Gaming - Page 139

Stellar Blade is a sci-fi action adventure from South Korean developer SHIFT UP Corporation that was a fan favourite and hit when it debuted on PlayStation 5 consoles last year. The game, which Sony Interactive Entertainment and PlayStation published, finally made its way to PC last week, and the Steam data shows us that it's on track to be one of the biggest PC game launches of 2025.

As far as single-player PlayStation games that Sony has published on Steam go, Stellar Blade is the publisher's biggest hit to date. This past weekend, the Steam peak concurrent player count for the game hit an impressive 192,078, more than double Ghost of Tsushima's peak concurrent player count of 77,154.

Looking at the PlayStation Publishing page on Steam Charts, which tracks who's playing what at any given moment, Stellar Blade is proving to be more popular than massive PlayStation franchises like God of War, Marvel's Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn, The Last of Us, and Uncharted.

Microsoft's cross-platform Play Anywhere program appears to be working as more and more Xbox gamers are playing on multiple devices.

As a service-first company, Microsoft wants Xbox games, content, and services on as many devices as possible. Microsoft used subscription value to drive new play habits and change consumer behaviors via Xbox Game Pass, but now it's leveraging another older, but synergistic strategy: Play Anywhere.

Play Anywhere, Microsoft's 2-for-1 value program, gives players cross-platform entitlements. Play Anywhere games purchased once but can be played on both Xbox consoles and PC, and this value proposition may have been a major contributor to Xbox's recent cross-platform growth.

Sony keeps its annual release cadence even as the games industry contracts amidst economic volatility.

It's tough to release new products in a market where cost-cutting is prevalent, layoffs are abundant, and project cancellations are frequent. Software is the beating heart of the games market, and Sony for its part aims to continue delivering consistent yearly game releases to help bolster the PlayStation ecosystem with marquee content.

In a recent corporate interview, PlayStation boss Hermen Hulst confirmed that the game plan is still to have at least one major singleplayer game launch every year. When the games come out is crucial and Sony aims to be strategic with launch timing. For instance, one of this year's annual PlayStation games, Ghost of Yotei, will release in October, which was around the same time GTA 6 was expected to release before Rockstar delayed it to May 2026.

Sony wants to ultimately use AI to help evolve the player experience as well as streamline how PlayStation games are made.

AI is everywhere these days, and that especially rings true for gaming, where AI has been used for decades. But how AI is being used in games development has changed. AI is being used to help automate certain rote processes and whole console chips like the PlayStation 5 Pro's SoC are now being built around the use of AI.

There's not a lot of details on how AI will actually affect player interactions, and some use cases remain speculative. Sony, for its part, has outlined a rough draft on the kinds of ways that PlayStation gamers can expect to be involved with artificial intelligence.

Eager to avoid another Concord situation, Sony says that Marathon is constantly going through rigorous bouts of testing.

Sony still plans to invest into live service games, but after Concord's costly blunder, Sony has drastically cut its content pipeline to a more manageable size. Among the new hedged bets are Bungie's new extraction shooter Marathon, which recently went through alarming controversy when Bungie was found to have plagiarized art for use in Marathon's promotional images.

Despite the fiasco, Sony is doubling-down on Marathon--the game will be out this fiscal year, after all--and has subject Bungie's live game to a more in-depth and systemic approach to testing. PlayStation boss Hermen Hulst explains that these new processes will help Sony refine its core live games using never-ending flows of player feedback, analytics tools, and other resources.

Despite Concord's disastrous launch, Sony says it remains strongly committed to live service games.

Sony isn't ready to give up on live service games any time soon. That certainly hasn't stopped the company from cancelling a number of games, including the anticipated Last of Us multiplayer title, but these cost cuts are a sign of deeper GaaS focus for Sony.

The truth is that Sony wants to deepen its ambition for more live game hits, but in a more targeted and controlled way. Helldivers II's incredible breakout performance has piqued Sony's interest and the company is eager to replicate its success, preferably with a wholly-owned core franchise. PlayStation's corporate heads don't shy away from live games, saying that Sony "remains committed" to games-as-a-service and that more investments in this area are taking place.

