Gaming - Page 1156

QuakeCon 2014 is nearly here, but now we can start forming a plan of action thanks to Bethesda Softworks unveiling the schedule of events for the convention. The biggest part should be the reveal of Doom 4, id Software's next-gen Doom title.

The Doom 4 reveal will happen during the annual QuakeCon welcome ceremony, which kicks off at 6PM CT on Thursday, July 17, at the Ventrilo Main Stage. Bethesda has also said that this presentation will be exclusive to QuakeCon 2014 attendees, so we unfortunately won't see that footage. Other events that will take place during QuakeCon's first day include tournaments for The Elder Scrolls Online.

On Saturday, July 19, there is a "Designing the Perfect Game" panel that will see Obsidian Entertainment's CEO, Feargus Urquhart take the stage, former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, and others. This will be livestreamed over Twitch, running from 5-6PM. The full schedule can be found over on the Bethblog.

Before Ubisoft has even released Assassin's Creed: Unity, the company is teasing that its Quebec-based office is the lead studio on "a future Assassin's Creed" game. This breaks the norm of Ubisoft Montreal being the lead developer on the game.

Ubisoft Quebec Managing Director Nicolas Rioux talked about the history of Assassin's Creed with his studio, where he said: "We were involved in Brotherhood. We were involved in Revelations. We were involved in Assassin's Creed 3. With AC 3 we were working on the biggest DLC for the franchise - The Tyranny of King Washington. After that we were also involved with Freedom Cry. We have the confidence of the brand team and also from Ubisoft to take leadership of an upcoming Assassin's Creed title. The team is ready for the next big step".

One of the driving reasons behind the "future Assassin's Creed" game being developed at Ubisoft Quebec could be that the company is using $4 million of a $28 million investment to create a new workspace. From this new workspace, three entire floors will be dedicated to AAA game development. The city of Quebec is chipping in $500,000 to the studio, too. Ubisoft Quebec hires 350 people right now, with a goal of hiring a total of 425 before the end of 2017.

Creative Assembly's awesomely scary Alien: Isolation is coming out for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4 and PC later this year, but the studio has announced that the Xbox One and PS4 versions of the game will run at 1080p.

As for the frame rate, that will be "pretty compatible" On both consoles. Creative Assembly Lead Game Designer, Gary Napper, talked with OXM where he said: "When I think about working on the game, it's almost platform agnostic because I only think about the differences between platforms and the different mechanics we can use, like the light on the PS4 pad and the stuff with Kinect 2.0. So I think with framerate it's pretty comparable. There's no noticeable drop or change in graphics between them. Obviously there are a lot more options to tweak and scale up on the PC".

We've heard studios talking up the PC version of their games before, so I hope that Creative Assembly keep to their word and truly a truly next-generation game on PC - without watering down or gimping the graphics on the much more powerful PC platform. Alien: Isolation will be providing scares in virtual reality with Oculus Rift support, something I can't wait to try out myself.

A new project has hit Steam Greenlight, ramping up from #69 on the list to #9 very rapidly thanks to its popularity online - Rock Simulator. Yes, we're not joking - a game, about rocks.

Rock Simulator is sitting on Steam Greenlight, and according to its makers, it's "a genuine rock simulator". The introduction explains: "For a long time, there has been one game missing from the market. This simulator is a rock enthusiasts dream. You can watch beautiful rocks in any location in the world. From grass plains to salt flats, there are dozens of hand designed BEAUTIFUL environments".

You can check out Rock Simulator right here.

Wolfenstein: The New Order was a smash hit for Machine Games, and while the company hasn't announced a sequel to the first-person shooter, it is already plotting the sequel to the game.

Machines Games' Creative Director, Jens Matthies talked with Giant Bomb earlier in the week, where he said: "We would love to do a sequel. We have a very, very clear idea of what we accomplished with this game, and what we want to accomplish with a sequel". Matthies explained that the studio will focus on the pre-production side of things if it ends up working on a Wolfenstein sequel.

He continued: "[B]ecause these projects are so long in terms of development -- this was three-and-a-half years for [The New Order] -- and given how long it takes to make a game these days, this kind of game, and whenever you design in terms of preproduction, what becomes the plan for all of those years, has to be a flawlessly polished diamond," he explained. "If it isn't, you end up paying for that further down the line. You have to react to it, change, and do stuff".

If you don't want to know about any leaks to The Witcher 3, you've been warned. From here on out, do not read this post. Eurogamer is reporting that someone has hacked the Google Drive account of a CD Projkect Red employee, which was then shared around on the Internet on sites like 4chan and Reddit.

