Gaming - Page 178

The Gear of War rumors are swirling, and the latest comes from MiddleAgeGaming, who claims to have sources from within The Coalition, the developers of the Gears of War games.

MiddleAgeGaming confirms previous rumors that a Gears of War Collection is in the works and adds that an announcement is expected in June this year. The above video states that the upcoming collection will consist of the first three Gears of War games: 1, 2, and 3. The collection is going to be arriving on Xbox, PC, and, as previously rumored, PlayStation, which would mark the first time Xbox has brought over Gears of War to the competing platform.

More specifically, MiddleAgeGaming states the Gears of War Collection will be PS5 Pro Enhanced, which leads us to believe it will be a full remaster of the first three titles, as Sony requires a certain level of graphical/performance improvements for the enhanced label to be given. Those requirements are 4K Upscaling via PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), 60FPS performance, Advanced Ray Tracing features, etc.

The Witcher 4 trailer was released last month, offering our first glimpse of Ciri as the grizzled, battle-worn protagonist of the acclaimed franchise. Stunningly pre-rendered in Unreal Engine 5, the footage provided a cinematic exploration of the game's themes-ones that often lean into moral ambiguity and the idea that everyone is a monster.

On an episode of the AnsweRED podcast, Witcher 4 trailer director Tomek Suwalski, producer Magdalena Rudnicka, and Witcher 4 game director Sebastian Kalemba sat down to discuss the inspirations behind the trailer - particularly the influences that span beyond the books.

He highlighted how, through the typical marketing pipeline for a game, it's common for teams to skew towards action. Soundtracks filled with loud bangs, relentless movement and explosions on screen. For The Witcher 4, CD Projekt Red opted for the opposite approach.

As reported by Insider Gaming, a player has already been caught streaming Battlefield Labs - almost immediately after it opened for a two-hour closed playtest.

Participation in Battlefield Labs comes with strict conditions, reportedly outlined in an email prohibiting players from recording, streaming, or discussing any details about the test. To gain access, players must opt into a confidentiality agreement, ensuring the closed test environment remains private. However, a rogue user named @anto_merguezz ignored these restrictions and streamed gameplay on Twitch, publicly revealing footage of the early test session.

Footage has already surfaced onto Imgur, showcasing general gameplay, and in-game destruction. Along with multiple recordings on X and YouTube.

Reputable leaker Billbil-Kun has reported new details about Death Stranding 2, claiming that 'pre-orders are imminent', while also providing information on the game's physical editions and pricing.

As outlined on Dealabs, "all signs are green" for an imminent release date announcement. Hideo Kojima, along with Norman Reedus, Woodkid, and Troy Baker, are scheduled to appear in a live-streamed panel at SXSW 2025 in Texas on March 9 at 4 PM CT. Given the timing, it's highly likely that the official release date will be revealed during this event.

The leak also confirms that Death Stranding 2 will launch with a physical Standard Edition, priced at $69.99 USD / 69.99 EUR, along with a Collector's Edition planned for North America and Europe, retailing at $229 USD.

The team from Battlefield Labs has shared their first community update, highlighting the key features they'll be testing in-game. As detailed in an X post, the first playtesting sessions will focus on gunplay and movement, while also gauging testing server stability and performance.

As outlined in the post, the team is focused on tuning core combat and movement systems early on. One goal is to ensure gameplay rewards complexity at higher skill levels while also making the gameplay experience intuitive and approachable for new players.

Some of the key changes include a reduced input delay for bullet registration, ensuring that shooting feels more responsive on a millisecond-to-millisecond basis. DICE also emphasizes that they are optimizing for a 60Hz tick rate across all platforms to improve hit registration, movement, and damage feedback.

Since its release in 2022, Starfield has received a lukewarm reception from fans for a mainline Bethesda title. In fact, many believe the game's greatest potential lies in its suitability as a Star Wars experience.

A dedicated team of modders has been working to do just that - with Star Wars: Genesis - a total conversion mod that transforms nearly every aspect of the game into a Star Wars RPG. First released in August 2024, Genesis introduces an entirely new main story, new factions, NPCs, cities, adjusted voice lines, weapons, force powers, and more.