Up until two days ago, PlayStation games on PC ported over by Sony were only available to Steam players in specific regions, specifically regions that support the PlayStation Network (PSN).

However, Sony has now dropped region locks, enabling an additional 162 countries to access select PlayStation PC games on Steam, as they no longer require a PSN account to play. Previously, Sony argued it needed PSN accounts to be mandatory for multiplayer titles, but for some reason still required players to have a PSN account for single-player games. As you can probably imagine, this caused major pushback from PC gamers, who are very particular about developers/publishers overstepping when it comes to information gathering or unnecessary account-making.

But the straw that broke the PSN account camel's back was the debacle with Helldivers 2, which dates back to May, 2024, when Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) announced it was forcing Helldivers 2 players to have a PSN account to access the game, which at the time, Helldivers 2 was going completely viral and was one of the biggest games on Steam. SIE's announcement meant players who are located in regions where PSN isn't supported would no longer be able to play the game, forcing SIE to refund Helldivers 2.

The next generation update for Minecraft is finally here, with Microsoft and Mojang showcasing the new Vibrant Visuals graphical overhaul and how it drastically improves the world of Minecraft while retaining the charm players love.

In a new blog post on the Minecraft website, along with a new YouTube video on the Minecraft channel, developer Mojang explains what Vibrant Visuals will be bringing to Minecraft and how it will change the way players play the game.

Firstly, anyone who doesn't like Vibrant Visuals has the choice of turning it off in the settings, which reverts it back to the vanilla version of the game. As for what Vibrant Visuals will bring, Mojang explains it will improve in-game elements with directional lighting, meaning players will be able to see the Sun's rays move across the Overworld.

It was only last week we heard rumors that Red Dead Redemption 2 would be arriving on the Nintendo Switch 2 much sooner than expected, and that along with the release of the Switch 2 version of the game would be the unveiling of the enhanced versions for current-gen consoles.

These rumors came from industry insider Nate the Hate, who cited "sources close to Rockstar" that informed him Red Dead Redemption 2 was headed to the Nintendo Switch 2 "this year," and that it would be joining the selection of third-party open-world RPG titles such as Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077. Not only is there a rumored release for RDR2 on the Nintendo Switch 2, but also a next-gen update for current-gen consoles. Presumably, this update would increase the maximum framerate for RDR2 on current-gen consoles from 30 FPS to 60 FPS.

Now, we have a new teaser from Rob Wiethoff, the voice of John Marston in both Red Dead Redemption games, who said during a recent livestream that he "got such exciting news" and that he "won't be the only one sharing it, I cannot wait for you to know what's going on. And that's all I can say." At the very least, it appears Rockstar Games is cooking something up Red Dead Redemption-related behind the scenes, and that an announcement in some regard is on the horizon.

One of the biggest features of the Nintendo Switch 2, at least from Nintendo's perspective, is the new C button, which enables GameChat.

For those who don't know, GameChat is Nintendo's answer to the gaming landscape, which relies on services such as Discord for gamers to communicate with each other. GameChat is such a prominent feature in Nintendo's eyes that the Switch 2 has a built-in microphone for communication throughout a GameChat room, which players can join, talk, and share screens of their gameplay. However, GameChat is locked behind a Nintendo Switch Online membership, meaning if you aren't subscribed, the button is useless to you.

But, you can remap it. Nintendo has provided the software within the settings of Switch 2 to allow owners to remap the C button to pretty much whatever functionality button on the JoyCon. Users are able to make the C button their screenshot button, home button, or even an A button if they so choose. Below are the steps on how to make that change.

CD Projekt Red and Epic Games have sat down for an interview to discuss the recent Witcher 4 tech demo showcased an Unreal Fest, and how that translates to what gamers can expect with full release of The Witcher 4.

