Gaming - Page 175

As recently announced through the project's YouTube channel, CS: Legacy, a full standalone remake of Counter-Strike 1.6, is coming to Steam in 2025.

CS: Legacy is a standalone remake of Counter-Strike 1.6, built entirely from custom code and game assets. Despite the name and familiar branding, this is a fan-driven project with no direct association with Valve. Nonetheless, it's aiming to bring back the feel of one of the most influential shooters ever made, over two decades after its release.

Counter-Strike 1.6 remains a defining title in competitive FPS history. Released in 2003, it refined the mechanics that would shape the series for years to come - tight movement, crisp gunplay, and an unforgiving skill ceiling that made it a staple of internet cafes and early esports. Even today, community servers are still running worldwide, and over 17,000 concurrent players at the time of writing.

Fans of the long-running MMORPG RuneScape will be both intrigued and surprised to learn that an open-world survival iteration of the game is in the works - powered by next-gen Unreal Engine 5. A recent trademark filing suggests Jagex is leaning toward the name RuneScape: Dragonwilds, and the project is presumably still in development.

The first hints of RuneScape: Dragonwilds surfaced in 2022 when Jagex initially announced the existence of the open-world survival project. In October 2024, the studio put out an official call for closed testers. Beyond confirming it as a survival game set in the RuneScape universe, little else has been officially revealed. Job listings on Jagex's website hinted at a "rich, immersive world" with "large and complex areas," but details on gameplay and release timing remain speculative.

The closest existing comparison to a RuneScape-style survival game is Valheim, which launched in early access in February 2021. Still progressing toward an official release, Valheim draws inspiration from RuneScape, Zelda, and Minecraft, incorporating mechanics like mining, woodcutting, crafting, and skill progression systems. Jagex has already dabbled in the survival genre, having published SCUM in 2018 - a survival title that maintains a mostly positive rating on Steam with over 87,000 reviews.

A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filing by Nintendo has spawned a new discussion about the possibilities of the Nintendo Switch 2, which includes a new Super Smash Bros. game and GameCube titles being added to Switch Online.

Not long ago, an official filing with the FCC revealed unannounced components within the Nintendo Switch 2, such as two USB-C ports and Wi-Fi 6 support. Now, another FCC filing has alluded to Nintendo working on a new GameCube controller, but this time around the details are much more vague and in the realm of speculatory. The FCC filing suggests Nintendo is working on a new game controller for its upcoming console, with fans speculating it will be a Nintendo Switch Online GameCube controller, which, if true, opens up many new possibilities for Switch 2.

Notably, Nintendo has re-released Bluetooth versions of all its classic controllers to go along with the retro libraries added to the Nintendo Switch Online service. There are Bluetooth versions of NES, SNES, and N64 controllers, which all were released to accompany their respective Nintendo Switch Online libraries. It appears Nintendo is planning the same for the GameCube controller, which means GameCube titles being added to Switch Online. Another possibility of Nintendo releasing a Bluetooth GameCube controller would be for another Super Smash Bros. title, which is the third most popular Nintendo Switch game.

NVIDIA launched DLSS 4 alongside its new GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs earlier this year, and it has been one of the most talked about aspects of the latest GPU generation. The shift to a transformer-based Super Resolution and Ray Reconstruction model, available to all GeForce RTX gamers, has been a game changer for image quality. Gaming in 4K using DLSS 4's 'Performance' preset now delivers better image quality than DLSS 3 'Quality' and native rendering with TAA.

This is the next step in the shift toward a future where hardware and software innovations driven by AI will boost performance and image quality, and usher in a new era of high-quality ray-tracing with RTX Neural Shaders. DLSS 4 also introduced the brand-new Multi Frame Generation, exclusive to the GeForce RTX 50 Series.

An evolution of the Frame Generation that launched with the GeForce RTX 40 Series, Multi Frame Generation leverages powerful AI hardware and RTX Blackwell's architecture to generate up to three additional frames to deliver a smoother gaming experience that is still responsive. DLSS 4 is one of the most impressive gaming technology releases in 2025, and NVIDIA has just released a new research paper that details how it works and the advancements it brings to neural rendering.

Microsoft describes Copilot for Gaming as an "AI-driven sidekick" designed to be your "personalized gaming companion" that will offer Xbox support, recommend games, install them for you, and even show up in-game to provide advice and tips. Microsoft notes, "Xbox Insiders can get an early preview of Copilot for Gaming on mobile soon."

