Gaming News - Page 1617

All the latest gaming news, with everything related to PlayStation releases (PS4 & PS5), Xbox, PC Games, Nintendo Switch & plenty more - Page 1617.

Follow TweakTown on Google News

Kingdom Come: Deliverance delayed, consoles are to blame

Anthony Garreffa | Mar 8, 2016 8:23 PM CST

We thought it was coming, and now the day is here - Kingdom Come: Deliverance has been delayed, with consoles to blame. Developer Warhorse Studios wants a simultaneous release on consoles and PCs, and has delayed the PC version of the game so it can do just that.

PR manager Tobias Stolz-Zwiling said earlier this month: "The idea was to release the game in the summer and then to follow up with the console versions. Right now we are still indie developers but we are in negotiations with publishers to, well, we need someone to bring the games into the shops, so we need a distributor, and he kind of wants us to synch it with the console versions. We are still in negotiations, we will see. Best case for you will be summer this year for the PC version and then with the follow-up for consoles; or if the publisher wants us to synch it we will release everything let's say by the end of the year, so we will see about that".

But now Polygon is reporting that Kingdom Come: Deliverance has been delayed, so that Warhorse can release the game onto the consoles and the PC at the same time.

Continue reading: Kingdom Come: Deliverance delayed, consoles are to blame (full post)

Final Fantasy XIV video shows how they created the massive narrative

Jeff Williams | Mar 8, 2016 6:07 PM CST

It's always nice to see the inner creative processes that go on when making a video game. Getting behind the scenes can help you to appreciate the game even more if you hadn't before, or even help give insight into the difficulties a developer goes through to bring us the final product. The latest developer diary for Final Fantasy XIV is all about the narrative and creating the overarching story.

Final Fantasy XIV video shows how they created the massive narrative

The creative process is different for everyone and is always, almost, a sacred process to be cherished. In the case of the stories that are in Final Fantasy XIV, the main loremaster, Kazutoyo Maehiro, doesn't ever write scenarios around characters, but that they naturally emerge as he's working.

The end result is a very well put together narrative that's coherent with not only the entire Final Fantasy XIV story, but with past games from the franchise. It all comes together quite nicely. And this MMORPG is one that will likely continue to call upon the inspiration from previous games to make for a very personal and exciting experience.

Continue reading: Final Fantasy XIV video shows how they created the massive narrative (full post)

Total War: Warhammer delayed, they don't want to rush a good thing

Jeff Williams | Mar 8, 2016 1:25 PM CST

SEGA and Creative Assembly are going to delay the launch of Total War: Warhammer for a month longer than they originally intended. It'll now be launching on May 24th 2016 instead of the earlier April 28th release date.

The developers are very excited about the game and want us to be able to get the most out the game. Namely they want it to be as polished as possible before they release it, hoping to avoid the pitfalls that some recent releases have suffered. "This could be the best Total War game we've ever made. We don't want to rush it," said the creative director, Mike Simpson.

This is the first foray into high fantasy for Total War, with a lot of excitement surrounding it. That said, because it's a PC only game, and previous Total War games have had some performance issues, they're looking at making sure that it's optimized on a variety of hardware. Specifically, they want us PC gamers to have a chance to enjoy it at 60FPS in even the most massive of battles at the highest of settings.

Continue reading: Total War: Warhammer delayed, they don't want to rush a good thing (full post)

Star Citizen may support Vulkan

Sean Ridgeley | Mar 8, 2016 12:31 PM CST

The Khronos Group's open source Vulkan API launched publicly last month, which brought some to wonder if Star Citizen would come to support it. Development subscriber Kyran inquired on exactly that for the '10 for the Chairman' Q&A video series, to which Chris Roberts, Chairman of developer Cloud Imperium Games, responded with what could be interpreted as a yes.

Star Citizen may support Vulkan

"We have looked at Vulkan; we're pretty excited by it," he says. "So we are considering our options between Vulkan and DirectX 12. We haven't made a full decision."

He continues: "Vulkan has some advantages, the biggest one being as long as it works properly that it can work on a PC but also work on Linux and work on other platforms, whereas DirectX 12 is specifically just for Windows. They are both very similar architectures; essentially Vulkan's not that different from what Mantle was originally set up to be. So we're considering it. You never know whether we will do DirectX 12 or Vulkan first."

Continue reading: Star Citizen may support Vulkan (full post)

GTA V publisher says no to annual franchises to avoid product fatigue

Derek Strickland | Mar 8, 2016 11:34 AM CST

Far too often publishers milk games franchises to the point where the cash cow dries up. We've seen this with Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed franchise, whose lukewarm reception led the publisher to rethink its annual strategy. Thankfully, Take-Two Interactive affirms that we won't ever have to worry about Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption games going down this path.

GTA V publisher says no to annual franchises to avoid product fatigue

In a recent presentation in New York, Take-Two president Karl Slatoff discussed why the company doesn't ship out annual sequels. "We don't intend to change annual strategy because of product fatigue. We create franchise value and games have to be managed deliberately. It's tempting to have continuous releases and milk a franchise as far as you can, [but] we've seen that fatigue in other franchises in the games industry. With almost every single franchise for us, the latest release is bigger than the one before."

