Gaming - Page 1126

Slightly Mad Studios is slightly mad when it comes to the Wii U version of Project Cars, as the Wii U is struggling to hit 30FPS at only 720p. This has caused the studio to wait for the announcement of Nintendo's next-gen console, but Nintendo won't be revealing the NX console until 2016.

Ian Bell, boss of Slightly Mad Studios has said that he wants to see the Nintendo NX console announced at E3, but with the studio only able to achieve 23FPS on the Wii U, the next-gen Nintendo console is really needed if Nintendo gamers want to see Project Cars. Bell said: "I can't say too much but we're awaiting E3 with baited breath. Don't read wrongly into that... OK I'll come clean. At the moment we're running at about 23FPS on the WiiU. We're awaiting/hoping for more of a hardware announcement at E3...".

Bell continued: "Honestly, unless we really cut the looks back I think we're looking to Nintendo's next console. 720p yes. I suppose if they don't announce something at E3 or soon after we will have a go at it. We could reach a fairly solid 30FPS but it might take a hell of a lot of work. On the other hand, about halfway through us finishing, Nintendo might announce a new console (I have zero knowledge on this BTW but I've heard 'rumours'). Our work might just be the best thing that ever hit that new console in the driving sim genre. So we're playing a waiting game at the moment and yes, economics do come in to it".

Roberts Space Industries has sprung a leak, with 48GB of assets belonging to the crowdfunded Star Citizen leaking online. This has just happened, with the following events taking place:

Thanks to Star Citizen being powered by the CryEngine, this means that you can use these assets right now, if you have managed to get your hands on them. This leak has given fans of the game a deep look at some of the ships and how they work, months or years before they would normally see them.

CD Projekt Red has been taking some serious flak over the downgrade of graphics in The Witcher 3, but modder "MelekTaus" has released a new configuration tool that lets you change the graphical effects very easily, without having to do it in-game and having no idea what you're changing, or their affects to the graphics.

Hunter's Config can be downloaded right here, with support for SweetFX. In order to install it, you need to follow these steps:

We've heard previous rumors of the PlayStation 5 in that it would be a cloud-based console, with the producer of Tekken teasing that it wouldn't be a physical console at all. Now we're seeing job postings from Sony, teasing the PS5 once again.

On the official Sony PlayStation page, the Japanese giant is looking for a "Senior Game Programmer", with the job description reads: "We have an exciting opportunity at Sony Computer Entertainment of America (PlayStation). We seek a senior game programmer to assist us in developing a game used for R&D purposes related to our next generation gaming system. For someone passionate about gaming this is a very rare opportunity. After reviewing the below job profile, if this is you, please apply!"

The PS4 has enjoyed 19 months on the market so far, but most games are not being rendered at 1080p let alone 1080p 60FPS. I think Sony would cannabalize PS4 sales with a new console, but if it introduced the PS5 with a discrete GPU and told consumers and gamers that it was capable of 4K 60FPS and 1080p 120FPS, for $499, it would sell very well. Project Morpheus, Sony's virtual reality headset, is going to need much more grunt than the PS4 is capable of to deliver a great VR experience, so bring on the PS5.

F1 2015 had an original release window of June, but Codemasters has just delayed the game to July 10. To try and fan the rage away, Codemasters released a new in-engine teaser trailer, which you can see below.

With F1 2015 built from the ground up for current generation consoles, it also sports a brand new engine and handling model. Codemasters' Game Director, Paul Jeal, has come out and said: "F1 2015 marks an exciting new chapter for Codemasters and FORMULA ONE; it's a shift in direction for the game series, on new formats and our brand new game engine, with the game set to be released earlier in the season, launching this June". Jeal added: "The handling is a vast improvement from our previous games. In particular our new tyre model is a superb step forward towards realism, letting you explore where the limit is and allowing you to instantly feel much more connected with the car".

