Gaming News - Page 1800

All the latest gaming news, with everything related to PlayStation releases (PS4 & PS5), Xbox, PC Games, Nintendo Switch & plenty more - Page 1800.

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Star Citizen blows through the $50 million milestone, isn't slowing

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 21, 2014 4:27 AM CDT

It wasn't even a month ago that Star Citizen had reached its $48 million funding goal, but now it hasn't just broken through $50 million, but it is half way through $51 million sitting at $21,523,485 at the time of writing.

The $50 million milestone unlocked Alien Languages, which will see Star Citizen gamers enjoying alien languages in the game. RSI explains: "Do you speak Banu? We will work with real-world linguists to create distinctive and realistic alien languages for Star Citizen's three biggest alien races, the Vanduul, the Xi'An and the Banu. No universal translators, no garbled animal noises: Star Citizen's aliens will be speaking their own authentic languages!"

When Star Citizen hit $51 million, it saw the Web-based Known Universe Map unlocked, which is "The platform web team priority will be shifted to making the Known Universe Map available." The $52 million goal will be hit without a problem, where we'll see "The BB-12 is a brand new Manned Maneuvering Unit from Azure Sky Aero. Whether you are engaging in precision mining operations or delicate salvage retrieval, the BB-12 is capable of EVA operation for six uninterrupted hours. This new model features twenty-four precision nozzle thrusters and two redesigned heavy-duty tanks of gaseous nitrogen propellant, capable of being hot-swapped while on the drift or refueled back on the ship. With the BB-12, Azure Sky has once again cemented their place as the premier EVA tech provider."

Continue reading: Star Citizen blows through the $50 million milestone, isn't slowing (full post)

Tegra K1-exclusive effects hit Half-Life 2, Portal on Shield tablet

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 20, 2014 11:31 PM CDT

NVIDIA's new Tegra K1-powered Shield tablet is now available in the select markets, with the company announcing that it has unveiled new Tegra K1-exclusive effects to two of Valve's most popular titles: Half-Life 2 and Portal.

These new Tegra K1-exclusive effects bring the mobile versions of the game to be "just as visually rich as the full PC editions of the game". NVIDIA says that these new effects include "render-to-texture shadows, bump mapping, specular highlights, motion blur, and higher-quality texture filtering".

Both of the new Tegra K1-powered titles are optimized to play well on the new Shield tablet, thanks to its optional ultra-low-latency Wi-Fi Direct Shield wireless controller.

Continue reading: Tegra K1-exclusive effects hit Half-Life 2, Portal on Shield tablet (full post)

Sony does not 'completely understand' the crazy demand for its PS4

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 20, 2014 12:24 AM CDT

With only nine months on the market, Sony has sold over 10 million PlayStation 4 consoles - a number that is far beyond most people's predictions on Sony's fourth-generation console. Sony's Worldwide Studios for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., Shuhei Yoshida, sat down with Eurogamer for a chat, where he had some interesting things to say.

Yoshida was asked about the 10 million PS4s sold milestone, where he said: "The 10m sell through in the first nine months is well beyond what we had hoped for. As you know, we have struggled to keep up with demand of PS4 for so many months. It was hard to find and purchase PS4. Now we are able to supply units so in every territory I believe you can find PS4. So we just managed to catch up with demand".

"It's just beyond our imagination. We are so happy. But I for one am a bit nervous because we do not completely understand what's happening. You need to understand why your products are selling well so you can plan for the future, right? It defied the conventional thinking. Lots of people thought the dedicated game hardware might not be needed going forward, but still lots of people are very excited. When you see the new games coming out and being announced this E3 and Gamescom, I think there's a good enough reason for a gamer to believe this is something worth investing in."

Continue reading: Sony does not 'completely understand' the crazy demand for its PS4 (full post)

New King's Quest game from Sierra is a 'contemporary reboot'

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 18, 2014 1:31 AM CDT

For those of you who remember King's Quest, you may begin to get excited that Sierra has a small team working on a 'contemporary reboot' of the super-classic point-and-click adventure game from way back when. Activision's MacLean Marshall talked with Game Informer about Sierra coming back from the grave, and King's Quest - our first details on the game.