Take-Two Interactive understands that there's a delicate balance when it comes to the games industry. A high-profile AAA has to be carefully curated and managed in the marketing sector, and it's important that the companies build up as much hype and interest as possible. If you saturate the market with too many franchise releases, interest starts to wane, and the whole thing falls apart rather easily.

Continue reading: GTA V publisher says no to annual franchises to avoid product fatigue (full post)

The Division has a huge problem with player crowding

Derek Strickland | Mar 8, 2016 10:35 AM CST

In the games industry, it's only natural that any high-profile online game is accompanied by a rocky launch. In The Division's case, though, dastardly gamers have already found a way to grief other players by simply standing in their way.

The Division has a huge problem with player crowding

In The Division, players can stand in the way of doorways and block them off from other players. Ubisoft made the decision to make all in-game avatars solid rather than allowing players to pass through one another, which is standard for any huge MMO-style online game. This oversight has caused a substantial amount of grief in the community, and armed trolls with an effective way to frustrate just about every would-be Division agent in New York.

Sadly, griefers can inhibit progress right at the game's start. Right after the opening cutscene, players start off in a safehouse that has only one exit. By simply standing in the way, griefers are pretty much denying access to the rest of the game, taunting other players by dancing and waving in place.

Continue reading: The Division has a huge problem with player crowding (full post)

Sony finally giving out free game codes from major hack of 2011

Jeff Williams | Mar 8, 2016 10:06 AM CST

Were you affected by the massive 2011 hacking of Sony's services? Do you happen to want some free stuff for your trouble?

Sony is sending out emails to those that were affected by the massive 28-day hack from April of 2011 and allow those that filled out the lengthy claim form the ability to redeem codes for free stuff on the services that you were signed into.

The free download codes are for a number of different PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and PSP games. If you were one of those that downloaded a free game as part of the Welcome Back promotion that happened right after they got their services back up, then you're only allowed to have one free game. You can also choose from some premium themes as well.

Continue reading: Sony finally giving out free game codes from major hack of 2011 (full post)

Free maps and quests coming to Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2

Jeff Williams | Mar 8, 2016 10:05 AM CST

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 was just released at the end of last month and PopCap and EA just now announced the Graveyard Variety Pack, the first of many free DLC packs for the amusing game.

Free maps and quests coming to Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2

The update is quite generous with what they've added to it. They've created a new Aqua Center map that's rather elaborate in design and have put a lot of different, new, quests throughout the Backyard Battleground map. It wouldn't be Plants vs. Zombies if they didn't add in more options to customize your characters in wild new ways, either. So there's a lot of fun new costumes and options to choose from. They've also gone and balanced the characters a bit more from all the great feedback they've had from players.

And in case you're in love with microtransactions, EA has also added a few more packs so you can get even more customization options. $2.49 can get you 56K coins to spend on your wacky characters. But, just remember that these microtransactions are optional and solely cosmetic. It's a nice surprise to see PopCap dedicated to bringing value to a game that's always had a special place in a lot of gamers hearts. This franchise is genius.

Continue reading: Free maps and quests coming to Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 (full post)

The Division has no option to improve frame rates on consoles

Derek Strickland | Mar 8, 2016 9:34 AM CST

Contrary to the promises made by an Ubisoft developer, console players have no option to improve frame rates in The Division.

The Division has no option to improve frame rates on consoles

According to the claims made by an unknown Ubisoft developer, PS4 and Xbox One gamers would be able to scale down lighting effects to boost frame rates in The Division. Now that the game is out on all platforms, console gamers can confirm that the settings simply aren't there.

"You can disable certain lighting aspects to improve frame rates in the console versions. I don't know of another game that does that. So if you want to choose frame rate over visuals, you can if you want," reads the erroneous quote given by a purported developer on a Team Epiphany stream.

Continue reading: The Division has no option to improve frame rates on consoles (full post)

Fable Legends Beta to continue until April despite studio closure

Jeff Williams | Mar 8, 2016 9:04 AM CST

Yesterday we were shocked with the news that Microsoft was going to shut down Lionhead Studios and cancel their titular product, Fable Legends, but they've announced they won't be shutting down the current beta immediately, and will let players that are already in, continue to play until April.

No new players are being let into the beta, but if you're already in, and enjoying yourself, then you'll be able to continue your adventures until April 13th at 3:00PM GMT. After that, the servers will officially be shut down and the game will be gone for good.

So far there's been no word as to whether we'll see Fable be taken up by another studio, but we do know that for the time being, development has ceased completely. Fable Legends was a showcase of the capabilities of DirectX 12 and was one of the best examples of it too. It didn't use asynchronous compute quite to its fullest, but it did end up using it right. It's sad to see a game that's also quite fun to play, wander into oblivion.

Continue reading: Fable Legends Beta to continue until April despite studio closure (full post)