Gaming - Page 174

Rise of the Ronin launches on the PC on March 11, packing some awesome PC features and technologies that will offer PC gamers a huge jump over the former PlayStation 5 exclusive. Check it out:

A new trailer was released by developer Team NINJA, with the open-world action RPG teased with some juicy PC-specific features that include ultra-wide resolution support, 8K resolution support, 120FPS support, NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR, Intel XeSS, frame generation, ray tracing, 3D audio, and more.

On the Rise of the Ronin Steam Store page, the minimum and recommend requirements for the PC include 1080p 30FPS and 1080p 60FPS, which you can check out below:

With the arrival of DLSS 4, all aspects of NVIDIA's AI game enhancement tools are being overhauled and upgraded. DLSS Super Resolution and Ray Reconstruction are now powered by a new cutting-edge 'Transformer' model (the same AI model used to train generative AI like ChatGPT) for improved image stability and fidelity.

Frame Generation, which debuted with the GeForce RTX 40 Series, is also changing thanks to new advances in AI that will improve performance by around 10% while reducing the tech's VRAM requirement by about 30%.

This optimized and overhauled AI-powered Frame Generation is why the GeForce RTX 50 Series gets Multi Frame Generation on day one. Thanks to how RTX Blackwell manages AI workloads and something called 'Flip Metering,' up to three additional frames can be rendered with a minimal impact on latency. The good news for GeForce RTX 30 series owners is that the new overhauled DLSS Frame Generation could soon hit Ampere.

AMD's RDNA 4 desktop gaming GPUs, led by the Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT combo, are on track for a March 2025 launch. Although specs, performance, and pricing are still TBC, one of the highlights from the CES announcement was that FSR 4 is on the way.

The latest version of AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution is switching to a new AI method for upscaling, and it will be exclusive (at launch) for the new RDNA 4 generation. This is because it has been designed for RDNA 4's new "super-charged" AI hardware. The goal is to improve image quality and fidelity, bringing it closer to NVIDIA DLSS and Intel XeSS, which already use AI for their Super Resolution implementations.

For those who paid close attention to AMD's slide on FSR 4, it featured a footnote that confirmed that every game with FSR 3.1 integrated - will support FSR 4 on day one. According to industry insider @Kepler_L2 over on X, we could be looking at a similar situation to NVIDIA's new DLSS Override features for DLSS 4 - where enabling the latest tech is as easy as checking a box in the NVIDIA App. That's 51 games on day one.

PC development has skyrocketed this year according to GDC's new 2025 State of the Game Industry report, with more than 80% of the 3000 developers who responded to the survey saying they're making games for the PC right now.

The report suggests that this is a rather big upgrade for game development on the PC over 2024, where GDC's survey saw 66% of respondents said they were developing for the PC, and now that number is at 80%. This is more than double the percentage of developers working on the second-most popular platform -- the PlayStation 5 -- with 38% of developers working on PS5 games, and 34% of developers working on Xbox Series X/S games.

These numbers have been slowly increasing over the years, with prior GDC surveys seeing 56% of developers working on PC games in 2020, rising to 58% in 2021, 63% in 2022, and 65% in 2023, before reaching a lofty 80% of developers working on PC games in the new 80%. Not just that, but interest in developing for the PC is also up massively, with 74% of respondents to the GDC survey interested in the PC, up from 62% in 2024.

DOOM: The Dark Ages could be released on the Nintendo Switch 2 handheld, according to a leaker, while Xbox boss Phil Spencer talks about his excitement for the Nintendo Switch 2 as well as more multiplatform games coming in the future in a recent interview.

In a new leak from Spanish leaker 'eXtas1s' we're hearing that id Software is working on DOOM: The Dark Ages for the Nintendo Switch 2, with the announcement being restricted for now until Nintendo provides approval for any new game coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 (and not the original Nintendo Switch).

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has had some new comments during a new Q&A video, stating we can expect more multiplatform games and is excited to see what Nintendo has been cooking with its next-gen Switch 2 gaming handheld.

Xbox CEO Phil Spencer has provided an update on Xoxb in a recent interview, with Microsoft's strategy on gaming, and where the Xbox is headed into the future.