In a recent episode of the Official Xbox Podcast, Xbox Corporate Vice President of Gaming AI Fatima Kardar, joined by Vice President of Next Generation Jason Ronald, formally introduced Copilot for Gaming and showcased concept videos of it in action in Overwatch 2 and Minecraft.

The demos show an unnamed player communicating with Copilot for Gaming using natural language. In Overwatch 2, the AI answers questions about what hero to choose, provides breakdowns of recent play, and gives advice based on historical data that includes the player's skill and abilities. As a proof of concept, it's an interesting demonstration however having the player talk to AI instead of their teammates is a little weird.

Traditionally, we've associated Valve and Steam as the number one platform for PC gaming, where you can access your library of games - new and old. Of course, Valve has been dabbling in hardware for several years, from the Valve Index to its most recent success, the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck isn't the first PC gaming handheld to release. Still, thanks to the console-like nature of SteamOS (regarding usability, features, and efficiency), it's helped usher in a new era for portable PC gaming.

In 2024, Valve released the Steam Deck, including the Steam Deck OLED variant in Australia - officially bringing the handheld to a new market. In 2024, Valve opened the door to other hardware manufacturers shipping SteamOS on devices like the Legion Go instead of Windows 11. Valve's 'Deck Compatibility' program, which extends to these new SteamOS systems now includes around 17,000 'Playable' or 'Verified' games.

Valve has communicated in the past that it is developing a Steam Deck 2. However, it's waiting on a massive generational uplift in performance and efficiency before it brings the highly anticipated handheld to market. In the meantime, the Steam Deck is growing in popularity. In 2024, playtime increased by 64% compared to 2023 - over 330 million hours.

As one of the few private companies that is a powerhouse when it comes to PC gaming, Valve isn't beholden to shareholders. And with that, unlike Sony and Microsoft or even Ubisoft, we don't get quarterly reports detailing things like users, growth, and detailed revenue breakdowns from a financial perspective. However, Valve has released its Steam Year In Review 2024 which gives us a glimpse into the continued success of the platform and company.

"2024 was a year of growth for the Steam platform," Valve writes. "In December of 2024, we crossed 39 million peak concurrent users for the very first time (and while we were drafting this post, the platform crossed 40 million). Steam has nearly doubled in peak concurrent users since March of 2020, when online platforms saw big spikes in activity due to Covid-19 quarantine."

Revenue from new game releases, measured as gross revenue from the first 30 days of release, has increased 10X since 2014. Like the peak concurrent user count, revenue has doubled since 2020.

A new Star Wars game will be announced next month by Respawn Entertainment and Bit Reactor, according to recent reports.

The reveal has been set for a stage appearance by both Respawn and Bit Reactor on April 19 at the Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo, Japan. Currently, there isn't much known about the upcoming title besides it being a Star Wars -turn-based strategy game, and that it's being developed through a production collaboration with Bit Reactor, a studio that formed by veteran developers of the popular turn-based franchises XCOM and Civilization studio Firaxis Games. Respawn will be producing the title, while Bit Reactor will lead its development.

If turn-based titles aren't for you, and you are a Star Wars fan, don't worry, as this isn't the only Star Wars title currently in the works, as Respawn is working on a sequel to the Star Wars Jedi franchise. This sequel was announced in May 2022 under the title Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and last year, while publisher EA announced 700 layoffs across its company, EA Entertainment president Laura Miele stated that Respawn will be focussing its efforts on creating the upcoming title, along with providing support for Apex Legends.

Valve's Counter-Strike 2 is undoubtedly growing in popularity as the first-person shooter (FPS) has once again shattered the all-time high player peak record, according to the charts.

The latest figures sourced from SteamDB indicate Counter-Strike 2 has smashed through its previous record of 1.72 million players with a new figure of 1,824,989. Notably, this isn't the highest all-time peak player count for Steam since records started, as that title is still held by PUBG: Battlegrounds, and its 3,257,248 players.

PUBG is followed by Black Myth: Wukong with 2.4 million and then Palworld at 2.1 million. Counter-Strike 2 is currently sitting in fourth place with 1.82 million, and at the time of writing this, it currently has 1.6 million concurrent players, which is a little more than double PUBG's concurrent player count at 760,000.

The God of War franchise is about to turn 20-years old and in celebration of one of the most popular PlayStation franchises a new DLC is being released for God of War Ragnarok.

