Gaming News - Page 1801

Sony has reported a nice $2.77 billion in sales for its Game and Network Services division, which is where the PlayStation just so happens to live. These sales represent an 83.2% increase year-over-year, which is all thanks to the PlayStation 4.

PlayStation 4 shipments totalled 3.3 million for the quarter, reaching a total of 13.5 million. When it came to operating income for Sony's Games and Network Services Division, it was at $195 million, compared to the $43 million for the last quarter, and up from the $37.6 million loss from the same three-month period of 2013.

Sony may be seeing success on the gaming side of its business, the company as a whole isn't doing too well, with operating losses of $766 million. The Japanese company has increased its loss forecast in September, pegging the blame on lagging smartphone sales.

Just how popular is Watch Dogs? Ubisoft has said that it has shipped 9 million copies of the open-world hacking adventure game, detailing the massive number of titles in its recent earnings report.

The company posted a 65% increase in sales year-over-year, with $605 million being made in the first six months alone, compared to the $366 million it made in the same six-month period of last year. Ubisoft said that its back catalogue is still making big money, with games like Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Far Cry 3 and Rayman Legends helping it make $142 million from its back catalogue alone.

In the first week of Watch Dogs' release, Ubisoft sold 4 million copies, and reported that it had sold 8 million copies some three months ago now, so sales of the game are definitely slowing down.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will be publicly released tomorrow, Tuesday, November 4, and runs at 1080p and 60 fps on the Sony PlayStation 4. However, the Microsoft Xbox One version runs at 1360x1080 and 60 fps, as some gamers have been frustrated that video game titles are capped to a certain frames per second.

Here is what Sledgehammer Games co-founder Michael Condrey confirmed: "Minimum Xbox One resolution is 1360x1080, and dynamically scales from there to full 1080p. That's over 50 percent increase from last year. Advanced Warfare runs native 1080p on PS4."

Gamers that can't wait to get their hands-on Advanced Warfare can purchase a Zero Day edition, though some Xbox One gamers complained of download problems.

The public launch of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare didn't go as well as some would have hoped, with an unknown number of Microsoft Xbox One gamers reporting problems with the digital download.

Here is what Microsoft said: "We've received reports that some users are having issues getting their pre-ordered copy of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. We're happy to say that our team has fixed the problem, but if you are still experiencing any issues, delete the game and re-download it. Thanks for your patience while we got this issue worked out. Have fun!"

Interested gamers can download the Day Zero edition of Advanced Warfare for the Xbox One today, even if it wasn't pre-ordered. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare officially launches on November 4 for the PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4.

PAX AU 2014 - Last night, Roberts Space Industries took the stage of the Forum Theatre in Melbourne to show off the FPS mode of Star Citizen. We found out that developer Illfonic has been tirelessly working on the first-person module of the game for quite a while now. We were at the event itself, watching the entire thing in awe. Check out the footage below.

What the video doesn't show you, is the little details that RSI and Illfonic have put into the game. Because you're in space, and on various spaceships, in the game you're wearing a suit. When you breathe, your breathe is hitting the visor and creating a fog. As you run, you will breathe faster, and more often, which results in the visor getting foggier and foggier - immersing you into the world of Star Citizen. From there, Chris Roberts explained that they've created "correctly simulated eyes, head & body", which allows a much more realistic portrayal of the game world to be achieved.

From there, it allows the first- and third-person animations to be unified. The team explained this by showing off switching between first- and third-person modes, which was seamless, as the eyes were being rendered in the same place. So instead of the eyes being a camera or window into the game world, and then the third-person view being a wider, but more far away look into the world, it's completely unified. It provides a much more realistic sense of being there, as your eyes and where they're fixated, becoming your focal point.

Sony confirmed there are worsening problems with the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Network, following the "Masamune 2.0" system update, according to reports. Formerly known as Standby Mode, the new "Rest Mode" is plagued by a bug that doesn't allow the console to power back on - and the PlayStation community forums have been flooded by angry gamers.

