Gaming News - Page 1625

The Witcher 3 is pretty much a masterpiece of third-person action, but I've always wondered what the game would be like in first-person. Imagine adding Skyrim-esque dungeon diving and combat to Andrzej Sapkowski's dark fantasy world--it'd be pretty epic.

Thanks to the talented efforts of modder Skacikpl, gamers may one day experience The Witcher 3 in first-person. Skacikpl has been tirelessly working on the new mod, but it turns out that game doesn't play nicely with the new perspective, leading to motion sickness from the camera jouncing. Plus CDPR's limited modding tools aren't much help either.

It's great to see modders completely rewrite the rules and open the doors to brand new experiences. It's also crazy to think that a simple perspective change would affect the game so dramatically. Don't expect the mod to release any time soon, as Skacikpl isn't sure if he'll even be able to optimize the mod enough to even support active gameplay...but it's a great effort nonetheless.

The hype machine for Cyberpunk 2077 is set to go into full swing this year, with developer CD Projekt Red (the studio behind The Witcher franchise) still be "a long ways away" from releasing the game, but the developer is now teasing that it's working on a "far bigger" scale with Cyberpunk 2077 being an "even more ambitious" project.

But now, CD Projekt Red has teased that we can expect some "f**king great" stuff from Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt Red's CEO and co-founder, Marcin Iwinski talked with GameSpot recently, where he said: "Right now, we have the success of the Witcher 3; people played it and people loved it. So it's even more responsibility. The fact that Witcher 3 performed so well allows us to be even more ambitious with Cyberpunk 2077. Right now, it's on our shoulders to deliver here. The next time you hear about Cyberpunk 2077 we will show something and it must be f**king great". Inwinski also added: "People really expect something great and that's what we have to stand up to and deliver".

Inwinski was asked if CD Projekt Red was excited to move over to making Cyberpunk 2077 after finishing with The Witcher 3, with Inwinski replying that "they definitely are". He added: "After a decade working with dragons, swords, and medieval themes, the team is feeling energized to work on a project involving guns, ammo, mutants, and implants".

GDC 2016 - Sony had a killer Game Developers Conference, announcing the $399 price on the PlayStation VR for the PS4, but what did Microsoft have? Well, nothing in the form of new hardware announcements - but the company did just drop the price on the Xbox One to $299 for a "limited time".

The normal price on the Xbox One is $349, with the $50 discount applied for now - but there's no news on if, or when the price will bounce back up to its original price. The discounted Xbox One pricing will include all of the current console bundles at participating retailers across the US.

Not only that, but the Xbox Spring Sale promotional event will also see discounts on a bunch of digital games on PC, Xbox One and Xbox 360 backwards compatible titles. This will kick off on March 22, two days after the Xbox One price was cut, where gamers can grab their game of choice and "save up to 40 to 60 percent off, with some at more than 60 percent off".

There seems to be some substantial information regarding a minor (or fairly major) refresh of Sony's PlayStation 4. In fact, some developers have reportedly told Kotaku that there have been actual discussions behind closed doors about a "PlayStation 4.5" that could include a more powerful GPU for actual 4K gaming.

More than three independent sources in the developer community seem to have been able to confirm the existence of some type of evolution in hardware and design. This information seems to be even more substantiated after a supposed behind-closed-doors meeting from Sony at GDC. And just what does it mean for current owners?

Well, it would be the anti-thesis of what makes a console such a valuable ecosystem. The hardware is similar for a full generation of development, meaning no one has to upgrade to experience their games at the greatest possible settings for that platform. Having different versions, even if one is discontinued, defeats the purpose of the fixed-specification console. This is even in line with Microsoft's want to have upgradable console hardware in the future. The console as we know it, then, might be doomed. Or we could be looking at the definitive next generation, earlier than usual.

IBM Japan has a big surprise in store for MMO fans. Out of nearly 100K applicants they only took a small sample of 208 people and showed them what they're calling a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. They've transformed, in what looks like just a technical experiment at the moment, Sword Art Online into a massive VR experience.

They had hinted at such a project this past February, but there hasn't been much word about how they were going to make the futuristic MMORPG into a VR game, but now we have some more details on what they did. They've created their own VR headset based off of the Oculus Rift DK2, called the Navugia. They added additional sensors, including a Leap Motion sensor and a Kinect V2 attached to a helmet device. The resulting experience literally puts you into the years 2022, when the game is set.

The whole thing is running off of IBM's SoftLayer cloud service with their own cognitive layer, a showcase of what their deep learning tech can do. But really it's to show what life could be like if you wanted to literally live inside an MMO. Take a walk on the wild-side and you're likely never to come back. They're taking the "role-playing" quite literally here. The photos were taken by Inside Games while they took a look at it. It's an interseting use of VR, but perhaps cumbersome at this point. Nonetheless very impressive.

