Gaming - Page 1129

A couple of engineers working at Snail Games took just six weeks to port King of Wushu from DirectX 11 to DirectX 12 in CryEngine, with the results of this work in the video below.

As you can see, King of Wushu is a new 3D martial arts based MOBA, with some very delicious graphics and physics. There's some impressive age contact collision and motion capture animation that can be spotted, but it's the DX12 side of things that has us excited.

There are over 10,000+ drawcalls in the DX12 tech demo of King of Wushu, over 20,000+ polygons per character, with one of the big differences between the DX11 and DX12 versions of the game being CPU and GPU utilization. Under the DX11 version of the game, CPU utilization is fine at around 99%, but GPU utilization hovers at an average of 83%. Once DX12 is enabled, the GPU usage shoots up to 98-99%, which is a sizeable jump in performance from switching APIs.

Techland has announced that it has delayed Dead Island 2 into 2016, saying that they need more time to make the game perfect. Dead Island 2 was meant to be one of the first games to make great use of Epic Games' impressive Unreal Engine 4, but we won't see it until next year.

The developer has released a statement, where they've said: "We have always set ourselves a big goal for Dead Island 2: to create the sequel that takes Dead Island to the next level. A game that takes what our fans tell us they love about Dead Island - multiple different characters to play with, co-op, and turning a paradise setting into a zombie slaughter melee - and a game that adds a ton more content and combat options on top of that".

"And we wanted to have all of that that done for release in Spring 2015", they continued. "We have been looking at the game long and hard, and we have decided we didn't reach that goal we set out to achieve quite yet. This is why we have decided to delay Dead Island 2 to 2016. Right now we are focusing purely on development, and we will have more info to share at a later stage. We know that our fans will be disappointed by this news, but by giving Dead Island 2 more time we are confident that everyone will get a better game to play as a result".

Every E3 conference has been the trade show for gaming, but the PC has never had its own conference. While the likes of Microsoft, Sony and others have hosted their own press conferences for their respective consoles, the PC has never had that treatment, until now.

E3 2015 will see the first ever PC Gaming Show, an event for all things PC that is sponsored by PC Gamer, AMD, Twitch, Bohemia Interactive, Tripwire and Digital Storm. They tease: "PC gaming is in a golden age, with more powerful and affordable hardware than ever before, thousands of games available through Steam, Origin and other platforms, and millions of viewers regularly watching esports online. Now, for the first time, the PC platform will have its own event during E3, where the community will be able to celebrate this era with some of the biggest names in PC gaming and see the innovations that lie ahead".

AMD's Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Computing and Graphics, Matt Skynner, said: "The PC Gaming Show embodies the spirit of innovation, openness and community that's part of our DNA-delivered by gamers, for gamers. The time is right for a PC-focused event in the week of E3 and we're honored to be part of bringing the industry together".

Sony has sold more than 22.3 million PlayStation 4 consoles worldwide at the end of March, the Japanese electronics company said during a recent year-end financial results update. Throughout the year, Sony was able to sell 14.8 million PS4 sales. More than 20.2 million units were sold at the start of March, with the company continuing to rack up sales.

Looking ahead, Sony expects to sell 16 million PS4 units over the next fiscal year, softening the blow of declining PlayStation 3 console sales.

Overall, surging game consoles helped the company rack up $576 million profit, a whopping 159 percent year-over-year increase. "I believe the largest part of our restructuring effort is now behind us, but we haven't fully recovered yet," said Kenichiro Yoshida, chief financial officer at Sony, warning that the company must continue working hard.

Gaming specialist Razer has announced the Razer Seiren Pro, a digital microphone designed for people recording videos and audio to be shared online. The microphone is available for pre-order now, and will launch in May.

The microphone allows users to record via analog XLR or digital USB, and can be plugged into mixing boards and cameras. A high-pass filter helps eliminate low-end ambient noises that can lead to poor sounding audio during recording.

