Gaming - Page 141

After showcasing The Witcher 4 in a recent tech demo that shook the internet, a new report has surfaced claiming developer CD Projekt Red is working on a new story for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, a decade after the game released.

The report comes from Polish YouTuber Remigiusz Maciaszek, who shared information in a new episode of his podcast where he said he has heard from multiple sources that CD Projekt Red is working on a new story-based DLC for The Witcher 3, and that it's in active development.

This DLC is reportedly being handled by Fool's Theory, a studio that consists of former senior developers who worked on The Witcher 3. It was only at the end of last month that CD Projekt Red confirmed that 60 million copies of The Witcher 3 have been sold, and that Cyberpunk 2 has entered into the pre-production phase.

The recent surprise announcement and release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, which recreates the iconic 2006 Bethesda RPG in Unreal Engine 5, has been one of the year's biggest releases. With new and returning players diving back into the game, although the response has been positive, the release still contained several bugs, performance issues, and missing quality of life features.

The good news is that the game is set to receive two major patches and updates in the coming weeks. The first will focus on major bugs, quest blockers, and quality-of-life fixes, and the second will focus on performance. Developed by Virtuos in partnership with Bethesda Game Studios, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Update 1.1 is now available in Steam Beta.

The patch notes can be found below. Some of the highlights are that the Local Map is now standard inside interior spaces and that the first-person camera is no longer set above the player's head. Here are the full Update 1.1 release notes.

Hitman World of Assassination Signature Edition has launched on the Nintendo Switch 2, bringing more than 100+ hours of Agent 47 gameplay to Nintendo's new handheld console.

The Signature Edition combines Hitman, Hitman 2, and Hitman 3 main campaigns, along with Contracts mode, Escalation, Elusive Target arcades, live content, and the Freelancer game mode. Additionally, the Signature Edition includes all Hitman 2 Expansion Pack and Hitman 3 Deluxe Pack content. Unfortunately, early reviews of the port have reported there are some frame rate and stuttering issues in both docked and handheld mode, with the addition of online/offline save issues.

NintendoLife explains in its review of the Switch 2 port that saves are separate for online and offline activities, meaning if you are going portable without an internet connection, you won't carry your progress over to the online save file. The same goes for online progression and then playing offline. This seems like an extremely strange inclusion, especially for a console intended to be used portably, as not every player will have access to an internet connection while on the move.

CD PROJEKT RED made a surprise visit to Apple Park to provide the press and content creators an early look at Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, running on an Apple M4 Max-powered MacBook Pro laptop at a rather smooth 120FPS.

Pawel Sasko, the associate game director on Cyberpunk 2077, shared on X something he calls one of the most memorable days of his life: showing off Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition running on an M4 Max-powered MacBook Pro laptop. Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition will not only include the base game and Phantom Liberty expansion, but some massive system overhauls and updates that were introduced to the game post-launch.

This includes Update 2.1 which redefines everything from enemy AI and skill progression, through to the driving model and open-world interactions. The new hands-on demo at Apple Park shows that CD PROJEKT RED has been working hard behind the scenes on getting Cyberpunk 2077 running on macOS, heavily optimized for Apple's in-house M-series processors.

MindsEye came out yesterday, and it's really not going down well with some gamers - and performance levels are looking pretty wonky on PC even with a very powerful graphics card like the second-tier Blackwell offering from NVIDIA.

In case this one wasn't on your radar - which is entirely possible, it wasn't on ours - it's been pretty big news because MindsEye is from Build a Rocket Boy, a developer founded by Leslie Benzies, former president of Rockstar North.

However, the action-adventure thriller (which is out on PS5, Xbox and PC) that bills itself as narrative-focused (with cut-scenes aplenty, apparently) seriously challenges an NVIDIA RTX 5080 GPU as YouTube channel MxBenchmarkPC demonstrates. Check out the video clip above which was picked up by Wccftech.

It's safe to say Resident Evil fans are excited about the upcoming Resident Evil 9 titled "Resident Evil Requiem," which was officially unveiled at the Summer Game Fest in a new trailer. But now screenshots are leaking from people who have previewed the highly anticipated game.

