Gaming News - Page 1537

An e-mail from developer DICE's PR outfit sent out to press confirms the Battlefield 1 open beta will run from August 31 through September 8, for a total of eight days. If you've signed up to Battlefield Insider, you can get in one day early, as recently confirmed (again) by @Battlefield.

As previously reported, the beta will feature both Conquest and Rush modes on the Sinai desert map. Rush won't be the usual fare, with 24 players supported and the inclusion of "telegraph posts" that can be destroyed by attackers or used by defenders to call in artillery strikes.

Ubisoft had expected to push out The Division's upcoming 'Last Stand' DLC later this year, but the company has had a change of heart - and a change of plan, by delaying Last Stand until "early 2017", while it fixes on "improving the core gameplay experience". Is this a new Ubisoft? What the hell is happening?!

In a post on The Division's official website, the team said that the upcoming v1.4 patch arriving in October would be filled with bug fixes, game balancing adjustments, and other improvements. Ubisoft was also expected to release The Division's next expansion dubbed Survival with the v1.4 patch, but the company has decided against that and will instead release them separately.

The Division's third expansion 'Last Stand' has been pushed back from late 2016 to early 2017, with Ubisoft explaining: "With Update 1.4 in the works, it has become clear with your feedback and our own observations that our priority should now be on improving the core gameplay experience. This new schedule will not only enable us to strengthen the core experience before adding new content, but also continuously improve it by allowing for more production time to ensure the quality of future updates as well".

A good portion of THQ Nordic's unannounced games will be based on renowned THQ IPs--anyone want Darksiders 3 or a new Titan Quest?

Ever since Nordic Games bought up key properties from THQ and became THQ Nordic, games across the globe were elated to know some of their favorite THQ series--like Titan Quest, Darksiders and Destroy All Humans--would live on despite the publisher's untimely demise. Now company CEO Lars Wingefors teases that "quite a few" of THQ Nordic's upcoming games are based on classic THQ IPs.

"Since we acquired the THQ brand, we have come to realize just how big that name actually is," Wingefors said in a recent interview with MCV.

On September 7, Sony is expected to unveil a new thinner and cheaper PS4 model alongside the 4K-ready upgraded PS4 Neo. Now we have our first look at the new so-called "PS4 Slim" model.

Since Sony's new PlayStation 4 Slim model and its accompanying DualShock 4 model have been confirmed as real, we can now start treating the leaked info from console owners as facts. Twitter user Shortman84 has a leaked PlayStation 4 Slim console and the new DualShock 4 controller (model CUH-ZCT2), and has revealed key information about the system and what to expect from the new PS4 hardware revision.

The owner reveals that the PS4 Slim features everything we'd expect in a new revision: it's thinner, runs cooler and quieter, and has a few features shaved off to lower the price despite retaining the basic functionality of current PS4 models. The new DualShock 4 controller has some nice surprises too, including more efficient battery life and a new mode that boosts response times. Check below for a full list of the info we've gleaned so far.

Steam gamers are ejecting escape pods from No Man's Sky crashing ship, likely due the game's notorious over-hyped and underwhelming content.

When it launched just weeks ago, No Man's Sky peaked at an incredible 212,620 simultaneous users, making it the biggest Steam release of 2016 in concurrent players. Since then the game has been bleeding players left and right.

According to SteamSpy and SteamDB, just two weeks later after its launch, No Man's Sky's concurrent Steam playerbase has dropped by 90% to just 19,336 players. Just four days ago we reported on a 78% drop in No Man's Sky Steam gamers, and it will be interesting to see how many more players jump ship in the coming weeks.

The launch of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided hasn't been too good on the PC, with a slew of issues including the usual crashes, poor optimization, and bad mouse acceleration that can't be disabled in the menu. Nixxes is usually on point when it comes to porting games to the PC, but it seems Mankind Divided isn't one of those.