"With the success of YouTube, Twitch and the likes, there is a greater demand for high-fidelity recording equipment than ever before," said Min-Liang Tan, co-founder and CEO of Razer. "Our second condenser microphone, the Razer Seiren Pro, delivers what video game streamers are looking for and provides great value to YouTubers, musicians and anyone looking to capture sound clearly."

Bethesda has announced the PC requirements for Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, which won't require gamers to have a super high-end PC to play their latest first-person shooter. The minimum requirements are:

So you'll need 4GB of RAM and 38GB HDD space minimum, with the recommended 8GB of RAM not being too high these days. Especially with its predecessor requiring 50GB of HDD space. The studio recommends 3GB of VRAM on either an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon R9 280, which is quite conservative.

Bethesda is also reiterating that you won't require Wolfenstein: The New Order to play The Old Blood, as it is a standalone product. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood launches on May 5 across the world for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. The game has already started pre-loading on the Xbox One, with pre-loading to begin on May 1 for the PC, and May 3 for the PS4.

We already know that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a gigantic game, but with a game of that size, one lingering question remains: how much time will we spend in loading screens? Well, none. Zero. Zilch.

Senior Environment Artist on The Witcher 3, Jonas Mattsson, said during an interview with Gamespot that there are "no loading times". This is a big deal, where he continued: "No, there's no loading times. Only when you actually start the game, when die and load the game, or when you fast travel. That fast travel loading time depends on how far you have to travel of course. If you just fast travel a little bit, it's a really short loading time".

Mattsson continues: "One of the goals we had, was to keep the experience as fluid as possible. When you play, you don't want to have the loading screen because it takes you out of the game a bit. We wanted to make sure that it was as smooth as possible, one big experience. For us, that was really important. I think we achieved that because, as you said, just going in and out of a building, there's no loading time. Nothing. It's just creates this really nice experience".

Microsoft is taking a fresh approach to promoting and marketing the Xbox One, video game titles, and PC gaming during E3 in June.

Head of Xbox boss Phil Spencer has promised "some interesting changes this year for briefing and the week." It's unknown when Microsoft will host its press conference, but could be on the same day as Electronic Arts, Sony, and Ubisoft at the beginning of E3 week.

The company will discuss both Xbox One games and PC titles, with Spencer offering the following answer to Twitter users: "We'll have some of both."

Avalanche Studios has released gameplay footage of Just Cause 3 being played on the Sony PlayStation 4! The open world game trailer features protagonist Rico Rodriguez throwing a pilot out of a fighter jet, buildings exploding, high-speed car chases, and general mayhem. The game studio wanted to make sure gamers have plenty of missions to complete and a widespread environment that can be explored during the game.

"[We're] designing a game that constantly encourages exploration and challenges players... not to break the game, but explore the game." said Christofer Sundberg, founder and creative director of Avalanche Studios, in a statement to The Verge. "I like to see our players as anarchists. You can't really tell them what to do. If you tell them to go right, they will absolutely go left. Or up and down, in this case. So, design a game that really encourages experimenting and exploring and not trying to set up rules for the player."

Just Cause 3 will launch in time for Christmas on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Halo 5: Guardians won't be available until this fall, but it looks like Microsoft Xbox One gamers can be excited about the possibility of picking up a limited edition Guardians Xbox One console.

"There is a limited edition console coming, yes. It hasn't been revealed yet, but it's pretty sweet," said Josh Holmes, studio head for Halo 5: Guardians, in a tweet posted yesterday (which has been deleted).

Details giving us additional information about single player, vehicles, weapons, and other game details remain unknown. However, Microsoft is enjoying the hype surrounding Halo 5, and while the company put together an Xbox One bundle for its Halo: The Master Chief Collection, nothing has been confirmed about a Guardians bundle just yet. Expect the title to receive attention during E3 2015 from Los Angeles in June.

With the original Gears of War coming out nearly 10 years ago now, news of a remaster for the Xbox One shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. Especially since Microsoft acquired the Gears of War IP from Epic Games not too long ago, but now Splash Damage is reportedly behind the remaster of Gears of War for the Xbox One.

