum Break on Windows 10 is a Windows store exclusive". So while this is good, there were issues surrounding the Windows Store version of Rise of the Tomb Raider, so let's hope it doesn't happen with Quantum Break.

The Windows Store version of Rise of the Tomb Raider doesn't feature exclusive full screen support for SLI and Crossfire-based setups, and PC gamers aren't able to use third-party overlay programs like FRAPS or MSI Afterburner.

During E3 2015, PC Gamer hosted the awesome PC Gaming Show, which was an event for all things PC gaming. This year, it's coming back, and once again it'll happen during E3 in June.

PC Gamer says: "With the help of all the feedback and support everyone gave the event in 2015, we're looking forward to bringing you an even better show than last year. In 2015 it was really important to us to get a big variety of participants on stage to help convey the spectrum of exciting stuff happening on PC, but an inevitable effect of that was that we ran quite long".

They continued: "This year's show will be more focused, but packed with tons of new announcements and exclusive reveals". As for participants, we don't know who will be at this year's PC Gaming Show, but we can expect some big names - last year, we saw AMD, Microsoft, and many game developers join in on the PC gaming fun.

ARK: Survival Evolved has finally been updated on the Xbox One to v732.0, which enables some sweet old-school split screen gaming competition.

The update weighs in at 4.5GB and also adds three new prehistoric creatures for you to attempt to tame, the Dung Beetle, Dimetrodon and the Gallimimus. The Gallimimus can handle up to three people on it and run incredibly quickly. The Dimetrodon can shelter you from harsh environments with its gigantic sail, a useful feature.

Some other new items have made it into the game such as an electric prod type weapon and SWAT-style armor to help protect you from the new creatures. You're also able to build a greenhouse and brew your own beer. Because pre-historic micro-breweries were a thing. They've even added a hangover effect that happens after the fun stops. Performance hasn't explicitly been optimized in this patch though some people are reporting a slight increase in framerate.

We all know just how big Twitch is, but how many minutes did people spend watching gamers play games in 2015? Oh, just a casual 241.1 billion minutes - or if you like zeroes, that would be 241,100,000,000. Yeah, a lot.

Twitch had an average of 1.7 million broadcasters streaming every month, with the average concurrent viewers for 2015 reaching 550,000 with peak concurrent users reaching its milestone of 2.09 million on August 23 for the ESL One: Cologne 2015 and the League of Legends NA LCS Finals on the same weekend. As for the top ten games streamed, here's the list:

While Xbox One fanboys have their knickers in a knot over Remedy Entertainment unveiling Quantum Break for the PC, instead of it being a timed exclusive fro the Xbox One, we're finding out more details on the PC version of Remedy's new cross-platform game.

Quantum Break is a DX12-only game, requiring Windows 10. Not only that, but Remedy has requirements of 8GB of RAM, with the developer suggesting you have an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti or an AMD Radeon R9 Fury X, as well as 16GB of RAM for their "Ultra" requirements. As for their recommended PC requirements, you'll need a GTX 970 or R9 390.

The minimum CPU required is an Intel Core i5-4460 or AMD FX-6300 while the recommended specs are the Core i7-4790 or the "AMD equivalent". You'll need 55GB of HDD space for Quantum Break on your PC, too.

The latest patch for Rise of the Tomb Raider will be hitting Steam shortly, with v1.0.616.4 for the PC version of ROTTR including some multi-GPU fixes, and more.

Here's the full changelog:

Another holiday another round of deals to commemorate the day. The PlayStation Network is rife with savings up to 75% off on games for the PS3, PS4, PS Vita and even the aging PSP. All these deals are going on until the 15th at 11AM PT.

The funny thing is that none of the games listed are necessarily titles that have anything to do with the loving holiday. It's an excuse to sell us things at lower prices, which isn't a bad thing if you've been wanting something and have been waiting for a sale like this one to get it. And the selection this weekend is massive with 216 titles to choose from.

Looking to enjoy the Battlefield series if you hadn't had the chance already? Battlefield is at the forefront on all platforms with 60% off. Magicka 2 is also there for $5.99 and you can find the classic Sniper Elite 3 Ultimate Edition for the PS3 on sale for $8.99. Overall a good selection that warrants a look through to add something new to the collection, or to lovingly add to your partners collection, because that's what great significant others do, right?

Conan Exiles looks to be a desolate and demanding, one that requires a bit of mental fortitude in order to summon the strength and very essence of Conan himself. It's an open-world survival game that's as brutal as the story is beautiful.

This isn't the first time that a Conan game has been attempted. The mythos and universe was the subject of Funcom's own Age of Conan, an MMORPG set in the same Hyborian Age as most other fictional works of Conan, that has more traditional RPG elements that we're used to. Conan Exiles takes that universe and adds a dynamic single-player storyline where you get to choose your narrative, and survival elements in a way that surely won't be typical of that sub-genre.

The key elements of the game are to survive, build and to dominate. Take the mindset of Conan himself, who saves you from your own destruction in the beginning cinematic, to tame the harsh mistress that is the barbaric wasteland. It's going to be a violent game, as the developer diary suggests, it'll require you to out-think your opponents with violence, being the most savage of the land. Precisely what Conan is about.