He continued: "You can now experience the changes in grip caused by temperature changes, wear, car set-up, debris and weather conditions. Our improved vehicle dynamics much more accurately convey the difference in performance and the feel between mechanical and aerodynamic grip. The new Force Feedback system adds to the feeling of connection with the car and track surface. The more natural and realistic nature of the game physics also serves to ensure that the racing experience is more accessible, enjoyable and rewarding for players of all skill levels".

After we reported on the new New for Speed release information said to be coming on May 21st - we were certainly correct.

As seen in a recent press release, Ghost Games, an EA studio, has announced the return of Need for Speed and a "full reboot of this storied franchise." Featuring advanced customization, urban car culture, a nocturnal open world and intense narrative this upcoming title is making big claims from the get-go.

Said to be involving car culture from past, present and future, we're interested to see how much research Ghost Games and EA have done into exactly what is to be included. For those interested in cars, I'm wondering if we're going to see a great tribute to Paul Walker (think: World of Warcraft's tribute to Robin Williams) alongside an abundance of Toyota/Subaru/Scion FT86 cars everywhere 'modded' with coilovers and rims.

Gaming peripheral and hardware company Razer has introduced has launched the Firefly hard gaming mouse pad, which has customized color options due to the Chroma lighting feature. Lighting is supported along the left, right and bottom borders of the mouse pad, which can be synced to other Razer devices featuring Chroma.

The Firefly has a non-slip rubber base, micro-textured finish, optimized surface coating for highly responsive tracking. It is available for pre-order with a $59.99 MSRP price, and will launch sometime in June.

"The Razer Firefly opens up a new category for the Chroma family," said Min-Liang Tan, co-founder and CEO of Razer. "We've designed the Razer Firefly with the best components for a gaming mouse mat, along with the new, fully-customizable Chroma lighting. No one said you can't win with style."

We went through it last year with Ubisoft and Watch Dogs, but it appears that CD Projekt Red has pulled the same thing on PC gamers with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. During an interview with Eurogamer, the studio talks about how it had to water down the graphics on PC because of consoles, because without consoles "there is no Witcher 3".

Gamers have noticed stark differences between the footage that CD Projekt Red showed off back in 2013, and the footage from recently, against the actual in-game graphics now that the game is out. The studio is quite frank about it all in the interview with Eurogamer, with company boss Adam Badowski saying: "If you're looking at the development process, we do a certain build for a tradeshow and you pack it, it works, it looks amazing. And you are extremely far away from completing the game. Then you put it in the open-world, regardless of the platform, and it's like 'oh shit, it doesn't really work'. We've already showed it, now we have to make it work. And then we try to make it work on a huge scale. This is the nature of games development".

The bigger issue comes from the fact that CD Projekt Red didn't talk about it until just now, which is where the consoles get involved. Company co-founder Marcin Iwinski explains: "If the consoles are not involved there is no Witcher 3 as it is. We can lay it out that simply. We just cannot afford it, because consoles allow us to go higher in terms of the possible or achievable sales; have a higher budget for the game, and invest it all into developing this huge, gigantic world". He continued: "Developing only for the PC: yes, probably we could get more [in terms of graphics] as there would be nothing else - they would be so focused, like if we would develop only on Xbox One or PlayStation 4. But then we cannot afford such a game".

Slightly Mad Studios has been, well, slightly mad over accusations of deliberate performance gimping when it comes to AMD Radeon cards. But where did all of this start?

A very detailed post on Reddit is the source of all of this, with the user summing up his post with "The entire Project Cars engine itself is built around a version of PhysX that simply does not work on AMD cards". Slightly Mad Studios has said that this is wrong, claiming that the users accusations are "erroneous".

The studio said that it didn't favor NVIDIA or AMD when it came to performance in Project Cars, but it has said that it has a "good working relationship" with both chipmakers. PC Gamer spoke with Slightly Mad Studios, receiving a lengthy statement that started with: "For the past few days, erroneous information posted on Reddit and other websites has spread misinformation with regards to Project Cars' performance on systems using AMD GPUs".

Indian CS:GO pro player Krishna "kriSSh" Salecha from Team NeckBREAK has been handed an automatic ban through Valve's Anti-Cheating service (VAC) recently on his main gaming account.

