Gaming News - Page 1584

Now that DOOM is finally here, gamers are waiting for improved SLI support, with id Software Lead Rendering Programmer Tiago Sousa confirming that SLI support is coming soon.

One user even reported that the game runs better with SLI enabled, but Sousa added that it's going to get much better soon, as there's problems with shadow limiting SLI scaling. Sousa added that if gamers are pumping DOOM up to 4K on their PCs, that it's a waste of GPU resources to process all of those additional pixels. He added that by adjusting the resolution scaling slider in the Advanced Menu, gamers can receive some additional performance.

Sousa also talked about Vulkan support, something we saw in person during the GTX 1080 reveal event, but we don't know when that'll be coming - we're sure it'll be here in the next few weeks, though.

Exclusive: Up until now, everything we've heard on the next-gen consoles is that AMD will have APUs inside all of them. The Nintendo NX was meant to be powered by an AMD design, but according to our sources, Nintendo is working with NVIDIA and will use a Pascal-based Tegra chip inside of their next-gen Nintendo NX console.

I've been sitting on this story for a little while now, but it has been backed up by another source - who has said that NVIDIA will be providing a Pascal-based Tegra processor for Nintendo's next-gen console. First, Nintendo working with NVIDIA is a big, big deal. The GameCube was powered by the Flipper GPU provided by ATI at the time, after which the insanely popular Wii console was powered by another ATI design: "Hollywood". Hollywood was a 90nm chip, with two dies powering it.

Moving onto the Wii U, where Nintendo used a custom multi-chip module (MCM) developed by AMD, IBM and Renesas (as well as Nintendo IRD and Nintendo Technology Development). The GPU itself is the GX2, which was designed by AMD, and is based on the older R600/R700 architecture and clocked at 550MHz. It's older in the tooth now, so the use of a Pascal-based Tegra processor is interesting, and exciting. NVIDIA's current Maxwell-powered Tegra X1 processor can handle 4K output, and 1080p 60FPS gaming without a problem.

Sony won't unveil the PlayStation 4K at E3 2016, instead opting for an announcement at Paris Games Week, according to a renowned games industry insider.

Well-known insider and NeoGAF resident Shinobi602 says that Sony's new 4K ready PlayStation 4 Neo (PS4K, PS4.5) could be unveiled at October's Paris Games Week in France. According to Shinobi, Sony can't just announce the PS4K months before it's released--doing so would completely jeopardize the current PS4 sales. No one will by a current PS4 if they know that an upgraded PS4K is on the way. Sony will need to announce the PS4 Neo the same month as it's released.

"I've heard that Sony will announce the PS4 Neo at Paris Games Week. This made sense to me because the supposed upgrades are coming in what, October? I would have said this publicly if I was 100% sure, but it's just what I was told," Shinobi said during a recent podcast.

With Shenmue III on the not so distant horizon, about now would be a perfect time for remasters of the now fairly dated Shenmue and Shenmue II. A fan posited this exact idea to Sega's community and social marketing manager Dan Sheridan, who replied in the most recent episode of Sega Central that the publisher is investigating the possibility.

"With regards to Shenmue 1 and 2 HD, of course we would love to release these tomorrow. Sadly, it's not as simple as porting the games to the current platforms, as we will need to ensure any HD remaster lives up to the quality of the original titles," he explains. "And with games as immersive as Shenmue 1 and 2, there are further complications from licensed products that were included in the original games. That said, we'd love to do it and are currently investigating how to make it a reality."

Licensing issues or not, Shenmue III can happen after all these years, Shenmue and Shenmue II remasters seem plausible enough, so sit tight.

The Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster launched on Steam yesterday and word is it's a mostly solid port. One key issue that remains though is the inability to use Japanese voice acting with English subtitles, an option that wasn't available in the original release and one that many fans would love to try this time around.

Fortunately, the mod scene has yet again come to the rescue: modder Topher has some downloads that will allow you to play the game this way, thanks to a bit of hex editing on his part. Head here to grab them and for installation instructions, which are pretty straightforward. Before doing anything, be sure to back up your original .EXEs.