The interview conducted by the tech experts at Digital Foundry delved into many aspects of the extremely impressive tech demo, with the interview revealing CDPR's and Epic Games' goal with the tech demo and what it wanted to show the world with its release.

According to the developers, they wanted to show it was possible to run The Witcher 4 engine on base PS5 hardware with all of the impressive graphical technologies at 60FPS. CDPR confirmed during the interview that it will have 60FPS on base console as its north star for the whole Witcher 4 game, but it's too early in development to confirm if it will release at that framerate.

CD Projekt Red and Epic Games have sat down with the tech experts at Digital Foundry to discuss the recent Witcher 4 tech demo that was showcased at Unreal Fest, and how that tech demo relates to what will be the playable version of The Witcher 4.

Digital Foundry asked CDRP and Epic Games about their decision to run the tech demo on a base PS5, considering the developer has in the past decided to run demos for their upcoming games on PCs. CDPR stated that at the beginning of its collaboration with Epic Games, it set the ambition to target 60FPS on console, instead of choosing PC and then having to scale down the game to console. This decision was made due to past struggles of choosing PC first, which is undoubtedly a reference to the tragic release of Cyberpunk 2077 on console.

As to whether The Witcher 4 will actually run at 60FPS when it releases, well, that is another question entirely. CDPR explained that it is very aware that the tech demo isn't exactly representative of what players will experience within The Witcher 4, as setting the same goal of 60FPS in an open-world far mightier goal than aiming for 60FPS in a tech demo. Despite the goal being mightier, CDPR is still standing by the ambition it set for the tech demo, 60FPS on console.

Apple only recently unveiled its new Liquid Glass design headed to its iOS devices in a coming update, and while the design does aesthetically look good, it does come with some noticeable downsides, which earlier adopters of the updated OS have promptly pointed out.

Now, Windows has decided to jump on the "poke fun at Apple" bandwagon, as Microsoft has taken to the official Windows Instagram page to share an image of one of its old operating systems. See if you can guess it before I tell you the answer. Firstly, the new Liquid Glass design by Apple marks the company's first UI design overhaul in more than 10 years, illustrating this is a major moment for the company, and the new design will be used by Apple products going forward.

The answer is Windows Vista. Microsoft has mocked Apple's Liquid Glass design by sharing an image of Vista's glass-like "Aero" aesthetic, which was released in 2007. For those who didn't use Vista, the aesthetic made UI elements partially transparent, similar to Liquid Glass, but not as intuitive. Microsoft eventually moved away from the Aero aesthetic for its current design language.

In a new blog post, Bethesda has confirmed a Fallout game has been downloaded 230 million times since it was released 10 years ago.

That game is Fallout Shelter, which debuted on iOS in June 2015, and since then, it has been downloaded more than 230 million times across all platforms it's available on. During that 10 year timeframe, the game was also relaunched on new platforms such as Android, PC, consoles and more.

Shelter has easily become the most popular Fallout game ever released by Bethesda, behind iconic titles such as Fallout 4, which has gained between 25 - 30 million downloads since it was released in November 2025.

The first expansion scheduled for Assassin's Creed Shadows has just had its release date leaked, judging by an internal screenshot that has been posted to social media.

The image posted to the Assassin's Creed News X account reveals what appears to be an image captured from an internal presentation of the Claws of Awaji DLC, and below the title, the following date reads: 10/06/2025. For those who don't know, the new DLC will include approximately 10+ hours of additional gameplay, a new region to explore, new weapons, side activities, gear, and skills. Moreover, Ubisoft has teased that players will be "hunted" throughout the DLC, and have the opportunity to reclaim lost treasure while mastering a new weapon type called the Bō staff.

As for the leaked release date, it doesn't appear that this date is final and was just for an internal event, as Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson has said on X that the Claws of Awaji DLC is actually going to be released in September, and not October. There is a very good reason for the month delay, as the spiritual successor to the immensely popular Ghost of Tsushima, Ghost of Yotei, releases in October, meaning Assassin's Creed Shadows' DLC would be competing with that for attention.