This Steam ban has seen an official Facebook reply, including a statement that read "my account was logged in from an unknown computer at 12.10 PM for five minutes. I have contacted Steam to get info on the IP address from where my accounted was logged in," coming after playing a tournament match on local internet cafe computers.

It's obviously quite common for CS:GO players to deny their bans once they have taken place, however Salecha believes the internet cafe may have compromised his account, commenting that the ban has been appealed and is awaiting a response from the official valve team.

Konami is facing management in-fighting and other problems, which led to the cancelation of Silent Hills, and it looks like Guillermo del Toro's foray into video games could be over. Hideo Kojima has reportedly left the company - though was helping with the Silent Hills project - but the budding friendship between Kojima and del Toro had to be placed on hold.

"Well, you know, I've tried twice and I don't know if I'll ever come back to the form," del Toro recently said when asked by reporters. "In one instance, the company went down, and in the second, the completely unexpected happened, which was Kojima and Konami separating. It's kind of left me reeling."

It's a shame that Konami seemingly can't keep its act together, as Norman Reedus, Kojima and del Toro were all reportedly "super happy" with the progress made in Silent Hills. However, del Toro's Crimson Peak will be released in theaters this October, so he has plenty to help keep him busy outside of gaming.

God of War fans are going to wait to stand up, with God of War III: Remastered set to arrive on July 15 in the US, and two days later in the UK and Ireland.

In order to get the hype train rolling faster, Sony has unleashed a new trailer for God of War III: Remastered in 1080p 60FPS. It shows off the Kratos vs Hades Boss Battle on the PlayStation 4. Some new features such as Photo Mode will let God of War gamers to freeze the action in the middle of the action, where a camera can be used with creative options like lighting changes, and then sharing that image with friends.

The developer continues: "It's been ten years since Kratos took the throne as the God of War. With the God of War III Remaster on the horizon, we are eagerly looking forward to reliving the legend and we hope you are too. For those PS4 players new to Kratos' epic tale of betrayal and revenge, welcome. You're in for one hell of a ride".

SolarFall games has just unveiled a new video for Umbra, its new CryEngine 3-powered RPG that makes great use of Quixel's more-than-impressive Megascans technology.

The studio explains: "This video shows some of the environments of Umbra, and how it impacts the gameplay. You can modify it, or use it as a weapon. On the technical side, our game is fully Physically based, and we are the first indie studio to use the Megascans library". Umbra has both single and multiplayer sides, where you have no limits on your character development, with gamers having the choice of creating their own weapons, armor and spells.

SolarFall Games continued: "​Umbra melds much-loved hack-and-slash gameplay with state-of-the-art graphics, and underpins it all with a truly modern AI. Inspired by the classic Diablo 2 game, Umbra aims to deliver an intense and rich action RPG game. Personalization of your character build is free, deep and highly customizable, and many secret are hidden in the world".

It's no secret that PC and console gamers tend to love energy drinks, guzzling the highly caffeinated drinks to extend gaming sessions. Traditional energy drinks are under increased scrutiny due to deaths and medical issues suffered by binge-drinking the sugary and caffeinated drinks - with some companies releasing what they say are healthier alternatives.

Products such as GungHo and G Fuel, designed as "gamer drinks," promote being sugar-free with increased levels of vitamins - a rare alternative over traditional energy drinks.

"Sales of caffeinated energy drinks have grown dramatically without adequate consideration of the cumulative intake of caffeine by teens and adolescents and, due to the law governing food additives, without any premarket review by FDA," said Michael Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine at the FDA.

With the current generation consoles getting close to their two year anniversaries, we're still not seeing 1080p 60FPS gameplay in most AAA titles, let alone "CG quality visuals". But, according to ex-Naughty Dog developer and Filmic Worlds' founder John Hable, we're around two generations away from CG quality visuals in games.

Hable talked with GamingBolt, where he said: "Honestly, it is hard to say. I think it will be a very long time. The current crop of consoles is much better than the previous generation, but the trailers are getting better too. If you really want to hit that level of quality then you need staggering triangle counts with really long shaders. Photoreal global illumination is very easy offline but very difficult in realtime".