The hacker gained access to screenshots from the game, concept art, but most of all - design documents which go into detail about The Witcher 3's setting, story, and even its endings. CD Projekt Red talked with Eurogamer, with its Manager, Michal Platkow-Gilewski admitting that the leak took place, and "strong advised" people to not access the files if they don't want the game to be spoiled.

Platkow-Gilewski said that the leak doesn't affect the development of The Witcher 3, so we shouldn't expect any delays in its release - hopefully.

We've been through a crazy week or so with Ubisoft, with the company deliberately gimping the PC version of Watch Dogs, claiming that the next-gen console version of Far Cry 4 will be equal to "Ultra High" settings on PC, and The Division being locked at 30FPS. Can it get any worse? Yes, yes it can.

GameSpot recently interviewed the studio behind The Division, Massive Entertainment, which had some interesting things to say. When asked about "making a console game after spending so many years in the PC space", Ubisoft Massive Managing Director, David Polfeldt said: "We were a very, very hardcore PC gamer studio before. And we never understood the previous generation of consoles very well from a technological standpoint. But then when we saw the specs for this generation consoles... I remember we had a meeting at Massive and we just looked at each other and said 'Is this what I think it is?!' 'Is this our home turf?' Because on this hardware, we can be excellent; we can be one of the best. And as soon as we had that, we just started focusing on this generation of consoles like crazy".

So in that quote, we see that Massive went from being a "very, very hardcore PC gamer studio" to "focusing on this generation of consoles like crazy" after Massive saw what would be powering the next-gen consoles. In the quote above, Massive talked about next-gen consoles, saying that "because of this hardware, we can be excellent; we can be one of the best". The proof is right there.

When Ubisoft unveiled The Division at E3 2013, most - including myself - were quite blown away. Could this be? A true next-gen title? Well, we thought so until this year - but even with the game hitting only next-gen consoles and PCs (with no release on previous generation platforms) - the game is being gimped, just like Watch Dogs.

This is just a rumor right now, as we can't prove it like the modders did with Watch Dogs, but according to Whatifgaming, a source close to them said that Massive Entertainment - the studio behind The Division - has already removed "quite a lot of screen space reflections from the game" and that The Division will not look as good as it did during the reveal at E3 2013.

This source had some interesting things to say: "We really loved the reception to the demo we showed on the PC version at E3. Currently as it stands, there is definitely a lot of push coming from publishers to not make the experience so different on consoles as to alienate people into thinking that next generation is not as powerful as PC. This is probably what happened at Ubisoft Montreal. I think that while making stability changes is definitely important, it does not completely obliterate a lot of enhanced rendering applications".

Intel has asked AMD for access to its Mantle API, with Intel confirming it asked its competitor for access to Mantle, for something it has called an "experiment". Intel has reaffirmed its position with DirectX, saying that it remains committed to the open standard.

AMD has over 47 game developers signed up for its Mantle API, with its competitor NVIDIA only signing up Crytek and Ubisoft to its GameWorks program. So we know that AMD and NVIDIA are wanting to get game developers on their side, but what is Intel's play in all of this? In Q2 of this year, according to data from Jon Peddie Research, AMD and NVIDIA have 33% of the GPU market share, combined. The rest is dominated by Intel.

Richard Huddy, who just joined AMD again as its "gaming scientist" said: "I know that Intel have approached us for access to the Mantle interfaces, et cetera. And right now, we've said, give us a month or two, this is a closed beta, and we'll go into the 1.0 [public release] phase sometime this year, which is less than five months if you count forward from June. They have asked for access, and we will give it to them when we open this up, and we'll give it to anyone who wants to participate in this".

Microsoft has been forced to make a statement regarding Games for Windows Live, which is a service for PC gamers, and whether it will be shutting down. The software giant has formally denied that it is shutting down the service.

The company talked with Game Informer, where it said: "We are continuing to support the Games for Widows Live service. We remain committed to investing in PC gaming in the years ahead, and look forward to sharing more in the future. Although customers are unable to purchase new games from the marketplace or receive title updates, they can continue to enjoy previously purchased content by downloading them through the Games for Windows Live client as usual".

We heard back in March that Microsoft had "a renewed focus on Windows and PC gaming" when the head of Microsoft's head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, stepped up and talked about it. Is the future of PC gaming DirectX 12? For me, I think we're going to see big changes soon, but Microsoft won't be at the center of it.

