Gaming News - Page 1729

Millions of us play violent video games on our PCs and consoles, without feeling the need to go and commit violent criminal acts. However, there has been increased research into what impact, if any, video games play - especially among younger gamers.

Recently, the American Psychological Association (APA) noted there isn't enough research to put the blame solely on video games. Even though there are reports of increased aggression, it's still not enough to directly blame video games.

"One can never know for sure whether playing violent video games causes violent criminal behavior, because it is unethical for researchers to allow participants to engage in violent criminal behavior in their laboratory experiments," said Brad Bushman, professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University, in a statement to CBS News.

Jordan "Smealum" Rabet, a prominent Nintendo 3DS hacker, has released the "tubehax" exploit that launches homebrew software within the handheld's free YouTube app.

Using tubehax 3DS players can get access to a slew of homebrew content including old-school SNES ROMs running on the handheld's latest 9.9 firmware. The exploit also lets users run region-specific gamecards and set custom themes in the handheld's home menu. Rabet affirms that tubehax "does not in any way let users run pirated 3DS software", but NES and SNES games are a different story.

Smealum is notorious for finding innovative games and apps to manipulate into acting as doorways to homebrew, and frequently targets free and easy-to-download content. Nintendo has always been fast-acting to close these doors as soon as possible, and just recently the Japanese gaming titan removed the free-to-play game Ironfall: Invasion from the eShop because of Smealum's "ironhax" expoit--but not before thousands upon thousands of users snagged it.

CD Projekt RED won't be releasing any more mod support for The Witcher 3, and it looks like modders are stuck with the current toolset.

A few days ago CD Projekt RED enjoyed unanimous praise from PC gamers upon the release of The Witcher 3's modding tools...at least until the modding community realized how "light" the toolset is compared to The Witcher 2's beefier REDkit.

"First of all, the modding tools we are releasing are not an editor," CDPR told Gamespot in a Q&A session. Instead of creating and editing world spaces gamers can extract and manipulate the files of the game, including adding custom textures and skins to characters as well as changing up animations and sounds. Plus modders can manipulate Witcher 3's scripts, opening a lot of potential for mods that tweak gameplay aspects like difficulty modes and altered quests. So far the Witcher 3 Nexus is filled with HUD alterations, graphics optimizations and small in-game convenience tweaks.

To capitalise on the upcoming release of 'The Force Awakens', 'Star Wars Battlefront' and 'Disney Infinity 3.0', Sony PlayStation and Disney have teamed up to release two limited edition Darth Vader themed PS4 console bundles, with a specially designed lid and controller, along with some other 'Star Wars' goodies.

To be released in November worldwide, the console will be available in two bundles; both with the 500GB console version and a download voucher for four classic remastered 'Star Wars' titles including the Super Nintendo 'Super Star Wars', the PS2 'Racer Revenge', 'Jedi Starfighter' and 'Star Wars Bounty Hunter', and your choice of physical copies of 'Disney Infinity 3.0' or 'Star Wars: Battlefront".

With VR on the horizon, hardware makers have busily crafted motion-based controllers to power the new tech. Innovations like the Control VR glove or HTC Vive's laser-tracked wireless controllers have caught our attention, but one company aims to turn the gaming world on its head with a new controller that slides right on your finger.

Introducing the Talon, a new "smart ring" motion-controlled peripheral that uses a 9-axis motion control sensor to convert hand gestures into input signals to interact with games. There are also two "action buttons" placed on the band for manual button pressing, and the creators boast that the Talon will be compatible with a huge array of games including shooters, racing games and even sports titles.

"Currently, in order to play motion-controlled games, consumers must purchase all the expensive hardware: TVs, Wii, X-box or Kinect are just a few of them," says Titanium Falcon CEO and Founder Guo Juan. "We believe our touch-less and motion controlled smart ring will change the way users play games forever. Talon will enable gamers to play games instantly at any place and time, free hand, while on the go. Users can play mobile games or control applications even when they are doing other things such as running, cooking, taking the bus and so on."

After five years of timed exclusivity on the Xbox, Sony will gain timed exclusivity from the Call of Duty franchise, starting off with Call of Duty: Black Ops 3.