With news of a new Gears of War game coming soon teasing gamers, a remaster of what started it all makes sense. Back in March, Black Tusk studio boss Rod Fergusson told Polygon last month: "I love the passion, but there's no Marcus Fenix Collection. We ARE working on other exciting Gears projects. I'll see you at E3!".

Polygon is reporting that the Gears of War remaster will feature 60FPS multiplayer, which I'm sure will be in the singleplayer side of the game too. Here's hoping for a full 1080p 60FPS, considering how much faster the Xbox One is than the Xbox 360.

When Silent Hills started its very underground, but very vocal push into the market, it excited most people. It was fresh, completely new, and totally terrifying. But, it looks like we'll never see that game released.

Horror director Guillermo del Toro has told attendees at a film festival in San Francisco that Silent Hills "is not gonna happen", something he was co-directing with Hideo Kojima. He added that "it breaks my greasy heart", and my heart too, I might add. Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl on The Walking Dead, has said on Twitter "super bummed about this was really looking forward to it. Hopefully it'll come back around. Sorry everyone".

The game looks like it'll be completely disappearing, as it will P.T., the "playable teaser" of Silent Hills, will be removed from the PlayStation Network on April 30. With all of the issues that Hideo Kojima seems to be facing, I would dare say it was the controversy happening behind the scenes that led to the disappointing breakdown of Silent Hills.

We knew it was coming, but Activision and Treyarch have confirmed Call of Duty: Black Ops III. The 2015 version of Call of Duty will be playable at E3 2015 in June, and will feature a new movement system, which will make it feel more like Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and Titanfall, than ever before.

Activision explains it as: "Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is a dark, gritty future where a new breed of Black Ops soldier emerges and the lines are blurred between our own humanity and the cutting-edge military robotics that define the future of combat".

There will be a Destiny-like multiplayer system with 9 specialists to play as, with each of them including two unique abilities. These abilities will include nice tricks like seeing through walls, or transforming your robot arm into a gun. Black Ops III players can choose their specialists, as well as one power to use before they begin the match. There are three multiplayer maps that are known at this point, these maps include:

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is less than one month from release, so what better way to continue cranking the last-minute marketing campaign than with new screenshots that show off the sheer beauty of what CD Projekt Red has created.

Level Designer on the game Miles Tost has posted some impressive new screenshots to Twitter, adding that the life bar fades out from the UI when it's not needed. In fact, most of the UI itself can be permanently disabled, which is a nice touch. Community & Website Coordinator, Marcin Momot, has also said that the screenshots we have here were taken on the PC, with a combination of high and ultra settings.

We know that there are over 100 hours of game time for The Witcher 3, with speedruns by internal testers taking over 25 hours to complete. Death can also be permanent in the game, if you want to play on the Dark side of things. The full game has a launch date of May 19, 2015 for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

We know that Red Dead Redemption 2 should be unveiled at E3 2015 for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC, but this recreation in Unreal Engine 4 is looking seriously nice. Check out some screenshots below.

The screenshots are courtesy of Polycount member 'Matt_Billeci', with a Red Dead Redemption inspired look at a saloon environment using Unreal Engine 4. He explains: "For a while now I have been working on a saloon interior that is inspired by the Red Dead series. I am going for a bit of a high-end saloon and I still have loads of work left to do. With this project, I really wanted to dive into the PBR workflow and UE4. Probably around 60 % of the textures in here have place holder textures. I had used some of Unreal's textures just to make sure that my lighting would bake out correctly. Most of everything is UVed/Lightmap UVed. The goal is to finish the rest of the those and get to texturing and creating a more dynamically lit scene. Any comments or critiques would be much appreciated!"

Gabe Newell has taken to Reddit to talk about Valve's new modding policy, where our Lord and Savior took many questions regarding the controversial paid mod subject. Newell said that Valve's goal is now to make modding better for both creators, and gamers.