YouTuber 'XBLToothPik' has modified the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto V, adding in an incredible looking first-person view. There's a video below which gives you a closer look at how the first-person feel would translate into the third-person smash hit.

It actually looks quite impressive, even more so that it's modded on the console. The PC version of the game has been promised to be something truly special from Rockstar, so we should expect modders to do some truly awesome things with the PC version of GTA V. Now all we need is some Oculus Rift support, and we could spend the next few years in GTA V.

It wasn't even 48 hours ago that I wrote my article about Ubisoft and the future of PC gaming, but now there is news floating around that Crytek is in some serious trouble. The studio is reportedly not seeing developers using CryEngine that much, with German videogames magazine Gamestar throwing around the word bankruptcy.

Gamestar has said that the adoption rate of CryEngine is not that great, and that word of mouth at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) a couple of months back was negative. During GDC, Crytek announced that it was offering up CryEngine as an 'engine as a service' which should've seen more developers jumping onto the graphics engine, but this wasn't the case.

Another problem was the Xbox One exclusive 'Ryse' which didn't sell well for the company, and Microsoft. Ryse was a 'catastrophe' for the company, with the studio only completing it by getting more staff onto the job. There is reportedly a cash injection deal close to completion, which will see the company hopefully headed toward a brighter future, but DSO Gaming is reporting that "a lot of big publishers are waiting for a possible bankrupt in order to sign the talent and shop the IPs from Crytek".

It looks like the demand in Europe for Sony's next-gen console is high, with the company now improving the once tight supply of the PlayStation 4 across Europe.

Managing Director of Sony Computer Entertainment UK, Fergal Gara, explains: "We haven't yet caught up with the initial demand across Europe. We are still dealing with the day one market. We are very close to being in a full supply situation, but we are not quite there yet". Sony is ahead of Microsoft in next-gen console sales, but with a tight supply in a big market like Europe, the PlayStation UK boss said: "We may have lost some sales".

Gara continued: "There is no update on PS4 sales figures right now, but suffice to say it is still selling, and selling very well". Sony has plenty of PS4s available in the UK, but each time it ships PlayStation 4 consoles to Germany, they sell them all. Gara adds: "We are in a bit better shape in the UK, but there are countries that are still selling out every last unit that drops into the market on a weekly basis. A good example at the moment would be Germany who had phenomenal sales figures last week, but they just haven't had enough stock so far".

Nintendo has been seeing great headlines lately, with a 400% surge in Wii U sales thanks to Mario Kart 8. Not only that, but Mario Kart 8 has helped Nintendo push Sony up against the wall in Japan when it comes to console sales.

There was a rumor that Nintendo was poised to unveil a next-gen console at E3, something that never happened, but now we have the Nintendo of America President, Reggie Fils-Aime affirming that Nintendo is sticking to the Wii U. The Nintendo America boss says that the Wii U "has a very long life ahead of it. It's got great content coming that will help define the platform".

Nintendo has Sony as its only next-gen competitor in its home country of Japan, as Microsoft hasn't launched its Xbox One in the country just yet. The Xbox One lands in Japan on September 4, which isn't too far away. Nintendo seems to be doing better this year with the help of Mario Kart 8, but the company still has Hyrule Warriors, Super Smash Bros. and Splatoon to reach the Wii U, something that Fils-Aime says will have similar sales effects to the Wii U that Mario Kart 8 had.

After a week of Ubisoft fighting a losing battle about watering down the PC version of Watch Dogs, EA is on the offensive for PC gamers. First, offering up Titanfall for free for 48 hours, second - unlocking all of the weapons and gadgets in its beta of Battlefield: Hardline, and now - stating that the PC version of Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is not a console port.

Justin Wiebe, the game's Creative Director, took to PopCap Games' (which is owned by EA) developer diary today, where he explains: "It's not a port. Everything from our UI to how the mouse-driven controls are going to work - everything has been looked at from PC gamers' POV". When Garden Warfare launches on PC, it will include a new map, Jewel Junction, which features a world event that affects gameplay.

In this map, a train runs down the middle of the map, which should be an interesting turn for the game. Jewel Junction will be a timed exclusive for PC. Right now, you can pre-order Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare on Origin - with the Standard Edition costing $29.99, while the Digital Deluxe Edition costs $34.99. Garden Warfare launches in just three days time, on June 24.

For fans of Dead Rising, you might be surprised that the zombie game is being turned into a "full-length digital feature" That will first hit Sony's service, Crackle. There's no director tied to the project just yet.