You might think that something like a "trading simulator" would be boring as can be. But you might be terribly wrong too. Remember The Oregon Trail? Oh yeah, that's been remastered and re-released too. That and all manner of management sims seem to gain popularity, even among their own small niches. But still, they can be great to relax to for many reasons. Caravan wants to offer you something like that. But with an Eastern flair.

Just what is it? Well, Caravan is a trading and exploration game with a bit of strategy and RPG mixed in. On top of that there's actually story that's being told as you progress. You'll be in control of a caravan in the pre-medieval Orient with the ability to travel to the various towns along the Arabic peninsula. Your caravan will steadily grow as you across more members, heroes and camels. And they're not just making it an easy "trading" game, there's a big emphasis on recreating all the dangers, adventure, tempting business opportunities and even combat that you might run up against.

Of course, there's also that trading mechanism, where you'll manage all the important resources, like water, provisions and the caravan's animals. A tough The really cool thing is that the game is based on actual history. There's elements of real lore and actual history mixed into other fantastical bits.

Star Wars Battlefront's next update is bringing us further into the Outer Rim and adding two new heroes, but we already knew that. A new trailer shows off even more info about what we can expect from the first official expansion.

We already know that Nien Nunb and Greedo are on the way to help out within the dark halls of Ja.bba's Palace and on the dangerous factories of Sullust, but we didn't really get to see them in action and actually in-game. The new maps are actually looking quite good and intricately laid out. And in fact it looks inspired by not only the movies, but also from the map that was part of Battlefront 2. In addition to the two new maps and heroes, there'll be new star cards (a scatter gun, dioxis grenade and an adrenaline stim) and weapons. You'll be able to equip the new Relby V10 rifle and the DT-12 blaster pistol. A new Extraction Mode is also making into the game that has the Rebels recovering resources while the Imperials defend them.

This DLC, however, isn't free and needs to purchased as part of the Season Pass. But, that also gets you more content down the road when they release it throughout the year. The Season Pass is $50 in total, or the DLC cna be purchased separately for $15.

There was one platform, for better or worse, that Sonic hadn't made an appearance quite yet. He's been running along the mobile scene for some time, but not on the Apple TV. The first Sonic the Hedgehog is available right now through the TV OS app store, while the second installment is coming on March 24th.

And they aren't stopping there. If you wanted to use your micro-console as a true gaming machine, than you'll be able to play Sonic CD on the 31st of March. Strangely, all three of the games are live on the store, but only one can be purchased. That indicates that it's a complete and finished, uploaded app. There's no word from Sega on why we have to wait to enjoy all the classic adventures of Sonic. It could simply be a business decision. Regardless of why, the miniscule console is a pretty good fit for the blue blur.

Bombshell didn't quite come out of the oven exactly like 3D Realms had planned. It was a good concept with some interesting underlying gameplay, and a neat story. It was the bugs, glitches and other infernal problems that kept people from actually enjoying it. Update 1.1 should make it a lot better, if not far more palpable to play. They've also added some free DLC to entice current users back.

The massive list of changes and fixes includes a bevy of items that they've found and changed by scouring through both the user reviews and critical reviews. 3D Realms and Interceptor Entertainment are very optimistic about what they've done underneath, so much that they're offering the game at a 33% discount, along with the addition of retro-themed Shellshock mission as free DLC.

In the changelog, they mention having new crosshairs for every weapon, adding in a more minimalist HUD for those that thought it was a bit too busy, and having NPC's actually show up on the mini-map. The most important fix that they've made is with the aiming mechanism. Now you can actually hit what you're aiming for. And they'll only shoot at you while they're on screen, which was minor, if annoying issue. There's more fixes and changes than you can shake a stick at, but if you've got the game and were disappointed, this might be enough to get you re-interested.

Total War Battles: Kingdom finally has a release date. And on March 24th you'll get the chance to play, across Steam and mobile mind you, against your friends in some delightfully light-hearted combat.

The whole massive battle aspect is all there, as well as the hexagon city-building and actually looks very close to just about any Total War game you've played on PC. The idea is to let you pick up where you left off on any device you want. Start a game on your PC, and continue planning your city and raising your army while anywhere else in the world on whatever device is at hand.

This is a definite far cry from Total War Battles: Shogun, which took on a strangely different aspect that, while good in it's own right, wasn't quite a proper Total War game. You'll be able to find this one on sale on the 24th on iOS and Android as well as through Steam.