If you'd rather wait for something a little cleaner that likely won't require you to rely on hex edits and .EXE file replacements, modder Kalaiden will have something out soon. Keep an eye on his work here.

Sony's new upgraded 4K-ready PlayStation 4 Neo will launch before October of this year, says French wholesaler Innelec Multimedia.

Innelec published the forecast in their Fiscal Year 2016 earnings call, outright declaring Sony will release the PS4 Neo (aka PS4K, PS4.5) before October 2016. Seeing as Innelec is a major French video games distributor and wholesaler, this could be factual. If true, Sony will likely unveil the PS4K at the Tokyo Game Show in September.

"The 2016/2017 current year should be marked for the video game world by the arrival, in the first half of our fiscal year, an evolution of the Sony PS4 PS4 console with the Neo 4K with new features and that the placing on the market in October 2016 virtual reality helmet Sony VR." This folds neatly with WSJ's reports that the PS4K will be announced before the PlayStation VR headset ships in October.

Since Assassin's Creed will skip 2016, Ubisoft is betting pretty strongly on Watch Dogs 2 being a AAA success.

Ubisoft has yet to formally announce Watch Dogs 2, but the company has big plans for the upcoming open-world hackaventure. "Our biggest title in Fiscal Year 2017 will be Watch Dogs 2, which will build on the success of the first game," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said during the FY2017 investor's call. "The game will once again surprise players with a new tone, and with innovative hacking gameplay possibilities."

Guillemot's statements about a "new tone" match up with the recent leaks that Watch Dogs 2 will feature a new protagonist instead of Aiden Pearce, and be set in San Francisco. The game's principal lead was accidentally leaked by TheKingCort, the actor that portrays the character in the game.

CD Projekt RED previews their final Witcher 3 masterpiece, Blood and Wine, in full 1080p 60FPS...and it's quite magical.

Blood and Wine will be the last bit of content for Witcher 3, and Geralt's very last adventure. As such, CD Projekt RED has gone way beyond the call of duty making the expansion. The devs completely scrapped Witcher 3 and built Blood and Wine from scratch, upgrading the graphical fidelity and adding in all-new textures and meshes. We really thought CDPR couldn't top The Witcher 3, but they have, and in a big way.

The expansion will feature 30+ hours of content with some 90 quests to participate in, and Toussaint is complete with new regions, characters, castles, flora and fauna, and terrifying new monsters. In a sense, Blood and Wine is a playground for CDPR to flex its skills and prepare for Cyberpunk 2077, and it shows.

As reported earlier this week, Universal Windows Platform (UWP) games now give you the option to disable V-Sync, thus your framerate is no longer locked to your monitor's refresh rate (60 for most of you). However, the games themselves need updates to take advantage. As promised, The Coalition has responded promptly for Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, which now lets you disable V-Sync for maximum framerates.

The developer has thrown in a few other sweet options too: a frame rate limiter (use it with V-Sync off if you see tearing but don't want to be capped to your refresh rate), anisotropic filtering, and an FPS counter. Finally, there are a couple of bug fixes, one of which fixes potential hitching, and another which makes sure post processing stays enabled.

Grab the update now through the Windows Store.

Ubisoft will release an unannounced AAA IP in 2017, according to the company's Fiscal Year 2017 forecast.

Leading games industry titan Ubisoft will expand its franchise lineup with a brand new AAA IP in 2017, complimenting its Fiscal Year 2017 lineup that includes Watch Dogs 2, South Park: Fractured but Whole, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, and For Honor. Ubisoft's FY 2017 ends on April 2017, so all of these games--including the new AAA IP--will be out before then.

Details on the unannounced IP are light, but expect it to be a completely new franchise that's not tethered to any existing series--it won't be an Assassin's Creed game. Ubisoft has yet to publish the transcripts for its FY 2017 earnings call, but we'll be sure to comb the recording to find out any snippets. We could see an unveiling at E3 2016, too.