Sony Interactive Entertainment could release a native PS4 handheld so that the 8th console generation lives on alongside the PS5 and even the PS6.

Note: The following is opinion based on informed speculation and is not meant to be taken as factual news.

Sony's latest business strategy meeting got me thinking: What if Sony made PS Vita 2, only instead of being its own separate platform, it was a handheld PS4?

Xbox Game Pass may be getting a price hike commensurate with Microsoft's new $80 video games policy.

Microsoft recently made the unpopular announcement that it will raise prices of its consoles, games, and accessories. New Xbox games will cost $80, and the first one was revealed to be Obsidian's The Outer Worlds 2, which is a smaller-scale game compared to AAA RPG megaliths like Skyrim. The Xbox Series X 2TB console costs $729, which is more than Sony's $699 PS5 Pro. There was just one thing missing from Microsoft's reveal: an Xbox Game Pass price hike.

Now it looks like we may have evidence that Xbox Game Pass is getting another price increase in accordance with Microsoft's new inflation-adjusted cost models. A new string referring to a subscription price increase was purportedly spotted in the Xbox Cloud Gaming website's source code by Twitter user redphx, but we were unable to verify independenty through a quick right click -> view source lookup on Chrome.

The Nintendo Switch 2 has already made its way into the hands of now what will be more than 3.5 million people, and according to new data, the Switch 2 is now much more than the "fastest-selling Nintendo hardware."

Data provided by Mat Piscatella, Executive Director and video Game Industry Analyst at Circana (NPD), shows that the Switch 2 sold more than 1.1 million units in the US within its first three days of availability, marking a new all-time launch week sales record for the most video game hardware sales in the US. The record was previously held by the PlayStation 4.

Piscatella added that the sales projection for the week ending June 7, 2025, excluding sales from the My Nintendo Store, is around 1.3 to 1.35 million units. A more accurate figure is expected to be published in the coming weeks.

During its big Xbox Games Showcase last week, Microsoft announced the new ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X gaming handhelds, which will be coming later this year. Developed in collaboration with ASUS, this new generation of PC gaming handhelds will feature a new optimized version of Windows 11 that will immediately launch into an overhauled Xbox App to allow gamers to play without any unnecessary background tasks or Windows bloat impacting performance or battery life.

The flagship ROG Xbox Ally X is set to be something of a beast. It will be powered by the new AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme Processor with integrated RDNA 3.5 graphics, 24GB of fast LPDDR5X-8000 memory, 1TB of SSD storage, and a full-HD 1080p 120 Hz display that supports VRR. The same display is featured in the lower-powered baseline ROG Xbox Ally that is also on the way, which sports an AMD Ryzen Z2 A Processor with integrated RDNA 2 graphics.

Many wonder why the flagship premium ROG Xbox Ally X handheld doesn't feature an OLED display, a technology widely considered the gold standard for gaming across all platforms. Well, ASUS has answered this question, and the reason is simple.

NVIDIA Reflex is a technology designed to reduce PC latency for competitive games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and others, improving responsiveness. Basically, with NVIDIA Reflex enabled, the time it takes from the moment you fire off a shot with your mouse to the action being rendered on-screen is significantly reduced. Reflex is available for all GeForce RTX gamers and is currently available in nine of the top ten competitive shooters.

Since its debut in 2020, Reflex technology has continued to improve. NVIDIA announced earlier this year that Reflex 2 is set to introduce a fascinating new technology called Frame Warp, which will further cut latency in half by predicting the camera movements from mouse input and intelligently shifting or warping the frame.

NVIDIA Reflex is also a key technology used for NVIDIA's DLSS Frame Generation and the new DLSS 4 Frame Generation, as it allows for the smoother perceived performance you get from an AI-generated frame to feel responsive and on par with the improved frame rate. And with that, this week, NVIDIA Reflex has passed an important milestone: It's now available in over 150 games.