Footage of the mod shows off exactly how well Bethesda's open-world formula works in the Star Wars universe: blasting stormtroopers, hijacking TIE fighters, and bartering in Coruscant cantinas. It even improves on some of Starfield's biggest flaws, reducing loading screens, rebalancing combat, and adding more variety to the game's repetitive points of interest.

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (2002) is widely considered one of the great precursors to the modern first-person shooter genre. Featuring a film-like (for its time) cinematic experience and influential designers like Vince Zampella and Adam West, the game fundamentally shaped the FPS landscape.

In a recent interview on the Old Dogs podcast, former Medal of Honor: Allied Assault developers Nathan Silvers and Benson Russell sat down to discuss their time working on the famous shooter. They didn't mince words on the chaos, long nights, and outright absurdity that went into developing one of the most influential FPS games of its era.

That passion, while sometimes leading to heated clashes, also fueled innovation. With limited resources and hardware restrictions, the team constantly had to find creative workarounds-sometimes leading to hilarious, unintended results. For instance, they described a bug turned a bush into a fully functional AI enemy:

Kojima Productions, in collaboration with PlayStation, have scheduled a special panel for Death Stranding 2, which is set to take place at SXSW 2025 on March 9th in Austin, Texas, and will be available for live-streaming at 4 PM CDT.

The star-studded lineup features Hideo Kojima, Norman Reedus, Troy Baker, who'll be appearing on stage alongside musician Woodkid to discuss new details about the upcoming game, which is set to arrive on PS5 later this year. While it's unknown exactly what will be revealed at the show, the panel will provide some free-flowing discussion about the new title.

Five months ago at TGS 2024, Kojima and the Death Stranding 2 development took to the stage in Tokyo, showing off 9 minutes of footage - including cutscenes, 'photo shoot events', and an in-game motion capture performance. He also dived into more details about the characters and gameplay mechanics, emphasizing that it'll be "an even weirder game than [Death Stranding]."

Following a recent post on LinkedIn, Titanfall and Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment has reportedly scrapped yet another unannounced FPS title, adding to the acclaimed studio's growing list of canceled projects.

The post, which has since been removed, came from Emilee Evans, a former executive assistant at Respawn, who wrote:

While little information is available regarding the project, Respawn had spent the past few years hiring for an incubation team, searching specifically for experience in multiplayer shooters. Some speculate that the project was linked to a new IP, while others believe that it may have been Titanfall 3. Nonetheless, the project was axed before it was even announced, much to the disappointment of fans hoping for a new installment to the franchise.

David Jaffe, the creator of God of War and Twisted Metal, has stepped up in defense of Starfield, taking to social media to voice his support for the 2022 title. He highlights that Starfield is undeserving of hate and that, in his eyes, the game is one of the best - if not the best - single-player narratives in gaming.

Jaffe is no stranger to hot takes. Last year, he shared his opinions on the modern reboot of God of War, describing Kratos' son Atreous as a 'terrible character', while critiquing the tendency for modern game developers to 'smell their own farts'. Whether his takes on Starfield are intentionally contrarian or reflect his genuine viewpoints is up for debate. However, one thing's clear - Starfield has been a divisive launch.

Starfield currently holds an 83 on Metacritic. Despite a generally favorable score among critics, the sentiment isn't quite shared among fans. Commonly cited criticisms relate to the excessive loading screens, uninspired gameplay, and the over-reliance on procedural generation. While Bethesda is working towards reversing the trend, releasing Shattered Space in 2024 and with future updates planned for 2025, the sentiment among fans has some way to go before becoming a Cyberpunk 2077 or No Man's Sky-style redemption story.

Ubisoft is gearing up for the release of Assassin's Creed Shadows and has taken to its official YouTube channel to showcase the stealth and combat mechanics of both protagonists.

The video showcases the differences between the two characters, with Naoe being the true assassin type with agile movement, quieter footsteps, slick assassinations of enemy NPCs, and parkour abilities, while Yasuke is more of a hardened, brutalist samurai who assassinates his enemies with savage finishers, carries a long bow instead of kunai knives, and really struggles with climbing and staying quiet, but makes up for this lack of mobility with his adept fighting skills.

