Gaming - Page 1609

Ubisoft's latest game For Honor perfectly encapsulates the industry giant's total gameplan: combining triple-A buy to play fees with online-only gameplay for instant updates and changes and microtransactions for recurring profits. Despite all this, For Honor is peer-to-peer based and has no dedicated servers.

In many ways For Honor really shows how much Ubisoft has learned with The Division: solid gameplay mechanics, more balanced microtransactions to keep things feeling more fair, and a unique competitive element that combines perfectly with mechanics to create something rather distinct.

Make no mistake, however: with its recurring microtransactions, online-based gaming, premium $59.99 cost, strong MAU (monthly active user) engagement driven by new updates, For Honor is a total representation of how Ubisoft makes its money, and copies strategies used with Rainbow Six: Siege and The Division. In many ways For Honor is a vehicle for these strategies.

Resident Evil 7 has been selling quite well, with Capcom noting that they have sold 3 million copies so far - with expectations that the game will sell 4 million copies in its fiscal year.

In its latest investor Q&A, the company revealed that Resident Evil 7 has recouped its development costs. Capcom said: "Compared to Resident Evil 6 this may seem like a lower initial pace, however this can be attributed to the recent wider adoption of digital downloads and the transition from a sharp initial spike in sales for games to a continuous long tail. Further, we believe that achieving our fiscal-year target of 4 million units for this title is wholly possible, as we expect sales to continue for a longer period, buoyed on highly positive post-launch reviews from both the media and consumers".

Capcom talked about the PC version of Resident Evil 7, where they said: "We expect to record a loss in PC Others this fiscal year due to factors including the postponement of the period in which we record a running royalty from Monster Hunter Online, and because certain existing titles are softening. Moving forward, we aim to return this segment to profitability by revitalizing titles through promotions and through operational rationalization".

Microsoft has just teased on Twitter that we should "brace for big news" about Project Scorpio at E3 2017, on June 11 at 2PM PT.

Microsoft will host its E3 2017 briefing on Project Scorpio, where we should hopefully find out all of the juicy details before its launch later this year. There's nothing new to report here, apart from "hey guys - prepare for Project Scorpio news in June". Still, exciting times.

Will we see something new that hasn't been shown off? Watered down 4K 30FPS gaming? Native 4K or just the "True 4K" Microsoft's been touting? Something completely different? What do you want to see from Microsoft?

BioWare insists they've learned a lot from Dragon Age: Inquisition's mistakes, especially when it comes to vast open areas that have the size of an ocean, but the depth of a puddle. Now the devs affirm that Mass Effect: Andromeda isn't really an open-world sandbox game--but it will retain the series' distinct feel.

"I definitely wouldn't call Andromeda an open-world game," BioWare's Mike Gamble told OXM in a recent interview.

"We like to use the term 'exploration-based game'. You still have the concept of tight story deliverance and all the great things you come to expect with Mass Effect. The layer on top of that is a layer of exploration. Sometimes that happens in open spaces, but not always. You can cruise around some of these planets in the Nomad, but it's not the traditional sandbox-type game."

Lots of trainers are about to return to Pokemon GO: the world's once most popular smartphone game is getting a massive update to add quite a few Pocket Monsters from the Johto region.

The new Pokemon GO update will add more than 80 Pokemon from the classic Pokemon Gold and Silver games, including the famous starters Chikorita, Cyndaquil and Totodile. Evolution forms of the Johto region Pokemon will also be included, further expanding the game to new heights. Players will even be able to evolve Kanto Pokemon into their Johto counterparts for improved battle stats.

Apart from the massive array of new Pokemon to catch, the update will also include fresh berries to help in catching wild pocket monsters as well as new interactions from Pokemon players are trying to catch.

Nintendo's late president Satoru Iwata was one of the major transformative forces in the company's history, and he his legacy is full of impressive hardware innovations. The Nintendo Switch, the company's new unique console-handheld hybrid, is no exception, and Iwata invested lots of personal and professional effort into manifesting the particulars of the system.

When I watched the Nintendo Switch reveal event I could swear Iwata was watching too. I could see Iwata's touch in all of the Switch's features and experiences: the infinite possibilities of fun with 1-2 Switch, the unique transforming tablet and JoyCons combo, the ability to take the Switch anywhere and play it with anyone at any time. These were things that Iwata went through great lengths to plan out before his untimely death in 2015.

"I mentioned that Mr. Iwata, Mr. Takeda and myself provided feedback and made decisions, but ultimately Mr. Iwata was the head of development, so he put a lot of thought and time into Switch," Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto said in a recent TIME interview.

DICE has been working on a gigantic new patch for Battlefield 1, something the developer has been calling the Winter Update.

The new Winter Update for Battlefield 1 has a slew of new features, tweaks, improvements, and more - weighing in at a modest 1.54GB on the PC, and is now live on all some platforms. The new update will introduce Ribbons, which provide players with a 500XP boost, while Elite Codices give players more experience.

There's also increased Max Class Ranks, server changes, and so much more. The patch notes are extremely long and detailed, showing that DICE has been nailing away at BF1 getting it polished.

Konami latest financial report shows strong growth despite its ailing, unpopular image, with total profits doubling compared to last year's earnings.

In the past three quarters, Konami has boosted its total profits by 229.8% raking in 20.7 billion yen, or about $182.6 million USD.

These nine-month earnings were accrued by consistent pachinko and pachislot revenue as well as game sales, and Konami recently merged its slot machine and arcade game sectors to form the Amusement Business, which is not unlike SEGA's classification.

Pachinko and pachislot recreational arcade games are a booming and extremely lucrative business in Japan. Just how popular is this past-time? So popular that SEGA, one of the premiere Japanese game developers, earned over $1 billion in pachinko earnings in nine months.

SEGA recently reported strong third quarter financial earnings, especially in the pachislot and pachinko department. According to the IR documents SEGA pulled in an impressive 119.7 billion yen--$1.05 billion USD--from pachinko and pachislot sales from March to December 2016.

In fact, pachinko net sales were higher than digital and physical game sales combined, and made up half of SEGA's total nine-month earnings of 285 billion yen, or about $2.51 billion USD.

Nintendo exec Yoshiaki Koizumi has confirmed that the Switch handheld-console hybrid will support wireless Bluetooth audio headphones on-the-go via the console's built-in Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity.

Mr. Koizumi told French video games site Gaming Stories that the Switch owners can use Bluetooth headphones for wireless convenience on the go.

The Nintendo exec also confirmed that the Switch's 3.5mm headphone jack can be used while the system is docked, and the system will channel out stereo audio through the port. This means you can still use existing headphones to play your Switch games in TV Mode while the system is docked for maximum performance on HDTVs.