Gaming News - Page 1796

While most news for Sony is about the hack against it by North Korea, or so the US government alleges, the Japanese giant is out there teasing its next-gen console. Yes, the PlayStation 5 has been mentioned, and it's about damn time.

Sony Computer Entertainment Executive Vice President, Masayasu Ito, talked with the online version of the Nikkei Shinbun, talked about his thoughts on the next generation PlayStation. He said that he thinks there will be a PlayStation 5, but he's not sure in what form it'll arrive. He teased that it could be a physical console in the form of the PS5, or it could be an even better device sitting in the cloud.

Ito said "I think there will be a PS5. However, I don't know what form it'll have. It could be a physical console, or it could be in the cloud. But even if the form might change, PS5 Games will be born. This is what we want." Now I'm two minds about this, especially with what has happened lately with Sony. On one hand, being in the cloud would stop a lot of the hardware issues holding us back, seeing a next-gen console barely do 1080p 30FPS would just be disastrous. On the other hand, if everything is in the cloud and Sony gets hacked... well, we know how that has turned out lately.

Kevin "Frank Underwood" Spacey may have been the big draw card for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare when it launched, but the latest DLC for Activision's super-popular first-person shooter has some massive stars lining up to lend their talent.

These stars include The Walking Dead's Jon Bernthal, John Malkovich, Bill Paxton, and Rose McGowan. Why the new DLC? Exo Zombies, that's why. Also, probably lots, and lots of money being given to these stars for their time in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Just in time for the holidays, some star-studded Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare DLC.

When NVIDIA unveiled its Maxwell architecture in September, we were thoroughly impressed. Even the high-end GPUs were able to sip power, while providing an immense amount of power. Well, the time has come for the mid-range GPUs to come out and surprise with the rumors of a GeForce GTX 960 announcement continuing, something we should hear about next month.

The new Maxwell-based GeForce GTX 960 is reportedly set for an announcement on January 22, 2015 - a new GPU that would feature a single 6-pin PCIe connector. This means the GeForce GTX 960 would only consume a total of 150W, down from the 165W required on the high-end GeForce GTX 980. We should see third-party cards from the likes of ZOTAC, ASUS, GIGABYTE and others that will ramp things up with custom coolers and increased power requirements, but the reference GTX 960 will sip between 100-120W with a total TDP of 150W.

Where things will get interesting is how competitive NVIDIA prices the GTX 960 in the market, where we should expect a price in the US of between $200-$250, which should begin to push AMD up against the wall. AMD has plenty of cards in the mid-range GPU market, with the Radeon R9 285, R9 280, and then the slightly more expensive R9 280X and R9 290s, but NVIDIA could really start taking away some of those Radeon sales with this new GeForce GTX 960. Especially if it could release it at $199, it could be the card to buy for the first half of 2015.

Microsoft and Sony are clashing with their Xbox One and PlayStation 4 game consoles, while Nintendo quietly develops ideas for a new generation game console, according to Shigeru Miyamoto. It's not uncommon for companies to quickly begin development of a new game console while actively promoting its current offering - but plans typically remain quiet, with company executives not discussing anything with the media.

"For the time being, our focus is on the Wii U hardware, but Nintendo as a whole has groups working on ideas for new hardware systems," Miyamoto said in an interview with the AP. "While we're busy working on software for the Wii U, we have production lines that are working on ideas for what the next system might be."

It's possible the next Mario game could be saved until the next Nintendo console platform is made available - but the gaming world will have to wait for confirmation.

It will be fun to see analyst sales figures for console sales after Christmas, as Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House admits the Xbox One is giving the PlayStation 4 a run for its money. Even though sales are described as "in line" with Sony's previous expectations, the cheaper price tag for the Xbox One has led to a significant sales bump for Microsoft.

The Xbox One starts at $350 in the United States, while the PS4 is available starting at $400. The $50 price cut was announced in November and will continue to January 3, 2015.