Legendary is producing the film, but it will not be hitting theaters, with the company's Chief, Tom Lesinski explaining: "Dead Rising has a built-in fan base and rich characters and plotlines that are ideal for digital storytelling and on target for Legendary's brand. Crackle and Content are adept at distributing cutting-edge digital content and we look forward to delivering a highly engaging and cool series for a global audience".

Once the Dead Rising movie has hit Crackle, it will move on to disc media, TV and VOD. Most people are probably thinking "ugh... why" - but a theatrical release of this movie might have not been that great, a smaller budget and the movie being a "digital feature" might play in its favor. It means that the movie doesn't need to target a mass audience to make its profits, meaning it could be gorier (it is a post-apocalyptic zombie game after all) with all of the things that have made the Dead Rising games so much fun.

Ubisoft has released an official statement on the website for Watch Dogs about claims that the company gimped the PC version of the game, where it said that "notion that we would actively downgrade quality is contrary to everything we've set out to achieve".

The company has said that the PC version does actually include "some old, unused render settings that were deactivated for a variety of reasons, including possible impacts on visual fidelity, stability, performance and overall gameplay quality". Ubisoft has said that the mod that unlocks the better graphics and settings that were gimped and cut away on the PC version can cause issues.

Ubisoft explains: "Modders are usually creative and passionate players, and while we appreciate their enthusiasm, the mod in question (which uses those old settings) subjectively enhances the game's visual fidelity in certain situations but also can have various negative impacts. Those could range from performance issues, to difficulty in reading the environment in order to appreciate the gameplay, to potentially making the game less enjoyable or even unstable".

Ubisoft is taking heavy fire right now, especially from us here at TweakTown, where we're bringing you all the latest in gaming news. We've already told you that Far Cry 4 on PC on Ultra High settings will be no different from next-gen consoles, that The Division is locked at 30FPS on consoles, and that Ubisoft seems to have deliberately gimped Watch Dogs on PC, holding back some graphics. How could Ubisoft dig any deeper? Read on.

Ubisoft's CEO, Yves Guillemot, during an interview with CVG, talked about Microsoft and Sony releasing new consoles - yes, not the 'next-gen' Xbox One and PS4, but entirely new machines. Guillemot was asked about the PS4 and Xbox One sales, and whether he thought the new consoles would remain solely for the 'core' gamer, to which he responded: "Both machines started fast, because gamers had been waiting for eight years for them. People were really anxious about having something different".

He continued: "I hope this gen will go more quickly also. My feeling is that because PC is growing fast and lots of people are trying to pick up the business on TV, that will put pressure on [platform holders] to not wait eight years next time. I think they will wait a lot less than that. First they need to make sure that they can sell the current machines at a lower price, so that there are enough games sold and enough extra content so that their platform is profitable. This will help the market".

It looks like $500 million doesn't buy much these days, with Destiny locked at 30FPS on all consoles. The makers of Halo, Bungie, are behind the new franchise, which will reach the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3 and PS4 later on September 9.

But even with the increased horsepower found in the next generation consoles, they'll still be locked at 30FPS - but will contain graphical advantages. Destiny's Senior Environment Artist, Jason Sussman, said during an interview with VentureBeat: "It's a lot of different things. I could get really technical, but I'd bore you to death. A lot has to do with performance. We're cross-platform, so we had to be very delicate with all four consoles, making sure they have the same experience, that it looks as good as it possibly can on all these consoles. A lot goes into that, from geometry to textures to post effects to particles to how many players you get on the screen. We're always balancing that out to make sure everyone gets the same experience".

Destiny isn't the only game to be locked at 30FPS on next-gen consoles, with Ubisoft's The Division being locked at 30FPS, too. But don't even get us started on the problems with Ubisoft, as Far Cry 4 doesn't look like it will be any special on the PC, and Watch Dogs has already been gimped on the PC, big time.

After being out for a while now, Ubisoft is only just now rolling out a patch to Watch Dogs - something that PC gamers should receive in the next few days, while PS4 gamers get it today, and Xbox gamers receiving it sometime next week.

But now I have a question: will TheWorse/E3 2012 mod still work after this patch? Ubisoft has already alienated and pissed off the PC gaming community with its deliberate gimping of Watch Dogs on PC, but this would just be yet another strike against the publisher. Hopefully the mod still works, so gamers get an even more stable game with bug fixes, with better graphics than they had before.

Here's a full list of what to expect: