Gaming News - Page 1539

All the latest gaming news, with everything related to PlayStation releases (PS4 & PS5), Xbox, PC Games, Nintendo Switch & plenty more - Page 1539.

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CD Projekt RED boss: Rockstar & Blizzard among favorite developers

Anthony Garreffa | Jul 18, 2016 9:32 PM CDT

CD Projekt RED has enjoyed massive success with The Witcher 3, with nearly 10 million copies sold, but what studios does CDPR look to with respect?

During an interview with CD Projekt RED boss Marcin Iwinski, he said that the world's top three game developers are Blizzard, Rockstar and Bethesda. Iwinski said: "Yeah, I actually think I said the best. The goal for the last five years was to be among the best three roleplaying game developers and I think we got there, The Witcher 3 is the proof".

He continued: "For the top three, this is our perception, I'd definitely put there Blizzard, I'd definitely put there Rockstar and I think I would put them at number 1 and probably Bethesda as well. We want to get there, so one will have to go".

Continue reading: CD Projekt RED boss: Rockstar & Blizzard among favorite developers (full post)

Metro 2035 could be in the works, 4A Games working on two new projects

Derek Strickland | Jul 18, 2016 8:16 PM CDT

It looks like a game adaptation of Dmitry Glukhovsky's newest Metro 2035 book may be underway.

Metro 2035 could be in the works, 4A Games working on two new projects

4A Games, the development team behind the excellent Metro: 2033 and Metro: Last Light games, are working on "two exciting new projects." Admittedly we know next to nothing about the new projects--they could be brand new IPs, or we could see 4A Games continuing their long tradition on focusing on Glukhovsky's landmark post-apocalyptic universe.

"The burning question that you are all going to be asking (and have been asking) is: What are you doing or working on? Well today I have the honour, nay the privilege to tell you: nothing at all about either of the 2 exciting projects that we have underway .... Sorry for the troll :D"

Continue reading: Metro 2035 could be in the works, 4A Games working on two new projects (full post)

Microsoft's coercive plan to sell you the Xbox One S

Derek Strickland | Jul 18, 2016 3:11 PM CDT

Microsoft is acting upon yet another coercive and pushy strategy in order to sell its new 40% smaller Xbox One S. These weird tactics include most of Microsoft's usual suspects: conflicting statements, misinformation, a stuttered release schedule that ensures you buy the most expensive variant first, and going back on its promises.

Microsoft's coercive plan to sell you the Xbox One S

When the Xbox One S was revealed at E3 2016, Microsoft pushed the console's $299 starting price really hard. 4K UHD video playback, 4K gaming, 40% smaller, more power efficiency--you name it, the Xbox One S looked like a big improvement over the Xbox One, and it only cost $299! Fast-forward to the present and Microsoft is singing a different tune. By only releasing the 2TB Xbox One S models on August 2 before any others, and further promising the 2TB versions will have limited availability, Microsoft is really pushing gamers to buy its most expensive variant. And it'll work, too. That's the disappointing part. After all that press and bluster, they haven't even told us when the highly touted $299 model is releasing, promising that it'll release in August and they'll have "more to share later on."

What astounds me the most is the misinformation around the Xbox One S. It seems Microsoft is keeping some of the console's most attractive capabilities extremely vague and not telling us the whole picture, especially when it comes to 4K game upscaling and hardware upgrades. Xbox exec Mike Ybarra said that the mini Xbox would upscale 1080p games to 4K resolution for the benefit of UHDTV owners, but Major Nelson said absolutely nothing about 4K upscaling in the console's recent release date announcement.

Continue reading: Microsoft's coercive plan to sell you the Xbox One S (full post)

DICE wants Battlefield 1 to 'set the tone' for World War I portrayals

Sean Ridgeley | Jul 18, 2016 12:16 PM CDT

Developer DICE is in a unique position with Battlefield 1 as it will be the first serious portrayal of World War I in pop culture. While far from authentic, the studio is showing what is possible with the setting (particularly the single player), and DICE general manager Patrick Bach says in an interview with Metro that he hopes it will influence future portrayals.

"I want us to be able to set the tone for World War I stories from here on," he says. "Because no one has really done it. And it kind of annoys me when you have all these facts on what it was. Because it was in many ways a more fascinating and more interesting war from almost any aspect."

"World War II was 'good' from the point of view that it was very clear. It was, like, two sides, this versus that, and it was clear who won. Everyone knows the iconography from the war even if post-war it has been tweaked to make it even more clear. I don't think it was as clear at the time. So to me, I see it as a huge opportunity to make, hopefully for the first time in gaming history, to set a target for all other media."

Continue reading: DICE wants Battlefield 1 to 'set the tone' for World War I portrayals (full post)

CD Projekt Red has sold around 10 million copies of The Witcher 3

Anthony Garreffa | Jul 18, 2016 12:47 AM CDT

CD Projekt Red has sold close to 10 million copies of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, according to studio boss Marcin Iwinski.

Iwinski said during infoShare 2016: "We were totally overwhelmed because, honestly, we were not expecting such a degree of success. But sales-wise, The Witcher series has sold over 20 million worldwide, out of which almost half of it is from The Witcher 3. So we practically doubled the sales of the series".

He continued, adding: "Generally I think with The Witcher 3, and it was the case with The Witcher 2 as well, we released our game without any copy protection. So on day-one you could download the game from GOG and give it to a friend - enemy as well - but give it to a friend, on a memory stick, it works. And still we sold near to 10 million copies across all three platforms".

Continue reading: CD Projekt Red has sold around 10 million copies of The Witcher 3 (full post)

Consoles are becoming more like PCs, and Tim Sweeney thinks its great

Derek Strickland | Jul 17, 2016 7:21 PM CDT

Console gaming has changed forever: the rythym and pace of games console generations has evolved. Microsoft and Sony are no longer interested in resetting their PlayStation and Xbox generations every eight years or so; instead, consoles new consoles will release every 2-3 years with upgraded hardware, thus becoming even more like PCs. According to Epic Games CEO and longtime dev Tim Sweeney, this is a hugely beneficial branching point for the games industry as a whole.

Consoles are becoming more like PCs, and Tim Sweeney thinks its great

In a recent interview with Gamespot, Epic's Tim Sweeney did an excellent job in articulating the merits of the new console evolution, and how Sony's PlayStation Neo and Microsoft's new 4K-ready Project Scorpio will open new doors for developers and gamers alike. "Upgrading consoles midlife is a great step forward for the industry. The most difficult part of the entire console industry has always been resetting the user base to zero every seven years or so, whereas if we incrementally upgrade the hardware, then we can bring more performance to gamers without wiping the slate clean. That's incredibly valuable."

Sweeney goes on to highlight how Sony and Microsoft no longer have to set the reset switch; by adding in incremental hardware upgrades within the same family of consoles--ie how the PS4 Neo shares its games with the original PS4 and is still technically a PS4--console-makers ensure they keep the existing games library and level of engagement.

Continue reading: Consoles are becoming more like PCs, and Tim Sweeney thinks its great (full post)

Ubisoft hints at consoles the reason for Watch Dogs graphics downgrade

Anthony Garreffa | Jul 17, 2016 6:32 AM CDT

I still remember feeling so crushed and betrayed when Watch Dogs had its graphics downgraded and watered down because of the lackluster 'next-gen consoles' in the Xbox One and PS4 at the time, and now it seems Ubisoft is close to admitting it.

Ubisoft Montreal's Dominic Guay sat down with Evening Standard recently, where he was asked his thoughts on the downgraded graphics of the original Watch Dogs game. He said that Watch Dogs was revealed in summer 2012, before anyone knew the detailed specifications of the Xbox One and PS4.

Guay said: "One thing to remember is that the first showing of Watch Dogs came in summer 2012, before anyone knew what the Next Gen of consoles and hardware would be. We did our best at the time to predict what that would be and always were forward that this first showing was running on a very powerful PC".

