Gaming News - Page 141

Tomorrow's Xbox showcase could help turn the tide in Microsoft's favor and help course-correct some of the controversy surrounding the gaming brand.

Following the big Redfall kerfuffle, Xbox needs a win right now. Tomorrow's gaming show could be a big touchdown moment that helps turn the tide of Xbox's public image in the enthusiast gaming sector. Here's a few things that I personally hope to see at the showcase alongside some predictions.

The Xbox Games Showcase and Starfield Direct show begin tomorrow, Sunday, June 11 at 10am PST / 1pm EST, and can be live streamed on Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube.

Activision-Blizzard's investor relations VP Chris Hickey updates shareholders on its current negotiations with unions formed by company employees.

In a recent SEC filing, Activision management outlines how bargaining talks are going with the unions inside of its games business. The billion-dollar publisher has recognized two unionized groups: a team of quality assurance testers at Raven Software, and developers at Blizzard Albany, formerly Vicarious Visions, a team that worked on Diablo II Resurrected and Tony Hawk games. Collectively these groups form the Game Workers Alliance.

In the filing, Activision is advising shareholders to vote against a specific proposal that would require it to create a pro-union policy and continually update shareholders on its progress.

10 years ago at E3 2013, Microsoft delivered a significant blow to its Xbox gaming brand and cleared the runway for PlayStation's success.

In 2013, Microsoft tried to introduce an a video games console that restricted used game sales and required daily online check-ins. It was called the Xbox One, and the reveal presentation focused strongly on the console being the center of an all-in-one living room experience rather than just a game-playing machine. Microsoft's E3 2013 Xbox One reveal was a PR disaster that significantly impacted the Xbox brand for the last decade, forcing Microsoft to disrupt the entire video games market--and its core business--with the introduction of its Game Pass subscription.

Sony, on the other hand, swiftly capitalized on Microsoft's fumble. Sony took the stage at E3 2013 to basically announce it was doing the complete opposite of Microsoft with its PlayStation 4 console. The PS4 could be played offline, and Sony's marketing team even created one of the most powerful promotional clips in the entire history of the games industry: The famous How to Share PS4 Games clip.

More AAA games are expected to become digital-only releases as publishers and developers aim to aggressively cut costs and maximize profits.

Alan Wake II's controversial digital-only launch has caused a stir in the games industry, but the trend isn't all that surprising. In this particular case, the business decision makes sense. Remedy Entertainment is a smaller developer, and Epic Games, a billion-dollar powerhouse, is almost entirely focused on digital. Epic also fronted the entire development and marketing budget for Alan Wake II and probably didn't also want to spend the extra millions on producing and shipping game discs. Going digital-only also reduced Alan Wake II's price tag to $59.99 on consoles and $49.99 on PC. That won't be the case for other companies, including Sony Interactive Entertainment, who have made it clear that revenues are the biggest priority.

According to Circana (formerly NPD Group) analyst Mat Piscatella, more publishers, developers, and even platform-holders are set to embrace digital-only releases over the next two years. By 2028, digital-only AAA games may become the norm. That's on top of the new $69.99 price point that was introduced in 2020 for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S games, and perpetuated by new adopters like Nintendo and Microsoft, whose first price increases were for games like Redfall and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Everyone seems to love Fallout: New Vegas, including Tim Cain, the father of the atomic sim franchise.

If you ask anyone what Fallout game you should start with as a new player, they'll probably say New Vegas. While I personally like Fallout 4's mechanics the best, there's no arguing that New Vegas has the most compelling storyline, setting, and characters that capture the overall distinct Fallout style. Tim Cain, who created, designed, and help ship the first Fallout PC game back in the 1990s at Interplay, has similar feelings.

In a recent FAQ video on his YouTube channel, Cain delivered high praise for Obsidian's post-apocalyptic Western that echoes the sentiments from millions of players worldwide.

Fallout creator Tim Cain takes us back to the past to discuss the influences that helped shape the first game into one of the most iconic video game franchises of all time.

There's nothing quite like a Fallout game. The retro-futurism style of the atomic age brings a striking visual design that you really don't see very much any more. A good portion of the game was based on satire grounded in reality, really tapping into the nuclear and communist scares that defined the era.

One not-so-surprising influence was the 1988 Apple II classic Wasteland. Cain clarifies that Wasteland wasn't as much of an influence as everyone thinks. "The biggest influence, outside of the post-apocalyptic world and things like Rangers, was the idea that there could be quests that have a moral dilemma in them."

Universal's next big video game adaptation will be based on The Legend of Zelda, sources have told renowned film critic and reporter Jeff Sneider.

Following the billion-dollar success of the Super Mario Bros. Movie, reports indicate that Nintendo is currently working out a mega-deal with Universal on a film adaptation of its popular Zelda franchise series. Illumination, the production studio that animated the Mario film, is likewise expected to bring Link's grand fantasy adventure to the big screen.

"I got this tip last week from a great source. I didn't want to just blurt it out, and I did call yesterday but I never heard back. So we're just going to put it out there. Again, not a big shocker, but from what I'm told it's getting close to official," Sneider said in a recent episode of The Hot Mic video series.

Microsoft and Xbox are celebrating 75 years of Porsche by launching a special edition version of the Xbox Series X console, but there's one big catch - you can't actually buy it.

The new console is instead only going to be available via a sweepstake, with people able to enter between now and midnight on October 1. After that, you'll just have to hope that one of these things pops up on eBay and even if it does, it's likely to cost a small fortune. As for the sweepstake, that's available to anyone who is 18 or over and happens to live in the United States, the UK, or Germany.

The sweapstake website says that Porsche has been fueled by a relentless pursuit of bringing dreams to life for its 75 years of existence, so Xbox has decided to celebrate by making 75 of these special consoles available. They're covered in a custom design that is inspired by Porsche racing colors, we're told, and they look pretty stunning. There is even a custom Xbox controller included in the package as well.

Like Proton for Linux, which makes Windows-based games playable on the OS within Steam, Apple is looking to make it just as easy for developers to make DirectX 12 games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Diablo IV playable on Mac computers with a new Game Porting Toolkit based on CodeWeaver's CrossOver source code.

The tool allows developers to quickly and easily fire up their games to see how they run on macOS, with Apple noting that it has been designed to make the whole Mac game port process as easy as possible. Powered by the source code from CrossOver, it can instantly translate Windows API calls so they can run on macOS - with Apple showcasing the technology by running the DirectX 12 survival horror game The Medium via the Game Porting Toolkit.

"The new Game Porting Toolkit provides an emulation environment to run your existing unmodified Windows game," Aiswariya Sreenivassan, an engineer at Apple, said during the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). "You can use it to quickly understand the graphics feature usage and performance potential of your game when running on a Mac."

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is coming early 2024, and it will ship on two discs, Square Enix today announced.

The Summer Game Fest showcase ended with an explosive reveal of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth gameplay that injected straight hype and nostalgia right into gamers' veins. The footage highlighted action-packed combat, impressive CGI sequences, and hints that Sephiroth is far more sinister and manipulative in Rebirth than we've ever seen him before.

Areas from the old-school 1997 classic were shown in splendid detail, including the Mythril Mines, the Chocobo Farm, Cosmo Canyon, and a look at Jenova.