Gaming - Page 12

Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer has had some potshots at Sony and its new PlayStation 5 Pro console, saying that "we're not going to grow the console with $1000 consoles".

In a new interview with Bloomberg, Spencer talked about acquisitions in world after the historic Activision-Blizzard deal, and that Microsoft is still looking at acquisitions and how to compete and partner in markets for handheld gaming devices and mobile stores.

Deals that would add "geography diversity" to Microsoft, including Asia, could be worthwhile Spencer told Bloomberg. He added: "We definitely want to be in the market, and when we can find teams and technology and capability that add to what we're trying to do in gaming at Microsoft, absolutely we will keep our heads up".

Orbifold Studios has unleashed a new trailer for Half-Life 2 RTX to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2, check it out:

In the video, we hear from Project Lead Wormslayer, who said that "Half-Life 2 is my favorite game. It's something I've been playing for over 20 years now. It was unlike any other game I've played before". Personally, I echo those comments... Valve's release of Half-Life 2 was incredible at the time, being one of the best games ever released, and still holds that title even to this day.

In full, Project Lead Wormslayer said: "Half-Life 2 is my favorite game. It's something I've been playing for over 20 years now. It was unlike any other game I'd played before. the whole game is packed with memorable experiences: stepping off the train for the first time and walking up that platform and seeing Dr Breen appear on the giant screen above you. The gameplay and the storytelling still stand up incredibly well, but we just wanted to recapture that sense of awe that we all had 20 years ago playing it for the first time. RTX remix is the core of our remastering process. The original engine has very hard limits".

The experts from Digital Foundry have discussed the performance uplift for Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro and how it comes to the base model and Sony's marketing for the new console.

According to the experts who discussed the newly released console on their weekly podcast, Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro is delivering anywhere between 30% and 35% performance gains compared to the base model, which falls short of Sony's touted 45% gains found scattered among PS5 Pro marketing. Notably, the experts point to memory bandwidth limitations as being the likely culprit for lacking performance gains at higher resolutions. For those that don't know, raw GPU horsepower doesn't necessarily equal more performance in games, as memory bandwidth also plays a big role, especially at higher resolutions such as 4K.

From the testing that was conducted by Digital Foundry the experts found the lackluster performance gains at higher resolutions, which leads them to suspect the PS5 Pro's 28% increase in memory bandwidth versus the standard model may be the limitation as to what is holding back the console from reaching Sony's touted 45%. However, this is just a working theory at the moment, as Digital Foundry said more testing needs to be done to determine the cause.

NVIDIA's latest GeForce Game Ready Drivers, version 566.14, includes the newest iteration of DLSS - version 3.8.10. PC gamers don't need to be aware of every DLSS update, as games that ship with DLSS support include the relevant files. However, this latest iteration is notable because it's over 50% smaller than the previous version.

It turns out NVIDIA has removed many of the DLSS presets contained within the DLSS DLL, only keeping the latest two - Preset E and Preset F. These presets handle the various image scaling settings and other aspects of DLSS upscaling, and newer versions deliver better image quality and other benefits.

For those who like to experiment, tinker, and replace DLSS DLL files with newer versions for older titles, these incremental updates can often improve things like image stability, ghosting, and artifacts in some games.

Warcraft is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and as part of the Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct stream, Blizzard announced and launched remasters of the games that started it all. Last week, we reported on the rumor that we would probably see a Warcraft II: Remastered announcement - we got three.

First, Warcraft I: Remastered reimagines the 1994 RTS classic Warcraft: Orcs & Humans with new HD assets, widescreen support, modern controls (right-click move), and UI improvements. Next, Warcraft II: Remastered does the same for the game that turned the franchise into a mega-hit with PC gamers, updating the visuals, controls, and presentation for 2024.

As we saw with StarCraft: Remastered, the previous low-resolution 2D visuals are transformed when jumping to HD. For the first two Warcraft games, the bright, vibrant visuals give these remasters the look of a cartoon. It's impressive, and thankfully, the old-school sound effects, classic voices, and music remain untouched.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl developer GSC Game World has released the final specs and PC system requirements for the game ahead of its highly anticipated November 20, 2024 launch. And if you're rocking older PC hardware, you might want to take note, as the game will require some serious juice to push 1440p and higher visuals.