The idea of the video is to demonstrate the differences between each of the protagonists' playstyles ahead of the scheduled launch on March 20th, as players will now have a solid idea of who they want to play before they are presented with the choice in-game. Naoe uses the shadows to her advantage while also taking down enemy combatants through cloak-and-dagger strategies, such as utilizing heights, kunai, and stealth mechanics. As for Yasuke, his methods, while still by definition involving stealth, are much more brutish and likely to attract attention from other enemies.

If you are one to keep your Xbox up to date, then you may want to beware of the latest patch, as reports have surfaced it's causing Xbox consoles to be reset back to factory settings.

Xbox owners who have opted into the Insider program, which enables entered-in consoles to receive updates before they have reached the public, are reporting a faulty update that is causing Xbox profiles to be removed, console settings to be reset, and Quick Resume data to also be removed. Notably, the Xbox Insiders program is split into two tiers, Alpha, and Alpha Skip-Ahead. Reports indicate users in both of these tiers are experiencing these issues with the latest update.

Users are taking to Reddit to voice their concerns, with one user writing in the /r/XboxInsiders subreddit, "Came home to my Xbox today after work and found my console had factory reset itself after it automatically downloaded update 2504.250227-2200. Biggest bug I've ever seen release in all my years of being in the preview program!"

The Gears of War Collection is rumored to be releasing without multiplayer PVP, but will come with co-op functionality in its campaign, according to industry insider Detective Seeds.

The rumors surrounding the Gears of War Collection began when Detective Seeds, who is mostly known for sharing deals related to games on X, shook things up by posting an announced Gears of War Collection will be released on PlayStation in mid-August and it will be arriving without multiplayer. If true, this would mark the first time Microsoft has gatekept the multiplayer of a ported-over title from PlayStation users.

While the source of the news wasn't totally credible, the post caused enough stir for JezCorden, a journalist for Windows Central and a known source for insider news, to chime in and say he's been hearing the same thing - no PVP multiplayer for Gears of War Collection.

Minecraft Dungeons was released in 2020, and since then, it has moved more than 25 million copies, which is a pretty good indicator that a sequel would be in consideration by the developers Mojang.

While there hasn't been anything official about a Minecraft Dungeons sequel, a new leak from reliable Marvel Rivals insider, XoX_LEAK states a sequel to Minecraft Dungeons has been in development for two years under the codename "Project Spicewood". Additionally, the leaker wrote in a recent X post that Mojang is targeting the release to be sometime in Q2 2026. Moreover, the leaker states the sequel will have a variety of main areas and points of interest for players to explore, with some of the names being: Honeycomb Fields, Desert, and Forest.

Within Honeycomb Fields player can expect the following POIs: Undermill, Farm, Island, Lake, Fields, and Forest. Within Desert: Cliff, Fortress, Mountain, Village, and Icelagoon. Within Forest: Deep dark entrance, Outpost entrance, Witchzone, and Shady Forest Town. Giving the post some more credibility was seemingly some leaked images. One of some gameplay and the other some artwork.

AYANEO has created several impressive PC gaming handhelds in recent years, with products packed with the latest hardware and specs to rival some of the most advanced portable devices on the market. It's latest takes a different approach, one steeped in retro gaming history with a look and feel inspired by Nintendo's popular pocket-sized Game Boy Micro handheld from 2025.

The AYANEO Pocket MICRO Classic even ships with the popular deep red and gold color scheme of the Game Boy Micro and Nintendo's iconic Game & Watch handhelds from the early 1980s. It is a modern portable Android gaming handheld with a larger 3.5-inch screen than the Game Boy Micro's 2-inch display.

The IPS display features a resolution of 960x640, 330PPI pixel density, and 100% sRGB coverage, making it perfect for emulating GBA titles with 4X the native resolution. It's no secret that this device was built for playing retro titles and classic games as the CNC full metal body only includes a D-Pad and four face buttons.