Sony will secure a 30-day platform timed exclusive for Black Ops 3 and its future DLC, with the multiplayer beta of Black Ops 3 launching on the PS4 first. At E3, Sony Computer Entertainment boss Andrew House said that the PlayStation was "the new home of Call of Duty". Under the deal, all future Call of Duty DLC will hit the PlayStation first, which is a big scoop for Sony.

During E3, Activision Publishing boss Eric Hirshberg told Gamespot: "The partnership with Sony was the right decision at this time. They've been a great partner on Destiny, and they have a ton of momentum with the PS4 and really got behind this thing. They wanted to see that deal on their platform. We're going to make it work".

It looks like the current generation consoles are selling quite well, with the Xbox One and PS4 sales being "close to" 50% ahead of where the PS3 and Xbox 360 sales were at the same time in their lifespan.

The news is coming from NPD Group's recent study into the current generation consoles, 21 months after they launched. A Microsoft spokesperson told IGN: "Xbox One and Xbox Live continued to see strong sales and engagement in July, with Xbox One sales in the U.S. up 44 percent over July 2014 and active global Xbox Live users (Xbox One and Xbox 360) up 22 percent".

Not only that, but game hardware sales also grew by 2% from June to July. NPD Group also said that the best-selling game in July was a surprise: LEGO: Jurassic World.

The Witcher 3 fans, listen up: CD Projekt Red has just unleashed modding support for The Witcher 3, with the developer teasing gamers can: "modify several aspects of the game to their own liking".

CD Projekt Red continues: "Thanks to texture import and export, gamers can now modify the looks and feel of in-game objects, while the possibility of substituting meshes allows to insert new models in the game world in place of existing ones. Finally, access to script files opens up an entirely new array or modification options to many in-game aspects, so modders can fire up their imagination and fiddle with item statistics and much more".

The studio has much more to say, adding: "First of all, the modding tools we are releasing are not an editor," an unnamed person from CD Projekt Red says. "They're meant for people who are somewhat experienced with modding software and are designed to make creating mods easier. They give access to game files and allow for easy extracting, compilation, and decompilation of resources. Beside visual changes, like modifying textures and models, they will allow to change UI assets and script files. The majority of gameplay-related mechanics are written in scripts. Having access to these scripts will allow to create even more ambitious and complex modifications. If you're not a modder and you're wondering about real life applications, in short, all this means that from now on, people will be able to put their own textures on models to make them feel more personal (or cool, or whatever they wish!), or, say, substitute Roach's model with a unicorn (and ride it towards the setting sun). You will be able to use these mods when they get published. Also, we hope the community builds on these resources and, who knows, maybe some people who haven't ever dreamt of modding will start doing so? There might be future devs among you!"

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided sounds better and better, apart from the possible downgrade in graphics that is happening, but on the gameplay side of things, we can't be happier.

Eidos Montreal recently took to Twitter to announce a new 'New Game+' mode for the game, with Executive Game Director Jean-Francois Dugas and Gameplay Director Patrick Fortier saying that New Game+ will let gamers find "even more about all the maps and the secrets" in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.

The duo also talked about a few changes that the studio has made from Human Revolution to Mankind Divided, with the experience system being much more balanced and rewarding for players with the combat actions, something that they said would remove the feeling "that there is a 'right way' to play". Mankind Divided's protagonist, Adam Jensen, will have his Smart Vision upgraded, where it can be modified to reveal loot, characters, weapons, his ammunition type, and it can even be modified in the middle of combat. Very cool.

When it comes to gaming, we tend to really enjoy ourselves. A recent report from The NPD Group found 34 million core gamers in the United States spend an average of 22 hours each week playing. Core gamers are critical for the gaming market, as hardware manufacturers and software developers try to learn more about their target audience.

Core gamers are described as those of us playing at least five hours per week, using a PC, Mac, Microsoft Xbox 360, Xbox One, Sony PlayStation 3, or PlayStation 4 - while playing the following genres: action, adventure, fighting, flight, MMORPGs, racing, real-time strategy, shooters, RPGs, or sports games.

"Core gamers are really the lifeblood of the industry, spending tremendous amounts of time on their hobby of choice," said Liam Callahan, Industry Analyst at The NPD Group. "With the new console generation off to a great start, we can expect the amount of time spent gaming to increase as more core gamers adopt them."