In a new interview with Spencer on the OG gaming podcast Gamertag Radio, we have some new information on where the Xbox brand is going in 2025 and beyond. Parris Lily asked Spencer: "there is concern in the community that if you're putting games on other platforms, why would I still want an Xbox when I can get that experience on another platform?"

Spencer replied, saying: "I want people to pick hardware based on the capabilities of that hardware, and how that fits into the choices they want to make about where they want to play. We want our hardware to win based on the hardware capabilities that we have".

AGEMAGIC has just announced the upcoming pre-sale of its new F3A AI 370 Mini-PC by the end of January 2025, powered by AMD's latest Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix Point" APU.

This new high-performance Mini-PC combines some awesome power and the latest technology, with its 12-core, 24-thread Zen 5-based processor with a boost clock of up to 5.1GHz, we have exceptional multi-threaded performance and processing power. Inside, the Strix Point APU features the Ryzen AI NPU based on the XDNA 2 architecture with up to 50 TOPS of AI workload performance. However, combined with the CPU, GPU, and NPU we have up to 80 TOPS of AI performance.

AMD's new Strix Point APU features an integrated Radeon 890M GPU based on the newer RDNA 3.5 GPU architecture, supporting up to 8K resolutions, and multiple video outputs through HDMI 2.1, USB4 Type-C, and DisplayPort 2.0 allow for countless display configurations.

Living with a gamer who is vocal about their exploits or defeats can be extremely tough, especially if your residence is on the smaller side. To solve this problem, perhaps consider buying a human muzzle for your significant other/family member.

Lauren Morton, an Associate Editor at PC Gamer deals with this problem as she outlines in her recent review of the Metadox Ombra. her husband is quite vocal on Discord when he is playing Rainbow Six Siege. Morton explains she came across the Metadox Ombra, a soundproof mask specifically designed for gamers, and jokingly suggested he should try it. To her surprise, he agreed, saying, "Sure, I'll do it". Morton writes in the review the Ombra "really does dampen sound to the degree advertised," but the price and the guilt aren't worth it.

The Metadox Ombra is priced at $139 and comes in two sizes, small and large. It comes equipped with a microphone port, a pair of wired earbuds, a 3.5mm splitter, and a second microphone enclosure for compatibility with an existing headset. Morton writes there is basically no setup for this gaming muzzle, and Metadox claims it can reduce 10-15dB at low frequencies and 20dB to 30dB at mid and high frequencies. Morton's testing verified these claims by Metadox, as her husband's vocals were reduced by an average of 20dB during his Rainbow Six gaming sessions.

DOOM: The Dark Ages is the biggest and best game that developer id Software has ever made, something the team revealed during a recent roundtable Q&A session with id Software Executive Producer Marty Stratton and Game Director Hugo Martin.

DOOM: The Dark Ages acts as a prequel to DOOM released in 2016, with id Software saying this will be the perfect point in the series for newcomers to the franchise. This is because of the increased focus on accessibility through newly added sliders, letting users ramp up (or down) the difficulty as they see fit. These modifiers will include damage to the player, demons, enemy aggression and projectile speed, parry window, daze duration, game speed, and resource values.

During the Q&A roundtable, the id Software execs said that if DOOM Eternal made players feel like they were controlling a fighter jet, DOOM: The Dark Ages will make you feel like an iron tank. The developers said that they wanted to provide a more grounded combat system, with the Slayer still being fast, but now he's heavy and strong with his moves, providing power over acrobatics of DOOM Eternal.

AYANEO 3 is the "world's first modular handheld" offering some bloody good specs, features, functionality and more inside. Check it out:

The new AYANEO 3 gaming handheld features dual USB4 ports as well as OCulink connectivity, with new RGB-ringed Hall effect joysticks that are modular, allowing for gamers to completely tweak their handheld. There's also IPS and OLED display options, and two different AMD APUs used with the flagship AYANEO 3 featuring up to AMD's new Ryzen 9 AI HX 370 "Strix Point" APU.

Pricing ranges between $699 and $1799 in early bird pricing, while retail pricing will be between $899 and $2099: all depending on the APU you choose -- the AMD Ryzen 7 8840U or AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 APUs -- and the RAM + SSD configurations. The new AYANEO 3 handheld starts with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage, while at the top end you can enjoy a beefy 64GB of RAM and 4TB of SSD storage.