He continued, saying that it will be another two console cycles before we see 4K hitting CG quality, where he said: "I don't have a good answer for you, but my guess would be longer than you think. One more console generation seems too quick. Maybe in two more generations? That would be PS6 and the 5th gen Xbox? And if we need to render in 4k then add another generation which puts us at PS7 and 6th gen Xbox. It'll be a while. Of course, they will never fully line up because of the content costs. Trailers and feature-length movies simply have a much higher budget per second than what the full game can afford. This difference is more than an order of magnitude in some cases".

Somewhat debated female-only leagues and competitions are still going along strong with ESWC announcing a $15,000 prize pool for its CS:GO female contingent of the upcoming event.

Held on July 9-12 and boasting a $75,000 male CS:GO tournament, the old 3DMAX squad is the fan favorite to take out the female event while on the search for a new home as their organization packed up last month.

Four of the competing teams will be decided through an open qualifier for European and North American teams (two each), alongside an application to decide the last three placings - one of which will be French.

While the leak on NVIDIA's website last month that hinted at the possibilities of a 500GB version of the Shield Android TV, it looks like it was real. A new listing has appeared on Amazon, but was quickly pulled.

The listing had an image of the box, which said "500GB Android TV" and the image doesn't look like something that was thrown together for a laugh. The description says that the new NVIDIA Shield has "4K entertainment and apps, powered by Android TV" as well as "a new class of Android games-only on SHIELD". But it's the "500GB storage for all your media and games" that has us excited, and you will get a Shield controller and HDMI in the box, too.

It looks like there will be a normal Shield, and then the Shield Pro that we have here with a 500GB internal 2.5-inch HDD. As we mentioned above, Amazon has since pulled the listing, but we're sure we'll see a 500GB Shield from NVIDIA in the very, very near future.

Mortal Kombat X is getting fixed up, with a new patch being pushed out to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC versions of the game. The patch fixes up different parts of the game, such as online matchmaking for ranked, and player matches. The full list of general gameplay fixes can be found below:

The list of character-specific fixes is also quite long, check it out:

With DICE rolling out future DLC for free to all Battlefield 4 gamers, the Spring Patch which drops later this month on all platforms will be something that gamers will be excited over.

The new Spring Patch will offer up five new guns, a revamped damage, fall off and suppression model for the guns, and the return of Gun Master. Gun Master is something that was a fan favorite back in Battlefield 3: Close Quarters, and is played like a Team Deathmatch game, except with a big twist. You don't get to choose the weapons you use, with weapons being swapped every time you get two kills in a row on an opponent, and whoever is the first player to get a kill with the final weapon, wins.

The PC version of Battlefield 4 is also getting an injection of stability, with the Battlefield 4 Community Test Environment, or CTE, being used to find the problems, and fix them. The Spring Patch focuses on the crashes and issues with both the game client and server. DICE is asking that all gamers update their graphics drivers to the latest stable versions, and to keep their overclocks at a minimum to ensure the best experience with Spring Patch.

The launch of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been an interesting one, something that hasn't been filled with bugs and watered down graphics with hidden options in it like Watch Dogs experienced, but something entirely different.

CD Projekt Red, the developer behind The Witcher series of games, has been quite open during the development of its open-world title. Except, that is, when it comes to comparing The Witcher 3 between the PlayStation 4, and PC. Marcin Momot, who works for the studio, talked with German website PCGamesHardware, where he talked about the differences between the PS4 and PC versions of the game. The developer reached out to the website, asking them to remove their video.

Momot said that the main differences between the PC and PS4 versions of the game will be the draw distance, frame rate, resolution and exclusive features like NVIDIA's HairWorks technology. Momot also said that there will be many more NPCs in the PC versions versus the PS4 version, and that the now removed video of the game was "not representative" of the PC version, as it made the PC version look pretty bad. He said: "Regarding the comparison video, unfortunately we don't know how this video was created and what PC settings have been used. It compared an early PC version with a PS4 debug build without the day 1 patch".