It appears to be a good time to be a console gamer, as both companies also have several appealing console/game bundles available. Expect continued price cuts and increased competition from both companies in 2015, while they try to woo gamers to their respective platforms.

Capcom has announced that the upcoming PlayStation 4 and PC exclusive Street Fighter 5 is being built around Epic Games' very gorgeous Unreal Engine 4 technology.

Bochan Kim, a Producer with Capcom said in a press release from Epic Games "Our goal with the next generation of Street Fighter is to take our beloved fighting game franchise and bring it to our fans in the best way possible. In order to fully deliver on that promise, we know we have to incorporate the latest and greatest technology available, which is why we partnered with Epic Games to power Street Fighter V using Unreal Engine 4." Territory Manager of Epic Games Japan, Taka Kawasaki said "This opportunity to help the development team using Unreal Engine 4 for the new title is a great honor for Epic, and I couldn't be more proud."

Fighting games seem to be adopting Unreal Engine 4 more, with Bandai Namco announcing back in July that Tekken 7 would be powered by Unreal Engine 4. Expect the Unreal Engine 4-powered Street Fighter 5 to hit the PS4 and PC sometime next year, which will support cross-platform play between the PS4 and PC.

Sony has been in the headlines for all of the wrong reasons in recent weeks, but at least the company's gaming unit has something to cheer about. The PlayStation 4 has seen such high demand in Europe, Sony reportedly has struggled to keep up with European demand.

"If I look at Europe I think it is potentially, for the second year running, going to be quite inventory challenged," said Andrew House, Sony Computer Entertainment CEO, in a statement to Reuters. "I'm not going to say you won't be able to find a PlayStation 4. I think it's going to be kind of hand to mouth in terms of that market."

In the United States market, however, Sony admitted to "tougher" competition due to Microsoft's aggressive Xbox One game console. However, Sony believes sales through Christmas are still in line with its preliminary expectations - and reports will likely be published in early 2015.

Busted! Oscar Ramirez, 48, was caught by Port Authority Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials trying to smuggle a .22-caliber semi-automatic handgun inside of a Sony PlayStation 2 game console. Ramirez was attempting to fly from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City to Mexico City Mexico, but the Brooklyn man was caught before getting onboard.

Things didn't look right when the console went through x-ray, and officers found the weapon's hand grip and other parts inside of the bottom of the console housing. Ramirez now faces a weapons charge for trying to take the hand gun with him.

The TSA has found 2,100 weapons during airport checkpoints so far in 2013, a 16 percent increase year-over-year.

Since the dawn of eSports, poor old Oceania has been heavily neglected in receiving invites, qualifiers or any chances to enter global gaming competitions. In a move to capture a new audience, HiRez Studios have just announced that players from this region will now have the ability to qualify for the Smite world championships, season 2.

This free, Multilayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) 3rd-person game has begun a massive push into the Australian market - after a positive showing at PAX Australia 2014 and the recent acquisition of well-known fighting games player and organizer Daniel Chlebowczyk, they're looking to give the locals something that they've been wanting for ages - international exposure.

Australian and New Zealand-based teams will qualify through an online tournament, conducted on CyberGamer - leading to an Oceanic finals and then eventually the global event.

There have been a few videos floating around the Internet comparing Techland's upcoming zombie survival shooter, with claims that Dying Light has been graphically downgraded. We've seen it before with Ubisoft's titles, such as Watch Dogs and The Division, but now the claims of Dying Light have PC gamers in a fit, and rightly so.

Techland's Paul Milewski spoke with GamingBolt, where he said "If you compare the 2103 footage to any of the material released lately, you can clearly see major improvements. Downgraded? Not a chance. Just look at the latest interactive footage released by us a couple of days ago." Milewski added "Also, consider that most of the recent media and YouTuber gameplay that's out there is all on PCs that we have no idea what's in them. And yet they all look better compared to the 2013 promo material which was recorded on a high-end PC at the time."

Dying Light hits the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC next month.