While the trailer was being played to everyone at the Summer Games Fest, a small group of media were invited to experience a hands-on demo of the game behind closed doors. It appears the NDA for that demo experience lifts today, with many publications talking about their experience with what is described as a "very small portion of the game." However, alongside those experiences is a selection of new screenshots that have been published on Reddit, gaining an intense amount of attention on the r/ResidentEvil subreddit, as the screenshots provided details ahead of the NDA release.

According to the leaker, the game will come with first and third-person camera options, a familiar, fully armed second playable character, not announced yet, and haunting screams from Grace. The leaker cited the demo experience that is being published today by many media outlets, with most of them describing the experience as somewhat debilitating, as the in-game location was a wrecked building with barely working lights and a gigantic monster chasing after them, hence Grace's screaming. I have read the articles from the publications and summarized the details below into sections.

A very well-known AMD leaker has provided details on the unannounced PlayStation handheld device, with the leaker saying it will feature AI upscaling.

That leaker is KeplerL2, who has a well-known track record of being on the money when it comes to insider information about hardware from major semiconductor companies such as NVIDIA and AMD. Kepler has taken to the NeoGAF forums to provide some rumored specifications for the upcoming PlayStation portable device, with the leaker writing that AMD will power the portable device, and the selected chip will be the only one the company can provide until 2029 as there is "no planned Z3 lineup for AMD's next-gen APUs."

Presumably, this means the PlayStation handheld will be rocking AMD's latest Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, with the possibility of it being custom-designed for the handheld. The rumored specifications don't stop there, as Kepler writes the PlayStation handheld will feature 16GB of RAM, specifically LPDDR5X, since it's "dirt cheap". Moreover, the leaker says the handheld will have 1/3 of the base PlayStation 5 memory bandwidth, but with more cache and improved memory compression.

Nintendo has officially confirmed that the Switch 2 is a storming success, shifting a huge 3.5 million units globally in the handheld's initial four days on sale.

That's a major achievement and means it's the fastest-selling device Nintendo has ever launched. To put it in perspective, the original Nintendo Switch managed to shift 2.7 million units not in four days, but in four weeks.

As pointed out in a reply to the thread on X (flagged by German tech site Computerbase, via VideoCardz) where Nintendo announced the milestone, if we compare that to Sony consoles, the PS4 racked up sales of 4.2 million in six weeks - and the PS5 hit 4.4 million in a slightly lengthier seven weeks.

The new AYANEO FLIP 1S DS is the latest iteration of the company's dual-screen Windows PC gaming handheld inspired by the iconic Nintendo DS. It is a notable upgrade over the previous AYANEO FLIP DS as the main top screen is now a large 7-inch 1080p OLED display with an impressive 144 Hz refresh rate and a maximum brightness of 800 nits.

The dual-screen clamshell handheld's bottom screen has also been upgraded to a 4.5-inch 1620x1080 IPS panel with a brightness of 550 nits and a 3:2 ratio that AYANEO calls the "golden ratio" for playing retro games and emulating classic hardware. As a Windows handheld, these two displays act like two screens, so you can game on one screen while opening a browser or running hardware monitoring tools on the other.

AYANEO even says you can play games while running AI tasks on the second screen, thanks to the new flagship AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor that powers the AYANEO FLIP 1S DS.

From developer SHIFT UP, the sci-fi action game Stellar Blade made waves when it launched on PlayStation 5 last year. The game is set to make its PC debut this week, with day-one support for DLSS 4, including Multi Frame Generation for the GeForce RTX 50 Series. With that, NVIDIA has posted some early benchmark results for the game, showcasing its performance, hitting an impressive 541.6 FPS in 4K on the flagship GeForce RTX 5090.

This figure comes from the game running with Mas Settings with DLSS 4's 'Performance' preset using the fantastic new transformer model for Super Resolution, alongside the maximum Multi Frame Generation setting of 4X. Yes, this means the 541.6 FPS is the AI-powered figure, but with DLSS turned off, the GeForce RTX 5090 still hits an impressive 168.7 FPS in 4K.