Thankfully, developer Eidos Montreal is on the ball, pushing out a patch for the game bringing it to v1.0 built 534.7, which fixes the following:

Performance wise, Eidos Montreal adds that Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is pretty demanding on your hardware, and that you begin the game on High detail preset with MSAA disabled. Remember there's a DX12 patch on the way that will improve the PC side of things, but we'll have to wait and test that soon. I'm currently benchmarking a bunch of my graphics cards right now, so we'll have some performance numbers to share with you soon.

No Man's Sky sales might be tanking in both the US and in the UK, but there are mods out that improve some of the weaker aspects of the game. LowFlight can be downloaded here.

LowFlight is a free mod for No Man's Sky that provides a few new and improved features, such as the ability to travel underwater, and it provides a greater range of movement within your starship. LowFlight developer Hytek says there are three parts of the mod: "It lets starships get low to the ground and go underwater, as well as allowing pilots to look in any direction while in the cockpit. These are all much unlike the base No Man's Sky, where the starship is forced to land when it drops below a certain altitude; flying underwater is completely out of bounds too," reports Polygon.

Ships will continue to take damage if you crash into the terrain, so don't think that the LowFlight mod will save you, but there are gamers who are saying that LowFlight is a major game-changer for No Man's Sky, which is saying a lot considering how broken and unfulfilling the game is to most people. To see our take on the procedural space sim, check out our official No Man's Sky review.

Battlefield 1 looks to have some of the most immersive dynamic weather in a game yet, but from all of the gameplay footage we've seen so far, it's from just two maps in the game. The reason it feels like we've seen more, is that the setting and time of the day are making a big difference, splashed with the improved dynamic weather technology.

DICE used the dynamic weather effects in maps like Paracel Storm or Gulf of Oman in Battlefield 4, but the weather effects have been amplified to every multiplayer map in Battlefield 1. The developer has said that the dynamic weather feature will change the way a map feels and plays, using something that is outside of the players control. Imagine running through a map in Battlefield 1 with dense fog, which would affect the long term vision of a sniper - alternatively, low visibility also makes it harder for gun battles, leaving BF1 gamers turning to melee attacks.

Other dynamic weather effects like rain forcing pilots to get closer to the ground to spot their enemies, will making the on-foot troops vision blurred from the rain and graphical effects. Birds will fly away when the wind swirls up, and rain will drop onto weapons, armor and more. DICE wrote in their developer blog: "The western front has more heavy rain, and we make sure the fog in the trench wars has more density, and feels close to the ground. Up in the Alps in the Italian campaign, there's a sense of low fog in the valley, and if you move up to the mountain tops you get rid of the fog. You can even see the fog below you".

Details regarding the Premium Pass for Battlefield 1 have surfaced on the Xbox Store and Origin, indicating a similar setup to recent Battlefield games.

The base game will cost you the usual $60, while Premium will go for $50. For your money, you'll get (over time) four expansion packs (one themed around Russia) which will include 16 maps, new modes, Elite classes (akin to heroes in Battlefront e.g. flamethrower guy), 20 new weapons, 14 Battlepacks, exclusive dog tags, and more.

Each expansion will be available two weeks early to Premium members. The first -- titled They Shall Not Pass -- is themed around the French army, and will launch in March.

The sequel to Larian's beloved CPRG, Divinity Original Sin 2, is coming to Steam's early access on September 15. For now the game's early access will stay exclusive to Steam, but it may come to GOG soon after.

Larian Studios is bringing Divinity Original Sin 2 to Steam's early access, offering a sample of the game's first act and the arena mode. The early access portion will be free to all Kickstarter backers, but for everyone else it'll cost $45, but remember this gets you a copy of the final game too. Larian says that early access codes will be sent out to Kickstarter backers sometime next week, but you'll want to check their new blog post for important info on how to redeem your code (we've also included the info below).

"We are incredibly excited to announce that you'll get your first taste of Divinity: Original Sin 2 on the 15th of September. We're giving all Kickstarter backers access to the first act of the game: Fort Joy," the devs announced on their blog.