The first God of War game was released in 2005, and since then the franchise has gone through some major changes, with the most prominent being in 2018 when the game was rebooted. Notably, Santa Monica Studio game director Cory Barlog explained during the Raising Kratos behind the scenes that the chopping of the tree at the start of God of War 2018 was symbolic of the old franchise coming to an end and a new one beginning. Boy, was that a good decision, as God of War 2018 went on to win Game of the Year and breathe new life into the franchise.

The follow-up title released in 2022, God of War Ragnarok, while it didn't win Game of the Year, was still met with praise by fans, and won Best Narrative, Best Action/Adventure, losing Game of the Year to Elden Ring. Now, in celebration of how far the God of War franchise has come, PlayStation has announced a new DLC for Ragnarok - the Dark Odyssey Collection. The new DLC will be released on March 20 and will be free for all players that own a copy of God of War Ragnarok.

Recent speculation suggests that The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remake is coming - and fast. Rumors point to a possible April announcement and launch - an almost unheard of move in the games industry. While leaks hint at its legitimacy, there's another compelling reason to believe in a surprise launch: Todd Howard has wanted to do this for years.

At E3 2015, Howard took the stage to reveal Fallout 4. Not only did Bethesda showcase over 30 minutes of gameplay footage (a rarity for a launch announcement), but the real shocker was the release window - with the game being made available just four months later. This strategy went against the industry norm, where big-budget titles typically endure drawn-out marketing cycles spanning years.

As fans of Grand Theft Auto and The Elder Scrolls would know, the wait for new entries is often agonizing. Worse, when games finally do launch, they can be riddled with bugs, optimization issues, and cut content. But Fallout 4 proved that a shorter marketing cycle could work - and Howard has taken note.

Valve is rumored to release its SteamOS onto the desktop PC at any moment, seeing PC gamers freed from Windows and its bloatware, with SteamOS "almost here" according to a new post on X.

X user @SadlyItsBradley posted that SteamOS is "almost here" but made further comments that he "didn't make the image I posted above. it's the official generic splash screen for SteamOS general release (non-Steam Deck devices). Kathiel Rayna replied, saying"please tell me this isn't copium and indeed a public official SteamOS is gonna be a thing soon!"

@SadlyItsBradley replied, saying: "not copium. Valve pushed a ton of commits to prepare for SteamOS general public release".

Nintendo is going to fully unveil the Nintendo Switch 2 on April 2, where we can expect to get an official price for the highly anticipated console, along with a list of features.

Ahead of the official unveiling analysts have predicted the price tag Nintendo will be slapping on the upcoming console, with a new report from Bloomberg stating gamers should expect nothing below $400, which is $100 more than the original Nintendo Switch, which launched for $299. Tokyo-based analyst Serkan Toto spoke to Bloomberg and said regardless of the price Nintendo sets for the Switch 2 "boatloads" of units will be sold.

Additionally, the analyst said Nintendo has a "great software lineup for year one," as the new console will be paired with a new Mario Kart and a new 3D Mario, both of which haven't seen a new release in eight years. This can be translated to Mario Kario 9 and Super Mario Odyssey 2. Furthermore, Nintendo will be releasing Pokemon Legends: Z-A and Metroid Prime 4 on the Switch 2, adding even more software value to the upcoming console. The analyst also pointed out there is going to be big third-party support from day one, with blockbuster titles such as Call of Duty.

Ubisoft is reportedly planning to launch a new business that will be owned by multiple entities and designed to manage the company's biggest IPs, such as Assassin's Creed.

The situation at Ubisoft couldn't be more of a crisis, as it was only a few days ago the company was accused of withholding information from shareholders that sparked protests to be planned outside its Paris HQ, and now a new Bloomberg report has claimed Ubisoft is considering spawning a new entity with its minority stakeholder Tencent to manage several of its biggest IPs.

According to the report, the new business would manage IPs such as Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six, and FarCry, with Bloomberg writing that if the business came to fruition, it would likely be worth more than Ubisoft itself. This report comes after reported discussions between Ubisoft and Tencent about taking Ubisoft private, but one of the main hitches of those discussions was Ubisoft's founding Guillemot family wanting to remain in control of the company despite a significant investment by Tencent. It seems this new idea would be a workaround for both parties.

PlayStation has taken to its YouTube channel to share a new trailer for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, with the focus being on the Collector's Edition fans will be able to purchase.