The good news is that the game is set to launch with support for both NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR upscaling and Frame Generation technologies so that you can boost and enhance performance beyond the requirements. However, you'll still need at least 160GB of SSD space to install the game, with GSC also recommending that you play on a system with 32GB of Dual Channel memory.

GSC's recommended specs for the game, which is to play at 1440p 60 FPS, will require a GeForce RTX 4070 or Radeon RX 6800 XT GPU. The medium or 1080p 60 FPS specs require at least a GeForce RTX 4060 or equivalent GPU.

NVIDIA has tested STALKER 2 ahead of its launch on November 20, running the game at maxed-out settings at 4K with DLSS 3 enabled and a super-smooth 120FPS+ on the GeForce RTX 4090.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl will have DLSS 3 with Frame Generation and Super Resolution at launch, with NVIDIA noting that at 4K with "every setting maxed" that DLSS 3 with Frame Generation and Super Resolution multiplied frame rates on GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards by an average of 2.4x.

GeForce RTX 4070 gamers leap from 30 FPS to 70 FPS, greatly increasing smoothness, game clarity, and animation fluidity, and as we go up the GPU stack the numbers only get higher. The GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER runs at 87 FPS, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER hits 100 FPS, the GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER reaches 112 FPS, and the world's fastest consumer gaming GPU, the GeForce RTX 4090, surpasses 120 FPS.

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has given some new details about an Xbox gaming handheld during an interview with Bloomberg.

According to the Xbox head, Microsoft is currently developing an Xbox gaming handheld device, with Spencer confirming internally the company is "working on prototypes". Spencer said Xbox and Microsoft, by extension, are also investigating the market sentiment regarding handheld devices in an attempt to find the right vision for hardware that could be on the horizon. Spencer was enthusiastic about Xbox building a handheld device, which is something Spencer has expressed love for in the past.

Bloomberg writes that any Xbox handheld device would still be a "few years out" and that much of the concentration of the Xbox engineers is taken up by making improvements to the Xbox app. Notably, Microsoft has been openly discussing its plans to create an Xbox handheld device for quite some time, but nothing seems to have come of it besides rumors and teasers. Keeping to hardware, Spencer finished off the interview by throwing a slight dig at Sony for its decision to launch the PlayStation 5 Pro at the $700 price point.

Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, has sat down for an interview with Bloomberg, where he commented on bringing more Xbox games over to PlayStation.

The Xbox head said during the interview that it was too early to rule anything out, but he doesn't see any "red lines in our portfolio," and that even goes for the next Halo game. According to Spencer, it's too early to make a decision on whether the new Halo will launch on the PS5. These comments from Spencer leave the sentiment that anything is the table when it comes to making cross-platform launches -- even Halo, the franchise that made the Xbox what it is today.

As for what is known about the next Halo, Microsoft announced in September that multiple new games are in development, and they will be using Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5. Unfortunately, that is most of the details, as none of these titles have been officially announced or unveiled. Microsoft has already tested the waters by bringing Xbox games over to PlayStation with the release of Sea of Thieves, Grounded, and others.

Project Borealis is a fan-made Half-Life 3 currently in development by a global team of developers, based on the plot synopsis of the game outlined by Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw. As PC fans of the franchise know, Valve's iconic FPS series abruptly ended after the release of Half-Life: Episode Two in 2007.

Of course, we got the excellent Half-Life: Alyx in 2020. However, that was a VR-only release that felt more like a spin-off than a true Half-Life 3. Interestingly, Project Borealis is being developed using Unreal Engine 5, not the Source Engine (Valve's internal engine that has powered every game in the Half-Life, Portal, and Left 4 Dead series) - with the team aiming to faithfully recreate the "iconic Half-Life 2 movement and gameplay mechanics."

On the plus side, Unreal Engine 5 gives developers access to powerful visuals, and Project Borealis: Prologue is now available to play (for free) on Steam. You can now fire up what is a fan-made version of Half-Life 3.