SEGA has an interesting new game plan that should revitalize a slew of classic IPs like Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio in new, inventive ways.

Over the past few years, SEGA has been gearing up its business for a new ambitious multi-year endeavor called Super Games. Basically, SEGA wants to create its own unique and irreverent take on globally-connected live service games. Now SEGA has made the first step towards this interconnected framework with the first-ever SEGA Account (sign up here).

This is essentially SEGA's own combination of the Nintendo Account with Ubisoft Connect Rewards. Gamers can sign up, link their Xbox, PlayStation, Steam, and Nintendo accounts, and receive little in-game extras along the way. The first bonus is a special outfit for Kazama Kiryu in the upcoming Like a Dragon Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii game.

WB Interactive Entertainment president David Haddad is leaving the company after 12 years, sources have told Variety. The news comes after a prolonged 2-year period of agonizing cuts and layoffs in the games sector.

What's going on with WB Games? While largely successful with games like Batman, Mortal Kombat, and the mega-million-selling Hogwarts Legacy, the pendulum has also swung the other with disastrous miscalculations like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Gotham Knights. These misses came at the worst possible time for WB Games. In the last 9 months, WB has accounted $335 million in game contents impairments; basically, WB reduced the perceived value of its games by that amount. Suicide Squad was a big part of this charge.

WB management has set a $3 billion revenue target for its games division which it hopes will help offset these lowered-valued assets. In a bid to boost profitability, WBD CEO David Zaslav says it's possible that certain IPs and franchises would be licensed out to third-party partners, similar to how Marvel handles its games business. Unlike WB Games, Marvel doesn't produce its own games in-house and instead leans on already-established teams to do the heavy lifting--like, say, the Chinese monetization masters NetEase with Marvel Rivals.

Doom the Dark Ages takes inspiration from Frank Miller's iconic The Dark Knight and 300 graphic novels, and Doom Slayer is based around a larger-than-life mythical representation of Spartan fortitude during the Battle of Thermopylae.

If Doom Eternal was id's homage to Unreal-like movement schemes and verticality, then Doom the Dark Ages is more like Mech Warrior. Platforming is gone, and you'll no longer be flinging and zinging all over the map like you did in Eternal. In the Dark Ages, you're a walking wall of destruction and mayhem--a tank with an arsenal of raw destruction.

On the heels of yesterday's big Doom the Dark Ages gameplay reveal, id has been divulging new info on the game to give us a better idea of what to expect. According to id Software's Hugo Martin, the Dark Ages took direct inspiration from specific scenes in Zack Snyder's film 300.

Bioware's latest RPG, Dragon Age The Veilguard, is a substantial miss at launch. Electronic Arts indicates that the game has sold fewer than 1.5 million copies on all platforms.

EA recently gave investors some premature bad news. Rather than waiting for investors to find out, EA jumped the gun and released some early figures for its Q3 holiday period. Two games missed the mark in this quarter, EA FC 25 and Dragon Age The Veilguard, the latter of which had been marred by controversy which potentially inhibited its sales potential.

The new Dragon Age game has apparently been a disappointment for Electronic Arts. The publisher says that Veilguard "engaged approximately 1.5 million players," which seems to be a totality of players. Microsoft typically uses this metric instead of full game sales because its games are included on Xbox Game Pass, and Veilguard is included in the $16.99/month EA Play Pro subscription.

EA has slashed its holiday and full-year earnings targets because two of its major games have underperformed, and the company's stock has dropped by nearly 17% over the last two days of trading.

Yesterday EA announced disappointing news for investors: The company wasn't going to hit its intended earnings targets for Q3, or for the full fiscal year. The company doesn't just expect to miss the targets by a small margin--the miscalculation is in the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

The culprits are Dragon Age The Veilguard, a singleplayer-only RPG that missed expectations by roughly 50%, and EA FC25, the heavily-monetized replacement for the FIFA franchise. As a result, EA now expects to make around $2.215 billion in net bookings for the Q3 period, a reduction of 7.7% or $185 million, from the original low-end target of $2.4 billion. The original targets can be found in EA's Q2 release.