Death Stranding 2: One the Beach recently received its pre-order trailer at SXSW, with legendary game director Hideo Kojima presenting the 10-minute trailer on stage. The trailer showcased quite a lot of what players can expect from the upcoming title, and at the end of the video, players can see the various editions of the game that can be purchased. The Collectors Edition is by far the highlight of the selection, so much so that it has now received its own dedicated trailer, giving a closer look at each of the items that come with it.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Collector's Edition comes with a full game digital download in the form of a code, the Collector's Box, 48-hour early access to On the Beach, art cards, a 15-inch Magellan Man Statue, and a letter from Hideo Kojima. Additionally, the Collector's Edition comes with various in-game items, all of which are listed down below.

Sony has expanded its cloud gaming support for the PlayStation Portal, with its latest update adding a large lineup of PSP and PS1 games to its cloud gaming catalog.

Prior to this, players were only able to access these titles through a PS5 console, whether that be through conventional play, or through the PS Portal using remote play. Now, gamers will be able to play the new catalog on the PS Portal entirely from the cloud - effectively cutting the consoles out of the equation.

The additions include almost the entire line-up of PS1 titles on PS Plus, including the original Twisted Metal series, Ape Escape, and Tekken 2. Players can jump into over 30 PSP titles, including Killzone Liberation, Everybody's Golf, and MediEvil Resurrection.

On a recent episode of the Xbox Podcast, Microsoft shared some of its plans regarding Copilot AI and the expansion of the Play Anywhere initiative. However, they also shed light on the fast-moving growth of cloud gaming in the Xbox ecosystem.

Microsoft's Vice President of Xbox Gaming devices and Ecosystem, Jason Ronald, highlighted that cloud gaming continues to grow exponentially.

He noted that for many players, cloud gaming could be the "first and the only way" they experience gaming on an Xbox. Given the industry's shift toward portability in 2025, it's understandable that greater accessibility means more players.

Just hours before the official unveiling of Rainbox Six Siege X a huge leak has occurred, seemingly revealing everything that will be unveiled at the launch event.

The source of the leak has been traced back to the Rainbox Six Siege Discord server, and have revealed an incredible amount of detail about what is soon to be announced. One of the biggest additions to Siege X is the new 6v6 mode called Dual Front, and according to the leak Ubisoft wants players to test it in an upcoming closed beta. However, not every player will have access to it, as the leak states the closed beta will be restricted to current-gen consoles and PC's capable of Ray-Tracing, which is NVIDIA's 20-series and AMD's RX 6000 series and above GPUs.

More details include massive changes to operators, such as Clash who will receive a big rework with the CCE Shield MK2, which can now be remotely picked up and activated. Additionally, Thunderbird is getting a change, with her Kona Station's now being able to recognize teammates and enemies, automatically healing allies while damaging enemies. The leak also revealed upcoming collaborations with Borderlands and the NBA, with Mozzie and IQ getting skins inspired by Borderlands, and details remaining unclear about the NBA crossover.

Sometimes gaming isn't about fast-paced, blood-pumping competitive titles, or even an RPG-esc story to sink your teeth into. Sometimes, it's simply about sitting back and relaxing.

PowerWash Simulator is probably the perfect example of that, and British studio FuturLab has announced a sequel to its popular title, PowerWash Simulator 2. The new trailer has been posted to the developer's YouTube channel and shows several improvements over the first game. PowerWash Simulator 2 will also come with four-player online co-op with shared progression, and a two-player local split-screen option.

Eurogamer reports the new title will come with a Central Homebase hub for players' power washing business, which will come with customization options so players can personalize their workplace with their own furnishings, rewards, and items. Moreover, PowerWash Simulator 2 will come with a new full campaign that will continue on from the first game's ending. PowerWash Simulator 2 also comes with a clear step up in the graphics department compared to the first game.

Nintendo has reportedly already made nearly half a million Nintendo Switch 2 units, and they have already been shipped to the US.

According to reports from Universo Nintendo, which cites recent statements from LiC on the Famiboards forums, which has been tracking shipments of cartons and instruction manuals, Nintendo has already completed 383,000 Nintendo Switch 2 units. These units have reportedly already been shipped to the US between January 17 and January 22, meaning they have likely already arrived on US soil. LiC goes on to claim these boxes were all tagged with US/Canada region code and were also accompanied by 41,598 units of the charging grip.

LiC states a Vietnamese manufacturer called HVBG that, was contracted by Nintendo, shipped these units, and the Switch 2's charging grip product code is BEE-A-ESSKA, which is similar to the Switch 1's charging grip's product code HAC-A-ESSKA. The info doesn't stop there as LiC states HVBG has already received 1.7 million units of the one-per-system parts, such as the System-on-Chip (SoC) and screen as of December last year, with 100% of those soon-to-be-completed systems expected to arrive in the US after completion.