In 4K, with DLSS 4, the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5080 also hit 330+ FPS, so Stellar Blade will arrive as a well-optimized title. Dropping the resolution down to 1440p, even the GeForce RTX 5060 8GB GPU can hit 83.3 FPS with DLSS turned off or 200+ FPS with DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was Microsoft's "one last thing" announcement during its big Xbox Games Showcase this past weekend. The company also confirmed that it's coming to PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4. However, it didn't provide a release date or window, which has many people speculating that the next mainline Call of Duty won't arrive until 2026.

And with that, you probably noticed that the Nintendo Switch 2 isn't included in the list of platforms the game is headed to, which is a little strange when you factor in that the game is also coming to last-gen systems like the PS4 and Xbox One. Does this mean Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 won't be headed to the Switch 2? Not precisely, and there are a few reasons why.

A source working on Black Ops 7 recently provided a statement to Eurogamer stating that the team is "committed to getting the franchise on Switch," is currently "working on it," and that it will "share details when ready."

Bloober Team's imaginative new Deus ex Machina-inspired horror game Cronos: The New Dawn brings unique psychological terror to consoles and PC this fall.

Horror fans rejoice: The spine-tingling mavens at Bloober Team have another harrowing adventure in store for 2025. Having made a name for themselves with Layers of Fear, and pushed the bar with the acclaimed Silent Hill 2 remake, the Polish game devs are bringing a new original vision to life with a very Lovecraftian horror experience called Cronos: The New Dawn.

Cronos is a dystopian third-person horror survival game that channels Dead Space's mechanics while delving headfirst into a new deep canon of hallowed lore. The world is broken by an ongoing apocalypse and players are a kind of high-tech detective, uncovering stories through interacting with the literal ghosts of the past. The ghosts themselves are basically trapped in your suit, essentially making your giant space armor kit haunted--sort of like Johann Kraus from Hellboy 2.

If the new tech demo for The Witcher 4 wasn't enough to spark your interest in giving The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt a go, or for long-time fans of the series, another play through, CD Projekt Red has just put the final nail in the coffin. I'm now re-downloading The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 as I need to experience both of these games once again with what was just unveiled.

CD Projekt Red has just unveiled The Witcher 3 Immerse Gamepack, and it was introduced via a new YouTube video posted to The Witcher YouTube channel, with the video featuring Marcin Przybyłowicz, Expert Composer at CD PROJEKT RED and the mind behind The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt soundtrack. So, what is the Immerse Gamepack? This new purchasable DLC is an AI-powered personalized spatial audio, headtracking, and custom EQ software that players can enable and hear The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt like they never have before.

Powered by Embody, the Immerse Gamepack, which has also been released for Cyberpunk 2077, expands the soundscape of both games with 360-degree precision. Here's how it works. Players will create their own personalized profile by capturing a 10-second video of their head and ears. They will do this by holding up their smartphone device, looking into the camera as if they are performing the setup process for FaceID, and turning their head from side to side, showing off their ears. The app tells users to remove any hair away from the ears as it needs a clear view for scanning purposes.

One of the best things about the current home consoles, specifically the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, is that the internal storage has moved away from old-school platter hard drives to high-speed SSDs. It has been a game-changer, from more responsive menus to dramatically reduced game loading times.

However, Sony and Microsoft have taken different approaches to expanding the storage on their home consoles. Sony opted for a more open approach for the PlayStation 5, allowing users to install any PCIe Gen4 M.2 SSD as long as it meets a minimum read and write speed. Conversely, Microsoft limits storage expansion to custom proprietary Expansion Cards currently supplied by two brands: Seagate and Western Digital.

This is a roundabout way of saying that it's great to see Seagate release a new 4TB Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S; however, with no competition, the $499.99 price tag stings especially when you can pick up a 4TB SSD for PS5 consoles for half the price.

Developer Rebel Wolves is what you'd call a dream team, a studio headed up by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz and a team that includes several ex-CD Projekt Red developers looking to branch out and create what they feel is an evolution of the style of RPG popularized by The Witcher 3.