While fans await the release of the most anticipated game of all time, a parody developer has been officially greenlit to release their game about "making the most anticipated game of all time".

Fittingly titled "Grand Taking Ages," the game takes a satirical angle on game development, poking fun at the lengthy development process and what feels like an endless wait for highly anticipated titles. The game is a management simulator about running a game studio, so you won't find a vast open world or an intricately crafted narrative. Instead, what you'll find is a satirical take on modern gaming culture, filled with references ranging from "the ancient art of relabeling bugs as features" and the art of the classic "it's not a delay, it's additional polish" release technique.

Grand Taking Ages first appeared on the PlayStation Store last December before being promptly removed by Sony. The game's development team, Violarte, has had a myriad of issues with getting their game approved by storefronts, in large part due to the use of AI-generated artwork that closely mirrors the look coined by the Grand Theft Auto series. In order to get it approved by Sony and Valve, the studio reworked elements of Grand Taking Ages to "clearly differentiate Grand Taking Ages from the original inspiration, GTA 6".

Despite having a shaky start upon release, Sony's PlayStation 5 is on track to outsell the PlayStation 4, which moved 117 million units globally.

According to Mat Picatella, executive director and video game industry analyst at Circana (formerly NPD Group), since the release of the PlayStation 5, the US sales of Sony's latest console is outpacing the PlayStation 4 by 7% when aligned for launch, which seems to indicate that Sony has made up for all of the lost sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic when the PS5 released. 4 years after the launch of the PS5, Sony is selling the new console like hotcakes across the US, while the same can't be said for Microsoft's Xbox Series console, which is reportedly falling behind the sales trajectory of the Xbox One.

Ubisoft has officially unveiled "Claws of Awaji," an expansion for Assassin's Creed Shadows that is slated to release later this year.

The announcement of the new DLC, which will be available to anyone who decides to pre-order Shadows, comes after the company was criticized for its lackluster and intense pricing strategy for the game. Initially, Ubisoft was only throwing in a single quest as a pre-order bonus for Shadows, and that quest is "Thrown to the Dogs".

Ubisoft writes in the description of the above video that in addition to Thrown to the Dogs, gamers who pre-order will also get the Claws of Awaji expansion DLC, which will provide 10+ hours of additional gameplay, a new region to explore, new weapons, side activities, gear, and skills. Ubisoft teases in the YouTube video description that players will be "hunted" throughout the DLC and will be able to reclaim lost treasure while also mastering a new weapon type called the Bō staff.

Microsoft has taken gamers behind the scenes at Xbox Developer Direct with a glimpse at Xbox's latest offerings for early 2025. Multiple anticipated games have been given release dates, and a surprising new title was officially announced. Here's everything you need to know.

Developer Direct opened with a revival of an old, beloved franchise following the reveal of Ninja Gaiden 4. With 10 years having passed since the franchise's last entry, the team at Team Ninja and PlatinumGames have partnered with Xbox Game Studios to bring you a sequel.

The game will be set in the heart of a fictional, near-future Tokyo, with an all-new protagonist, exciting new gameplay mechanics, and next-generation visuals. The title is slated for a release in the fall of 2025, coming to Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PS5.

Ubisoft has officially unveiled the Animus Hub, a new Call of Duty HQ-style launcher that is designed to provide Assassin's Creed players with a single place to access all the latest Assassin's Creed games.

The Animus Hub was originally codenamed "Assassin's Creed Infinity" but was later rebranded to the Animus Hub, and for those unfamiliar with the Call of Duty HQ launcher, the Animus Hub will be a seamless entry point for all of the latest Assassin's Creed games as players will be able to access a timeline of recent heroes within the franchise.

As GameRant brilliantly points out, the Animus Hub represents Ubisoft's commitment to reimagining how players interact with the franchise, and by creating an HQ launcher for AC and naming it the Animus Hub has elevated the in-game animus from being a simple plot device to a fully interactable experience. Ubisoft explains in its blog post the Animus Hub isn't a stand-alone launcher and will be fully integrated into the latest Assassin's Creed release, Assassin's Creed Shadows, and all future Assassin's Creed games.