In addition to the Rest Mode problem, others have complained that YouTube functionality has struggled, with video uploads no longer working properly. Sony is reportedly working to address these problems, but didn't offer a time table for the fix.

"We are aware of issues reported by some PS4 users following the release of PS4's latest system software update, v2.00," Sony recently told GameSpot. "We are investigating these issues and will provide an update as soon as we have more information."

PAX AU 2014 - After the 'A Chat With Chris Roberts, The Original Wing Commander' at PAX Australia 2014, we cornered the man himself, Chris Roberts, to ask him a few questions. During this chat, Roberts said that he "doesn't care about consoles", as he thinks the future of gaming is PC. Star Citizen is a massively popular game, all without being released, entering the Guinness Book of World Records for the most crowdfunded thing, ever.

The game is currently sitting on $59,126,683 (at the time of writing), just shy of $60 million. I asked Chris if he thinks the game will reach, and go over $100 million in funding, something he said he thinks will happen before the game launches. Roberts said that the $100 million haul should happen as the game hits version 1.0 "based on the trajectory" of the never-ending stream of funds.

I asked Chris what he expected when he first unveiled Star Citizen on Kickstarter, where he was hoping to see $4 million toward development. He didn't expect to reach $10 million, and now pushing on the edges of $60 million, the game's scope has expanded beyond Roberts' initial goals. The massive injection of fuding allows Roberts Space Industries to hire more staff, call in more contractors, and get much more of the game done not only quicker, but more polished during every patch thanks to community feedback.

It is rumored Microsoft is working on a new cheaper and smaller processor for the Xbox One, with AMD currently developing a 20nm 'slim' model. The current CPU is a 28nm technology, but AMD and Microsoft wants to innovate - while also helping make the console smaller - to entice additional sales, as the console struggled to keep up with the Sony PlayStation 4.

It's worth noting that 20nm architecture is expensive, and with such high demand from smartphone manufacturers, prices will likely remain high.

"This opens the door to a much smaller cooling assembly and a thinner chassis, which in turn leads to cost benefits throughout the whole manufacturing and distribution process," said Richard Leadbetter, a well-known and respected technology influencer. "Smaller consoles mean less packaging, meaning cost savings in physically shipping the units out from China to retail markets worldwide."

PAX AU 2014 - I have just stepped back into my hotel room after a hectic first day at PAX Australia 2014, which was held in the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, with the highlight of the day being the 'A Chat With Chris Roberts, The Original Wing Commander', the guy behind Star Citizen, which has raised close to $60 million through crowdfunding so far, with no signs of stopping.

Chris had some great things to say during the speech, with that 1-hour chat available right here. But, we organized a chat with the man himself after the talk with the PAX AU crowd, where he had some interesting things to say. We talked about the state of PC gaming, where we have people like Alex Hutchinson, the Creative Director of Far Cry 4 saying that resolution in games is "not something" he "cares about". Roberts on the other hand, had the total opposite to say.

He said that the team is working on 4K and 8K textures, pushing the boundaries of the APIs in DirectX 11 and Mantle, where he said that Mantle and DX12 are going to provide some performance improvements to Star Citizen. This is because the game is quite CPU bound, something that DX12 should help out with when it launches next year. He finished the chat with a few great quotes, where he said: "I don't care about consoles" as he is really gunning for a true PC exclusive game in Star Citizen, something that pushes the entire PC gaming world forward in leaps and bounds.

MSI has unveiled the GT80 Titan gaming laptop with a SteelSeries mechanical keyboard, becoming the first gaming laptop to include a mechanical keyboard. It's a unique product because mechanical keyboards tend to have better feedback, prevents key jamming and helps increase durability.

The GT80's keyboard has a keycap just 27mm of thickness - and the laptop itself is the world's slimmest and lightest 18-inch laptop, 17 percent thinner and 22 percent lighter than rival products.

"Performance is key for gamers and the GT80 Titan will forever change the mobile gaming experience," said Andy Tung, MSI Pan America President. "We are proud to be at the forefront of the gaming evolution and will continue to provide solutions that deliver the most outstanding gaming experience in the world."