Newell said: "Our goal is to make modding better for the authors and gamers. If something doesn't help with that, it will get dumped. Right now I'm more optimistic that this will be a win for authors and gamers, but we are always going to be data driven". The boss of Valve also explained why the company used Skyrim as their first title under the new policy, where he said: "Skyrim is a great example of a game that has benefitted enormously from the MODs. The option for paid MODs is supposed to increase the investment in quality modding, not hurt it".

He continued: "About half of Valve came straight out of the MOD world. John Cook and Robin Walker made Team Fortress as a Quake mod. Ice frog made DOTA as a Warcraft 3 mod. Dave Riller and Dario Casali we Doom and Quake mappers. John Guthrie and Steve Bond came to Valve because John Carmack thought they were doing the best Quake C development. All of them were liberated to just do game development once they started getting paid. Working at Waffle House does not help you make a better game".

Project Cars has been delayed a few times now, but it will be released on May 8 for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC, with news floating out already that Slightly Mad Studios is already working on a sequel to the driving game. We already know that Project Cars will be one of the best looking games on the market, with support for virtual reality headsets, and up to triple 4K monitor setups.

The news is coming from Slightly Mad Studios' boss, Ian Bell, where he referred to Project Cars as a 'Destiny-like' experience. He took to the World of Mass Development forums, where he said: "A very short update for now as I'm jet-lagged to hell and back but the good news is that we will be continuing the WMD setup for pCARS2. We will open new forum sections when the game (pCARS1) ships to support the new users and you WMD experts will all have access and we'd greatly appreciate your assistance advising new users".

Bell continued: "I'll be implementing a new non-profit return form of WMD for pCARS2 (to avoid the FSA hassle) and will set a purchase time limit of 2-3 months for those who want to take part. Following this, involvement will be closed. The tiers won't have the higher cost options that we currently have (probably capped at 100 pounds with excellent benefits) and those who want to approach me personally to invest in the new game can do so providing it's at or above 50k.

In just a few short weeks, the much anticipated sequel to 'Mad Max'; 'Fury Road' will hit screens worldwide, with a flurry of pre-release trailers commanding much attention. Strangely, the long in production video game from Avalanche Studios has been much quieter. But now Warner Bros. Games has released the first trailer of in-game footage, and it looks highly encouraging - especially for a license tie-in.

Officially announced at E3 2013, the 'Mad Max' game was originally announced for Windows, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One before being delayed when the theatrical release of 'Fury Road' was announced last year, but now, the previous generation console versions have been abandoned.

Bizarrely, despite the long gestation, the game still won't make the May theatrical release date, but will instead drop in September when the Blu-ray and DVD version of the film is released.

Browsing the Whirlpool forums we came across a post by user GeoffBRO! exclaiming that WWE will finally be coming to the PC platform in the next few days.

Bundled on Steam with 10% off and a free DLC, the game opens in approximately five days time and will set you back $49.49.

Sporting multiple language options, it also has to be said that this is one new game the you certainly don't need a beastly PC for - recommending users invest in an NVIDIA GTX 570 and Intel Core i5-3550 @ 3.30 GHz to ensure smooth game play. For most PC enthusiasts this should be no issue as these kind of specifications were common for many in 2011.

In something that isn't too surprising, but is a dirty trick: Microsoft has used footage from the PC version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt running at 60FPS to advertise the Xbox One version of the game, which runs at just 30FPS.

The new footage is called "Precious Cargo" and is another step in the marketing for The Witcher 3 before its May 19 release on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. But, with the PC version of the game the only version capable of 60FPS, with developer CD Projekt Red stating that both the Xbox One and PS4 versions of the game locked at 30FPS, this is some tricky marketing from Microsoft.

Microsoft are advertising it on the official Xbox channel of YouTube, with a single line that explains it's running on the PC version of the game: "In game footage provided by CD Projekt Red, captured on a PC". As you can see from the screenshot above, the video is even being pushed at 1080p and 60FPS, which the Xbox One is clearly not capable of with The Witcher 3.