Activision unveiled the revival of the Sierra brand at Gamescom last week, where the company has some big plans for Sierra's titles - old, and even new creations. Marshall talked with Game Informer about the new project, and how the company is bringing back Sierra. Marshall said: "There's one piece of the puzzle, which is that Sierra was a brand that we acquired with Vivendi. It's been dormant and there wasn't a place for it, and we didn't know what we were going to do with it. Then, over the however many years, everyone's been watching this indie movement. There was that angle, where we had this really nostalgic brand that most gamers to varying degrees by age know. We wanted to find a way to expand our digital portfolio".

Game Informer also talked with Marshall about the new King's Quest, which is being developed by The Odd Gentlemen. Marshall said: "They are doing a contemporary reboot of King's Quest. It's not just an HD port. But that's not also to say that, maybe King's Quest is or isn't the right one, that's not on the table, too. It could be HD remakes of original Sierra content. It could be contemporary reimaginings of the old Sierra IPs. It could be stuff that's new, kick-***, awesome IP that has nothing to do with the old Sierra brand, but will be a Sierra thing when it launches". The gameplay for the new King's Quest will be a big departure from what you remember, with Marshall teasing: "There's not much I can say about King's Quest. All I can say is that I've seen it, and it's not a point-and-click game. But it looks *** awesome".

Continue reading: New King's Quest game from Sierra is a 'contemporary reboot' (full post)

Blizzard teases the possibility of World of Warcraft II

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 16, 2014 1:39 AM CDT

Could it be? A sequel to an ever-changing online game that has been around for over 10 years and still dominates the charts, making $1 billion in revenue for 2013?

Game Informer asked World of Warcraft's Game Director, Tom Chilton, about the possibilities of a sequel to World of Warcraft. Chilton replied: "Definitely. It's something we have talked about. It's something we have talked about for ten years. I think that there are a lot of challenges there in seeing how World of Warcraft II relates to World of Warcraft, do they live alongside each other, does one feed into the other, what is that product, etc. These are challenges that have to be figured out before that becomes a reality".

What do you think of a sequel to World of Warcraft? Do you want to see it happen? Or would you want to see Blizzard just continue to evolve World of Warcraft, just as it has been doing for the past decade?

Continue reading: Blizzard teases the possibility of World of Warcraft II (full post)

Silent Hills has the potential to be one of the best horror games ever

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 15, 2014 8:26 PM CDT

When the world found out about Silent Hills, we didn't know what to expect exactly. A return to the usual mechanics of Silent Hill, or something completely new? Well, luckily there is a "Playable Teaser" available for the PS4, providing just that - an amazing tease of things to come.

As you can see, Hideo Kojima wasn't lying when he said Silent Hills would make you 's**t your pants'. This teaser looks absolutely incredible, almost to the point where it could sell PlayStation 4 consoles on its own. Now imagine this game working with Project Morpheus, Sony's VR headset. Better yet, Kojima has announced that Metal Gear Solid 5 is coming to the PC, so imagine Oculus Rift support if it arrived on the PC.

I had actually found this walkthrough on Reddit, with one of the comments on there from 'EvenArrantzier' where he said: "I've got a sweet 110 inch projection screen and surround sound. Six 15 inch speakers spread out around the ceiling. It was fucking perfect. I'd hear the noises all around me. They really did a great job with the sound. I played for three hours with two of my friends, in a completely dark room. We spent the night screaming and yelping with fear. It didn't become any less scary despite knowing the layout and mechanics of the game. It remained as unnerving and frightening as the first ten minutes. And not a word of a lie, I swear to fuck, at one point my friend yelped, farted, and had to go to the bathroom to make sure he hadn't shit his pants. We all agree that demo was the single most terrifying thing any of us had ever experienced".

Continue reading: Silent Hills has the potential to be one of the best horror games ever (full post)

Microsoft reportedly used PCs to promote console games at Gamescom

Michael Hatamoto | Aug 15, 2014 1:36 PM CDT

Both Microsoft and Sony were reportedly running some game demos at Gamescom 2014 using powerful custom-built PCs to display console games. Live game demonstrations of "Ori" and "Blind Forest" crashed to the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system, and the PCs appear to be powered by NVIDIA instead of AMD GPUs, according to reports.