The studio's first game, The Blood of Dawnwalker, which Bandai Namco will publish, received its first gameplay trailer, 'Trapped Between Two Worlds,' at the recent Xbox Games Showcase. The game is set in a medieval Europe ruled by vampires, and it's a single-player RPG where you take on the role of Coen - a Dawnwalker. He's old-timey Blade in that he's got vampire powers, hates vampires, and has no trouble walking around during the day.

The trailer gives a glimpse at early gameplay, cinematics, and combat. An extended gameplay reveal event is scheduled for June 21. The game itself is on track for a 2026 release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Skyblivion is a total conversion fan-made mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that also happens to be a remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Unlike the recent Oblivion Remastered release, from Bethesda and Virtuos, which is essential Oblivion with modern Unreal Engine 5-powered visuals, Skyblivion is a remake that aims to improve and even redesign the core game.

This means redesigned combat, leveling, revamped dungeons, more diverse biomes to explore, and more. Skyblivion is one of the most ambitious mod projects currently in development, and it's on track for release later this year. It will also be compatible with GOG One-Click Mod, a new mod integration feature for GOG that aims to make installing and playing mods as easy as clicking install on a game.

One of the hardest parts of trying out a new mod is accessibility, knowing how to install it, and knowing what steps need to be taken to ensure it doesn't break the game. GOG One-Click Mod is a new system for the GOG storefront and GOG Galaxy app that removes the frustration by simplifying the process to a 'click install and then play'.

Techland is putting their all into Kyle Crane's return in Dying Light: The Beast, so much that the spin-off is essentially seen as Dying Light 3.

Dying Light: The Beast is a full-priced standalone game that continues protagonist Kyle Crane's adventures, complete with refined game mechanics and new features. But it didn't always start out this way--The Beast was supposed to be an expansion for Dying Light 2. Then it morphed into something bigger, similar to the evolution of Assassin's Creed Mirage at Ubisoft. The Beast is so big that Techland is recognizing it as the third Dying Light game.

"We reset the whole development. This is a new game. At some point, a few months ago, we basically started treating The Beast as the next entry in the Dying Light series. Maybe it doesn't have '3' in it, but for us, it is Dying Light 3," Dying Light franchise director Tymon Smektala told Insider Gaming.

The Warner Bros. Discovery post-merger combination is breaking up and WB Games has been shifted to a new company.

Today, WB Discovery announced it would be splitting into two companies. The two groups see a clear division in WB Discovery's business.

The first company will include WBD's Streaming & Studios branch, which consists of Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO, HBO Max, and the WB Games division. This group will be led by current WBD CEO David Zaslav.

Xbox Game Pass subscribers may have broken 35 million, an update from a Microsoft employee's LinkedIn page indicates.

An Xbox program manager may have inadvertently given an update on Game Pass subscriber numbers. According to the LinkedIn profile of Kevin K., a program manager for Microsoft, the Xbox Game Pass subscription service surpassed 35 million subscribers at some point.

"I managed live operations for Xbox Game Pass, ensuring seamless game title launches and meeting performance benchmarks. I led operational strategies across teams for a 0-1 product, driving subscriber growth from 0 to 35M+ worldwide," the profile reads.

Microsoft has made a new special version of Windows 11 specifically tailor-made for PC gaming handhelds, and Microsoft has plans to release this new OS to other handheld devices starting next year.

Yesterday, Microsoft announced the first-ever Xbox handheld duo. The one-two handheld combo consists of the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X, and the systems are being made by ASUS as part of the ROG lineup of enthusiast gaming hardware, with specifications to match--the Ally X sports AMD's new AI-powered Z2 AI Extreme chip and 24GB of RAM, which is a hefty 8GB over the Xbox Series X.

The real secret sauce of the Xbox handheld isn't the hardware or the specs, though; it's the operating system that runs everything underneath the hood. The Xbox Ally handheld duo runs a new optimized version of Windows 11 that's been heavily tweaked for gaming, including major convenience options, UI overhauls, and performance adjustments.