FragPunk is a new free-to-play hero shooter launching this week, with the game's unique spin on the genre being the addition of powerup cards to collect and play that will transform your character on the battlefield. From giving everyone a big head (to make it easier to get headshots) through to turning your bullets into fire or chain lightning, it sounds fun, but time will tell if it finds an audience. Visually, it looks a lot like Arcane.

The game is launching with full DLSS 4 support, including the new transformer model for DLSS Super Resolution, Frame Generation, and the latest Multi Frame Generation (MFG) technology exclusive to the new GeForce RTX 50 Series. As with all new and notable DLSS titles, NVIDIA has presented internal benchmark results for FragPunk showcasing native rendering and DLSS performance.

However, as impressive as 500 FPS in 4K and 625 FPS in 1440p on the GeForce RTX 5090 sound, it's not a practical or realistic stat because displays with these refresh rates don't exist. If you've got a GeForce RTX 5090, you'll want to cap Frame Generation performance in 4K so it matches your display's refresh rate.

GeForce Game Ready Driver 572.70 is here, and the big thing it adds is support for the new GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, which launches this week with prices starting from $549. To look at how it performs in 1440p gaming, check out our full review of the GeForce RTX Founders Edition here. As our review went live ahead of the launch, to see how it stacks up against the Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT, be sure to check out our review of the GIGABYTE Radeon RX 9070 GAMING OC here.

Outside of new hardware this week, Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced made its PC debut, with the most popular game of all time adding support for ray-traced ambient occlusion, ray-traced global illumination lighting, ray-traced shadows, and ray-traced reflections. That's a lot of ray-tracing, and GeForce RTX gamers also gain access to DLSS Super Resolution support and NVIDIA Reflex. GeForce Game Ready Driver 572.70 adds day one support for this free GTA 5 upgrade.

The latest GeForce Game Ready Driver also adds support for a brand-new free-to-play game dropping tomorrow with DLSS 4 support and fixes the recent "black screen" issue reported by several GeForce RTX owners.

The voice actor for Black Panther in the upcoming Marvel 1943: Rise of the Hydra has revealed when the game is slated for release.

According to Khary Payton, the voice actor for Black Panther, the developers at Skydance New Media are currently still working hard at bringing to life the upcoming game, but it appears the development is getting reasonably close to the end, as Payton said in a recent interview with The Direct that "We're planning on 2025... We're thinking like a Christmas situation." For those who have happened to miss Marvel 1943: Rise of the Hydra, the game is being developed in Unreal Engine 5 and was originally unveiled at the Games Developers Conference (GDC) by Epic Games.

The game is set to take players back to the 1940s when Captain America and Azzuri, T'Challa's grandfather and the Black Panther of the 1940s, will need to overcome their differences and form an alliance to confront their common enemy. Furthermore, the above trailer shows both hereos fighting each other and alongside one another, with the additional of Gabrial Jones of the Howling Commandos and Nanali, a Wakandan spy embedded in Occupied Paris.

Following the hit performance of Metaphor: ReFantazio, and the combination of decades' worth of sales and RPG mastery, SEGA says that Atlus is a critical part of its games business.

Atlus is one of the most celebrated game-makers on the planet, and for good reason: The devs have significantly innovated the RPG space with their games that span entire console generations. SEGA took notice of Atlus with an acquisition in 2013, and since then, Atlus has become a consistent earner through its dedicated fanbase.

While SEGA undoubtedly realizes Atlus' value (they see the full extent of game sales, costs, and profits) it's still great to see a global media company recognize core talent. In a recent Q&A with investors, SEGA leadership says that Atlus will continue to be supported over time. The Persona series has become a best-seller with nearly 24 million copies sold to date.

One analyst thinks that Rockstar Games could have a $100 option for GTA 6 at launch, or sell the game at a blanket $100 MSRP with bonus online currency for GTA Online.

GTA 6 could indeed be priced at $100 when it launches, Wedbush Securities managing director of equity research Michael Pachter has told investors in a recent research note. In the note, which was seen by VGC, Pachter says:

Rockstar has actually separated its online components from its mainline games, with both GTA Online and Red Dead Online being sold separately for ~$19.99 each. It's also unclear how fans of the mission-based campaigns would react to having to pay extra money for currency they may not use.