It's not uncommon for game studios, even when promoting console games, to use PCs to help enhance the demonstration experience for attendees. However, even if the game is available on all next-generation consoles and the PC, gamers will often call out the studio if graphics and gameplay don't replicate what was originally shown to them.

During public demoes, companies are tasked with providing lightning-fast gameplay mixed with pretty graphics to entice gamers and media. It seems both companies have been caught doing this over the past few years, eager to demonstrate their latest and greatest console games - but using PCs instead of their own products to get the job done.

Continue reading: Microsoft reportedly used PCs to promote console games at Gamescom (full post)

Ubisoft promises an improved focus for its PC gamers

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 15, 2014 3:24 AM CDT

Ubisoft is in a tough spot with PC gamers right now, but is the company finally starting to see the light? Probably not, but it is promising that it is trying to focus more on the PC, in the form of simplified DRM activation, and a better commitment to multi-platform releases.

During an interview with MVC, Ubisoft's European boss Alain Corre said: "We listen to feedback from players and continue to adapt accordingly. For instance, we switched to a simple, one-time activation for our PC games; a standard practice in the industry. We're also doing our best to bring our games to PC at the same time as the console versions".

We should begin to see the fruits of Ubisoft's labor in its upcoming titles, two of the biggest releases of the year: Assassin's Creed Unity, and Far Cry 4. Corre has said that the company is seeing an increase in revenue from the PC side of things, with its PC market growing from 11% in 2013 to 15% this year. Corre continued: "We recognise the importance and needs of PC gamers, and want to continue to improve how we create and support games for PC. We are committed to improving the optimisation of our games for each platform on which they're released, including PC".

Continue reading: Ubisoft promises an improved focus for its PC gamers (full post)

Activision has the 'freedom to fail' with 3-year cycle on Call of Duty

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 15, 2014 1:27 AM CDT

During an interview with Joystiq at Gamescom, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg said that the three-year cycle that the Call of Duty franchise finds itself in, is something its audience is used to. But even though we see a game released every year, we have three studios working on the franchise at all times.

Hirshberg explained: "That extra year of development time, particularly with the new consoles and the more powerful hardware, has really paid off thus far to iterate, innovate and try new things. To find out which things didn't work and have the freedom to fail in the creative process, so what goes on the disc is the best ideas".

It's interesting to see that the company knows it has the ability to fail, with Hirshberg continuing: "The thing that the three-year development cycle allows is these games have gotten so ambitious, we're packing so many different modes of play onto the disc. The things that started off as flyers, like zombies or co-op became their own whole games". Hirshberg says that even though the franchise is annualized, the structure it has for Call of Duty sees that the quality of the series is sustainable. He finished off by saying "Activision has a narrative that doesn't match the reality, which is quite potent".

Continue reading: Activision has the 'freedom to fail' with 3-year cycle on Call of Duty (full post)

NVIDIA supercharges Metro Redux with GPU-accelerated PhysX effects

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 14, 2014 2:28 AM CDT

In just a couple of months time, 4A Games will launch its Metro Redux, which sees remastered versions of two of the most popular first-person shooters of the last few years: Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light.

NVIDIA is backing this new remastered copy, so on top of the enhanced graphics, countless changes within the game, we can expect GPU-accelerated PhysX effects thanks to NVIDIA's technology. 4A Games have painstakingly changed so much of the two games, with improved geometry, encounters, lighting, and even how levels themselves end and transition.

The biggest change is going to come from Metro 2033, which will receive a graphics engine overhaul, with PnP tessellation, and some gameplay refinements that were found in Metro: Last Light. The PC side of things will see "higher-resolution textures, higher-quality effects, greater levels of PnP tessellation, support for 4K resolutions, and most significantly, re-tooled NVIDIA GPU-accelerated PhysX effects built using PhysX 3.x, the latest version of the critically acclaimed physics software".

Continue reading: NVIDIA supercharges Metro Redux with GPU-accelerated PhysX effects (full post)