Continue reading: Ubisoft hints at consoles the reason for Watch Dogs graphics downgrade (full post)

Tim Sweeney says 40 TFLOPS is required for photo-realistic games

Anthony Garreffa | Jul 17, 2016 4:54 AM CDT

The rush towards photo-realistic games is, in my opinion, held back so much by consoles. Well, with the PS4 Neo and Xbox Scorpio expected out in 2017 with 4 TFLOPS and 6 TFLOPS of performance, respectively - can we expect a large jump in graphics?

According to Epic Games co-founder Tim Sweeney, we're getting to the point where we have photo-realistic static scenes without humans with static lighting. During an interview with GameSpot, Sweeney said: "You know, we're getting to the point now where we can render photo-realistic static scenes without humans with static lighting. Today's hardware can do that, so part of that problem is solved. Getting to the point of photo-realistic dynamic environments, especially with very advanced shading models like wet scenes, or reflective scenes, or anisotropic paint, though...maybe forty Teraflops is the level where we can achieve all of that".

Sweeney continued, saying that we're going to need an algorithm to work it all out - as throwing more computing power behind it isn't the only solution. He added: "Not with humans. Humans are the harder part, but that's just ...We know exactly how real-world physics of lighting work, and so that's just a matter of brute force computing power. Give us enough computing power, and we can do that. We could do that today with algorithms that we know. Humans are a much harder problem, because rendering faces and skin is hard enough, but you quickly realize that the challenge with rendering humans is having realistic human motion to display".

Continue reading: Tim Sweeney says 40 TFLOPS is required for photo-realistic games (full post)

Visceral's new Star Wars game to capture the magic of the films

Derek Strickland | Jul 16, 2016 5:54 PM CDT

At the Star Wars Celebration in Europe, Visceral Games' Amy Hennig revealed some more tidbits about the studio's upcoming Star Wars action game set for 2018, including the studio's process in adapting the magic of the old films into their new game.

Visceral's new Star Wars game to capture the magic of the films

Amy Hennig has made it clear that Visceral Games' new action-based Star Wars game will have its own unique storyline. In fact, everything about the game will be brand new, but it'll still be deep-rooted and authentic to the existing Star Wars universe. Visceral's new creative director (Hennig) delivered a meaty speech on her methods to ensuring the game not only lives up to the films, but also delivers completely fresh gameplay.

Hennig starts off by telling us this game will be completely unique and new: "We're writing an original Star Wars story, with new characters, new locations, new tech, new creatures...you name it." Although everything will be new, the game still has to fit into the established motifs and themes of the franchise, so Visceral has to work very very closely with the loremasters at Lucasarts...but they've been digging deep into the font of knowledge the team has to offer. "Our game is a long ways out, we don't have a name yet, but we've been working hard on it and digging in with our partners at Lucasfilm. It's critical to have this collaborative relationship with our partners at Lucasfilm. All of it has to sit authentically alongside the stuff people know now."

Continue reading: Visceral's new Star Wars game to capture the magic of the films (full post)

Battlefront gets offline split-screen co-op later next week

Derek Strickland | Jul 16, 2016 3:29 PM CDT

At the Star Wars Celebration in Europe, EA has revealed that Battlefront's anticipated offline mode will drop quite soon--in fact, it's dropping next week.

Battlefront gets offline split-screen co-op later next week

Battlefront's new free Skirmish mode, which allows gamers to play offline, is coming to all platforms on July 21. Skirmish mode is more of an offline setting than a mode, and allows users to enjoy the game's "most popular modes" like Walker Assault and Fighter Squadron without needing to be online. PS4 and Xbox One players can take Skirmish's offline play a step further with split-screen co-op play on the same system.

"Skirmish will offer players the ability to play across two of Star Wars Battlefront's most popular modes on a difficulty level of your choosing. While offline, you can take to the battlefront in Walker Assault, or to the skies in Fighter Squadron. With multiple locations that span the Star Wars universe, Skirmish brings a new way to enjoy Star Wars Battlefront and there is even an option for coop split screen. (Console only)"

Continue reading: Battlefront gets offline split-screen co-op later next week (full post)